FloridaFishinFool

I have read in numerous comments throughout this forum over the years fisher people mentioning lures not running straight and having to be repaired, replaced, or adjusted to run straight. So I post this poll to show results of what percentage of fisher people think about this subject. Does a lure have to run straight to catch more fish? And, does a lure not running straight not catch as many fish? Is this a real issue, problem, concern, or merely a pet peeve of no consequence, and a waste of our time and energy to correct and for what reasons? I look forward to the poll results and comments.

I agree. I pulled out 3 of my own Curado 201HG's today and checked them. 2 have similar play. 1 more than the other. And the 3rd had no play at all and yet all 3 reels work perfectly fine no issues. So I made a similar video to his this morning... Side note, the rod is amplifying the noise. So in my video the reel on a rod is louder than the reel not on a rod. And I was accidentally hitting something with the rod tip adding in noise not associated to the reel noise. But all completely normal from what I can tell.

I'll throw some input your way on Ocean Pond even though I have never been there, it is near my area, but a little out of range too far west for me. I am in the Jacksonville area and when I leave Jax I head South or SW to places like Keystone Heights and Starke to fish lakes very similar to Ocean Pond. Your date confuses me. You just posted this 2 hours ago, but the date you wrote into your comment says January 15, 2026? I assume you might have meant February 15? The first thing I would say is you have picked a very good big bass location. It is remote and in a National Forest so you can't beat that. You will not have any crowds on that lake. It should be nice and quiet and you will have it all to yourself. I just did my homework on that lake since I had never been there before, and I dug up all the government reports on water quality and every detail I could find except the one I really wanted which is a bathymetry map. That lake does not have one here in Florida. Apparently it does not need one because it is pretty cut and dry. That lake is basically shaped like a bowl. It is what is known as a sinkhole lake. Over millions of years the limestone under Florida dissolves and washes away leaving voids in the earth and the dirt above eventually collapses into the earth former nearly perfectly round, bowl shaped depressions that fill up with water over time and become lakes. About 60 miles SE of Ocean Pond is another almost identical lake called Kingsley Lake and that is also a big bass lake. Both lakes are approximately the same size. Kingsley is 2000 acres and Ocean Pond is just over 1700 acres. Kingsley lake depth in middle of lake is upwards of 100 feet deep while Ocean Pond is around 60 feet deep. The nice thing about Ocean Pond is that it does not have much human development around it, so the water flowing into it off the land is clean rain runoff, and it may also have submarine spring(s) as well. But the water quality there should be very good. There are no real sources of pollution to that lake. It is mostly surrounded by woods for miles around. If water is clear, then spring fed. If water is more like tea or coffee then runoff water stained by the cypress trees tannins. One thing I did not see are inflows and outflows to Ocean Pond. No creeks or rivers or any real tributaries. On the east side where a few docks and houses are is one small tributary you might check out. And on the SW side just west of the few docks down there is another small tributary. I found only those two. I'd check those out while fishing there. One thing to consider are the winds in mid February. They begin to switch to west to easterly flow. Maybe from the NW mostly to SE or moving around to the west. This might be important for you in a kayak to seek the western side of the lake to let the trees block the winds for you to make fishing less work and more enjoyable. If I assumed your arrival timing to be mid February, then the bass could be starting to move in shallow to spawn. If so, then I would be looking for the shallow areas of the lake where bass are most likely to bed. With this lake it will be all the way around right along the shoreline. But there are some areas that show more shallow possibilities like the "lagoon" area to the NE side of the lake should be more shallow back up in there. But you will be exposed to the wind in there. I hope you will forgive me for these shaky hand images. I did them quickly with the cellphone & paint program just to point out the swamps on this lake. I see two of them. I assume again, you are going to be camping on the north shore at the campground? If so, when you put into the lake if you head west you will run into the largest swampy area of this lake. I have outlined the low land outside the lake and how it flows into the lake. The swamp is between these red lines. You can see from satellite images that there are numerous cypress trees growing out in the lake. This only happens in more shallow areas. So you won't see this on the other side of the lake very much. It will be water right up to dry land, but not between these red lines. Here you will run into a nice covered protected swampy area you can push back into the swamp to fish well protected in there. Those cypress trees are legendary for holding bass at their base in the lakes. cubeuploadIMG20260212192346225.jpg - cubeuploadShare images online with zero compression, completely free.As you move on around this lake to the SW side you will run into a second smaller swampy area with more cypress trees out in the lake. These areas are more shallow for larger areas of lake bottom than around the edges going to dry land are more limited in shallow water, but both may be as productive. Between the red lines below you can see the cypress trees out in the lake. cubeuploadIMG20260212192421503.jpg - cubeuploadShare images online with zero compression, completely free.These two swampy areas would be a top of the list area for fishing during spawn because there may be more shallow water bottom for fish to bed on. Otherwise all the way around the lake right up to dry land. Water depth should drop off quickly heading towards middle of the lake which in your case in kayak I would avoid. Keep in mind you are on a remote lake so you are on your own out there. Be careful! Gators and snake will not be a problem this time of year, but winds and waves could be which is why I would target the western side for wind protection. As for nearby areas to kayak and fish, unfortunately this lake is 50 miles from such places really. Not much out there which is why I don't travel that direction ever. Too many other great places to my South and SW. One thing to consider maybe for a warm weather trip would be to check out some of our more remote springs and spring fed rivers. Those are awesome! And the closest lake I fish to Ocean Pond is Lake Sampson west of Starke. I think you really picked a great lake to fish! Looking forward to your report on the trip! Like you I am about to head South to fish as well, but I am heading to an area between Orlando and the east coast about 150 miles to the South. Will be warmer, and bass on beds for sure. Not so sure about Ocean Pond though, but they should be moving in to spawn soon. Good luck!

Ouch! I just took a look at the video of the reel in question and as I was watching it I went and grabbed a couple of my own similar Curado HG reels and observed the exact same handle movement play as shown in his video. At this time based on available information I can conclude there is nothing wrong with this reel and the movement or play in his reel is normal play from the reel itself dealing with tolerances and allowances within, such as the AR bearing clutch sleeve movement added to the AR movement, added to the gears play movement all adding up to some back and forth play in his handle that is NOT related to the handle to shaft issue. In the video it appears to me the reel has the factory handle on it and appears to me to be all stock. If so, then based on other similar reels I am copying his motion movements, from what I can tell there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with his reel. Just normal play. Now if the OP puts an aftermarket handle on it and has some other type of movement or play to it, then maybe that will need to be addressed, but for now the video shows me a stock reel and normal play. My own reels do it and nothing wrong with any of them. Just my opinion at this time based on new video from the OP. To the OP, you can copy and paste into a comment here on this forum the URL link to your video so all the members here can see it as well. I think it would greatly help us all dial it in.

