bigbassin'

There are, along with largemouth and clownknife fish.

As far as largemouth go, any canals in the area should have bass. Just throw a worm or fluke parallel to the shoreline, working it through any vegetation you can find and you're in business. If you can fish around bridge pylons, a bend in the canal, or any other unique feature the fish will tend to stack up in pretty good numbers since there aren't many other features available in a canal. Peacocks can be caught in Lake Ida and Osborne, a little north of Deerfield. You'll need to be in a boat to target them, so a guide might be a good option. If you can just rent a boat it's small enough you could figure out the lake without a guide though. You can skip every dock in Ida from a kayak in about 5-6 hours. From shore, you'd probably need to go farther south to have a lot of success. Florida doesn't have smallmouth.

What flies do y'all like to tie with rabbit? Seen a few people mention that now, I don't know if I've heard anyone in Florida talk about it for anything besides tarpon.

I've thrown three of their lures, the jerkbaits that look like 110's, the prop bait that has a bluegill profile to it, and their wakebait. The Prop bait is solid, for a while it was the only topwater I threw. During spring this is my go to topwater. Quality is great, makes a huge disturbance without really moving very far. Not sure if these are on sale, but either way I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be disappointed picking up a few. I'm not a jerkbait expert by any means, x-raps are the only other I've thrown, but I would take the Academy brand over x-raps if I had to pick just one for bass. I've got a grey/red glitter pattern and a white/blue pattern I think. The white/blue pattern has worked better for me. For the price I'd say their a good choice if you only fish jerkbaits a couple of times a year (me). The wakebait is ok, I've caught fish it with it and it seems to be made of good parts just like the others. My only knock on it is that it's been outfished side-by-side with a Shallow A a couple of times and it wasn't even close. Of course there's a lot of factors that play into that and maybe 30 minutes earlier the H2O bait would of been the better choice.

Makes sense, I'll have to give them a try next time I try to fish for them. A short fly fishing report (no pictures): Took the 8 weight out today for a few hours, air temp in the upper 50's to lower 60's, post-frontal conditions. Caught 5 total on a white shminnow with dumbbell eyes, steady slow strip was the key. All in the 1-2 pound range, nothing too big but good for a quick midweek trip.

For how popular a wooly bugger is, I haven't caught many bass on them. I think my biggest bass on one was only about 1/2 pound as well so I've more or less stopped throwing them if I'm targeting bass. They've landed me some really nice bluegill and shellcracker however. Any pictures of your poppers? I've more or less stopped fishing flies if I didn't tie them myself and I haven't learned how to work with poppers. Definitely something I need to learn, I almost always fish streamers (clousers and shminnows are my go to) yet my three biggest all came off poppers. What do you use when targeting carp? I've tried wooly buggers and san juan worms on tailing fish and never had a hit.

I'm assuming you're fishing too fast if you can't get hit on a senko. If you have the patience, I've found the best way to fish a senko is a weightless t-rig. Cast it to a specific target, let the bait fall to the bottom, and let it sit for another 10-15 seconds. Give it a little hop, let it sit for a while again. If you're bank fishing do this all the way back to shore, out of a boat I'd reel in after the third hop and cast to the next target. Fishing large grass flats, dead sticking the bait to where a cast may take a full minute or more is very effective. I personally get bored of this after a grand total of around three casts and just twitch it like a fluke. I know people will use a 1/4 ounce weight to pitch senkos at lily pads and have success. Senkos also make a great skipping bait, weedless and the bait will react the same regardless of which side hits the water first due to the round shape. When tournament fishing, they make a good lunch time bait. Just throw out a senko over a shallow flat, let the wind slowly drift you over the flat towing the senko behind you. Hold your rod in one hand and a sandwich in the other. You'd be surprised how often you'll get a fish doing this. In small rivers/big creeks with slow currents I've often found a senko on a carolina rig to be pretty useful. Tie on a 2-3 foot leader and a 3/8 ounce weight and you can keep the current from putting too much slack in your line and keep the senko near the bottom. The leader provides it playroom to act as if its weightless until the current pulls the senko tight with the weight. Colors don't really need to be anything crazy. Watermelon red and black/blue laminate will work almost every time.

If you're worried about a big jig profile but still want that look/action, a strike king bitsy flip is something you may want to check out. As far as how to tackle it, the jig and t-rig will probably be the most effective and consistent methods. If the fish are active a squarebill, spinnerbait, or topwater would all work as well.

Thanks for the reply, this is kind of what I figured after googling around.

