Fishing_FF

Welcome fellow Floridian!!!

Out of curiosity, what rod and line are you using with the heavy cover swim jigs? I've used a number of Dirty Jigs, Gambler, and Nichols swim jigs. Although, I only use the Gambler jigs for the Gambler tournaments any more. When it comes time to pick a swim jig, I match up the weed guard/hook to the rod and line. If the rod is a 7'0" MH with 20lbs fluoro or 30lbs braid, I'll tie on a Dirty Jigs Swim Jig or Nichols Saber. If all I have that is available is a 7'4"-8'0" H with 65-80lbs braid on it, then its getting a Dirty Jig No Jack Swim Jig or Nichols Sledgehammer. The heavy cover swim jigs have big hooks on them like the Dirty Jigs No Jack is an extra heavy Gammy hook (same as what's found on Medlock Flipping Jigs), the Gambler GOAT has a 7/0 saltwater hook, and the Nichols Sledgehammer is a 5/0 flipping hook. Yes, you are swimming a flipping hook. Just like flipping, when they hit and you set the hook, do the Hackney step back and swing. Not enough backbone in the rod or line, and you won't get a good hookset with one of these big flipping hook swim jigs. I can put the traditional swim jigs on the heavy gear, but the risk is opening up a hook if the drag is set too high. I have never trimmed the weed guards on any of by jigs. At most, all they ever get is a fanning out of the weed guard to the right and left for better hook protection. All of my well used jigs seem to have this occur naturally from being compressed during a hookset. Good luck!

Welcome back @RoLo from a new guy! Lol

Thanks for the quick answer. A dedicated jig rod is the next rod I am looking at. I like the SC Legend Glass rod I have for crankbaits. Its sensitive and the load up is awesome. I've seen some info saying jig rods should have a good load up to help keep a fish pinned when it head shakes a heavy jig. I'll look at the LTB line of St Croix rods instead of trying to make the Avid X work.

I've got a bunch of St. Croix rods, mostly Avid Xs. They are great rods, but all of them are fast with a pair extra fast in the mix. I recently came across a new with tags still on it Avid X 7' medium-heavy moderate action rod for $100 on the marketplace. Its my understanding this rod is designed for treble hook baits. I currently have an Avid X 6'6 MF for jerkbaits and Legend MH glass rod for crankbaits. I want to see if there is anyone out there that has a Avid X moderate action rod. My question is how much backbone does it have? Is it stout enough to drive home a 1/2oz jig on 14-20lbs fluorocarbon line? Thanks!

Welcome fellow Floridian!!!

Welcome fellow Floridian!!!

Nailed it. Sorry, bad pun. This is the answer why sometimes a wacky rigged trick worm works better than a wacky rigged Senko and why sometimes a nail weighted wacky rigged trick worm has a spot between the two. Something about speed and depth control......

Welcome fellow Floridian!!!

Quarantine life is busy. The routine is either go to work, sleep, repeat. If I'm not working, then the time is spent homeschooling my elementary school age boys. March 23rd was the last fishing trip. My wife and I are both public safety employees, so until life returns to normal, y'all are my lifeline to fishing. Post plenty of photos, please! LOL

Copperfield is a killer color for me, especially in the Gambler products. Houdini is a similar color swimbaits from Reaction Innovation and Bitters. Both Copperfield and Houdini are available in the Keitech swimbait line. If you want some other Keitech colors (sight flash and black), I've got 3 packs sitting in the garage that you are welcome to have. I stopped carrying the Keitechs because of limited tackle space in the kayak and co-angler bag.

