TyTy

No weight on that sucker? I know you have a pair of Boca Grips in the boat. That fish looks hefty.

Oh and in case there was any question (even though it was in the Stick Marsh where catch and release is the rule) I released her in short order, only had her out of the water for probably a minute, maybe a little more. She was deep hooked and I luckily got the hook out without much toil. I didnt even feel a bite, just saw the line moving horizontally. When I set the hook it felt like I had sunk it into a stump then the rod bent and the drag started pulling. Boy was I happy to have 40lb braid and a 20lb floro leader cause she took a bee line around the stump she bit on towards some nastly looking roots. I turned her and she came right at the boat but went for another dive when she saw the boat I guess. Man I will never forget the difference in normal size bass and this fish. It was like having an elephant on the end of the line. Gosh, cant stop thinking about it.

Here is another picture, same fish where it dosent look as big. When I got home I weighted a 5lb weight on the same scale. It varied by how I was holding the scale by about 7 oz. Even if you give my fish the whole 7oz difference it still dosent put it at 7lbs. I dont know, it looked huge in person, more like the first picture. I was certain it was 8+lbs before I put it on the scale. Still dosent change the fact how happy I was to get it in the boat Does this second picture change anything? I swear in person, it looked more like the first picture. This picture in my mind makes it look way smaller that it was in person. Thoughts?

BTW, does anybody else think my fish looks bigger than 6lbs 6oz? Maybe it is just me and it being my first big fish. I weighed it on a digital scale that seems to be accurate but it sure looked bigger than 6. It looked to me just like all the pics of 8s and 10s that I see.

I couldnt agree more. I also wanted to thank George for touting the swim senko in the Stick Marsh. I have been focused on bass fishing for the past 2 years (since moving to Orlando) and I finally caught a trophy size bass (6lbs, 6oz see pic). Got it this past Sunday at about 9AM in the SE corner nursury area of Farm 13. I have been on a high since catching it, cant stop thinking about it. I also cant wait to get back to the Stick Marsh/Farm 13...probably this coming weekend ;D

I have a buldged disc in my lower back that gave me a lot of trouble for a couple years. My brother suggested an inversion table (google it, I know it sounds wierd) and it has gotten rid of about 90% of my pain. It cost about $200 bucks and it was one of the best purchases of my life. I wouldnt recomend it for anything other than a bulged or slipped disc. The principal is that it stretches the tendons that hold your vertebre together and lets the buldged disc recede back to where it should be and off the nerve. Work your way up to a complete inversion (upside down) and do that 5 minutes a night...wow it is just amazing how much it has helped. It also REALLY helps when you are working in the garage and you pick something up wrong and you feel that re-injury happen again...I go straight in and invert. Feels wierd, kinda hurts a little as you ease into it but then instead of spending the next day in pain...its like it never happened. I could go on and on but for some back injuries it is like a miracle. I have been to chiropractors, orthepedic surgeon and I was amazed nobody mentioned this wonderful device. Look into it if you have a buldged disc. I wouldnt live life without one.

I know someone on here has a better solution. The one I saw in person was the mac daddy of seat caddies. It was definatly manufactured and not homemade. I have googled for it to no avail. I am probably just searching the wrong term...I don't know to call it other than a drink holder or caddy.

Another way to fix this problem on the water especially when the lower unit is less accessible is to take off the cover, trace the water line up to the motor, take the rubber hose off the fitting and blow on it. The mud/obstruction will shoot out the end, put it back on and off you go. That has worked for me when I was ridding, ended up in shallow water and used the motor probably too much to get out. Little easier from onboard the boat when in the water.

I have no idea if I am describing this properly, the only thing I know to describe it is a caddy for the pole on on the seat pole underneath the butt seat on the front of a bass boat. Here are two examples: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_58679____SearchResults http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_15978____SearchResults These are really the only two I can find on the market however I have seen two WAY better examples in person. The one I liked the best was kind of a 3/4 circle that held two drinks, had a notch for pliers, hooks for misc stuff, a retracting cable for a golf towel, recessions to organize tackle, etc. Both times I asked the fisherman where they got it and they both said they had gotten them a long time ago and could not remember where. These two on bass pro are okay but the reviews say they are flimsy and/or too small for practical use. Both the ones I saw in real life looked to be designed by a bass fisherman for bass fisherman. Anyone know where a better version of this is available? Thank you.

Im headed to Lake Lanier this weekend with a friend of mine. Any suggestions? We are going to try to catch some live bait and try for stripper but if nothing shakes loose, switch to spotted bass. Our plan is to catch some bait fish, rove around looking for surface activity or baitfish on the fish finder. If we see surface activity we will have bucktails and live bait ready, if we see something at depth we will drop live bait down to it or spoons. Our tackle is limited on strippers so I dont see us doing any trolling or anything too advanced. Something to note, we will be starting on the south end (coming from Sandy Springs) and will be in a 14 foot john boat with a 30 hp motor so if possible, advice on the southern 1/4 to 1/2 would be more helpful. Thank you!

Im a pretty novice bass fisherman...but I catch fish (albeit not always a lot of them) everywhere I go in Central Florida...except the Harris Chain. I have fished it 3 times and I dont think caught 2 bass. I have MUCH better success everywhere else I go. Just my opinion, I know Harris Chain is supposed to be iconic but I'll go anywhere before I go to Harris Chain.