Before purchasing any particular DC reel I would check the design settings. When DC reels first came out I was working for a Shimano warranty repair facility and had the advantage of meeting with and talking directly to Shimano engineers who visited our shop every year just days ahead of ICAST in Orlando. One of the interesting things those Shimano engineers told me was how they tweak the settings on DC reels to match differing fishing conditions and fishing methods in each of their sales distribution markets. The engineers told me at the time the settings of the Curado DC reels were specifically designed to match up to how "Americans" fish and our tackle differences. Point is I am not sure how this settings design factor is carried across their reel lines now. Are the settings of the new JDM Scorpion DC reel comparable to the USA designed Curado DC settings? I'd be curious to see the results of a side by side comparison because you may find that for what you are asking that one DC model may work better for you than another if the settings are designed differently. You have one reel designed by engineers for use in USA, and the JDM Scorpion reel is designed for use in Japan based on our human fishing differences along with tackle differences. I'm curious if for what you are asking if one might be better suited than another? I can tell you that as a life long Shimano fan enjoying their higher standards, tighter tolerances, and higher quality of design and production than lesser brands I would not spend a penny on, that my Curado HG reels do what you ask without fail. I have never had a problem with them backlashing because of a lure "catching wind" and slowing down while spool keeps spinning at same rate leading to backlash. Never had any problems with this type of thing so my next point would be that maybe a DC reel is not necessary, but might help make it easier for you with less work on your part. I have always wanted a DC reel, but never had need to purchase one, but if I did, I'd go with Shimano engineers design tweaks for USA rather than take a chance on the settings designed for Japan to suffice here. Who knows, the Japanese settings may be better than USA settings for what you ask, but without objective data to compare there is no way for any of us to really know. For my part, I prefer centrifugal braking over magnets. They are far more responsive and effective. Magnetic braking reels don't really adjust well for changes in lure casting speed. Magnets are always on and cannot adjust unless the reel comes with some sort of centrifugal mechanism to provide some type of "help" in adjusting to your situation. Centrifugal brakes are self adjusting instantly. Makes all the difference in the world to me which is why I don't use any magnetic braking reels for anything other than flipping and pitching. Just personal preferences is all. To each their own, but I'd taking a look at the differences in those DC settings designs between markets to see which one might better suit your needs. Let us know...

I am curious about the size differences between handles and if maybe the nut is not enough, and some washers or spacers may be needed? What are the handles thickness differences? Is this a factor?

On some reels, not all, but on some reels it is necessary to crank down the drag star tightening the drag close to maximum in order to get the handle to seat properly. If the drag is backed off when trying to install some handles, it may not seat well because drag star is in the way and that is what the handle may be tightening down on, not the shaft's handle seat. If you tighten the handle against the drag star, as soon as you try and tighten down the drag, now the handle will be loose. So on some reels, tighten down the drag star beyond halfway and make sure it is out of the way of a good handle seating on the shaft. Then tighten down the handle nut, and now when you back off the drag star it will stop once it contacts the backside of a well seated handle.

Awesome. I've been doing this for more than 40 years. I first started working on commercially available stock rods and moved into custom rod building. Even invented my own spiral wrap guide design as published in rodmaker magazine in 2020. Concerning the guides, today I use a 3 step down guide funnel. And the stripper guide is now less than the size of a quarter while B.A.S.S. founder Ray Scott recommends using a dime size to start with and reduce from there. https://www.rayscott.net/news/cr/rodandreel.html "Scott's downsizing theory is revolutionary as far as typical spinning rod size guides. Starting with the "dime-size" gathering guide 18-inches in front of the cork handle, the guide placement is increasingly smaller toward a tiptop with a "pinpoint size opening." "Conventional spinning rods feature an oversize stripper guide and normal size guide placement," points out Scott. "With smaller size stripper guide and reducing the overall guide sizes, there's less line drag and slap on the cast and improves casting distance and accuracy," he claims." Depending on the size or load considerations I vary the rest of the guides from micro guides on medium light and medium rods and some MH rods, but may go a little larger on stiffer MH rods. I prefer the look and performance of tighter line management along the blank. As for grips, this is also something I have experimented with and in middle of doing one now for my 12 year old son. Years ago I came across the Bass Pro "power hump" grip. It was a game changer for me. So I began tinkering with my own version of it trying different shapes over the years. On one of my favorite baitcasting rods I did careful testing of the shape of the grip to fit my hand better, and I even turned it on the blank offset from top dead center about 3 degrees to the right. Most people who construct shaped grips will invariably align them to top dead center, but this is a general catch all position and may not truly be a best fit for you and how you hold a rod, so as you get into customizing them, play around with it, and don't be afraid to experiment. Like you said you are a woodworker, so shaping cork will be super easy for you. Once you get the shape or shapes you like, put them on the rods and experiment the positioning to make sure it fits you best before gluing them in place. One last thing about rods... and there is a lot of debate over this, but I am 100% in the spining a rod camp. This is proven science by aerospace engineers that Gary Loomis hired decades ago. Most fishing rods, golf clubs, and even arrow shafts for bows and arrows all exhibit a weaker spine spot that is caused from how the pre-peg flags are rolled into the blanks. There is almost always a thinner wall side to them. And it is this slightly thinner wall area of the blanks that produces a weakest degree spot on the blank out of 360 degrees in the cast load zone of a blank. I seek that spine degree because it belongs placed in one certain location for performance custom rod building as described by god of the rods himself Gary Loomis: What Gary Loomis says here in this short video in my opinion is 100% correct and accurate, and this is how I also spine my rods as well. I recently acquired a custom rod made by someone else who did not spine it correctly and right now that blank is standing in the corner completely stripped down back to the blank with my goal of if I am going to use this rod from now on it will be spined correctly. It was nearly 90 degrees off to the right and I could not live with it in that condition. So off with the reel seat and all the useless pretty thread wrapping and gobs of epoxy they used. All removed now back to the original Loomis blank for rebuilding it the Gary Loomis way, and as a minimalist with all efforts geared 100% towards performance and zero art additions and no unnecessary thread wraps on any guides that are off the guide foot and on rod only. That is not allowed in my world. Threads wraps on rods are only for holding guides and hook keepers in place and nothing else. No art wraps period. Just how I developed over the years as a custom rod builder. Strictly performance geared and no art. Today there is another theory dividing custom rod building called straightest axis theory. Buy a rod blank. Roll it around on a flat surface and just pick the straightest axis and build a rod on that. No science to it really. No consideration for blank structural factors. Straightest axis theory to me is not science and not in alignment with performance rod building. But this is just my point of view from decades of learning and researching it myself and concluding my own conclusions based on available information. I side 100% with Gary Loomis and his aerospace engineers on this one. Also be aware MudHole, Get Bit Outdoors, and Dr. Matthew Cashion and many others also subscribe to spining rod blanks for construction alignment and you can find their videos on youtube saying so. So keep this in mind as you move forward as to what you prefer- a spine aligned collection of rods, or rods all over the place based on whether one thinks its straightest or not. To this day spining a rod blank is still the standard of performance. The rods work fine either way, but some of us think and believe spine aligning takes performance up a notch or two as Gary Loomis describes in the video above. All your choice though. I just wanted to give both sides to this issue. This is one of my recent baitcasting rod grips with modified power hump type of grip turned upside down from original shaping, and offset from top dead center about 3 degrees for the most perfect fit I could come up with. This rod fits like a glove now. Made from cork from different sources, there is actually more of a hump to the bottom of the rod than to the top side. It just seemed to feel better, give me a better grip, and was just more comfortable upside down from how I first intended it to be. Custom rod building is truly custom, so make it fit you and go for it.

AI Overview Genetically modified (GM) species or organisms intentionally altered by humans are not generally accepted for IGFA world records, which focus on naturally occurring species. The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) requires that fish represent a valid, recognized scientific species to be eligible, though recent changes for species like largemouth bass now require DNA verification to ensure they are not unnatural hybrids or, in this case, a different species entirely (like Florida vs. Northern bass).

