sabanist

Did some bank hopping today in broward county off HWY 27. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me so I don't have any pics. Anyway, I was always curious about the rock quarry close on HWY 27 close to 75 if anyone knows it. Someone actually wrote on the barricade "rock quarry" "no fish". I hopped the barricade, and started methodically fishing the pond on the corners so I could cast parallel to the bank. the water was really clear and you could see the rocky ledge. Well after working it for about an hour, I concluded that it indeed does not have any fish in it. Continuing on to another good sized pond in broward, I found a point in the bank and fished there along the lily pads. I was using a shakespear medium action bait caster with 14 pound mono. I used a carolina rigged watermelon seed colored plastic worm. Using the worm I pulled a quality bass out of the pond. I estimate the length to be about 14" or so. I can't be sure of the weight but I would wager it was about 2LB. I caught that one after about 20 minutes at the spot. I changed to a light spinning outfit with 6LB test mono and used a senko, wacky rigged. After about 20 minutes and nearly ready to try something else, I felt that jerk on the line and saw that big flash of green in the water, my heart raced as the sucker jumped out of the water. anyway after getting him in and holding the line up about to take him off, he fell off the hook. I didn't get a good look at him like the last one but he was about the same size as the other one. I left because I have to go to my daughter's birth day. I'm gonna fish again before the day is done.

Ouch. That's pretty steep. Thanks for the info.

For those that cannot store your boat at home, where do you keep it. How much does it cost for boat storage? thanks

Appreciate it. I just adjusted it.

I broke down and bought a bait casting reel, it's a cheap one, But it's the first one so I figured I'll wear it out then buy a better one. Anyway, I've read that you want to adjust the reel so that when you depress the button to release the line, the lure should lower slowly to the ground instead of dropping like a sack of potatos. I've turned just about every knob on this thing and but nothing effects the rate at which the line is released. Do I need to open it up. FYI, the Shakespeare xterra from WM does not come with directions.

I'll give it a shot tomorrow. Working nights right now that's why I'm posting at 3 am

Do bass remember lures? I ask because earlier, before the weather got cold, I had some success in this pond with a zoom watermelon seed colored plastic worm. My son and I both caught bass with it. But not since.

Fished for 2 hours , one rod with a watermelon seed 5" Senko t rigged. One with a bobber and night crawler. Used 2/0 offset hooks, 8lb test mono, one medium action spinning outfit, one light action. I wonder if it's the color of the Senko? I only have the one pack. I fished it about as slow as I could. Cast out about 15' from the bank. waited a total of about 60-70 seconds before I gave a little tug, pulled it up, let it settle, repeat. Walked about 200 yards of bank hitting several lilly padded and grass areas. It's frustrating.

You must know something I don't. Maybe the rocks thing but I fished another senko today in the neighborhood pond and didn't get as much as a nibble.

I ran out from fishing last wsek 8-)

Brujo, on the casts where you caught the fish, how long did you go through that routine you just described? And did you T rig your shaky head?

Nice fish man. Let me ask you, do you know the contours of your pond or are you basically just casting out blindly. When I fish my pond here in my neighborhood, I either throw about along the lilly pads and grass just off the bank or blindly cast out to work the bottom.

Do you keep tension on the line. It was windy today so after I cast, the wind would cause a bow in the line, I would reel in the slack but I think that might move the bait a bit.

So you think I should stick with the Senko? I see that alot of people swear by them. I simply refuse to believe it's me. It must be the weather! LOL. But seriously, I will fish it even slower next time and bag the buzz

Great, I actually went by BPS this morning and got contact info for the local clubs that meet there. I'll post what I find out.

I was in Bass Pro shops this morning to get the contact info for the local fishing clubs. Anyway, I ask the guy in the freshwater dept what he recommends to fish the urban canals with. "Today?" he says. I confirm. He responds with "Dynamite" Apparently when it gets cold here in So FL the fish quit biting. I stopped at the canal along SR 84 at the break in the guard rail between Weston Rd and Bonoventure. I threw in a 5" wacky rigged watermelon seed colored Senko. I was using a meium action spinning outfit with 8lb test mono. The water was clear, the bank appeared to be shallow and flat for about 4 feet before it got deeper. How much deeper I don't know. It appeared to be a rocky bottom although I did drag in some grass on one of my casts. The way I fished the Senko was typical for it I guess. I casted it out about 10-15' from the bank, let it hit bottom, and waited about 20-30 seconds before i did anything. I popped it up about 12-24", let it fall, wait about 5 seconds, popped it again. Repeat until it was back on the bank. I did this in a fan pattern from the bank along a stretch of about 100 yards. No bites. I went to a buzz bait lure because one of the guys at BP said that he would reccomend a topwater. So I basically repeated the fan pattern but on the other side of my truck for 100 yards. No bites, this was especially disappointing because there was an inlet drain on this side and I expected it often brought food in for the game fish. I will try a canal along Hwy 27 tomorrow, it's fairly close to Everglades Holiday park and it appeared to have a lot of surface vegetation. Any suggestions?

