piscicidal

Guess I better be careful what I wish for. That rain that just moved through was brutal. Came in fast from the East. I'm sure some people got stuck down on L67 today, fishing. Hope everybody is all right. I hear you, Eric. It's tough to leave when the fishing is so good. I'm a little tired of looking at canals, though. I'm ready to get back in the backcountry at Lox and just start throwing the frog around. Even if I don't catch anything. Get away from that zoo at Holiday Park.

Holiday Park is still fishing ridiculous. Caught ~27lbs with Robert on Thursday in about three hours. Two 6s and three 5s. We missed the best part of the bite, too. Hate to say it, but I'm kind of hoping for the rain. The whole system needs to be flushed...it's like an aquarium there with a dirty, clogged filter. The low oxygen level sets these fish up and they are easy pickings, if you know what to do. Those fish really need a break...they're all stressed out. Every fish I caught on Thursday was full of red spots. Half the fish were beat up with scabs/sores from being caught. I'm going to do the big fish tourney on Father's Day, but we're going to run some new water. Then I'm switching to Lox mode....

Leo and I thought the number to beat was 32, also. It was a weird day...we were catching 5.5 -6lb toads all day long. The smallest fish in our well was 5lb 8oz at 11:30. I really thought we had it won. Would have never guessed that we'd only have one fish over 6lbs all day. Hey, that's fishing though. Was actually a very fun day of fishing. We'll get em next year. Kinda looking forward to winding down. Actually haven't fished Lox once this year....I miss that place. Looking forward to going out there, running around a little bit and getting lost back in the backcountry there.

Matt, Sounds like you're figuring it out. Good job. Would love to see you fishing King of the Glades one day.

Leo and I fished the KOTG Classic Sunday out of Holiday Park. We were pretty pumped when they drew "Holiday" in the selection meeting Saturday night, because Leo and I have been pretty much wrecking em out there. The smallest five fish limit we've weighed out there since March has been 28lbs, breaking 30 pretty much every time out there. On Sunday, though, we came up a little bit short....caught 29.75lbs, with a dead fish penalty that took us to 29.25. Winner was Tim Feller/Scott Crowe with 32.5. It wasn't for lack of trying. Leo and I ran well over 50 miles on the day hitting every stretch we had from the fingers, to the alley, to L68 and all the way down L67. It was a weird day...we caught more than a dozen fish on the day over 5lbs, but only one over 6lb (6lb 4oz). We just could not get the bigger bites that we'd been getting over the past two months. It's a weird feeling having almost 30lbs in the well at noon and feeling like you are not on the fish you need to win. Just goes to show what an awesome fishery Holiday Park is. Congrats to Tim and Scott. Very worthy champions.

Cgrinder, sorry not compatible with the Daiwa knobs. Robert and I have talked about this several times....it is possible we might come up with a new spindle design for the Daiwa knobs. Not in the near term, though.

Check your IM.

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Great job, Backlash!

Thanks guys! I had a couple of old timers tell me yesterday they thought it was the biggest 5fish limit weighed in out there, ever. They were talking about some six fish stringers that were bigger...not sure when they went from 6fish limits to 5 fish limits, but it gives some scale of the time frame here. In the last four years, I've fished almost every tourney out there and the biggest bag I've seen has been 33.5lbs. This one feels pretty good right now.

The buzzards damaged my vehicle out there, also...my wife's new hemi Durango. Had about 5000 miles on it. Chewed the windshield wipers, the windshield trim and the cowling underneath the wipers. Got it fixed, but it was an expensive day of fishing for me. Now what I do is bring my boat cover out there and put the boat cover over the car while I'm fishing. Some guys have these battery operated propellers that they put on their cars. Any motion will keep them away, it seems.

Thanks guys! Yeah, Bruce, it was an awesome day. I had a feeling we were going to have a good day. My last five trips out there have been +30lb trips and Leo has been doing similar. But today was beyond words. Had ~33lbs by 10:00. When we ran by you at 12:30 we were done. Our smallest fish in the well was just under 7lb (6.85) and it's so hard to upgrade 7lbers out there. Also, the boat was acting a little funny so we just went back around the park, had some lunch and BSd with the tournament director and the guys for awhile. Think I am done fishing out there for the year...kind of sad. Gonna focus on the lake a little bit. It's good to go out on a high note, I guess.

Yeah, always tougher to do it on Sunday. If we are not on the same spot, its likely that we will both still have a lot of company. Not a lot of secrets out there in that KOTG crowd. Just gotta make the right moves at the right time on tourney day. Good luck, Sunday!

I was on the south end yesterday...caught about 16lbs flipping outside reed heads. Maybe 15 fish total. Decent day with some nice 2.5 - 4 lb chunks but not exactly what I was looking for.

Hey Bruce. I saw the pics with you and BLM. Sweet! I'm done fishing holiday until the tourney...my last 5 trips out there have all been over 30lbs. Something tells me I'll be seeing you on the water next Sunday!

