piscicidal

That's awesome Robert. I'm heading up on Tuesday...hope you can make it out there.

That is one big bass, Shane. Probably the biggest I've personally seen caught out of Lox. I know theres alot bigger ones swimming around there though. You guys are making me seriously jealous. I haven't had the boat out in a month...had to take out the golf cart tonight. Caught a bunch in the 2-4lb range and one good one (~6) flippin a Bruiser Intruder and pitching jigs. Picture not too good...was losing light fast and I wanted to get her back quickly.

Eric, something came up. I can go Wednesday but Thursday / Friday are out for me. Have a surgery on Thursday. I dont want to upset the whole plan, but if Wednesday works for everybody then I can make it.

Lox mid/late next week sounds like a winner... Dale, I'm sure there is a backseat open for you if you wanted to go that route. Eric, maybe we can start putting together a boater/non-boater list??

As others have mentioned... Moving bait setups: reel > rod Finesse setups: rod > reel

4" senko, rooster tail.

Yeah man, me too. Loxahatchee...Okeechobee can't go wrong either way. I just wanna catch some bass. Send me a PM if/when you get close to your China trip.

Eric, I'm just returning from a 3 week trip to China. I am definately in the market for some serious fishing in the coming weeks. Last time, it seemed there was some interest in doing a get together at Okeechobee. It would not take too much arm twisting to get me to go there.

I've got a flats boat that has a poling platform on the back. I was pulling it out of the garage one day to go fish the everglades when the poling platform caught on the red release handle on the garage door lift. You can imagine what happens now...the garage door comes down, my poling platform hooks the garage door. I tear the poling platform off the boat and bend the garage door out in one fell swoop. Didn't keep me down for too long, though. I grabbed a rubber mallet, banged the garage door back into place (kind of), threw the platform in the backyard and went fishing! Caught a bunch too...

You're off to a good start. Fishing in South Florida you should add sweet beavers, horny toads and skinny dippers/big ez to the list of "staples". The spot remover/trick worm set up that Ronnie mentioned will serve you well in the canals. And the senko can't be beat when the fish are in a neutral mood. Get some Zoom magnum trick worms also, worked weightless. Ol monster 10" worms are awesome in the canals, also. I would add a couple pointers, red eye shads, and a zara spook and you are ready for some South Florida canal bassin! Welcome home.

I got one and I absolutely love it. I was shocked at how light it is (6.2oz). It is so smooth and can cast even lightweight baits a mile. It looks awesome on a veritas rod, also. That black/white combo is sweet. I am leaning toward going smoke/veritas on all my moving bait rigs. I don't think you can get a better setup for $260.

drop snot (play on words re: "drop shot") slob blob shad sac tear drop

Amen brother! I took my golf cart out this morning...caught a fat 5lber on a horny toad and was at work by 8:30. Nice fish! I haven't got a 6 yet this year...

Same here. A 9 lb limit by 8am... but weighed just under 11 lb. Didn't get big bites but the afternoon was fun with school sized fish. The winner had 30.5 lbs and lots of 5-6 pounders in that weigh in line. Lake O is awesome right now. Yeah that was fun...it's hard to imagine how many fish were in that last spot we fished. We must have caught +30(??) between 1:00 and 2:30. You know in a tourney like this you have to catch 5lbers, but when you're catching fish every other cast it sure is hard to leave...

The 735 is on my list right now. I believe Mike picked one up also. The only reason I didn't buy one when that sale at BTD was happening is because I have a rod that is very similar in stats. After playing around with the rest of my new rods, the old one definitely is not the same quality. There needs to be another sale soon so I can buy one. I'm still surprised at how well those rods feel. Yeah, I picked up a 735c during that BTD sale...wish I would have got a couple more at that price. Man, do I love this rod...

I would go MH/F or MH/XF Avid. Personally, I prefer full cork handles for worms and bottom contact and split grips for moving baits.

Eric, nice fish man! I'm jealous. I used to have huge peacocks spawning right behind my house about this time of year. I haven't seen one this year. I think the cold weather got em... :'(

Shane...when you mentioned killing the annoying, evasive, slimy, non-native intruder you WERE talking about the fish, right?? ;D I'll definately tune in!

