Zcoker

It's a bit long but not as long as the quote from a Field & Stream article: "Research has shown that bass can survive out of the water for more than 10 consecutive minutes "

Are you sure it was dead? I've had big bass go belly up or float sideways looking dead until I gave them a rod nudge.

So true. You may not get as many hits on a jig but when you do, hold on! Coupled with the right trailer, they are truly deadly.

No trailer needed. I toss them around the edge of cover with excellent results. I get big fish on the swim jig, 6lbs and up. All my swim jigs are tied on with 50lb strait braid. About all I do to them is cut down the weed guard or fan the guard out. I don't necessarily swim them like a spinnerbait but fish them almost like a plastic worm, concentrating more on the speed of the drop, which can be altered by the plastic trailer. Only a matter of a few cast before I get that very pronounced THUMP! The only other swimming style jig that I use is a chatterbait.....same as the spinnerbait, it always wears a trailer hook!

Man, give St Croix a call and tell them what you've been telling folks here on this forum, or what's been bothering you about that reel seat. You shouldn't be using duct tape to hold any reel tight. I own a ton of St Croix rods, including a stack of top of the line saltwater $$ Legend surf rods. Every time I've had any such issues, they've always responded with positive results. They can at least give you professional pointers to solve your problems else just replace the rod with something else, just to keep you a happy camper, which they've done for me. Believe me, they've totally shocked me with their over the top customer service!

Way to go! Ponds can be overlooked and avoided only to turn out better than most big lakes. Here in south Florida we don't have many ponds surrounded by beautiful rolling green hills. About the closest we get is rolling green golf courses lol. Ironically, those golf courses can produce 10 pounders!

Just like babies, if they can get away with it, they will! The system is problem, imho. The system basically gave them permission to do the same thing all over again!

Often, the fish go crazy right at the ragged edge of the front, which begs the question: to stay or not to stay. Sometimes folks get the wrong impression about fronts, fishing way before them expecting super duper results. Well, right at that edge, the fish light up and hit anything that moves! Here in Florida the fronts are very thin, travel very fast, and fishing through them is doable. Just gotta be prepared, that's all. There's a lotta wind and rain but rarely much if any lightening. They fly by and once they pass, it gets nice and cool out, blue sky's ahead....until the next go around lol

I've avoided the breath of the Grim Reaper many times here in south Florida just by having the means to power away from him quickly!

The fronts down here in south Florida are thin lines of pure chaos! All fish go completely bonkers right before they hit and then.... Time to split!

Well, there ya go, $7 sounds about right to me! I'd definitely give that try before I dropped $3k on a 3hp Torqeedo.

I agree. Some of the areas that I fish are upwards of 10,000 acres or more. If I have to go across to get to any of my far off spots, I'm usually trolling or fishing along the way. In fact, I've often stumbled into better fish while getting to a spot than the spot itself!

What kind of speed are you looking for? Just seems like a lot extra of money for a few more mph, especially on a yak that already has a nice factory built in motor. In retrospect, it probably would've been best to get a yak without a motor and add a high thrust motor to it.

My Old Town 106 hits about the same speed as the Auto Pilot (same motor) and is plenty fast enough for me, even in tournaments. You can get a bit more speed with a cheap airplane prop. In any case, what would an extra motor with all that extra weight give you anyway, maybe about the same speed or even less? Kinda of a wash, imho.

I call cold anything lower than 50 down here, most likely a relative term. It warms up quickly to what I call nice, mid 60’s. Sure beats that 95 degree summer heat!

Can only relate what I do down here in south Florida, which is fish the everglades at night, all night, many moons of it, catching the big girls. What I've come to find is that big bass do the same thing during the nighttime as they do during the daytime. No difference, really. I can get just as many big bass during the daytime. The same applies when it gets cold out. Can sit around casting on a cold night with little to no bites, same as during the day. If anything, the warmer months do offer up more activity at night, giving one a better chance at getting that big fish. Nothing like that big warm-water night bite on topwater--kboom!

Glad you did well there. Hope you do well again. Placid is a very on and off sort of lake...but when it's on, it's on like no other!

