FL_Sharpshooter

X2. It's stealing when you take advantage of a company like that. Dishonest people are my biggest pet peeve. Absolutely, it ruins it for everyone. Obviously, they can tell between people who have problems and those who are just trying to get free stuff, or at least I would hope so. I honestly just wanted a skirt replacement, but that was very nice of them to send me all of that.

Ok, just last night I decided I wanted to fish a little bit, so I did. It was about 7:00 pm when I arrived there, conditions were windy and there was a light rain going on, so I immediately began throwing buzz baits because it was so cool out. Didn't have a single hit on them, which was surprising to me. I then switched to several other soft plastics and fished them on the bottom, but with no luck at any hits. Well, at about 7:30, my friend noticed I was by the canal fishing it (his house is around the corner of the canal). He asks if he could join, I said yes of course, because I always enjoy fishing company. He also started throwing buzz baits, but by now I had told him I was going to switch to a senko. I told him I'm gonna try it differently tonight and rig it texas style non-weighted (I almost always rig it wacky style non-weighted). Several casts later, I began to wonder what the heck it is about wacky rigging that catches so many more fish for me. I began to get frustrated and was about to wacky rig it. So, I turned to my friend and said ok, check this out, I'm gonna be a smart *** and run this thing top water. So, the first cast out I was reeling the senko fast enough to break the surface of the water when I unexpectedly got a huge top water strike no more than 1ft where I cast on the opposite side of the canal's bank. Me, being unprepared and excited at the time, didn't set the hook. My friend and I by now were laughing hysterically at how we couldn't believe something struck that. So, just as my friend was about to say it was a fluke, I casted a second time. This time the strike was at my side of the bank a few feet in front of me, I mean this bass just EXPLODED the thing. This time I was prepared, so I set the hook good on him. It turned out to be about a 2lb large mouth bass. My friend of course was freaking out and trying to copy me, but he just couldn't catch one ;D. Sorry for the long read, just had to share this.

UPDATE: Just got the package today. I was surprised with what I found inside. Chris sent me 4 spinnerbaits (2 3/16oz AlphaShin, 2 3/8oz ChartWhite), a strike king hat, and their catalog. Really makes you feel special when a company actually cares about their products. If that isn't excellent customer service, I don't know what is.

If you're fishing clear water you should be using a color like pumpkin seed, but use whatever you feel comfortable with. I personally like the fire & ice, but I fish murky water. I like to peg my line with a light bullet weight toothpicked. I just let the worm sink to the bottom. Just lift it up and let it hit the bottom, and be sure you're keeping tension on that line, so that it is nice and straight with little to no slack. You'll usually get a bite when it is falling.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I was fishing it on a Bitsy bug last night with the tail cut off of the crawdad. I was fishing it for a good solid 2 hours, just with no action or strikes at all. I must be doing something wrong. I was just letting it drop to the bottom and letting it sit for about 10-20seconds and moving it until I recast it. The place I fish is covered in so much moss that when I go to move the jig from the bottom, I usually feel a snag. However, the weed guard does seem to cut down on this. I feel my flipping/pitching techniques are poor, so that probably doesn't help much either.

I read in the paper about them trying new chemicals to kill off the weeds now. The big concern now is the oxygen depletion from it. There's really no good way to control the weeds.

Good to know, thanks for the help. Even as long as what they are? I just yesterday bought some Stike King 1/4oz Bitsy bugs because I figured I needed to practice my jig fishing more. I actually took the crawdad and cut the tail off of it and kept it for a plastic trailer -- I guess this will work?

Maybe you can try using a Circle hook on a fluke? I usually have pretty good luck with those, they almost always lodge in the corner of the fish's mouth.

Ah, I would have never even thought to wacky rig this. Thanks for the suggestion. I guess this means I can use my Mustad Demon Circle hooks on these. I love using them anyways because the hook-up is amazing.

Just wondering what kind of rig and technique you use when fishing with a crawdad. I've been using a worm hook for these, which seems just fine. I hook it with the claws facing down with no weight added. Any help with these? What's the appropriate time and place to use one of these as well? I'll post a picture of what it looks like, its really similar except the feelers on the head are a little bit longer. Everything else is the exact same about it.

Haha, I'd just accept a full day with mr. KVD....we can all dream . No problem, glad to help. I'm sure several other people have emailed strike king. Looks like an automated message, but not really the point.

Yeah, I figured a company that has so many excellent fisherman behind it would back their products. The goal wasn't at all to get something free, I just don't feel that it is right to spend $5-6 on a spinnerbait that breaks after 2 casts. I know a lot of people probably wouldn't write them, but I think they should be told. If no one emails them, then how would they know they've got a problem?

Wow, thats great. Seems like they actually care. I only posted this because I had previously read about people emailing strike king and not getting a response. Let it be known, I had to email twice. I emailed them on 9/6 and I just emailed them again today when I got that email response. Sometimes emails can get overlooked or sent to the junk folder.

Well, I recently went fishing and had just bought a 3/16oz Strike King Premier Pro-Model spinnerbait. On my second cast the dang skirt ripped off the thing, so I emailed strike king about it. Unbelievably they responded 2 minutes right after I emailed them. This was the response. Sounds like good customer service to me.

