Captain Phil

Your decision on a trolling motor will depend on local conditions. Two factors should be taken into consideration, wind and weeds. If you don't have to contend with either, a minimal trolling motor will do the job. Normally, that is far from the case. Fishing against the wind with a 12 volt trolling motor is not fun. Neither is constantly having to stop and clear your prop of underwater weeds. A 24 volt 70-80 pound trolling motor is a good choice. I have a Minn Kota Travolta and I love it. The anchor lock feature is a must have in my opinion. I once had a custom Storm 22' bass boat constructed for use in Lake Okeechobee. Okeechobee can get very rough and I wanted something substantial under me. It was like fishing off an aircraft carrier. I ordered it with a 36 volt trolling motor. The first time I hit the button on high, it nearly threw me off the boat. I can't imagine a modern 36 volt trolling motor on an 18' aluminum boat unless you want to water ski behind it. ?

My local tackle shop sells them. You can order them on-line. You can also buy the blades separately. Their blades are far superior. You can see the difference just by holding them in your hand.

Florida fishing can be like that. One day you're culling five pounders and the next day you can't get a bite. I once won a local tournament when I was near last place on the first day and no one caught a fish on the second day but me. Don't get a big head when you win around here because your luck can turn on you fast.

Here in Florida I am partial to Hildebrandt spinnerbaits, especially the Okeechobee Special tandem in gold. The flash from the gold plating on these lures is far superior to other spinnerbaits and the thin wire creates more vibration. The wire line tie is open not twisted. This makes for even more vibration. It also makes them weaker. When I was fishing tournaments, I would throw them away every 2-3 fish. The cost is high, but the results are worth the extra few bucks.

I spent over half my life fishing the Alley, L67 and the Tamiami Trail. Haven't fished there since we moved in 1996. This area has some of the best bass fishing I have ever seen. When the water is low, you can catch 100 bass a day if you want to. I have seen days when you would throw out a crank bait, hook a fish, the fish jumps the lure and another fish grabs it when it hits the water. When the water is high, it fishes like a desert. I have caught a few snook and tarpon there, especially when the water is running. Years ago, anglers would come back to the ramp with tales of a huge bass on the Alley that would strip their reels. A local finally caught that fish. It was a 25 pound snook. Night fishing in the summer is fantastic if you can stand the mosquitoes. I could write a book about fishing in the Glades. There would be a lot of itching.

I'm conflicted on the "time of year" thing. MY PB was caught in January, but I've caught big fish at all times of the year. Here's a 10 pounder I caught in August. Check out the width of this fish, it's almost square! I had more hair then. The best time to go fishing is any time you can. ?

Dean Rojas with 45 pound five fish bag in Toho.

When I was in my early twenties, I was itching to catch a big bass. My biggest bass to that point was 6 1/4 pounds. That's a nice fish even in Florida, but I wanted bigger. I figured if I used bigger lures I would catch bigger fish. Around that time, JW Lures was making a 13" plastic worm called a Hawg Hunter with two molded in weedless hooks. B.A.S.S. had a tournament at Rodman and that worm was all the rage. I can not overestimate how big that worm was. It looked like it was cut from a truck tire. The first place I ever used one of those worms was in Okeechobee. When I got my first hit, I was excited. What monster bass had my worm? I reeled down and set the hook and a two pound bass jumped out of the water. So much for big lures for big fish. Some time later, I was riding down L67 canal in the Everglades watching my depth "flasher". I saw a large tree stump on the bottom, turned around and cast out one of those giant worms. The first two fish I caught on that log were huge mud fish. The third fish was an 8 1/2 pound bass. That fish was my PB for some time. A few years later I was fishing in Okeechobee. It was a very rainy day and I had my wife and eight year old son with me. They wanted to go home, but the fishing was so good I wanted to stay. I was fishing with a black grape 8" Creme worm cut off to 4". I threw it out and a fish nearly pulled the rod out of my hand. I hooked the fish and when I got it to the boat, it wouldn't fit in my net. That fish weighed 11 1/4 and I still have the mount on my wall. So much for big fish on big lures. Since then I have caught more than my share of big fish. When you fish for over 60 years, stuff happens. My biggest bass so far was a few ounces shy of 12 pounds. I caught that fish flipping a 4" Gambler plastic craw around my boat dock in Lake Eustis. That fish was released. If you fish in the right places, big fish happen. Day time, night time, big lures, little lures, they all work. The best way in Florida to catch a giant bass is fishing with large wild native shiners. If a bass eats a 12" minnow, it's big.

