SoFl-native

In my experience a punching/flipping bait will penetrate a lot better than a jig of the same weight. The line tie, weed guard, and profile of the bait making the biggest difference.

I have read some negative comments on ED's. A lot of them.

Thing is a mutant. Huge head. awesome.

Nice outing guys. Lake has been pushing out some fish this summer. Glad the wind cooperated.

What he said. A flipping rod doesnt make a good pitching rod most of the time. You want a lighter fast tip that you can load. My flipping stick is a 7'6" heavy castaway with braid.....conversely my pitching rod is a 7' MH XF Shimano clarus with 15 lb FC. Big difference.

I used to fish there plenty when i had a yak. Go early before the gates open and the people arrive. I caught fish both heading up current and down current from the launch. I had good luck with small top waters and smaller worms. Later in the day fish the sharp bends where the water is the deepest. any place where the current makes a 90 degree turn is good. Throw a little straight tail worm right against the cypress trees in those bends. There are also spots where you can get out and bank fish. Once you get past the second dam then you can catch snook too. So i used to switch to something that appealed to them and bass. A rapala or topwater. I had a couple days where i caught 15-20 and caught a 6 lb fish right before the first dam on a small plastic frog. Good luck.

After 10 am flipping mats has been the ticket for me the last two months.

Nice Shane!

That was a fun outing. It was really nice to meet people finally. Everybody caught fish and nobody was at work! It was a pleasure fishing with Capt Shane and we both enjoyed the day. We should do it again some time at a location where we can do a 5 fish tourn. maybe ida/osbourne.

weather looks to be fine. The wind is a good thing there IMO. horny toads anybody?

I second the picture and release idea.

wind is going to be serious tomm. charge those batteries.

What time is everybody arriving? Safe light is right around 6. I am shooting for 5:45 arrival.

i am confirmed in. Me and capt. shane.

I am 90% sure i can make it. I think Capt Shane might take my back seat. I suggest if we do a tourny we do a very low key one big fish per boat. I have a berkley TEC scale we can use if we need it.

caught around 20 on friday afternoon/evening. This was the biggest...she was a tank:

Is that near J&S? I only ask because there is a tower of some sort on the dike right near the J&S lock. you can see it from a pretty good distance.

I fished the lake saturday. I caught a 5.1 on a buzz bait at like 6:45. I ended up flipping later and caught good quality. Caught a couple 4's too. 17 lbs with 3 fish is crazy.

I might be able to go. I will have a clearer picture middle of July.

that SM must have fought like crazy. Look at how broad its tail is. awesome.

You guys should give yourselves more credit. It isnt the bait, it is you that makes the difference. Those of you that catch fish on RT have confidence in them and fish them with confidence. This gets you bit. Whether you realize it or not....you fish slower, paying more attention, working the bait as if you know you are going to get bit....... and as a result you are a more effective angler. When you fish a bait you do not like you fish poorly. Its only natural because you already know you wont get bit.....and you dont. 95% of the time confidence is the difference. Not the bait.

I fished Lox last week. Tuesday i think. Caught over 50 with all but 3 of them coming on topwater. I launched from Southern and caugh them about half way to to the flats. Nothing over 3 pounds. Good fun.

nice peacock. Glad they are still looking good down there. What did it weigh? 3 lbs?

Went up to Garcia this weekend. Hydrilla is up but the fish are pretty happy. Caught them in a few places with various baits. Ended up with close to 20 with some quality.....the biggest one below. I got excited when she first jumped and i saw her mouth.....not as much when i saw her post spawn skinnyness. Good day overall.

The Z7 is coming in what $2000-3000 less than similarly rigged competitors? At least. So 20 bucks and some elbow grease sounds like a good deal to me.