The Florida comments are of interest to me here in this thread. To answer the OP, yes I would report it because for one, supposedly there are millions of dollars waiting on the next world record bass. The Japanese stated years ago they would purchase the fish and take it to Japan to promote what they do there. Not sure if this multi-million dollar offer is still open and available or not, but if I caught a world record bass and it could turn me into instant multi-millionaire, then heck yes I'd report it. Some things to point out though... concerning Florida, if a world record bass was caught here it would be considered a legitimate world record while a bass caught elsewhere like California would not be considered a legitimate world record because their fish are genetic mixed hybrids not naturally occurring, usually in manmade reservoirs, and with no natural predators and spoon fed 8" fingerling trout trying to fatten them up unnaturally quickly. So virtually any bass caught in California are excluded from any IGFA records. Florida biologists are taking a different approach here in Florida. First, our state government and biologists are not tampering with the genetics of our existing natural largemouth bass. Our biologists are going after the environment in which naturally occurring species exists with the goal of helping the environment to create world record fish. A clue to the background story behind what Florida biologists are up was published in 1985 in the Chicago Tribune: https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/04/10/a-monster-is-lurking-in-this-phosphate-pit/ When biologists arrived at a mine reclamation site they were originally confused by what they found there. Random pits side by side. Some were filled with life. Others completely dead. And it was in this environment our biologists began their research and studying into how to grow monster largemouth bass all across the state of Florida. This site is to this day a FWC wildlife management area off limits to most of the public except for a few daily visitors allowed in there at Tenoroc, or the old Coronet phosphate mines. The name Tenoroc comes from Coronet flipped around backwards. The lessons learned there over the last 40 years have been expanded across the state. Today there are successful projects everywhere. Lake Toho is one of them. Headwaters, Farm 13, etc. are others. And the state is continuing to reclaim mines as they are abandoned, and Rodman reservoir is now also part of the program on multiple levels. My point is, the state of Florida does have world record bass waiting to be caught. But they are not being caught more than likely because us fishermen and our current techniques are not what fish of that size want. To catch a 22.5lb bass or bigger means we would have to figure out what a fish of that size chooses to eat and then try and fit what we do into that pattern to even begin to come close to tricking one into biting. Live bait may offer the closest thing we can use which is why live bait is so successful at catching the 14 and 15lb bass while artificial lures is not. Something we may need to consider. I bring this up because of a story to surface out of Florida from around 1988. I read above N.Florida Mike thinks a world record is in Kingsley lake. I tend to agree on that one, but not necessarily because of its depth, but because of how clean the lake is, and how underfished the lake is because it is generally off limits to the public. But depth is not the only factor to growing huge bass as Florida biologists have found out. Back in 1988 the FWC did a research project on largemouth bass by going around one particular lake I won't mention for the very reason the title of this thread suggests. The biologists of the FWC chose a lake that was off limits to the public with no real fishing pressure on it. They used a small boat to move around that lake and electro shock fish to float up to the surface unharmed where the biologists scooped them up and took them to the dock where they weighed, measured, and then put transmitters on the fish so they could track their movements at different sizes and ages of fish. Computer tracking in its early stages. At least two men according to the story used their lunch break to walk down to the dock to fish from it during their lunch and they ran into the FWC biologists also on that dock doing their research project. Those two men walked off that dock that day with a fish story that still resonates across Florida. They said that the FWC had electro shocked up out of that lake not one, but 2 world record sized bass that were now included in their tracking research program. Those two men were not from Florida. And they had no reason to lie or tell a lie or any other tale about what they had just seen. They were simply repeating what they saw and heard over lunch break to others they worked with. They thought nothing of their story really. But it was heard by other Florida bass fishermen and this story has been kind of quietly kept under wraps all these years later. I heard it because my own father was one of those who got to hear it from those men and he came home from to tell me about it. And to this day I still target that lake for fishing. It is still to this day semi-private and maybe 3 or 4 boats a day on it if that. Very little pressure on the lake because of the strict requirements on motors. My point would be that many more waters here in Florida may very well contain world record bass. But to catch them it is us fishermen who must change what we do to fool the smartest biggest bass this state has. Another strange situation that benefits us Florida fishermen is that the human condition is slow to change. What I mean is that take lake Toho for example, the state went in there and drained that lake, scraped bottom with bulldozers, removed sludge back to clean sand, and reshaped that lake increasing spawn shallows by 200% or 3 times what nature had provided. When that lake was filled back up with water bass fishing exploded. And it produced big bass consistently. Today that lake is once again on a downhill slide needing to be cleaned up again. But its reputation now is still drawing in fishermen from all over the country and all over the world. And this is a good thing for us Florida bass fishermen to have all those outsiders drawn to specific bodies of water because of old reputations that may not be supportable any longer. And we like it this way because it keeps all of those fishermen concentrated in known areas that now many of us Florida guys avoid. I now follow the science. I now follow the biologists and their ongoing work. I see what they are doing now. I see waters they have just finished. I see waters they are working on now. And I can see into the future of Florida to waters of the future they are working on. So even if one body of water produces a world record bass and it blows up from everyone wanting to fish that location, that is to my benefit actually because it would keep all those fishermen away from where I really want to go now. Here is an example, and once again, because of the title of this thread I choose to keep the location a secret because I want to use it for my fishing advantage and not share it with the world so they can flood in there and "blow it up" for me and other Florida bass fishermen in the know. We have here in Florida a situation of people moving in on top of the land and sticking tubes into the ground to suck out the water for drinking and other use. As this problem increases, the ground water level or aquifer levels drop and with them our lake water levels drop. So there have been people fighting for 45 years to "fix" their lakes drying up. Heck it has gotten so bad that in certain places in central Florida there are now entire neighborhoods built on lake bottom of old lakes that have completely dried up and disappeared, but in 1925 were a bass fishing destination and today you can buy a house where fish once swam. So the state in conjunction with numerous others came up with an ingenious idea to restore some lakes- a number of them because one flows into another. And what they came up with was a simple idea of building a water intake pumping facility along the shore of a tributary that regularly floods and yearly can sometimes go well above 11 feet of water above. All of this water flows eventually into ocean, so the state is now going to divert some of that water through a 30" water pipe some 20 to 30 miles to the top lake in the chain. And down in that area they created natural water filters so that once the water starts flowing, it will be clean, clear pure water flowing into all those lakes from now on. This project cost over $100 million dollars. Well guess what? The water was turned on just this year. So all those lakes guess what their future will be for bass fishing for years to come? Just like Toho on steroids. All of them. And they may already hold a world record bass or two right now. But in 3 or 4 years bass fishing will be peaking there for years to come. Just one of the many water projects ongoing in this state. In this state we already have plenty of places "blown up" by reputation without world record bass. And according to our biologists we do have plenty of other places that may very well hold world record bass, but do not have the reputations humans cling onto. I can't tell you all how awesome it is to read on fishing forums people planning their Florida bass fishing trips just about always naming the same old places that are well known to now be LONG past their peak producing years. Lakes on decline and yet those old reputations still keep them coming in the droves and we kind of like it this way. Keeps all of them from fishing our really good places we like to keep to ourselves. And I almost never read on fishing forums that someone planning a trip to Florida is actually finding out where in this state the largest bass are being caught by using the Florida Trophy Catch program data. Nope. Never see that. Its always I'm going Lake O, or I'm going to Toho, etc. The main point of this comment is that today FWC biologists are hard at work cleaning up our water and in doing so are also on track with their program of turning the state of Florida into a world class fishing destination- everywhere in the state. So the potential for a next legitimate world record bass can be found in waters the human condition may least expect it to be. And for us Florida guys we love it this way. Lakes like Lake O, and Toho are turned into a veritable circus like dangling a carrot before the cart. Old past reputations draw them in without them doing their homework or research and a majority of them wind up on the same old places super predictably, and who knows, may be done on purpose too, while some of Florida's best locations are still virtually unknown and not targeted for "blow ups." I can tell you that right now, based on known data, and based on what FWC biologists have been doing for decades now, the county in the state of Florida that has produced the most huge bass weighing in the teens- besides Rodman- is Polk county. This is in part due to the shape of the Florida sandbar and how water flows in and through Polk county and what all the biologists and engineers have had to do down there to control water. It is precisely all that water controlling down in Polk county which is among the most extensive in the state that is directly behind the growth of monster bass there. Here is an image of some of it that I use for bass fishing information. All of this water movement data is available online 24/7 year round. You can learn how much water is flowing and from where and to where and in what quantity. And here are the results of the water quality restoration projects and flood controls presently ongoing.... this bass weighed in well above 14 pounds and is one of the naturally occurring genetic Florida species that would qualify for an IGFA record once grown large enough. So the point of this comment is that to truly hunt the next world record in Florida may not be found in already "blown up" waters, but may be found in those that are presently enjoying the benefits of applied water science our biologists have spent the last 40 years researching, uncovering, and replicating throughout the state almost secretly. Follow the biologists, not the old reputations left behind in their wake. This is the heart of it all right here... the heart of the secret water science being used all across Florida. It came from the mine pits... https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/04/10/a-monster-is-lurking-in-this-phosphate-pit/ So heck yes I would definitely "blow up" one body of water and take the money and run especially if that fish made me a millionaire. Then the world of fishermen for years to come would focus on that one body of water- like Toho and Lake O- for years to come and funnel them into specific areas leaving the rest of this state wide open for locals in the know who stay on the curve or ahead of the curve, while the outside world focuses behind the curve. And we like it that way as it is right now. Right now FWC biologists are working on new places for me to enjoy all to myself, while the world stays focused on old-news places. All part of the plan. So who's coming to Florida soon to head to Lake O and Toho? I hope each of you have great success there. Even old Roland Martin is now following the biologists and his latest fishing videos are at Headwaters on top of the curve right now. But what is ahead of the curve? That's where you will find me. Trying to stay two steps ahead of the blowups and stay in front of the curve following the water science of biologists. When I caught my latest 7+lb bass last year, my boat was the only one on the lake. I like it that way! Blowups on a lake are to my advantage now. Let the world follow the blowups. I follow the biologists and their water science projects. I am willing to open the door to what I found out is going on in Florida, but to avoid blowups I won't be naming current or new projects and places specifically because I want to avoid those blowups if possible so I can enjoy it for years to come. Let the world focus on Lake O and Toho. If I do name places then I do so to protect other places not named. I think this is why our biologists also don't publish such details regularly. All kept under wraps as much as possible. We don't target the big bass per say. We target the water science. And found within the water science is where the big bass are to be found. The secrets are in the water.

