The Commodore

Thanks for the info! I will try to hit Rodman up during this month.

Just curious. Why a red light? Are bass thrown off by a white light?

Thats one area I would love to have a flats boat with a tower. lol

Orlando. And I am in. Great thread. Finally some information I can use for Florida waters. Its great to hear info on lakes I fish.

Is it too late to join? I don't get out everyday cause of school and work but I try.

LOL I went to high school with the model that was at the grand opening. Small world.

Wow I was about to ask almost the same question here when I got home. My question is a little different as I want to get on the water at Rodman. From my basic understanding, there are a lot of stumps. Any advice on navigating Rodman would be great. I don't mean to derail your thread.

Unfortunately it is more difficult in Orlando than most areas of the country. 1. The natural lakes here are basically on a swamp. No real shoreline. 2. Everybody lives on a lake here in Orlando and a lot of lakes are completely private. The ponds scattered around housing developments are best for bank fishing. I found getting a kayak has helped me get some fish.

So I am staying in Tyler County for a week starting now. I want to rent a boat to go fishing on Sam Rayburn or Toledo Bend but Besides one or two companies, I can not find much. Also would like to know of what bank fishing opportunities exist around this area. I am willing to go as far west as Houston and as far east as LA border. Thanks.

I am going to have to disagree with braid not being good on anything but frogs. I will say do not use braid when fishing in heavy or big rocks.

I have honestly thought about trying one fishing. lol Might be hard to overhand cast.

Anything Yo-Zuri or X-Rap. I do not usually use something more expensive than those. Offshore salt fishing I have lost more expensive lol.

Blue Crayfish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procambarus_alleni And Okeechobee Craw

Was fishing a St. Johns lake, Lake Dexter, just south of Lake George and had a pod of manatees go absolutely crazy about 30 yards away from the boat. Everybody thinks manatees are slow and lethargic but they can MOVE and make a huge disturbance in the water if scared or threatened. I guess we scared them. My buddies and I thought it was a monster gator and got kinda nervous until the manatees came to say hi. Didn't have any lettuce for them though.

I let the fish decide that. Sometimes I get a bite on a constant retrieve with little snaps of the rod tip to give the swim jig action. Other times I swim it up and then let it fall to the bottom and fish it more like a conventional jig. The trailers I use are either a boot tail swimmer or curly tail swimmer. Sometimes I will put a fluke on it if I have neither of the previous two. I like to use 1/4 and 3/8 oz. Swim jigs are very versatile. Experiment with what the bass want in terms of speed. I like swim jigs because if the bass are active you can fish it like a swimbait, if they are not particularly active then you can fish the same jig with the same trailer like a conventional jig.

Fish slow. With occasional pauses of around 10 seconds. I fish ponds with all sorts of baits but lately I have been having luck with jigs (especially swim jigs) and drop shot rigs. Also a t-rigged or c-rigged curly tail worm works well too. Make sure to use trailers with the jigs. Not essential but I believe it helps. Look for storm water pipes leading into the ponds as most of them are designed to be retention ponds and not just for show. The pipes offer shade for the bass in the summer like right now. Another scenario I have been catching on is there are usually bass near egrets or herons patrolling the shallows for food. I think the bass pick up on the birds being there for food, or it could be the other way around. I could be wrong. Do not be afraid to try different baits or techniques from what I have suggested, I have just found success in these techniques. Oh and did I mention fish slow?

I think some Culprit baits float and I have some non salted Zoom Trick Worms that float. I will say that both the Culprit and Zooms aren't very buoyant, but they float.

Realistically how long is it taking to get the jigs after order straight from Northstar? I have been fishing jigs lately and love it. I really like what Northstar, Siebert, and D&M has to offer.

That is why I always have side cutters on me. I would cut off the tip and the barb and slide it out easier. Hooks are not worth screwing up a fish imo.

I have actually gut hooked a fish with a circle hooked senko. It was probably user error as I waited too long and then set the hook. I still want to try it some more. If you let it get into their gut/throat/crushers and they then close on it inside of them, it will gut hook them as that is almost like a second mouth inside and the circle hook will act the same.

I catch bass on Storm baits. Never see them mentioned here. I just fish them slow and sometimes like a jig with the weighted ones. I honestly catch a lot of things with them. Have not used them much lately as I have been diversifying myself with new stuff but they work. Also, bucktail jig and the old creme worms.

I honestly doubt Florida will see a LMB over 19lbs. From what I understand they do not live as long in Florida as northern bass due to no winter and have a higher metabolism. Still Florida has amazing bass fishing but WRs are probably not going to happen. The bass here grow long. I have seen very few fat pig bass in Florida, especially south of Ocala. Maybe I just can't catch them. One day maybe if the Peacock bass population comes back, we can see a big Peacock as they grow bigger I believe. But hey, Florida has much bigger and aggressive fish than bass to catch anyway so I am not complaining.

I do not have much suggestions but make sure your family understands that it will take time in the store. It's like shopping with the lady at the mall. You will want to look at everything.

I actually like to use braid for spinning more than casting. I would use braid for everything if I could.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Thank you for telling us about him. I am sure he would have loved this site.