If you are looking at Turkey Lake for February, your best bet is to look into their boat rental program. It’s roughly $32 (US), and runs Thursday-Sunday from 0700-1100. It’s a small deep lake, so when the cold fronts pass through, the ability to use a boat to go out to the deep holes where they hold up will help put the odds in your favor. Ivanhoe is dealing with a bad algae bloom from the dust, dirt, and debris of the I4 construction. The water use to have 8-12 feet of visibility, but it is currently less than a foot. The lake will recover. It will just take some time after the construction is done. Clear lake doesn’t have great bank access. You best bet for that lake is the dock with some wild shiners. Barnett Park isn’t stocked with bass, but if you are looking for some bluegill and catfish, game on. If you are looking for other ponds with bluegill and catfish then look at Bear Creek and Lake Island Park would be good options. These ponds are usually restocked with small channel catfish in the fall, 200-800 per stocking depending on the ponds need. If you are looking for other bank fishing options that have bass, then a Lake Santiago, Lake Underhill, and Starke Lake should be on the list. As it gets closer, feel free to send me a PM, and I’ll give you some other locations that have paid off when I bank fished. There are other members that live or live near a Fort Meyers and Deltona area that will probably chime in to help with those areas.

September as mentioned will put you in the middle of our summer heat. Trying to bank fish in the summer is challenging, especially if the lake has some deep water. If you want to bank fish during the summer, you're looking at early morning before and as the sun is rising or late evening as the sun is setting. With those times, you'll probably need to consider mosquito repellents. One thing about February that hasn't been mentioned is cold fronts. Our Florida fish don't like the cold fronts that bring cooler water and blue bird skies. They will shut down and skunk even the best of fisherman. My recommendation is to get a guide if you can afford it. You'll stand a better chance to find fish rather than being stuck on the bank, hoping the fish will be shallow.

What Woody said is spot on. Some of the Academy kits have multiple sizes, which makes measuring less of an issue. Only difference from the store kits and a rod builder like Mudhole is the rod builder kits come with much more of a size arrangement with multiples in each size and an alcohol burner for a cleaner burn than a lighter. Just don’t get too close with the lighter. Soot washes off with a little soap and water if the lighter isn’t burning clean. Easy fix. ?

Oddly enough, my St Croix rods are actually mid-range especially when compared to some of the Legend rods my friends have, but I get it. I take all my reels in to Kel's for servicing, and had them re-tip a rod. The downside is they are the only authorized service center for rods, reels, and trolling motors around in Orlando that turn around times are quite long. I took a few classes through Mudhole to learn how to build rods, but really all I'm doing is repairing any damage to my rods and friends rods. I'd offer to re-tip the pair of rods as it takes no time and have everything that would be needed. It would be far easier for the guy I know that lives up there to do it rather because shipping the rods or driving them down here would cost more than the actually repair. He may not even charge you because he has everything since we got the same kits from Mudhole. I have not been able to get out as my wife is in public safety, too, so its been a little crazy for the past 2 weeks for us. I'm hoping to get out to practice what @A-Jay is calling "social distancing" on Monday. lol

Dang, that sucks Mike. I know a firefighter that lives up that way who has a rod building and repair business. I'll get you his info if you want.

It’s good to raise awareness. Is there going to be a tax on our healthcare system? Yes. Could there be a shortage of medical supplies? Yes. While there be a loss of life? Yes, sadly there already has been. Should there be a doom and gloom picture? No. The government isn’t perfect, but it has come a long way since 9/11 what is referred to as CBRNE (Chemical/Biological/Radiological/Nuclear/Explosive) response. Much is gleamed from each event that occurs, and since we are talking about Covid-19, events like the H1N1 and Ebola events helped shape the current response. There are official channels. I’m not in the federal loop, but it was passed down that there is double the number of N95 masks as once released via the media (not sure if the number should be released but the shortage was identified and fixed through official channels). Information like this is passed down to the states daily. Each state has their own produces, but for Florida, there are different daily conference calls for health departments, state agencies, emergency operation centers, etc. Sometimes in the field, we get daily updates, sometimes it is only a weekly update if everything is stable, but we aren’t in the dark. I have contacts to notify if there is an issue, but airing them publicly isn’t going to be productive for anyone, certainly if it causes panic or fear. On the contrary, fear can make it harder to do our jobs. We need things like bottled water for scene that are taxing physically like fires and vehicle extrications. We also need things like bleach for cleaning at the firehouse. Sadly, both of these are being rationed in Florida due to panic buying. We currently have a limited supply of water and a shortage of bleach because our normal suppliers were cleared out (a fix is already in place and to be restocked shortly). What am I doing with my family and telling friends that ask? Follow the guidelines from the Florida Department of Health or if they don’t live down here, the CDC. If exposed or infected, abide by a self quarantine or local imposed quarantine because breaking the transmission cycle will stop the virus. Italy had a surprisingly high spread curve, but with the national quarantine put in place yesterday, the number of new cases is low. The reasons why it was spreading have been identified, and are factored into current recommended practices here. Being aware, being responsible, being kind to your neighbor by not spreading anything to them will go a long way to moving this event into the history books as just another occurrence.