If you want to catch big bass you must fish where they are. This may sound obvious, but not all waters hold big bass. To grow large fish you need large food. Nutrient rich lakes normally contain more and larger bass than crystal clear lakes with little cover. Visit with your local game officials. They should know which lakes will give you a better chance at catching large fish. They may also give you some tips that are not generally known.

Don't overthink this. When using the flipping technique, the rod is only a lever. You could use a broom handle if you could hold one long enough. What you want is a rod with backbone that's lite enough to hold for long periods of time. A spinning rod may not due the job. The rod I use for flipping is a Bass Pro Shop 7' 6" medium heavy graphite casting rod rated for 15 to 25 pound line. It's collapsible, which makes it easy to store. You can buy these rods for around $50. You can pay eight times as much for a flipping stick if you want, but you won't catch any more fish with it.

You may find this interesting. Florida bass fishing is very tough after a cold front. When the water gets below 60, our bass lock down. It can seem like someone poisoned the lakes at times. Under these conditions, you can get them to bite if you slow way down. I normally throw my spinnerbaits with a 5/1 casting reel. Back when I was fishing tournaments, as an experiment I purchased a 3/1 reel for winter spinnerbait fishing. The retrieve was so slow the blades hardly turned. I caught fish when others nearby couldn't get a bite.

Of course you can. The problem I have with spinning gear and spinnerbaits is the retrieve ratio is normally too fast for the bait. The optimum spinner bait ratio is 5/1. If you pull a spinnnerbait too fast, the lure will turn on it's side or even twist. Cadence is very important to the success of spinnerbait fishing. Spinnerbaits work better when retrieved slow as close to cover as you can get. If you want a spinnerbait that you can fish fast, tie on a buzz bait.

Here's my Helin Fish Cake lure. It doesn't get much simpler than that.

Living in Miami most of my life, I've done my share of offshore fishing. Wave and weather conditions are something you learn to pay attention to. The worst conditions I have ever fished in salt water was in Venezuela with the average wave being 6-8 feet with an occasional 14 foot swell thrown in. The boat that we were fishing in was 60 foot, but it was still frightening. I fished the Miami bill fish tournament in 10 foot seas in a 25 foot boat. The worst fresh water conditions I ever saw was in Lake Erie. We came around the island in a 20 foot Ranger bass boat and speared a wall of water that filled the cockpit and nearly sank the boat. When fishing and running in waves, how you handle the boat is important. This may seem obvious, but some bass anglers only have two speeds... dead stop and full throttle. Every boat has an optimal speed and trim where the boat can handle rough conditions without pounding or drenching the passengers. On the Harris Chain, people have been killed in bass boats when the boat flipped or capsized in rough weather. Some years ago, we lost the State B.A.S.S. Federation President that way. He had a wife and kids. Don't let that happen to you.

I use a bobber stopper when flipping and pitching. Works much better than the screw-in weights and tooth pics we used to use. Also makes retying easier as you can easily slide the bobber stopper up the line. You want the lure to "pin ball" down through the cover to trigger a strike. If you don't peg the weight, the weight separates from the lure losing much of it's energy on the fall.

Flipping is vertical short line fishing where no line actually comes off the reel. Pitching is underhanded short line casting. The object of both is to drop a lure into or next to cover as many times and as close to cover as you can. The drop is what triggers most strikes. More drops made equals more fish caught. Always check your bait after each drop as fish sometimes have the bait in their mouth and will spit it out if they feel you tugging on the line.

Back in the day, you could not open a fishing magazine without seeing a Helin lure ad. I bought lots of them in all sizes and colors. I even bought a Helin Fish Cake top water lure that I still have. In fifty years of fishing, I have never caught a bass on one of those lures. Someone else must have as they were very popular in their time.

