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That's one hell of an outfit. You are assured no other fisherman will approach your area! Lol

I am not superstitious, but I always think about the jinx when I catch one on the first cast. When your in a uncontested area the odds are pretty good on the first cast, if you fish the bait slowly, and turn off the electronics. Everything is more detectable to the resident bass, because of the tranquility of the targeted area. Approach the area in stealth mode, I often let the wind slowly drift me into the area of choice. I love first cast bass, but the Jinx always comes to mind!

Crazy Florida south of the Palm Beach's has a fish that pound for pound kicks both their butts. The Peacock Bass is the Pitbull of the South Florida waters. Solid muscle, a killer attitude, love top water, huge acrobatic leaps, long screaming runs, and the hotter and sunnier the better. The Peacock is a special fish and only present to South Florida, and Hawaii in the United States. Put one on the bucket list, you'll know in seconds its not a largemouth, or smallmouth.

I have a park not too far from my home that is loaded with bass of all sizes. It is heavily fished and I catch many that have signs of being caught before. All our bass south of lake okeechobee are high in mercury levels and not safe for human consumption in large quantities. I let them know when I see them put them in a bucket. Some thank me, and some just fluff it off. It’s hard to fix stupid!

Weeds can tell you the type of bottom in an area. Especially important during bedding time. It can tell you where there is a depth change. It can provid shade when the sun is overhead and bright. One of my fav is isolated clumps with two or more types of weeds are fish magnets. They can tell you a lot by just being there.

I have some smaller man made lakes that I fish from the bank. These are deep lakes for Florida standards. For the last month Hydrilla has started to top out in these lakes making the fishing more difficult. Bass love it, and it helps O2 in the water, but it gives them a lot more cover, and visibility of the lure tightens although the water is cleaner. It's a plus and a curse at the same time. Limits my lure choices also. I Texas rig a lot, down size the weights used, so it doesn't hang up as much, slow down the retrieve speed so bass can find it in the mass of weeds, and tighten down my drag so I can get their head up quickly, and surf them across the top of weeds. Not my favorite time to fish these water bodies. I like the idea of turning the bullet weight upside down. makes sense! Thanks!

I have been fishing South Florida for over 45 years so I have had some weird experiences, but this one gave me the creepies. It was every early in the morning with a full moon still over head. I'm in the dynamite hole off the rim canal in lake Okeechobee. You have to go through a small opening for 30 yards and it opens up into a big deep water pond 65 feet deep. I'm throwing a devil horse and suddenly in the moonlight I see the sawgrass open up and a huge head pop out. A huge wake heads for my lure so I real in fast and throw 180* in the opposite direction. The giant head reverses and heads again for the lure. This continues 3 or 4 more times and then it just stops and stairs at me. The eyes were two feet across and the nose was a yard ahead of the eyes. Suddenly it disappears and I'm looking everywhere for my little friend. Five minutes go by and I notice two big eye balls staring up at me so close I could scratch its head. No sound, no movement, it just pops up. I could have dropped a log right there. In two seconds I started the big motor and was out of there and I forgot to pull up the trolling motor. No problem until you come off plane and suddenly you have breaks on a boat. To this day whenever I go in the dynamite hole I get that creepy feeling. This big boy had bad intentions that early morning!

At 17 ft they don’t need poison to kill you!

In south Florida I’m more worried about the poisonous snakes on the bank especially in ankle high grass. I can hear and see gators, not so much snakes. Now we have 17 foot long pythons!

You can put some JB weld on the ball thread and nut if you don't have a tack weld.

It all depends on where and how your fishing. I like MH because I’m casting and flipping to heavy cover with plastics most of the time. I use Medium only when cranking open water.

Look for hard bottom, sandy, or gravel areas. Figure out what plant life lives in those areas. Then any pond or water body with those plants are possibly good bedding areas. They don't bed everywhere, but frequently in preferred areas.

