Zcoker

A lot of it has to do with social media. The guides often advertise “fish of a lifetime”, which is basically true because most all those guides (combined) fish with thousands and thousands of shiners. Yet folks don’t see that. Only thing they calculate is but a small investment to beat the odds of getting a fish of a lifetime. Shiners floating around in a trophy fishery do present with the highest odds for a fish of a lifetime! Supply and demand at its finest. Problem is, sustainability. As mentioned, HW is only 10k acres and half of it is freely accessible, which is where most guides fish. All that focus in one small area shall take its toll, only logical. I don’t know what the answer is, but I suspect someone’s gonna have to do something someday to preserve it, maybe a closed season, something along those lines.

Always “enough”. Life is life, whatever it may be. As far as happiness goes, I try to find it in most things I do, even fishing. Even after thousands of bass out in the glades, I’ve never tired of it. Always a happy sunrise at every dark corner. The anticipation also fits into that category, the planning, the preparation, the giddiness of a new adventure. Many times I’ve just leaned back in my kayak to take in all the boundless beauty, but also to take in an awe inspiring breather after conquering a giant bass!

I have nothing against guides but places Glad you brought up your experience with Stickmarsh. Most who fish it now have no idea how it used to be. I mean, they may know but only those who experienced it during the day know just how good it was! Ironically, it borders Headwater like a living history, a mirror image for all to see. Much attention has turned to Garcia. Some irony there, too! Used to be a horse track, everyone racing to it to race around it lol

I like the Piscifun pliers. I've had these for a while and find them extremely useful, not only durable, but just plain functional. Not only are they affordable and light weight and corrosion resistant, they have features not found on other pliers, like crimps and a split ring grip. They also have a very sharp braid cutter. The lanyard is a must-have on a kayak. Hey, at $16 bucks, I have ZERO complaints.

Well, that's just it, doesn't really matter if we're happy or not, they're going to manage things according to their rules/regulations. As far a aeration goes, I've never heard of it in south Florida retention areas or lakes. It may be happening in other places but I've never heard of it here in my neck of the woods.

Headwaters Lake as it was being carved out. This was called the "enhanced area". Enhanced meaning enhanced to grow trophy bass! Opening Day, long line!

Here in south Florida we have an extensive array of canal systems regulated by pump stations, weirs, and spillways. Some of these pump stations can be the size of a 5 story building. Water is controlled or channeled according to storm run-off, water levels, etc. An example of this is the recent draining of the Stickmarsh, some 6,500 acres, which they drained for vegetation restoration. The point here is that they have complete and total control of the water in all of these areas. If these areas get too low, they fill them up, too high, they drain them. They can do whatever they want to do. Regardless, water is usually flowing (in some form or another) through most all of them.

I think it's important to know (for those who don't know) is that Headwaters Lake is not natural. It was DESIGNED for trophy bass. Yes, it was built, curved, molded, and formed into a trophy bass fishing mecca. It now leads the FWC TrophyCatch program, beating the likes of Orange Lake, as the best trophy bass fishery in the state. They--the FWC along with an army of biologist--spent years developing it and then stocked it with over a million bass. A lotta time, money, and research went into making it what it is today. Our hope is that it stays that way, and not go in the direction of some of these other lakes here in the state. Recently, it was closed for half the month of June, closed for repairs along with "vegetation" control. I got that directly from the St. Johns Water Management District. Many reported on the helicopters nuking it. That was a first. From all accounts, it's recovering pretty well. Yep, they don't know things, like how even the wind can drastically dictate on where to go to be successful there. They go there, expecting this or that and then leave with a bad taste in their mouth. If only they knew!