Thanks for the responses thus far. As a member of the club, are you expected to fish every tournament? Just trying to get a glimpse of the realistic cost Also, Some weekends, I have my kids activities to attend

I'm fairly inexperienced but I would like to get more involved. I know the basics and have caught fish, but not like some guys I see post on here. Anyway, I do not own a boat. I know clubs ALLOW non boaters, but do they really WANT non boaters. I feel like I would be imposing. What would be the proper etiquette for me to approach a club as a non boater. Thanks

I am starting out (again) with fishing as of about a month ago. The first thing I did was do a bit of research on bass fishing (latest techniques, lures, bait, rigs, etc). Anyway, so I went to CB smith park in Broward County a few weeks ago and had a really good day. I pulled 6-7 largemouth out of the various ponds. I also caught 1 pea. The largemouth were small. 1 - 2 lb or so. But the pea was a good 16 inches in length and I estimate it was about 4 lb. I caught all of the largemouth on a texas rigged watermelon colored 6" plastic worm. The pea was pulled out with a shiner and bobber. My retrieval with the worm is typically slow with a jerk every so often. The weather that day was overcast and windy, cool. It seemed to work well that day. The next chance I got, my son and I hit our neighborhood pond for about an hour before we had to go somewhere. He was using the texas rigged worm again and pulled a little largemouth out on his very first cast. (HiS FIRST BASS EVER!!!) He had a bullet sinker rigged ahead of his worm for getting through the thick weeds. I was also using the worm (weightless) and caught one shortly before we left. This was about 5-6 pm. I have always been told that fishing in the cold front or right after is tough. Well, yesterday I hit 3 spots. I took my son to Plantation Heritage Park at about 10 am this morning. I read on the broward county recreation website that the lake was stocked with bass. If you've never been there, there's not a whole lot of structure there but there are 3 fish feeders. I was fishing with a medium action, shakespear spinning outfit and 10lb test. I was experimenting with different lures , so I tried a blue on black flippin jig with a grub trailer. No luck there. I then attempted to put a spinnerbait on there and discovered that my tackle was not strong enough to fish that lure. Then tried a soft plastic toad. Nothing. Zoom 6" plastic worm (usually get hits with this one), still zip. I even tried live shiners. Anyway, we stayed there about an hour and half without so much as a nibble. Left at about 11 Went to Markham park and drove around the park to find a decent spot. I had never been there before so I was surprised to see how big it was and how many people were there. Very few of them fishing though. Anyway, I stopped at a spot across from the model plane airfield, southside of the park and went through the same routine I did at Plantation. I pulled one 2-3 pound largemouth out with a live shiner, free lining. I put it about 10 feet from the bank right on the edge of the long grass. It was the highlight of the day. After no other success, we went on to the next spot. We didn't technically leave Markham park but went to the south boat ramp at the SR 84 canal. From the bank I could see there was quite a bit of submerged structure along the bank. My son kept his zoom plastic worm and I rigged a 5" Senko (I believe the term is Wacky rig), I placed the hook in the middle of the bait, casted it out and let it hit bottom before popping it up, reel the slack, let it fall, repeat. Anyway, then a guy on a jet ski blew by and he decided to do some hot dogging right where we were fishing. I packed it in at about 3:30. Today, I went by myself for the morning and came away empty handed. I was at the same pond that my son and I had caught one a week or so ago. Conditions were clear and cool, windy and overcast. So I thought it was going to be a good day. The sun did come out after an hour though. The water was clear also. Anyway, I started with the old plastic worm but after about 20 minutes and no action, I switched to a buzz bait. My retrieval on the buzz bait was just straight and no erratic jerking. 20 more minutes and no bites, I tried a black and blue flppin jig with grub trailer. I pitched it into the weeds, along side the weeds, between the lilly pads, even in the middle of the pond ( I don't know if there is structure underthere). Nothing. My retrieval with the jig was short jerks up and down with a normal reel in. (After researching this forum, it appears I was doing this wrong) Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the water seemed filled with hydrillia today. Every cast on anything but the weedless worm brought back a chunk of weeds. This is bothersome because I know that if I'm dragging weeds that fish are not giong to bite my lure. By now I was getting frustrated. I switched to live bait (free lining shiners). I would cast the shiners in but they would immedeiately swim straight into the thick hydrillia, resulting in a tangle for me. After no bites for a couple minutes I would attempt to reel in to check the bait. that's when I discovered that I was once again hung up on somthing the little guy put me on. Eventually after struggleing with it, the line broke, and I had to rig another. Then I put a 1/2 ounce sinker on the line with a leader to keep the shiner in place, That made it worse. anyway, I tried a couple small jigs to see if maybe the size of the bait was keeping the fish away. But I didn't give it that much time after I kept dragging more weeds to shore. I left. I welcome any feedback or suggestions. Next time I plan on using the Senko again only this time being MUCH more patient before I begin the retrieval.

Hi, new to the board and new (again) to fishing. I do not own a boat so most of my posts will be relative to bank fishing. still learning so pardon my ignorance