I don't think they are too large. They are normal sizes that I use 4's and 5's. WDP just said he sometimes uses a 6. The largemouth bass can easily get them in their mouths, even smaller bass have no problem with this size hook. Give them a try. I have been really happy with the results of the VMC drop dead weighted hooks. Before I use them I put them on the rod building bench and use some epoxy to close the gap on the spring snap. Then I have less trouble with them on the water.

Ollie's has been running a sale in my area. I just picked up bags of 10 lures each Bass Pro XPS paddle tail flukes for $1.99 per pack. Bought them out on the spot. My strict price per piece is usually .25 cents to .50 cents maximum each. Anything over .50 cents is too pricey. And these at Ollie's beat my strict pricing by .05 cents each. Not too bad! Only .20 cents each. Being a cheapskate sure pays off sometimes!

Interesting subject considering I have been an art collector and dealer for more than 30 years. My mother got me into it. She was an antiques dealer. I inherited some of her art and have built my own collection up over these last 30 years. Since I have only so much wall space, paintings come and they go. My lawyer recently moved into a new larger office space and rather than pay him money all the time, he said he would accept paintings which I gladly gave to him to make space for my new paintings. I regret giving him some of them and wish I had them back, but I have been fortunate in my searching for them, and have been able to easily replace the losses with awesome new finds. I tend to stick with original artworks and not reprints. I don't find much value in prints like I do in original one of a kind works of art. That said, over these last 30 years I have carefully crafted a personal set of rules for the art. 1)Primary target pieces are Florida artists and art of and about Florida nature. So in this first rule of art, when it comes to Florida nature there cannot be any manmade items seen in the images. Must be all nature. So this is a primary focus. 2)Other nature art without manmade objects in the image. 3)Paintings of a level of quality that leave cartoon level like Bob Ross behind, and enter the realm of art that is painted so well it looks like a photograph rather than art. 4)Paintings of historical value, & artists of historical value. I want to see Florida nature on my walls. As if when I am inside my home, the places I want to visit and fish and boat are painted on my walls. Places I want to imagine being and what I would be doing if there. I want the art on my walls to take me there. So I collect works of art from amateurs as well as professionals and historic artists alike. Just today I scanned through a website with over 2000 paintings up for auction because there are a few artists, some living, some deceased, who I like to collect some of their originals. I don't collect fishing art per say, but if I came across a good one at the right price I would certainly buy it. I just passed up some in those 2000 I just viewed. Several original watercolors of old guys fly fishing up north. That does not fit into the Florida theme I try and build on. I found a bass painting recently, but the fish was not anatomically correct and I passed on it. Over the years I have developed a good eye for art. I am one of the few people who can claim to have walked into a thrift store and purchased a real Picasso for $1.98. True story! Granted it was a small print, but it had a real autograph and it was dated which a key clue to its authenticity. Artists generally don't date their signature. Picasso did. He signed hundreds of them before his death and when I searched for others, I found more signed on same date as mine. A mint condition print signed was valued at $600 at the time. I sold mine at auction, a good condition signed print for around $150. It could have gone higher if the auctioneer had not questioned its authenticity during the live auction. His innocent doubt shut down bidding. It was real and he never should have questioned it live in auction. Really disappointing. I have found numerous other historical original pieces of art like my recent acquisition of a Beau Redmond original from his Lincolnville series which were gallery shown. Mine is one that was not included and had been forgotten by the artist. I paid $1 for it in a clearance bin at thrift store but could not bring myself to tell the artist that when I contacted him at his home in St. Augustine Florida at the time. He is elderly and I did not want to tell him what I paid for it or where I bought it. One day it will be sold at auction and could bring thousands. Its a historical Florida series of paintings about the black slave residential district of old town historic St. Augustine, Florida. I actually drove to St. Augustine, since on the back of the painting it said in writing what street it was painted about, and I found the exact location of the image he painted, and I could triangulate from the image almost precisely where the artist setup his easel to paint it. So not only do I get into collecting art for wall decorations, but also for investment opportunities. I am as serious about art as I am about fishing and rods and reels. I'll post some here in this thread. Some that have moved in and out, and some that I still have. Here is an image I took of one of the artists hanging on my wall. His name is Donnie McCormmick. He is deceased now, but he was once upon a time the drummer in the ERIC QUINCY TATE band out of Atlanta, Georgia. I worked for him and his band EQT as one their last roadies. Before I left Atlanta to head back to Florida I purchased his Johnny Winter painting. It was not signed. I had to beg him to sign it. I paid like $50 for it. His son wanted $300. Today, it is priceless! It belongs in the halls of fame! And maybe one day it will be. After I get my $50 back plus extra. This image was taken before he signed it for me This is one of his paintings I wanted but did not get. Donnie knew he was dying and living on borrowed time, so this painting is an elderly person heading to emergency room and outside the hospital is going into the light rather than into the hospital. I view this as Donnie painting someone at the time of their death. I could be wrong. Now signed thank goodness! Glad I did not leave Atlanta without the signature on this one! Takes the value up because it authenticates who painted it. Johnny Winter is important the band ERIC QUINCY TATE because Johnny Winter helped this band get going in their early days and donated one of his gibson firebird guitars to the band which they based their sound around. The Johnny Winter guitar leaning up against my old volvo as we load up the car for another show complete with drums in backseat and this guitar. For this show I was driving just Donnie to and from the show. For those of you who never heard of ERIC QUINCY TATE, they were a Southern rocking blues band from Corpus Christie, Texas moved to Atlanta for the Georgia music scene in late 1960's. This band was signed before the ALLMAN BROTHERS band, and was on the same record label as Allman Brothers band, Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, and many others on Capricorn Records out of Macon, Georgia. It was the Allman Brothers band who scored in 1970 with their live at Fillmore East album, and from then on bands like Eric Quincy Tate kind of fell through the cracks into obscurity, but many would say this band was one of the best Southern rock bands of all time you never heard of! I was fortunate to get to work for them before the end came. I'm always at the end, but at least I was in there! RIP EQT! Moving on to more art as requested. I'll start with my most recent acquisition. I walked into a thrift store just last week and scanned the walls for original art and locked onto this one instantly. I had to look it over carefully because its a watercolor original behind glass and could have been a print, but I was able to tell real fast its an original Irma Quigley. She is now 86 and when she painted this one she lived in Key West, Florida. She is the one who matted it originally, and I am one who appreciates an entire piece of art and quite often pull them out from behind the matting and re-frame it so I can see the entire piece of art edge to edge. And that is what I am now doing with this newest painting. I am changing the matting color from white to a dark color, possibly the black seen here I am playing around with to make the image pop out more once hung on the wall. This one had a price tag on it for $25 and store was running a half off sale, so just over $13 for this fabulous historical Florida artist original. Irma Quigley gave this one the title of "Thunder Storm" and shows sheets of grey rain coming down just like we see in nature. A beautiful addition to my Florida collection. Its a large one too 22"x30" Most paintings of Florida nature are usually bright sunlight. So I seek out the rare art of lower light, and rain like the above example. This next one shows a nice place to fish at either sunrise or sundown. Hard to tell which. The