1) When you use a splitshot, how do you work the rod? Same as a texas rig or more of a side/twitching motion? Do you use it on a baitcaster or spinning reel? I cant get a splitshot to cast on a baitcaster, only a spinning rod which makes me warry of using it. I guess Im paranoid that someday the big one will catch me on 10 or 12lb monofilament in weeds/sticks and Ill end up loosing a fish of a lifetime. Im much more confident on my baitcasters with 50lb braid and 20lb florocarbon leader. 2) I do use lipless crank baits a good bit and Ive heard everyone say to "rip it over the vegitation" but what about all the junk you get on there? Every time I get it to the boat it has vegitation hanging or is completly balled up in weeds. Do you just ignore that and keep pulling it off before casting back out or is there some trick I am missing? Maybe I should learn to be more aware of how deep I am fishing it and keep it closer to the tops of the weeds. Thats can be hard...maybe part of the learning curve. 3) I use stick baits all the time, love em. Lost my biggest fish on one over submerged grass. Casted out, bent over to get a swig of water and looked up to see the biggest bass Ive ever seen in real life (at least 8lbs is my guess) coming out of the water shaking its head with a senko. As I frantically tried to take up the slack I saw the senko with hook fly out of its mouth and splash about 2 feet away from the fish. To add insult to injury it swirled and did a little half hop again just to re-affirm that it was gigantic. I let loose a triad of cuss words and almost threw my rod in the water before I came to. A guy down the way that was pretty close by when it happend trolled past a little later and said "man, that was a big fish ya lost there, that thing musta been 10lbs!" :'( Oddly enough that incident probably drives me to fish longer and harder than all the ones I have landed

Good links. So when you are going from 3oclock to 2 to 1 to 12 are you piking the bait up and letting it fall or doing it slow enough to drag it? Last Sat I caught 3 dragging it with the rod tip to the side in a sweeping motion but I couldnt help to think about the fishing shows how their rods are always straight in front of them more like the 3,2,1,12 oclock described.

Im going on my 3rd year of really bass fishing. One thing I have learned/matured in is learning to fish the submerged grass versus just the visible target grass/weeds. I fish in Central FL so most lakes have a ring of vegitation around the edge. Its very easy to only fish/flip that but I have discovered the fish are often in the stuff you cant see outside/deeper from that grass. When fishing that sumberged, short vegitation (12-24 inch stuff) with say a texas rigged soft plastic...how do you work the bait? Usually I will drag it with the rod tip, maybe kinda hop it a little and then pause but then I start thinking...well I am probably just dragging it though the grass on the bottom. I get some fish this way...are they just coming up and picking it up off the bottom? I dont think of bass as bottom feeders...so then I start thinking maybe I should be repeatedly picking it up and letting it fall (with my rod tip up). Seems like that is mainly what I see in the bass TV shows...rod tip up then they get a hit, reel down and set the hook. How do you fish submerged grass? What do you envision your texas rigged plastic is doing down there? When are the fish hitting it (on the fall, on the rise, as it drops and sits on the bottom? I guess I usually drag it with both texas rig and carolina rig but maybe I am not doing it right. Lets discuss.

Oh so they arent food sources, just structure? For some reason I had a picture in my mind of some kind of mineral block of compacted fish food that they sink and then come back and change out once or twice a year.

I see these fish attractors in the FL lakes, I go over to them and I see a bunch of fish symbols on my cheap depth finder. I cast out with all kinds of different lures and I get no bites. Often I hand up and break off. What exactly are these fish attractors? Is it like a chum bag? A deer feeder? A block of food? I dont get it. Also are these fish I am seeing TONS of on my screen or are they parts of the feeder. Are they catfish and crappie or what? How do you catch fish off these things? They must be there for a reason.

Curious, at a place like Tenoroc (phosphate pits) when you are wandering around watching the depth finder and you see structure...do you just stop and fish it or do you wait for structure that shows fish on it? See I am curious, wouldnt the boat be spooking the fish and thus you would never really see them on there? If not what is a depth that I can safely say the boat did not spopok the fish, therefore I see no fish on the piece of structure, thus I should move on to another piece of structure? I am never sure of what to do especially in Tenoroc but also other places that are 8-12 ft.

You ought to try a mosquito burner thing. One of those things you put the cartridge in and pin it on your back and it burns the cartride. Dont know the name but they work good hunting.

In Wisconsin when I was a kid there was an old guy that used live whit emice from the pet store. Hooked them through the *** and then let them swim out amongst the weeds and lily pads. I dont remember seeing him catch anything the time I saw him using them but I remember it looked like a good bait, but sounded cruel and unusual. I can imagine though that a big mature bass would think a fat mouse would be a tasty meal. All the splashing and swimming would draw a lot of attention. I also have seen live frogs used.

Gas prices affected me. I decided to stay within an hour of my house for fishing unless the conditions on intellicast.com looked perfect to make a longer run to say the Stick Marsh. Last year this time I was running all over central florida trying everywhere I could out just to see new water and try fishing it.

I am slowing down VERY solwly sometimes and it dosent seem to change it much. I mean I have tried slowing down pretty much as slow as I can stand it and it still happens.

Thanks again everyone, that seemed to do the trick most of the time. I think the times it didnt work my timing was a little off. I guess its an art. I will keep working on it. Thank you again!

I didnt even think about giving it some power like that. Its 4:19 AM, headed to Toho. Ill give it a try and report back.

I only have one 'go-to' place when it is windy and that is Tenoroc. I find the pits easy to fish when its windy however pretty much everywhere else it seems like I get beat up real bad trying to tough out the wind. Im curious where others go when they know its gonna be windy...like tommorrow.

I recently bought my first bass baot and first boat with any kind of power. Its a 17' Nitro with 115 Mercury. I am having trouble upon stopping. No matter how slow I stop water comes up on the back of the boat. Usually it stays in that well place and drains fine but sometimes it comes up onto the rear casting deck a little. The only thing that seems to help is to trim the motor all the way down as I slow down but it looks very unatural to have it trimmed so far down and I have watched other bass boaters that dont seem to have to do that when they stop. What is the deal? I cant figure it out no matter how slow I stop or how I play with the trim.