Check all the small ponds around roadways, commercial buildings, and community development. A lot of these small water bodies have a good number of large black bass. Go on google earth for the area your in and look for water bodies. Just be careful walking the banks when the grass is high. Many snakes, and a few gators also. Always wear boots, never in flip flops or bare feet. Some of my biggest bass have been out of five acre man made ponds that are seldom fished.

It all depends on water levels. If it gets low enough 100 bass of all sizes in 4 hrs is a real possibility. We have had many springs with those conditions, but not in the last 4 years. Two days ago.

I fished the River this morning just as the full moon set, and the sun broke the surface. I ran north of the Alley as far as you can go. A bobcat was calling for over an hour this morning, and there were loads of big gators in the canal. I had a gator within casting distance of the boat all day. The bass were tough to find because there were tons of exotics in the canal. The Oscars, Peacock, Gar, and mudfish would beat the bass to the bait. I ended up catching 14 bass, a load of Oscars, two gar, and a big mudfish. It was a fun day, relaxing, and quiet as can be.

I throw Trick worms a lot if the bite is slow. I will use a 1/32 weight to assure a slow fall. I like to rig a number of ways, but one of my favorite is wacky. The trick worm has tons of movement with the slightest twitch of the line. I will often let it drop all the way to the bottom and then snap it up a few feet and let it flutter back down. The bite often happens on the way back down. Black, junebug, and any of the watermelon colors are my go too colors. The worse the water clarity the darker I will use.

I fish almost everyday and have for almost 40 years. Somedays from the boat, some from the bank. Your giving this catching too much thought. Just enjoy the catch and throw your line out again and catch another one. I remember every big bass I catch, and how I caught it. I know what my PB is and keep a photo record of all over 8 pounds. I even have a few mounts, because the wife likes them. But it takes me about 30 seconds to put the line back in the water and move on. No one cares except you, so just keep fishing!!!!!!1

I have fished south Florida all my adult life. 95% will avoid you . But I have been followed by a few, with aggressive runs at the boat, one tail slapped the side of the boat, and one bumped the trolling motor hard with its nose. They are like cockroaches Down here.. I would never go in a kayak to Everglades, or Loxahatchee this time of year. I have felt a little nervous out by myself and a big one threatening in my bass boat, in a kayak I would be dropping a log! Lol

A young angler just caught a South American paraminera in the Chatholchie river, in south Florida, they can get up to 10 ft long and over 400pounds. Another exotic released in our waters. The place is getting wild!

In South Florida the places I fish are so full of big gators I am not diving in to retrieve anything, including the wife! Please don't tell her!

I once caught a Hawk in mid flight. I was on the Alley and casting with a #11 rapala across the canal. The hawk flew in from behind caught the line between his wing and the body and I watched my lure pulled up right to the hawk in flight. It came down in the water on it's back with the talons reaching and closing as I got it close to the boat. Luckily I had a big towel of the deck that we used to subdue the bird and big plyers to get the hook out. Don't ever want to go through that again, it was not pretty! The bird sat in a bank tree for a long time and then flew off.

This is simple but I have seen people I fish with ignore this principle. In order to get bit keep your lure in the water. Don’t be changing baits, playing with electronics, running to new places in the lake. All these things guarantee your lure will not be in the water doing what it is supposed to do. Plan your trip ahead of time. Pick good familiar locations, the correct baits for the conditions, and a game plan. Stay in stealth mode, with the electronics off, off the trolling motor and use the wind to blow through productive areas. Trust your pre-decisions and make the most of it. When the bait is on the deck, guaranteed your not catching.

Majority of my trips in recent months have come down to slow methodical fishing. Dragging plastics at the base of drop-offs and clear weed lines. I often cast, let it settle on the bottom, and then just drag a bait 2 or 3 yards and letting it sit again. This has saved many a tough day when other techniques were not working.

Rude people, always #1 on the list of trip spoilers!