hawgenvy

I bank fish waters in S Florida all the time. Some have lots of big hungry bass, and some have just a few scattered dinks. Almost all have some bass. No matter how clear or muddy, you don't know if a pond is good till you've tried the area a few times with a few different techniques. Concentrate on shorelines and shoreline vegetation, sticks, pipes, points, walls, bridges; and rocks, narrowed areas, presence of birds, and wind currents. But don't ignore offshore areas. Always fish around culverts -- they almost always hold a few bass. You'll do better with mono or FC in most situations, if vegetation is not very heavy. And if it's a pond that nobody ever fishes, that's usually a big plus.

My wife said I was nuts for going out to fish in the rain tonight, but it was well worth it, as three four-pounders and a number of feisty bucks were amongst those captured. The lure du jour was the Eco Pro Tungsten Trokar Flipping Jig, the head Sharpied black to cover wear, finished with a Rage Craw trailer.

Agree. Fishing satisfies an ancient and subconscious instinct. Humans have been harvesting food from marine and freshwater environments for hundreds of thousands of years. Pre-humans did it before us. In fact, my little dog Andy loves fishing as much as I do, fixated on my lure as I work it, patiently waiting and hoping for the excitement of a captured flopping creature to celebrate with a jump and a sniff and a lick. Fishing connects us to the natural world around us, and also to an archaic natural world deep within ourselves.

Just about all residential ponds, golf course ponds, and canals will have some bass. Locate spots via satellite imagery. Just toss whatever lure you like wherever you have access and you're likely to catch something. Lake Ida has a lot of fishing pressure and from the shore is usually disappointing. There are numerous ponds behind shopping centers and around office buildings, many of which are accessible, some are rarely fished, and many of them hold good bass. Target areas around the metal culverts that equalize water levels between ponds.

What a bummer. Could be worse though: there is a tale of a fisherman in India who accidentally caught a baby otter in a fishing net and the other otters attacked and killed the man.

Snuck out before the Super Bowl to the pond for 3/4 hour with a Chatterbait, and nailed the nice (3-7) female pictured here, followed by a half dozen bucks. The surprise for me was the iridescent crappie, the first I'd caught in years. If mine and the preceding two posts are indicative, crappie come out in numbers on Super Bowl Sunday.

Some feel that otters decimate the bass population. However, I think that a varied mix of plant and animal species, including alligators, gar, carp, and otters, are signs of a healthy ecosystem.

Had a great evening fishing with my friend Mike tonight, who had never before fished for bass with a jig. Mike took to the jig and trailer like a fish to water and was setting the hook like a pro right from the start. We had steady action for an hour with 2 to 4 pounders one after the other, in spite of cold air (64 deg) and a north wind. Quote of the day from Mike: "Bass really seem to love this jig thing."

And an ideal place, from within its dark recess, for a bass to plan an ambush.

Thanks, man. Many of the golf course and residential ponds around here have so little structure or cover that anything you find is likely to hold a bass. There is one place I go where there's a piece of wood sticking out of the water no bigger than a #2 pencil. About 80% of the time I can catch a solitary bass on it.

Bocamike, those lakes around Palmetto Park Road and Glades Road west of 441 can be can be very good. Some, naturally, are signed "no fishing," and for most of the others there is no good place to park, but if you can get there you can probably do well. I have bank fished quite extensively around BR and almost always do better in lakes and ponds than in canals. Boca Rio road canal usually sucks. Try the ponds around commercial buildings and industrial parks. They are usually not signed or patrolled and generally have wide open grassy areas for fly casting. And there are residential ponds all over the place. If you know people in gated communities or golf course communities with ponds you should definitely try that. Some of those ponds have virgin (never been hooked) bass. Also, you can start a new topic on this site, such as South Florida (or Boca Raton) Fly Fishing. But Boca is pretty localized so you're not going to get a lot of attention no matter what. Unless the topic is golf!

A cold front is stalled over the Florida peninsula. The air is cool and damp, it's raining off and on, the water is muddy. I went out to my highest percentage local pond tonight at 5 pm armed with a jig w/ craw trailer. I concentrated on metal culverts, 3 ft diameter pipes between manmade ponds. Of the four culverts that I targeted, 3 of them held big, fat-bellied bass, all caught within 20 minutes of each other: a 4 lb, a 3-1/2, and a 5.22 pounder.

