SC53

State is proposing changing from catch & release to harvest lakes. This would be the worst thing that could happen. The reason people flock from all parts of the country to fish here is because of the fishery. If you guys have fished here or are planning to in the future, I suggest you leave your comment here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S8T9KMS

Use it exclusively for topwaters as it floats and as Glenn said, gives you that hesitation you need due to stretch. I use it on rattletraps and spinnerbaits as well.

I eat breakfast at the house, usually a waffle or a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Waters, cheese or peanut butter crackers and protein bar. If long day expected, they I will take chicken salad sandwich, leftovers or cheese & apples.

Had a similar issue with my Lowrance mounted to my trolling motor. Lots of interference when running the troller. I had the unit wired to one of the troller batteries. Researched it a found it needed to be wired to the house battery. Rewired it and fixed most of the problems. Added a lead shield between the transducer and the troller motor and solved all interference issues. I’d verify how it’s wired.

Fished SM yesterday myself. If you go there this time of year you better enjoy company. I counted 40 boats in the south end alone. In all the years I’ve fished there can’t remember ever seeing that number. Lots of guys fishing shiners, probably half the boats I encountered. Me, I’m an artificial guy myself and can’t fathom the idea of paying $25 for 12 baits. Anyway, the day started out with a bang with an 8-11 beauty on a swim bait. Bite was slow with only 4 fish by noon. Found the right area and lure about then and proceeded to catch another 12 by 3:00 when we left including a 4-12, 4-3 & some fat 3#footballs. Lost a few more good ones too.

Just got a report on the SM. Buddy fished it yesterday 2/18, only got 14, all on shiners, nothing on artificial. Biggest just under 6#. He’s fished it a lot too and can put fish in the boat with the best of them on lures, so it was a tough day. He counted 25 boats within eyesight, all fishing the south end of Farm 13, on a Monday. This should give you an idea of the amount of pressure this place gets.

Mike I’m guessing you are talking about Garcia. JV, not as many Dino’s as there used to be. Pretty sure they opened it up for gator harvest awhile back. Still a lot but not the big boys like you used to see sunbathing on the center levee. Stumps are still there though ?

You’re welcome ?

Any guide recommendations? Wife & I are planning on heading to her brothers place this spring and plan on trying to get a day or two in on SC. Thanks in advance

Osprey, the Elite Ti 9 they have on sale for $599 is a Ti 1 not the new Ti2. As for the difference between Ti1 & 2, I haven’t seen one in person but know they have a new 3 in 1 transducer and it’s a touch screen. Not sure you would get the picture you expect without using the new transducer ( on your trolling motor) BTW, I have a Elite Ti12, last years version. From what I’ve been told, the HDS Live is a completely new platform over the Carbons. Plus they run the new 3 in 1 transducer. This has nothing to do with the new LiveSight transducer coming out this spring. I have a friend that has a Carbon and he has seen the Live in person on the water and says the screen image is superior to his Carbon. And he is running his thru the 3D black box. That is saying a lot.

Haven’t been to Garcia or kennansville in quite some time but fish the SM a lot. Wind direction will be the determining factor there. South end is the most productive area so you’ll need SE, SW or south wind to fish it. A couple of days of that and the water clears considerably. Most of the grass in the lake (eelgrass and some hydrilla) will be down there. LOTS of stumps still there and they extend out at least a few hundred yards from shore but are scattered. Best to come off plane and trim up and idle in a good ways out. Any out of north direction and water turns brown and fishing suffers greatly. If you’re forced to go with N wind fish the south side of the center levee, north end of main east canal and the “north 40” as its called. It’s to the left of the ramp. Go around the bird island and west. It’ll open up about halfway down. Baits that should work at the south end are swimbaits, speed worms, vibejigs and spinnerbaits. If the waters dirty, you’ll need some vibration to get bit. North 40 will be same except add rattletraps to the mix.

Thanks Mike. I’m not tournament fishing just wanting to see how it is before heading down there. Good luck.

Any of you local guys been there lately? I’m not looking for fishing reports, but looking for lake conditions. Heard the lake was being kept low and there had been quite a bit of spraying going on and wanted to see if anyone could verify. Thanks in advance

Red Roy, where are you staying? That time of year, most any bait will work it just depends on what water temp is. Senkos, swim baits and other plastics are probably the go to baits but they’ll hit a rapala type topwater too.

Ok Sounds like braid is the answer. Thanks guys.

Ordered a Dobyns 735 that I’m planning on using mainly for 3-5” swim baits and frogging. The frogging will be in sparse pads only. I’ll use my existing heavy setup for the thicker stuff. I use braid on my heavier stuff but prefer floro or mono on my other outfits. I was thinking of going with 17-20# floro on this one. I know I will potentially be under-gunned in the pads if the big one hits but I’m willing to accept that trade off for a lighter outfit I can throw longer. Whatcha think guys?

Merry Christmas

My wife is my fishing partner. She can throw a baitcaster with the best of them. Fished with Shaw in a Redman tournament in ‘85 on Kissimmee chain. Great guy. My top picks would be KVD, Rick Clunn and Zona.

What Jay said. Plus I have a couple of benchmarks to reach in my club, a 9 & 11 LM on specific tackle to make a “species master “ for bass. Hoping to fill a couple of bucket list smallies & spots this spring.

Thanks for all the replies. Called Dobyns and talked to one of the guys there. Decided to give them a try since they were on sale at TW. Got a Sierra 735 on the way.

SK Rage Claw in Okie color T rigged has been my go to plastic the last few years but threw a 3/8 oz black/blue swim jig a lot too. Top water, Spook jr or gold Bang-o-lure.

Thanks

What rod are you using Reason? I’m looking for a lighter frog rod than I have now.

Interesting Heartland. Never heard of them or seen any of their rods down here in Florida. Went to their website to see if they had any dealers down here but couldn’t get it to show anything...strange. Looking at them on their site, I’m not sure about the lack of fore grip and how that would feel. Tough for me to buy a rod sight unseen.

Why haven’t I heard of Dobyns Rods? Are they new?