Blue Cypress is a choice place to stay, about the best it gets out in the middle of nowhere waterside! Yes, the Stick used to be the name of the game back in the day, many PB's from there. Seems like these places all start out wonderful and sooner fall victim to some of the stuff that I mentioned earlier up. Bummer. Headwaters is still going strong. If anything, if I were planning a trip down here for bass fishing, I'd definitely have Headwaters high on my radar. Lake Okeechobee is all about knowing where to go, when to go, and how to go. It's a BIG lake. Many variables on that lake and knowing how to work them out is what brings in those big bags. Scott Martin sure does know how to get around on that lake lol

Being able to see the fish underwater is what it's all about for most tournaments nowadays. I mean, if anyone has that upper hand available to them, they'd certainly take it. I know I would. If they say they wouldn't, they'd probably be lying. Why loose when you can win? As far as FFS hurting the fish populations, I really can't see that happening. Most bass fishing is catch/release. The fishing is much the same as it was before but with the added ability to track the fish better. There's also more tournaments on more lakes, and with FFS uncovering BIG fish out in the middle of these lakes suspended deeply, the flood gates have opened. Just more people fishing to get them, recreational as well as tournaments, the mob has invaded!

Fall can't come fast enough here in south Fla. Not only is hurricane season nearing its final chapter (hopefully with no direct hits!) the fishing is so much more pleasant. I mainly fish at night during the summer months but in the Fall I like the daytime sessions, coolness for south Florida standards, which would be upper 70's to low 80's instead of high 90's to over 100 degrees! uggg

My take on things for those three lakes, Headwaters, Stickmarsh, and Kenansville. Between all the fishing guides with thousands and thousands of shiners and all the nuking from the SJRWMD, it's only a matter of time before those places are choked off into oblivion. I don't know how many folks know, but as little as 3-4 years ago, the bass fishing in those places was probably the best in the world. By that standard, even today, the fishing at Headwaters is still pretty good. Before the boat ramp opened at Headwaters, you could toss a plastic worm out and catch 8 pounders. It used to be kayaks only. Rolland Martin showed this off well when he made his first YouTube videos from his canoe. One-cast-boom! The fishing was insane. It was that good. Over the years it's gone downhill. All those lakes have gone downhill. I don't even fish Stickmarsh anymore. They recently drained it--yes, drained it--to plant grass or whatever it was, whatever it was that's not even growing! I never thought I'd say this about Kenansville, either, but I'm not planning any trips to that place anytime soon. That lake also used to be a one cast wonder. I've had my share of one cast 9 pounders from it. The paved road to it is nice BUT it has increased traffic ten-fold. That 12 mile dirt road before was almost undrivable and you hardly saw a vehicle on it, and yet, it had a sorta air about it, a dusty vail of unforeseen bumps and grinds, something mysterious and exciting about it, almost like a safari trip! No, I'm not seeing a good forecast in the way things are going for those three lakes, and I sure hope I'm wrong about them because I have such fond fishing memories from all three.

It's not just there. They've been doing it all over the place and, yes, it turns to muck and suffocates everything. They just did a large part of the everglades down south. They're always nuking Lake Okeechobee. Headwaters is not exempt from these practices, either. They just nuked it in June. Let's hope Headwaters doesn't get like Stickmarsh, which a fishless mudhole--compared to what it used to be!

Still topped out and dying. They nuked it into oblivion, so not much of anything left for floating vegetation. The fishing there was horrible. I got there about sundown, stayed until about 4am and then split. The fishing was awful, not so much as a hit. I usually catch 7-9 pounders every trip there plus a ton of other fish. Not anymore! Just gotta wait until it recovers, I guess. I hate these cycles of death and decay.

Yeah, looks like a typical morning yawn lol I was just at Kenansville all night in my kayak and they were all over the place there as well....pretty typical this time of year with the low water levels. To add a bit more info for those areas: the 12 mile dirt road to Kenansville is 3/4 paved. They just finished up the last leg of the paving project.

Lotta folks already know about Headwaters and Stickmarsh and Kenansville. Anything you wanna add?

