gnappi

Peas are a hoot to catch, more fun than LMB, and I target them before LMB! On the down side a cold spell will kill many of them off.

+1 OFC 10 gauge is your best friend to solve voltage glitches.

I think cell phones and tablets are a less than wonderful solution. Aside from their visual and coverage shortcomings the fact is that decent stand alone GPS and FF's are not going to break most banks but getting a decent phone sopping wet, stepped on or lost overboard just may ? My mom used to say... "Just because a thing CAN be done, doesn't mean a thing SHOULD be done" Personal electronics used in lieu of marine electronics to me at least fit that quote 110%. Of course YMMV.

" I would not recommend eating snakehead often since they live in polluted canals that have methylmercury. " That's kind of a broad brush stroke but I'll underscore the "often" comment. They are actually found in abundance in West Broward in much different environs that could cause the water to stagnate. The canals and lakes I fish in are pristine clean clear water with good visibility and a healthy water aquaculture. Bass and Peacocks (if you are lucky to get one) taken from the same areas are very edible. Are there dirty murky areas I fish and do not eat what I catch? For sure, do I eat ANY fish from waterways close to large roads or commercial farming? Nope, but at those places I kill and then release the Snakeheads on the bank for the vultures to eat.

My GF's son and I fish for them a lot, he has more success than I do because I'm stubborn wanting to fish my way. No more ? But the facts are a heavy rod, line over 15 lb, strong leader, good hooks are the norm. After losing a ginormous one this last week, I'm moving up to black 20 pound braid (from 12 lb fluorocarbon hybrid) and short (2 ft.) 50 lb. dacron leader died black. In our experience with them, not one of the snakeheads (SH) I've had follow my lure would go back for a second look. If they're following it and the lure hits the weeds they bail, when the lure stops moving they bail, if the lure hits the water too close to them... they bail, if you get them to look you in the eyes with a net in your hand they will do everything in their power to bail ? If you catch one, do not release it, they are delicious fried, and every one you kill saves LMB from being eaten by them. Places that used to be teeming with bass that have SH there now, bass are infrequently caught by us.

If you have an older Garmin GPS, their maps used to have EXCELLENT waterway details and I have found some of the best honey holes in and around industrial parks and commercial strip centers in Broward and Palm Beach counties in So. Flo. Unfortunately the most recent maps (sometime after 2011) Garmin lost most of the waterway areas of most interest to me so I bucked up and bought a 7 year old GPS on Feebay to use. The recent OSM maps are better than the new Garmin samples if you have a newer Garmin but they're not quite as good as the old Garmin maps were. Since you're near the Hillsboro inlet, go west of there past (west of) the tpke, and there are scads of lakes that are easily reachable on foot. Also these lakes "generally" do not have snakeheads in them (yet) so LMB and Peacocks are still there in abundance. Any canal or lake that connects to water that ultimately leads to snakehead territory will have a vastly depleted population of bass in my experience. Anyway... On foot the large canals like the Stranahan, Hillsboro are heavily fished and are hard to get a good sized fish on. There are lots of snook moving about the Hillsboro and believe it or not the inlet area really doesn't get much foot or boat fishing (see below the HEAVY traffic comment) because access is limited to basically one spot on the north east side of the HBI and the ditch. If shrimp were running you likely won't catch anything, the fish are gorged. if shrimp were not running and you did not have live shrimp or decent looking shrimp lure you were starting at a disadvantage. The HBI has HEAVY boat traffic, from big boats (powered and sail) with skippers who don't know how to handle their boat. You couldn't pay me enough to navigate to or fish there with a paddle, unless you could safely get to and sat anchored in the HBI cove on the south side well out of the channel.

Hi Dave, and thx for the recommendation but I looked at Gheenoe a few years ago but I really like my "stuff" aboard. A Gheenoe won't cut it. Shortfish, it's great to see such detailed comments! Many boaters (or most collectors / enthusiasts) seem to have "rose colored glasses" when reviewing their stuff. I guess my only problem with the Grizz is it lacks a center bench seat which I like, instead it has a wide aft bench and longer front deck. I'll see it today hopefully and let my impulses take over ?

Mine for now is an all electric Lowe 1040 perfect to slip into my truck bed and hand launch to get at those LMB that have never (or rarely) seen a lure. I've equipped it with most of the necessities, bilge pump, rod holders, running lights, horn, interior lighting, flood light, bait bucket and cooling fan (It gets hot here) outlets, GPS, USB outlets, and fish finder all run by a self made dashboard.

I have an all electric 2017 Lowe 1040 which is perfect for transporting in my pickup bed and hand launching it in places (which are many) that do not have a ramp. It's spartan without swivel seats to maintain the weight down and keep it manageable (I'm 67) and it's a real keeper. But lately I've been looking at maybe something a "bit" longer and wider (with storage constraints 14' is max) with power to be able to scoot about in larger bodies of fresh water. So, after owning several much larger ocean use boats I've been thinking of a used welded aluminum boat like a Grizzly and the 1448 looks ideal. It will fit in my back yard alongside the house, and I can equip it any way I want. The rub is other than seeing lots of Grizzlys on the water, I do not know anyone who has one so here I am asking if one I found is a decent price. Pic below, any help / advice would be greatly appreciated. New locally one would be it's ~$8k, I'm thinking the price is "fair" but I could be wrong.

I use one of these cast concrete deck supports available at most home improvement stores. The wheel of my trailer jack fits either facing forward or 90 degrees. The added benefit is they lift the tongue so water rolls off of the cover or towards the back drain if the boat is uncovered.

Unless you're talking some early aluminum framed revolvers, S&W disagrees with you, and they still back up their lifetime warranty unless you use reloads or hand loads. Call the factory if in doubt on a particular model, I have.

