Zcoker

And it's not all about boats or kayaks, either. Fishing off the banks in the Everglades along any levee road can be utterly amazing. There's miles and miles and miles of these levee roads with plenty of elbow room, no boats to speak of, no one around for miles...except maybe for the wildlife lol Just a few examples here caught a few feet off the bank.

You about summed it all up right here. Not too many fish the glades or understand just how productive they can be! Not to many fish the glades at night, either. Hard to explain that level of fishing to anyone. Thanks for sharing!

Everglades continues to produce, especially with these lower water levels. Most all fish have been caught on topwater. Not uncommon to catch up to 100 a day and it's not uncommon to get back to back 7 pounders at that! The glades is truly a remarkable fishery! The hits are totally insane...BOOM!!

I wonder how Mike Iaconelli would've handled this one LoL.

It's not only points but many other factors to consider. Best advice that I can give you is to look at the "best of bass resource" articles in the General Fishing Forum. There's tons of articles in there that cover just about everything you might need. Arm yourself with the tools, then slowly acquire the knowledge, then go get 'em! Best of luck to ya!

Here in Florida the FWC just passed a law for Headwaters lake in Fellsmere: catch and release only, circle hooks only if using live bait. The general challenge for them during their deliberations was on how to protect trophy bass fisheries in Florida. And excluding catch and keep seemed to be a big part of that.

I never said that I had a problem with my hooksets, only that I missed a particular fish that hit a lure while I was untangling a wind knot. I brought up this idea of kayak convergence because I find it interesting, that’s all.

It's called Kayak Convergence. Not my creation nor is it my solution for anything or for anyone. I just find the concept interesting and have an open mind about it when I strike on a fish.

Now that’s some amazing and intelligent advice you got there lol Care to volunteer?

Speak for yourself on those terrible habits lol In a kayak, I get more fish in by giving it to them good as opposed to a pull and hold hookset or a babying it up hookset, especially the big ones 7lbs and up. And in most ALL instances I need to use pliers to get the hooks out. Like I said earlier up, a kayak moves when force is applied, so adjusting for that movement has worked out very well....for me, at least. The one I mentioned in my post, I simply wasn't ready for her.

Well, at least that's been my thinking. Makes sense when you really think about it though. I've been trying to be conscious of my yak position when fishing, usually wanting things to happen off the sides of the yak instead of up front to help with force. Lot harder to move a kayak sideways than from up front, relatively speaking. Regardless, I usually smack them double triple strikes to imbed those hooks. In the example that i posted, I simply wasn't ready for things to happen and didn't smack her that good.

Man, I feel your pain on losing these big fish. Just the other day I was tending to a wind knot while my plopper 130 floated 10 feet from my yak. Yes, floating there, just bobbing up and down. Next think I know the line shot off! Fish was 8-9lb class, too. She gave me hell for about 15 seconds and then the lure slipped out. Uggg that sinking hollow feeling and bad dreams to come lol Sometimes I think in a kayak things are a bit different, meaning that the force exerted is not the force seen on those hooks in the fish's mouth. Because, maybe so, the yak moves in or gives in to the hookset and hardly penetrates. That seemingly hard hookset translates into nothing but a lame swing.

I think the next Florida state record bass will come out of Headwaters Lake in Fellsmere, Florida, maybe even the world record! That place is producing some crazy numbers. About the only place that I know of that is producing double digit fish on a consistent bases. Like most great fisheries across the land that have produced record fish, Headwaters shares much the same in that it was specifically designed and sculptured for bass and then stocked with over a million of them. It was basically untouched for years. Now open, it's loaded with giants. It's loaded with shiners. It's a bass fishing paradise, literally. It has all the ingredients to produce true giants and one day a true record. Mark my words!

I got into bass fishing a few years ago. Was mostly kicking around on the surf, knocking around and doing very well. Ran into a lot of snot off the beaches, so I branched out else found other places to fish that suited my desires and taste. Same thing goes with bass fishing, if I want to be totally alone, for example, I hit the moon lit nights and enjoy total solitude with the glowing eyed gators and the burping bullfrogs. On the other hand, if I hit a popular lake on a beautiful perfect Saturday morning with perfect weather forecasted, then I am certainly “aware” of the mobs forthcoming. Up to me to live or die in the tangle of hate and resentment that so many feel and express when fronted with others doing the exact same thing.

Here in South Florida, the wind comes down with these fronts that we have almost weekly. And they all seem to come down on a Friday lol This passed weekend we saw 25-30mph with gust into the 40's. As it turns out, the wind plays a BIG factor in fishing, both in catching and in catching BIG. Look at the wind not as a nuisance but as a great opportunity!

