tallydude

HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Dude, if you're covering east coast fish, you can't forget about dolphin. :-/

Great fish, Dan!

Great job Russ! You saved the best for last! ;D

Aw, shucks, Avid. Now you've got me blushing. But thank you very much.

I had the opportunity to meet and spend time with Governor Charlie Crist and State Senator Jeff Atwater last night at the Town Hall meeting at Palm Beach Community College in Palm Beach Gardens. What was the purpose of the meeting? Real Estate Taxes and Homeowner's Insurance. The Governor started the night by stating Property taxes are too high- they're outta control, and that the state is putting the throttle on the insurance industry. Both need reform, said Crist, and that more reductions are coming. In regards to real estate taxes, Senator Atwater echoed the governor's sentiments, stating that in the next ten days that congress is in session, property taxes would be lowered. There seemed to be a common message that if the counties (who are sitting on huge surpluses) wouldn't lower property taxes, the state would intervene. There were many people who spoke at the meeting, citing claims of tax increases of 200%. The governor and senator seemed all too aware of this and also added that they were working on a possible expansion of the $25,000 Homestead Exemption. In regards to your Homeowner's Insurance, Governor Crist stated that insurance companies have been profiteering off the backs of the people of Florida and that was not acceptable. Crist's plan to reduce insurance costs hinted at a two pronged attack. First, Citizen's insurance is going to become much more competitive. The governor stated that if the insurance companies wouldn't lower their rates, Citizen's would essentially price them out of business. Secondly, insurance companies will no longer be able to pick and choose which services they offer here in Florida. If an insurance company offers a home policy in other states, they must offer it here, or they will not do business in the Sunshine State. All in all, both the governor and state senator were very energetic about getting their message across. They were adamant about reminding people to continue to stay on top of their representatives to push these laws through. You can contact you representative at www.myflorida.com and email Governor Crist himself at Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com. Folks, stay tuned. I think we're about to see some huge changes in policy extremely soon. All My Best, Jason

Nice! It's been YEARS since I've caught any of those!

Welcome to the site!

I foul hooked on of those in the tail in Lake Osborne. I didn't even want to touch it!

Welcome to the site! I gotta agree with Chris, those are some nice kitties! Best of luck with your fishing and keep posting!

Challenge accepted! Soft plastics are for sissies! I'm taking you to school and then EVERYONE on this site will recognize my superiority over you! MUAHAHAHA!

Oh, ok. I thought oscar was the general term for those, kinda like bream for a lot of panfish. BM, do you know how big they get to? I've heard they make decent table fare as well.

10! And of course I gave it a review. I'm proud of this site!

Awesome! Congratulations!

I had to get medieval on her a$$. ;D

You ever see a spot and just know a fish is there? Me too. But on to that in a second. I decided to leave my office a little early yesterday (around 3:00) and spend a little time to myslef on the water. My girlfriend was attending a tax law event in San Santonio and was getting back late that night so I knew it might be the last time I had to myself before she got in. Anyway, i decided to head to the canal behind H.L. Johnson Elementary School on Crestwood St. in Royal Palm Beach, which is only a block from my house (more on that in a sec). I started throwing a 3/8 pearl colored Rat'L Trap and was rewarded with a tug on the line from the following fish. Unfortunately, she decided to get wrapped up in some underwater brush about 5 feet away from the shore. Well, I grew up in Louisiana and consider myself an idiot due to my not having any fear of alligators. Naturally, I waded right in. After I unwrapped her, I did my best Avid-like pose and got this picture: About ten minutes later, I hooked into a 10 inch bass that managed to get all six treble hooks in its mouth. I didn't take a picture because I was more concerned with getting her back in the water than taking a picture of my ten thousandth dink. On to our magical fishing hole. I had noticed three fallen trees sitting in roughly a triangle area in about 4 feet of water. I was obviously salivating to fish in the hole. I cast all around the area for about 50 casts until I finally agitated a fish enough to hit my Rat'L Trap. She extremely well and I noticed she had some size to her. I fought her to the bank and right as she was in range to be lipped, she jumped up and threw the hook. > I went through my exhaustive vocabulary of curse words in English and Spanish and was angry because I had been missing a lot of hook sets lately. This is of course when the alligator showed up. By my estimation, she was about 8-9 feet long and was sitting in the water about 100 feet from me. I wanted to get a picture for you guys, but she really doesn't show up well against the water in the pic. Anyway, being more cautious, I headed back down the bank and decided to fish with a texas rigged plastic lizard, mostly because niksfishinmom is always talking about how great soft plastics are. I HATE SOFT PLASTICS. But I decided to work the banks anyway. After about an hour of nothing happening, I doubled back to where I missed the good fish before. Fortunately, the wind kicked up and was a SIGN FROM GOD to use my spinnerbait. I pitched a white spinnerbait with dual Colorado and willowleaf blades back into the area and WHAM! Hookup! I first thought she was a catfish because she wasn't moving around a whole lot and was fighting down in the water column, tuggingmore than running. And then she got MAD . I almost dropped the rod when she came airborne. Truly an aerial battle, this fish could've tried out for Cirque Du Soleil. Was she fun to catch! She peeled off about 20 yards of my Vanish 17lb. flourocarbon before I could tame her. Now I have a new problem. I want a picture. Sure she wasn't one of FishChris' babies, but she put up a great fight worthy of remembering. So I call my roommate, who is a block away. "PLEASE", I beg, "Get your butt over here and take this picture". He says no, because he is eating. Take it yourself. I tell him I don't want to, because the pic will look bad and I want a decent one. I'm pleading at this point. Well long story short, I end up taking these pictures myself after I threw my phone down and broke it in disgust. She went 4lbs, 4oz. I was pretty happy, but I wanted to get her back in the water. So I released her and no more than 10 seconds afterward a guy comes walking out of the woods. Incredible timing. Oh well. Here is the girl: Anyway, I fish a while longer and catch two more dinks and this fat little girl as well: It was a great time to spend to myself and enjoy fishing. Not a bad day at all.

Now all of you see why I moved away. ;D

Just another nice, fat fish. Great job!

Hey Muddy, I tried to PM you but the link to your name says you're no longer a member. Is it too late to get in?

Yeah, my only concern would be about all the underwater vegetation here in Florida. But if it can be rigged weedless, all the better.

They fight wayyyyyyyyyyyy harder than any bream I have ever encountered.

So I left the office a little early to go fishing. Nothing wrong with that. I ended up having to wait for my buddy Ian to get off of work so we didn't get out until about 6:30. Oh well. Anyway, we caught 4 fish, none really impressive, but I thought I hadn't posted many bass lately, so what the heck? Might as well. Here are three pics, including one I foul hooked in the belly (2nd pic): My buddy Ian's fish, on the last cast of the day:

So I decided to take my roommate's girlfriend's kid out fishing the other day. Once again I thought this was a trip made in vain, since he has ADHD, and is generally a pain in the butt. But I brought him anyway, and he was rewarded with the biggest Oscar I have ever seen: On a later trip, I managed to catch this one as well: Anyway, for those of you who don't live down here, I thought you'd enjoy seeing some of the nonnative fish here in Palm Beach county.

That thing looks huge!

Agreed. I think you get a much better action when you tie directly onto the lure. That, and retying the line kind of forces you to inspect the line for nicks and cuts, etc.