I usually bring ten rods in the boat when fishing by myself. When in a tournament or as co-angler I bring five. I can pretty much cover all the bases with five rods. My five tournament rods (all baitcast): 1.) 7' Avid M/F #10 co-poly (senkos, flukes, trick worms, shaky, open water traps, light cranks) 2.) 7' Avid MH/F #12 co-poly (worms, beavers, deeper cranks, ripping traps, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, topwater) 3.) 7'3" Savvy MH/XF (735c) #50braid (flipping, light punch, jigs, light frogs) 4.) 7'6" Veritas MH/F #50 braid (swimbait) - dedicated swimbait setup. This rod might get used ~50% on a typical South Florida day. 5.) 7'6" Savvy H/F (766c) #65 braid (heavy frog, punch) If me or my partner had room for another rod in the boat, my sixth man off the bench would be a dedicated jig rod.

I consider myself very inclusive when it comes to brands. I have reels from Abu, Shimano, Fin-Nor, Diawa, Quantum, all of which get a lot of use. And I take GOOD care of my stuff...I have a preventative maintenance schedule for my reels (sorry...I'm an engineer). I have approximately 30 baitcast reels in the rotation and the Quantum Accurist PTs are among the smoothest, most trouble free reels I have. My Accurists have not missed a day fishing in two years, while a couple other so-called "superior" reels sit on the IR waiting for parts. I bought a Quantum Smoke yesterday at BPS spring classic...$169 after trade-in. Pardon the pun, but holy smoke is this thing light... I think it is the smoothest, longest casting reel I have right now, and it's not even broken in yet. I've only fished with it a couple hours but I absolutely love this thing so far.

I think Quantum Accurists are great reels for the money. They are very well made. I have seven Accurist PTs and have never had a problem with any of them. I have a couple of the newer Energy PTs...they are OK for the money, but I hate the backplay in the reel (My Chronarchs have this same issue and I hate it on those also). I am less impressed with some of Quantums other baitcasters, and am not a fan of their spinning reels at all. I will be buying a Quantum Smoke in the near future though...

I'm surprised that more reel frames are not made from Magnesium. Strength to weight ratio is about the same for both materials in their plateable, die-cast formulation (AC8A Aluminum: modulus= 73GPa, density = 0.00276g/mm^3, AM50 Magnesium: modulus= 44GPa, density = 0.00177g/mm^3). My vendors typically quote me lower prices for Magnesium parts, because the melt temp is lower which means longer tool life. Theoretically the magnesium reels should be cheaper... The overall size of the reel would likely have to be a little bit bigger with the mag, to allow the thicker wall sections required to get equal strength to Aluminum. Perhaps that's why most reels still have aluminum frames.

If I'm throwing a crank, I might throw to a piece of visible structure (i.e. stump) several times, until I'm satisfied I've worked it well. It might take a couple casts to get the right deflection off of a limb or stump to trigger a reaction bite on a fish that is not "hot". If I am blind casting, trying to cover water, I'll rarely make another cast to the same spot. If I miss a bite on a worm/frog, I might pitch back to that spot with a jig/senko (follow up).

this is so very true. also these people who tell you to wait to feel the fish before you set the hook, are gonna cost you some fish. set the hook nice and stout as soon as you know the bass didnt swing and miss. dont give em time to identify what they've just eaten. If you are using hollowbody frogs with a walk-the-dog type retrieve and/or mono, you can probably get away with not waiting. If you are burning frogs with braid, you are going to miss alot more fish if you do not wait on them (you are always going to miss fish on frogs, but you'll miss alot more by not waiting than you will waiting). The best frog fisherman on the planet (Dean Rojas) says wait three seconds. I got this guy this morning on a horny toad (I waited on him... )...

My spro aruku shads are all beat up. I think it actually enhances the look...the shiny top coat is missing and it looks alot (to me anyway...) like a baitfish that has been beat up and is missing some scales. Seems like the more beat up those aruku shads are, the more fish they catch.