Honesty is like a flower, it blossoms every once in a while to show everyone how good it looks.

I just tie about 20" or so of 25lb floro to my 50lb braid mainline, which is on all my reels. I use a simple uni-to-uni knot because it's very easy to tie while fishing. This leader setup never sees the guides, so there's never any casting issues. Super strong knot, too. I need the heavy braid for fishing in the Everglades. I use the floro for a bit of stretch on the top water lures. Hope this helps.

Nothing wrong with "just going fishing" and not considering much of anything. Heck, I've done that plenty of times lol Yet it wasn't' until I started planning subjects like this out thoroughly that I started to get way ahead in the game. Case in point about a week ago, this one particular spot has a golden hour at about 4:30am. No matter what, the bass ignite at that time in this one spot. Miss it and miss the fish. Well, I missed the golden hour one morning but made darn sure I got there the following morning and caught a fish pushing 8lbs plus a bunch of other nice ones. Sure enough, after about 15 minutes, the bite died, just like always. And every time thereafter that I make it on time, there's always some nice ones waiting!

Rick Clunn suggested the same thing a very long time ago: throughout a day bass respond in "flurries" and how one handles these flurries, or how one is prepared for these flurries, can determine direct and positive outcomes. I certainly agree with this because I see this more and more, like clockwork, the fish turn on and are literally biting everywhere. Then, as suddenly, the bite stops until another dinner bell goes off few hours later. It's like a voice yelling underwater, saying "time to bite!" lol Being ready for these flurries, being staged, cocked, and ready to go can make a MASSIVE difference.

Lotta my buddie are like, what the heck lol My fortee is tagging sharks for NOAA, big sharks, like over 14 feet, absolute monsters. So when they see me now banging in the Everglades for lil 'ol bass, they are very, very confused. And I try to explain to them, all the preparation and the sheer magnitude of the 'hunt', all of the exploring in endless waterways filled with total serenity, yet they still don't get it. Even when I classify bass as the "sharks of freshwater" lol they still shrug up their shoulders. Nothing I can do or say can make them see what I am seeing now. Sometimes I can't even describe it myself. There's a secret sort of mystery with any fish, really.

I don't mind fishing with someone else if it's the right person, meaning someone who doesn't whine "I wanna go home" all the time. Or someone who doesn't blab about the fishing spots. I fish in crazy places like the Everglades in the black of darkness where no one would even dream about fishing lol Or in some of the craziest weather imaginable. So it's not easy convincing anyone to go fishing once I explain the routine lol Lot of my friends just can't hang or take the abuse or just aren't that into roughing it. When I focus on bass fishing, I can go hours and hours and hours without interruption and anything, even eating and drinking, can evade me until I'm finished. Some people just want to refrain from the all out down and dirty aspect of it, no problem at all. So I just go at it alone and have a total blast!!

I hear ya on the hooks but fish find a way to shake them. There was a study done on northern pike using crankbaits with transmitters. They purposely hooked the fish in multiple locations and then released the fish. Here's the wording on the actual results which I found very interesting: These fish were all somehow finding ways to self-release (or most likely shake out) well set crankbait treble hooks in a matter of days. In fact, the barbless hooks usually came out of the fish’s mouth and hit the surface in 24 hours or less! And even the deeply hooked crankbaits with barbs were usually fully free from the fish’s mouth in just a couple of days!

It's not so bad when it happens on a fish. I broke a nice Daiwa few weeks ago on the hookset. I've often wondered how these guys on tournament bass boats side-step all those rods under their feet without crunching any of them lol

One thing about the Everglades: it's like a living organism in itself, changing daily. One day it's very open and fishable and the next day it's like the pic below, loaded with lettuce! So I'm always forced to change areas with totally new tactics, only to have the same thing happen all over again lol

Congrats on PB> Pounding the bank is the only way to go, imho. I've caught more giants off the banks....or at least I'm able to hook them and hold them and land them. Seems like they mostly dance their way off from a kayak, the big ones at least lol Just for kicks, I recorded my lengths on a good morning bank fishing in the everglades and when all was said and done I was at 110 inches for the best 5 fish! Those figures seemed nice and high for a single morning, so for the heck of it I joined a national bass fishing tournament that allowed boat, kayak, and bank fishing. Over 100 entries and I ended up winning the thing! So the banks hold high merit and can produce extremely well. Keep on banking!