GobbleDog

1/0 hooks work, but the problem I've seen is 1/0's in general have a tendency to bend some, especially on bigger bass, which can result in fish shaking lose. Therefore, I use quality 2/0's with trick worms. Quality meaning Owner hooks and such which are little thicker than the cheapest brand.

Ya know, after I ran out of those River-2-Sea baits (only 5 came in a bag), I decided to give another bag of small swimbaits a try that had been collected dust in my box. I can't remember what brand they were (Storm i think, but not sure). In any case they didn't look nearly as real, but more importantly they didn't have that cool tail action that the River-2-Seas did. I gave em a bunch of casts and then gave up on em. After you've been to the moutain, everything else just seems cheap.

They offer a variety of sizes, but I went the smallest - just 3 inches and weighing 3/8oz. Despite their small size, I'm telling ya I tore it up with those things. Cool action and they look so dang real.

Howdy folks. Been a while since my last post, but I had to post about a new bait I found. Now I've never had much luck with swimbaits in general, particularly the larger one's. Either they don't swim true or they're just too big and butt-ugly. But the bait monkey recently bit me into buying a bag of smaller sized swimbaits from River-2-Sea. They just looked so dang real I had to try em. Well, the first time I tried them about a month ago I had a fantastic day of fishing catching some 4-5 lbers. I was fishing small lake which is loaded with bass, so I didn't put too much stock into the new bait until I tried them out on a couple other lakes. And sure enough, the kept on catching fish. They're incredibly easy to work and despite their small size, you can cast those things a mile. The action on those things was so cool I found myself mesmerized by their tales wiggling as I popped them up and down next to the boat. And as swimbaits, they can be fished at any depth and most types of cover. The only drawback I've found is the smaller bass tend to rip their tails off rendering them useless, but the bigger bass just inhale them in one gulp. In any case, just passing this along. The River-2-Sea Live Eye Bottom Walkers definately catch fish and get the Official GobbleDog Seal of Approval. I highly recomend them to people who've never had much luck with swimbaits. These baits will change your mind. They certainly did for me.

I've got a club tourney in Lake Yale on Sunday. I didn't practice it. I've never fished it. And nobody seems to know much about it. So I searched the internet and found out a couple things.... Reportedly, the lake used to be crystal clear about 15+ years ago full of hydrilla grass and all kinds of vegetation. Then about 10 years ago the State decided to spray the weeds away and introduced carp to help remove all the grass. Once all the grass was gone, the water clarity went to hell. So a couple years ago, the State decided they made a mistake and game officials began physically removing the carp and replanting sections of the shoreline with reeds. So apparently the lake went from being a crytal clear bass heaven to dirty baren lake. All thanks to our wildlife officials. I can't help but wonder how much money they wasted doing all that. They just couldn't leave well enough alone. Ok rant over. In any case, has anyone ever fished this lake? Got any hot tips? Or at least a good joke? Anything? Would ya at least pray for gobble? :-/

I understand 4/0 wide-gappers for Fat Ika's, 12" worms, and baits like that. But I can't use em with Trickworms 'n such. That would mess up my constitution.

Very funny. I'm telling ya I missed some definite bites (albeit likely small bass considering the 40+ dinks we caught that weekend). You gotta admit those Fat Ika's are pretty thick. Regardless, the real reason I prefer the Kreatures is because I like having 2/0 hooks on all my worm-rigs so I can switch with different worms. To me, a 4/0 wide-gap just wouldn't work with say... a Trick worm, Swamp crawler, curlytail, etc... But that's me - small hooks, small weights, light line, etc. I am indebted for the "rig it backwards" trick. It definitely works. Does it work any better? Hell if I know, but I won't rig it any differently after catching a ton of bass that way.

I christened my Fat Ika about a month ago. They cast like a bullet and catch bass no doubt, but my complaint was the need for that extra-wide-gap 4/0 hook. I also wonder if the Ika's thickness didn't lead to more misses - even with the 4/0 wide-gap hook. I certainly missed quite a few. I recently tried the Yamamoto Kreature which is very similar to the Fat Ika (rigged backwards with tentacles), but isn't nearly as thick and works with 2/0 hooks. I did so well with them that I'm now hooked on Kreatures - the Ika's skinny cousin.

Never heard of it. A quick internet seach shows an Eagle Lake down in Winter Haven. I guess that's it. Doesn't look very big.

