Catching

You do not catch or see anything but snakeheads

The water was down at Holiday two weeks ago. Sawgrass, and Holy Lands are way high, and I guess MM35 west side is still up from your report. Hitting the alley first ramp headed west Sunday to see what is there. Fishing, will be on a little white flats boat. Say hey if you see us.

That was just a rain coat getting blown up by the winds, we were down south

Yep, caught this one about five pounds

On the major canal systems that FWC shocks on a regular basis and fisherman have access it does not appear that there is much of a problem, but get into some of the places off the beaten path and they have taken over :'( That is where the problem lies, if these things are left unchecked with no proesure from us they will in time take over the fishery. When the water temps heat back come on down and I will be happy to show you, so you can see for yourself 8-)

[quote Peacocks have made their way north from transplanting but mostly from migrating. A peacock released in the c-100 system in Miami could make it all the way north to west palm via canals and culverts. As the population grew fish kept heading north looking for fresh territory with no competition. Years of warm winters allowed them to make it all the way to PBC.

A big Bullseye Snakehead can eat what ever it wants, they have both holding teeth and cutting teeth and do a death roll like a gator. Once the snakehead gets to monsterous size it will take on anything if it is hungry. Goggle this "snakehead vs Big *** 10 inch bass" it is a snakehead eating a bass, it is tough to watch.

Sorry this thread was high jacked and nothing but snakehead talk now, but I had to add a comment on the size and weight. When we have our Round Ups we do check the weight as well. 38 inch snakes are around 12 pounds we had two in the last one, I have caught over 20 myself 34-36 inches all weighing in at 8.5 to 9.5, 30-34 usually around 7 pounds. If they are not eating the bass they are eating everything else. I have found turtles, crayfish, clams, frogs, lizards, numerous fish species, and birds. They also have the lowest mercury level of any of the predators out there; I believe that is because they are not pure fish eaters, if it is moving they will eat it. I have cleaned and examined the stomach contents of about 500 snakeheads so this should make me some kind of expert on them BTW the peacock bass were introduced in Dade county then anglers moved them everywhere else. I wonder if the guys that moved them feel sorry about sending all them peacock bass to their deaths.

Now that is a Nice Florida toad, WTG guys

Guess I should leave the old lady alone and let her keep doing something illegal since she is just an old lady so look the other way right. The ducks we have here are nasty, dirty, and leave crap all over the place and are a health hazard as far as I am concerned. It is state law not to feed any wildlife in Florida, and I do think that is just about everywhere in the US. If there were signs posted around the lake that were real signs I would not even have fished there but for the dirt bag to wait until I got near a post that said no fishing just ticked me off, look at the background in my pictures do you even see another post or any signs. I had no idea you could not fish there since it was a public park. This does explain why that side of the lake had more fish, and the closer I got to the post the fish were bigger

Yes this is the park in question, yeah I stopped in Jacaranda first and saw the clearly marked no fishing signs everywhere so decided to hit the park since I thought it was safe.

Not anymore just about everywhere you go it is posted no fishing now, this is the first park I have ever seen a no fishing sign. It was just odd that it was not a sign but a post that looked like someone made and put in the ground, and trust me there were plenty of signs around the park, like no pets, do not feed the animals and bunches of others pertaining to all kinds of other stuff since it was a sports complex with baseball fields, soccer fields, tennis courts, etc, etc, etc. As for Arizona it is well worth the drive since once you are done fishing for can go to one of the parties on the lake

First off it is a public park and I have fished there before and never had an issue, it is not really a sign but a post with no city ordinance and only at one end of the lake, there are no other signs, and nothing at the park entrance. I saw the guy on the other side where there were no signs and he waited until I got to the part of the lake where the post was. The problem I have with the old hag is that she was clearly doing something against state laws by feeding the wildlife and nothing was being done about it, but here I am a licensed fishermen not bothering anyone, releasing the fish and get kicked out. Even the kid that kicked me out apologized and told me if the guy would not have said anything it would have been fine to finish my walk around the lake.

This evening on the way home I stopped in on one of the best bass spots I have found lately to get in a few cast before dark. Well the fishing was a bit slow to start just like the last time I fished this lake then about 6 the fish turned on again. First couple fish were in the two pound range and the sunlight started to disappear and the bigger fish came out to play, popped a three pounder, then had a 5+ chase my frog right to the edge of the weeds where I did figure eights with about 2 feet of line off the tip and watched this toad chase my frog around until she lost interest. Took a couple steps and popped another three pounder, and just about to get to the best area of the lake and a kid pulls up on a golf cart and says I can not fish and need to leave because some guy complained about me catching fish > > > Well I left since I did not feel like getting arrested and on the way out I told the old hag that was feeding the ducks that it was against the law to feed them as she does every night I have fished the lake. This was in the city of Plantation, Florida BTW so I will find out who to complain to about this and make sure they know that they know this is BS and call FWC to let them know there are people feeding the wild life there

Jack was a cool guy, hopefully by next year he will have them dialed in better. We put a dent in the population but it was small, and there will not be thousands to be born next year. Hopefully next year we will see more participation, and be able to keep these fish in check.

