FryDog62

Not sure about salt unless you hire a guide, should be good fishing that time of year. There is always fishing off the Naples Pier too but it gets crowded. As far as freshwater, there are ponds near many intersections throughout Naples. Just have to park, cast the areas you can access then on to the next. Topwater in the morning, plastics during the rest of the day. Lots of 1-2 lb largemouth, sometimes bigger ones present.

Its a unique lake for Florida. Most are shallow, weedy, gator waters - but this was an old dug out quarry, so its deep, clear and minimal weeds. Gators are rare, but of course can wander in from time to time. They get over a certain size are captured and donated to the local food shelves. Taste like chicken I'm told... Being a rare, deep lake, there are a few jet skis, wake boats... not many, but more of a nuisance than the reptiles fortunately ~

Funny, we’re on 400 acre freshwater lake... about 10 miles inland and someone said it’s rare but they will occasionally catch snook in there. Reportedly, someone caught a 40 incher a week ago. I might need a bigger net!

Spending a couple months down south on a 400 acre freshwater lake in Florida. Hard to imagine looking at it every day and not fishing. So contemplated several options and landed on getting my first kayak. Honestly I’m a bit spoiled with a bass boat at home with many bells and whistles. So opted for an Autopilot 120 with MinnKota 45/Spot-lock, Helix 7 Mega SI, and transport wheels to pull it to the boat launch 50 yards away. Did all the rigging myself, which took a little while and a few bugs yet to work out. But overall very glad I did this. There is even a tournament later this month. I may be the only one in a Yak but and thinking of entering just for the fun of it!

I have both a Medium and Medium Heavy in the Daiwa Aird and also Abu Garcia Vengeance... Both the Aird and Vengeance are great rods for the money. In general, I think the Aird is a tad more moderate and the Vengeance more between Fast and Extra Fast. Therefore, I use the Airds for moving lures, and the slightly more sensitive Vengeance for bottom contact, or lighter detection tactics. Great “value” rods?

This is a good point. I was talking with a local bait shop that repairs reels of all makes and models recently. They said since the introduction of the SV spools from Daiwa (OP mentioned he has a Tatula SV TW) that a lot of fishermen have gone overboard loosening up the spool shaft so it has a lot of play. The thought is that the SV spool itself would overcompensate if adjusted really loosely. He said it does to a degree, but the down side is with that much play you eventually wear out the pinion (hard if not impossible to fix he said). They are repairing a lot of pinion/gears not only Daiwa these days, but other brands where the trend has been to go loose and create play. He still recommends that you adjust the spool shaft so it moves, but then tighten up just enough that there isn't any play. Half my reels are adjusted as described above and admittedly about half have just a slight bit of play in them. But now I really listen for any sign the spool shaft is banging/clicking against the end when casting/reeling.

Really like my 734c and it is quite versatile.. swim jigs, spinnerbaits, T-rig, etc. Iconic rod for Dobyns ~ I see you don't have a 742c... I don't either but that may be next for me. Great with plastics - flukes, Caffeine Shads, Tubes, even finesse jigs, etc. A lot of guys I know love that rod!

Both work, but I use the 4 inch and 5 inch Hula Grubs. Little extra slack on the 5 inch sometimes when I’m in a hurry doesn’t affect action either way...

Agreed. When I’m pitching around river banks, lay downs, etc. the Rugby jig is excellent. Out in open water around rock piles, sand - I throw the Football head w/weedguard to pull up and over/around the rocks. Get hung up once in awhile but not too bad usually.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-TTFJ.html?from=basres

Here you go... was just rigging one up tonight with the weedguard..

Geecrack Bellows have a strong scent, but I kind of like it - like Fritos

Converted over to 100% baitcasting and fish a lot of river smallmouth. BFS, ML, Medium and MH. No regrets - -

If they had Spot-Lock, they could have stayed positioned over the rocks ! ?

