Bass Mekanik

I've been seeing all the talk about chatterbaits lately and had to see what the hype was about. I went to BPS and picked up some necessities and a 1/2oz Gambler Swim Blade in the Bluegill color. I went to my favorite local spot after class and hooked up with a 2lb bass on my third cast with the chatterbait. A few more cast past a sunken tree and i was rewarded with one weighing 2lb 6 oz. (I finnaly got myself a digital scale so no more guessing) After throwing the chatterbait for another 30 mins I get hung up on something and i was rewarded with the return of just the blade on the bait. I was also wondering if i was tying my leader to the correct part of the bait. Do you tie it to the split ring or part of the blade? Can someone post a picture o how it is supposed to be tied on? 2lber 2lb 6oz

White twitch assassins ,black trick worm, 6" watermelon candy stick-o, watermelon super fluke, t-rig cotton candy centipede

I use these in the firetiger pattern for Peacocks. It seems to work better than spooks and tiny torpedos when the peacocks are hitting on top. I haven't used them for Largemouth yet beacuse I am too impatient for slow topwater retrieves.

I use 30lb suffix braid on 2 of 3 spinning outfits I have. Line twist was reduced to 0 after switching from flouro to braid. I have only been broke off twice with the braid. One time due to drag not properly set and another to some serious rocks.

I played with one at BPS yesterday and I like them more than the Shimano Stradic for the price. I think its supposed to have a sealed drag, but i hear people saying the rotor is graphite and not aluminum so that might deter some. Might buy one next week and see how it holds up.

I have used the 12 and 15# test and I am not a very big fan of it. I now use it as leader material for finese rigs and such but never as my main line. Too much memory for me.

Just got back from some x-mas fishing and I got to try out my new digi cam. It was real windy and overcast with water visability of about 2 feet. I caught 5 keepers and 3 dinks but no big mommas. 6" red shad charlies worms were the ticket today. Heres a pic I took of my nicest today.

Thanks for the replys. I guess I am going to shell ou the 22 bucks for a ultimate tilapia or male bluegill those baits look sick. If I do land these big females will they return to the nest after a qucik C.P.R.? I don't want to stress them too much. I got 25 bucks at BPS to spend thanks to my better half for x-mas so i think im going to pick up some craws, lizards, and tubes.

Well today I went to my lake again in search of the big females. I came across two new bedding bass and was able to catch only the male again on a 3/8 oz booyah boo bug jig. The females just don't seem interested in my offerings. Tommorow I am thinking about catching a couple shad or bluegill and freelining them near the beds in hope of some better results. The water is so clear in this lake which makes the bass so beautiful with the females having the most magnificant lateral line i have seen. Heres an example of the male I caught today. The females a saw yesterday were at least 3 times as big.

I don't know when spawn starts but here in South Florida i know at my lake there are big bass sitting on beds. Tommorow i will catch these spooky beasts.

Today at one of my favorite lakes, I walked over a bridge to find a pair of bass sitting on a bed. I could tell that the male was pretty aggresive because he would chase the talapia away whenever they neared. The female on the other hand was lethargic to say the least and was pretty big( i would say 5-8lbs). After seeing this I'm guessing the spawn is starting early down here in Florida. I threw everything in my tackle bag at them and could only coax the male into biting a super fluke. The female would spook very easily and seemed only interested in a t-rig trickworm but would shy away at it everytime. I continued to walk around the lake and found 2 BIG females sitting on a bed in about 4 feet of water next to a wall. They were spooked also and i couldnt get a bite if my life depeded on it. I went back to where i saw the first two and when i got there the male looked like he was dispensing sperm and there were 4 females in the 6lb range swimming circles around him. I was so amazed b/c i had never seen this before. 20lbs of bass in like a 4ft diameter circle. Anyways my question is what type of bait and presentation should i be using to catch these bedding bass?

Black, white, junebug, red shad, black shad, watermelon seed, cotton candy, motor oil.

