soflabasser

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum

I caught 5 citation sized peacock bass (biggest was over 6 pounds) this past Saturday on my +20 year old medium action Ugly Stick as well as other quality sized peacock bass and largemouth bass. I easily whooped those fish and use that same rod for inshore saltwater fishing for snook, tarpon, redfish, jack crevalle, etc. I figure that if this rod can handle +40 inch snook it can handle any largemouth bass, regardless how big it is. I also have a couple 8 foot heavy action ones and the oldest one is +20 years old. So far it has done a excellent job in helping me land sharks( tigers, bulls, hammers, lemons, etc) and land fish while deep dropping. They are good rods that can take the abuse given by those who fish hard.

Welcome to the forum

I have bass fished in several states and have noticed that many of the techniques I use in South Florida work well, even in northern states with bitter cold conditions. Local information is good if you get the information that is honest from a highly skilled fisherman in the area, not so much from other sources. In the end what matters most is time on the water spent wisely, that's what gets you the most consistent good catches of big fish. That's another good lure to use in rivers in the fall.

I caught some nice smallies recently while on vacation in a northern state on crankbaits and swimbaits, so you can try those out. Jerkbaits, chatterbaits, and soft plastics can be good as well.

Virginia isn't too bad compared to more northern states. I recently was on vacation up north and got to fish in 35 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures with wind gust of +30 mph. From my understanding the wind chill for those conditions is 21 degrees...thats something I won't miss much. The ''fall clouds'' (dark ominous clouds that cover the whole sky) where very gloomy and I can see why so many people from northern states go to Florida for the winter and eventually move down here. I did get to catch a couple nice smallmouth bass while it was snowing and liked it, so I will still consider going ice fishing for one of my future trips up north.

Heres some simple advice for catfishing; Heavy action Ugly Stik Reel of your choice thats strong enough to reel a good sized fish and has good line capacity Catfish hooks in sizes 1/0-8/0 20-30 pound test big game mono, heavier if needed various sizes of sinkers to keep bait on or near bottom Fresh cutbait or live bait depending on what they are biting on a particular day Carolina rig, knocker rig, and Santee Cooper rig are proven presentations for catfish.

Make Youtube videos of the otters you see since their are people who like seeing videos of them.

Must be hard water season already

Those are wise words indeed. That quote comes from a movie named ''A League of their Own''. The quote is ''Its supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The Hard...Is what makes it great''. This is true, at least for many of us who enjoy catching trophy bass in highly pressured waters that most people give up on.

Butterfly peacock bass are by far one of my favorite freshwater fish to catch and they are worth traveling for. They fight much more than a equal sized largemouth, smallmouth, muskie, and most freshwater fish I have caught in my travels. The only thing that can top a butterfly peacock bass pound for pound in freshwater is probably the speckled peacock bass in South America that can surpass 30 pound in weight and are often caught over 20 pounds.

I released all the trout, did have some salty looks from other fishermen that wanted to keep my trout but I rather release the trout so someone else can have fun catching them. Could of easily caught +50 rainbow trout if I wanted to, but I was also fishing for smallmouth bass and was able to catch a few.

Welcome to the forum

I recently came back from a vacation up north and caught a bunch of smallies on small crank baits and small swimbaits in a river, so I would say these 2 lures are worth a try if you are fishing in a river.

I don't pay much attention to the local reports in my area since most peoples reports are all over the place. Some say the fishing is good, some say the fishing is bad, but somehow I manage to consistently catch both quantity and quality when bass fishing.

I would strongly recommend Florida, especially if you want to target big Florida strain largemouth bass in its native habitat and have much more species of fish to catch(both in freshwater and saltwater). 5-7 pounders are relatively common if you use the right techniques and lots of Florida fishermen catch +10 pounders every year, with many of them over 13 pounds(especially in Central/Northern Florida). We recently had a young man catch a +16 pounder in Central Florida, so our bass fishery is very healthy when it comes to big bass. You can check TrophyCatch catches and see for yourself the hundreds( if not thousands) of fishermen that catch trophy size bass. The Everglades is a amazing fishery with very good for numbers of bass. I have had several +100 bass days there from land in the Everglades and I know several boaters who have had +200 bass days when the conditions are right. The fishing is only getting better in Florida since our state highly regulates trophy bass and the vast majority of bass fishermen release the bass they catch.

Congratulations on catching 300 bass so far this year. You have plenty of time to reach 500 bass this year if you want to.

Last week I caught 38 rainbow trout( including a beautiful palomino trout) and my better half caught 4 for a total of 42 rainbow trout in less than 6 hours of fishing in a pressured body of water where they stock trout every Fall and Spring. This was in a northern state and it was my first time in my life that I have fished for trout. It was a lot of fun and I will consider making another trip up north for these fish. I used 6 pound test line and found that small inline spinners to be a very productive lure for trout.

Good report, thank you for posting it. I agree that topwater fishing is the best and most exiting way to catch a bass or any other species of fish.

Wait until you get into big game fishing for billfish, tuna, and sharks, freshwater bass fishing will never be the same.

Last year I caught a +26.5'' trophy bass from land on a topwater right after a nasty storm. It was raining heavily throughout that day, very gloomy, and windy. It was the type of weather that 99% of bass fishermen would of given up but I know better not to leave when I know theres a good chance at catching a bass thats worth the effort fishing for.

This weekend I fished a body of water where I can see bass swimming on the bottom of 15 feet of water from land. I would say that is considered clear water.

Come to South Florida if you want to see some of the clearest freshwater bodies of water in the USA. Most of the places I fish has +10 foot water visibility , with a couple places of +20 feet water visibility. The water is even more clear in natural springs such as the ones found in Central Florida where the water visibility can be +50 feet near the head of the spring. In these places bass can see every little mistake you make so you have to be more careful compared to fishing in water with less than 5 foot water visibility. I tend to well in low light conditions in these clear waters and prefer fishing during overcast, rainy , lowlight conditions over bright sunny conditions. When it gets real hot I tend to bass fish more at night and you will be surprised the size of the bass that bite at night that might not bite during the day.

You are welcome @YoTone , glad I was able to help you in your quest to catch your first peacock bass. Yes the waters down here are very clear for the most part and the bass tend to be much more difficult to catch than up north. On my most recent vacation up north I noticed that smallmouth are much easier to catch than peacock bass down here, but both species are very similar in what lures they bite. Did you try jerkbaits for peacock bass when you fished the areas that I mentioned ? Peacocks bass love jerk baits and there are plenty of days you can catch more peacock bass on jerk baits than most lures. Topwaters are a excellent choice as well as crank baits and prop baits such as the Heddon torpedo. As for line choice I tend to use 8-12 pound big game monofilament for peacock bass and haven't seem much of a difference in bites compared to fluorocarbon, even in bodies of water with +15 feet water visibility which we have several of.