redux

I went to Demetree park last night for a bit. They aren't interested in biting cranks after your last visit. I don't think I'll be going there again anytime during the week because it's a major pain to get to after work. Maybe later in the year when it stays light later. I got a keeper off the small clump of pads off the right of the dock with a 3" Bass Pro Lazer Eye Shad. I've always had good luck with that bait. Too bad it only lasts for 1-3 fish before tearing.

I have black and white. I'v caught more on black.

Thanks for the info.

I went to House pond and had 5. HP is a small retention pond. Maybe an acre around. First was on my fourth cast of a war eagle 3/8 mouse spinner. Sucks that it snapped my line after I got it on shore and hopped back in the water WITH my bait! Second was on a KVD white spinner bait. Hopped off on shore so I let it flop back into the drink. Third and fourth were on a white chatterbait with a baby bass paddle tail. Both took it in a couple seconds after it hit the water. The third was a long distance release. I figured he needed to get home for a Super Bowl party. Fifth was on the KVD spinner. I had to bandage my thumb because these fish have been going nuts lately. What crank's are they going after at Demetree?

I fished Demetree once and got skunked. I was told it gets a lot if pressure from the locals. Haven't been back. How'd it fish?

I bank fish ponds in the Orlando area. Most of my fish are coming on silver/white spinner baits with double willow blades. Silver/silver and silver/gold. I had a good time sight fishing some holding bucks last weekend. One was on a proper bed and the other five were just staking out property. They came to T-rig 6" senkos I dragged through their area. Some took in a couple tosses and one I had to switch to wacky rig and took about 40 minutes of repeated flips to get a bite. I was using sweet tater pie and pink lemonade colors, but it could have been anything really. I got a nice 4 1/2 the other night on the bank with a frog. I think the IPAs helped with that one. I've been messing with a 1/4 bullet weight, a skirt, 4/0 EWG, and a 4 1/2" paddle tail the last couple days. I'm getting good reactions but no takes. Probably going to take the plastic off to reduce the profile. They seemed to be just slapping at it not trying to eat. Anyway...

Wherever he lands I expect it to be a quality organization with quality products. His reputation has him being way too finicky to get on board with a janky outfit.

NM http://www.megabassusa.com/news/megabass-and-aaron-martens-part-ways-after-17-years

Link?

LOL. It just seemed odd that they increased their relationship with Zaldain, but AMart (who I think is more valuable) is gone.

Megabass isn't listed on his site, and his bio on their site isn't active even though it's still there. I didn't see any news about this. Is there a chance anyone here knows what happened?

The *** and FLW podcasts are both quirky, but they are great entertainment. The Itinerant Angler is a fly fishing podcast, but he has a good interview with Dave Chouinard who is a sales rep for Simms. They touch on Simms' history and foray into the wild world of tournament bass fishing. The Orvis podcast also has a few episodes where they talk about large and smallmouth bass. The host also has a sweet tooth for stripers. I like seeing that niche of fishing trying to bridge the gap. Yes, I know it is a marketing ploy to nab some money, but I still like the idea of our sport growing and getting into new demographics.

I live in the WP too. I've had a decent amount of success with Okeechobee magic, watermelon black flake, 3" swim baits, and 3/8 spinner baits.

One day I saw a guy fishing with a spinning rod upside down.

Something's blooming and my allergies are acting up. I think I need to leave the office after lunch and go fishing. Yeah, that is exactly what I need to do.

Thanks bigbill! I always enjoy your posts.

I grabbed some rattles and stuck one in a Rage Tail watermelon seed Anaconda last night. I had it Tejas rigged on a 5/0 EWG with a 3/8 tungsten watermelon red flake weight. The weight was too heavy, it should have been 1/4. I had the rattle in the worm behind the hook. I lost a good fish on this and got a decent one. The one I got was hooked super close to the outside of its lips. The one that got away didn't even get hooked because the hook was still rigged perfectly. Anyway, did I put the rattle too far back? Should I have stuck it between the eye and the point? I didn't do that because I thought it wouldn't let the worm compress enough to fully expose the point. It seemed like they were hitting the worm where the rattle was. Sorry for all the words.

+1 for sure! High quality, USA, local, hardcore fishing.

I got the Plano Guide bag for 3700 boxes and it works so much better than bags for me. Bags were hard to sort through and moved around too much. I primarily bank fish for now so I just check the small Planos I carry with me before I leave the truck and fill them up with whatever I'm going to use.

Also, there are a ton of online fly fishing mags, but these guys are legit. http://www.southerncultureonthefly.com/ Unfortunately their blogroll is now empty, but one blog I liked is http://diefische.org/. This site is popular, but is trout oriented. The guy behind it is awesome. http://thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot.com/

My first rod was a Scientific Anglers 6wt combo and it was ok. Since then I've bought a few rods and have moved to Scott and will probably never use another brand. I have a Scott Radian 6wt with a Nautlius SFX reel and S4s 10wt with a Galvan reel. The 6wt is big enough to throw anything I've ever needed to catch and land bass. The 10wt is for saltwater and is collecting dust and I want to sell it. That being said, look at this combo. http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=4Y07&dir_id=758&group_id=759&cat_id=14816&subcat_id=44223 If you are going to get into fly fishing for bass, the main thing I will tell you is to use a level leader. Don't waste time with tapered leaders. Bass bugs are big enough to straighten a level leader and the splat you get is waaaaayyyyyyyy lighter than anything you normally get from baits you throw with a baitcaster. Bass don't care. You can get away with 20-30# mono for topwater and the same with flouro. Fly lines are supposed to be rated to 30#. The only consideration for the # leader you use is whether it fits through the hook eye. Also, flies these days are getting bigger and looking more like "our" baits than "their" flies. Basically there is a major trend towards tying weightless "lures" because guys are targeting either large, meat-eating trout (browns) and muskies. These fish do not eat dainty little flies. These fish eat other fish and small mammals. http://vimeo.com/richstrolis https://slideinn.com/store/index.php?cPath=23 - Kelly Gallup is credited with changing how fly fishers approach streamer fishing. http://www.flyfishingtheozarks.com/fly-fishing-and-tying-videos/

LCP.

LCP .380 I wear light clothing and am not a big guy so I don't have anywhere to hide anything bigger than that. I used to have a Sprinfield XDM 9mm with the 3.8" barrel, but that was too bulky so I ended up never carrying it. I fish in all kinds of weird areas and live in a big city.

I also heard about the FI here and got a pack. They aren't super durable, but I got a 3#11 absentmindedly hopping one across the bottom of a small pond on an a Daiwa ultralight spinning rod at night so I am fine with the bait:fish ratio. I still have most of the pack left because I forgot I had them and have been using Senkos a lot.

I have the Lake Istokpoga series on DVD and watch it regularly. The goofy stuff they do is fun to watch, but I keep coming back because I learn more every time I watch an episode.