I'm not a fan of the buzz frogs as they turn over too much. I switched to Stanly Ribbits and found that they almost always don't turn over and actually float if let to sit. The action isn't as good as Mann's Hardnose but no bellweight is needed. I would use a 4/0 or 5/0 EWG gammy hook for all my soft plastic frogging.

The X-rap is one of my favorite lures to fish for Peacocks with and i HAVE to change the hooks. Even though VMC is quality, they bend easy or so it seems whenever you hook up with a ferocious S.Florida Peacock. I replace them with the Eagle Claw Kahle hooks and they seem to stay straight longer. I use these on my rat-l-traps too b/c those "stock" hooks are garbage. Even at this size they are tackle busters.

Peacock fishing is alot of fun. Sometimes you can catch over 20 of them on a good day when its nice and hot out. I like fishing canals for them because I can sight fish better. My biggeset to date was around 6lbs 22 1/2. They fight hard on light tackle and the always seem to find a flaw in my lures like weak split ring or crappy treble hook. Definately one of the top freshwater gamefish here in S. Florida.

Someone was interested in the picture in my avatar so here a bit of the story my friend posted on the Florida Sportsman forum. http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=537012 This was my first time snook fishing and first time surf fishing though the pier in the background i used to fish alot.

Weightless stickbaits, frogs late in the day, t-rigged ribbontail worms, shakey head trick worms, deep down cranks and jerkbaits, centipedes on c-rig. Thats what I use when water temps drop, but in South Florida it never gets cold to where i dont catch any bass. If the largemouth bite slows for some reason hit up a local canal for some peacock fishing its great year round except on the first two days of a cold front.

I was reading an old Bassmasters magazine on the throne a couple weeks ago and remeber a sidebar article that asked pros if the sound of the trolling motor affects fish. The response was the same, "Yes". This is just what I read and I have no boat of my own to have any first hand experience. I know if I am fishing and come across an elevated bank or little bridge, bass and baitfish spook real quick beacause of my shadow. Must think im a great blue herring or something.

WOW thats a chunky mama. What kind of worm is that on your shakey head rig?

I really like the Shimano Stradic and its little brother the Symtre for their price. I dont have a stradic of my own yet but have used friends ranging from 2500-6000 series in both fresh and saltwater and love them. Caught my first Kingfish on a stradic 4000 on 12lb test best fight i ever had. I have used the Symtre for years and have turned friends onto them. they seemed to be pleased with the perfromance. When i decide to ditch my Pflueger President I am going to get a Team Daiwa Tierra 2500. They are priced right at 120 and have goten awesome reviews. Just my $.02

The bait monkey doesnt have a hold of me yet. I only have 3 rods and reels in my collection. 6'0 MH BPS IM6 w/ Shimano CB4000 (Cranking, worming) 6'6" M Ugly Stik Lite w/ Shimano Symtre Zero (Topwater, weightless t-rig, live bait/snook fishing) 7'0 M Shimano Compre w/ Pfleuger President 6735 (stickbaits, jerkbaits, worming, topwater, serious peacock fishing + snook/tarpon) I finnaly got some 30lb Suffix braid today and I am very please with it. Caught 6 bass up to 3 lbs and lost 1. That 1 being due to improperly set drag b/c I never used braid before and I got my settings down now. No more lost fish in lilypads yay ;D

This is my goto bait. I texas rig them and drag on the bottom or rig them weightless and twitch them on top to give it a snake-like motion.

The method I use when wacky rigging stickbaits is get some o-rings or dental rubberbands and roll them onto plastic in the middle. Then hook the o-ring not the plastic and u got yourself a wacky rig that you can reuse more than once.

8lb give or take on a weightless 5" watermelon red flake tiki stick.

I have the same problem when using Mann's Hardnose Frogs and Zoom Horny toads. I tie a swivel about 14" above the frog and this helps a little. Today i got to try out a Spro bronzeye and was very happy with the hookups i got and the awesome action of this bait.