South FLA

Has anyone seen the new Lexus commercials for the LFA? Are the Italians in danger of losing their supercar supremacy? http://www.lexus-lfa.com/ Its one sweet ride @$350K and you have to be "cool" to actually be approved to buy one ;D http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/01/19/2010-01-19_350k_lexus_lfa_requires_you_to_pass_coolness_test_before_you_can_buy_it.html Wonder if I can put a hitch on it and tow this:

I hooked a 6-8 foot alligator at the Stick Marsh on the right rear thigh with a spinner bait. I was using braid at the time and was able to fight him for 10 minutes or so until he was too close to the boat before cutting the line as close a possible about 6 feet or so.

loved his attempt with the ladies....

Here are the leaders, who do you think can pull it off? "The Angler of the Year race will be decided at the conclusion of the Lake Guntersville event. Going into the season's final event, Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., is leading the pack with 775 points. National Guard pro Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif., is hot on his heels with 754 points. Rounding out the top five in contention for the title are Ishama Monroe of Hughson, Calif., (741), Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., (721) and Rusty Salewske of Alpine, Calif., (712)." Brent is the KVD of the FLW, but I really like Thrift's story. Also, its nice to see Ish in the running!

Went out yesterday morning with my buddy Dave out of Okee-tantie marina. Arrived a bit late at the fishing spot (South of Kissimmee River) around 6:45, but it did not matter the bite was on. I started out throwing horny toads with consistent results and my partner was throwing a fluke with hit and miss results, but as the morning progressed the tables turned as expected. Around 9:00 we headed out to the outside weed edge and slayed them on rattle traps, before the heat made us both call around 9:45. Total count was between 40-50 fish with 4 over 4lbs. The largest came on a spro cast deep into the outside weed edge. Side note: The SHELLCRACKERS are on BEDS, found about 10-20 bedding areas that were loaded with HUGE bream. So for you bream fishermen fishing the lake be on the lookout. I may even go out next week to target them myself ;D

http://www.dausettrails.com/cottonvswater.htm

I knew it when he was freaking slacking on deck! What a disappointment, its a sign of the times! You would not believe the amount of prescription drug addicted kids there are out there. To many enablers, I am sure his brother and other crew members knew, since they live in such cramped quarters. Sad, Phil wherever you are I feel for you!

IMO, it the best decision I made, can't tell you how many times I have used it to hold my place while the wind blew everyone else past me. I'm in Florida so most of the time I can hit bottom with my Powerpole XL. If I were up North fishing deeper waters where deeper techniques are the key, a Sidefinder depth sounder/GPS would be 1st on my list.

Sounds awesome! I may change my plans and go out of Okee Tantie this week instead of Lox. Are you fishing the Big O at all this week?

x2 on the Daiwa, its the best out there

burleytog, I know its expensive, but have you tried different braids, like Daiwa Samurai or Suffix? These are significantly better the PP.

You really need an outboard and at least a bigger boat to run around the place and fish it effectively. I once put my 14' Jon boat in there and the gunwale clearance above the water line was not confidence inspiring around the water control structure where gators tend to hang out, BIG GATORS!

I will shoot SoFL-native a PM to see if he is interested.

I am going out next week, either on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday depending on weather. If anyone wants to meet me at the Southern Blvd. ramp shoot me a PM. Thinking of fishing from about 6-11 or so. Tight lines,

Wake up PEOPLE! Imagine if this would have happened to a smaller market capped company such as ConocoPhillips, where would we be then? They operate oil platforms in the Gulf and I am sure an "accident" could have just as easily happened to them or any other oil rig operator. The irony is that we should be thankful that it happened to a much larger capitalized public company, if not we would be as tax payers would be footing the bill immediately and our ill prepared government would have been trying to handle the situation. Also, what percentage of industry is the OIL companies worth to the region. To add insult to injury wait until the backlash is so strong that the oil industry pulls out of the Gulf due to reactionary Government mandates and its economic impact in the Gulf states. This is a disaster that reaches far beyond the environment.

