Bluebasser86

Super Spook Jr in Bone color if I could only have one.

5 pounds, 5 1 pounders. Tons of fish slamming spinnerbaits, bladed jigs, and buzzbaits though, so it wasn't all bad.

Caught my first two ever fishing in the Everglades a couple days ago. Makes me wish there was somewhere around here to fish for them.

This past week, my wife and I went to Florida to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. It wasn't supposed to be a fishing trip, but after doing a little research I discovered that there were peacock bass potentially in the area, which is at the top of the list of fish I would like to catch. So after reaching out to the great members on the forum, I was able to get a few leads and was even loaned a couple rods, a reel, and some baits to try to catch them. The first day I tried for them in the Griffin Canal and the pond in Vista View Park. I was pretty much stabbing in the dark as I had no idea how to catch them or where to look for them at. I did see several Chiclids that acted catchable and once I found the right candidate I was able to land my first fish in Florida Didn't find anyone else willing to play in the canal so we relocated to the park pond. I was shocked how clear the water was, and there were bluegills and chiclids swimming everywhere. I lost a bass one of my first cast, then found a fish on a bed. I wish bass were as aggressive as this little guy was. Not much else going on but I did manage to get a couple really small bass, my first ones from Florida. I gave my report to a couple of the guys from the area and one of them gave me another suggestion of a park he said he used to catch peacocks at several years ago but wasn't sure if they were still there. It was closer than any other suggestions so the next day when my wife said I could go fishing for a couple hours we went straight there. This canal was very clear as well and right away I spotted a potential new species hiding on the edge of the weeds. He wasn't hard to convince to swipe at an Xrap. I actually caught several small bass pretty quickly, along with another gar, but there was a nearby overpass tunnel that was calling my name as I recalled reading that peacocks love bridges. My first cast under the bridge with the Xrap and there were wakes and boils seemingly coming from everywhere! There was at least 10 peacocks behind my bait, each taking their turn at the bait and each missing. It was agonizing being so close but not connecting. I quickly learned that if they missed the bait once, they wouldn't strike at the same bait again. Thankfully, one of the first few cast I made, I connected with a fish. Not a monster, but my first peacock, and I think it's obvious I was excited, I even lost a flip flop and didn't even realize it. I quickly started changing baits to try to catch another. There was one much larger than the rest who immediately became my target fish. he struck at almost everything, but didn't hook up on any of it. Their strike was much different than a largemouth, more like a very large and violent crappie bite if that makes sense. After several near misses, I finally hooked up with a STX Jr. They aren't lengthy fights, but they are extremely violent, especially the headshakes. After a few nervous moments and some indecision on how to grab this fish with 3 trebles in it's mouth, I managed to land my largest peacock of the trip. The commotion attracted some attention, and I was soon sharing the tunnel with another fisherman who was way more talkative than I really liked. So with that spot effectively squashed, I moved to the other side of the tunnel. There were more peas there, but they had a large school of bait corralled. The speed that they attacked was amazing, but also frustrating as they completely ignored everything I threw at them. I gave up on them momentarily and started tossing a Senko at the pencil reeds. As I was watching the peacock blitz, I forgot to pay attention to my line. I tried to move my Senko but was met with weight. Once I quickly realized what was happening I stuck a solid fish. The head said 6 pounder, but the skinny body didn't quite go 4. There were a couple other tunnels that I went and fished and managed one more pea before it was time to call it a night. 2 days later we met up with topwaterrob at Holiday Park to fish for largemouth in the Everglades. I was really excited about the chance to fish such a different body of water and the Glades did not disappoint. We started a little slow with me catching several dinks on a jerkbait and Rob getting one nice one on a jig. The action wasn't as fast as he liked so we made a run to another canal. It all looked the same to me, but something was different because for the rest of the time we were on the water we were getting a bite almost every cast. I caught a lot of little bass on a Pit Poss, then Rob switched to a frog and was getting blasted almost every cast, even though he was having a hard time hooking up. I made one cast to the edge of the weeds and my line was moving off when I lifted on it. The hookset I'm pretty sure bruised my ribs and I was sure I had a monster bass. The prehistoric looking fish that surfaced wasn't the big bass I hoped for, but I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed the fight was wasn't disappointed to catch another shortly after that. The whole time we were there, alligators were everywhere, but never very interested in us unless there was a fish splashing around. This was one of the biggest ones we saw. He wasn't overly happy about us being in his territory either. All the action even got my wife's attention. She got brave enough to join in the action, so I gave her a Diesel Minnow and soon she had her first fish in the boat, which turned out to be an Oscar. A short while later, she hooked another fish almost at the boat. The profile was familiar, but the patterning was not. I knew she had a chain pickeral, her first and one more than I've ever caught. She was less than thrilled about the teeth, especially when they sliced through the braid that my pliers could barely cut like it was sewing thread. After 4 hours on the water, Rob had to head in because of previous commitments. It was probably the most fun I've had in a 4 hour trip on the water in a long time if not ever. The scenery, fishing, conversation, not to mention the boat ride were all terrific. The second to last day of our trip I had to make one more trip to the park that I'd caught my peacocks earlier in the week. This was more midday instead of late afternoon and the fishing was much more difficult. I caught a couple small bass, then a couple more chiclids. We worked back around to where I'd caught most of them the previous time and I was disappointed to find the tunnel all but vacant. I worked what had been the best spot for 20 minutes without even moving a fish so I crossed over to the opposite side where I'd caught my biggest bass. I spotted topwater action immediately and my first cast with an Xrap, I caught a fat largemouth. Several more smaller ones would follow on a Senko and Horny Toad along with a missed giant on the toad (like to have had another shot at that one). My wife was sitting under a palm tree when she announced that she had spotted 2 peacocks that appeared to be guarding a nest. I'm guessing by their aggressive behavior that she was right. I missed them both several times as they just rammed my bait instead of trying to eat it. After several cast I finally hooked up with the much smaller of the 2 fish and landed my fourth pea of the trip. As much as I would have liked to have tried to catch the bigger fish, I could sense my wife was ready to go and I felt it was fitting that my last fish from Florida be the fish that I had wanted to catch so badly. So we packed it up and I returned my borrowed gear. The whole trip was great but with a little help from some of the great forum members here, it was made into a trip I'll never forget!

