The Largemouth Herald

Thanks S_Self88, I thought it would be funny, but outta respect I changed the title. Different strokes for different folks.

No big lakes in Sarasota, mostly man made ones like the one here. The lake I caught this one on is pretty small, electric only. Caught some decent fish in it and has lots of timber (7 pounds biggest). Lake Myakka is in the state park, but water is too low right now. Used to fish a lot of club tournaments where we'd go east to Big O, Kissimmee, Walk in water, June, Placid, Arbuckle, Toho, Harris, etc. My favorite is Walk in Water and I still venture there every couple of months or so. Gas prices is effecting my ability to travel as much and I miss it. Maybe with my new job with a little more moola will allow me to make some more trips. My biggest is 10 1/2 out of Lake Kissimmee a few years ago and got it in a tournament out of Camp Mack. We got 2nd with 29 pounds, 1st had 33. I wish I got one like the one you have in your picture! Take care.

Is1jay, I'm a catch n release guy since '83 so I let er go so you can come over to Sarasota and catch her again! Be sure to bring your flippin stick cause she's strong!

Didn't mean to offend anyone. Just hoping to get some laughs for everyone! I changed the title today as stated in my original post.

Well kinda. My personal record for smallest largemouth bass caught on a #9 silver/black back Shadrap. I was working a dropoff (from 8' drops to 15') in a small lake in Sarasota, Fl and thought I hung some moss. The fish actually had one hook off the back treble in it's mouth. The lure was bigger than it! I edited the header of this message on 06/30/07. The title was Record Largemouth Caught in Florida, but out of respect to some requests I changed the title.

That fish was huge, and the netboy didn't help any! He wacked the side of the fish and probably disengaged the hooks. Oh well, nice video!

I've been fishing club tournaments and local tournaments for over 20 years in Florida. I like to try new things, but what I found to be the most important thing in catching bass is the time you spend on the water. If I fish the same lake every weekend, I will likely do well on that lake if I fish a tournament. Again, the more time you spend on a lake, the more successful you will be. That goes not only fishing there often on weekends, but fishing it regularly through the seasons from year to year. So my experience is that the more time you spend on a particular body of water, the better you will do!

You do "Have a Chance!" Try a Zoom Fluke in all white. Rig it Texas style with the hook entering through the bottom slot and exiting through the top. Use a jerk- pause all the way back to the shore. Try to work it fast one cats, then try it slower so it doesn't break the surface. This lure works great in Florida ponds! When the fish hits, let him take it then when you feel some weight set the hook! Good Luck!

Be it a Senko or any other soft plastic bait, 5 fish is probably more than I get on them . Maybe 2-3 fish. The head of the worm is usually too tore up from the pressure of fighting the fish. If you are doing 5, you're doing good!

P.S.-The Zoom worms can be bought at Walmart and Junebug is purple with green fleck.

Use a plastic worm (Zoom 6-8" Junebug trickworm) using 1/8 ounce bullet weight and Texas rigged. I believe this forum has some tips on how to rig this. Cast just into the pads and work the worm on the bottom. If you feel pressure, a tug, or the line is moving sideways, point the rod in that direction, reel in the slack, and pull back real hard. Work the worm slow with the rod, niot the reel. The reel is only for picking up the slck line when you work the worm. Good Luck

I've fished many club tournaments and quite a few local tournaments in Central Florida. Most of my wins are when I fish one hot spot that was found during prefish. I have won some fishing maybe two good spots during the day. I find that when I panic and Run and Gun because I didn't catch a fish in the 1st hour on my prefish spot(s), I end up running everywhere and don't slow down enough to be effective. Just my personal experience. If I am not successful prefishing, I usually don't fish the tournament unless it's a club tournament. If it's a club tourney, and my prefishing was bad, I'll Run and Gun since I didn't find fish anyways.

I learned this tactic from a great fishing buddy of mine in Central Florida. I was on fish in Lake Walk in Water in July and called my buddy to fish. The lake was filled with hydrilla at the time (the hurricanes since then have left only small growth on the bottom). I was catching my fish with flukes and worms during my prefishing. We started to fish the tournament in a spot with both topped out hydrilla and scattered stuff in 7-8 ft of water. The lake was dead calm and during the 1st hour of the tournament, I had 3 keepers in the livewell with the fluke. My buddy had zilch. I continued to fish the Fluke, but my buddy joked and said " You maybe catching more fish than me, but we aren't going to win with those small fish!" Of course I responded, "At least I have some!" We're very competitive and love to raz each other when we fish together. My buddy got disgusted tossing the fluke, and started to throw a silver Zara spook, walkin the dog style. I never had any luck with that lure, but if I don't get a fish on a new lure to me in 5 minutes, it usually gets put away for the rest of the day! He told me that he caught some big fish on this lure in dead calm conditions in the middle of the day near hydrilla on Lake Toho! Well, you guessed it, he caught one about 4 pounds in about 30 minutes by tossing it right next to topped out stuff and immediately walkin the dog! He continued the onslaught throughout the day, and we culled all my fish with his (except one)! We ended up winning the tournament! The day remained pretty calm and I think that's the key! So, flippin, pitchin and other methods do work, but don't forget the spook in the heat of the summer in dead calm water!