artist made a mistake with the palm tree. Can you see it? Geometry of the reflection are backwards. Tree trunk curve going in wrong direction in reflection. Still a great piece. These are two original oils I inherited from my mother from when she was an antiques dealer. Both of these are dated to late 1800's. I have not researched the artists, but may one day sell these at auction. Both need a good cleaning after nearly 150 years. In both of her paintings, rocks are seen. This means not Florida. So today when I find similar paintings, they can't have rocks in them! No hills. No mountains. No rocks. This is a rare painting from an obscure Florida artist. I bought it because it happens to be a painting of one of my favorite places to fish along the St. Johns River in east central Florida which is where this one is a painting of near Little Econ River area of St. Johns River. One day quite by accident I purchased two paintings spur of the moment grab from clearance bin. One was the Beau Redmond Lincolnville series I'll show shortly, but I purchased a watercolor painting in an old frame and had to take it apart to clean out debris between glass and painting. And inside hidden behind a worthless watercolor I found two historical gems! In late 1800's a man named John Butler made his living as a graphics artist paintings posters and illustrations for magazines up north in New York City and Chicago. A big time famous magazine illustrator who has his own gallery displays to this day. At least two of them. But the two paintings I found are unknown works of his. Paintings he did at home. Both are dated from 1925 and 1926. I am showing my favorite here a ship on the waves. Notice the ropes in the ship's rigging. Keep in mind this is free hand painting. John Butler had an amazingly steady hand when he could paint ropes by hand at same precise width from start to finish. Slight movements towards or away from the canvas would change rope width. John Butler's hand could do it flawlessly. A trained professional. I can't wait for both of them to hit the auction block one day. Unknown historical art coming to light. Found in a Florida thrift store clearance bin. I paid $1 for the watercolor these were hidden behind. So each painting was .33 cents. I paid .33 cents for a historic John Butler original the world has never seen before. A fabulous piece! The other painting is of misty smokey mountain scene and no where near as dramatic as this one is. This image does not do it justice. Needs better light and without reflection in glass. There are no known at home hobby paintings from John Butler. Most of his works are professional illustrations. These may cause a stir in the art world when they go to auction. I hope so anyways. This next one is a rare Jeronimo painting. I have found only one other similar to this one. No telling what it could bring at auction. It shows an aerial view of a village along the water. Probably painted in 1960's. This is an investment piece. The image does not do much for me. Jeronimo was a South American artist. Very few paintings from him are known to exist. I purchased this next one for my boys. It hangs in their bedroom. They love cars, especially expensive European cars. We go to car shows all the time. I like this painting because the artist can paint to near photograph quality. It is hard to paint chrome. It is even harder to paint reflections in chrome. So I gotta hand it to this artist. Dobnak I think his name is. I consider this painting property of my sons so it will be up to them to sell or keep one day. This is a Florida painting by M.R. Howard an unknown artist. I purchased it because it contains what is often referred as the Highway Men style. Most of the time artists who paint palm trees in Florida nearly 99.9% of the time they are always painted standing still. The Highway Men paintings popularized painting palm tree showing wind blowing through them. And that is what is seen here in the center palm tree. There is a leftward curve to the lower branches showing a breeze is moving them. A sea breeze inland. It is rare to find artists who include wind. I need to put this one in a frame. Been slacking on art lately. This next one is my one and only Beau Redmond. I found his phone number and called him up one day and got to speak with him about it. He had forgotten all about this painting when art galleries called on him to display his historical Lincolnville series. I now own a piece of Florida history! This painting could bring me a pretty penny one day at auction. As I said above I tracked down the exact location it was painted at too. A lot of fun and adventure tracking Florida artists and from where they paint from and about. Riberia St. St. Augustine Florida. An unknown Lincolnville original! Only the two buildings on the right still exist. All to the left of them in this painting are torn down and apartments built in there. But I could triangulate from the two buildings on the right to the exact precise spot Beau Redmond was when he painted this one. This next painting I purchased at auction for under $50. This is an investment painting because the people at the auction had no clue who this artist is or was. This is an original Edward Bishop. He still has his own website even though he has been deceased since 1997. No one knew who he was when this one went on the auction block locally. I snapped it up. Its called "Rough Seas" and is one of a kind. https://www.edwardbishop.net/ This painting contains a skill many artists try and learn. Its called translucence. It is a difficult skill to master and many artists attempt it and fail. It is measured in the degree of light that can pass through a wave varying in intensity at different wave thicknesses. More light shines through the water at top of the wave because its thinner. And as the wave gets wider to its base the light shining through it dims and changes in color. Artists struggle with it throughout their careers. This entire painting by Edward Bishop was painted just for this technique and skill level. I look forward to this one going on the auction block. I removed it from its original frame because I wanted to display it on my wall, but not in the tacky gold frame it came in. I want it in a natural wood frame. I saved the original frame for auctioning it down the road. I'll finish up this comment with a relatively new artist I am just starting to collect. I stumbled into paintings attributed to a Bernard Duggan. To this day no one can find any proof that any Bernard Duggan ever existed. Its an interested detective story behind this artist. I have spent a year or more digging into it and have come to my own conclusions based on the level of artworks to be found out there and what they are. Its commercial art or factory art in my opinion, but attributed to an old deceased cartoon artist who worked for Walt Disney in 1950's and 1960's. I think people are getting two different Duggans mixed up. Regardless, even if this is factory art, some of his desert paintings are stunning. These are highly prized by collectors and you can find numerous offerings on auction sites starting at $50 and some going for thousands of dollars. My first Bernard Duggan is one of the largest made at 4 feet wide and 3 feet tall. This size is the most prized and most expensive. I got mine for around $12 at a thrift store. They did not know what they had or should have priced it much higher. One thing about Bernard Duggan paintings is that throughout his career he played around with lighting. So that is what to pay attention to with Duggan paintings. What is he doing with the light? Quite often he tries to make it natural, but just as often he is painting with unnatural lighting techniques. This first one shows a more natural lighting approach. As the sun goes down, the cactus and plants and mountains show shadow on this side which is correct. But in the next painting he switches up and paints a sundown scene with front lighting in foreground objects. Very unnatural. But it looks good hanging on the wall. These paintings jump out at you. This large one could fetch a couple thousand dollars at auction. I recently purchased this one at auction because it was mislabeled. It was not properly identified. They had it listed as a "Duggar" painting and no one knew who or what it was. I was the only bidder on it. When the correct name is used it would be a fight for it in a bidding war. I got this one for under $25. Some of his paintings half this size sell for $400 to $500 very quickly. His prices are going up. I'm pretty serious about my art. In 30 years I have bought and sold hundreds of paintings. And been fooled a few times and bought junk or prints I mistook for the real deal, but that is how it goes. Kind of strange walking into my lawyer's new offices and seeing all my old paintings all around the offices now. I wish I had some of them back. Later I'll dig up some more to post and try to include some that pertain more towards fishing and boating. A great subject for a thread! Art is an awesome distraction from a world in turmoil. Nature hanging on my walls bring peace within.

