Nolanh18

Castnet the tilapia and have a fish fry!

I live on the east coast of central florida and we have tarpon in our backwaters and many ponds. Most of these are brackish water but some are fresh. I’ve caught a lot of them with small poppers and little crappie jigs. The biggest one I’ve caught was over three feet long and caught it on a watermelon red zoom speed worm. It seems that the smaller the lure the more bites you get, but tarpon are always a challenge to land

I kinda got forced into this situation. Last September or October my van was broken into and someone stole my backpack full of all my bass tackle and my favorite bait caster combo. Once I got past the anger and frustration, I had to think about replacing my gear. My budget didn’t allow me to try to replace everything so I focused on the tackle that I used regularly and have success with. Now I have a much smaller bag with worms, paddle tails, a few spinner baits, and a box of top waters. It’s worked out well, still catching bass and actually caught two pbs in one day a couple weeks ago. The nice part about it is I have confidence in anything I tie on and can cover any situation I come across fishing from the bank or in my kayak.

What conditions/situations would you prefer a skirt less spinner bait over a skirted one?

Anyone ever try/have success with skirtless spinnerbaits with a soft plastic trailer? I fish in central florida on the east coast and have used them for sea trout and redfish with a single gold Colorado blade but was curious if it would be worth trying for bass.

Largemouth just under 4 on a June bug magnum speed worm tilapia just shy of 5 pounds on an orange beetle spin

$25 bluegill swimbait. Second or third time using it my line snapped while casting and launched it to the middle of the lake. Never caught a fish with it

My favorite technique to use is a top water popper. Of course the thrill of a top water bite is awesome, but it’s more rewarding with a popper than other top waters because I have so much influence on how I present the lure. Also really fun to use for juvenile tarpon in Florida backwaters!

I live in eastern central Florida and we’ve been getting a lot of rain the past month, so water levels have risen. What are some tips for finding bass when this happens? Do most bass move up into the new shallow cover that is created?

I’ve caught quite a few bass on beetle spins

I’ve thrown 90 and 110 whopper ploppers on the same kind of rod you described with 30lb braid without any issues, mostly at a pond with a lot of reeds along the shoreline. Haven’t thrown the 130 much though.

Haven’t noticed them spawning earlier. I think the water is mostly fresh but maybe a little brackish. I’ll have to try the slip shot rig, never used that before.

It’s a public body of water but I doubt that it is managed. There isn’t a catch and release only rule, but I think most people fishing there practice it. I know some people will keep Mayan cichlids. Since it is sort of connected to the lagoon, at times I’m sure there are lots of predatory fish such as bass, tarpon, redfish, trout, and even large cichlids because they are very aggressive.

I’m on the east coast of central Florida, Merritt Island to be exact. This is the only place this far north that I have seen Mayan cichlids. I think I’ll try night fishing a little more. The spillways do connect the pond to the lagoon system. I have actually caught redfish, sea trout, and have seen tarpon and mullet in the pond. The pond has always been much cleaner than the lagoon, though it has been a bit dirtier since Irma.

Thanks for the help everyone! The water isn’t quite as clear as it normally is, but that’s a more recent change because we haven’t had much rain so there hasn’t been any water flowing out of the spillways in a while. Any type of jig in particular?