There's a point of no return for some lakes and wetlands. I agree with the comments about how things are improving in certain areas while falling apart in others. Yet even while improving, they're all drastically a far cry from what the were a few years ago, steadily declining. In other words, they're just on a slower decline and will someday be overrun. I can only speak about places in my area, namely the everglades restoration projects and what they've gone through. They walled off these massive STA water retention areas south of Lake Okeechobee, tens of thousands of acres of natural wetlands, which channel all the harmful water into them. There, the water gets filtered by the vegetation, in this case absorbing high levels of phosphorus and other pollutants. Once filtered, the water is passed south into the everglades. The idea is pretty straightforward and has worked well for years but is gradually in need of newer systems. The SFWMD along with the Army Corp of Engineering has started construction on another one, a massive one, some 240,000 acre-feet that broke ground a about a year ago and is scheduled to be finished around 2030. They're doing this because the thousands of acres that they already have can't handle all the run-off. Those STA's are in fact dying, but dying by the hand of their creators! No more vegetation, which is the grand filter, so to speak, to clean things up. The vegetation gets so dense with all kinds of invasive undesirables, undesirables like hyacinth, hydrilla, and water lettuce, which leave them with no alternative but to nuke the daylights of them. Problem is, they nuke EVERYTHING. They kill off what they so badly need! So it's basically been a viscous cycle down in our neck of the woods. There's no clean-cut answers, ironically. All they can do is try. And all we can do is hope!

One extreme to the next for me. Weightless for my T-Rigged worms. 2oz tungsten for punching. The faster falling bait triggers aggressive strikes. 2oz is also needed to fish the stuff that I fish in.

You're probably right about that, living in MA. I mean, it's possible. Somebody just caught a 13 in NY. Might just need to call it a day and make a trip down south to places that have a ton of them. Always a chance. When you catch one, it sure is a great feeling. The first 8 is a memory of a lifetime! As far as the trebles go, I use them exclusively at night. I use worse ones, saltwater BKK Fangs, absolute razors. Talk about grabbing! I know folks don't recommend them at night and if not experienced enough I probably wouldn't recommend them either. Especially on lures like the Jitterbug. I make my own wooden musky jitterbugs that are much bigger and use much bigger mean and nasty trebles. Gotta have a good sense with those trebles, a good enough sense to keep from getting stuck. So far, so good, knocking on wood!

I use them only at night. I make my own with big #5 or #6 Hildebrandt thumper blades. They do catch BIG fish but if I can use something else, I generally will.

I didn't post the video. And I know it's not a constellation lol. Someone on here said that it was Starlink Satellites lining up before taking their final orbit, which makes sense since I'm close to Kennedy Space Center. Still an awesome site!

Yep, but where I fish I need to go much much heavier, minimum 50lb strait braid. Most of my hunt is on top of the water. Just something about a big bass at night blowing out of the water onto a helpless lure. Can't seem to shake that rush. Always comes back to me if I try anything else.

Some good points brought up here that I'd like to emphasize on. Bass don't act that much differently during the night as they do during the day. There are slight differences but not a whole lot that I've noticed. They feed in spurts, or bite windows, just like they do during the day. They hit most of the same baits. Preferably black but I've caught them on ALL colors. Another one is stealth. One of the biggest advantages to the angler at night is stealth, masking the presence of the angler. But don't presume that just because it's dark that all is well. Bass can see a LOT, day or night. Even though it's dark, I dress in dark clothing. I sneak up on my spots motor off. Not wake or waves. No ripples. My fish finder is never on while fishing. My cast are deliberate. I try not to impress any such harsh movement over the water. One thing is clear: BIG bass feed at night and anything out of the ordinary, any such bang on the boat or smoking or coughing or talking on the phone, any artificial light, any such oddity and they are GONE GONE GONE OUTTA THERE!

Never encountered those. There's these bugs called no see ums on our coastal shores, mainly on the west coast beaches. Now, those things are a different story. They will literally eat you alive. They burrow into the skin, like dig in and stay put.

Man, I just don't get it with the bug hype. I mean, I used to live up in Massachusetts, way up there in North Adams Berkshire mountains area and never had a bug issue at night fishing around dock lights nor on land off the bank. Same with the everglades. I don't even think the word BUGS. I don't even carry BUG spray. That's how far away they are from my thoughts. And I fish out there in the glades 2-3 nights a week all night long until sunup. Maybe it's called "mind over the bugs," maybe.