Got a laugh out of that one! She is great though! Love her determination and willingness to travel to new waters. When you say "flip" on fishing I see it being used for how to fish and what to fish for. Here in Florida the flip is not necessarily us fishermen but the flip in the weather that turns everything upside down and backwards. We flip from boats to bank fishing. Heck we got bass fishing jet skiis and bass fishing paddleboards now with trolling motors. Some jet powered too. So people in Florida do more flipping than many other places will allow or accommodate. Still looking for a jet ski with trolling motor installed on it. We have air boats with trolling motors on them now. We also let weather dictate how we flip around here. Like when a cold front moves in and bass get lockjaw and run deep and won't bite, some fishermen simply flip on over to saltwater fishing because some will tell you the coldest days in Florida are among some of the best saltwater fishing days. And then we have the in between half flips. Like the state of Florida creates a fake fish in a laboratory somewhere and dumps some 3.5 million of them into Florida waters every year. They call them sunshine bass. A blend between female white bass and male striper. This laboratory created frankenfish is designed to let us bass fishermen keep on fishing the same way we fish for LGM bass and when the weather flips on us now we can start catching the sunshine bass without missing a beat or really changing anything we do. A clever trick but it works! Down here in Florida we don't even know what a smallie is. We keep hearing about them, but never see one. Our sunshines fill the flip gap just fine and dandy. They pull like a freight train. Here is a former customer of mine catching one in a location he says he wants to keep secret but the white channel marker pole gives his location away to within 100 feet or less. He is using a Shimano reel I serviced when working at the rod and reel shop. Captain Tom Van Horn catching a 9 pound sunshine in St. Johns river in central Florida area. Lake Harney to be specific. Named after Col Harney U.S. Army's Seminole Indian chaser who moved through this lake pushing them Southward into Everglades. So I guess that about describes our primary flips. From bass to saltwater and back. And from bass to sunshines and back. And here is the FWC fish flipping stocking locater we use... https://gis.myfwc.com/FishStock/ We follow the general rule of letting 3 years pass from a stocking year before the fish are large enough to target for fishing. So we go back to 2022 and earlier to gather our fish flipping intel.

Jetline mouse! We could shoot these across a warehouse or basketball stadium. Makes wiring fun- and easier.

100% true. Wind chill in Florida is the worst due to humidity. Bites you to the bone. Cuts through clothing like a knife. So freezing to us around here is basically anything under 60 degrees and varies with humidity levels. If I am not comfortably warm on front deck of boat, then its a no go day. End of story. Not going to suffer the cold for a fish bite that might not happen on cold days when bass get lockjaw and run deep and won't bite anything even if wiggled in their faces. My winter fishing schedule follows cold fronts. We fish in front of them, and then run and hide inside until it blows over and warmup begins. Then we wait until it is warm enough and then think about going fishing. I am in that mode right now. We had two cold fronts blow through back to back. Snow and ice on the second one just yesterday and day before. Yesterday the warmup was to 51 degrees. Still too cold. Today is to be 56. Still too cold. Tomorrow and the next day are passing 60 degree mark and may be fishable. Florida bass are real finnicky with cold weather and pressure changes. One minute they are biting and the next they are gone not to return until the weather is just right for the both of us.

I moved to Florida. Problem solved. Flip flops year round! I can't even imagine what you are talking about.

Gee gramps, just not cool enough huh? I'd go fishin' with ya, but not blasting poor little critters to kingdom come. 😁

Florida's winter is at its worst right now! Can you imagine waking up to snow and ice on the ground? I mean we had actual ice or frost on the grass today until 10am. Unheard of. Roofs next door looked like they were covered in snow until first rays of sun hit them. Now its 51 degrees and freezing! On a warming trend for nearly a week. We hope this is our one and only freeze this winter. Already got to one plant in the yard. Hope it survives the great winter freeze of 2026. I walked across the frost covered grass just to hear and feel the rare feeling of an ice crunch in the yard. Only happens maybe once a year if that. Reminds me of why I live in Florida in the first place! Oh well, back to fishing once temps get back above 60 warm enough for shorts, t-shirt and flip flops as normal again! Its a terrible freeze in Florida when we look outside and see white on the ground. And it lasted until 10am! Usually gone at first light, but it hung around an hour or two. Should of made national news!

Its a matter of opinion really. For me yes, they are too thick in the area where hook needs to slide through to make a good hookset. I prefer zoom and other brands who make shapes that taper down thinning in the area where hook goes through the lure for easier hooksets. I generally don't worry about having too many colors. I tend to be more concerned about contrast and go with a light colored bait, a medium dark bait, and dark. The fish don't have time to examine in detail the lures when I fish. I don't give them the time to get a good look at it. I want reaction strikes at something that is moving within their range. I fish mostly clear water, so if bright sunlight I tend to try and blend in some with medium or darker color. As light fades or water gets murky I will brighten it up some making it more visible. I try and follow that old saying match the hatch, so some of the medium contrast colors are in the silvery shad to golden shiner colors. That reddish pumpkinseed color works for a darker one. White ice for a light color. One thing a lot of Bitter's customers like are his colors. John Bitter has definitely figured out that bright colors attracts more fishermen! He does have a great selection of colors no doubt! I think they catch more fishermen than fish!

