SouthMiamiBassMan

I went out on Friday morning from 9-11:30 am, and caught 6 nice bass ranging from 12-19 inches and hooked a pig of about 24 inches that got away :'( . Below was my best of the day, caught using a live bluegill.

I was only out from 8am- 12pm and caught only 2 before the heat got to me. I forgot to bring some water and I was so thristy that the lake was looking good enought to drink!! ;D Here is the best of the two.

The majority of the big bass I catch down here (Miami) are all long and lean. Of my top 5 PB, only one was thick but none were even close the girth on the ones Chris catches.

I caught the pig in my Avatar that same day. She was on the prowel by herself. I was on my last blue gill that was now dead after being slamed by a bass that got away earlier. I was up on the bank and packing up to leave, when I saw her coming down the shoreline. I ran back down and recast about 4ft in front of her. She heard the splash, zoned in, circled once and swallowed it up. It was a great fight and beautiful fish. I look forward to doing again tomorrow.

FIrst a little bit about my lake. It's a good 10 acres (I'm guessing) and has three dead end canals coming out of it. It is very well stocked with bass, blue gills, tilapia, and mayan cichlids. It has a shallow area of 2- 4 feet deep, that extends from the shore out about 15 ft and then it drops to about 20- 30 feet deep. This shallow area is where I catch all my bass. Anyway, this past weekend I witnessed a coulpe of schools 3 to 8 nice size Bass (about 3-5 lbs each) just cruise around the lake like a pack of wolves, hunting the Blue Gills and Mayan Cichlids in my lake that stay close to the shore. When they find a small school close enough to the shore, they cut the smaller fish off from getting into deeper water and one or two of them just chase them up the bank and into the grass were they swallow them up. It's very cool to watch them do that. It's kind of like the way killer whales chase sea lions up a beach to eat them. I was wondering if anybody else has seen bass do this and if its just a seasonal thing or what?

Yeah we tried worms, crankbaits, a couple of topwaters, and some spinner baits. We only got a couple of nibbles on the worms though, nothing else. There are a lot of Blue Gills and Mayan Cichlids in my lake that stay close to the shore. That is all they want and always go for. The big Bass (about 2-4 lbs each) just cruise around the lake in a school of 3 to 6 (like a pack of wolves) hunting the smaller fish. When they find a school close enough to the shore, they cut the smaller fish off from getting into deeper water and one or two of them just chase them up the bank and into the grass were they swallow them up. It's very cool to watch them do that. It's kind of like the way killer whales chase sea lions up a beach to eat them. The one I caught was doing the same but by herself. I heard the splashing of her chasing something up the bank and threw my blue gill about 5 ft away from her. The splash, scent, and sun shining of the side of the blue must have caught her attention. She turned around, locked in, and gulped it down. It was a good fight (3 jumps) but I reeled her to shore ASAP before she could loosen the hook which was barley on the inner lower lip. If I would have given her any slack I would have lost her for sure. Luckily my friend saw me before he left and ran back over to take the picture. She had a belly full of eggs so I put her back as soon as possible so that she pass those big, beautiful genes on to another generation. ;D

Hey everyone I hope your day was good as mine. I just came up from fishing with my buddy Eric and we were at since 6:30 am. We were using live shiners but caught nothing until 8am when began using live cichlids and bluegills instead. That's when the bass came in! In total Eric caught 6 nice bass 3- 4lbs and his two PB seen below. http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/GOLAND/DSCF0005.jpg http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/GOLAND/DSCF0006.jpg I caught a about three 3lbs and my second place PB on a dead blue gill just before I packed it to leave. I saw her swimming by and dropped it in right in front her. What a beauty and a hell of a fight! http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/GOLAND/DSCF0007.jpg

Yep that's a Koi alright. My Dad has a little pond stocked with these in his backyard. In Miami one that size would cost about $250-$300 at a specialty shop. In Florida it's illegal to release gold fish or koi into the wild or use them as bait. They are not fast swimmers and pretty delicate. Thier color also makes for an easy target for more aggresive fish. That big boy must have been released when it was more than 8 inches long to have survived and reach that lengh. Very cool catch.

Nice Fish, are you catching all these in the same pond?

True. Dude, is that a Koi in your Avatar?

Awesome fish! Live Bluegills & Mayans are the way to go down here! That's the best method that will always guaranty the "BIG" fish. I caught my PB bass (31+ inches) 2 weeks ago on a 5in Mayan. I'I need to catch one those peacock bad boys though. PS. Even though the Mayans are a tougher looking fish, the Bluegills seem to stay alive longer for me after getting tagged by a bigger fish. Which do you prefer to use?

Maybe they are not as plentiful in Cali as they are down here but in my lake and all the other surrounding lakes, there are more of them then anything else. As for reducing the population, for me it's strictly catch and release.

NOW THAT'S A FLORIDA BASS! Long, Green, and Mean

NOW THATS A FLORIDA BASS! Long & Green. Congrats!

Yeah I checked it out and it's legal to use the bluegill if I am the one who caught it. The cichlids I couldn't find anything about but I use the blue gills more anyway.

Yeah I know, the camara I used was an old, crapy digital camera that has a 1 x 1 screen. It was really sunny that day so it was difficult see the pictures after I took them on that tiny screen to see if they came out. I was rushing so I had to prop it up on a rock, put it on the timer and took three pictures. This sorry picture was the only one that actually showed the fish, it's better then nothing I guess. I did get a great picture of the top of my head and one of the sky though. ;D

Awesome pics! I love the steely bluesih color of those Cali bass. Just Beautiful. Congrats.