1st Place Ed and Corey Nowakoski 22 kills and two monsters one at 38 1/4 inches and another at 38 inches 2nd place Glen and Donovan Dusablon 19 kills 3rd Place Steve Papp and Adam Kupferberry 18 kills Only five teams with a total of 69 kills and Jay and I went out for a couple hours and managed to kill six 46 bass were caught so the balance is tipping nicely, keep up the good work guys. Ed and Corey with the two 38 inchers Glen and Donovan

From what I hear Holy Lands is doing good right now

On the way home tonight I decided to stop at a park do a bit of fishing, lake was maybe two acres and it was a bit slow to start but then it was like a dinner bell went off and about every cast I had bass on or chasing my frog down the shoreline, ended up catching 10 fish from 2-4 pounds, and not one snakehead. Man that was nice to actually find a body of water without those nasty critters in it.

Not as messy with the bat. I am sorry about the snakehead pictures but not a whole lot is being done about the spread of these fish right now and even less people understand how wide spread they are in Broward county. I fished all over Broward county last week and everywhere I fished I found them, some places more than others but as far north as Sample road at Tradewinds Park, to the city of Sunrise all had good numbers of snakeheads, next stop for these fish is the everglades and if you do not like seeing them be ready they are coming your way and fast, if they are not there already, plus the pictures help other anglers ID the fish properly, I would hate to see a native bowfin killed for mistaken ID.

My daughter had girl scouts in the morning so we did not start fishing until 2pm, started in a nice looking canal in the City of Sunrise, within a few casts caught a nice little bass around a pound, thought great found a place the snakeheads have not taken over. Come around a point and something big spooks off the bank, did not think nothing of it then I see a big snakehead in the shallows, kept fishing since there was only one, few cast later bam 5 pound snake meets the no alibi bat. Started fishing back to the truck since today was a bass day only, caught another 3 pound bass. My friend Jason was smoken a pig so we stopped by there for an hour for my daughter to get in some play time andI could get in a couple beers before we hit the next spot in Tamarac. Went to a canal we have cleared a lot of snakeheads out of to see if they were any bass moving in yet, fished about a half mile of shoreline without a bite from neither snakehead or bass, my kid was ready to go and all of a sudden I see what looked like Jaws closing in on my frog. She exploded on my frog and took off for the depths of the canal, I set the hook and this fish dug deep taking me down the bank, thinking I had a real nice bass on I played her out, then the death roll > after that I just yanked the beast up on the shoreline. This snakehead was massive, left the bat in the truck since I was not expecting to catch a snakehead so I put it on the bogo to check the weight, 9 pounds walked back to my truck and let my daughter take some practice swings headed back to J's for a bit. About 6:30pm decided it was time to head back out since I really needed a nice bass today, stopped where I now some nice fish were and starting working the banks nothing on the first pass, started fishing back to the truck and then what looked like a depth charge going off on my frog a big bass just destroyed it, nice six pounder to end the day with. Not a bad day 4 bass up to six pounds, and 3 snakeheads 4-9 pounds. If anyone is missing a cat and lives in Tamarac I found the killer, look at the part of a spine I pulled out of the belly of the beast.

Yes one in the same, would love to hit the course with ya one early morning before the golfers tee off.

If you want to Drive down to Miami, hook up with Capt Shane Procell, he has a unique fishing spot that is good that time of year.

Caught this chunky four pounder in one of my snakepits, it was busting up on baby snakes that were orphaned the day before ripped a frog through the school of orphaned babies and it just exploded on it. When back today and caught the same bass this morning and it was a half pound heavier with a gut full of snakes. BTW the bass in this picture was not harmed and was released to keep eating baby snakeheads.

Steve Papp with the two biggest of the Round Up both at 32.50 My 9 pounder measuring at 31.50

Well guys it was a great time and it was great to put names with faces. We had 19 guys fishing with a total of 85 Snakehead Kills, and 59 bass were caught. The winner for the shoreline division and big fish was Steve Papp with a 32.5 inch Snakehead and a total of 18 kills. The winner of the boater division was Corey Nowakowski with a 31.25 inch Snakehead and 10 kills. After everyone took off to fish we finished up the paperwork and Jay and I decided run the banks for about three hours Jason killed 5 and I killed three with my personal best at 9 pounds at 31.50 inches. Looking at the pattern the guys that did not catch many snakes caught more bass and the guys with multiple kills caught few to none so they have not completely taken over yet. It has been a long day and after cleaning 30 snakes I am beat but I will get the pictures up as soon as I can.