redux

Prayers going up. Wondering why MLF/BPT/FLW haven't posted anything about this. BASS has been reporting on it since the Martens family made the announcement.

I must confess the following in the past month: Bonafide S127 and a few pieces of supporting equipment ($2K ish) 2 BassPro orders ($150 ish) 1 6th sense order ($75) 2 trips to Bitter's ($100 ish) 2 trips to Academy ($150 ish) Please wish me well in my future indulgences.

3" swimbait 3/8 pitching setup 5" stick bait 3/8 jig square bill

6 13. Took me awhile to beat that from the boat

This is why I am staying out of my boat until things get back to normal. I could drive out of my county to get to the open ramps, but am concerned about everything being packed with antsy people. The St. Johns is a bit of a show during regular weekends and I am in no mood to get run down, buzzed, waked, crowded, or otherwise pushed off a spot or placed in danger. The bigger lakes can't be any better. Thankfully I am surrounded by small lakes that don't have ramps but are easy to launch a kayak into. Stay safe.

Happy to hear he is recovering well. Since the surgery was announced I have seen a lot people asking about him during different live streams. Very nice to see so many people concerned for his well being.

I don't use nets. Just one more thing to fiddle with. I can easily lift a fish (4 pound and under) out of the water, grab the line, and deal with the hook whether it is a single hook or treble. For anything larger than that I just deal with getting control of the fish at the edge of the boat and either lip it or belly land it. If it gets off it gets off and that's part of the game. I have had 2 experiences with nets. The first one was great. The second was terrible. My preference is that the angler land the fish 90% of the time and leave the other angler alone. Of course sometimes boat position or the other angler's physical ability makes it impossible for them to get to the fish, but that should is an exception. Now, the pros...stop boat flipping!! And stop kissing them!! Both are disgusting practices and have no place in my boat.

Very interesting video on how to use Google Earth to study old photos and add way points you can transfer to your units. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze2YJ2WOQSE

Past 3 weeks has been - Wake up, covfefe, office work at home, load kayak, fish, sleep. Will be following this pattern for the foreseeable future.

I wish they would leave all ramps open and just post a ranger/police to issue fines for boats that come in or try to leave with a pile of people.

Send him mine!

Koz, official order is here - https://governor.sc.gov/sites/default/files/Documents/Executive-Orders/2020-04-06 eFILED Executive Order No. 2020-21 - Stay at Home or Work Order.pdf Hopefully posting a non-active link is within the rules here. Go to Section 1, sub-section E, Part 5 for details. I would call or check websites of the relevant city, county, and state officials to be sure the location you want to fish is open for use.

People in FL are amazingly acting like idiots. Massive gatherings of people on boats or gathering on shore. Nearly all ramps in Orange county are closed and Seminole county was supposed to have closed their as well because of large parties on the St. Johns. Glad I finally picked up a kayak 2 weeks ago when I started working from home. Within 3 miles of my house I have a pile of lakes that I can access from shore that don't allow motors and few if any people live on. Limited docks (I love fishing docks) but very ignorant fish. I load up at 3:30, log off at 4, and am on the water in about 20 minutes. Social distancing at its finest.

My friend runs one on the bow and one on the stern of his old 14' Alumacraft. The stern motor is for backing up when I get hung on something or we get too close to shore to run the bow when he gets hung.

Agree with FFF on early/late fishing. During summer mornings from 6-9 and evenings 6-dark are the most comfortable times. Also they tend to be the most active times since they don't need sunglasses any more. Take 9-6 to do whatever the family wants. Win win. Mosquitoes can be terrible depending on where you are. A lot of the Orlando areas are pretty heavily sprayed and there are some cities with programs (so I am told) that drop pellets in lakes to kill the larva. So depending on the area they aren't an issue. Or maybe, as a native, I don't notice them? On the topic of cold fronts. I messed around with reaction baits during the last few fronts this winter and had some decent results. Too bad that ship has sailed for now, but I'll check that approach again in 9 months.

I agree with Don. June-September weather can be pretty tough in central FL. Unless you are good with 100+ temperatures in the shade and near 100% humidity reconsider a summer trip and look to February instead. It makes for some hot water and fishing can slow way down. It's not odd for temps to reach 120 on my front deck during those months. If you have to come down during summer and expect to spend a lot of time fishing from 11 am to 6 pm get a full set of sun gear - Long pants, long sleeve with a hood, gaiter, hat with a good bill, large sunglasses, fingerless gloves, and light weight shoes. It stays light/hot down here til pretty late during summer so you're exposed for a very long time and it gets hot early.