I think in summer time night fishing can be more productive than day time fishing, and as long as you have on mosquito repellent it can be a lot more comfortable than the Florida heat as well. As far as lure selection, what you throw during the day will work at night. I like to keep it simple and weedless since you can't see as well. Black spinnerbait, black worms, black creature baits, and a black jig are all good choices that are fairly forgiving if you make a bad cast. Can you throw other colors that aren't black? I'm sure you could, but I've never had a need to try.

An insert on on of my guides fell out without me noticing and I lost it. How big of a deal is it to be missing the insert if the guide is in the middle of the rod? Is there anyway to buy a new insert at say bps and just superglue it back in, or would I need to take it to a rod repair shop if this is an issue that has to be fixed?

Which lakes have you seen people out deep with cranks? I've fished all of those bodies of water once, except for palestine and seminole, and I think Sante Fe is the only one I ever saw people working away from shore. I'd be interested in knowing what people are fishing out there, I'd guess grass flats since most of those lakes are shallower than 10 foot with no real structure to the best of my knowledge. Never been on Sante Fe with a depth finder, but from what I understand it does have some pretty good structure. If I've heard correctly, there is a ridge about 100-150 yards offshore that is 8ft surronded by 20 ft water, and if you can find grass or stumps on it you're set for a good day. I could see crankbaits being effective there if that's actually the case. All I managed to get were channel cats when I tried.

Seeing a report from a member on catching a pb on the fly rod, I figured it would be neat to start a thread on fly fishing for bass. Who here targets bass on the buggy whip? Favorite flies? Pb on the fly rod? What setups y'all using? Any differences in the way you target bass on the fly vs conventional gear? Basically I'm interested in hearing anything related to fly fishing y'all have to offer.

I definitely see the advantages of having more rod holders than you actually need. I've had to go swimming after knocking a rod over while trying to turn around and grab my tackle.

I'll let someone else chime in on specific spots, but if you pull up google earth Orlando is covered with small to medium sized bodies of water that could be covered in one day from a kayak. Pick a couple near each other and you'll be good to. As far as wildlife, any isolated lake surrounded development likely won't have too many gators, if any at all in this part of the state. I think people from outside the state have a misconception about how prevalent gators actually are down here. Anything connected to the St. John's and it's feeder creeks will be full of gators, also pretty good fishing in those lakes and rivers though. As a rule of thumb, the gators aren't interested in you and typically swim away or submerge themselves if you start getting close. If you see one while walking the bank, they'll typically take off into the water. With that being said, definitely don't intentionally run up on a gator from shore or in a kayak. And never get between the water and the gator.

I'm surprised to see how many rods y'all take out on kayaks. I don't have a crate system or rod holder, the extra rod just sits between my legs so that may be why, but I never take out more than two. And I only do two if I plan to be on the water for more than 3 to 4 hours. In a canoe I always do 3 to 4, unless I bring the fly rod. Then it'll be one fly rod, one conventional for if the wind picks up.

You'll need to be more specific about technique and species you plan on targeting. For example, you can handle most redfish on the flats with a bass rod. You take an overslot red and try to catch him from a pier, that bass rod will be underpowered just about every time, not to mention you're no longer concerned about casting distance, acuracy, fatigue, etc. since you'll be dropping bait straight down for the most part.

If you're targeting bass specifically, I don't really know of any areas in South Florida that are great fishing/camping, maybe one of the WMAs would be good. I'm not too familiar with the area though so don't take my word on that. I saw you have a kayak in a seperate post, correct? If so, the Everglades and 10,000 islands are areas that are pretty popular for camping and saltwater fishing. I've never been, but from what I understand there are huts setup in the everglades above the water that you can camp in if you get out to them. The redfishing is supposed to be great, trout, snook, and bass are all a possibility depending on what part you go to. Definitely a bucket list item for me.

