SoFlaBassAddict

Congrats! There aint nothin better than have little kids running around to take fishing.

Great fish, Shane. I haven't been able to catch a Red in a long time. Great fighting fish. The fish in the first picture has some great color to it. Gorgeous fish.

Mono is very easy to see underwater. It's makeup forces it to transmit light. The only time I use mono is as a shock leader to absorb impact on something like a moving bait. I leave my leader on all the time on my worming and jig rod. It's a confidence thing with the invisibility of fluoro. Experiment and see what works best for you.

If you ask 10 different people, you're probably going to get 10 different answers and reasons why or why not to. Personally, I'll put on a fluoro leader. Since changing to the Alberto Knot, I haven't broken one off because of the leader to mainline knot. Do what you feel will work best for you. If you deal with rocks a lot, a leader probably isn't a bad idea. Rocks tend to chew up braid quickly. If you're in heavy enough cover, I don't really see the need for it.

No issues as long as you thoroughly wash it down. You should do it after any fishing trip to be totally honest. Takes a few seconds to squirt them down with a hose.

Wow, thats crazy. I was just on Xbox Live, and a buddy of mine was telling me about some ridiculously good meatball sandwiches that Sheetz has.

Another nice fish, Steve. I know the feeling with the heat. It was just ridiculously hot down here today. I got my but whupped by the sun.

How thats thing fit over something like a Camelback, b.Lee? Nice looking bag.

x2 I'm curious to see how well Shimano made that reel.

True, my only problem is that the shoulder ain 't what it used to be, the elbow is afu, the left hand wrist is fubar .... man I 'm gettin ' old ! Twenty years ago I could chunk and wind all day long, now I 'm becoming a soft plastics man and not preciselly because I like them, can 't do much with the machinery I 've got. There should be something like the blue pill for them arms. HGH or Roids is about it. Not sure I wan't to deal with the side effects to be able to deep crank. Come to think of it, I wonder when thats going to make it's way into professional fishing if it already hasn't....

It was fun, but I would have liked to had some larger fish bite. Having stuff break kind of stinks. My TM is in the garage with the epoxy curing. I mean I don't "need" it. But it makes it far easier to launch the boat and bring it back with a motor in the back. Could have been worse, the boat didn't sink or anything.

40 casts fine for me. You're probably fine with 65 to be totally honest. It's still a super thin diameter. I wouldn't go any lower than 30 on a casting reel though. It does dig in a hair.

Spinning: 20lb braid w/8lb to 12lb fluoro or co-poly leader Worm/Jig rod: 30lb braid w/12lb to 14lb fluoro leader Flippin/Froggin: 40lb braid (I'll put a 14lb fluoro leader on if the cover is thinner) General use: 40lb braid w/12lb to 14lb fluoro leader I don't think you ever need anything heavier than that unless you are in some seriously nasty stuff. Once I break down and buy a rod thats Heavy or Extra heavy, I'll probably stick 50-65 on that one. I learned my lesson at Okeechobee about needing at least one really stout rod.

Heres where, and what I used today: My mini Everglades canal system: Tackle I had with me: These just happen to be three of my favorite hard baits:

Those dead ringers are pretty good also, eh Eric? airborne_angler, The 10" ol monster and 8" dead ringer are my two worm fishing staples. I'll have a pack of each on the deck with me when fishing worms. The dead ringer has a larger profile with ridges. It displaces more water and has a slower sink rate. The ol monster has a sleeker profile and a faster sink rate. I let the fish tell me which one they prefer, but between those two I can usually get something going. I'd say half the fish I've got over 4lbs this year have been on the ol monster. I've gone through about three packs since you kicked my butt that day at Lox.

Went out about a month ago. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1280431619/0

Nice lookin rig. 7'11" at the wheels? Hrmm, that will fit into my doors with no problem. Whats your address? I want to come....look...yeah..

Went out this morning and crushed them. Caught probably 50 or 60 fish in about four and a half hours. Only got one strike on a frog. I got out just after sunrise unfortunately. Most of the fish I found on a big flat using a t-rigged worm. Had to work it pretty quickly to get a strike. Picked up a few more on a Houdini Dipper weightless and pulled out of some grass. Once the sun got up, I started flipping some pads, mats, and bullrush. Larger fish all came flipping a Sprayed Grass Sweet Beaver. Half ounce tungsten with a 5/0 snelled Octopus hook. Had a few threes and one that was probably close to four. Nothing to really write home about. I left once the heat started getting pretty bad. There was no wind in the areas I was fishing and it got unbearable. I actually ended up with a mild case of heat stroke, my head is killing me right now. Was not fun dragging my Jon back across the street into my lake to get home when my little dolly decided to break. That was after I snapped my transom mounted TM bracket. Hopefully some good epoxy and tie wraps will fix that....

Man, what I wouldn't give to still have Tricare.

Fluorocarbon. It's a material some lines are made out of. You've got Mono, Co-Polymer, Fluorocarbon, and Braid.

I'm hopefully heading out to one of the mostly unfished areas around here in the morning. Heres to hoping. It's been dink city lately.

Porky fish right there. Nice catch. You're well on the road to a frog addiction.

I really need to start throwin hard swimbaits. That thing is purdy lookin'

Oh hell, Pines? You're right in my neighborhood. Theres another member here that lives right in Pines also. Welcome to the site.

I haven't caught anything huge this year. I'd say I'm doing about average compared to years past. For some reason, I've always caught all of my larger fish at the end of the year down here. The water finally cools down, and night fishing gets grossly fun.