I stopped strong side, SOB, crossdraw, shoulder rigs and everything else holster makers could dream up many years ago and now I only "Mexican carry" in a thin deerskin leather type holster. It's the most concealable and available.

I have lived in So. Flo since 1976 and one of my PB was on a dark purple plastic worm fished exactly as Minnow described. I haven't fished plastic worms in a long time but I still keep them around just in case I get nostalgic or need a rest from casting frogs, lizards, and other surface plastics.

I grew up using a Mitchell 301 (lefty version of the 300 well before reels were ambi) and just never saw a reason to learn any other method, sort of like not needing to learn how to write with my right hand or shoot (long story) with my left hand when what I know works pretty well.

Three batteries and a three bank charger mentioned above is ideal but three bank chargers cost more than I want to spend right now but one day I'll spring for one. I have an all electric Lowe with three batteries. Two batteries for the TM and one for my instruments, lights, bilge pump etc. I leave the two for the TM on a dual "Battery Tender" the other is always disconnected and I use the battery tender once every couple of weeks to make sure it's topped off. For now it's working OK.

I think sharpie is just OK, but I use Feibings black leather dye to color my Dacron. I wet a Q-tip (cotton balls use too much dye) with it, and with finger cots on my thumb and index finger just draw the braid through the cotton. I make 20 or 30 feet of line, let it dry and cut to leader lengths. It will not make dacron funky it likely acts as a preservative, think shoes. Just remember the finger cots or (even better) surgical gloves.. the dye is for leather, it has to wear off of fingers ?

I fish South Florida where in just about any body of water where LMB "were" once plentiful, today they are almost completely gone and the new dominant species is snakeheads or SH in texting vernacular. In these areas the very few fish that are not snakehead are very large LMB or Peacocks. What keeps SH isolated from some LMB habitat are landlocked lakes, which thankfully are still plentiful. I am not an Ichthyologist but it appears as if the larger bass and peacocks are safe by virtue of their size, but may be unable to reproduce due to SH predation. Some fishermen are now actually targeting SH and what we do not eat, we kill with a blade in the head. I wish more fishermen who caught them early on and released them had not done so, as it is I can see a day in the not too distant future that the only fish left to catch will be SH's. What Florida and any other state with SH needs is a Paul Prudhomme (he was instrumental in making redfish popular) to popularize the very good eating SH meat beyond the Asian community who relish it. For those of you who do not eat them, you're missing a great eating (yes they're ugly and a pain to clean) mostly white, firm and delicately flavored fish. Baked they are just so so, but fried they are stellar. To prepare, we mix flour and bread crumbs (30/70 proportion) with some grated Italian Locatella cheese, salt (and or some celery salt), pepper and some garlic powder, then fry to a golden color. Add fries and I KNOW you will target them yourself ? There are a couple of "snakehead roundup" tournaments held down here and they take a lot of fish. I hope posting a link here is OK? http://www.margatenews.net/13032/319117/a/snakehead-tournament-saturday-all-ages-and-groups-welcome

The canals in and near Markham are fished pretty hard, especially the main canal on 84. You'll have better luck in canals and lakes around shopping centers, and residential areas or condos that do not have gated access, look to park in guest areas. I have no problem stopping on a main street and fishing canals... they have very little pressure.

I never said it has anything to do with stability did I? I merely want a wider boat IN THE WATER (note the second number in the model number) and more elbow room for me, hence the beam.

I fish all over South Florida fresh waterways in a 10' tinny, electric power only. No problems at all. +1 on the wide bottom. I genned up this spreadsheet because I'm wanting to go up in width on a 10 footer. The colors are Red=undesirable Green= Needs Yellow=Acceptable and the HP is a don't care as I run electric only.

Since it rains just about daily down here I cover my tinny unless it's going onto the trailer hitch. We get a LOT of rain and I had to make something that WILL NOT collapse under the weight of the water when the cover is on it. It's only glued in some places so segments come apart and re-install easily.

This year I started fishing FW again after 25 or so years living in a home on salt water. One thing has not changed for me, spinning gear, though I'm using much lighter gear than ever it's just more fun. What has changed a lot is the diminutive 1000 class rear drag Shimano rigs which I'm using with hybrid line and my lure selection now varies regularly. When I lived "up north" what worked regularly didn't do diddly for me in Florida, that was the biggest hurdle I had to go through, the regional "preferences" of the fish.

First post, I hope it's not too controversial. I'm in my mid 60's and have fished all of my life from age 4 or so. Was fishing better way back? Maybe, maybe not. In Florida there are a LOT of bass, and I don't think that has or will diminish over the coming years. I think that some lures in areas where there is a lot of pressure fish naturally avoid lures that they see regularly. Varying my lure arsenal a bit and presentation helps a lot. Also I think too much catch and release just makes fish wary. For example... down here Peacock bass are plentiful, well more than plentiful but still most fish get returned to the water. Then the pressure makes them wary of lures. The rub here is the first cold snap is going to kill off most of them and it will take years to recover the numbers. Some say that the one you eat may have been the one that survived a cold front, maybe but likely not. So, I take every Peacock within State limits that is of a size large enough to eat. LMB's OTOH inch for inch have less edible meat than Peacocks on them down here, so I release ( I only ate one this year) the vast majority. I notice that the areas I release the most fish get harder and harder to catch later on so that's where my lure arsenal and presentation variation gets them. Also when I see other fishermen fishing and they see me catching fish or I have to pass by them I keep my lure arsenal to myself. The bottom line for me is that catching a number of fish hasn't changed, only what I use and how I fish has. I still catch a bunch of fish.