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I do this all the time. I am lucky enough to have eight 30 to 40 acre lakes with access all the way around, all within a mile of my house. I first check for wind direction, and then I will fish several lakes with the wind to my back. I can fish as slow as I want without using a lot of weight. It makes for an easy productive day of fishing. I'll switch banks when the wind direction changes. There are loads of pad fields all around the lakes, so treble hooks are out of the question and Texas Rigged Plastics are the way to go. All these lakes are connected, and all hold decent size bass up to 9 pounds..

Just hang on to that rod. It could be a thirty pound grouper. Just a bass on steroids!!!!!!

Florida has to be #1 on any unbiased list of the best. We have thousands of lakes all full of bass, peacocks, and just about every exotic fish found in an aquarium. Then the entire state is surrounded by some of the worlds best off shore fishing, with everything from 600 pound Goliath Groupers, to huge sharks, Tuna, Marlin and Sail Fish. We have one of the biggest live coral reefs in the world. We have world class inshore flats fishing with 200 pound tarpon, 80 pound redfish, snook, barracuda, cobia, and thousands of other inshore fish.. We have 100 miles of Keys that jet out just mire miles from the gulf stream. We can fish throughout every month on the calendar, comfortably! We have more coast line between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico then any other state in the lower 48. Need I say more! I forgot, we have wild boar, bear, deer, 180 Panthers still living wild in the state, a million gators, the American Crocodile, and the Skunk Ape! Great place to live if you love the outdoors.

There are normally a lot more small fish then big ones in a body of water.. Although some baits have a reputation for catching big bass, many monster bass have been caught on small jigs, flukes, centepedes, and small worms. I think it is more important to concentrate on where big bass hang out, and the conditions while your fishing, then what your throwing. There are no magic bullets, fish will hit all types of baits.

My favorite way is a #9, or a #11 rapala jerkbait thrown through the school, either gold or silver. If that doesn't work, a silver, blue back rattle trap.

Several weeks ago I was fishing a Rage Craw and catching fish on it. After three or four fish a claw got ripped off. So I pulled off the other to balance the bait, and went on to catch four more on the Rage Stump. It worked great, don't be too quick to trash those old baits.

Thanks for the heads up on the lake.

Water levels are normal. They never did get real low like some years. I was waiting for them to keep dropping and the catch rate go ballistic. It just never happened this year.

Being in the tropics of south Florida we have been fishing all year. To date I have caught between 500 to 6oo bass, since I fish almost everyday. 90% have been caught on senko type baits, zoom trick worms and zoom super flukes. The remaining 10% have come on jig heads, rattle traps, frogs, and rapala # 11 stick baits. Since deep water down here is 10 feet, most have been caught shallow, in pad fields or adjacent to drop offs.

Welcome to the site. There is a ton of information if you just explore the site. Since this is a national site and not local. It would really help us responding to you inquiry if you would fill out the personal profile, and at least let us know what state you live in, and what waters you fish. Good luck, and endless hours of enjoyment!

You can fish all over the country with these little baits. I use them everyday here in Florida and catch thousands of fish every year on these baits. Don't get hung up on the high price of the Japanese brand. The Bass Pro stick-o's are just as good and half the price per unit. I exclusively use the 4 inch size and catch fish of all size on them. Use as little weight as possible, depending on weather conditions. Weightless they will walk like a zara spook under the water, if you get a rhythm going, and flutter down on slack line, weightless. Good luck, and they will catch fish when others are struggling with the bite. When things are really tough, just slow down. Many bites occur when the bait is sitting still on the bottom.

Alligator Alley Saturday 5/9/15, 7:00 - Noon, Temps 87*, Blue Bird Sky, wind 5-10, Water temp 87*, light stain, visibility 10 feet deep. Went out this morning with Steve. We ran east to the end and fished all the way back to the ramp. First cast, Steve had a nice 3 pounder in the boat. The bite was steady all day but spaced out. Steve started with a jig, and I started with a hollow body frog. The frog had no action at all, although you could see pads moving way back in the field. After Steve got up 3 to zero, I switched to a purple stick-o and started catching at a steady pace. Again today you could see big gator chasing small ones all up the canal. We were also followed by a 10 footer for several hundred yards. Today he kept a healthy 10 foot distance from the boat. No problems today! You just don't want to be out there in a kayak or something close to their size. We finished the day with 45 bass, a big fat Oscar, and several mudfish. Not many dinks today with several in the 3 pound range,and a bunch of two's. A lot of bites were way back in the pad field and not at the drop off. We had the entire canal to our self and not many boats at the other ramps. It was another fun day on the alley.

