rabidsquirrel

My current setup with the Shimano Curado 71HG: ***..-feeshin' OmenBlack - 7'3" Medium, Fast Tip 10~12lb Co-poly line #2 EWG Superline Hook and a Zoom Fluke (Weightless other than the heavier hook) all four centrifugal weights flipped on/out (I.e. away from the rotational axis) and the fine tuning brake dial is at about 3.75 Your mileage may vary... Crank all the brakes to just about maximum and work your way backwards - lightening up each in very small increments That's what I had to do to get a feel for the right settings on that reel. It's an awesome reel once you get it figured out.

My wife got me the 71HG for my birthday. This is a great reel for really light baits (Weightless Senkos and Flukes, etc...)! Make sure you dial in the brakes way more than you normally would for most reels. Monster back-lash on my first cast. Felt like a fool. Fixed it and lashed a few more times (Less severe) before I really realized just how low mass and free spinning the spool is. Get one and apply the brakes liberally until you get a handle on how it handles... Hehe. It's an awesome reel. I would have ordered the XG (Wife ordered it as a surprise), but the HG still works just fine for what I do.

In addition to what has been mentioned above - try a zoom ultravibe speed worm (Watermelon Red and Junebug); these can be deadly in small, lightly pressured FL ponds.

Do a forum search for Hillsborough River... There are a few posts I made a while back when I was 'new to the river' - I.e. hadn't launched or fished it before. In fact, here's one of my older posts: What to throw - When in doubt regarding color, go with June Bug. I've had success throwing swimbaits (Bitter's Naked Swimmer and Reaction Innovations Skinny Dippers), ribbon tail worms, zoom ultravibe worms, and hollow bodied frogs. I know guys catch them with the old school Rapala F11S (Original Floating Minnow with 3 trebles - Silver with Black Back) in the river as well. Let us know how it goes! I've not been out there in a while!

Nitro 911 CDC w/ 225HP Optimax Pro XS Fill Up = ~$160 (55 gal + 1.5 gal of DFI oil at $45 per gal) This is misleading, b/c most trips/tournaments I'm burning less than 10 gallons of gas and .25~.5 gallons of oil.

While I generally agree with what SirSnookalot says here, I would add a caveat. The fish - E.g. bass, are almost always biting something somewhere. Tournament fishing has taught me that. You have got to constantly experiment with lures, colors, presentations, depths, cover types and/or locations until you find a pattern that is producing. There is almost always a pattern that is producing somewhere... I can't tell you how many times during tournaments we've struggled, trying a variety of things, only to come across another competitor that tried something we didn't and stomped us at weigh-in... I've been on the other side of that equation too. Figuring out a pattern that no one else was on. When you do that, it is often lights out for the competition, and it feels great! The point I'm ultimately trying to make here is that even though SirSnookalot's overarching theme to his comments - "Sometimes the fish just aren't biting", does apply in rare cases, I'd say it isn't applicable 98% of the time. In other words, Don't Give Up! I know that it can get tiresome when you are beating your brains out, tying on 20 different lures, running to different spots, all in 100 degree heat (I.e. down here in Central Florida), but if you truly want to be successful, you gotta do it. No excuses. My rule of thumb these days is if I haven't gotten a nibble in ~20 casts, I need to change it up somehow - could be a different color, lure, depth, cover type, etc... After re-reading your initial post, it is going to be tough for you on a paddleboard, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't. More experience will help you tremendously. More 'good' experience translates to doing the painful stuff I stated above. You'll figure out producing patterns faster with additional experience. The learning curve is daunting, but that is what makes it fun and worthwhile. Consistently catching quality bass is very difficult. I don't care what anyone says.

We'll be at the one on Lake Harris Chain in Florida... It'd be good to meet some forum folks there!

Were they on beds yet? Fish seem to be on beds in a few of the ponds in my neighborhood. We're heading out to Kissimmee this Sunday - we were shooting for tomorrow morning, but the forecast sucks (HIGH wind 20-30mph)... Hoping to find some bedding bass on Sunday... Nice fish, BTW!

Most ponds in FL are legal to fish unless it is private property. If there weren't any signs or fencing, you were within your rights to fish it. However, arguing with Johnny Law isn't wise, even when you are in the right. Few people realize that most newer developments treat the ponds/lakes on within as public waters. If a community has a CDD, those bodies of water default as 'public' - unless they have specific policies against fishing. I'm on my community's CDD board. We are a gated community, so getting in is unlikely unless you reside there or are a guest of a resident. If you are going to fish ponds within developments, make sure you are doing everything 'right' like having a current fishing license, catch & release, etc... You want to do this in case someone does call the cops. Unless there are posted signs saying no fishing, you are generally OK, and the cop won't be able to do anything to you. Even if you know it is OK, don't fish behind someone's house unless you know them and have gotten their permission. Otherwise you might have your fishing briefly interrupted by some irate owner, or the police. Many of the owners don't know or understand that there are public easements around the ponds in most newer communities that have a CDD. It's just less of a hassle if you know the owners on near that pond. I may have rambled a bit here, but hopefully most of you get where I'm coming from. TL;DR - It's always good to get permission, even when you don't technically need it.