KVD is one of the guys where he truly believes in the bait he uses. He can throw a fingernail dropping in the water and figure out a way to catch a fish on it.

Try using a Culprit 7.5" Fire & Ice worm pegged with a light weight bullet weight. I catch fish pretty consistently with that rig in murky water.

I didn't know that, I thought I had to use some sort of special bait. I guess I don't understand why snook/tarpon would even want to live in freshwater...is it easier to catch a meal for them or something? Thanks for the great info, it helps alot.

Thanks a lot for the warm welcome, I hope to learn lots!

I'll try flipping some and I'll let you know the results, thanks for the tip. I'm still in disbelief that there are tarpon in these waters, but if there are, I'd imagine they aren't very big? I'll try throwing a tarpon lure out and see what I get, thanks for the info. Here's where I fish: http://i53.tinypic.com/2dtvj7s.jpg As you can see in the picture, my casting is rather limited, because the gates are locked/blocked off. I have to stand there on the bottom of the hill to fish on that side.

Ah, I didn't even think about using my Zoom Super Flukes. I have some of those in Baby Bass color. The only way I know how to fish those is to fish them like a topwater bait. I fish them an inch or so below the surface and do some quick jerks. How exactly do you fish that shad? I had no idea tarpon could be in the canal, nor snook. From the Google Earth map I looked at, it didn't appear the canal connected to any main river. The main river where I live is the Caloosahatchee River, which eventually connects to Lake Okeechobee. Thanks for the tips and advice.

Lucky you, even after the massive heavy rains we've been getting lately, the coverage is still pretty bad. I always end up snagging on something, but I'm pretty used to it now. It just really makes fishing things off the bottom that much harder. I use a Shakespeare spinning reel and 7ft Shakespeare rod rigged with 20lb power pro braided line. I also have a generic shimano baitcasting reel that I use from time to time. I really don't know a whole lot about rods/reels. The summer heat is tremendous here, so you're probably right. I just caught a few pretty good sized bass again yesterday using senkos. I tried using tubes, but I get too frustrated with them.

For some reason, I always get a hit every single time I fish a lizard as a topwater bait when it is windy. I just use those zoom chartreuse/blk pepper lizards, or lizards that have some sort of color flaked in them. Try that out, just toss them on top of the water weightless and fish them fast enough to keep breaking the surface of the water.

Hello everyone, my name is Brett, I am 21 years old and was born in Zanesville, Ohio. I moved to Kokomo, Indiana when I was 4 years old and was practically raised there until I was 21. I just recently moved to Lehigh Acres, Florida last February and am absolutely loving the Florida lifestyle. I am only 2 streets down from a canal, meaning I can fish there every single day (well that is until Fall comes and I'm back in college). I'm hoping to gain some more experience and knowledge from all of the excellent bass fisherman on this site. Before I moved to Florida, I really didn't know much about bass fishing at all. I was one of the guys that would throw a live worm on the bottom and let it sit and expect to catch something. I still don't think I'm that knowledgeable on large mouth bass. I'll try not to annoy too many with my silly questions. My go-to baits at the moment are usually senko worms (green/red flk pumpkin), and Culprit Fire & Ice 7.5in worms. I am really eager to learn new techniques and try them out. I look forward to meeting and chatting with everyone!

Great to see someone on here from the surrounding area. Thanks for the bait suggestions, I'll check some of those out. Since you live in Fort Myers, you'll know what I mean here. The moss is extremely thick in those canals, so using something like a tube is very difficult for me. The water is also not exactly clear but yet not exactly dirty. It's difficult to short hop it without snagging on the bottom's moss. I looked up that spro BBZ 1 shad, seems I have something pretty similar to this already in my tackle, except it's in 2 parts instead of 3. Basically the only way I know how to fish these is to reel it in and do quick jerks. I also try the stop-pause approach. I have caught only 1 bass doing this, but I don't feel confident at all using them. Sure, maybe sometime we can go fishing, always great to have a fellow fisherman. EDIT: Also saw that I have a few horny toads in my tackle. The only problem I have with fishing those is the cast range that I get. They are extremely light, and I have quite a long cast to get it up to the spillway. I'll have to post a picture of the spill as soon as I can.

Seems to make sense. I did pretty good on a senko earlier, fishing it just before the spillway. The spillway I fish is actually just in a canal that is only about 20ft wide. The depth is 7ft where the water falls, and the part above where the water falls is 20ft. I'm really not a big fan of the drop shots, as I have cleared them all out of my tackle. The only weights I carry are bullet weights (which I use to peg my line toothpicked). As far as stripers go, I'm really not sure, im not too familiar with the area. I moved to Florida from Indiana just this past february. However, I have heard of people seeing crappie, snook, and some catfish in the area, although I personally haven't seen any. The waterway is completely freshwater as well. I tried using about 3-3 1/2 inch green tube earlier, but with no luck. I had a pretty heavy jighead on it as well. It's probably just a lack of experience is all. I usually do pretty well however on plastic worms (most notable the Culprit Fire & Ice). I'm really eager and curious to learn any and all techniques with many different fishing lures.