Seaworthy81

I’m only 6 months into my first full year fishing for them. I haven’t caught one targeting them in a few months and even then it had drastically slowed down from the late fall when they were plentiful and aggressive. No frog bites (all bass) and the ones I’ve caught were on bladed baits, mostly the underspins I fish for bass and peas. I’m hoping the warming and raising water coming up will help. I’ve almost completely scrapped fishing for them, but that pure heroin of a topwater frog explosion keeps me working at it.

You got some really good info here. I fished big bear a lot almost year round for many years. Couple tips: Get a 2 rod stamp and if you want to fish lures definitely fish power bait on the other rod. Colder the water and weather up there the shallower the trout will be. Warmer the deeper they will be to a point (that point is how deep the oxygenated water gets). In the dead of summer the bulk of the trout will be near the dam and sandwiched between the hot surface water and the deep limit of the oxygen. A slip bobber fished at that depth will be your best bet. In the winter the fish spread out and a lot move to the East side of the lake and can be fished there with either small lures or power bait on a carolina rig. Light line is super essential. I use 2lb for everything. I also use a heavier weight than most would suggest because when it gets windy I like my line to be tight to the sinker without the wind moving it around. Typically 3/8th or 1/2 oz where most would tell you 1/8th or 1/4 is more than enough. My wife and I would fish 4 rods (2 per person) and spread them out in different depths with different colored powerbait until we hopefully found a pattern. Usually Garlic Chartreuse, Peach Salmon Egg and then 2 other colors if we have them. Stop in or call Big Bear Sporting Goods to find what areas and techniques have been hottest. They will give you a map of the lake with the different areas highlighted that have been best recently.

Good luck, April is typically when it starts to heat back up! Also some clown knife fish and other exotics in those lakes and canals that would really blow your boyfriends mind. You aren't too far from Snakehead territory if that tickles his fancy as well.

If you have a boat the Lake Ida/Osborne chain of lakes have been pretty good recently (not sure if today's cold snap will change that). There is a shop in Delray Beach that can hook it up with info on how and where to fish and bait (shiners).

Recently I had caught so many small to medium bass while snakehead fishing and no snakeheads that I switched to a lighter rod and a smaller bass-sized swimbait thinking I would have a fun afternoon of bass fishing. Well I proceeded to catch a peacock, a PB snakehead (almost 6lbs) and a huge mayan cichlid, but not a single bass...

Looks like good work to me. Replacing guides is harder than wrapping a new rod. I actually got started building rods because I thought I could refinish a rod I loved. Well that ended poorly but sent me off building new rods from there. I actually just picked up a factory rod the other day hoping I'd be able to fish it quickly. Turns out the guide spacing is all messed up and while it looks great it will fish like poop. So I have to relearn an old lesson, its just better if I build it myself in the first place...

Couple guys you might want to look up in your neck of the woods: Jon Vadney Nick Lam

The main difference between a alcohol lamp and a lighter is you can put the flame of the alcohol lamp directly on the finish and it won’t leave a mark from the smoke, a lighter will. You can use a lighter if you want, just put it beside the finish, not under it. It takes very little bit of heat to make big changes in finish, hardest part is teaching yourself to use less heat, not more.

Watching this thread closely! I'm also in Coral Springs and Snakehead fish quite a bit.

An owner flashy swimmer in 1/0 or 3/0 and a slug or fluke type lure has worked well for me. Can flip them in docks or work them weedlessly through grass. MC makes a nice slug type lure that works really well with the 3/0.

I had to redo seats on set of heavy duty ocean rods for a friend (well known name brand). Each had almost no epoxy and used a cross wrapped piece of rope for a arbor. About 6 months after purchase they broke loose and spun freely on the blank. Putting hypalon rear grips on from the butt end of a blank is no fun.

I’ve seen some really amazing things between the blank and the seat when I had to strip and replace them when they came loose. Like Manila rope and almost no epoxy at all. Try a small rubber band on the threads right below the knob. Some aluminum seats come like that.

Also wanted to add one thing for those of you giving this snakehead fishing a try to hopefully save you some learning headaches (there are many, and I have many more to learn). I’ve tried all kinds of frog/hook combos with flat out horrible hookup ratio to date. A lot of it is technique, but one non-technique thing that really seems to be working well for me is switching to the owner beast hook with the frog. A drop of super glue on the spring kept the same frog on through multiple bites vs the standard EWG hook which was at best a frog a bite and sometimes not even that. The 4/0 fits the regular and hotfeet the 6/0 fits the larger Stanley Bull Ribbit frogs. Good luck!

