Borderline11

I just purchased the Echomap 74sv UHD unit. Cabelas has it on sale for $400 off but not sure if they even have it in stock. But I found out that a West Marine close by did and they price matched for me. I've also been told that WM's warranty service is great.

This was actually a birthday gift from the gf - a little warm weather getaway for a weekend and the chance to fish toho. Granted weather.com is still saying 68 degrees so not all that warm. Anyhow, no shot at changing the timing. It seems like we'll be up against some tough conditions. Is there any sort of frog bite with the cold weather? Do you think it'd be worth chucking some top water through those pad fields, or will everything be hunkered down? Would switching to shiners give us a better shot? I do enjoy bowling though...

I'm actually headed down to FL to fish Toho on Saturday. But it looks like a cold front will be pushing through on Thursday, dropping temps from 80+ to around 68 degrees. Just how tough do you guys think the bite will be and any recommendations on bait/tackle to pack?

My girlfriends family has a house on a private lake in PA. It's paddle/sail only and some of the best fishing I've ever experienced...in the northeast.

I found a quantum smoke on sale, but they only had the floor model left. When they went to find the box, they couldn't locate the side knob so they sold the reel to me for $30. The side know cost me 2 bucks from quantum. Can't beat that.

Jumping in on this coversation - I'm also supposed to be heading down to the orlando area for a weekend in late Feb (26-28). My girlfriend surprised me with a quick getaway to escape the cold and do some fishing for my bday. She actually did research and decided on Toho all on her own! Anyhow, I think we're going to bring some travel rods to do a little fishing on our own where possible, as well as lock up a guide trip. I've done shiner trips to FL before, and I know how fun they can be. She's a bit more apprehensive about using live bait and would prefer to use artificials. Hates the idea of having to kill something. Being that she paid for the trip, I'm trying to appease her. So there's two things - any tackle recommendations for that time of year in Fl? I will bring a limited supply of gear, so I just want to know where to focus when packing. Two baits that she has built a little confidence in are senkos and jerkbaits. I was thinking of bringing some top water as well, but want to hear your thoughts. Also, anyone have a reco for a guide on Toho, that would be able to provide experience with fishing both shiners and artificial? This is her first 'fishing trip' so I want to ensure that she has a good time and gets into some fish. Thanks guys!

I'm a NJ / PA Guy, but have been down to fish Florida several times. Typically I head down for a few days with a guide, but I always bring a travel setup with me so that I can pond hop around Orlando before my flight out on the last day. I was shocked by how many ponds in industrial areas had gators in them. Almost all wanted nothing to do with me and would try to distance themselves. Echoing what others had already said, snakes were my greater concern which is why I picked up a pair of bite guards to wear over my boots. I actually was chased out of a grassy area by what looked like a sizeable one. Knowing what I do about snakes I doubt he was actually trying to attack me, but he was moving in my direction in a hurry, so I high tailed it out of there. I did have a large gator surface no more than 30 or 40 feet from me and start gurgling when I was in a 14ft john boat that made me a little uncomfortable. I kindly tipped my hat to the big fella and continued on my way.

My brother and I do some fairly serious pond hopping and his PR, prior to us making yearly migrations to FL, was a 6lb fish he pulled out of a small pond no more than 50 yards wide at any point. It's fairly off the beaten path and I'm not sure anyone else even knows it exists, which is d**n near impossible in NJ. It would probably take you no more than 2-3 minutes to walk completely around, but has a great population of bait fish. They're there.

I found a pond in my area that's fed by a warm water spring - pumping in 52-58 degree water into the body of water year round. Even now, with snow on the ground and hard water everywhere else, this small lake (15 acres) is completely open. Air temps are in the 20's. Might make the hike to it tomorrow and wet a line. I'll probably keep it simple - senkos, jigs, & jerkbaits. Any other recommendations? The water is rectangular, running east to west, with the spring being in the south west corner of the lake. The south shoreline follows the bottom of a small mountainside with heavy tree cover, so it doesn't get any sun. Do you think I should focus on the spring location or hit the sun lit norther shore?

