FloridaFishinFool

Glued down carpet will always be a problem because it holds water and dirt.

I simply made two changes.... 1) is to never glue carpet down. All the carpet in my boat now is held in place with velcro so I can remove it for cleaning and drying out the boat. And 2) I now use outdoor putt putt golf course carpet which is designed differently. It comes with a foam backing that makes standing on deck more comfortable.

And as for non-slip paint is a simple thing of buying the grit size you want and mixing it into the paint so when it dries you will have a non-slip surface. Home Depot sells various paint additives for similar results.

That's awesome SwampGirl! Congratulations on the new PB!

And I think we can all see how spoiled you are to have that awesome lake sized pond all to yourself!

56 fish in one morning is an amazing number to catch! I can't imagine how many more you missed that could have taken it even higher.

You put most of us to shame with how many bass you catch! (Hanging head in shame and bowing to the master!) I bet it is a lot of fun to have THAT much activity especially on a 48% day!

Guess I'll have to go out and see if Florida will give me just 5 fish today. Be nice to catch just 6. But 56? Wow!

I did a quick search for part number BNT2143 and the searches turned up several hits showing the same size as 5X8X2.5mm.

I hope this is the correct size! Numerous search hits all match.

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.

cubeupload
IMG20260212192346225.jpg - cubeupload
Share 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.

cubeupload
IMG20260212192421503.jpg - cubeupload
Share 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!

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.

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

For now sure. You have peeled back enough of the outer insulation to access the wires and have enough exposed to make the new splices.
 
When dealing with crimp splices you don't want to crimp too tightly because you can mash cut through the wire. Or, crush it to the point a couple of bends of the wire and it breaks off. Crimp just enough to make tight connection but not too tightly that crushes or damages any wire. Check them by pulling straight out on wires. A good crimp will stay in place. A not so tight crimp and the wire slides out. Redo.
 
I like to double up the wire going into the crimp because of this. When you strip back the wires, go about 1/2" and twist wires some to form a more solid wire and fold it over so you have a double sized 1/4" exposed wire to slide into crimp splice.
 
ADDED: You have 5 wires going to that connector. It is the single wires I would fold over double if you can fit that into the splices you buy for the white, green, and yellow wires. The two brown wires can be twisted together with 1/4" wire exposed for sliding into the crimp. The two wires makes double anyways. The reason I prefer to fold the wires over for double size going into a crimp is because it doubles the surface contact area, and may make a lower resistance connection because of the additional surface contact area, but it also provides twice the material to crimp down on for a better grab on the wire with slightly less possibility of over crimping too tightly and damaging wire leading to breakage down the road.
 
I like to use a wire treatment to prevent corrosion. And it would be a good idea to use heat shrink or tape it up good once done to try and prevent any shorts and help keep the wires from bending at the crimp joint.
 
This does not have anything to do with the connector you are working on, but on the trailer wiring. I stopped using the frame for the ground or negative connection to lights and took an old 50 foot household extension cord and cut it in half and ran half to lights on one side and half to the other side. Larger wire with better doubled up insulation. I now run the ground or negative directly to the lights through the wire and never have any trouble with my lights ever.
 
Usually the screw to the frame near hitch causes a bad ground connection, or the screw connections to frame at the lights eventually makes a bad faulty connection. Running ground wires to the lights has solved that issue for me. Just a suggestion.
 
I'll bet you the wires on the new connector are not as heavy a gauge as the wires in your harness now.
 
***Just saw the photo below... he's on the same page.

None of us can second guess your reassembly.
 
But the part about cast knob not working sounds like it could be missing a shim on one or both ends of spool axle.
 
And as guess on your reassemly sometimes a gear won't go all the way down seated properly. Some snap into place and can be kind of hard to seat them. 
 
Sometimes a little drag grease around lower drive shaft area can help as well as holding gear with one hand and spin drive shaft while continuing to push down on gear and it slowly moves and may snap into place being careful of the pinion gear meshing correctly as it is seated.
 
If the gear is not seated all the way down and you try to put side plate on it could bind.
 
The top of pinion gear should be about level and flush to top of main drive gear. When you remove side plate take a look at this relationship between pinion gear and drive gear. It wil be obvious if not correct.
 
Also curious about positioning of pinion yoke. It can possibly be put in upside down. Not sure how that would affect it since I dont think I've encountered it before but another thing to consider.
 
If that yoke is upside down both pinion and drive gear would probably be a raised position and possibly bind when side plate put on.
 
This is just a long shot guess. Otherwise, you found your reel tech DVT above- or he found you!
 
If you do figure it out, be sure to coat the gear teeth with vapor thin coat of grease. Just barely enough to wet the gears but not so much as to sling off.
 
Now I'm curious. Love following threads like this.

That's a good sized one too! These small little fish will hammer a rubber worm or just about anything that moves. These guys can be pretty aggressive.
 
They like to hide in cover and dart out to grab and meal and dart right back into cover with it.
 
If these would grow to 10 pounds on a regular basis some of us might forget all about LMG.
 
We call them redeye's too. I did not realize how closely they do resemble the rock bass. When nothing else is biting, these guys can be fun to mess with. Sometimes you can catch the same fish twice rather quickly.
 

 

Looks to me like Wright McGill?
 
If I am right, it was instant recognition from the W and M. Can't read the rest of it.
 

A quick fix is to leave boat in water tied up at boat ramp, and up in parking lot use battery hand drill with socket and remove all lags and move bunk forward or backwards a half inch or so and screw it back down. Check and see if your bracket has holes for 3 lags and increase it by 1.
 
You can also increase lag size in thread diameter. I just ordered for standard 2x4 boat bunk lags made of stainless steel 3/8" x 1.5"
 
***Be careful to use correct length of screw or lag so as to not go all the way through and damage hull. Had to get a disclaimer in there somewhere.
 
Down the road you might be able to switch out that type of bracket to something like this image shows which holds up better as I see it. Keeps the boat bunk vertical and solidly in place.