I fish river smallies quite a bit. Switch between 2.5 and 3.5 inch depending on conditions. Cold water I tend to go with an open hook 2.5. But if any cover is around, I much prefer to rig a 3.5 weedless, but not Texas-rig which just nose-dives the lure (gets hung up more and less natural action IMHO). Center weighted keeps it from snagging as you drag along the bottom like an actual crayfish. By far, best hook/weight system for me has been 1/16-1/8 oz Owner Phantom Tube rig. It’s a go-to for die-hard “Tubers.” https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Phantom_Weighted_Tube_Hooks_4pk/descpage-OWTH.html

Unfortunately we'll be inland quite a ways and may or may not have the ability to transport the kayak very far, especially to the ocean. For the saltwater fishing, I'll have to rely on my friend who has a boat on Marco. But if I'm only able to fish largemouth on the lake we are staying at, that will be fine. We are frozen where I live now in Minnesota and our fishing season doesn't even open up again here until middle of next May. That leaves us with only about 180 days a year to fish, so anything down there is a huge bonus!

I did braid to fluoro for many years but have gravitated to all fluoro for bottom contact and T-Rigs. Pitching/Flippin in the grass/milfoil - all braid. Life is easier and just as effective... JMO

Very true, have a friend down there with a salt boat and plan to get out 1-2 times. The other 58 days - I’ll be inland and pursuing greenies via kayak!

Let me know how you like it. I’m partial to the 7’1”s in either K2 or Recon 2 rated down to 1/16th oz as a hair jig rod...

Have heard people talk about gravel pit lakes (or other freshwater bodies of water) in the Naples, FL area with good bass fishing. I’m sure some are private and/or fee lakes. I’m down there for Jan-Feb and open to any available options. If anyone knows of anything, let me know. I will have a kayak to access the water. Thank you

Very light rods. I have the 7’1” model of the Light, Medium-Light and Medium-Heavy. I use the Light version with a BFS reel, works great. I’d be willing to bet the 7’1” Feather weigh less than a 6’10” SLX.

On the right hook, there is one lure I throw that seemingly swims on its own for 4-5 seconds at a time. 5 inch Caffeine Shad on an Owner Twistlock Light (weighted or not). Cast out and that particular hook keeps it horizontal and moving forward for a few seconds, then slows, kicks its air tail, switches directions and keeps fluttering/swimming another few seconds before you twitch it a couple times and repeat the cycle. The only other lure with its own "life" for me is a rubber skirted jig like a Mop Jig. Very slow drag and then long pauses to let the skirt move/breathe. Wish there were more "Movement without Movement" lures!

I'm both, but since adding forward facing electronics - I've found more success finding the higher percentage spots and slowing down. I'm less in search mode now but still do from time to time. In general, I think I fished too fast for many years but it has its place...

I've been thinking of switching out my 4 lead acid batteries for Lithium. Not because they last longer, but the 180 pounds less in weight will allow me to acquire a lot more necessary tackle ?

I graduated high school in 1980 in a town where IBM was the major employer. Yet the only high school level computer course was with batch cards - ha! It was about 2-3 years later when the world changed. People a couple years behind me got the indoctrination and grew up with some form of technology that could apply forward to the next thing and the next thing, and so on... So I’m fine with the basic stuff, but if it’s not intuitive I struggle to figure things out, but eventually get there. Fishing electronics have helped push me to learn stuff I probably wouldn’t have spent time on otherwise. I use Livescope, 360 Imaging, etc. fairly fluently now but admit I struggled with many aspects initially. Called my dealer and 800 lines regularly, asked the same questions sometimes more than twice. And there are still subtle nuances with all those technologies that others picked up well before me. I’m right at the tail end of the Baby Boomers... and have seen routinely the GenX’ers just a little younger than me do things intuitively that I have to take extra time to figure out. Oh well, they didn’t sport bell-bottoms and a mullet hairdo for several years like I did ?