shallow thinker

There are all kinds of interesting things swimming in that I-595 canal besides bass. I was in there 2 yrs ago throwing a spinner bait and landed a snook over 10 lbs. Snook in saltwater are mostly silver. This guy was a golden color.

BB cricket is a smaller flipping bait. Works great around here in the winter. Any color works as long as it is black/blue Big EZ and EZ swimmers rock Ace, which you can buy in bulk on the Gambler website, is a go to bait and far cheaper than a Senko Gambler also runs entry free tournaments in the south east, You just have to use their baits. Good people there at Gambler and always generous with donations to local events.

Took my brother in law and his brother out last weekend. One is from Mass and the other from Connecticut. I gave them the option of two different saltwater trips or the best day of bass fishing they will ever have. They chose to go bassing. The first hour was a bit slow so I switched one rod to a wacky french fry style bait. It was game on. One guy mostly threw flies so half his fish were different panfish (sunfish, warmouth, cycllids and oscars). They estimated that the 3 of us landed 200 fish in 7 hrs. I think that's a bit high... it was more like 150 fish. The bad news is that 148 of them were dinks. My brother in law landed a 2 lb and a 3 lb bass to take big fish honors. Weather permitting, I am heading out again tomorrow morning with 2 of my nephews.

RoLo, snake lures are a not so secret tournament winning lure in South Florida. I'll try to dig out the newspaper article written about the winner of the local open series. These guys chuck those heavy lures all day long to get a few kicker fish. I've done it in the warmer months in the glades canals and gotten bit by some nice fish. I can't say that I've seen a live snake get eaten but snake lures do have a following around here.

Google earth it and you'll see there are 3 ramps along the west side of 27 to the north of 595/I-75. Some of the ramps are a bit rough so walk out on the dock first to have a look before backing down.

If it was just one day then I'd suggest a guide. The big O is kind of unpredictable in winter. Weather and water level are big deals. Roland's has good guides. You'll want to talk to them and get someone who suits your style of fishing. For example, lots of guides make a living fishing live shiners which is something that doesn't work for me. I have heard good things about Steve Daniel. Others on this board have their favorites too.

There's no ramp that I know of for the turnpike. We used to launch small boats over the canal bank along Rio road but the country kind of discouraged that by filling in dirt ramp. The most used ramps are out west on Lox road (Lox refuge) and Lake Ida in Delray Beach. There are peacocks in Ida.

I was there but must have missed you guys at the ramp. It was slow for me. I caught good numbers... of tiny fish.

I should be open that weekend... count me in. I bought some new hard baits that I want to try out. Lox road is the southern entrance west of Boca Raton. Lee Road is the refuge HQ in Boynton. There is a ramp there also. Up at the north end you also have ramps near 20 mile bend. Most of the open flats are at the south end. The rest is mostly canal fishing.

The topwater of your choice has been working pretty well in Lox. Some days are better than others. Flukes and senkos will usually catch better numbers of small fish.

Fishing on the Lox is tough now with the heavy runoff from daily storms. I was skunked on the lower river last week. I saw an article a few years back (maybe Florida Sportsman) where they floated the upper Lox and caught bass. I recall them throwing small spinners and plastics in the deeper holes and shady spots. Look for that article.

Hells Bay isn't particularly shallow when coming in from Whitewater bay. The difficulty is when you start venturing into the feeder creeks and ponds where larger boats will struggle with tight turns and skinny water. It's a cool looking place but not the easiest place to find fish. Not sure I would be exploring there too much in the heat of the summer. Grab a canoe and access it from the highway some time in the winter.

I hate to be that guy.... but I had lost the 'big one' this winter when my braid failed. It was probably 2 year old braid. Old enough that it had lost most of its color. The failure was very strange. I hooked a very large snook that made 3 hard runs. I had to palm the spool of the spinning reel to keep the fish out of the bushes. The line, my knots and leader all held for the peak of the fight. Once I turned the fish for the 3rd time I took up some slack and the line parted. I got back my main line with no fraying or signs of wear. I never changed braid just because it was old. You either had a good batch.. which stayed on your reel for a long time or sometimes you get a bad spool which you throw away in just a couple of trips. I have to re-think that. From now on I'll use fresher line when fishing tournaments or targeting trophy fish.

