FD.

My little one and I headed out of Grape Hammock on Saturday morning for a few hours. 3 hours on the water with several misses and 3 boated. This is Taylors first baitcaster fish. She landed it outside of Otter slew on a skinny dipper. My first one north of Grape Hammock on a jig. My big one of the day. East side of Brahma on a jig.

I found a few more...

sure beats this one...

I have heard but not seen them. I fished Tenoroc many times last year in Lake B and Lake 5. We had days with good numbers but nothing over 5 lbs. Some of the smaller lakes are supposed to be good but I can't get my boat in them. Let us know how you do. FD

Those are not vintage...they were from last week.

If you don't go to with George, central Fla lakes are slamming from January through April if the water temp is in the 60's. The problem is about every 5-6 days we get a cold front that rolls through and knocks them back off the beds for a few days but you could still catch trophy bass on live bait if you are so inclined. I would recommend the North Kissimmee area. Toho through Kissimmee all produce good numbers of larger fish if the temperature is up and the weather is stable for a few day. Typically you want to be in the flats looking for water over 65 degrees. FD

Especially when they come out of the water after it!

I have a 5500 C-3 on an ugly stick in Lake Harris. I set it down to help my boater land a fish and did not open the spool. There is a Quantum on a Fenwick in West Point lake that my daughter lost while casting with gloves on. I replaced that rig and my Wife cast it overboard in Saddle Creek. I had bought a grapple hook and recovered the second one. I lost a Berkely worm bag in Kissimmee on a rough day. I saw it fly out but it sank before I could get back to it.

This is my goal in my fishing life. There are several locals who dominate all year long regardless of the conditions. I would call these guys the local pros.

A buddy of mine has been catching them early and deep on hal flys and small jigs.

I fish 10 to 15 tournaments a year at 8-9 hrs each and probably 40 fun days at 3-5 hours each.

check your messages.

florida 17.27

X2 Unless it's December and a cold front just blew through, you better have at least 25 lbs a day. I have had several 15 lb limits this year that did not put me in the top 20. Every tournament this year has had at least 8's for big fish with a 14 in April took big fish and she was not caught sight fishing. Tournament fishing on Kissimmee is a trophy hunt. Hours of flipping outside lines or working submerged hydrilla lines with a carolina rig. Either way you are only looking for 5 big bites. It is not worth the time to catch a small limit to start because it will not do you any good anyway.

^ | | What he said!

I use a 7-9 heavy/fast elite tech with either 20 lb flouro or 30 lb power pro. With this setup all I have to do is a sweep set at the first bump. Rig it just like Dink said. You can also use a touch of superglue on the nose penetration point to get more casts out of a bait. If you slice the bait from the bottom up at the hook point area, you get better hook penetration.

My machine gun jams all the time...drives me crazy

http://www.theledger.com/article/20090819/NEWS/908195049/1016/SPORTS09?Title=Upcoming-Tournaments most of the tournaments on Toho or Kissimmee are listed in here. A new one is posted every Thursday. The ABA also has a division out of the city ramp. http://www.americanbassanglers.com/districts2009.php?district=23

try this http://maps.google.com/maps?source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=boat+ramp&vps=1&jsv=172d&sll=28.589194,-82.213268&sspn=0.041526,0.090208&ie=UTF8&hq=boat+ramp+loc:&split=1

Back to the original question...I am lucky enough to fish with several guys who are in the "crowd". They test all kinds of stuff and share what works and doesn't work. I think it's better to be on the fringe.

USF has released the revised Water Atlas's for Central Florida. Hillsborough, Polk, Orange, Seminole, Lake and others. Here is the link. http://beta.polk.wateratlas.usf.edu/default.aspx There is a lot of good information about small lakes and even contour maps for most of them. This link will lead you to the Polk County Atlas. To change counties, use the pull down tab in the upper right corner to select the atlas. Use the menu in the upper right to select your body of water. Then in the upper middle there is a "Water Level and Flow" tab that will lead you to contour maps.

Booyah swin n jig with zoom super speed craw 4" This combo has been the dominate fish getter for me this year. Fished high in the water column in vegetation it looks just like a brim or blue gill.

Wiley X Jakes are great. I was a wally world 12 dollar special glasses guy until my wife and daughter bought me a pair of Jakes for fathers day. Unbelievable comfort and optical grade lenses keeps the eye fatigue to a minimum. I have the inserts but since I always fish with a large floppy hat I prefer the ventilation over total back-light blockage. Good glasses are definitely worth the investment.

Bingo!