Have not fished Tree Tops in years. Congrats on some nice fish. Some of the lakes got so thick with undergrowth that it became difficult to fish. Pat Fitzpatrick used to have a huge youth fishing tournament with lots of prizes every year, at T/T park. Thanks for sharing!

Tough days happen to everyone that fish regularly.. It even happens to guys on the tour. You need to do something that will stimulate sluggish fish. When things are very tough I will often go to a trick worm and fish it slow, either Texas Rigged or Wacky. I often use black, June Bug, or purple. It has saved many a day during tough times. Let it fall and sit still on the bottom still. Then snap it off the bottom and let it settle back down for 30 seconds. Repeat this all the way back to the boat. Snap it up for 3 or 4 feet. They often hit it on the way back down. As long as the vegetation is not too thick, wacky rig it through the egg sack.

I'll let you in on a little trick I learned years ago. Use a Carolina rig with the big weight and a 3 foot mono leader. Get a 2 or 3 thin wire Gama EWG hook. Take a tube bait of your favorite color, and put a little piece of packing Styrofoam inside the tube. Texas rig the tube with the foam inside and skin hook it. When sitting still the tube will float high above the weight, and when you pull the weight it will dive down and then float back up when sitting still. If you just shake the weight and don't pull it, the tube will dance in place. It can be deadly at times. Fish it slow and let the floating tube do its thing. When you feel a bite make a big sweeping hook set to take up all the slack quickly. You will need a big long rod to get the job done. Good luck.

Those are the days that keep us coming back for more, even after weeks of slow fishing. Those are magical days for sure. Congrats buddy!

SwampNinja, there is very little floating lettuce on the north side, just lots of pads. Almost all the lettuce is in the south side canal..

I have seen a group of live bait fisherman descend on an area and ruin the bite in an isolated section of lake from too much pressure. You need to move to a new location, and let the pressured area recover. It will come back, new fish will move in to fill the void..

With 9 foot gators a yard from the boat hull I would not risk my dog in the boat. I had a chocolate lab that would attack a gator in the water if he saw one, and that would be all she wrote. Gators just love dogs for lunch. There is way too much to watch out for while on the water, then a dog.

Captain Shane would be an excellent guide for the area, and a great guy. Lots of bank fishing areas all over the place. The further south you go the better chance of peacocks.

Thanks Glen, your the best!

I do this all the time. It is one of my favorite ways to fish. When planning a trip, I always check the wind direction and strength, and prepare my attack plan. I will run up wind and let the wind drift me slowly back the way I came. In heavy wind conditions I will put out a drift bag which really slows the boat down. I just had to do this last weekend. Drift fishing does two important things. 1). It makes boat control easy. 2}. It keeps you in stealth mode. This is very important especially in clear water. Bass don't even know your in the neighborhood as your drifting through the area, and this will increase your catch rate. Stay off the trolling motor as much as possible. This type of trip planning makes for an easy, enjoyable, relaxing day. Just make sure there are good target areas along your drift path.

This is a very rare occurrence. It does happen from time to time, when it does it is a real mess. The number of gators we have down here, can clean it up pretty quick. The feast begins!!!!!

My philosophy is to have fun and enjoy what you have to fish. Do what brings you happiness . If its experimenting with new baits, then do it! If its fishing a confidence bait, catching numbers, then do it. Do what makes you happy, whether its fishing with a friend, or entering a 100 boat tournament with lots of strangers. When it stops being fun, then change tactics. Don't worry about others, and what they think, or what they're using. There are hundreds of ways to skin a cat, and no one has all the answers. Just go out and enjoy the situation at hand, and do what you feel right for the conditions .

I have seen a massive fish kill right outside Holiday Park entrance in Broward, years ago. It was during the summer and a big storm dumped massive amounts of rain and hale in a short period of time. The water in the canal turned over and thousands of fish were floating everywhere. Not enough O2 in the water to support them. The gators feasted for weeks.