Back to basics tonight. When I was getting ready to throw my rod in the truck to head out to a pond for some bank fishing after work, I realized I'd been neglecting the good old jig & trailer for months. And, oh, man! Something with a big mouth weighing 1-4 pounds was chomping my 3/8 black/blue plus Rage craw on every pitch for a good 40 minutes. The bite was subtle, mostly just my line moving sideways. But there was nothing subtle after I'd reel down and set that thick hook into mayhem! What in our short lives can surpass a stout rod, braided line, a sturdy jig, and a mean old hungry bass?

Make sure you bring everything you need, including fishing gear, food, water, rain gear, goggles, PFD. Gear should be organized and not excessive. Offer to bring ice or anything else you can to contribute. Be at the ramp on time or earlier. Be respectful of the boater and be a sponge for his advise and experience. Don't boast or talk his ear off. Don't cast in front of the boater. Stay on the rear deck unless he might invite you to share the front deck. Get the net in hand if the boater has a good fish on. Don't step or stand on the upholstery. Don't lean on the windshield. When you grab a drink from the cooler offer him one. Help with launching or anything else at the ramp. Bring cash and reimburse the boater for expenses. Help clean trash from the boat when it's back on the trailer. Shoot him a text that evening thanking him for a great day. The above strategy will earn boaters' respect for the new guy much more than will your fishing ability.

I do a lot of bank fishing in the evenings after work, usually for an hour. I also fish club tournaments with a local club about once a month, usually at Lake Okeechobee or in the Everglades. My biggest catches have been from the bank, usually from waters with little pressure and walkable banks. I consider myself very lucky to have such places nearby. They give me lots of hook setting experience for tournaments, and have allowed me to become reasonably proficient in most categories of bass lures and techniques. I guess I prefer the bank over the boat.

Went out at dusk last night with my friend Mike to toss some Ultra Vibe Speed Worms from the bank. Caught a few feisty bass, and this was the biggest.

I don't have the patience for bass fishing with shiners, staring at that cork forever, going cross-eyed, waiting for something to happen. At least with lures your doing something most of the time. And you're not injuring, or killing, two fish simultaneously just for sport.

Took my son, visiting from Nashville, out to a local pond today to do a little bank fishing before supper. The 2-4 pounders were aggressive, probably in pre-spawn mode, and we caught a bunch. The lure du jour was Gambler's "Big EZ," the color "forty-niner."

Her first bass.

Thanks, geo g.

Just got out of the hospital after a little bout of pneumonia. I know, I'm supposed to take it easy. But isn't taking a leisurely 1 hour stroll along a nearby golf course pond -- just me and my T-rig -- taking it easy? (My wife didn't think so, but that's her opinion.) Anyway, my little Rage grubs were gobbled down by some really nice bass tonight. One of them had a pointy belly due to a massive bluegill in her gut, the tail of which was still in her mouth. She was awfully greedy to want my grub for desert before she could swallow its predecessor. Also, I was blessed by the appearance of a great blue heron, wood storks, a rare (for me) roseate spoonbill, and a beautiful sunset. Now it's time to kick my feet up and relax with a gulp of Robitussin, peruse the pages of BR, and try to burn tonight's little adventure deep into memory.

Friends and I had great fun loading the boat with these speckled trout near Titusville a couple of weeks ago. All were over 15". Later, we loaded our stomachs with yummy pan fried trout filets!

Fishing, besides being a pleasant pastime for all of us that habituate these pages, focuses the mind on catching a fish. For me it's almost hard to think about anything else. And you become one with nature, besides. Bass fishing with lures is a particularly active endeavor. When I'm out fishing I'm thinking about threading a worm, or tying a knot, or figuring where to cast, or imagining where that big fish is hiding -- not about my overdrawn bank account or that schmuck at the office who may fire me tomorrow.

Can't handle the summer humidity, heat and lack of breeze lately. Even my sunset bassing visits to local ponds have now become sweaty and buggy affairs rewarded with merely a dink or two. My daughter and son-in-law convinced me to join them on a local drift boat for an evening trip offshore. You pay $45 pp and includes tackle, sardines for bait, and a mate to help. It ended up being a blast. When the kingfish bite was on it was mayhem. I caught the first fish, a monster kingfish, and ended up winning the pool. This king yielded enough superb sashimi for 30 people.

I ventured out tonight after dinner to bank fish the westernmost point of the Hillsboro Canal, west of Boca Raton. As a result of daily rain causing high water in the Everglades, the gait had been opened, allowing a great torrent of tannin stained water to flow from the Loxahatchee Reserve into the canal. I tossed a Zoom Magnum Ultravibe Speed Worm in Watermelon Red into the swift current near a rocky bank, and procured two glowing 4-pounders in back-to-back casts. This was the first of the two: