piscicidal

We plan on fishing the monthly tourneys. I'm gonna miss the first one though (1/12), I'll be in China.

I'm still getting some nice sized fish at my golf course spot...I caught two more +4lbers today (jig) and my daughter got her PB, a 3lber (senko). She'll usually lip em for the camera, but she didn't want to grab this one.

Robert...when I was there Friday the water at the ramp was 56F at 10:00AM. The water temp was about 4 degrees colder out west (52F in the canal). The East flats warmed to about 60 by 3PM.

I went to Lox Friday. I talked to four other boats...none of those guys had even one fish (including one guy I towed in off the flats...he blew his engine). I didn't do great, but I was catching ~3/hour. You've got to find the warmer water (hint: stay East. The water West is ~4degrees colder)

The only size I got touched on was a 3/8. I had one strike on a 1/2. The 1/4 and 3/16 finesse jigs I was using initially didn't even get looked at. Yep, that's what I've been seeing also. I've caught ~40 fish the past three days. Every single fish has been on a jig. About 70% of those have been on a 3/8oz PB&J (brown/blue) colored jig with a Sweet Beaver trailer (Okeechobee Craw). I've got a few on the 1/2oz. Nothing on the 1/4oz.

I fished Lox Friday...caught about 15 but all small. Five biggest would have been about 8lbs. Only thing that worked was flippin, until about 3PM when the water got to 60. Then I started catching them on skinny dippers in the flats (but, again, small). The past three days I've been fishing my golf course ponds with my golf cart. I've got six over 4lbs the past three days with two in the 5lb range. Like Eric, EVERY fish has been on a jig in rocky, deeper water. The jig has to be 3/8oz or bigger also. I've tried the 1/4oz jigs and have not got bit on them. The fish are hanging off the deeper dropoffs, and the faster descent of the heavier jig gets a reaction bite. I think I've doubled my 2010 total of jig fish in the past three days...

1.) 8" zoom dead ringer 2.) skinny dipper 3.) horney toad

I agree with most of what's posted here....aluminum frame, fast retrieve, good drag, flippin switch (i.e. one-handed engagement of the spool). The Ardent F-700 meets all those criteria, as does the Quantum Accurist PT. The Diawa Viento seems like a good choice also...I haven't used one, but the twitchin bar seems pretty neat. Being able to do a one handed retrieve could be very useful at times....

My very first experience with the bait monkey...still in high school, I ordered an Ambassadeur 5000 series BC and a jumbo pack of hawg frogs from the BPS catalog. I still have the Ambassadeur and I still have a couple of those ol Hawg Frogs.

Me too. I'm gonna try Lox tomorrow. I was on some good fish there, but I've only fished it once in the past five weeks. Anyone heading out there send me a PM, let's hook up.

Agree 100% about the colors. You don't need 20 different colors of each bait. Regarding plastics...if I had green pumpkin, watermelon red, white and black (and two bottles of JJ's: chartrueuse, blue), I could pretty much cover 90% of the colors I want to fish.

This is definately not the case with me...personally, I don't like the white finish nor the split evo grips. Regarding the sensitivity issue, I would love to hear which $100 rod people think is more sensitive than this one...I own about 20 rods in/around the $100 price range (St Croix premier, Fenwick HMX, BPS extreme, All Star, etc...) and the veritas is the most sensitive of the bunch. The All Star IM10 is probably the next most sensitive of the rods I own in that tier...

Terminal gear: T-rig sinkers (1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 oz) EWG hooks (2/0, 3/0, 4/0, 5/0) wacky hooks (#1, 1/0) shakey heads (spot remover 1/8, 3/16 oz) frog hooks (5/0) snaps (duo lock) swivels Plastics (basic colors: green pumpkin, watermelon red, junebug, ghost shad and black) yamamoto senkos 8" worms plastic swimbaits (skinny dipper/big ez/etc) flippin/pitchin baits (sweet beavers, paca craws, ugly otters, etc...) flukes finesse worms frogs (spro bronzeeye- slow, zoom horney toad- fast) Hardbaits: Spinnerbaits (white, chartruese, silver, black) Traps (i.e. ratl trap, red eye shad, aruku shad, etc...) Zara Spook Jerkbait (i.e. rapala, excalibur) Square billed medium depth crank Deep crank Accessories: Polarized glasses Bug spray Needlenose pliers Nail clippers/small scissors (for cutting braid) I can do 90% of the fishing I need to with the above items and a good MH, fast action rod with a good quality BC reel (and a spool of 50lb braid, 17lb mono and 12lb flouro)

IMO, the Abu Veritas is the best rod available under $100. But, as has been mentioned, it is not full grip. I also prefer full cork grips and I'm not wild about the pearl white color, but I've become a real fan of this rod. Very light, strong and sensitive.

If I only had one, I'd say St Croix Avid 7', MH/Fast action rod, paired with a fast retrieve reel (7.0:1) with a flippin switch...maybe a Quantum Accurist PT. Not the best combo around, but you could use this rig for just about every type of fishing except for punching through real heavy slop.

31.9F at my house this morning. The first time in 13 years I have seen sub-freezing.

There is something wrong with those parameters... there's no way a 31.5" bullseye snakehead weighs 9lbs. Below is a picture of a 30" snakehead that I caught...it was less than 5lbs. The 38 incher I caught might have been nine lbs. I wonder if they'll certify the catch, if I bring it in in two pieces...

My partner Jack (shallow thinker) weighed just shy of 10lbs (9.81). Apparently, our spots held fish, but as has been the case, most of the fish are less than two lbs. He was culling by 8AM and caught fish pretty much all day long. Sounds like he had a fun day on the lake though...I'm a bit bummed I had to drop out.

I caught two snakehead Saturday morning flippin my golf course pond for bass. One was 34" and one was a 38" beast. On my flippin rig, I have the drag cranked down with 65lb power pro, and the 38" was stripping drag off the reel like a saltwater fish. They are amazing fighters....not as strong as a jack, but their speed rivals some of the saltwater species.

My golf course ponds used to be loaded with monster peacock and largemouth. Now they have no peacock, a few largemouth and monster snakeheads. I blame our cold weather the past two seasons on the peacock situation and the snakeheads on the largemouth situation. Snakeheads are so aggressive and voracious and they're competing with the LM for the same food sources. I think there is little doubt their presence has had a negative effect on the LM bass population.

I had to bail on the Gambler tourney, also. My wife "surprised" me with Christmas tickets... :-X Fortunately, my partner was able to get a replacement. Good luck Salmi, Bruce and all the others. That is going to be one big tourney. The weather looks good, and I imagine the fishing should be pretty good, also.

Eric is right...frogs, skinny dippers/big ez, beavers. Also, traps and big worms.

Fat-G, I'm twice your age and I still go through those phases. Eight years ago I was obsessed with golf, then I went to a saltwater water fishing phase, the past two years I'm all about bass fishing. Don't worry about it.

I prefer a little faster gear action (6.3:1) for worm fishing. It's true that the rod action controls the bait for T-rigging. But often when worm fishing a fish picks up the bait and comes toward you. I like the faster ratio so I can catch up with him when he does that.

3.5 - 4lbs