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Just looked on the JDs website and saw there is a snakehead roundup this saturday the 11th! I actually have off and plan on fishing. Anybody else plan on fishing? Matt

i had my best outing as far as salwater goes this past sunday. I got to the Rickenbacker causeway about 330am. Tide was rippin under the 1st bridge. Caught a small jack off the bat, i can hear and see(from lights on the bridge) fish bustin the surface with an occasional monster blowup farther offshore. This was mostly out of casting distance. Did manage a small mangrove on a small plastic jerkbait. And some ladyfish on a surface walker in mullet pattern. Never got a big hookup. I even put a ladyfish on a hook and let the current take her out, no takers though. One day i will get something of size from saltwater, haha. Matt

My personal opinion is to stick with what u have already. A steel leader may hinder action of the bait, which results in less strikes IMO. I target snakeheads(when i can get up to coral springs). I throw 40lb power pro and break offs arent all that common. I just need to pay more attention to my line and re-tie more often with the snakeheads. Just my .02. Nice bass btw! Matt

All the different ways people have mentioned this thread is just a testament of how versatile that bait is! I myself use a 3/0 or 4/0 EWG hooked the traditional way, and i also skin hook the tip to be totally weedless. In the lake in my development the water is always very clear, and the arkansas shiner color is hard to beat. Early in the morning i pretty much "walk the dog" about a foot below the surface with an occasional pause. Everywhere else in south florida the watermelon colors are great with the more stained water. I throw 40lb braid on a 7' MH Veritas with also a 7.1 PQ. Too much cover down here to not have the heavier line. Matt

i've ben hearing the last week or so tarpon have been abundant. I think sunday morning i will be up about 3am to catch the tide change at either haulover or rickenbacker causeway. I've gone to inlets other times with little success, smalls jacks, runners, ladyfish, etc. Nothing of serious size as of yet. Picked up some mullet imitating baits at BPS today and will keep my fingers crossed! Matt

We've had them in a concentrated area here in florida for roughly a decade. I dont see devastation that a lot of ppl would expect. Sure they will eat bass and bass forage. Bass also eat the young snakeheads as well. When i do target the snakeheads i always catch bass too, so it is possible for them to coincide with one another, in the sme waters.

Over the past year and a half since ive had it, its very hard for me to put down my veritas microguide. 7'MH and it is my work horse. At the time of purchase i had only 1 other rod. Over time, i've added 3 more combos, and none of them feel as good as that one. All my rods have PQs on them. i throw weightless plastics with the veritas, flukes, senkos, buzz frogs, and even a weightless space monkey here and there. Love it! Matt

70yd casts are just unreal. I'm not doubting the number its just crazy. The baits i feel i can throw a mile i MAY get 40-45yds. and i'm talkin a spook jr, or a 7" stiko worm weightless. i mostly fish a lot of cover so distance is not a huge concern. And like someone said, getting hooked up 70yds away is a LONG way for somethin to happen. Matt

Though i've never taken a hook past the barb anywhere, i did take a pectoral fin from a sail cat into the side of my hand. cut the fin off and went inside to clean it and it was gone. so i thought i had bumped it on my leg and came out, nope. 3 days later after a hospital visit(my hand was twice normal size), my hand felt better and started stretchin it. i bent my fingers back and out pops the tip of the fin. grabbed some pliers and ripped out the rest of the 1 1/4" bone from the cat out. It was gross! matt

whenever i throw trebles or a small hook(wacky rig) i always keep an 8" pair of needle nose pliers. Never had a serious problem removing hooks with those. I have recently started mashing the barbs on the trebles. Hooks come out much easier, and haven't noticed a dramatic difference between catching/losing the fish. A few years ago when getting back into fishing i threw a wacky rig for the first time and gave the fish way too much time and ultimatly gut hooked him. i tried to get the hook for a couple minutes, and had to cut it off. I threw the fish back but i don't think he survived. i felt awful about that. After that is when i got the 8"pliers and been good ever since! Matt

I didnt have anything goin on this morning so i took advantage of overcast skies and threw a spook. Was at one of my fave spots in davie and this big girl destroyed my clear spook. Couldnt even jump out of the water! I keep the drag on my reels pretty tight and she had no trouble pullin 5 or 10 yards out through the fight but i got the best of her. Im guessin 5 or 5.5lbs. Either way a slob!

