soflabasser

Thank you for posting this @Bassin' Brad. A couple months ago I stopped fishing with a buddy since he was drunk in the morning when I met him at his house to go fishing. He wanted me to join him in his truck while towing his boat but I said no and told him I will meet him in the Marina with my car. Long story short he got stopped in the highway since he was driving like a typical drunk and he was arrested for DUI. I no longer invite him to go fishing with me and he knows better to not call me again to ask to go fishing. Life is too short to risk getting in a car/boat crash with someone who thinks driving under the influence of a drug is a great idea.

Fish at night. Use lures that are productive for you. Consider trying out new lures that people barely use in the area you fish.

Congratulations on your new personal best bass.

Sounds like a good place to fish with a hollow belly frog or other type of weedless lure. You can also look for areas that are relatively free of aquatic vegetation and try fishing these areas.

My little cousin uses yellow braid for all his bass fishing and he does well with it. Fished with orange braid before and still caught some nice bass on it. I prefer using green braid but having confidence in what you are using is far more important.

Come to Florida and your opinion might change on this subject. I and many other Florida bass fishermen catch trophy bass from the shore and many of these trophy bass are from public waters, even in June- August which are months not associated with the pre-spawn and spawn. I don't like senkos since its a boring bait to use for me but these lures have their place and time they do well, such as a beginner lure, a lure for someone that fatigues quickly with moving lures, or sometimes it's one of the best lures to use in certain conditions,etc.

I don't like those people who think its a great idea to be under the influence of a drug ( such as alcohol) when fishing and I stay far away from them once I realize they have a substance abuse problem.

Congratulations on your new personal best bass.

Welcome to the forum @Traumabrew. SouthWest Florida has very good fishing for both freshwater and saltwater fish. I have done well fishing this area of the state with hollow belly frogs, poppers, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, zoom super flukes, trick worms, and other Texas rigged soft plastics. Look for parks and other areas that are considered public waters and get permission to fish private waters before fishing them.

There's one lake I fish where I have caught several bass up 5 pounds on hotdogs while fishing for channel catfish. Another body of water where I have caught bass close to 8 pounds on cutbait meant for channel catfish and bowfin. Have caught bass on the saltwater side of spillways( one side is freshwater and the other side is saltwater). Got other examples but these are some of the strangest patterns I have seen while bass fishing in South Florida.

Try fishing with fresh cutbait, chicken liver, or even hotdogs.

Congratulations on your new personal best bass.

You can make your own wooden poppers without a rattle if you want. Its not that hard and there's many online sources that teach how to make these types of lures.You can paint the wooden popper whatever color you want as well. Best part is that you will have the satisfaction of catching a fish on a lure you made with your own hands.

Congratulations on your new personal best bass.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum

Good subject. I have noticed that the smallmouth bass I have hold by the belly seem to be more calm than when lipping them. This technique seems to work on small/medium largemouth bass as well but not so well on peacock bass, those fish don't know what giving up means!

Sounds like it might be a good idea to fish for carp.

Zoom super flukes, jerkbaits, crankbaits,spinnerbaits,etc are fun lures to use when the bass bite is on fire in the areas I fish for large numbers of bass.

Meh. Material possessions means nothing if you are old, with serious health problems, and never satisfied with what you have.The ones who really win in the end are the ones who live a long, healthy live that help others and feel satisfied with their accomplishments. What matters most is that you are happy with what fishing gear you own and that the hobby of fishing brings true happiness in your life. You can donate your excess gear to family members or those in need and maybe teach them how to fish.

I find it much more difficult to catch bass under 3" like the one in this photo than catch a bass over 20", mostly because I only see bass this small a couple months after bass spawn. I have caught bass that small and even smaller with a size 16 hook baited with a very small piece of bait.

Those are some goods ones. Here's 2 more; 1. The false belief that big bass are "too strong" for spinning reels. This has to be one of the biggest fallacies in bass fishing. I can tell you from my experience that a quality size 4000 spinning reel can handle trophy sized bass and land fish much more powerful than any largemouth bass alive( big snook, muskie over 40", juvenile tarpon in the 10-30 pound class,jack crevalle,etc). 2. Jet skiers, fishermen on boats, and pleasure boaters than get too close to land based fishermen.

I have caught several bass over 4 pounds and some over 5 pounds as bycatch while fishing for channel catfish with hotdogs. With cutbait I have caught bass close to 8 pounds. This does not happen often and you will be better off using lures for bass if you are specially fishing for bass.

I use a bookbag from Wal-Mart with 2 Plano containers and do well with this as a tackle bag for shore fishing.