The white bass runs are done here, so I'm sure they are down by you as well. They're usually offshore chasing bait once they're done spawning, which is about impossible to pattern.

and slide swimmers

I caught my first 2 bowfin ever this past week. I guess them destroying a bait would suck, and getting disappointed by them in a tournament wouldn't be fun, but man do they fight! I had fun catching them and don't think I could be too made at them if we had them around here.

It's already been back there catching fish

Exactly. If you don't have the equipment to keep a limit of fish alive, then it's irresponsible to try IMO because you're just going to end up killing fish. I had a 16' aluminum with a small livewell that didn't keep fish alive well, so the only tournaments I fished were weeknight tournaments that I only had to keep fish for a couple hours at best and during cooler hours of the day. If you get a cooler that is big enough, you can probably build onto the top of it and turn it into a makeshift deck so it isn't just taking up space.

Congrats buddy! Now that Lake is up and walking we should get them all together sometime.

The boat I have now is the first time I've had them on my trailer. I'll never own another one without them.

It's about time!

It's not new, Ned himself doesn't claim it to be and doesn't even like that the rig has been given that name. The baits used on the rig (Elastec) aren't really new but they haven't really gotten much more than a cult following until their effectiveness was shown with this rig. Like senile said, a grub, while subtle, has far more action than a TRD or ZinkerZ does. They do, however, have more action than half of a regular Senko or something like a small finesse worm. The material is so soft that it almost pulsates with and water movement and it is almost constantly wiggling, even when it's sitting still. The technique itself is also very different than most bass fishermen would ever think to use. The proof is right there when guys can see all the pictures and hear all the reports of guys fishing this rig, and still have their doubts. It's small, it's lightweight, the hook is small, the rod/reel/line used is small and light, you're not supposed to really be able to feel the bait. It just goes very against the grain. Yet, it's wildly effective in the right situations, and not just for numbers of fish A 7' Medium is going to be at the very upper end of what I'd suggest using for this rig. The small hook and light line is much more effectively fished with something a bit lighter. My best suggestion is pretty much any dropshot rod can be an effective Ned rod. I use a dropshot rod for my Ned Rig rod, and never for a dropshot. It's a 6' 10" ML/XF with a 25 size Pfluegar Supreme XT. It's all I fish mine on. I use 10lb/2lb diameter Power Pro Super Slick with an 8lb fluoro leader and I'm 100% convinced I catch more fish with braid than I do with straight fluoro with this rig. As mentioned, braid floats, causing this lightweight rig to parachute down to the bottom even slower. Ever seen a craw fall to the bottom after flipping away from a predator? It's very slow, with lots of movement from their legs grasping at anything for them to hide under. It's also when they're at their most vulnerable because their best defense mechanisms are basically useless a fish is foolish enough to attack from head on. So when this bait is parachuting down towards the bottom, and the body of the bait is pulsing, it imitates a craw sinking towards the bottom very well.