I never learned the nail knot. My leaders are tied with uni-knot to uni-knot connections. As mentioned earlier, you attach something like 3 feet of 20 lb mono to your fly line (using a loop to loop connection), then step down to 3 feet of 12-16 lb mono with the uni to unit. Tapered leaders can be as simple as this or you can carry on with more connections for very specialized applications. Most of my saltwater flyfishing is with 9' leaders but I sometimes keep it simple with a 6' leader for bass fishing. I have gone to a 12 foot leader for very spooky fish... but that can be harder to cast. Tying your own leaders is pretty simple once you try. No reason to buy pre-made store leaders when you probably have the necessary mono spools at home.

Don't know about bass fishing but I was there last month and my son and I sampled the redfishing in the marsh. Lots of fun. My son blind casted 6 nice fish while I picked up a couple on fly. I would highly recommend Woodland Plantation. Nice people, cool restored wood buildings, and some good food. The proprietor will line up guides for you. It was an hours drive south of New Orleans. New Orleans was fun too. Lots of excellent food & music. Head over to Frenchman Street for a change from the scene on Bourbon Steet

An aluminum jon boat is all you need to fish the canals. There are good ramps in most major systems plus you've got Lox refuge and the canals & flats out west along US27. That said, a fiberglass bass boat or a flats boat gives you a more comfortable ride and more range to fish Lake Okeechobee or inshore saltwater. I started in a 14 jon... then a 15 foot boston whaler and now a 17' flats boat. Each had its application and limitations.

King of the Glades. A south Florida tournament trail.

Dang it! I signed up but wouldn't you know that my first fish over 8lbs was taken while in a canoe (no camera, no scale, no ruler). We don't get many of those in South Fla. and it would have been nice to at least get the sticker.

I like to put 18 inches of mono leader material on my topwaters. A uni to uni knot works well and I use 40 or 50 lb for both snakeheads and snook. That leader gives you better abrasion resistance than braid. Another advantage of mono leader is that I can tie a loop knot to my bait. (I haven't bothered to learn a good loop knot using braid).

Fished it about 3 weeks ago. Saw a bunch of beds but they were empty. Caught fish to 3 lbs in the main lake and nearby canals. I did throw moving baits for an hour and had follow from a good size peacock. It seemed to me that the bigger fish were shadowing schools of brim and fry (very shallow). This was back when we had that cool weather... which cut way down on the jet skiers.

Yours was a snakehead for sure. If you want to see some really big snakeheads then come to the next roundup (May 11 2pm ) which weighs in at the boat ramp on Rock Island Road and Southgate. The guys at JD's custom baits sponsor it and go to their website for details. A FWC biologist often comes for weigh in and he can tell you lots about their size and range. This link has some good advice for catching South Florida snakeheads http://www.jdscustombaits.com/Snakeheads%21.php

BP10 there are tons of bass clubs in Broward as well as 'open' tournaments out of Holiday Park, Alligator Alley, and Lake Okeechobee. Steve Waters column in the Sun Sentinel on Friday lists the open tournaments for next few weekends. There will often be flyers posted or in the store at Holiday Park. On Lake O, you have Bassbusters once a month, Slims 2x a month, and some others out of Roland Martin's Tackle shop on a regular basis. There will be weekend tournaments every weekend through June so go catch them up! If you are fishing around Margate... watch out for the snakeheads. There are even tournaments for those critters coming in a few months (hosted by JD's Custom Baits).

Saw tons of beds over on the Shoal with buck bass. We kept at it hoping some momma's would come in during the afternoon but it never happened for us. If I remember correctly there were only 3-4 bags over 20 lbs weighed.

I went out of Slim's yesterday too but no 8 lb'ers for me! I did well till the fog lifted then it shut down. Spent the time boat riding around the south east part of the lake and loading some waypoints.

I listened to most of the weigh in. A very familiar story here in Florida when a cold front blows through. Lots of small bags and talk of muddy cold water. A ten pound lead is not safe if it gets a bit warmer.