davecon

West Central Florida (Sarasota area) January and February. Is best for the big girls. March thru April best for numbers. This is a generalization, early or late wintertime (that's Florida wintertime) can be a factor. There is not a whole lot of bass fishing in the immediate Sarasota area. Will have to drive a ways east or south for the most part unless you know of some smaller waters locally.

I usually straighten out the tackle, clean the reels, etc. But keep in mind that is August for me. Gets awfully hot here in Florida. To tell the truth though, this morning the grandson and I actually had to wear long pants and sweatshirts. Got down in to the 50's. Bitter I tell you. Excruciatingly cold to us. Why we even had to wear socks !!! Hard to believe.

Easy choice for me. I just go whenever I can. Choose location based on water conditions and tides. That doesn't guarantee success but I see no sense in beating my head against the wall. I'm only interested in snook and LM over 5 so that changes things.

I know some guys that work at a local power plant on a man made reservoir. Picking lures off the screen on the water intakes gave them unbelieveable lure collections.

Musky Jitterbug made of cedar. Went so far as to recently buy the new plastic model and a block of cedar, took it to a woodworking hobbyist and had him shape the wood. Painted it and transferred all the hardware. No comparison in action/sound to the new plastic ones.

Crypt, not to brag but to give you an idea of brackish water possibilities. I'm in the Tampa Bay Area and fish brackish water often. One great day for me was two summers ago. It was July, hotter than you can imagine with tremendously high humidity. In one stretch of the river I caught one redfish of 33 inches, four bluegills all weighing over a pound each, four bass between 4 and 5 each, 4 juvi tarpon all between 30 and 40 lbs each, and about 30 snook, most of them small, between 18 and 22 inches, but 3 or 4 pushing 30 inches. All caught on the same lure in a stretch no more than 200 yards long. Had the boat back on the trailer at 11:00 a.m.. Fishing died as soon as the tide changed. While this was a banner day and nowhere near common, it does show the capability of brackish water under the right condition. Is it a slice of heaven ? You bet ! But with the heat and humidity it's also a little bit of hell.

I second the motion on sharpening the tm blades. Just put a file on it, take out the dings and sharpen that baby up. Won't completely eliminate the problem but definitely helps.

Not to be a smart a@$, but whatever works. Lake I fish regularly here in west central Florida has been producing large numbers of large fish during the spawn for close to 20 years for me. Know the lake very well. Usually catch 8 or 10 every years up to 8, with several really big ones. Small lake, not well known, most people fish it for panfish and catfish. Usually a 12 inch worm is the ticket. One year I couldn't buy one with the big worm. Tried 4 inch worms on ultralight - BING ! The 4 inch worms have never worked since, and that was 8 or 10 years ago. Go figure. But to answer your question - whatever works.

Don't know about cichlids, but they eat tilapia. Snook also love tilapia. A friend of mine is a fish farmer raising tropical fish for aquariums. He uses mollies and swordtails to catch crappie.

I'm told it was age 4. That's 61 years. Can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday but can remember every detail of the first nice bass (6 lbs) I caught and that was 59 years ago. My wife of 44 + years tells me I am ill and need help. Told her no, I'll just suffer thru and die from it.

Was dyed in the wool bass fisherman for over 25 years. Then I found snook ! I fish for them in almost the same fashion as I would for bass, same rods and reels, same lures for the most part, same boat, same style, and in many cases the same waters. Catch one really nice snook on bass tackle and you will understand. Still enjoy bass fishing but do so now only December thru April. Still go for panfish with ultralight on occasion and also play with the tarpon once in a while. Life is good.

When the beetle spins quit working I might try these techniques, but for right now the beetle spins work just fine.

No picture as it was a long time ago (9/14/74). It's not that we didn't have cameras on our cell phones, we had no cell phones. Anyway, best was 14.1. Caught an 11.3 short while later and at least 50 over 8 in the same small pond. In recent years biggest has been 13.5. Really don't fish for bass as often as I used to as I have become addicted to snook. Only fish for bass from usually December thru March, usually getting 5 or 10 over 8. It's not that I'm that good a fisherman, it's just that I have been doing this a long time and live in west central Florida. I'm sure you could do the same under the same circumstances.

I also think it is a drum. For sure NOT a golden shiner !

Had stick steer from the front for many years. On mildly rough waters it will beat you to death and soak you. NEVER AGAIN ! Presently have a Gheenoe with stick steer from the middle seat. It's great. Gives me more room than would a console. Check out Custom Gheenoes. You may be surprised. Any questions about them shoot me a pm.

