geo g

So much water, so little time!

Go every chance you can. I can't begin to tell you all the times the conditions said no, but the fishing was exceptional. Also the other way, conditions said great, but it actually sucked. You really never know what you'll get. A little time on the water will answer all your questions.

Good luck Sir, I wish you the best!

Turkey Lake in Orlando is a must fish. Good quality of bass, with bank fishing, and the best boat rental deal in the nation. Right next to Universal Studios!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

Dam you guys are getting slammed with rain. Good luck, hope everything is high and dry!

I used to cut a small V cut on one of the dorsal fins, no harm. Then I would check when I caught a fish. It just took too much time and I stopped. Only caught one with my little V again.

There are two different takes to this question. What is my favorite, and what is my most productive. My favorite is a HB Frog thrown into heavy cover early and late in the day. My most productive by far, is a 4" senko type bait. I have caught bass, peacock, and small mouth on it, all over the east coast from Florida to Maine. Watermelon Red is my fav color, with Junebug in low light conditions. You can fish it slow, fast, shallow, deep, in open water, and in thick weeds. It catches bass of all size and weight. If I could only take one bait this would be it!

The sign of success, I love it! You should throw a few big Peacocks in the mix, and your thumb will really be destroyed!

In 50 years of fishing I have never gone out targeting only big bass. I go to catch bass regardless of size. I am just happy getting bass to react to my lure and the way I present it. If I were ever going to target large bass I would use wild shiners in florida. To me it's like watching paint dry.

Water temps still close to 90* and no signs of dropping!

Sometimes they will slam the bait, sometimes just a light tick. I try to detect the bite before I ever feel a slight tick. I do that with plastics by keeping my rod high with a bow in the line. If that line moved at all, I take up the slack until I feel some weight and then set the hook like it’s a 12 pound bass. Being a line watcher is key to fishing plastics. You can see it before you can feel it through your rod. Be a line watcher!

Thick everglades grasses I always use 65 pound braid. Without it I would have lost many big ones in the weeds, while frog fishing!

I too have one hanging around somewhere. Make sure to remove the batteries.

It depends on where I'm fishing. 1). regardless of where, a 4" senko, or stick-o type bait, W/M red color. Weightless, or 1/32 weight. Catches anywhere in the country. 2). In weeds and vegetation, a HB frog. Especially early and late in the day. 3). A U-vibe or chatterbait. Vary the speed, good in deeper waters.

I have fished lake Martin. It has always been tough fishing, at least for me. Mountain deep waters, as a Florida guy deep is ten feet! LOL

Sounds like a battery powered bike with big tires, would have been perfect getting in and out of the site. Koz sounds like an exciting time for the family, and especially your boy. Enjoy every minutes, those years go bye so quickly!

Very simple and very true. When things get tough, down size, and slow way down. Good fisherman have patience, and focus on what mother nature gives you!

Magazines, along with big box stores, are all being put out of business by the internet. Problem for me is I hate buying stuff if I can't feel it first!

Oh yah, no problem for a bass! (A funny story) I once caught a two pound bass that I released in great shape from the bank. As soon as I dropped this bass back in the water it swam right into an open empty potato chip bag that was discarded by some nitwit in the shallow water. With just the tail sticking out, the bag moved out into deeper water. I watch the bag swim around and occasionally dive and then come back to the surface. Ten minutes latter the bag moved back onto the shallow bank. I ran it down, and with my rod tip, I reached out and removed bag from our little friend. It was funny to watch a potato chip bag moving around the lake like a UFO. Could have been a great, America's Most Funny Video. This was before cell phone cameras!

I have had fisherman's thumb many times from big bass destroying it. Even bleeding a few times, but that's always a happy pain, from big bass and especially peacock bass, that will really tear up a thumb. It's the pain of victory! Never a sore thumb from casting! No idea how that happens!

First of all you must have confidence in what your throwing and how your doing it. After 50 years fishing I have learned some Do's, and Don'ts. Especially this time of year, with high water levels, high water temps close to 90*, and heat index in the 105* range, I will fish early or late in the day. When the sun gets high the bite stops especially when there is no cloud cover. After a early morning topwater bite, usually a HB frog back in the thick stuff, I will go to a down sized plastic, usually a senko, and fish very slow. I usually target a drop-off close to thick cover. Bass will move up and down the drop off seaking either thick shade, or cooler water at the base of the drop-off. Many a slow outing has been saved by downsizing and crawling baits very slow. It can be boring, but effective when nothing else works! I have caught many 8 pounders on a 4" W/M red senko, just crawling parallel along the base of a drop off.

We are clearly talking about two different locations. You can't put a 22' boat in the A-1 mitigation basin off US 27.

Several other posts on this topic. The easy answer is before yes, after No. The water PH gets screwed up, and a bunch of chemical run-offs in the water.