I did like some others when I started tying my own baits and went crazy with jig color combinations. Some of them caught fish, but I would usually turn to my favorites that were the best producers and ended up with a ton of baits I didn't use. Now I have my handful of colors I use, but instead I have those chosen colors in a wide assortment of head styles and sizes, which has proven to be a much more effective system.

Lund said it well. Don't worry about winning yet, just learn as much as you can and the higher finishes will come your way. My first year, the first tournament I fished, I didn't catch a fish, never had a bite. It was demoralizing, I wanted to hide my face at weigh in. Then I found out, 29 of the 30 guys had blanked too! It was then I realized that they were all human, just like me. I turned around and finished 4th at Table Rock the next month. 3 months later, I won at Pomme De Terre and then again the following month at Mozingo. I won those tournaments doing something I'd learned to do watching my boater in previous tournaments and by using the knowledge I'd gained from those guys about what I should be doing to catch fish at certain times and in certain conditions. This was in a small club, the results surely would not have been the same in a larger circuit with more serious anglers and more money on the line, but I still would have learned a ton for a fraction of the cost of hiring a guide.

I use floral wire and bead wire (usually in the jewelry making section in arts and crafts stores). I believe it's either 22 or 24 gauge and I use either copper or colored, coated wire in white, brown, or black if it matches the skirt color I'm tying. I agree with the idea to try tying your own with premade heads first to see if you like it or not, then consider buying all the pouring supplies if you really feel you need to.

This will be your best option IMO. You're going to have to lean a little more towards a rod for the plastics because a cranking rod will be virtually useless for plastics.

Terrible news man. With several riders in my family, that is the call I'm always afraid I'm going to get. I know there's no words and nothing anyone can do to make it better, but if you need to talk to someone please reach out to someone, anyone. I'm no therapist but I'm on here almost every night, all night when bad thoughts creep into your head and when you can't sleep. Feel free to PM me, even if you just need someone to talk to and try to get your mind off things for a minute. Thoughts and prayers your way man.

I'd call them direct. Even if they don't normally offer the part, they might be able to help you out.

I know it's hard to be patient. I boat hunted for a few years before I found mine and just knew it was the one. It's tough because you don't want a good deal to slip through your fingers, but you don't want to put on those rose colored glasses and get all excited about the idea of owning a boat and end up with a dud. I made that mistake and ended up make a couple grand in repairs on a boat that never did run right before I sold it and ended up being further behind on trying to buy something else. I think you made the right decision on passing on the first one. I know lots of guys that have had those Mariner motors, I can only think of 1 that has anything but horror stories about them. At the price range you're looking, and from seeing pictures of the lakes you fish, I'd be looking aluminum. You're going to get more bang for your buck and bouncing an aluminum boat off a cypress tree isn't going to hurt nearly as bad as doing it in a glass boat. If you're open to either, keep looking at either though. I was mainly looking at aluminum but ended up with the great deal on a glass boat because I kept looking at both, you never know.

Thought of you on our vacation Tuesday morning Snook. Bunch of seaweed had broken loose and floated up against the beach and was rolling around in the surf. Decided to swim along the edges and see what I could see and figured it would probably be interesting. The surf was rolling pretty good so my visibility was a little limited but at one point I got a decent look and saw some large baitfish (looked like shad but obviously not), probably 6-8 inches long which was much bigger than the ones that I had been seeing that the jacks were chasing. One wave rolled by and they were gone, next wave rolled by and a snook as longer than my leg and half again as thick was cruising by. No idea what it weighed but to see that monster in waist deep water 20 yards off the beach were everyone was tanning was pretty surreal. I saw another one shortly after that nearly as big. If I'd have known there were monsters like that cruising the beach I probably would have bought my saltwater license while I was there since it was a 3 minute walk to the beach from our hotel.

That sun/shade line is basically the same as any other edge like a weed edge or dropoff, the fish use it as an ambush point for prey. Think about looking from the light into the dark or dark into the light, either way your vision will be impaired until your eyes adjust. Bass lie in wait or cruise that edge and use it to their advantage. I've had more than one time that I had good bites along the shade line.

Tak's win was probably one of the best come from behind tournament victories ever. That 3 fish in a row flurry and the overwhelming sense of joy I felt for the guy when he got to hold that trophy. It was truly a great American story, not just bass fishing. The guy came to America with nothing, lived in his car, decided to make a living catching a little green fish, then in 5 minutes and 3 cast he won the tournament that sealed the deal for him to turn his dream into reality. On the other end of the spectrum, you have Jim Bitter, who's name is terribly appropriate.

What a difference an extra "t" makes in a story If I went out chasing strippers all night, I'd come home to my stuff laying in the yard I'd much rather be out chasing stripers anyways