Highhawk1948

Welcome. I am from Noccalula Falls area, north of Gadsden. My Grandfather would take me fishing on Guntersville in the 50s. Hope you get to fish it. They say it is great. Live in Florida now, moved here back in the early 70s, partly for the Bass Fishing.

Keep it simple and get a 1 1/2 inch to 3 inch revolver in .38 special. Ruger, Smith/Wesson, good dependable guns. Don't want to get in a big discussion concerning jamming but revolvers will jam/lock up for several reasons. Have had it happen. Best thing to do in to keep it cleaned(revolvers are easy to keep), and use quality ammo. No problems.

My main gun right now is a Colt Commander 1911, .45 ACP. I also like and shoot revolvers. Love the Ruger Blackhawks, carryed one for years. Go in with an open mind and you have to know what you will use it for as said above. Hard to beat a good revolver for a truck and trail gun. Have fun, haven't been to a gun show in a couple of years. Need to go just for the entertainment.

I keep two out of my locker, one goes on the front deck where I can kick it into the water when I catch a fish (if I am fishing off shore), and one in the middle seat so I can pitch it out while moving and watching my sonar. (I carry 6 in the boat). Pitch them off to the side of your object so you don't get lures tangled up in the line.

I use an old Quantum Cranking reel for medium and deep crankbaits.

6 inch Producto Tourament worm, Black Grape. Because when Texas rigged the tail floats up off of the bottom. It has been a good producer in the stained waters I fish.

I like Bomber and Rapala. Most of mine are from the 70s and 80s. I put triple grip hooks on them, maybe go up one size on the hooks. Some of the same colors catch fish better than others and I keep them seperate. Have thrown a couple of the Stike Kings but keep going back to the ones that work for me.

Congratulations, love it when they just grab it and try to take it away from you. Caught my first fish on a River Runt Crankbait, in Texas, 1958 or 9. Keep chuncking and winding!

I started with the Hummingbird Flasher units. I would look at the red bars and then throw a deep diving crankbait through the spot and drag up the species of weeds and learned to tell the difference from eel grass, hydrilla, pepper grass itc. Also hard bottom verses mud. When I went to the new ones that have screens I did the same thing so I could identifiy stuff. Also, read the manual, it probable has examples of what the screen will look like. (I loved the old flasher units, Hummingbird and to drag me kicking and screaming into the new age!)

Watermelon red and green pumpkin

You might try fishing points with a couple of different crankbaits and judge to depth using them. If you hit weeds, rocks, etc. throw a floating marker out and fish it with a worm or jig. Fish visual cover, grass, boatdocks, etc. A good topo map is invaluable to get you into the right areas and can give you appoximations on points.

Sounds good, just go slow. But above all else just enjoy being out there and have fun fishing.

We use to call a big knife a "pig sticker" because the blade was long enough to pierce the heart of a pig sticking it behing the shoulder. As related to fishing I have no idea, but there are a lot of "buzz words" that I don't get. Like "platform" when referring to a pistol to "send a projectile". I quess people want to sound smart or something!! I am surprised that someone hasn't referred to a rod as a platform for throwing lures!

Here in Florida I would think that fisherman would consider a 10 pound or over a real trophy. I always release them but long ago I did have two mounted. Wouldn't do it today.

Not an expert but do a lot of dropshoting from my boat. My suggestion would be to give it a little slack so it can stay put and hold the rod still.

As fall starts I am throwing a Cordell Spot, lipless crankbait, red crawdad or bleeding shad.

I caught a biuegill saturday that was the same size as my 1/2 oz. rattle trap!

Change to a palamar knot and try again.

The old Tru-turn hook

Trap

Fish central Florida in January, February, March in the canals, pads, and other spawning areas, you will hook a big'un. Just hope the cold fronts don't hit too often and turn them off. Its best to have 3 stable days of weather.

I go "light" when the catching slows down. I use old stuff though. The old 5'6" medium rods with pistol grips left over before long rods came into vogue. I have small light bait casters with 8 and10 pound mono. I throw sliders, 4" worms with 1/16 slip sinkers, and small crankbaits on them. I also throw beetle spins on a 5'6" ultra light spinning gear with 6 pound mono. Largest I have caught on the UL was a 4 pounder, what a fight! I think one day I will go strictly with light gear.

some excellent discussion!

Just bought some Jigs today to start fishing them again. Purchased some Zoom Chunks to use as trailers. Also have Culprit Worms that will match too.

In the picture to the left is a 7 pound Bass. I was teaching a young lad how to bass fish and we had been throwing worms along a grass line, we had caught 4 or 5 fish that weighed about a pound each. Having fun. He wanted to know how we could catch larger fish. I told him two ways, flipping heavy cover, and fishing deep. We started flipping the same grass line and in 15 minutes he caught a 3 pounder and I caught the 7 pound even. Bass can grow year around in Florida and you have a good chance to catch some big fish, and if you really fish alot you will have more than one 8 plus on, now you might not get it in the boat but you will get bit. Best I ever did, 1975, on Lake Griffen, was a 10 fish limit with the smallest 5 pounds, largest 10.4. (I believe it was February). Still have the newpaper article somewhere. No, not in a tournament.