bigbassin'

The water clarity depends on what stretch of the river you're in. Lower portion near the Suwannee, which I've never fished, is crystal clear every time I've been. It's a really popular swimming area. Middle portion is where I typically fish, water clarity at this time of year is probably close to zero, in the drier months it's about 4 foot of visibility. Clearest I've seen that stretch is about 6 foot of visibility. The upper stretch comes from Lake Sante Fe and actually goes underground for a couple of miles before resurfacing. Being disconnected from the rest of the river, there's no Suwannee bass in it so I haven't spent a whole lot of time on it. Lake Sante Fe has about 5-6 foot of visibility in my experience so it would be my guess the upper stretch of the river is probably around that.

Wading the Sante Fe when the water gets low in late fall/early winter is one my favorite ways to fish. The leaves change colors a lot more than I feel is typical for Florida, and you get to bounce squarebills off of rock bottom and brush. Skipping a little jig under overhanging trees can almost guarantee you a mixed bag of Suwannees and largemouth. It's definitely a unique experience for anyone used to fishing for largemouth in grassy lakes surrounded by homes that seem to make up the majority of the state. I'd say 10 inches is about normal for these guys, 14 inches qualifies for the state trophy catch program so a 13 is pretty good. What did you catch him on? They're better fighters than largemouth, especially if they get into the current. I always thought the same about their similarities with smallmouth, and from what I've always read on smallies, they seem to have similar diets and preferred habitat. With how cold the water coming out of the Sante fe and Ichetuknee is, I've always felt that smallmouth would have no problem surviving in those areas.

I can't speak for the rest of the country, but in Florida I don't think electronics are a huge deal in keeping people involved with bass fishing. Most of our lakes are too shallow for a depth finder to be of much use, and the offshore fishing I have done, along with the majority of what I've seen on the internet will be along grass flats in 5-8 foot of water. There are lakes here that get deeper of course, but the option to fish structure in 30 foot of water just doesn't exist here the way it does in other places.

How I fish flukes: 1. Giving it soft but quick twitches as soon as it hit hits the water. This will keep it on the top of the water and present a more subtle walk the dog. 2. Allowing it to sink to the desired depth and working it like a jerk bait, just with softer twitches. You can pause as long as you want between twitches, this is probably where most of my strikes occur. 3. Dead sticking the fluke for 10-20 seconds at a time, hop it, then repeat the process. 4. Target casting. Just get the fluke right on top of your desired target and allow it to sink all the way to the bottom. Give it a few twitches then work it back to you. 4. Carolina rigged with long pauses. 5. Dead sticking on a wacky rig. 6. As a chatterbait trailer. Living in Florida I've never done it, but I've read a lot about fishing flukes on underspins for spotted bass in deep, cold water. I'm not sure if that applies to you either living in Houston, but if so its something to consider. I use a 4/0 EWG rigged weedless for my hook. I typically go weightless if I'm not Carolina rigging, but a 1/8 ounce weight can be helpful in getting the bait further down in the water column without overpowering the action of the fluke. In freshwater I never fish my flukes with a jighead, but I'm not worried about current or depth typically. In saltwater jigheads are the norm and they still catch fish, no reason to think that wouldn't apply to bass. If you're stuck on color try watermelon red, watermelon red, or watermelon red. If that doesn't work try Arkansas shiner or pearl.

My most successful night trips have always been when there are bats flying right along the waterline. Like @A-Jay said, I think if the bats are close to the water, so are the insects that baitfish will feed on.

If I'm correct, they'll eat any fruit or vegetable you give them. If potatoes and carrots are working, you should be fine to just keep doing that.

I would personally think your general location is playing at least a slight role in the decline of the fishing, particularly because you mentioned a decline in grass. The majority of the places I used to fish where grass was key had it more or less wiped out during Irma (ponds not lakes, the lakes didn't seem to be effected much). This has scattered the bass out, along with creating dirtier water since the grass isn't there to hold dirt on the bottom when it rains. Might be even worse for you considering all the issues they're having with the Lagoon and IRL losing grass from algae blooms and you're right next to it, not sure if the spillways you mentioned connect the ponds with either of those water bodies. With all that being said, if you're there every week and didn't see a fish kill off, they're still in there. The bass are probably just more spread out and no longer relating to a clearly visible target such as matted grass. Conditioning may be a factor as others have said, but I personally feel that applies more to hard baits than soft plastics.