I know you said 'living' people, but since we're in the realm of fantasy, I'd have to say my grandfather on my mother's side. He died before I was really grown enough to take fishing. Mom says that I inherited this 'sickness' from him. The relatives have said that he'd go out from dawn to dusk fishing. Sometimes he'd go out for days. I know that we'd have gotten along great.

I'll echo what A-Jay said. I want to catch 'better' fish. I'm fishing local tournaments these days, so being able to consistently put some size in the boat is what I'm after... The next part reads more or less like, "Quickly dial in a major pattern". I want to be able to quickly figure out the primary feeding patterns that day on those waters.

The title of this thread had me utterly confused...

There has been a trend over the last few years of resort courses promoting fishing on their courses to their guests. There are a few courses down here that promote it. For example: http://www.saddlebrook.com/package_spring_special.html I hope we see this trend continue.

I've T-rigged a super fluke with a light weight and had success. It was even during a tournament - caught a nice 4lber and a smaller 2lb fish. It can definitely work, but I don't do it all the time.

I've found that the chartreuse with black back color combo is a great all round choice. It works in the majority of fishing situations down here in central florida. If I remember correctly, KVD won a few tournaments in Florida using that specific color option.

Nice!

Based upon my experience with it (I've referred to it a lot over the years), I think it is accurate around 75~80% of the time. Qualifying the above statement a little more, I fish in central Florida. Florida bass get really finicky with changing weather patterns. New frontal conditions can shut down Florida bass. It is pretty accurate outside of the influence of changing weather conditions.

Gang, A friend of mine is flying down from NC for a few days of fishing. I'm taking him down to the Lake Okeechobee. Looking for Intel on what patterns are working well in certain areas of the lake (It's huge). I have some familiarity with the Lake, but still kind of a rookie on that body of water. Any info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

I caught this series on YouTube a few months back, and I really enjoyed it. I figured I'd share it with those of you that had not seen it yet. Playlist Link: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9tK78B1zKNMZel9EWm01PseCjBHgutLU Link to first episode: I hope they film another run of this show. It showed a lot of the behind the scenes logistics of being a touring pro.

I like them all. Some of them can get a bit repetitive / annoying at times, but hey, they are just human beings, the same as you and me. I really like the fact that the pros are getting to be a more diverse cast of personalities hailing from various backgrounds. This is a good thing for the sport. I recently caught an episode of "The Three Legends" - I think they were salt water fishing, and I thought they were hilarious together (Dance, Houston, Martin). I'd definitely watch more of those guys just fishing and cutting up. I don't keep up with FLW as much as I do the Elites, but there seem to be a lot of interesting dudes on that trail as well. Roland Martin Houston Dance Hank Parker (Sounds/speaks just like one of my Uncles...) Hackney Tharpe KVD Ish Ike Casey Martin (Saw that show where they followed him through his rookie season - great stuff) Grigsby Skeet Howell... I could honestly just about list them all, as most of them seem like good folks.

BTW - I've had this reel (Chronarch Ci4+) for a while now, and I've even landed a pretty good sized pig with it. It is a great reel. It is the best baitcaster I've ever used up to this point. If you are considering purchasing this reel, you should buy it. You'll be glad you did. I am. I want a few more...

Florida... Taxes are low, with quality fisheries everywhere, plus saltwater fishing if you get bored with freshwater. Louisiana... It's just more fun there.

I didn't see this 2014 Goals post when I started another thread. My mistake... I'm re-posting in this thread... My wife has been on this 2014 goals kick for our business. SMART Goals for those of you in the Corporate world. It got me thinking about goals for our bass fishing team that is sponsored by said business. I figured it would be a good exercise to write down some goals for our team, and could make a good post for our team's blog. You can read it here: Our 2014 Bass Fishing Tournament Goals… | Cartwright Realty Fishing Team Do you have a reasonable expectation of meeting your own 2014 fishing goals? I think that the goals I put down for our team are fairly reasonable, and should be achievable.

I finally added the video: Video of the Big Kissimmee Bass Shortly after we released her I realized that I could have measured her for the Florida TrophyCatch program, although I didn't have a tape type measure in the boat to get her girth measurements with... I will need to put some tailor's measuring tape in the boat for future lunkers, I guess. Anyhow, it is fairly clear that this bass is in the upper end of the spectrum, approaching or at 10lbs. I hope you guys enjoy the video. Please leave any comments you might have on the blog, as our sponsors like that sort of thing.

Thanks, MCS! Glad you enjoyed it!