Might try a very small bit of high quality vegetable oil, for example Wesson Oil. I would only do that on those that are dried out. Oddly, there is one small river that I fish where anise oil is almost a necessity. It helps in a lot of places but in this one river anise oil out fishes plain worms with no scent by 10 to 1. Have never understood that but I just go with it. It's been that way for almost 35 years now.

First off I have absolutely no experience building or repairing rods. Problemi is I stored an old fly rod where it was apparently too hot. When I went to get the rod out after a couple of years of not using it I found that the epoxy/glue that is over the guide wraps had begun to melt. On some of the guides it kind of flaked off but on most there is a "glob" of melted glue/epoxy. The wraps seem to be intact. Question is what can I use to remove the old epoxy/glue that will leave the wraps intact and what should I coat the wraps with after they have been cleaned ? It's a relatively inexpensive Fenwick that, if memory serves, I paid less than $ 100 for about 10 years ago. Again, I am a complete novice at this and would appreciate any advice you can offer. Thanks, Dave

Mine is the old Classic model. If I was going to get one today I would buy the new LT 25. You owe it to yourself to go to the Custom Gheenoe website. Lots of valuable info there. Your size should not be an issue. I weigh 210 (or at least used to) and my fishing buddy was about 255. No problems.

Believe me, a Gheenoe is NOTHING like a canoe or kayak. They are extremely stable - I can put my knees on the gunnel and pee over the side of the boat and it is nowhere near tipping. Have caught 100 plus pound tarpon in it with no issues ( now you don't want him in the boat with you but you really don't want a tarpon in any boat). If the water is rough you will get wet but if the weather is that bad I'm usually in a protected area or at home anyway. Mine loads as quick and easy as any bass boat and uses very little gas. Went Sunday with a grandson, ran 14 or 15 miles minimum and burned less than two gallons of gas.

I have been fishing out of a 15"6' Gheenoe Classic for about 10 years now. You can rig them anyway you want and spend a little or a lot. When I first got it set up I had a full sized bass boat, 18", Kevlar hull, 150 hp with all the bells and whistles. Ran 82 mph. After I started fishing smaller out of the way waters with the Gheenoe and started catching more and larger fish with virtually no crowds around me I realized I had used the "bass" boat twice in 18 months and I fish at least once a week. Sold the bass boat and never looked back. I rigged mine as follows - 55 lb foot controlled tm, 25 hp electric start remote start Merc, ss prop, CMC tilt and trim, stick steering from the center seat, very nice swivel seats, depth finder, lights, bilge pump, drive on trailer. Runs 32 mph in inches of water. Fish lakes, rivers, bay, flats, etc. Check their website - Custom Gheenoe.com.

Great start ! Careful as it can become a lifelong obsession ! Can't remember my first as I am told I was only four, but I do remember my first decent bass (about 6 pounds) caught at age 6. I can't remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday but I remember that fish and every detail about it and it was 59 years ago. Man I'm getting old ! The bug really hit me at age 17 and I have been going once or twice a week since then with the exception of a few health induced breaks of a few months here and there. Took one of the grandsons this morning and had a great time. Caught lots of fish, snook, reds, tarpon, snapper but that wasn't the important part of it. Spending time with a family member on the water is the true joy of it. Keep at it and you may wind up as sick as I am. Good luck. Dave

Suggest you join one of the local clubs. There are several in the area and that will help you with the learning curve. Don't know where you are from but as I understand it, Florida fishing is somewhat different than most of the country. While a lot of the info you get here will be helpful, take it with a grain of salt. While everybody means well a lot of what applies in the rest of the country doesn't quite pan out here. I've only fished here in Florida but some of the reports I see posted on this site and others are dumbfounding. To put it another way, I don't post results of my trips or those of my buddies as I would be called a liar. Again, join a local club and you will learn more and faster than any other way I can think of. Good luck, Dave

Not familiar with Sanibel but usually they are a little further inland. Not much but some. They may have left the beaches on the Gulf by then but you never know. I'm a little further north in the Tampa area and they tend to move further up into the bay's, rivers, canals. Everybody says to slow down but I don't buy that. I use artificials only and fish them faster than you would if you were bass fishing. You might want to check on the red tide. It's pretty bad in some areas. Also, if you are so inclined you might check out a guide that goes at night. UNBELIEVEABLE ! Google the Mad Snooker.

Can't remember the name of the stuff but most auto parts stores sell a product to remove decals and bumper stickers. Not terribly expensive. Might work.

Google Earth is your friend !