Same here, but not for 40 years! I got to know John when I worked for a local rod and reel repair shop. He'd come into our shop quite often. I used to repair his Lews BB reels and some of his old rods. He used only one reel for his entire career. I asked him one day how many of the Lews BB reels did he have and I can't recall if he said close to 200 or 300. His rods and reels are old school for sure. He does know fishing, but the way he stocks his store is not based around that. I know because I have asked him directly why he does not stock certain products, namely the Zoom swimming fluke Jr paddle tails I look for and I was told to my face they want to sell their custom lures over and above all others, and so slowly over time, they have simply allowed existing stock to sell out and they will not order more to replace a number of products. When you walk into Bitter's more than 50% of the items in that store now are all their own custom brand. Next time you are in the store check and see how many different brands of flukes you see in there. You will see Bitters brand and others squeezed out to almost non-existent. This is an issue with me. I want the zoom brand and he leaves me no choice but to go elsewhere for it. Besides his own custom lures, the one thing John Bitter does that you just don't find anywhere else is his affinity for vintage lures. John over the years buys bulk estates of old dead guys lifetime collection of lures sold off once the old guy kicks the bucket. So I can't tell you how many times and still do go in there and dig through his vintage used lures at great prices usually a couple of dollars a piece for old Rapala wood lures, and classic vintage lures. Rat'l trap bodies without the hooks for a couple of bucks. Between John's brand of custom lures and the used vintage stuff, that makes his store worthwhile for sure. Buying brand new rods and reels at full retail pricing? No way! Need some live bait? Frozen bait? Bitters is the place for that. Minnows, earthworms, shiners, shrimp, mullet, he has it. Need oddball hooks? He's got it. Zoom swimming fluke jr paddle tails? Forget about it. Squeezed out of there. One day a few years back John came into our shop to pick up his rods and reels we had just repaired for him, and all the "in" guys always park in the back of the shop, so Jim did as well. He took his rods and reels out back in the parking lot to try casting them a few times out there. I walked out to my car back there and on my way back in I kidded him about reducing the amount of rubber he used in his naked swimmers. I kidded him and said "you know John, I could cut your naked swimmers in half and catch twice as many fish!" I think I may have ticked him off on that one, but you know I have never actually tried it. I think I will give it a try. I'll slice them in half vertically right down through the hook gap and make each half identical and give it a whirl maybe this afternoon on Lake Baldwin and see if I can back up my jest. Every time I walked into Bitters and saw John was not there I'd always ask where's John fishing today? You always get good local fishing info in there. Sad to say, but now when I go in there and don't see John and ask about him they tell me he had to hang up fishing. Just too old now- like his rods and reels. Nowadays when I find him in the shop most of the time he is putting new line on customer's reels, but he still has great local fishing information. His brother Jim has been retired for far longer. He lives too far away now to come to the store any more. The realities of getting old. This reel or older ones like it were John's choice all through his career and even in retirement he still fished them. I'm trying to imagine his collection of 200 or 300 of these collected over his many long years of fishing. I'd bet most of them were purchased just for parts more than fishing. I think his were simply BB-1's. Don't recall. I think I'll stop in Bitters today or tomorrow and see how the old guy is doing. My time around John has been less than 20 years. I really enjoyed when he would come into the rod and reel shop, he knew we took care of him, and he'd take care of us and often bring us bags of lures, some new colors, some new lure prototypes, etc. After he would leave Greg and I would be splitting it all up between us. Our fisherman customers did the same bringing us fresh caught fish from the east coast. We'd split that up to. The perks of the business. I liked digging into all the abandoned rods and reels and trolling motors the shop would collect up and have to unload from time to time. John Bitter has definitely been a large towering part of our local fishing community for decades. Sad to see him slowing down and backing out now.

I just went through every lure mentioned in this thread to check for availability here in Florida- and price. Some are readily available at local stores. Some are not. I clicked on Glenn's choices and his links to them and then looked to see if I could buy any of them locally. 2 could be found at local Bass Pro stores and possibly Academy Sports, but one lure, the Hideup Judy Fish Soft jerkbait is not so easily to be found in Florida- yet, and one of them I could only find in a one off tackle shop in Inverness Florida way out of reach on west coast area. The HideUp Judy Fish was by far the most expensive lure mentioned in this thread weighing in at a staggering $16.99 for a 4 pack for a price per piece of $4.25 each. And that is NOT including tax and shipping. I compared it to my latest purchase of the zoom swimming fluke Jr. weighing in at just over .23 cents per lure. And that price includes tax and shipping! https://www.ebay.com/itm/317416557119 My point would be that living in Florida price and availability are a primary guiding factor for lure choice. My local tackle store Bitters sells me a bulk bag of their own custom lure the Naked Swimmer for $35 per 100 for a price per piece of around .35 cents each. https://www.bittersbaitandtackle.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=338 Florida has limited choices these days. We have a few Bass Pro shops scattered across Florida, but the stores most accessible to us is Walmart, Academy Sports, and Dick's with Academy Sports offering the largest selection of lure choices next to Bass Pro. Dick's and Walmart stores have drastically cut back on their fishing tackle selections. Walmart tends to become a number 1 place for lures simply because there are so many stores and prices are decent. Dick's is overpriced and avoided. Academy Sports isn't the cheapest, but works. Bass Pro stores are best with the most variety and selections, and with good prices on some lures, but try finding a store in your area and you will find you have to drive quite a ways to find one and when I do that I tend to spend about $100 and stock up so I don't have to do it again any time soon. So even though a thread like this one suggests some good lures to use, prices and availability knocks them right out of the game for some of us here in Florida. My general price point per piece is .50 cents or less. Anything over .50 cents and its starting to get too expensive for me. I am sure others can maybe afford more, but I am on a retiree budget and have to make every penny count. So I just did the math on the HideUp Judy fish and to reach the free shipping level I have to purchase 3 packs to make it over $50 threshold. Then add tax. Closing in $54 spent and only 12 lures. Compare to my last zoom purchase of 100 lures for $23.06. If I doubled that order to $46.12 I'd have 200 lures compared to 12 still costing more. Now let me figure the fish catch count between 12 lures or 200. Not whipping out the calculator on this one, but I think its a safe bet to say 200 is going to out fish 12 every day of the week. So for me there is dreaming about lures I can't afford and can't find around here, and waking up to my Florida reality of what is readily available at good prices. I'd love to try them all. I'm sure they all catch fish. But... reality checks hit hard.

