Fishing_FF

Welcome fellow Floridian!!!

Scum frog. @Mike L turned me on to them. These frogs are soft, which allow the hooks to really stick the fish. The original series has Gammy (I believe it is a 3/0) frog hooks, but I prefer the stout and sharp Owner 4/0 frog hooks found on the Trophy Series line of Scum Frogs. Much cheap than some other brands I've tried, too.

I have a couple different Lucky Pointers and S-Wavers that are all priced at $18.99 I lost half of one of the pointers after a couple chain pickerels took a run at it. Pulled it a few pickerels, but they were doing doing a number in the lure. After another hit or two, I reeled in the pointer to find it was missing the back half. I throw the bombers now if the pickerels are wanting to play. ?

Turkey Lake in Orlando was one of my primary lake I fished during the spawn this year. It is a lake I know well. This year due to the 100 year rains we received in December, the lake was several feet higher than normal during the February/March months. The normal spawning grounds the bass have used have used for the last few years were barren. There are two coves that are usually only about half a foot to a foot deep with some clean sandy bottoms. This was the location the bass made there beds in for the spawn. With the higher water levels, this area was similar depth to the normal spawning grounds.

Both? I fish both, and they are both producers for me. Each has its time and place in my tackle. I know the Senko can catch some big fish (lost 2 big ones after straightening out the Owner 2/0 hooks I was fishing 4” Senkos on). However, the ribbon tail worm seems to be a better size producer for me, especially during the hottest part of the days in the summer.

Welcome fellow Floridian!!!

I wacky rig Senkos and some finesse style worms with the Gammy hooks. The Gamakatsu G-Finesse Wacky Jig Head (1/16oz or 1/8oz) and the Gamakatsu G-Finesse Weedless Wacky Hook are my primary weedless dropshot hooks. I also have the Gamakatsu Wide Gap Finesse Weedless Hook, which I use for nose hooking flukes, but it is another Gammy weedless hook that could be used for a weedless wacky rig.

Welcome fellow Floridian!!!

Senkos are a bait that is in the tackle box all year long for me as I use them year round. Different sizes and presentations work better during certain times, but there is always an assortment in my tackle bags/boxes.

Welcome fellow Floridian!

Both?!? ? I generally carry a pair of rods, sometimes 3, when I'm bank fishing. I'll work the area with the rods I have and then move on to the next area. If I find a different pattern or two the fish are on later, I'll hit the previous fished areas again. A fair amount of the lakes I fish are only accessible on a side of two (because of a major road, heavy vegetative growth dozens of feet deep, or private property), so those are out and back trips. What is nice about the out and back trips is being able to revisit an area with another technique or presentation the second time around.

Check out a group called, "Central Florida Kayaking and Fishing Club" on Facebook. There is a guy on there that fishes the Econ regularly. I just saw it and figured that might help you out.

Both are 2500 series.

Hopefully someone can give you specifics as far a Econ. I know Secret Lake and Lake Virginia are up towards the Oviedo/Casselberry area. Both are popular kayak fishing lakes.

Two of the main rods I used today when I was out fishing were a pair of Avid Xs with Stradic Ci4+s on them. The 7'0" MF had about a 3' co-poly leader with braid main line for 5" wacky rigged Senkos, and the 7'0" MHF was straight braid for texas rigged 6" Senkos. All the fish except one I caught today came on these 2 rods.

My mainline rods all have Shimano CI4+ or Ultegras on them, but on a pair of my 2-piece travel rods I have a pair of Shimano Sahara FBs that I got back in 2006. They are solid, and I really enjoy fishing them. When my father-in-law decided to get his own rod instead of constantly borrowing mine, he bought a Shimano Sahara FI. I have had good luck with a couple KastKing BCs on their 2 piece rods, so when I was looking to add another 2-piece spinning rod, I gave the KK Sharky III a try. Sadly, the Sharky hasn't stood the test of time. I got it back in March 2018, so got a year of fishing before becoming rough, very geary, and quite noisy. I'm going to fully clean it to see if it returns to the operation condition when I bought it a year ago, but at this time it will be my last KK spinning reel.