Personally I've always selected my first lure based on what cover I expect to fish first. For example, a squarebill or jigs around rocks or a fluke or swimbait around grass. I feel that it's less about what particular type of bait you need to imitate and more about finding the type of cover and structure that are holding fish, then selecting the best tool to fish that type of cover.

Typically most of my luck bank fishing comes close to the shoreline. If you can find a point, dropoff, ditch, isolated brush, etc. within casting distance from shore it can be productive but it takes a lot of time dragging lures to find structure/cover. You can typically see where points will be using a satellite map, and I always stop to fish them when walking the bank. Casting at a 45 degree angle with the shoreline, you can cover a range of depths depending on the layout of where you're fishing, cover a decent amount of ground horizontally, and if you get snagged you can just walk past where your lure is stuck and pull it free typically. You said you used to fish out of a jon boat so I'm assuming you know how to fish, you just have to adjust your mentality of where the fish should be.

I've had largemouth follow other largemouth in before. It hasn't happened very often, but when it has the follower has always been in the 5+ pound class while the one I have hooked is around 12 inches. My assumption is that the bigger fish viewed the smaller one as a meal.

Any idea what part of Florida? The east coast and west coast fish very different structure and depth wise. For example those tailing redfish along clear grass flats I'm sure you've seen are typically on the east. Gulf reds will hold off oysters bars in 3 to 4 foot of water a lot of times, so you won't see them tailing. Gulf reds are typically less spooky, you can throw a spook for them all year. Covering water is ideal, basically fishing those oysters like your bass fishing riprap and trying to cover as much water blindcasting as possible until you put down a pattern. Other side of the state a t-rigged fluke is my go to, and grass in 18 inches of water will hold fish. Spoons, DOA, Gulp, and swimbaits all work as well. Popping corks as someone else mentioned are very popular. At the end of the day, they'll hit what you throw at them if they're hungry. My pb is on a trickworm fast twitching on top, I know guys that carolina rig ribbontails and catch fish, I've heard of sqaurebills being used around oysters. Bass tackle can catch them no problem. How deep do you fish for reds typically? I would think a rattletrap would just be a headache on y'alls flats if they're as shallow as I thought.

After worms, these might be the easiest soft plastic to find around me. Surprised they're hard to find. As far as techniques go, I'm not sure you can fish them wrong. If I take someone fishing for the first time they'll be throwing these. They can reel fast, zone out and deadstick, hop, etc. and not hurt their chance of catching a fish, plus you can rig it weedless which might be useful if they don't have a lot of casting experience. Swimming them slowly on a 4/0 with a 1/8 weight is extremely effective and how I've seen most people fish them. Around eel grass flats this will often be the first lure and technique I try. Pitching and hopping around hard targets will work as well, but I really feel grass is where speed worms shine. For night fishing, I'll t-rig and c-rig these guys and do pretty good, I think the tail puts off just a little more thump than ribbontails which helps the fish to locate the worm in the dark. Ripping the worm out of deep clear grass flats on a light jig head can work very well. Working them as a topwater like @Catt mentioned is a solid technique that has won a lot of money around here. I've even caught fishing while using them as a chatterbait trailer...Pretty sure whatever technique you use is going to work as long as there are fish around.