I fish primarily as OP is mentioning and have been for decades since I live here, but a 7" is too large for me. That to me is kind of targeting only larger fish. I target quantity over size because I want numbers of fish, not necessarily the quality size of the fish. That said, I prefer the Zoom paddle tail swimmin' Flukes at 5.5" down to swimmin' flukes Jr's at 3.5". And I will sometimes purchase 3" paddle tail. These slightly smaller lures still catch larger bass too. I prefer the paddle tails because of the extra motion they have over straight tails or forked tails. Size and shape of the of the lure has become very important as well as the type of rubber used. I tried the Googan paddle tail flukes and they catch bass, but one fish can destroy the lure. I prefer the Zoom brand because the lure is soft and I can catch numerous fish on one lure even as it begins to tear up, I can rearrange the lure some and keep catching fish with it for a little longer sometimes. Shape is one of the most important factors to me. I recently watched some guy who came down from up north roll into a lake in central Florida I like to fish a lot and he was doing his video and casting out his fluke and getting bit, but his hookup ratio was really bad. As he showed the lure setup I could see his lure was as big around as a man's thumb, and the distance between the side of the lure to the shank of the hook was less than a 1/4". So as he tried setting the hook, the hook has to slide through the lure to set into the fish, but his setup did not have any room for the hook to move because it ran into the side of the lure and stopped. So he had great difficulty in hook setting. I have moved away from the thick bodied, thick tailed lures and really like the shape of the Zoom swimmin' fluke because how the tail thins down where my hook goes through it. When I set the hook, I almost never miss because there is so little rubber at that location that it cannot slow down or bump against the hook shank. These are some examples of lures that to me are too thick of rubber where hook needs to slide through for hooksets: Quite often if I use a lure too thick top to bottom vertically, I will turn lure 90 degrees sideways and rig it so hook goes through thinnest amount of rubber. The fish do not care. Below is an example of fluke that is too thick. It has twice the amount of rubber hook has to slide through to get a good hookset. I avoid these. I kidded former bass pro John Bitter who makes this lure that I can cut it in half and catch twice as many fish with his lures because of how thick they are right where I don't want thick rubber. In the tail. I often turn his lures sideways because of it. Great lures though. Even old John Bitter has his custom lures dialed in to same sizes I prefer. His naked swimmers are sold in 3" and 5.5". Florida bass jump all over this size range in greater numbers I do believe. Hook shape is also important here to help facilitate the hook sliding through the rubber to make better hooksets. This is one of those techniques I have mastered over the years and sometimes will out fish others who are not familiar with it. Just a few days ago I showed up on a lake where a couple (husband and wife) were already fishing. They said they had been there awhile and only caught 2 fish. I was there for the last hour of sunlight and my fishing app said the bite was turning on. I carried one rod and one lure and caught 6 and missed others because fish missed lure in cover as it went over them. But if they got it, I generally caught them. They watched me catch one fish after another while they were not catching. Not only lure but technique, timing and where to fish. They stood on shore and cast open hook swimbaits as far out deep as they could. They never once tried to fish parallel to shore in the grass and cover along the edges. Fish were hiding in it. A lure swims by and I could watch the bass run out and grab it. One after another. 3 or 4 of my fish were caught like that. The others a little deeper around an offshore grass line holding fish. They fished on only open clear water and Florida's January fish just were not happening for them. I was there maybe 45 minutes until sun went down and cleaned their clocks. I had to show them the lure, the setup, and places and ways they were not fishing like parallel to shore and observe plants sticking out of water off shore indicating vegetation they stayed away from because they were tangling up in it. I also had them beat as far distance casting. They used short rods that fit into their compact car. 6' rods is what it looked like. I was using a 7'6" MHF spinning rod with 4000FG size Shimano Stradic and 20lb line on and I could cast almost twice as far as they could. The technique and app timing flat out work. When it says the bite is turning on, it is usually turning on. And when it says its turning off its very accurate. I've used it for years and for me it works. Not saying I don't catch fish in the slump of the off bite, but the app puts me on the water at the best times. It sure did a few days ago. I also now prefer the VMC drop dead weighted and unweighted hooks. 4 and 5's mostly. And setups like these. This one is a thicker lure turned 90 degrees sideways so I use the thinnest rubber to rig. This one is not a zoom. It is a Cabellas brand from Bass Pro. Cost about $3 per bag so I tried them out- sideways. Worked fine. These are the thin tail zoom flukes. Very little rubber to slow, stop or inhibit in any way my hooksets. This one I added a weight to probably because I did not have the hook I wanted at the time, but I can fish these weightless across the surface and just under it. I can let it drop in to holes in lily pads and eel grass. I can let it sink to bottom and pop it off the bottom like a dying shiner. Bass just can't resist these and they can be used a variety of ways. I caught a 7 pounder a few weeks ago along edges of lily pads on same lure below but not with sliding weight. I used a VMC weighted hook for that bass. Same setup though. And for the open hook swimbaiters, a quick and easy treble hook added can greatly increase hookup ratio. I can't tell you how fun it is to go fishing with a new buddy fresh in from up north who comes down to fish with me and he brings a boat load of lures, rods, and reels, and I am watching him switch up to this, that, and some other trying to catch a fish, and I am holding steady using one or two, maybe 3 lures and techniques and able to sometimes catch more fish- not size- just more fish by dialing in a tried and true method the bass flat out love. Quite often it will be just the weedless paddle tail flukes- two sizes as mentioned, maybe an open hook swimbait, and a rat'l trap rod laying on deck for schoolies. I can switch fast and get hooked up to a schoolie while that other guy is still trying to figure out which rod to grab. Schoolies are often gone before he can cast to them. I have spent many years honing some simple techniques since 1969 for Florida bass and I just don't need a boat load of stuff. I like to fish Florida's dishpan lakes, especially in summer, and pull up to the outside of the lily pads, and stay back about 20 feet off the pads in open water and use that 7'6" rod and cast all the way onto shore if I can reach it, and slowly work it back to me through it all. Often bass are jumping out of the water to get at it. And if schoolies blow up behind me, I can just set that rod down with lure still out there and grab my rat'l trap rod or swimbait rod and cast to them in seconds and get a schoolie or two real fast. And cast sideways along edges of lily pads and across the tops of eel grass and the blowups of the bass is awesome. Most of the time I am fishing in 8 feet of water or less, and quite often 4 feet or less. A few days most of the fish I caught using this technique were in 18 inches of water or less hiding up in the grass right along the shoreline not a foot from dry land. Love watching the wake they darting out for the lure as it passes by. Nothing I love more than using one rod, one lure and one technique to clean the clocks of forum guys who bring 25 rods, and every lure known to mankind down here to Florida. I swear some of them bring the entire store with them. And put some money on it and dinner as well! Just ask Zak about the white swimbait. I'll never hear the end of that one. Another guy former bass pro Brian ***** came down here with his war eagle spinner and cleaned my clock! It happens. But I like it better when I win using one lure just to mess with them and their 25 rods and boat load of lure choices and every color. 3" to 5.5" for me. More fish in the boat. If you use a 7" then maybe some bigger fish, but also maybe fewer fish in the boat. Definitely a matter of choice on this one. I don't always win, but we sure love talking smack about it! Fishing is fun, but it is also competition. If I win he's buying the sushi and sake. I'm taking boat to central Florida today. Warmup happening. Solunar calendar is turning around. Time for some 70 degree bass fishing Tuesday and Wednesday. Loading up now the new music and new albums from Walter Trout, Joe Bonamassa, Blackberry Smoke, Fortune Child, and the long awaited new album from Devon Allman to listen to while fishing. Here is a video example of a guy from out of town fishing the very same lake I will be on tomorrow afternoon using thick rubber baits. He catches fish no doubt, but he also misses some too. His rubber lure is so fat there is less than a 1/4" of space for lure to move for hooksets and I'd bet he is losing some fish here because of it. This much rubber is just not needed. I hope a long post like this one can help someone put more fish in the boat. Otherwise, what is the point?

^^^ This ^^^ only I reduce it to 15lb to 20lb straight braid for cranking lures depending on whether cover is around or open clear water and no cover I go lighter, even sometimes as light as 10lb braid. Never use any clear lines and no leaders except for backing line and that's it. I walked away from clear line use over 25 years ago and never looked back. But to each their own.