Don51

Swamp Girl picking up where you left off. 😎

You just never know. 😎

You don't always have to fish slow! Try throwing a Ratltrap or similar bait. You might be surprised. A jerkbait will also produce in cold water using various retrieves. 😎

Florida on New Year's Day.

Photo from the computer apparently is sized differently. 🤔

Thanks for the tips. I will investigate further. For the time being just imagine what a 4 lb bass looks like. 🤣

That's what I did. I've cropped it as much as I can. I guess I need to catch smaller fish!

4 lbs on a split shot rigged stickbait from a local playground pond. One bite, one fish. Been tough fishing with this cold front hanging in there. I reduced the photo as much as I could and it still wouldn’t let me add it. Ridiculous. 🙄

Christmas vacation. People entertaining company. Florida I assume. 🤔

The state should have done a more thorough investigation. The weight of that bass alone should have raised a few eyebrows and brought it into question. It's been 50 years, the record is probably never going anywhere.

Can't go wrong with chartreuse in any type of water.

The fish are much easier to find. The sun exposed banks will usually hold fish. Too much guess work fishing the deep ponds. Some of the shallow bog ponds fish really well in the cold weather.

I always found the shallower ponds are easier to fish and produce much better in that temp. range. Your "home pond" , Billington and many of the shallow bog ponds throughout the south shore are a better bet. 🤔

If you slowed it down, dragged a worm etc., I bet you would have got bit. 🤔

Hardcore fishing! I don't miss those days. At least you were rewarded. 👍

You are throwing the right things for cold water. That water doesn't look all that cold though. 🤔

I'll take the weeds! 😄

A few years ago when I was younger and living in MA I would try to kayak fish until Thanksgiving. Then out came the waders until ice. Fished in snow squalls on more than one occasion. Crazy times. Living in FL the past 10 years I am quite cold now when the temperature is below 60. Plus I got old! 🤣

🤣Wish I could! I live in Florida now.

Is that place still heavily weeded in? I used to fish there years ago. They are in there but very difficult to get to.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/10/09/big-florida-lake-ranked-as-the-most-polluted-in-the-u-s/

Coming into prime time. Water temp is still a little high. Right time, right place and you can have a banner day! 😎

Water temp is still pretty high to kick off the fall bite. A week of cool nights and you will be in business.

Well, at least the wind wasn't blowing. Heading into fall the rainy, chilly days will become more frequent. And soon the season will be just a memory. 🥶

For sure. Catch the right water temp and a day that they are feeding and it can be a lot of fun. The downside is the clock is ticking. Not really a problem down here in FL though. 🤪