I ain't been fishing in two weeks, so I had to make up the following report: Right now; any lake in Central Florida Weather: picture perfect Throwing a Zara Spook over hydrilla patches in crystal clear water. The fishing is kinda slow at first, only catching a bunch of 6-7 lb dinks. But then a monster 15 lb bohemith blasts my topwater and the drag screams as the hog runs into open water. After a 10 minute slugfest between man vs beast, I eventually land the pig and let her go. Overall, an average day fishing.

I've heard they (unfortunately) live in Florida too, but I've never seen one. You'd think more people would catch them hook n line, considering how agressive they supposedly are.

I always thought Bill Dance's show seemed geared more towards kids/families. If you like family fishing shows specializing in stocked little ponds and full of pitches for every fishing-related product in the world, then the Bill Dance show is for you!

Dang, that's one big old bullfrog! Did you tell them that if they kissed the frog, it'd turn into a prince?

I admit it; even though I'm cheap as hell and rarely try new baits I ordered one after seeing KVD tear it up last month in Toho's off-shore grass. I currently have no confidence in lipless crankbaits, and I want to add them to my arsenal.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. They just can't leave well enough alone? That stinks. I caught a mess of bass about a month or so ago working the off-shore hydrilla. Stuff was healthy too; fresh and crisp without any snot grass or anything on it. And loaded with bass. dang

But of course. As usual I'm the last guy to figure it out.

It might not be THE hot bait, but this is my new hot bait: Yamamoto The Kreature - T-rigged backwards (thank you Fat Ika), with a 1/16 bullet weight pegged on top. Caught a ton of fish in my last tourney with it. Good fer flipping and casting.

I know the Wed night crowd held their semi-annual "classic" a few Friday nights ago. But other than that, I haven't heard of any other tournaments on Conway. When I fished last Wed, there were 12 or 13 boats. Apparently, they've been getting a pretty good crowd lately. I remember 5+ years ago or so, they'd be lucky if 8 boats showed up.

Ok, I was fishing the off-shore grass north/northwest of that. I'll have to give that area a try. I've got a club tourney in June. How deep does that off-shore vegetation go? 7' to 10' range?

Every other animal in the world seems to learn from negative-reinforcement. I doubt fish would be any different. In fact I specifically reading a Florida Sportsman's article about Snook being raised in giant tanks and the biologist remarked how smart they were. He said when one person walked down to the tank, the fish knew they're about to get fed and all came to the surface. But when two people walked down, the fish knew they're about to get netted and they'd all try to hide in the corner. Regardless of all that, everyone has probably seen a line break on a bass, only to catch the same fish 5 minutes later with the old hook still in its mouth. Obviously bass don't learn that quickly. Especially when the lure looks so enticing to a hungry fish.

Hey Surf, I fished in last Wed's night Conway tourney. A friend called me at the last minute because his partner couldn't make it. Took 1st place (12.5 lbs) and big bass (3.9 lbs)! Trick worms and crankbaits working that off-shore grass in the first lake. That's one for the good guys!!!

It's good for BASS's image to keep the kills low, agreed. Bass-population wise, I doubt it generally has much effect.

Is bass mortality really that big of a problem? I'd guesstimate that in my 20 boat club, less than 5% of all the bass that were weighed-in last year were dead. I don't think that's nearly enough to justify any stringent new rules.

What kind of off-shore grass were you fishing? Last year I remember finding some patches of hydrilla on the north end near the main boat ramp, but wasn't able get any fish off them. All my fish came off the exposed bullrush (i think that's what it is) in the southern and western areas fishing the tight cover. I'd rather find that off-shore bite like you did.

Saturday and Sunday was my two-day tourney on Crooked Lake. As expected, we caught tons and tons of dinks. We mainly fished the northern areas I talked about in my last report working the off-shore Kissimmee grass with plastic worms. Casting along the edges and flipping into little holes here and there. The first day we caught a total of about 25 bass. But of those only 4 were legal, weighing 6.5 lbs which amazingly beat out a few boats who had limits. Day 1 winner had 12 lbs. The second day we caught a total of about 15 bass, of which 5 were (barely) legal weighing a total of 6.7 lbs. Day 2 winner had 11 lbs. It isn't difficult to catch a limit on Crooked Lake as more than half the boats had limits on both days. But getting any real weight is tough.