Yes, any pond or lake in Central Florida can hold a trophy catch bass. If you want to hedge your bets a little, then check out the Fish Orlando program. There are 5 lakes managed by the Florida Wildlife Commission. Turkey Lake has 4 boats for rent, but the months of February, March, and April usually require booking weeks in advance. https://myfwc.com/conservation/freshwater/fish-orlando/

I guess it depends, is it a 4" stickbait rigged on a 2/0 hook or a 6" stickbait rigged on a 5/0 hook? For the 4" on a 2/0, I'll probably be in the 9/10 range. It definitely has a higher percentage for landing, but I've had it happen twice that a big fish straighten out the hook. For the 6" on a 5/0, I'm probably in the 5/10 range if that. The issue is the fish just aren't getting the hook, be it small sunfish like bluegills and redears nipping at the tails or really small bass. We were having this issue 2 Sundays ago, getting hits but reeling back plastics with pieces missing. We down sized and started landing 4-6" bass. More frustrating for me is flipping craw plastics, getting hits only to reel in the craw missing is claws. We'll downsize from 4" to 3" craws (same color) only to have no bites, and when we go back to the 4", claws gone again. Just nature of the beast, er bass.

Actually neither. ? I was waiting for the Tax Stimulus sale at TW, but a week before the sale went live last year, I stumbled upon a new Stradic Ci4+. It was at a local reel repair shop. The previous owner brought it in for repair, saying it felt geary. The shop replaced the roller bearings as one was damaged. The previous owner never came back to get the reel, so per the shop policy, it was sold after being unclaimed for 30 days. I got it in the box with paperwork for $150. ? The Ultegra is really nice, but the Ci4+ is a clear step up. I never got an Stradic FK, so can't help compare it to the Ultegra or Ci4+.

Ha! The last time I restocked my flipping hooks, both BPS and Academy were out of the 4/0 and 5/0 Trokar. I picked up a pack of the of the Owner 4X Jungle Flipping Hooks and a pack of the Owner Twist Lock Flippin' Hooks. I'm really liking the Owner Twist Lock Flippin' Hook as I can get a few more uses out of a plastic, especially the thin ones like an Ugly Otter or BB Cricket.

Done and ditto what @Mike L said.

Guess someone should have mentioned Turkey Lake. ? I was able to get out to Turkey Lake on Sunday. Fishing was good, but not still back to normal. The water is still high and still pretty dark. This has been one of the wettest winters on record for us. The grass is coming back, and we did have a couple hits on the lighter colors like watermelon. Overall though, the dark colors like Junebug and black'n'blue were the big winners. The spawn appears to be over for this cycle. The beds were empty, and all the bass we caught had post spawn bellies. The catch method changed from lower water column dragging creature baits and swimming speed worms to the typical summertime tactics of weightless plastics and......and......and.....wait for it..........topwater. We did just have a cold front pass through today which has bumped out temps from the 80s/60s down to the 60s/40s for a couple of days. They may spawn if the water cools down enough but until time will tell. I saw a photo from another fishing group of the water temps on Lake Istokpoga as he was showing everyone that lake hit 76 degree on Saturday.

I use to carry yellow, white, and pink trick worms, but for whatever reason, only the pink ones were consistent producers. I’ve dropped out the yellow and white, and pink trick worms are all that are in my bag now.

Welcome fellow Floridian!!!

This time of year, it isn’t uncommon to see people fishing retention ponds and small lakes off the sides of the road. Some of the retention ponds and lakes on the expressways around Central Florida hold double digit bass or at least use to. The only expressway I would advised against stopping on and fishing is the Florida Turnpike. 408, 417, 429, etc you’ll be fine, but the trooper are pretty strict on the turnpike. I know someone who has had his vehicle tagged twice to be towed. He once got caught by a trooper and was cited when he was walking back to his truck.