I want to say the wind was out of the south, early morning was around 10-12. As we got later in the day around noon it was easily 15-20mph. Forecast for tomorrow looks a little better, though not much. We struggled keeping good position along the pads even in a 20ft stratos. i imagine a 12 or 14ft john boat will be more difficult. i'm sure you can easily find areas that are more protected from the winds and still be productive. good luck! Matt

I've never tried LMB, i've always heard mixed reviews about them. Tilapia are always a good bet for freshwater, I eat mainly saltwater fish down here. Mahi is incredible, grouper is awesome, snook are delicious. I've always heard snakeheads are great table fare as well. While i do catch them, i do always see the bodies of water i catch them from. i think i would need a hazmat suit to clean the fish, haha. Matt

went out with a friend of mine on his boat last sunday. We only boated about 12 fish, but 7 or 8 of those were 3lbs and up. Wind was BRUTAL, spent most of the day with a drift sock in the water and were still haulin ass. It was hard to make an accurate cast. Tried almost every bait i had, but all the quality fish were on spooks Matt

Seems to me the farther south you go the more abundant they are. They are common in my area of pembroke pimes but it gets way better down south. They always like something moving fast. They turn their nose up at slow moving plastics(unless they are on a bed). Rapala x raps or any hard jerkbaits or cranks should do the trick. And when u do get nailed u will instantly know its not a LMB. hood luck! Matt

Not familiar with that area but i will say throw something fast. x-raps are a very popular choice as far as baits go. Daylight hours like snook said is a good suggestion as well. I would think most bodies of water in that area will produce peacocks. You just need to cover a lot of it to find them. Good luck Matt

Thats awesome lou! Never wouldve guessed someone could beat 'em up like that with how cold/windy it was! Great job!

I recently bought a 6.4:1 for cranks and spinners only, i don't notice that much difference between them. my other 4 setups have 7:1s. one is a hollow body frog setup, a weightless plastic setup(fluke, senko), weighted plastics, and one for everything else, haha.

Picked up my latest PQ yesterday. This is #5 for me! Very hard to go wrong at $65 after trade in. I didnt notice the crankin sticks on sale, of course there is tons of stuff on sale so u may get lucky. I had a vendetta already to put the reel on.

Miramar isn't bad either(west of university). You can just jump on the turnpike to the golden glades and take I-95 to miami beach. You can be just a few minutes from the highway, and the miramar/pembroke pines area is a pretty good peacock area! Matt

I went out yesterday morning to a spot in davie and did great! ABout 20 fish with the biggest 5 about 15lbs. all of them on a wacky weightless senko. Hit a spot this morning in weston with a lot more pads and cover, so i rigged the worm weedless. caught 5 in about an hour, nothing bigger than 2lbs though. I did see in weston there are some bass on beds, though it seems they arent fully committed to them yet. I would flip the worm to the bed, they inspect it and swim away most of the time. the place in weston i just stumbled on. i found a spot close by on google earth, and followed the canal the opposite way and it opened up into a pond with pads, pads, and pads. wish i had time to walk 1/4 mile back to my truck to grab a frog to throw in there. i just ran out of time. Matt

I watched it happen this morning as well. I didn't expect it until this afternoon so i decided to hit some favorite spots this morning. I was at the first spot maybe 20 minutes and a couple 2lbers into it, then the wind shifted from slighty south to what felt like tropical storm force northwestern in about 15 seconds. Temperature dropped about 10-15 degrees in the same time. I then decided to call it an early day, lol. fish will probably be lockjawed for a day or so. cooler weather is nice just as long as it doesnt drop to much further, haha. i'm a born and raised south floridian so any temperature less than 55 degrees and i just shut down. lol Matt

That covers a huge part of it right there. i always like to key on differences on either side of the bank. bass being ambush predators love to hide out and wait for anything to swim in front of them. So basically anything that looks like an ambush spot is where i wil make a few casts to. and pay attention to cover on the bank you are fishing on as well. if you see something up ahead that looks good, make a parallel cast to it well before you walk over to it. Most of the time in skinnier canals here i throw weedless soft plastics so there is no piece of cover i wont cast to. i save the stuff with trebles for bigger water, lakes, main canals, etc. Hope this helps and good luck! Matt

fstr, you can dump a small john boat in at the park of that lake. I live not too far from there and have fished it only from shore. For the most part the water is always crystal clear. Its a very big lake with a little bit of everything. Deep water, pads, grass, docks, and a couple of islands as well. There are a few canals not too far from there that i've found to be more productive, water is more stained and fish don't seem to be as skittish as they are in clearer water. Good luck to ya! Matt