I'm very happy ?

You also have the option to watch the Live stream that has a lunch break and has the commentators following the top guys or the Live Mix that runs raw footage all day with more random anglers talking and the camera guy asking questions sometimes.

The Classic never has and never will gain its relevance from the anglers fishing. The anglers gain relevance from fishing The Classic.

We ran into a guy at the dock yesterday so take this with a few grains of salt. He said in 3 trips this week he's caught 52, 46, and 53 ranging from 1-3 pounds (with a few doubles) on hard jerk baits in 13-15 feet over grass. Granted this takes a boat and some graphing to pull off but it is worth mentioning in case you can get off the bank during the trip. I caught all but 1 fish yesterday on green swimbaits around pads/grass in transition and spawning areas. My buddy caught all of his in the same areas on white. Go figure.

The past few weeks I'm having the best luck with an 1/8 tungsten worm weight unpegged and 3/0 EWG or flipping hook. 3-4" paddle tail swimbaits in watermelon, green and blue, and watermelon red. I started using a color called Bullfrog (Bitter's Baits makes it) which is a clear yellowish green with no flake and that works well when the sun is bright and the water is off color. As the sun goes down or the water color gets darker but still clear I go to the other colors. I'll go to black and blue after dark but at that point it doesn't matter. White works too but I don't have a ton of confidence in it. One of my buddies pretty much throws white only and does ok. I'm also having good results with the 1.0 Strike King silent square bill and Rapala Brat in natural shad colors or blue gill when I would normally throw a spinner bait but want something small. I have just started throwing that recently on a whim so maybe it's just different enough that they don't know better. I don't use a ton of top water other than weightless speed worms and I haven't been using those much lately. No good reason why...going to put a stop to that tomorrow morning. I have never gotten into frogs despite owning a pile of them and I don't like walking baits because there is a lot of floating grass in my local lakes thanks to all the recreational boating so the hooks foul. Chatter baits are working too. Big surprise there. I bet soft jerk baits will work too all in the same colors I mentioned earlier. I just haven't been using them much. Since the moving baits are working I have not been throwing much that sits on the bottom unless I find fish on beds. I usually throw a lot of Senkos. I fish a lot of ponds because my area has good options. All of the baits I mentioned are working both from the bank and the boat. Hope that helps and I didn't ramble too long. Good luck.

You are talking about Yankees. Leave us innocent Southerners out of such sweeping generalizations.

Orlando is loaded with bank fishing spots that are easy to get on. Plenty of guides too. You can rent john boats at Bill Frederick park. Those are the only boats allowed on the lake and there's really no other way to fish it. Read that to mean big fish that do not get pressured. Friend of mine knows a fisheries biologist who got a 10 a few weeks ago dragging a black ribbon tail around grass lines. Just saying. You can get the FWC app and buy your license in there so you don't have to bother with the paperwork in a store. FYI shops make no money selling licenses.

Maybe I looked at a different Lake Dan? Is this it? https://goo.gl/maps/psup2aeV6FX3iBbLA The road running N/S to the west of that is fenced off and some of the roads leading onto that property also appear gated from the main road to the south. A good clue as to whether you can get on ponds and lakes is to see if Google will give you a street view. If not then it is most likely private and inaccessible to the public. You could try calling the equestrian business that is on the south east corner of that property to get an idea of access. All of these colors work well (depending on water clarity, color, and light) weighted and unweighted: White Black and blue Black and purple (if the water is tannic) June bug Candy bug Junebug with red flake watermelon red flake watermelon Okeechobee craw (blue and green with silver flake) Jigs, chatterbaits, and T-rigs are good. Senko, paddle tail flukes, soft jerk baits, craws, etc. Spinnerbaits if it is partly cloudy with a mellow breeze. I've been catching on small square bills in white/silver and bluegill colors in the same conditions I throw spinnerbaits. Like the poster above said look for retention ponds. And hit up the poster who offered to show you around.

Sure. They spawn til May depending on the weather and the fishery. The water just needs to be cold (for FL anyway). I looked at Dan it seems to be on private land. Look closer with Google Earth in 3D and you will see fences around all of that property. Be careful.