everythingthatswims

The new Hudd gill rof 5 wakes if you slow roll it and keep your rod tip high. At least mine does. More like a rof 2

When the bass won't bite, you can't catch them. There are times when the fish shut down 100% and won't eat, usually in winter. I have watched bass in cold, clear water that will just sit there and won't even acknowledge the fact that a bait has been presented, even live minnows. When the fishing is "tuff", I like fishing a weightless zoom finesse worm. Have to use a 2/0 EWG because it won't sink well without it. Either sight fishing or tossing it around the edges of cover. 6lb test

Wow the stars really aligned in a bad way for those guys. Glad everyone is ok

My fish was small enough to fit in the photo

The rain helped the bite here for me. I caught a few fish pitching a black and blue terminator jig this evening. Caught two almost identical fish on back to back pitches, one was 15" and the other was 16", 2-2.5lbs roughly, nice fat fish, I'm assuming they were females. Caught a couple little guys as well. First "decent" pre spawn fish I have caught this year, it's been tuff! Did my best Deep impression:

Gorgeous fish there. Nice job!

That is a pig but without at least a length measurement we have no way to guess weight. All you have to do is measure it on your rod and use a tape measure later. Good job!

You can "do away" with them as long as your are on your own land year-round in VA if they become a problem.

Wow those fish are all footballs. Good job

My brother caught a Royal Tern last week in Florida on a live herring. Cool part is that the bird had a band, we took it off with a set of pliers before releasing the bird. It was banded in Ocracoke, NC!

The IGFA length record is silly. They just want to sell their $50 "official measuring device" that the fish has to be photographed on to be accepted. Sebile has a "hype video" featuring Patrick Sebile catching a length record bass and says that he had been hunting the bass for "years and years!" It was a 24" bass, I have caught one that size here in VA, and not to discredit a fish that size, but on Okeechobee where he caught it, I doubt that fish would even get a second look from anglers who fish there. Eric's videos on youtube are awesome, he's a no-nonsense guy and flat out catches fish. Some of the browns they catch in Milwaukee are insanely large. More like all of the browns they catch.

Judging from the posts in this thread, creek smallies tend to max out at a certain size dependent on the body of water (a size that is below what they can reach in lakes and larger rivers), and the 4lb fish you are hunting is definitely a high caliber of fish to target for your area. I fish a small river/creek near my house and each spring I have a location that will produce half a dozen or so smallies in the 17-19" range but NEVER anything over that. I usually get them the last week in April and the first week in may, then they get on beds and I leave them alone. Won't be much longer now!

^^^This

Change that 6lb nanofil to some suffix 832 or power pro

I was fishing a power plant lake with my friend this winter when we both made a pitch at a dock with our drop shots. We were both bit within seconds and got a double hook up. My friend's fish jumped but we instantly realized that my drop shot was also in the bass's mouth. We proceeded to laugh our heads off before he opened his bail and I reeled the fish up to my kayak to unhook it.

My brother and I doubled too

I spent 4 days fishing Sebastian Inlet this week with my brothers during our spring break. We had a blast! Caught lots of fish, learned a lot, and added 15 new species to our list, which is now somewhere in the 120 range. During the week we caught LOTS of jacks, a decent number of spanish mackerel including a giant 30"er, lots of bluefish, some lady fish, lots of small mangrove snapper, a couple flounder, and an interesting mixed bag from the crevices and holes in the jetties that we explored. Most of our jacks were caught free lining threadfin herring, they can definitely be caught on lures but the fish were so keyed in on the herring that it was best to just get a cast net full of bait and go to work. The Spanish Mackerel were caught on gotcha plugs and live ballyhoo. Mangroves were mostly caught on live shrimp, the water was crystal clear and we were sight fishing, they would just stare at pieces of cut bait or frozen shrimp, live shrimp was clearly the way to go. Snook were constantly visible, but from what we were told, they mainly feed at night and just hang out during the day. We only fished at night one time, and we couldn't do much with the snook since the blues, jacks, and lady fish were so thick (not complaining!). You couldn't keep a bait in the water for more than 10 seconds before it was eaten, it was by far the craziest frenzy I have ever witnessed. I threw my 6' cast net on a school of herring and ended up with three 18-20" blues, about a 25" lady fish, and 100 or so herring in one toss. To all of you living in Florida, I'm jealous. Everyone we talked to was saying the fishing was really off compared to what it can be, and we were out there having the time of our lives! And a note to everyone out there, please remember to keep an eye on your fishing gear when exploring a new place. We did not know that the area we were in is notorious for stolen fishing equipment, and ended up losing around $400 worth of stuff including 3 rods one morning when we set our stuff down and walked 75 yards away for 5 minutes to catch bait. It happened very fast and it was a very dumb move on our part to leave our gear unattended. Some thief is now the proud owner of almost my entire jerkbait and crankbait collection minus the deep divers that stayed home in VA. Baby Goliath Grouper Not even sure what this little guy is, caught him in a cast net, very cool looking fish! Sergeant Major, (Sebastian Inlet equivalent of bluegill) Many double and triple headers on jacks during blitzes in the mornings. 30" speed demon And the mangrove snapper. Incredibly strong for their size and very fun to target. Lots of other interesting fish caught, but I didn't want to make the post too photo heavy!

Five and a half or six

Dicks sporting goods carries the field and stream tec lite series which are outstanding for trout. 49.99. They make a 5'6" UL, a 6' UL, and a 6'6" Light action. All of the rods have very fast actions which I really like, I hate moderate action for trout and I don't think its necessary for light line, just too much sensitivity lost and it makes casting weird because the rod is still flexing back and forth a lot while the line leaves. I fish 2lb mono on the 6'6" Light with a 1000 size reel.

My first Florida fishing day will be either Sunday evening or Monday night. Hopefully the fish treat me well. Good luck on your Florida trip!

Awesome fish! But you need to get rid of that first photo.....That place is tiny and doesn't need any extra attention . Catch any trout?

Good deal deep

And judging from where you're located, everyone fishes for trout and salmon so you should have the big girls all to yourself!

Pretend you are fishing a shakey head

If you have trout that size living in the same body of water as largemouth.......You get my drift