Never fished around Palm Bay, but definitely a lot of nice looking bodies of water on the side of the road when driving down the interstate. As far as figuring the bass out down here, I don't have a whole lot of experience with northern strain bass, but they seemed way more aggressive and willing to hit a lure than our fish down here. I think going from FL fish to northern strains was considerably easier than going the other way probably will be. Got to throw the mid-range cranks, spinnerbaits, spooks, etc. that you always see people throw across the country while up north. And the numbers were way higher than I ever expect to catch down here unless you're fishing the South Florida canals. On the flip side, Florida bass get a whole lot bigger than in New York, and once you figure out what you're doing, you can expect to catch several fish a year larger than a lot of Northern folk's pb's. Due to the fact most of the cover you''ll experience down here will be grass rather than rocks or standing timber weedless soft plastics are the norm, and what you'll see most people fishing down here. A worm, swimbaits, swimjigs, flukes, senkos, and a topwater frog cover 99% of pondfishing here. On the lakes punching is a big deal, but if you're only shore bound I wouldn't be too concerned with that. As far as colors go, black and blues and watermelon are both effective, which I'm pretty sure is standard across the country. Locally a lot of guys will throw junebug, junebug red, and junebug blue. You'll definitely want to as well when dealing with tannic water, that color pattern has won several tournaments down here. Hard baits work as well, I will throw topwater, rattletraps, shallow divers, etc. if the cover will allow it, but it's much simpler to start the day at a new spot already rigged weedless and adjusting if you wind up fishing a hard bottom/rocks/laydowns, or grass that has enough clearance to work a lure over. Gold/black and silver/chrome rattle traps will be found in most people's tackle boxes around here, they do pretty well around the eelgrass and coontail a lot of ponds have. From a seasonal standpoint, your fish should either be on beds right now, or finishing up the spawn. I'd also say don't be afraid to use live bait while you're trying to find spots down here. I used to fish several ponds that you could fish artificials all day and be lucky to catch a fish or two, switch to shiners and your best 5 will go for 20+ pounds.

I've fished the 7' mh-fast for the last 5 years, my favorite rod I've ever owned (disclaimer it's also the most expensive rod I've ever used so that may be a big factor in why I feel that way.) Anyways, rod is great for t-rigs, c-rigs, jigs, and rattle traps. Excels when fishing soft paddle tail swimbaits, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, and swim jigs in my opinion. Not sure how much give you like in your cranking rod, but I love it for squarebills as well. You can launch a fluke or senko, but the rod is too stiff to give them the action I like, if you just deadstick your flukes/senkos you'd be good to go though. Really the only thing I don't like to use the rods for is deep cranks, it was an absolute workout trying to fish them on this rod. Basically I don't think you can go wrong with one of these rods. I fish lew's, but I would think it should pair nicely with the curado.

Cold and muddy are probably the worst conditions you can have as far as consistently catching fish goes. If you can find a section with cleaner water, that can make a big difference. If it has been raining a lot lately, I would start at an area that has a concentration of runoff entering into the reservoir. This will create a little bit of current, which can trigger the bite sometimes, and it may wash terrestrial animals into the water, which creates a simple meal for fish. As far as lures, I'd stick with black and blue or junebug t-rigged worms or creature baits worked slowly around the areas I described. As long as you have it rigged weedless, you can even cast onto shore and drag the lure into the water just like something being washed in. If you have a warm spell, shallower areas will tend to heat up quicker, so the bite may pick up in those areas as well. I don't think muddy water is much of an issue with a buzzbait, they put off a lot of commotion. If the water is cold, the fish might not come up for a topwater though.

Sexy shad is my favorite, closely followed by Tennessee shad, with gizzard shad taking third. I fish a lot of ponds that have don't have any shad in them, but the fish must not know or don't care. If you're really against using anything with shad in the name, chartreuse/black back, bluegill, and db chili craw have all caught me fish.

@WRB @Catt What makes you say nothing in that area looks like a spawning area? I'm not a pro at map reading and just want to know what y'all are looking for. I'd personally say the two-pronged cove in the top left corner that has a creek bed coming out of it could be productive. Depending on the depth that the fish are bedding at in this lake, the 6-7 foot area outside the creek channel that has a roadbed running through it and is surrounded by a 12-ft contour line also looks promising to me. The chokepoint with a road bed running through it would also be something I would check out. Looking at the second image posted, what would y'alls thoughts be on the 2 foot of water area in the middle-bottom left that has two islands in it, a road bed on the northeast corner, and a creek bed running parallel to the southeast?

I think I've thrown a total of two casts at laydowns while using a chatterbait. I had to buy a new chatterbait twice. My favorite cover to fish with them is submerged vegetation, it's closer to a swimjig than a rattle trap as far as getting caught in the grass goes. They handle fine around rocks as well in my experience, there just aren't many places I fish with rock cover. Just throw on your favorite 3.5 inch swimbait as a trailer and your good to go.

I like the Rage Blade from Strike King. Rides way higher in the water column than other chatterbaits, but I only fish mine around almost topped out grass, so I can keep it 1 foot or less below the surface while reeling extremely slow.