soflabasser

How hot is it during the night? I would probably fish more at night and not during the day if I lived in a location where it was over 100 degrees during the day. Wow look how hot it is in California and Texas. Goes to show you that South Florida is not that bad when it comes to the heat and makes me appreciate the weather we been having this summer. Also helps that the fishing has been extremely good for me this summer, hopefully it continues to rain like it has the past couple days.

Congratulations on your new personal best bass.

I have fished for bass at night for over 20 years now,especially in the summer time. Good lures to use at night are the following; buzzbaits spooks poppers wakebaits hollow belly frogs spinnerbaits swimbaits various types of soft plastics.

Like the expression says "the sizzle sells the steak" and that is a major problem with many YouTube channels these days. Most people in general are more interested in YouTube videos that are overly dramatic with lots of hype and fluff. Not many people are interested in channels that are strait to the point,show no hype, even if these channels are educational and show plenty of big fish.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum.

A lot of YouTube videos are educational and I enjoy watching them. I have learned about new locations to fish,new fishing techniques, and how to fish in locations I have not fished before from watching YouTube videos. I like to see honest fishing gear reviews and they can be found on YouTube, especially from small channels that are not sponsored. Saw a video where a chinese made spinning reel broke at the handle while fighting a regular sized freshwater fish and this video taught me not to buy those reels.

Welcome to the forum

Happy birthday and congratulations on catching the 6 pounder.

Welcome to the forum

You are welcome. Spoons are good lures to use for inshore fishing. Other good lures are the following; Poppers Spooks Jerkbaits Jigs with soft plastic trailer Bucktail jigs Lots of guys prefer using flourocarbon when inshore fishing but I prefer using big game mono for leader material. It's cheap, extremely abrasion resistant, and I catch a lot of quality fish on big game mono. I prefer using a uni to uni knot when tying a mono leader to braid. For the lure knot I use a uni knot or Rapala knot.

You are welcome. What pound test line you plan on using? I would advise against using braid since it has poor abrasion resistance against structure and would recomend mono as your mainline.You can get lucky and land a shark with 30 pound braid and no leader but that is rare compared to using thick mono with a wire leader.I like using 50-60 pound test mono mainline,5-8 feet 100 pound test mono topshot, and 3-5 feet of 120-200 pound test wire leader when fishing for medium sized sharks(4-8 feet long). I use heavier line/wire leader when targeting bigger sharks (8 feet and above).

Welcome to the forum

3-5 feet of 40-60 pound mono is usually enough leader for small/average size snook,juvenile tarpon,redfish, and jack crevalle. You can go up to 80-100 pound mono leader if you are fishing for big snook,tarpon but the thick line might decrease the amount of bites you get. You can also use 20-30 pound mono leader to get more bites but you might get cut off more often.

Make sure to not let the shark go under the pier and be careful not to let the line get cut off by the pillings or other structure. Landing small sharks ( under 3 feet) from a pier is relatively easy, medium to large sharks are hard to land from a pier. Many people fight the shark from the pier and walk down to the beach to properly land the shark. Make sure to release the shark as soon as possible once you catch it so it doesn't die.

Smallmouth bass fight good for their size but there are plenty of fish that fight harder pound for pound. Peacock bass destroy smallmouth bass and all black bass species I have caught when it comes to overall pound for pound power, endurance, and acrobatic ability. Tarpon are even better fighters than peacock bass and give a skilled fishermen a hard time to land. Tarpon fishing days are classified in the following ways; number of follows you get, number of jumps you get, and the ones you actually land. Sailfish are another species of powerful,acrobatic fish but they are not as acrobatic or strong as a tarpon is pound for pound. Jacks and tunas are other species of fish I have caught that are extremely powerful for their size and they will give anyone a decent mini workout, especially when they are over 20 pounds.

You should be able to catch sharks in North Carolina as well but they tend to be smaller on average compared to sharks in South Florida. You can surf cast the bait or kayak your bait out for a better chance at catching a bigger shark.

I agree with you that South Florida is a fisherman's paradise since it offers so many species of fish both in freshwater and saltwater. We have fish from at least 5 continents and many of these fish can be caught from land in public waters. I am very fond of bass fishing but admit that I spend most of my fishing time targeting other species of fish such as snook,tarpon,peacock bass,clown knifefish, bullseye snakehead, various species of sharks, and other species of fish. Also do deep sea fishing, freedive spearfishing, lobstering, especially in the summertime. Go to the Florida keys bridges with appropriate shark fishing tackle and you will have a good chance at catching a shark. Good baits to use are stingray, jack crevalle, mullet, barracudas,and mackerel. I prefer using fresh cutbait and have noticed more bites with fresh cutbait vs old previously frozen cutbait.

The smallmouths I have caught fought harder than a equal sized largemouth bass, but both of these bass fight less than a equal sized Suwannee bass. Peacock bass fight much harder than any black bass species I have caught and they are a species of fish worth adding to one's bucketlist.

I have done well with the following freshwater lures in saltwater; Poppers spooks frogs swimbaits crankbaits Rat-L-Traps jerkbaits spinnerbaits flukes bucktail jigs

I plan on traveling to catch the following fish; arapaima,payara,goliath tigerfish,barramundi, and other species. For me it's important to catch these fish in the wild and I don't see much of a challenge to catch a exotic species in a private pay lake or private body of water. I will not waste my time with pet barramundi that live in some Florida pay lakes or pet exotic fish that live in some private lakes of South Florida.

Welcome to the forum

Well said. I think most decent bass fishermen find what works for them and stick to it with the exception of a couple new techniques they try out to see if they can add it to the list. These new techniques might not work all the time but they do work in very specific situations so it's worth learning new techniques no matter how good you think you are.

Don't forget a yo yo reel. Very simple to use and provides a challenge that most people are not used to. I caught a fat 24 inch, +7 pound bass a couple months ago on a yo yo reel as bycatch while fishing for channel catfish. Guess somebody forget to tell this bass that my yo yo reel was not a +$500 combo and that I was not fishing with a lure that some professional bass fisherman says is the best?