I may have to go back and pick up a few more baitcasting rods if these sales are still going on. I made out like a bandit a few weeks back - was able to scoop up about $680 worth of stuff for $202. However, one of the reels I bought, the quantum energy baitcaster was damaged. I had to send the reel back to quantum for service and instead of fixing the one I sent in, they opted to just send me 2(!) of the 2015 models. That ups the total to over $840ish worth of gear for $202. I still can't believe it. Kind of mind boggling. Biggest problem is I now have two quantum energy E100HPT's in 7.0.1 and shimano curado 200G6 in 6.5.1 without rods. Any suggestions on what I should pair these to and for what purpose? Was going to use one of the energy's for flipping and pitching on a H XF rod.

The one dream that always stands out to me... My bother and I were fishing in this big pond in front of my dad's old work building from a red and black bass boat (that we don't own and the pond doesn't exist in real life, it's just a big lawn with a drainage ditch). I was throwing a crank bait and hook into a monster. I'm talking WR for sure. The bass was well over 3 ft long, had a mouth as big as a basketball, and a belly like it swallowed a potato sack. Huge! Like grouper big. I'm as excited as can be, knowing what's on the other end of the line. So I'm fighting this thing in for what seems like an eternity and my brother decides he's going to reposition the boat to help me instead of grabbing the net. He has a total brain fart and steers the trolling motor right over the line. SNAP! As he's bent over in disbelief at the front of the boat, I kick him in square in the ass overboard. I then grab every rod and piece of tackle on the boat and throw it in as well. The dream always ends with me flipping him the bird over my shoulder as I throttle out of there. I'm not positive, but I feel like there's a life metaphor in there somewhere. The first time I had the dream, I woke up genuinely mad. Didn't talk to him for two days haha.

I'm thinking about taking a little southern adventure to the Ocala area to do some bass fishing right after Christmas and was wondering if any of you guys know of lakes or parks that offer boat rentals.

Well.... I ended up going back to find a couple more deals, and found a whole lot of those 'can't walk away' situations. Total damage: (1) Quantum Energy PT Baitcaster - $159.95 sticker, bought for $42.76 (1) Shimano Curado G - $159.99 sticker, bought for $42.78 (1) Shimano Crucial Rod - $159.99 sticker, bought for $42.48 (2) Pflueger Supreme Spinning Reels - $99.99 sticker each, bought for $37.48 each - Giving one to my old man for Xmas That's $679.91 worth of stuff...for $202.98! I know the sticker prices don't mean much at this point, but I'm extremely pleased. Don't need to 'stock up' on gear for a little while. Only issue is that the line feed on the quantum doesn't work, so I'll need to send that in for service, which i'm more than okay with. Hopefully it's not too much of a hassle. Woohoo...thanks again guys!

I read this post on my way home from work and ran over to the local dicks a couple minutes before closing to see if I could score a deal myself. Found a quantum energy pt bait caster, originally stickered at 190, on sale for a 100. Asked the guy in the fishing dept to run the sku for me and he said the price is already clearly marked. Asked him to check it again. The guy just looked at me when he checked the gun and asked..'how the h3ll did you know that?' Walked out with the reel for less than $40.... I may have ran to my car. Thanks guys!!

I don't think lake Galena is impacted very much from a temperature standpoint. It's an odd lake to begin with. I grew up about 10 minutes away and fished it often, always from shore. It can be a tough lake to figure out, but may be more manageable if you're fishing from a boat. I've pulled some decent fish out, but there's a 'banned' area, where boats can't enter and you're not permitted to fish in. Of course, it's this area of the lake where there's ton of cover with lay downs and pads and visible weed lines. Just looks like a fishing paradise. I actually struck up a conversation with someone while fishing at Nox a few years ago who mentioned there was a warm water discharge pond somewhere near quakertown that was teaming with big fish. I have no reason to doubt him, as he pulled out his iphone and showed me a picture of a pig that hit 8lbs on his digital scale. He didn't mention the exact location, and I'm not one to pry about other peoples honey holes, but I will admit to spending more than a few hours scrolling through google maps to find it. No luck as of yet.