I said I was going to leave those fish alone. Well, I lied (hey, I'm a fisherman...it's what I do). Went back out with my Dad, yesterday 11:30-4:00. It's his last day in Florida, driving back to Minnesota today. The catches are actually getting bigger. Five biggest went about 32lbs. Had two over 7lb. I think the picture below is the biggest, but it is hard to tell...they are all clones. 23.0" - 24.5" long and just F-A-T. These are the strongest fighting bass I have ever caught. OK, NOW am going to leave these fish alone. It's hard to quit when you have just caught five 30lb bags in a row, but I've got to. We have a tourney at Holiday 4/27 and I think these fish can hold up. Going to spend a little time on Okeechobee, I haven't been there since Jan 3rd.

It's great to see you back to slaying bass, Eric. Holiday Park is a zoo everyday. Ever since the Gator Boys aired, it's been just crazy out there. It really is pain on weekends....trying to load up your boat all the people going to the airboats stage up right there at the ramps. I've had people stepping over the tongue of the trailer while loading the boat. Several of us have talked to the county about the situation....somebody is going to get hurt out there.

I took my Dad out to Holiday Park today. Five biggest went over 30lbs again. The bite was not as fast as the past couple trips, but size was great. We caught 10 fish total, and eight of those were 5lbs or over! My Dad got his personal best today (+6lbs). My biggest today was about 7.5lb....24" long and built like a tank. That's four trips in a row where top five go over 30lbs . Think I'm gonna give these fish a break for a little while. Sorry for hijacking your thread, Backlash!

Lou, Robert and I each used one rod the entire night. And yes we were using different techniques. It is a common strategy that one person throw a bait up top and other person to fish something down, in order to figure out what the fish are doing. And that's all I'll say on that, right now...

David, I hear ya. There's probably 100miles of canals in the holiday park system. They all look the same and they all have big fish in them at one time or another. To consistently catch big bags like those top guys do is a major achievement.

Robert drove down from Royal Palm Beach yesterday to sample some of the awesome fishing we've been on at Holiday Park. The Park didn't disappoint. After one hour our five biggest went 29lbs. After two hours our five biggest were over 32lbs. The bite slowed in the last hour, but it was still an awesome day of fishing, with many over 5lbs. Here is a picture of Robert with our two biggest....the one on the left is 8lb 10oz and the biggest fish I've caught at Holiday.

I hear you...I'm about 4.5years into this bass fishing thing and like most things in my life, I pretty much dove in head-first. I was a walleye fisherman from Minnesota who moved to Florida and dabbled in saltwater and other stuff before going after the green fish, hard core. I still have a long way to go, but I feel like under certain conditions I can be competitive. If you end up at a Holiday Park tournament this month and see me come and say hi. I'll be there for the open on 4/27 for sure.

Leo and I weighed in 30lbs Sunday, and we had AT LEAST that on Friday had we decided to stay and jack our fish. I believe I can go out there right now and get 10-20 bites from +5lb bass in an eight hour period. I had to completely retool how I approached fishing out there...you can go out and pitch a senko/fluke outside the pads and catch 100-200 fish a day. But you are not going to get a 25-30lb bag doing that. There are very specific methods and presentations that you need to do to get those big bites. There are also very specific locations that those big fish are located. It takes a good understanding of how those everglades fish react to weather, current and water clarity to identify where those better areas might be. And there is a seasonal aspect to the bite which occurs out there, and I'm not just talking the transition from flats to canals. Also, you better to be able to find fish with the big motor and not the small (trolling) motor...those big fish move around a lot and you need to have a methodology for covering water and identifying where those schools might be. The good news is they group up by size...when you catch a 6, hold on cause you'll probably catch a couple more soon. As always, the most important factor is time on the water. I have been fishing the King of the Glades series for four years now. I have learned so much just fishing against and getting to know some of these guys who have gotten it done out there over the years. You see what the top guys are doing at different times of year and eventually you start putting patterns together and identifying trends. I am still not even close to having the puzzle solved. We have something that works right now. I really like our chances for the Open tourney coming up on April 27th. We won a couple tourneys back in December/January. But we have a long way to go to consistently go out there and catch 20-25lbs like the top guys do. You have to enjoy the process and be willing to put the time/effort/money toward getting those bigger fish.

We ended up in third. Forssel/Sayler got the win with 32 and Feller/Crowe second with 31. Forssel/Sayler are dominant at Holiday Park. Almost unbeatable March-May. Forssel has had a top 2 finish in the past four tournaments out there, including the win in the 200 boat Channing Crowder tourney ($10,000 first place). Feller is probably the best non Elite/FLW tournament angler in Florida. He is the #3 ranked Florida angler per Bass Rank.com and that includes guys like Randall Tharp/Brandon McMillian/Shaw Grigsby/etc... Top three finish in any qualifier gets automatic entry to the classic, so we really needed this one. Would be tough to go to Okeechobee and rely on a top five finish against the likes of McMillians/Ruiz/Keyso/Mikeyballz/Feller/etc... Feels good to get it done when the pressure is on.

Well, I am officially a member of the 30lb club. Leo and I caught 30.22lbs in the King of the Glades qualifier yesterday at Holiday Park. I've caught 30lb bags before, but never in a tournament. We really needed this one too, as we had a poor showing last month and this was our last qualifier before going to Okeechobee next month (where we will be at a big disadvantage to the locals). So this one feels pretty good right now. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=650943801608192&set=a.400118190024089.76626.400113070024601&type=1&theater