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Pleasure boat traffic, spraying and fishing pressure. I’m on the St. John’s river and you don’t even bother to fish the weekends for the boat traffic. It’s like interstate 95. On most of our lakes it’s the amount of fishing pressure it gets all the time. Harris and Kissimmee chains have multiple tournaments every weekend of the year. same goes for okeechobee and mot of the other larger lakes. Top all that off with the continuous spraying they do and it makes for tough fishing on most days.

That’s what I’m using now. They work fine but just wanted something a little more durable.

I’m looking for an inexpensive pouch for storing about 6 plastics bags stored in their original bags. I’d like a 3 sided zipper and no supplied binder sleeves, just an open pouch. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks bud. Warm weather on its way😉

A-Jay, what’s that tube & color in the bottom right corner of the right hand box?

Not interested in watching them stare at their screens all day.

Pretty much a homeboy living here in Florida. But I’ve fished in Montana for trout, Costa Rica for rooster fish and pacific sailfish, Lake Michigan for lake trout and salmon. I grew up fishing the south Florida canal systems ( before peacock bass and exotics) for bass, tarpon and snook. In the 70’s I light tackle fished from Ft. Lauderdale to key west and caught so many fish. Got to fish the wrecks out of key west when they were close to their prime. Moved to Central Florida in 84 and went back to my favorite, bass fishing, and competed in a number of club tournaments as well as local tournaments including Redman and World Bass. Fished with Shaw Grigsby in my first Redman and Jim Bitters in my second on the Harris Chain. About the mid 90’s got back into the light tackle saltwater gig up here and still doing it. As well as bass. But find I do more freshwater that salt these days as it’s just easier but still fish a couple offshore tournaments a year.

Swim jig, Senko, speed worm, spinner bait, topwater

We warned you about the boat cover.🙂

Toxic, I don’t want to jinx you but I think you are hitting it right with this week’s weather. The warming trend starts today and runs into next week. As for fishing slow in winter here, that’s not always thee case as you found out. Yes it works a lot but sometimes you need to go to reaction baits to get them to bite. A perfect case in point is last weeks MLF College tournament on the Kissimmee chain. The winning team fished lake Kissimmee with speed worms, chatterbaits and rattletrap type baits including an 11+ on the trap bait.

Grinder and plumber( as in kitchen sink). I’m throwing everything I have confidence in that I think will work based on the conditions.

Glenn, let me check with my niece. She lived in Japan for 4 years teaching and might be able to give you some pointers. Also, I have a buddy that went last year and he says there are shops that have “used” reels for sale that are top end and great prices. I’ll get the name from him and pass it on.

4 people will narrow it down for sure. that’s 5 in the boat including the guide. How many are adults and children? A lot of bass boats aren’t rated for 5 people. You might have to look for a guide with a bay boat that can handle that many but they are out there. There are a couple of groups on FB that have guides on them that regularly post, I would look there. Late march will fill up quick so best to book as fast as you can. Wild shiners are pushing $30 a dozen if not more by now. That will be on top of the guide charter fee.

Like Phil said, here in Florida you rarely need it. I’ll use it sometimes to find offshore grass beds. We mainly fish “cover”, not structure here in Florida.

Sounds to me like you are fishing the St. John’s river around Central Florida based on your “non tidal.river” comment. By that I mean south of SR 40 to the headwaters down south. If so, the river is way over the banks right now and the current is ripping. In most areas, the bass are going to be beyond the banks (up into the woods or pastures) in most places until the river comes back down inside the banks. In my area, DeBary, you can’t get to them in the woods. Once the river comes back down and the current subsides, you’ll have better luck. The usual baits will work and the normal bass targets such as pads and lay downs. The water temps here are in the upper 50’s and will come down even more in the next couple of weeks.

Mike, we were there about a month ago and the SM water level is up quite a bit. Same with HW. There’s been a lot of floating islands at HW blocking the main channels so be aware of that if you go.

Next week will be tough anywhere in Florida. Temperatures are forecast to be in the mid 30’s in Central Florida . Punching will be your best bet there. There is overflow parking across the street that’s never been even partially full any time I’ve been there during the week. Even if the parking lots were full, the worst thing is you’d have to drive a mile down the road to the stick marsh. While it’s nowhere near its former self, the marsh can still be good. It’s recovering from a drawdown in 2023 and will take a few years to get back on its feet but there’s still fish to be caught there and it’s quite a bit different, visible vegetation wise, than it was. Plus the water is up about 2’ so there’s a lot of water to explore.

Exactly my thoughts too.

70 years old myself. Walk 2 miles most days and workout with free weights 3-4 a week. I was a gym rat for years so lifting/ working out is in my blood. I’m not in Ajay shape but I think I’m pretty good at 6’2” and 183. 8 hours standing in a boat is tough for me to do anymore. 5-6 is about my limit these days. I still fish offshore in saltwater a handful of days a year but it usually takes me a day or two to recuperate 😂

What Crypt said. I was there a couple of weeks ago and it’s was fine. It’s always better a few days after it rains or after they grade it. Like the others have said, a boat cover is a requirement. I stow my rods in the back of my truck under its cover. Electronics in the back seat of the truck. Drive slow. I’ve been going since they opened the stick marsh and there’s good days and bad days on that road. When the dump trucks were running down it was the worst. The washboard would loosen a crown in your mouth 😂

There’s a number of accommodations available within a reasonable distance from HW.

Last question I hope 🤣 (1) 24v 100ah vs (2) 12v 100 ah batteries. What’s the trade offs?

Mike, my boat’s an 18’ flats boat (Action Craft) set up for bass fishing. Trolling motor is a MK Terrova 24V. I don’t fish tournaments and rarely fish over 6 hours a trip. But I do fish the St. John’s river and it constantly has current. It sounds like my best option is the 100ah batteries. Thanks guys.

Bank & Carolina, are y’all happy with the 50 ah’s? I’m wanting to go with a pair of the 50 ah, mainly due to cost, and curious how satisfied you are. It’s for the 24v trolling motor only.

Where did y’all buy your lithium batteries from?