MattStrykul

$4.79, $4.95, or $7.95???? Hopefully not 47.95 or I'll be breaking the bank!!

No, we have yet to get to the golf course ponds. We stay in a big gated marina...It's called Burnt Store marina and these are just community ponds! Supposedly the golf course ponds are even better. It's a little to nasty outside to go fishing right now, but tomorrow (or tonight) we will be hitting some more ponds.

Thanks Rob. We will be hitting some ponds tomorrow around 11 when the winds decrease to 18 mph. Fay will start hitting here around midnight with winds reaching 40+ by 6am. Hopefully it doesn't mess up the fishing TOO much. :-[

Just got back and my brother caught ANOTHER big one. 24'' again, but only 13'' girth. Comes in at 7.34 pounds. We are about to have a hurricane here, so fishing tomorrow mornin may be hard but we'll try. He also missed a nice 5-6 lber. I caught 10 up to about 4 lbs. Look at the mouth on HER Video of the release <embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i283.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid283.photobucket.com/albums/kk315/MattStrykul/Acefishrelease.flv">

I don't believe we are far enough south to catch peacocks. We are just north of Ft Myers. About to go out for some more fishing...Funny thing is we are staying right on the coast and we can go flats fishing whenever we want...Snook, redfish, black drum whatever we want but we're bass fishing in these sweet ponds ;DWe are staying in a community with a golf course, I believe we are hitting those ponds later.

What a morning. We just got in from fishing some ponds close to our condo. My brother hooked into the biggest fish of his life on a 5'' june bug trick worm on a split shot rig. 24'' long 16'' girth. Comes up at 9.01 pounds. We figure that this fish was 8-8.5 lbs. This fish was huge, I jumped in and lipped it for him, lifted it up and dropped it cause it was SO HEAVY. The mouth on this thing was unreal. I'm sure the weight calculator may not be close, but this was the biggest bass we have ever seen, and we don't care about weights, just that we had the experience to see a bass like this... Regular picture Up against his chest to show length Belly shot

The ugly sticks are all we have down here. We didn't bring any rods with us. We haven't been back to the pond yet, but I caught 2 black drum over 10 lbs which was a blast...Right off the docks too. I'll let you know how we do tonight.

I'm not trying to sound like the gyu who blames it on the rod but if I had ATLEAST a graphite rod I'm sure that I could have stuck atleast 15 fish. Honestly I hate blaming it on the rods, but having a graphite rod for worming I feel is a must. I tried everything...Letting the fish run, reeling down to them and pulling back, slammin em...Nothin seemed to hold well. It would basically be luck if the fish got hooked on a trig. We are getting some cheap graphite walmart rods tonight, hopefully we do better 8-)

There is good topwater in the morning. A friend has been fishing tournaments down there and has been doing extremely well catching a limit on topwater in the AM and then moving out to 20+ feet of water and fishing deep points and ledges. A lot of guys are talkin about catching them on docks and he said "GOOD! Stay on them docks and leave me out in 20 feet of water" He's like 4 for 4 for the past month in tournaments on Gaston. Matt

We did alright, caught 8 out of one of the ponds. Ace caught one that was about 4 lbs on a spook. We missed SO MANY FISH though. We only have ugly sticks down here so it's crazy. Weightless Trig with a 7ft ugly stick. It sure is ugly... :

Steve, have you left for England yet?? Ace and I found some nice ponds down here, we'll let you know if they're holding fish in them tomorrow after we fish When I get back we will hit the grass mats. No tournaments til sept 7th!!

I agree with 99% of what you all said on here, but sometimes...cops can take it to the limit... Baltimore 07'

If it is hot out, keep the water cool with frozen milk jugs/2 liters and DO NOT change the water unless you want to change it in a seperate bucket. I've found that changing water shocks the fish, and if you keep it cool enough and put some Please Realase Me in there they should be fine. If it gets foamy, spray some Foam Off in there. Some guys use Hydrogen Peroxide in small dosages as well. I have yet to try this, but most definetly will. Also, an oxygenator or small bubbler from a pet shop helps put little micro bubbles in the water. Hope this helps. Matt Strykul

Do not use a palomar knot with Fluoro either, believe me....I learned the hard way :. I haven't broken a fish off yet with the san diego jam knot. *knock on wood* ps make sure to wet your line VERY well.

Black June Bug

I wakeboard everyday at the lake, you need to try it. It's way more fun than skiis. You'll find me wakeboarding some mornings, fishing others. Believe it or not, some wakeboarders get up SOMEWHAT early before all the jetskiiers, tubers, etc. are on the water so we can get some glassy rides in. It's really hard to ride in the chop 8-)

Well thats good!! Who is he? Where was Gerkin at the last tourney?

I knew those were All Terrain jigs! I was like, "this guy has an awesome template....looks REAL firmiliar..." Awesome lookin jigs though.

Matt, the "up" river bite as far as I have heard is not there. I was down in the main lake from 6-12 and Pounded it out like Ib] was fishing a tourney and only caught them at the mouth of Sandy Run, it looks like we found something in that area and will see if it pays of on Sunday for my buddy. He will pre-fish it on Saturday and see if it still holds fish, but as far as size this year, it's still very hit or miss. It has been a tough year in alot of places. I hope it turns on in the fall and the spinnerbait bite comes back strong like last year. Oh, one more thing. I did throw the Money minnow to no avail too...... :-/ Tell your buddy good luck gettin there fast....The past few tournaments there have been people sitting on that spot all day long. As well as the roadbed down in Hooes run, but we never make it down that far. Let alone do we know where that roadbed is ;D

I'll be out this week sometime pre fishing for the tourney on Sunday. I'm wondering if the uplake bite is any good right now, I mean way up in the "river" to the left of the splits. Is that where you went Rob? We've been going down lately, haven't been up in a few months and our boat ain't fast enough to go back and forth in a tournament

he's got a sweet mohawk

The tournament last sunday was rough too. We did quite well, finished in 8th place out of 33 with 11.33lbs only caught 5 though. The 6 fish limit is killing us ;D. Caught most on jigs and trigs, rock bluffs and gradual slopes on the main lake.

More efficient? Just use more ice bud. Freeze 3-4 one gallon milk jugs and use those. Do not use straight ice because the chlorine from the water can harm the fish. Put them in throughout the day. Get a temperature gauge and keep the water 68-72 degrees. It's like a nice hotel in there for them bass I also have an oxygenator, and feel that it really helps. DEFINETLY use some Catch and Release by Surelife. I can't tell you how great the stuff is. My brother and I fish jon boat tourneys here and we have a 100 qt cooler to keep our fish. Got it on sale for 30 bucks at Gander Mountain. I feel it is too big because the fish don't need space, just oxygen. Let me know if it helps. Matt

Cool, check out Fountainhead. It fishes really big, if you know what I mean. I wish I knew what you meant ;D. Fished the fountainhead tourney yesterday and did okay...Caught 5 keepers for 11.33 pounds. Not too bad, just couldn't find them. Quite a few guys had a hard time though, many leaving early and (what seemed like) few with limits. Caught our fish early in the day and struggled after about 11 oclock. Talk about a long, HOT day. Flippin, I didn't see Gerkin there! I was gonna apologize for idling over his spot but I didn't see him once... :-??

I see some carrot sticks on board!!!!! I have 2 as well. Nice lookin boat peasey.