Thanks fellows, Went down to my local trailer parts store, Rayside, and picked up a pair of sealed regular since they did not have LEDs in stock which I would have purchased. Its funny my little jon boat trailer has LED lights all around since it was in rough shape and my nice Ranger trailer still has regular bulbs

There is always point of diminishing returns. I own too many rods: Cumura, GLX, custom rods based on IMX blank and top of the line components, Avids, Vendettas, Various All Star rods, Dobyns, and Star Rod Nickelites. In my opinion the difference between the GLX and Cumura is not much, but between a Vendetta and a GLX its noticeable. If fishing all day I really, really appreciate the light weight a "high end" rod. I really believe that for certain applications such as T-rigging plastic or jig fishing where bottom contact/feel is vital one should buy the best rod that they can reasonably afford. For other applications the light weight and sensitivity that are offered by a high end rod are overkill. Thus, my GLX, Customs, and Cumara are used for my soft plastic presentations and others are used for hollow body frogs, spinnerbait, crankbait, and top water applications. So there you have it the expensive rod is only as important as its use dictates.

Mini South Florida Roadtrip? im down. 8-) Me 3x, may have backseat available for other BR member or we can flip a coin to see who is boater amongst the BR clan ;D, I live up in Gardens, so I usually take off from the Southern Blvd. ramp, weekdays are best for me. If we all pitch in we can have a mini catch and release tournament with some prizes (i.e. BPS or Gander Mountain Gift Cards), bocabasser gets a handicap though, cause he is off school and out there too often

Have any of you guys checked out the Ugly Stick Agility, that rod can out catch most if not all anglers on this board in the right persons hands, Skeet, Ike, Clunn, etc... To each his own, want to by a $1000 Megabass or a $80 Vendetta then go ahead, but too many other factors influence what makes a rod better than another, from line to application to angler holding it. I feel a Good Night Irene coming ;D

http://assets.espn.go.com/winnercomm/outdoors/bassmaster/pdf/b_classic_elite_marshal_rules_2010_final.pdf

My right brake,turn, and signal light is out on my Ranger and I removed and can't figure out for the life of me how to replace the bulb!!! Its a Trucklite Super 60 model found here: http://www.levineautoparts.com/truck60202r3.html Do I simply dump the entire lamp and order a new one? Its only $8.00, but darn what a waste? Every other trailer light I have only replaced bulbs other than the LEDS.

I have a 185 Intracoastal Model with a 150 Yamaha w/ a 2.0 Gear Case, I can spin a 24" or 25" Powertech TRO 4 Blade, but the 24" gets me up and out pretty quick, average about 3 1/2 seconds with a half tank and passenger, but the 25" gets me about 2mph more top end (62 MPH vs. 60 MPH, half tank and passenger). I switch to the 25" in the winter and stick with the 24" pretty much 9 months out of year.

Went out yesterday and fished from about 6-11:00 before the heat made me surrender. Morning top-water bite was fair with most of the top-water fish coming from the edge of the flats and the transition into the canal. I fished the the pump stations on the way south from the Southern Blvd. ramp with only 1 small fish hitting a T-rig worm. Since I was not having much luck other than a few small bass on rattle trap type lures I moved back to into the flats and caught some throughout the eel grass pockets using skinny dippers and senkos. Total fish caught was in the low teens, plus an Gator and a bowfin. My brother had a gator on that hit is CRANKBAIT! Was cranking it in and about 20 feet from the boat he thought he was hung, but Mr. Gator floated to the top with the crankbait in its mouth. He was pretty cooperative though and swam right to the boat and then under where I was able to pop the line. Too bad it was a Lucky Craft, soon after that he lost a Sebile Swimmer in the reeds after his line snapped mid air! While on the flats from a distance I saw a BIG BASS jump out of the water as if it were chasing bait. As we trolled over to her, she jumped 3/4 out of the water as bait scattered in the thick grass, my brother was able to cast his swimming senko on top of the grass mat where the bass was exploding and a shiner jumped out when the lure landed. In my excitement I moved too close to her and she vanished to be spotted later busting bait in the grass 20 or so yards away. When I said BIG BASS, let me tell you this I have NEVER in my life seen a bigger bass while fishing then what I saw in the flats, I know its tough to say that from just watching a fish in the wild, but the girth and length of this fish in my opinion would have, put her over 10lbs easily, what surprised me was her jumping and antics, since I thought SOWS like her were lazy wait and see ambush predators not cheetahs! I even set a waypoint on my Garmin for this fish!!! I need to get back to the there soon. Water level in the flats was high enough to get my lead sled ranger out of the hole without a problem, although sharp turns every once and a while were required to keep grass from plugging water intakes.

I have one that I mounted a Burris scope on and love it, can split business cards sideways, yes sideways with it at 25 yards. I have it in .22 and it does the trick on squirrels!

Anyone been out to the Lox Refuge lately? Going out Friday morning with my tree catching brother and was wondering how the water level was, pattern, and areas fished. Send me a PM if not comfortable sharing. Thanks, Tight Lines