I hear what your saying and in hindsight, it porbalbly wasn't the best idea. I just wanted to give it something back for all the trouble I guess. Also, it wasn't like I forcefully crammed it down her throat. Once the tip of the cichlid touched the throat, it opened up by reflex I guess and took it down in two glups. I held it steady more then anything and the whole thing took less then 10 seconds. The fish is safe and sound, to be caught another day.

I put her in gently and waited till she got some oxygen running through her gills. When she "caught her breath" she took off. I can see the fish swimming in the lake from my 3rd floor apartment and saw one 3 days later that I am sure was the same fish beacuse it was swimming in a similar group of bass.

Hey everyone, I'm back and I caught "THE BIG ONE"! ;D First let me begin with my bait. I had been using live night crawlers as my bait of choice because the bass in my lake and canal just loved them. But since March they have lost all interest in them and seem to be on the constant hunt for the juvenile blue gills and myan cichlid that are coming out of the reads and grasses now. Well these little suckers were the only fish that were enjoying the worms and they would pick and nibble my worms right off the hook. So I decided to switch hooks to the smallest I had and started catching these little guys and keeping them in a bait bucket for bait. With my other rod I had a 15lbs line & a 2.0 worm hook that is thin and light but strong with an old fashion ball float on it. I had just caught a 5 inch myan cichlid, when I see some dark shadows cruising in from the lake. They were three bass at first, about a foot long and then right behind them was a 2 footer and then this BIG mofo right behind that one. So I hooked the cichlid through the upper lip and out the nostril with the bigger hook (on the other rod) and threw it in the middle of the canal. As he struggled in the water it caught the attention of the bass that began circling it like sharks (bass are awesome like that). The floater was going back and forth, up and down, as the cichlid was being tagged by the smaller bass. The big ones just watched and waited as one of the smaller ones actually bit the cichlid sideways and tried swimming off with it towards the reeds. I knew it was too big to for it swallow it so I yanked it back out his mouth. The poor cichlid made one last run for freedom straight towards the big ones mouth, and he just inhaled it in two gulps. I know it's frowned upon to let a bass swallow the bait before setting the hook but I have the bad luck of always having my line break when I catch these big guys and I wasn't going to have it happen this time. So I gave it a little slack and waited until it started to swim off before I set the hook. What a fight! I listened to advise I got from these forums and made sure that I loosened the drag on my reel and wait for the fish to tire itself out first (it defiantly helped.) It jumped about five times before I reeled it to shore. It was HUGE! I don't have a scale but I had measuring tape. It was 32 and a little more then a 1/2 inches long. I had to do some major surgery though to get the hook out. It was hooked through the stomach or gullet lining and the cichlid was still attached to it. I took the cichlid out so I could have some room to work with and even though the mouth was so big I could put my fist in it, I couldn't get the leverage I need to pull up the hook with my pliers. So I cut the line and push the hook through, pulling it up by the barb. I didn't have much time as the fish was out of the water for about 5 minutes, so I did my best to set my camera on a rock and take three pictures hoping one would come out well. Before I put him back in the lake I grabbed the cichlid and pushed it back down his throat, he deserved it after all that. ( below was the last shot I took and the only one of the three that shows most of the fish.) 8-)

Wow! I can't beleive that's only 6lbs. Very Impresive.

Thanks to everyone for your advice. I bought another topwater popper by matizuru (i think) and used the Palomar knot this weekend and it did hold true. I need to work on my retrival though as I cought more with nightcrawlers. I gotta keep practicing.

Thanks for the link Al, I'll give it a try.

Hey everyone, here's my latest story. I 've been fishing my lake using live night crawlers for the past couple of months with much success. At first the bass were loving it and I was catching nice size fish for a while. But either they moved away or know better then to go for it. So I decided it was time step up my game and buy some real lures. I went to Sports Authority and they had a big box of assorted lures on sale so bought (I am new to this so forgive me if I don't know the correct names) a rattle top water popper, and 6 inch Jerk bait. It was night time by the time I got home but took them down to lake to practice my casting and retrieval, first with the popper then the jerk bait. I didn't have any leaders so I was tying them directly to the 12 lbs line with no problem and casting them out to the middle of the lake. The next morning I was excited to spend the day trying them out, so I go down first thing in the morning with the jerk bait attached. I whipped my rod back for a long cast into the center of the lake and watched as my lure went up, up and away . It wasn't until the lure hit the water that I realized that the reel didn't give out any line! :-/! I looked and the line had snapped! it must have worn thin from me casting it out into the middle of the lake the night before. It had a floating head and I could see that the wind was going to push it to shore so I left it to get it later. I went into my box and pulled out the topwater popper and stupidly tied it with the line that had just broke. I tied it up wrapping the line through hole twice and tied with a double fisherman knot thinking it would hold. I casted it out and right away I see a huge bass follow it in. I recast and stopped it right over his head. He looked at it, inhaled it, and bam I hooked it. I yelled out "YES" as he jumped out of the water and snapped his head back and forth and then SNAP! The line broke again! > I watched as he swam back to reeds with my shinny new lure attached to his lip. I stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds in disbelief that in the span of five minutes I lost both lures :'(. I picked up my stuff and went searching for the Jerkbait on the other side of the lake and even went in about knee deep to look in some reeds to see if it had floated into them. I stepped into some soft mud and my sandal got stuck. I fell face first into the drink! ;D So here I am drenched in stinky muck and totally soaked and I figure GOD is trying to tell me something here. I picked up my stuff and as I was walking back I decided to stop and scan the lake surface one more time to see if the jerkbait was still floating on the lake and right were I stopped at the shore there it was! So I guess GOD was telling me something and that something was "keep on fishing"! I tied that sucker up and kept on fishing. I didn't catch anything else that day, but I'm gonna buy some more top waters and some leaders ASAP and try again.

Nice Fish Al. Congrats! Looks like you got the same problem I do, alone with only a crappy camara phone as your witness. ;D