In have been feverishly searching google earth for new spots and tried a new one out yesterday. The spot was a small drainage ditch behind a commercial property, approximately 12’ wide and 2-4’ deep. Water was very clear. I was surprised to not see much in the canal except a few panfish and a couple turtles, no peas, no mega carp and no small largemouths that I have become accustomed to seeing at most of the other spots I go to. Right when I was about to call the spot a dud I got a small whack at the frog (ribbit hot feet, 4/0 owner beast) that stuck and got the skunk off with a small snakehead, approximately 20” long. Walking down the bank of the canal a little further and in the crystal clear water I spooked 2 larger snakeheads under an overhanging palm. Kept walking and didn’t see anything else, turned back around and gave the palm a try from the other side not expecting much, but on the first cast had a monster blowup that stuck, the fish wrapped me in some submerged branches but I was able to get it out and flipped my new PB bullseye up the bank. I didn’t get a great photo or measurement but it was at least 30” long! Still looking for a true dragon but very happy with my results so far after just a couple of months of this kind of fishing.

I’m pretty sure it’s a K series guide based on little bit of research. No clue what size though. Still would need a photo and then buy 2-3 different sizes to try and match it.

A picture of the guide and another of a not broken guide can help find a match. Is it single foot? Double foot? Color of guide frame?

Savage gear makes a 4” Gill Swimbait in pink, I’ve considered getting it and adding some bars. The peacocks live eating their smaller cousins as well.

Local builder should be able to replace the guide quickly, 2-3 days to strip, rewrap and then put 1-2 coats of finish on at most. Most bass rods are single foot and single color, super easy to replace. Hardest part will be matching the exact guide, if you can get that info or even have st Croix send you one it will go a lot easier for the builder to take care of it.

Besides their teeth, no they can’t hurt you, but they don’t give up once out of the water and are a lot stronger than they look. The also wriggle around around a lot. A boga style grip works pretty well on them for handling.

Thank you all! I’ve already learned a ton from some here and looking forward to keep on learning. The great benefit of living here is just that really any little bit of water everywhere is holding something. Last night a little frog-fishing produced this little aggressive bass. I still have yet to see another person fishing any of the canals near me which is a complete 180 from CA where I was purposely avoiding people. Zoom horny toad in Watermelon, 4/0 EWG, 30lb braid, Revo SX and MH vendetta for you tackle curious guys. I’m buying a heavier frog setup after getting tooled by a larger snakehead on this setup last week ?‍♂️

Hi All, Recently reclocated from Long Beach, CA to South Florida (Broward and Palm Co), I never fished freshwater much in CA, mostly Saltwater bass, halibut, yellowtail and tuna when around. I always wanted to get a peacock bass so that was my initial goal when moving here but I then I found these snakeheads around here and I’m hooked. I also would not turn down the opportunity to do some good largemouth fishing in the area, so far I’ve only found dinks of those. I also will be getting back in that saltwater fishing here as well. Anyways nice to meet you guys and I’ll be watching and learning intently and willing to help when and where I can. Robert

If they do, I haven’t found them yet.

I have only been fishing for them for a month since moving to Broward County but what has worked for me: Be as quiet walking around as you can, they spook very easily and have really good vision. Using a floating plastic frog like a zoom frog or hornytoad in black on as big of a EWG hook you can fit in the bait. 40-50lb braid strait tied to the bait, a medium heavy or heavy frog rod. A long cast as close to the bank as you can in most places and reel it back in at a medium pace, they will explode on it. When they hit it give them a second and then slam it home as hard as you can. I could not get a normal hollowbody frog to stick well despite many very big hits, but am getting a way better hookup ratio with the single hook and the less expensive plastic frogs.

Was trying to sight cast to some small peacocks and this 9-10" snakehead came out of nowhere and slammed the little kietech I was using. It's a 4" bait for size.

Cheap trout style spinning reels are your best bet for so cal surf fishing. Medium steelhead rod and basically a medium priced spinner like a Sedona 2500 for beans and perch. For halibut something slightly heavier for fishing LCs, drop shots and swim baits. I like 20lb braid for casting the LC, 12lb Fluoro leader. Got many fish this way before I moved to the other coast.