ChipD22

I am down in Orlando, the tilapia here have pinkish/red tails, not sure if that makes a difference... some of the beds have little fish around them so I was thinking they might attract bass to eat them, but I guess if they are bedding they dont go after food a lot right?

So if I walk all the way around a lake and only see tilapia beds, I should assume there are not many bass in the lake? Also, if I see two beds close together then I should assume they are not bass beds? Thanks for the info

I have read a couple different opinions on this, so i figured i would ask you guys; here is an example, yesterday I found a small lake where I could se tons of beds all along the edge but as I walked around the lake I realized they were all tilapia beds (aside from the fact i could see the tilapia they were perfectly round and deep which i have heard is typically not bass because they dont go deep at all and are usually semi circles, is that right?)... anyways, if I am seeing tilapia beds, should i try to find some other spot without them? I have heard that they will not be around tilapia beds because of the competition... or if they are near the shore might the bass beds be a little deeper? any advice or insight would be helpful, thanks in advance

I have read a couple different opinions on this so i figured i would ask you guys, if I find a ton of tilapia bedding near the shore, (Im talking about pounds and/or fairly small lakes), does that mean the bass will be in a totally different location? Or, will they sometimes bed in the same general area? i found what looked like an awesome little lake but when I got to the shore all i could see were tilapia beds, I walked all the way around the lake and never saw anything but tilapia so i wanted to know if I should abandon any areas I see like that.... thanks in advance for any info

also, to the guy with the multiple rods, is there a reason you dont just use a swivel with a lock and just tie lures with a leader to swivels so you can switch them out quickly? I am hoping I am not screwing myself by doing that because it screws up the presentation or something but I cant find any definitive answer on the difference in using that set up

Thanks for the info, especially from the other bank fisherman, I should have prefaced my question by saying that I know there are bass in the area because I have caught them there in the past, it just gets frustrating when you go to the same spot and use the same type of lure and retrieve and get nothing for 15, 20, 30 casts... thanks guys

I am currently bank fishing so I dont have a lot of mobility and have to fish the same spot for longer periods of time than I might normally if I was in a boat. So, i was wondering what the different opinions are about when you should try something different... It would be helpful if I could have some kind of "rule of thumb" to use such as 15 casts or something because if I am bringing the same lure along the same path at varying speeds and styles I would like to know that i have tried everything enough times to know the bait is wrong... So, when do you say when?

Thanks guys, I have recently started trying to get some bass (I used to fish for them all the time when I was a kid, caught a 5 pounder when I was 8!) but I dont have a boat so I am trying to figure out how to do well off the banks and docks that I can get access to... I would imagine the beds stay together for a while after they leave them right? I can see a lot of beds from the banks around the lakes and ponds so I was wondering if there was any advice about how close to the beds they might be post spawn... thanks in advance for any info! p.s. the guy above me, gar tracker, it says your personal best is 9-10 lb.'s but that bass you have in that photo looks twice that size! Freakin huge

Thanks for all the great info guys, especially the term bathymetric maps, I found a web site that has a map for all the lakes in my county (Orange County florida) which is exactly what i was looking for! http://www.orange.wateratlas.usf.edu/

I live in Orlando and was wondering if there was any resource out there that could give me the typology of some of these lakes around here... considering how important the depth is to finding bass in different seasons i would think there is some way to figure this stuff out... lemmeknow thanks in advance for any assistance

HI all, I am reading about different spawning times based on the water temp but I have no way to figure that out so I was hoping somebody could tell me when the spawning season typically ends in Florida.... Also, any advice for fishing off banks/docks post spawn? Thanks in advance for any help...