tboydva

Gents - borderline hijack here, but it appears you guys know this area well. I'm from Northern VA and fish the region and inshore Outer Banks, NC. This forum is very active for the former, and another for the latter. I can't seem to find much information on the Tampa area lakes and the ones your discussing seem to be the "closest" to the Tampa area (at least with an unknowing look at the map). Anyway, I'm going to visit a friend in Tampa. We were going inshore fishing one day - the other we hoped to bass fish. Are the lakes you guys are discussing the closest Bass waters? Are there guides or boats for rent? Can anyone point me to a thread or web resource?... I have found quite a few sites which offer guide service, but they're not really clear on where they fish (or maybe i just can't get a bead on it). Any of your local knowledge would certainly be appreciated. And, best of luck to those fortunate enough to be trailering their boat! If I had the time, I'd be doing the same - nothing like exploring in your own rig (even if you don't know exactly where the best spots are). I can offer tips in return on fishing the Potomac should any of you be coming north (you know, for our Goliath bass!).

I might throw in a comment too that in lakes that are heavily fished, a fly rod might mean the difference between catchin' a few and going home skunked! I fished one lake twice using every type of top, mid, and bottom lure I had (I'm no pro, but rarely get skunked). I grabbed a fly rod my buddy brought along and we boated about 8 Bass in an hour. I dusted mine off and have been using it (along with casting/spinning rods) for the past two summers. If you go to a public lakes that are hard to catch bass in, I say give it a try... Orvis had a 6 wt rod for sale for about $40. I have never used my reel for anything other than holding line, so a cheapo works great for me... Tom

I'm reasonably new to the board too! I was recently visitiing my brother-in-law in central PA. I've been fishing for bass with my fly rod as of late (more to follow). Anyway, the fly shops in that area are strictly trout-oriented and while we were looking the places over, I definitely detected some "attitude" towards bass fishing. So, while killing time I picked up a fly-fishing newspaper and was really enjoying some articles on smallmouth fishing. Lo and behold, there was a blurb called "Fish Facts." The month's spotlight was the Largemouth Bass. Unfortunetely, I can't remember the name of the publication, but I made pdfs of the articles I wanted to keep. I could send the pdf via email (I guess), but don't see how to post here. Anyway, I'd probably get busted for copyright infringement! Without plagarizing, the gyst of the writeup said that research has shown LMB to be the most intelligent of freshwater fish. Some lakes thought to be fished out in fact may contain plenty of LMB. They have learned to recognize almost all the lures commonly in use and after one "bad" association, will not strike again. The blurb continues that brook trout will strike 3-4 times while sunfish and crappies will take the same lure over and over (no suprise there!). This makes perfect sense to me as I've noticed how hard it is to catch bass in many public lakes... My breakthrough came after pulling out my fly rod that I use on the river for smallmouth and proceeding to catch about 5 LMB in a matter of 30 minutes - I'd been skunked in two previous outings and 2 hours during the present trip using plastics! Not many people fish fly rod on public lakes, so I'd try tossing a nice popping bug or even a frog fly and see if your luck doesn't change. May even give the bass in your pond a chance to forget the other stuff you've been tossing!

I fished a local stream/river recently and caught both SM and LM about the same size (18"). This (and this thread) forced me to think about the difference. From my experience, smallmouth tend to run all over (up and downstream) and as has been pointed out, they don't give up. The LM seem to give a stronger intial pull - steady, and don't seem to jerk back and forth quite like a SM. The LM around my area (VA) usually give 4-5 good runs, then they're played out. Both fish take to the air in shallow water which usually leaves me sitting dumfounded while they shake the hook loose - it's just to cool to watch! I won't complain about catching either!

I've been fishing a smaller river/stream in my area and was unable to really get a good presentation under the overhanging trees from the bank. This is a mostly slow-moving body of water, so I got this float tube: http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=29813&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults For fishing my river, it is perfect. Here's my breakdown: The good: Reasonable mobility (got the fins with it). Lots of room to store your gear. Light weight. Reasonably easy to carry over your shoulder if you have to hike a few miles (I do). $100 with fins and the pump. The bad: A little rough on the a** if you go through riffles. You pretty much have to wear the fins, so if you get to shallow water, you have to walk backwards to get through to the deeper areas (or take off your fins and risk falling over or at least dropping all your rods in the water). It is difficult to carry 4 rods (I like to have two casting, a spinning and a fly rod). Although these guys were supposed to be for fly fishermen, taking a 9' rod on the tube is cumbersome in the least. I think you should evaluate the "type" of water you plan to fish - if there's lots of current and/or wind, or you need to travel great distances without the aid of current (i.e. a lake vs a stream/river), you might want to seek other conveyance. Good luck!