I guess it would boil down to what you use the most. In my case, I only grab my little Yeti lunch bag when I want something to eat, which is usually only once. Whereas I reach back and grab my tackle boxes many times. My drinks are always up front with me in the cup holders, enough for an entire day or night. So need and necessity vs placement might need to be looked at in order to come up with a practical solution. It's not just the storage, it's how that storage is used.

Headwaters is a given but that place can be a learning curve for most guys used to lake fishing unless using a guide service. It's more marsh style fishing, very shallow and LOADED with weeds. If that's your cup of tea, then it's defiantly a good choice. Lotta other nice lakes out there, too. And If I were gunning for any if them right now, my sites would be on lake Placid.

Native makes a rear seat storage system that I use on my OldTown. Holds two Plano storage boxes on each side as well as outside storage for other items. Just reach back with right or left hand and take out what tackle box is needed. Holds most of my tackle...I travel very light, which is a big first step! Works great for me, quick and easy no fuss and no twisting!

All fish will eat again. Not bass related but the shark below was caught twice by me on the same bait a year apart! I know this because when I first caught it I tagged it. It was also captured hundreds of miles away deep in the Keys! Talk about gettin around!

Anytime is a good time. I've caught giant bass all year round down here in south/southeast Florida. Just a matter of knowing what the fish are doing on any given trip, weather conditions and so forth. But if I were to pick a favorite month it would have to be February or even March. I've caught many back to back trophy fish in February, probably more trophy fish than any other month. Not only that, it's just so nice out! As far as the bass in Headwaters go, most bigguns you hear about are taken on live shiners with the exception of a few on artificals. There's a sort of rivalry going on out there between the shiner guys and the artifical guys, one always trying to outshine the other. For the most, the charter guys fish with the shiners, like 6-12 dozen each trip but do fish the fake baits as well. Most weekend guys use artificals. The big girls can be taken off a variety of lures. Big swimbaits worked in the flats have been getting DD's lately, 7in baits, swimming shads and so forth. I know of a 13 pounder that was caught on a plastic worm. 8-9's on chatterbaits. Punching also produces some fish over 10 pounds....hold on! What all this means is that artificals do have their place and do produce trophy fish. Live shiners just make practical sense for most of those charter guys...guaranteed fish for their clients. Maybe not DD but still a ton of fish, like 50-100 fish each trip....happy campers! Other lakes have a good reputation like Placid. But if I were planning a trip down here, I'd definably have Headwaters high on my list, there or Orange Lake. Headwaters just won an FWC award (with Orange lake coming in second) for the most trophy fish recorded this year. If it were a game of odds, then Headwaters would get the nod as the best possible place to get a trophy bass right now, DD included. It's a great place but does take some getting used to. It's not like your typical lake, more like the marshy everglades, very shallow with hardly any depth change and loaded with vegetation. So it does require a bit of adaptation to fish it...not to mention an open mind!

One of my obtainable goals this year is to master punching out of a kayak, and what better place to do than in the Florida everglades! I've dabbled with it before with okay results but always reverted back to casting my usual baits. Punching out of a kayak has always felt so awkward and unnatural to me. I'd fumble around with it and after a while give it up quickly. Now that I've gained a bit of technique (as well as getting the correct gear) things are starting to look up! Fish are starting to come in. Quality fish. Nice ones! It's starting to thrill me like no other and I look forward to doing it at every outing. Doing it and only it has given me some interesting details about bass behavior, bite windows, and how they live and feed so differently under the mats. The big heavy rod, the thick heavy line, that big thick sharp hook and massive weight--combat fishing to the max! It's literally like a war when a big girl grabs the bait. The mats explode, the kayak swings wildly, water and weed splashing everywhere, and it all happens in such close proximity! Much much closer than from in a boat....in your face fishing. What a rush!

I guess most here where assuming (including myself) that everything mechanical was in good working order.

Try using it without a trailer and see what happens. From my experience, the jackhammers like erratic movements. They excel when ripped through grass. I use only toad trailers on mine and none get tossed without a trailer hook. Even with the big flapping toad legs as well as the swinging 2/0 trailer, I never have much if any issues swimming them in the everglades, even at night, which is mainly when I use them. For me, a slow steady retrieve gets the big girls. Could be just how you're fishing it.