soflabasser

Did you get a picture or a video of the whole bass hanging from the scale? Here in Florida the whole bass ( from the mouth to the last tip of the tail) has to show on the scale if we want to submit the picture to the TrophCatch program. Also the hand cannot touch the metal that weighs the bass. Lots of bass have been disqualified from the TrophyCatch program because of people submitting partial weighing pictures but it might be different in your state.

Congratulations to your son for catching his first pike.

Congratulations on your new personal best bass caught on a flyrod.

Congratulations on your new personal best bass.

Welcome to the forum

Fish at night

Find out what the lunker bass want in that lake and give them a offer they can't refuse.

I have fished in zebra mussel infested waters for muskie before and never had my line cutoff by the zebra mussels. I used 20-30 pound test Big Game mono. That stuff is extremely abrasion resistant line. You can use 30 pound Big Game Mono for extra abrasion resistance but that might be too much if you are using small lures.

Congratulations on catching your first bass of 2018.

8-20 pound test Big Game Mono.

Anywhere from weightless to a couple ounces depending on what technique I am using and what I am targeting.

Congratulations for catching a 9.7 pound smallmouth bass. It is a beauty and bigger than most bass fisherman's home state PB largemouth.

Welcome to the forum. Try fishing in the public parks near the area you live. These parks often have good fishing and are easier to access than fishing a place where the grass is not cut low and other obstructions.

Didn't see you say it had to be a baitcaster so I will say that a Shimano Stradic spinning reel is worth every single penny and its under $300. Penn also makes good spinning reels such as the Penn Fierce, Battle, Spinfisher, and other models well under $300.

I prefer using fresh cutbait or live bait for channel catfish. Chicken liver is another good channel catfish bait.

The species you are holding in your hand is a golden shiner.

Well said @optimator. People come to internet forums to discuss subjects they like and there would be no point for a internet bass fishing forum if people used Google to get all the answers they are looking for bass fishing. With that said the "official" Florida state largemouth bass is 17.27 pounds and the unofficial Florida state record largemouth bass is 20.13 pounds. There have been old reports of bass even bigger than these caught in Florida but they where not killed and examined by Florida biologist which is required to make a largemouth bass a official state record largemouth bass. All these bass where all natural, not stocked in a man made lake with easy to catch trout to feed so its impressive they got as big as they did without trout. Last year in Florida a young man caught a bass that was almost 17 pounds. It is only a matter of time before the Florida state record gets beaten and I am certain it will happen this decade or the next.Here's a article that dicuss some of the biggest bass caught in Florida; https://sites.google.com/site/biggestfloridalargemouthbass/

Congratulations on your new personal best bass.

The snakehead are spawning now and will continue to spawn for a couple months so now is a good time to get one over +8 pounds. The small ones are fun to catch but they just don't compare to how a big snakehead hits a frog and runs.

The biggest bass in the world is no match for a big snook so you should upgrade your gear if your goal is to catch a big snook ( any snook that is 40" and up). You need a rod with a solid backbone to pull the snook away from structure and a reel with a powerful,smooth drag to handle the abuse a big snook will give your gear. Make sure to use at least a 50-60 pound mono leader when targeting snook over 40" since big snook have a sharp gillplate that can easily cut mono of smaller size. Many snook fishermen use 80 to +100 pound mono leader when targeting big snook so 50-60 pound mono leader is not as heavy as you think. Yes you can get lucky and land a +40" on light leader ( have caught snook over 40" with only 30 pound test mono leader) but you will most likely get cut off by the gillplate or the snook will get you stuck in the mangroves, concrete pillings,etc.

Try taking the treble hooks out of a tarpon.They are much more grumpy than a catfish when you are dehooking them!

I have to agree with your son that spearfishing is far more fun that hook and line fishing. I do freedive spearfishing as well, mostly on boats and shoredives. Have gone on ocean kayaks that my friends have lended me and these kayaks are very good at taking 3-5 foot waves.I suggest you look for ocean kayaks and stay away from the typical bass/inshore kayaks since they might not handle the waves as good as a kayak made for ocean fishing/diving.

There are plenty of public areas you can fish bullseye snakehead in Western Broward. Use Google maps to find the areas, go scout them in person, and eventually you will have lots of good places to fish. They like hollow belly frogs and other frog imitating baits. They bite at night as well, so don't be afraid to fish at night for them.

Sounds like you had a very good taxadermist. Most +20 year old real bass mounts I have seen look like they are falling apart and the colors look faded.

I would consider this finesse fishing. Landing a 40 inch redfish on a barbie rod is far more difficult than landing a 1-6 pound bass on 4-8 pound mono.