atcoha

I stopped fishing for almost 10 years. Got burned out before we had kids, when kid #1 arrived, it did change my life. I did not start again until after my son, kid #2, and my baby girl, kid #3 was big enough to reel in a scooby doo zebco. We would fish a small pond for bream and anything that would bite. Last summer, me and my son really started fishing a lot. Only from shore, no boat. Fished the bridges,piers and passes in our area. Bought us a couple of kayaks earlier this year, he went kayak fishing with me once...I went several times, finding a fishing buddy. Kinda bummed me out, but looking forward to the next month or two for some inshore. If he decides not to go, I'll probably get rid of them (hard le$$on learned)....anyway, I have really enjoyed getting back into fishing since last year. Forgot what I was missing. I can understand getting burned out...Take some time away from it, enjoy some other hobbies or interests. When you are ready, grab your pole, and hit the water.

Got the itch after doing yard work, headed to a public lake that is way over fished...Tried a jig, too much grassy muck on the bottom, went with a 10" worm t-rigged. Got a single bite, ended up biting the tail off, about 3 inches of it. No more luck. Headed back to the house to get my inshore stuff ready for tonight. Hopefully the bull reds will cooperate tonight.

x2...lost 2 jigs the other day, think I bought 9 more to replace those 2...and some other stuff. This bass fishing gets expensive.

Grabbed a couple power pro slick 20/30lb 150yd spools. 19.97 buy 1 get 1 They had tons of senko's and other senko knockoff(kvd) buy 1 get 1 your mileage may very.

somedays I'm glad my cart is not saved for long.... other days...I leave my cart page open, come back later and click buy... waiting on some stuff getting delivered tomorrow...shhhh...she has no idea yet...

x2 in NW florida

Man, I know how you feel. If I had a nickel for every time I thought about fishing...

Had some j style racks on my 2500 for my 2 jackson cruise 12 kayaks. After the 2nd time loading/unloading, I was done. Found the yakima sweet roll setup, and it was game over. Can load/unload both solo, and not get aggravated trying to awkwardly life the kayaks up so high. Have had no issues, aside from the round bar, they sometimes roll, just tighten them up. Drove from Pensacola to Key west and back with no issues. Highly recommend them. My set up is, one set on top of cab, and I have one set of the racks just behind the toolbox in my truck bed.(yakima outdoorsman)

I have the same thing happen on one of the lakes I fish. Usually, a shad swim bait of same size and color works just about every time.

Grew up down there. Fished every canal from Lauderdale to Florida City. Cutler Ridge area canal system is full of garbage, don't waste your time, unless you hit it close to belair elementary...you might get lucky. Kendall/Kendall lakes has some good canals and neighborhood lakes can be decent. Even back in the 90's there were a lot of pacu in the neighborhood lakes, especially devonair area lakes. But there were bass, we would use small bream for bait. Hit up the lakes off 137 close to 152, there are several. Head west of Krome avenue on 152, canal system goes a long way. There are also tons of small lakes/rockpits in homestead area. If you take turnpike south, just look on either side of turnpike, you will see plenty of spots. If you have concealed carry, exercise your right if you are fishing alone in homestead/florida city.

was out front just a little while ago...doing the same thing.

Good thinking

No Penn love? I fish mostly saltwater, and all of my reels, big to small (3500-8500) are all penn. I do use my 3500 series reels for fresh water also. Any reason you guys don't mention penn? Something I am missing? Of all the penn reels I have owned, only 2 problems. One, and older graphite 4500, the anti reverse engagement broke, I beat that reel to death, I did buy a new penn battle last year 3500 for my boy, washers froze up, probably from him not keeping the reel out of the saltwater when wade fishing....4$ part and rebuilt it, good as new. My old 8500 spin fisher has never been serviced, it's almost 20 yrs old, still pulling in those big bull reds off the bridges. The spin fisher v's are heavy, the battle's are a little lighter, not much, I bought a penn conflict 3500 a few months ago, light and reliable. For less that $100 worth every penny.

a handful of jigs from northstar When is "too many"? When there is no more room in a single tackle box? Or when you have too many to use in a year? ah well, rather be prepared and try different sizes, colors, heads and different trailers. Only hurts the wallet, right?

razor knife, or a sharpened pocket knife works for me.

I usually bring a net on my kayak. I don't always use it. Depends on size of fish. It took a few tries for me to figure out positioning of my rod/line and being able to reach the fish with the net, timing is everything. Get the fish on the first dip, or she might be gone. I like kayak fishing inshore, if it's not a big bull redfish or a toothy speckled trout, I flip him in. You will get the hang of it. Good luck.

x2

Mine fit in the bed of my truck just fine

great job young man.

had some good luck with berkley power bait shad, the smaller ones, in white. and swim jigs, with shad colored trailer.

It's south florida, you never know. Might as well try. Cuda's like to hit the topwater. So do redfish and trout.

Brings back memories. Used to go there all the time when I was a kid in the 70's. Good times. Plenty of small mangrove snapper and grunts. There are snook. Light inshore tackle, maybe a 3500-4500 reel w/ a 7ft rod should land whatever is biting, aside from the sharks. Check the tides...it matters. Bring some shrimp put them on a 1/4 oz jig head. Or get some doa shrimp and start casting. Might even have some luck w/ paddle tail on a jig head. If you bring 2 rods, put a shrimp on a cork and let it float while you are working the jig heads. We would wade out beyond the lagoon pretty far. Good luck.

Interesting discussion. Is there any credibility left in anything/anyone that needs a sponsor to "survive"? I.E. what you are talking about...a professional sport or the like? That's a rhetorical question...we all have our own answer to it.

Definitely worth packing rods and reels. There are so many places to fish down there, you are literally surrounded by the best fishing spots in the world. You can fish the many, many bridges, canals, and mangrove areas, even if you do not have a boat. Me and my family were down there in June, me and my kids sat on the dock in the backyard on the canal, caught everything from snapper to grouper to barracuda. Books have been written on shore/bridge fishing in the keys. Bring your fishing gear, or you will regret it. Me and my son hooked up several tarpon, landed a few, a couple #100+. If you have the $, would definitely recommend a guide/charter and hit the back country. Good luck, have fun, and I know you will enjoy the keys. If you go to the NW end of ramrod key, there is an area that has a little cut/canal you can fish(that is always full of mullet), even wade out when the tides are right, bring some shrimp. Head to the end of blimp road on cudjoe key, you can fish the mangroves if you wade out, snook and permit, and just about everything else. Bring shrimp and some jigs.

I started fishing swim jigs just recently. I like hitting a small 50 acre lake. A single dock, some grass along the shore, and a lot of fallen timber. Had tons of luck on a small shad powerbait, so I stuck with it. When morning bite slows, switch to swim jog with trailers. I try different colors with different trailers, had some luck last time. Can't remember exactly what color jig, and the trailer was some brown creature type bait. Just reeling it in not to slow, enough to keep it off the bottom a foot or two, throwing to the bank and bringing it out. Even caught some in open water when the bass were busting shad again later in the day, that time I was using a shad colored swim jig and a roboworm ez shad trailer. They were hitting it pretty good. Most of the bass in this lake busting the shad are 1-3lbs. There are some lunkers, I just need to figure out how to catch them, I'm guessing they are staying deeper, Anyone have some tips on using the swim jigs in 20' of water? Action/retrieve methods? Thanks all.