FryDog62

Feel free to list a couple if poss… I’m starting flat-footed here 👍

FWC down here is pretty much focused on saltwater from what I’ve been told and doesn’t have a resource for us. The group had previously contacted a local university too hoping for a grant, student, etc. w/o luck…

I’m part of a fishing club at a quarry lake system in Florida that includes 3 connected lakes that make up approximately 500 acres. The club has talked about how we can take a good fishery and make it great. So I suggested we look for a fisheries biologist that could come here and evaluate the lake in terms of - water quality, cover, bait, etc. and make recommendations. It would be most beneficial to find someone familiar with not only Florida freshwater fishing, but the uniqueness of a quarry. I snooped around a bit, but have come up empty. We don’t have a lot of $ to offer but would entertain a consultant’s fee. Maybe in exchange for a few days of fishing in the warm sun in Naples… lol. However, we really need an expert - Any suggestions how to find this person?

I also use Flashy Swimmers with larger 4-5 inch Keitech FAT swimbaits - and then the Hogfarmer 1/4 oz for either 3 or 4 inch Easy Shiners. They hold up well ~

I agree, but only with braid. I've done this a couple times with fluorocarbon and it damages/fractures the line. I had a couple unexpected and epic "break-offs" later in the day 😤

I know, I still have this ear flap hat and feel like someone needs to tell me to take off like a hose-head..!

Biggest so far in 2024 is 23 inches, not sure I can exceed that but the year is still young…

Probably not the answer the OP wants to hear because it's expensive - but 100% of the reason I bought an Autopilot kayak. Without the electric motor and spot-lock... nope - you spend as much time positioning as casting and I'm there to fish..

Very cool - I found a pic of your fishing guide 😜

Megabass SV

Fished the local pond for largemouth on lunch break yesterday... instead caught a couple Peacocks and this Blue Tilapia. ...everything hits the Nerd Rig!

I ordered 4 BFS rods from TW for that reason… fondled all four and kept two. Sent the others back with no return mailing charge. Got the refund on the rods I returned before the next credit card statement.

I thought the Dobyns tip was too soft to fish around even the lightest cover. I much prefer the Phenix Classic BFS… or if you need a tad more power, the Phenix Feather ML.

I agree 360 imaging is better in the shallows than Perspective mode (too grainy to be very effective IMO). In terms of the flak FFS is getting - If there isn't enough criticism towards Livescope already - wait until people see the 22 inch NBT screens on the bow of a bass boat (see video below at 1:50 mark). That's when the common person (and avid fishermen too) look at it and say things like "excessive," or "overkill," etc. That'll lead to the death of FFS as fast as anything ~ https://www.omniafishing.com/omnia-videos/seth-feider-2024-boat-walkthrough

I power a Helix 7 on my yak with an 18ah Dakota Lithium, it lasts 12+ hours. If you’re only fishing 3 hours at a time, you could probably get by with any 6ah - just make sure it has BMS charging. They aren’t very expensive…

Junebug for me - but like many, I switched from the Trick Worm to the NetBait T-Mac worm. Same worm only it floats better and more consistently.

Carolina rig was excellent the previous 2 years… almost non-existent in 2023.

I just had Devil’s Cult, not bad👍

For years I drank/tested a number of Scotches and could really tell the differences and developed a top 10 list. I have been doing the same with various Bourbon and Ryes the past few years. If I’m honest, I can taste the differences, but it’s much more subtle to me and not as big a variance as Scotch. So instead of spending the extra coin - I just order a “Beamer” now and am just as happy. Jim Beam - on the rocks

I use 2 lures in that situation: 1) 5 inch Caffeine Shad on an Owner 4/0 Twistlock LIGHT - if fish are in the top half of the water column. 2) GrandeBass Airtail Rattler rigged Neko with a 1/16-1/8 oz nose weight if fish are in the lower half of the water column. Both skip like a dream, and there is no exposed lead to klang off a hard object and scare the fish.

I have had Panoptix/Livescope/Livescope+ for 5 seasons and Mega 360 Imaging for two now. Much of my opinions below are generalities and there are always exceptions. Livescope: Absolutely excels in the spring pre-spawn period where for me, 360 Imaging isn’t worthless but not very useful IMO. Outside of spawn beds (which I don’t target much, and you can just sight fish with good polarized sunglasses anyway) fish aren’t set up on/near structure yet, they are roaming and that is where Livescope kicks tail. Seeing schools of crappies, white bass or other species moving around is lights out with a jerk bait. You not only see the fish, but also what depth they are at, how far down they are suspended, etc. I also found walleyes just off the emerging weed line each Spring and usually catch my limit. I could easily figure out whether to use a shallow or deep jerk bait a lot easier once I know their depth. Livescope also is awesome in down view for drop-shotting as the season goes on. Not a big fan of Perspective mode - it’s grainy and 360 is so much better at reading the bottom. 360 Imaging: I don’t get much benefit from it until post-spawn when the fish set up on off-shore cover, drop-offs and rocks. Pre-360 I could always find a concentrated boulder field but struggled to find broken/chunk/scattered rock even with side imaging (I could find it on SI but didn’t always successfully pinpoint it when fishing). I was amazed when I got 360 how I was able to find some isolated areas and catch more than one fish. Finding the big boulder field is a no-brainer, but you can really key in on specific rocks – the biggest one, or one on the end of a point, etc. I even found a sunken picnic table on the Mississippi in 18 feet of water and could drop my jig right right through a missing plank after a few tries. Was great target practice to learn depth perception, distance from the outer rings on the 360 graph, etc. When it got hot this Summer and fishing was really tough, finding bottom structure with a Ned or football jig was sometimes nothing short of incredible. Both: Livescope doesn’t come much back into play for me again until Fall when fish started to transition and move again. But at that time, it was a great combo with 360 to see rocks or sunken trees and then see fish moving around it with Livescope to see if anyone was home. A few other general observations: 1)I was surprised how little the two technologies overlapped. Didn’t get the benefit from them simultaneously as often as I would’ve thought. Both technologies were good to see/track the outside weedlines. I had heard some people previously say one or the other is better – but both work well enough. 2) Besides a jerk bait bite, I seem to catch more fish now when the lure slowly gets into the bite window and gradually moves versus – fast retrieve. Confirms I have always fished too fast. I had much better results with finesse applications. I have been a long-time critic of the Nerd-Rig (slow, tedious, last resort) but I relied on it more this year and it absolutely saved my bacon time and time again when I put it in the spot-on-the-spot. 3) Fish rarely sit still in one location very long. You have to be in the right spot at the right time. These two technologies absolutely help you do this. ——————————————— So the question I get a lot is if you had to buy either Livescope or 360, which would you? Wish I had an easy answer, but I don’t. If you fished one way or the other as described above – roaming fish vs. fish set up on structure/cover – you could pick one over the other. Unfortunately for me anyway, the expensive answer is both. If I really had to choose one I would probably lean towards Livescope.

Caught some Peacocks on hard jerkbaits this morning… switched to a soft plastic jerkbait this afternoon and caught a 23 inch largemouth/pig.

For you St. Croix Fan boyz -

Former baseball pitchers tend to make good bowlers... Earl Anthony was a former minor leaguer, Johnny Petraglia too - maybe it’s a left/handed thing..