This article is fear mongering at its best. 1 million US cases? Really?!? The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases is currently 127,863. The virus was confirmed at the end of December, but according to epidemiologist at the CDP, it realistically appeared as early as November 2019. The whole infections doubling every six days is nonsense, and here's the proof: China has 80,932 case with that number leveling out since the beginning of March (the 2nd to be exact). For a country with 1.386 BILLION people, it should have exponentially have grown. Instead, infection rate has slowed to about 100 cases a day. Where's the doubling, I mean it is 10 days later and China is still sitting at 80k cases. As a first responder, I do have access to current data, some of it has been released for the public thru the CDC while other is operational knowledge only so we can do our jobs. When my mom, who is in her 70s, called the other day asking if she could go to the movies for a matinee tomorrow, I told her to enjoy herself and just practice good hygiene, i.e. wash/clean hands before eating or drinking at the movie theater and practice social distancing (6 foot rule) if possible. I made sure she had links to the CDC get up to date information and the Florida Department of Health website as they have some nice infographics for prevention tips, when to get tested, and how to tell the difference between allergies, the flu, and Covid-19.

I forget what hook is in the 5/16oz original Scum Frogs. I was having some issues cast them on a heavy rod, so I switched to the Trophy series. Both the original and Trophy series have a 4/0 frog hook with the Trophy series being a Owner brand. I'm with you about the realistic colors. I have the most luck with a white or a black frog. A single solid colors doesn't seem to be an issue. In heavy wind, I'll push up the frog body to clamp on 1/2 of a DOA 1/8oz crimp weight. It helps keep the frog belly down and from flipping over. I've got several missing skirts that still work just fine. @Mike L turned me onto the Scum Frog, and it is the only frogs left in my tackle.

JT had some of the new design and color on his Facebook page. They look sweet, but the fish probably only care about the belly color.

You can get a license online (https://myfwc.com/license/) or at Academy or BassPro if you make a tackle run before fishing. There are plenty of guides listed for Toho by good members on here. A search for "Toho guide" will bring up the recommendations. If you want a different lake, shoot me a PM.

I loved Dudley’s comments this morning about Florida bass. He said a couple degree drop in water temps and the Florida bass think the world is ending. They are worse than trying to figure out a bipolar person. Not exact, but a close paraphrase. Someone gets our fickle Florida fish. Lol

Nope, Florida is all fished out and this technique will not catch you fish down here in our shallow basin lakes. Its NOT worth trying EVER. lol In all honesty, a Texas rigged stickbait works great around the mats, in the reeds, and in the pads. Weightless 6" stickbait in calmer conditions and 1/16-1/8oz 5" in windy conditions. The small amount of weight helps minimize the slack to better detect the bites. I learned this from the former FLW guy I fished with for years. I've seen videos of Roland Martin adding weight to help with the wind. Not new but definitely something that you'll find on one of my rods ready to go year round down here.

Welcome fellow Floridian!!!

Look into your tournament regs to see if they allow you to cut the bump board down to 26” (KBF rule) as @CountryboyinDC mentioned. This should allow you to store it between the gunwales at your feet. Just measure that space in front of the seat to make sure it is 26” wide there. You could also create a sleeve or sling to hold the Hawg Trough that could be mounted in a variety of places like the back of the seat, on the C-Tug, front storage area. The beauty of kayaks is you are limited only to your imagination.