Copy and pasted from an old thread: 1. Giving it soft but quick twitches as soon as it hit hits the water. This will keep it on the top of the water and present a more subtle walk the dog. 2. Allowing it to sink to the desired depth and working it like a jerk bait, just with softer twitches. You can pause as long as you want between twitches, this is probably where most of my strikes occur. 3. Dead sticking the fluke for 10-20 seconds at a time, hop it, then repeat the process. 4. Target casting. Just get the fluke right on top of your desired target and allow it to sink all the way to the bottom. Give it a few twitches then work it back to you. 4. Carolina rigged with long pauses. 5. Dead sticking on a wacky rig. In freshwater I never fish my flukes with a jighead, but I'm not worried about current or depth typically. In saltwater jigheads are the norm and they still catch fish, no reason to think that wouldn't apply to bass imo. If you're stuck on color try watermelon red, pearl, or Arkansas shiner. I'd also up the hook to a 4/0 like @Burros said.

Just off a numbers game, I'd say you're a lot more likely to catch an 8 pounder in Florida than Wisconsin. There's simply way more fish in that class down here and it's not even close I'd imagine. However based on my very limited experience with northern strain, and everything I've read comparing the two, I'd say if you can get your lure in front of an 8 pound northern strain it would be more likely to bite. That's the whole reason people mix the two and stock F1's. You get a larger fish from the Fl genes, but it's more aggressive due to the northern strain in it.

In all seriousness, I typically follow this piece of advice and fish where I catch big fish when I want to catch big fish, and fish were I get good numbers if I just want to catch a lot. Just thought it was funny to see in writing.

It should work no problem for squarebills. I prefer a fast action for spinnerbaits but last week there was a thread where people were saying they'll use a moderate on spinnerbaits. It all boils down to personal preference, you'll either like it or you won't and you're not going to know until you try it.

This is spot on. Basically you use it for high speed trolling when you might encounter 50+ pound fish running one way at 30 mph while the boat is going the other at the same speed. I can't think of a single reason it would be worth the hassle while bass fishing.

^^^Groundbreaking stuff right here.

Have never seen the Potomac or Goose Creek I can't tell you for sure which one is better and if you're better off just fishing one or the other. I can tell you that one of my favorite places to fish is a feeder creek of a much bigger river. I've never done very good on the river, where as I've done great in the creek. Most likely I'm assuming it boils down to the fact I spend a lot more time on the creek and as such there are specific pieces of cover that I just know will have a fish on it, which makes eliminating water pretty easy. I'd say give GC a try if you've never fished it, you might find you have a lot of success, like the location better, etc. Or you don't like it, and now you know and don't have to wonder when you aren't doing great on the Potomac if you should of gone to GC instead.

Beat me to the spinnerbait example... As another example, a lot of ponds around me don't have shad in them, yet a shad colored crankbait will outfish a bluegill or craw colored bait just about every time.

After googling it, you are correct.

Personally I don't like moderates for spinnerbaits. I've never tried one for chatterbaits but I think I've seen articles on people that prefer the moderate action. Basically the argument was that the fish often gets hooked in the softer parts of it's mouth rather than through the corner of the lip, and the moderate action helps keep the fish from pulling the hook. Topwaters would for sure work, walking the dog might actually be easier due to the soft tip.

I think the weight on a jig or the profile of a senko make skipping with baitacasting gear doable with some practice. If you feel real adventurous spooks skip surprisingly well and a lot of saltwater guys throw them around here. Tube or a fluke on spinning gear is certainly easier than the previously mentioned lures on baitcasting gear. I've seen one of the pro guys, don't remember which one, skip buzzbaits way back under a dock like that lure is meant for it...that video didn't get me anything except a few backlashes...

After thinking about it, the only time I think I even come close to this number is when I'm throwing a spook or rattletrap with an overhead cast and the wind at my back. So I probably won't be skipping from 40 yards anytime soon.

How far from a target can y'all skip a lure? One spot I fish has a lot of brush, laydowns, and overhanging trees on the opposite side of where I have access. The shoreline ranges from 10 yards to about 75 yards away depending on where I'm at on the pond. Right now, I can consistently get a jig, fluke, or senko under the trees from up to around 25 yards out. Is this about the farthest skipping is realistic due to the angle of the cast, or can some of y'all skip from 40 yards out? If I could skip a full cast distance that would open up a lot of cover that I know no one else is casting to.