I don't believe there are many baits I haven't thrown. There are a few classic baits that I haven't caught many fish on. Only caught one or two fish on a Creek Chub Darter and one on a Bass Oreno. Never caught a fish on a Helin Flatfish or a Heddon Sonic. So far I have not thrown a Whooper Plopper. I have a Roland Martin Helicopter lure that I keep around for chuckles.

I've seen my share of big alligators. Hooked one on the bottom night fishing once. It pulled my boat around. Thought I had the world record bass. Another time I snagged a 10 footer with a Rattle Trap. The scariest was when I found myself between a pod of baby alligators and a big mama gator. She didn't look happy, so I got the heck out of there. Here in Florida, we have a few gator attacks every year. Most are caused by people swimming where they shouldn't. Little children and dogs are especially vulnerable. Snakes and alligators are a part of the Florida ecosystem. As more people move here, there will be more interactions. I have never had an alligator problem while in my boat. However, a good friend of mine had his dog snatched out of his boat by a gator.

I learned to bass fish with a friend of my father. He was a Chief in the Navy stationed at the old Opa-locka naval base. Most of our fishing was done in the summer. We fished the Everglades at night around the old bombing range off highway 27. This was before electric trolling motors, so we would take turns fishing and paddling. All he used at night was a black Musky Jitterbug. I can still remember the plop-plop-plop sound they made coming through the dark. We caught a lot of big bass with that lure. As an experiment, we alternated between black and white lures. The black lure always caught more fish.

I use 20 pound Trilene Big Game mono with my spinnerbaits. Spinnerbaits catch big fish in Florida and we have lots of heavy cover. If you use 12 pound line to throw spinnerbaits here, a momma bass will eat it and laugh as it swims away. ?

The best thing that ever happened to bass fishing has been "catch and release". I remember club tournaments fifty years go when every fish was killed. We hung them on stringers and took photos of them. Our bass club even owned a fryer. When the water was down in the Everglades, game officials removed the limits. I remember one pile of fish that weighed over 100 pounds. Most anglers today release fish when they are caught. I use pliers and try not to touch them at all. In the larger tournaments, the game department provides us with tanks full of medicine to minimize disease damage. I don't mind if someone wants to eat a bass. Killing them out of ignorance or for bragging rights is not cool.

Excellent point. Here in Florida, the water gets hot, especially in the summer months. I have seen more than one big bass "cooked" in a livewell. Handling fish and banging them around kills fish. I would like to see tournaments adopt a three fish limit. This would change the focus from catching a five fish limit to catching fewer bigger fish. It would make more room in livewells and kill less fish. Professionals and lure manufactures would team up to help anglers catch bigger fish. Dragging a limit of 12" bass to the scales doesn't win most Florida tournaments anyway.

I believe tournaments help the fish population. Tournaments bring money into the local economy. They make local and State officials realize the financial benefits of recreational fishing. Here on the Harris Chain, we have a long history of mismanaging the lakes. Whoever had the loudest voice controlled the narrative. Farmers and local municipalities where allowed to pollute the lake with sewage, fertilizer and pesticides. Developers were allowed to build homes with ever increasing density. Lakefront property owners where allowed to clear shorelines and control aquatic plants without regulation. Most of these things have been corrected or at least improved. In the last twenty years, fishing tournaments have brought in millions of dollars in revenue that was lost when fishing took a back seat to special interests. Right now, the Harris Chain looks better than I have ever seen it. The question of tournaments and bedding fish is something I have questioned myself. Game officials tell me their studies have shown little long term effect on bass populations. Bass, like most fish, overbreed. In an environment like we have here, fish populations are limited by food supply and habitat. Since hydrilla is being managed instead of eradicated, our fish population has increased despite an increase in tournaments. Let's hope it stays that way.

Back in the seventies, graphite rods were just hitting the market. They were very expensive. I bought a Fenwick graphite casting rod for around $350. Gas was less than 50 cents a gallon, so you figure that rod was a big investment. The first weekend I took it out, my fishing buddy stepped on it breaking it about 6 inches above the handle. When it happened, we just stood there looking at each other for a full minute. Early graphite rods would explode without warning. They came with an unconditional warranty, so I took it back and they gave me a new rod. The warranty didn't say anything about wayward feet. ?