soflabasser

Yes it's worth trying topwater fishing at night. You should try topwater fishing for big snook at night the next time you visit Florida. They make bass look like a little bluegill hitting a fly.

The bass is so big that us mere mortals cannot see it even though the picture was posted.

Congratulations on your first rainbow trout.

Looks like a wolf dog hybrid

Looks like a wolf dog hybrid.

Nice common carp.

Seems like the owner of the pond does a good job at keeping his bass well fed. Won't be surprised if you catch a +10 out of that pond. Congratulations on catching a nice bass, I would say it could be over 24 inches long and maybe in the high 7 pound range and possibly over 8 pounds. Next time bring a scale or a tape measure to measure its length and girth to get a more accurate weight.

Good advice. Shimano makes excellent spinning reels in various prices and these reels can take a beating for many years when other spinning reels break down easily. I own several that are over a decade old and they still work fine. Penn is another company that makes good spinning reels. I prefer using size 4000 spinning reels since they tend to be more powerful and have more line capacity, which is needed for me since I use these reels for both freshwater and saltwater fishing.

Been fishing in Florida for over 23 years now and never been biten by a snake. I always watch where I step and give the snake space when I am fishing. I do enjoy catching snakes and have caught many snake species in Florida from a tiny little southern ringneck snake to a big python I caught a couple months ago. We also have lots of alligators, crocodiles, lizards,turtles, and other reptiles so South Florida is a paradise for those who like reptiles.

I tend to catch some of my largest numbers of +5 pound bass in high water conditions so its definitely a good time to fish for bass now if you are willing to change the way you normally fish. Lots of rain means the spillways are open in many locations, and these areas are loaded with quality sized fish that most people do not catch since they don't put the effort to fish these locations.

Nice catches.

Did you catch this bass from private or public waters?

Congratulations on your new personal best smallmouth bass.

I prefer catching a bass on a lure but will glady use live bait if needed, especially if it means I will catch something nice compared to catching nothing. Good advice. One must be very quiet when bass fishing from the bank, especially if they are trying to catch a big bass from a highly pressured body of water. Bluegills are good bait but there are many times the big bass won't go for them so its best to try different techniques and consider fishing at night which is something many bass fisherman do not do( with lures few people use in the area you are fishing in).

Didn't know today was World Turtle Day but its nice knowing a day exist for them. Turtles are among my favorite animals with the sea turtle being my favorite animal to see when I am diving. They are very majestic creatures and videos of them do not compare to seeing them in person when diving.

I use the uni knot for lures, hooks, other terminal tackle and uni to uni knot for leaders.

A good topwater popper is a Rebel Pop-R and they can be found for less than $10 each.

I have wade fished in waters with alligators as well. Also dived in lakes, canals, and Northern Florida springs with alligators and not once has one caused me problems. I make sure to give them their space and not swim if I see one over 5 feet. They are beautiful animals and feel fortunate to live in Florida where I can see alligators any day I want.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum

Have caught many inshore saltwater fish with bass lures such as topwaters, spinnerbaits,jerkbaits, crankbaits, flukes, and jigs.

Because soft plastics are soft and bass tend to hold longer on soft lures with a single hook compared to hard bodied lures with treble hooks. There are plenty of videos on YouTube showing bass filled with soft plastics that fishermen lose. These soft plastics in the bass digestive system can cause problems with digesting food and the bass can end up very thin or even die from malnutrition. That's one of the reasons why I rarely fish with senkos anymore and instead focus more on hard bodied lures and swimbaits which seem to gut hook less fish than senkos and similar lures. Even live bait fishing seems to gut hook less fish for me than senkos which goes to show you that fishing with soft plastics isn't as bass friendly as many would think.

Yes I have had many days where I have caught many bowfin. They are a underrated fish that fights much harder than a equal size bass and always seem to provide action in many places that I fish in.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new personal best bass.