redux

I used to attach it to my belt loop too, but I got tired of forgetting it, getting snapped in the butt when I got up to hit the deck, and having to reconnect it. I moved it to my PFD because I wear that whenever I get in/out of the driver's seat.

Any kind of wood. Docks, sticks, stumps, laydowns, whatever.

I reel in the slack and sweep my rod back while they're in the air. My hope is to take up the slack and keep pressure on the bass.

I cover up as much as possible when I'm fishing - Long pants, long sleeve w/ hood and gaiter, hat, glasses, shoes, and fingerless gloves. Sometimes I forget the gloves. Deep in the summer I have very tan finger tips and when I forget the gloves I get dark hands. I work outside a lot and don't follow the same dress code on the job site normally so I have more exposed skin and use sun screen. I guess just normal construction tan. Thankfully, I have my dad's skin type so I take to the sun pretty well and get a dark tan pretty easy.

Hannon's Big Bass Magic - Doug Hannon Lures for Lunker Bass - Bud Andrews Fishing on the Edge - Mike Iaconelli - Only read this if you want to catch GIANTS!!!

Simms Guide gloves are the answer. Fabric is light with SFP 50 and the palms/fingers are goat leather. The leather is very soft and durable. I was using them for construction work a few months back and after a few weeks of driving screws the left index finger started to get schewed up. Other than that they are still good to go because the leather is a couple layers thick. Definitely on the pricey side of fishing gloves. I thing they are about $50 but well worth it. I've had mine for 4 years or so and they get heavy fishing use in the deep south of Florida.

One thing to consider is the action of the rod. A heavy rod with a moderate action will bend a lot more (kind of like a medium or a glass rod) than a heavy with a fast action before it hits the backbone. But you don't sacrifice the power a heavy gives you.

4 Shimano 71 HG 5 Shimano 71 XG 2 Shimano Stradic 3000

Peacocks and Cichlids are getting pretty common on the west coast of Florida. The canals aren't thick with them but it's easier to go sight fish for peacocks than to target largemouth in the vegetation. Thankfully, I haven't sen any exotics in the bigger bodies of water.

The past few weeks I've been eyeballing my fly rods and thinking about the old days when I was only fishing for bass on the fly. Yesterday I finally tossed my 6 weight Radian and Nautilus reel in the truck with a few flies just in case I got a wild hair. I am very thankful I did. Yesterday was really bad at the places I went. Low water, zero clouds, steady wind and clear water. I got desperate to avoid a skunk so I tied on a tiny minnow and sight fished an 8 incher in the shallows. A bit overpowered for the job and my casting is awful after 6 years using bass rigs.

Live bait fishing for bass always chaps my backside whether I am in a boat of on the bank. I don't get it and have explained my dislike for it this way. What's more of an accomplishment? Get a guy to eat a cheeseburger? Or get that guy to eat one of those dog toys that look like a cheeseburger? Anyway, bass aren't that hard to catch with artificials and all I can do is shake my head and pity any adult that needs to used live bait to catch bass. Oh yeah, litter and poor fish handling really bum me out too.

I am definitely slooooooowwwww. There is no way I will put the trolling motor on high and run down the bank like KVD. My experience tells me that the fish move a good amount of the time and if you're timing is off you may be ahead of the fish as you keep running down the bank or you run over them. Move slow and they will run into you. Also, If there is one bass in an area there are a bunch of them so come in slow, stay put, and catch the ones that are biting.

I have a few Falcons and love all of them. The only thing I don't like is the Christie and Bucoo have closed hook keepers and I prefer them to be open. 20 year anniversary Lo Riders -7' MH and 7'2" H Christie 7'3" H BuCoo micro -7'6" H

I look at moon phases but try to not get drawn into them too deep. Over the years I've had mixed results so I have learned to look at them as one more data point to consider. What is more important to me is how fish act in a particular body of water over the course of the day and year. So if you ask me, "Do moon phases matter?" I'll reply, "Well, it depends." And that's why a buddy of mine often calls me Diapers.

Card got a big trebel in his index finger. Looks like he enlisted the Keystone Cops to braid trick it out ? He decided to push the barb out and cut the hook point off...and he doesn't have cutters in the boat...He found Herron and got him to cut it...

Hack the butt off with a hack saw. Just be sure you secure the rod in a vise of some sort and make a good measurement before cutting. You can also score the line to help avoid any epoxy or graphite chipping while you saw. You will need to weight the butt afterwards because it does change how tip-heavy the rod is. You can find weighted butt caps or epoxy some weights into the blank since it is hollow. You will need to epoxy a replacement cap if you go this route. I did this to a rod with a 19.5" handle and just epoxied in some weights and used a generic cap to close it off.

Hope that setup works for you. I use my cut-down 8' for punching and casting heavier jigs. Although I keep my Curado 71 on it when I switch baits, but a K would be great on either rod. Actually, switching to a K on mine might be good because it is fairly tip heavy.

That sounds like a job for the Shimano Expride 8' heavy or 7' 11" extra heavy. The 8' has a long handle (19.5") so that can be an issue. I cut mine down and epoxied some weights into it to help balance it out. The action is great and launches heavy baits.

During peak Covid I had a slow TW order. Paid for 2-day and with their fulfillment delays and shipping it got to me one day faster than standard shipping, Something like 10 days. My last order (placed on a Saturday) was fulfilled and shipped the following Monday. I had it Wednesday. DIck's is a lame company and has a pretty weak selection. I've popped in 7 times in the past month and didn't buy anything. There are no Academy's near me. The Bass Pro up the road has a fairly weak rod selection at the moment, but they have everything else in spades. My area is heavy salwater so the selection for bass tackle is not always stellar. I'm thinking I may need to drive up to Clewiston and see what Roland has on the shelves or look into some of these other online retailers I see everyone talking about.

My go-to search baits in those conditions are a weightless 5-6" watermelon red stick bait or a 3" swim bait with a 1/16 oz weighted hook. Drag it over vegetation, let it sink in the holes, pause when you get to the edge, then pop it off so it sinks a few inches off the edge. Pitch it around wood, bushes, and rock, let it sink to the bottom, make a few twitches.

Good advice right there. EDIT: Practice your casting techiques and reel control at home or dedicate time on the water to practicing and not catching. It is really frustrating when you cannot get your cool setup to put your sexy bait on those beautiful fish because you can't cast properly. ? Womp Womp Also, keep your color selection minimal so you can handle clear, stained, and muddy water. Like someone said earlier, white, green, black/purple respectively.

I have rods with both, and don't prefer one over the other. Honestly, I don't notice the difference in grip materials when I'm rotating through my rods. What I do notice is the different shapes/lengths of the fighting butts on each rod because I often cast two handed. I wonder sometimes if the EVA grips are going to wear out faster than the cork. But after 5 years the grip on my Falcon Christie is in great condition so I should probably stop worrying. ?

Florida is not the greatest place to wade when bass fishing. It's fine for a lot of the saltwater though.

I don't always carry concealed, but when I do I appendix carry a Glock 45 w/ RDS and light plus a spare magazine. I like the full grip/magazine capacity of the 17 and the shorter barrel of the 19. Sometimes I will opt to appendix carry a Glock 43 plus a spare magazine.

Been getting a lot of fish on lipless crankbaits in south west Florida the past few weeks. Also got myself two times in the past two weeks with those trebles.