mplspug

Okeechobee is south Florida. It wasn't just a local story, it received national coverage. And it's not just agriculture, nutrients are fed in from the urban areas in central Florida from Orlando south. Much like MN, lake and river front owners fertilizing their lawns are also to blame.

This is true. I haven't come across any muddy water myself. The retention pond I fish gets pretty murky, but it isn't mud, its decaying plants, algae and microorganisms. I am surprised I don't see more green water and algae. I am from MN and a lot of lakes turn green in the summer as a result of agriculture runoff. Maybe it doesn't happen down here is that with the water table so close to the surface, most lakes are spring fed to some extent?

If they are schooled up, they are most likely still pre spawn. You are a little further south and east than me, but the bass here have not spawned. It's a little different than the rest of the country when it comes to spawning because the water temps won't normally get lower than the 60s. It's been pretty warm, but the forecast is for several days, Friday through Tuesday, where high temps won't get out of the 60s. With the full moon set for Feb 10th, action should heat up, unless we get nailed with cold fronts after next Tuesday.

Weight. I have a Rapala digital scale that comes with a clamp and a hook. I don't like either because the clamp has too much pressure and the hook is thick. I think both would cause unnecessary harm to the fish. If I have a net I will zero out the scale with the net as a baseline and weight the fish in the net. I'll use the clamp directly to the lure if it is firmly hooked and not deep down the mouth, both are rare. Some guys use the hook to poke a hole in the lower jaw, I don't like that, but if you put the scales hook under the gill plate, there's a chance you might kill the fish. It doesn't take much to damage the gills and bleed them dry.

You lost me at thunderstorms... Overcast morning will definitely keep them active in shallow water longer before their daily migration to deeper water and/or thicker cover. But they will still move.

I've had decent luck at the retention pond this summer compared to last summer (I have only lived here 2 years). The bass seem to be hanging close to shore in the early morning in one spot where there is some sort of baitfish that appear to be spawning. I should dip net them to see what they are. The bass have been hitting mostly the chatter bait on the fall when jigging it. I also was able to wrangle another 5#+ bass and a bowfin a couple feet from shore flipping under the lily pads near a bush back when the water was up. I am getting concerned about the water levels. The pond is at the winter levels. I hope it doesn't stress out the fish too much, although the ones I have caught have been pretty healthy. I would like to see the water some up.

of the above until I figure out which one works?

I've been saying I hate to judge in such a tragedy and not being there to know the circumstances, but I don't understand how that happens. I don't know how far away the parent was, but how do you let a 2 year old wade in the water in Florida?

Yeah, on second thought don't leave the hotel. It's too dangerous. But please spend a lot of money, our state taxes aren't going to get paid on their own!

There are 2 types of ponds generally and ponds can be your best bet for shore fishing. Retention ponds have little emergent weeds and or structure, so you can just focus on covering a lot water. Basically the shoreline is the main structure. I fish these types the most because it is easier, and in the case of our HOA ponds, the fishing is better. Fish it at the crack of dawn. Cast parallel to the shoreline very close to shore, I am talking within 5' of shore in 1-1.5' of water. There is a lot of bait/fry/tadpoles and they are sitting on the shoreline. You should use buzz baits or top water to avoid the vegetation that grows along the shore. On a good day, before you even make a cast you'll see the splashes and wakes of that bass pounding the shoreline. Another good sign is shore birds. If they are concentrated in one area and not randomly scattered, try that first. They are picking off the minnows the bass are scattering when they attack. The other ponds, at least the ones I am used to, have a lot of lily pads along the shore. You'll need heavy gear or it won't be worth it. Again fish at the first hint of light in the morning and use a weedless top water like frogs, although I like using unweighted texas rigged flukes and I swim them on top of the water through the openings and channels of the pads. You can fish the other parts of the days, but the bass activity will drop off significantly. The water is warm in these small bodies of water now, so the fish take advantage of the slightly cooler water in the morning.

...and they're called resorts up there. I had a heck of a time trying to find a place to rent a boat down here until I realized I had to search for Fish Camps.

I am fairly new to it too, just because it requires patience. Put on a plastic bait with no weight or as little weight as possible. Cast it out and let it sit like you are live bait fishing on the bottom. Let it sit for a minute, this is where the patience comes in, and if nothing bites, give it a tiny little twitch or two and let it sit another 20-30 seconds. If nothing, sweep the rod up like you would normally fish a plastic and repeat. I'll use plastic worms, but I prefer a chunky bug bait.

I definitely like fishing as the sun starts peaking. I'll stop after an hour or too when the sun comes up. I once found the bass schooled up and aggressively hitting a buzzbait. .When I first arrive I watch the shoreline. If I start seeing wakes and splashes, its game on! That is in a retention pond that only has a little hydrilla carpeting the bottom in some spots and a ton of mussels. The pond next to it has a lot of lily pads. I actually have had better luck there in the hot months later in the morning. I love cranking a fluke across the top of the water real fast. It doesn't seem to matter how fast, amazingly they'll nail it.

Its a great time of year for deadsticking. It's a little boring, but it's effective, especially during the day.

Being I have only been here since August 2014, its typical for me The fishing has definitely gotten better with the cooler temps. I tried one morning early on a warm day after a cool spell a about a week or 2 ago. I got there early enough to try a buzzbait and I was literally catching them on every cast or 2. They must have been schooled or loosely schooled and pressing the bait. It was pretty fun, but shut down as expected as the sun came up.

When I ice fished for bass, the biggest ones would come on a medium 6" sucker under a tip up. How are you fishing them? As for structure/cover, I'd say fish weedy flats. We'd catch ours on 5-10' flats that were still holding plenty of green weeds. Next I would try deep structure with some cover be it rocks, wood, whatever. That's how they target bass in the south in the winter where it still gets cold, but not cold enough to form ice.

Not sure where you are located, but I had my best day this morning in central Florida. This is a shallow retention pond with little weeds except what is matted on the bottom. The lake still has a great ecosystem and is healthy. There are tons of clams and baitfish. The baitfish right now are loaded along the shore in 6" - 1ft of water. The bass must be schooling or very concentrated. I fished at sunrise and the fog extended the low light conditions. I caught 4 bass in 10 minutes, literally every cast, using a buzzbait right next to shore in 1ft of water. I had a couple more short strikes after that and then it shut off. I almost want to throw that buzzbait in the dark now after this trip.

So since the post on November 17, the fishing has gotten much better. I ran a string of a half dozen trips where I caught at least one. I tried Saturday with blue bird skies and a chill in the air and that broke the string. This evening I caught 2 and missed a 3rd.

Matthew Riggins, 22, male on or about November 13, 2015 A police dive team found the victim's body in a pond in Palm Bay's Barefoot Bay community in Brevard County, Florida ten days after he was reported missing. Riggins, who had been burglarizing homes in the area, was attacked and partially eaten by an 11-foot alligator.[1][2] James Okkerse, 62, male October 19, 2015 Killed while swimming/snorkeling by a 12-foot alligator at Blue Spring State Park near Orange City, Florida. The final cause of death was determined by the Volusia Countymedical examiner's office in consultation with a forensic odontologist from a neighboring county who specializes in animal bites.[3][4][5] Tommie Woodward, 28, male July 3, 2015 Suffered severe trauma to a limb when he was attacked and killed in the early morning at a Southeast Texas marina. Woodward ignored warnings not to swim in the water because of the danger of alligators; his last known words were "[f**k] the alligators" 2 in Florida and I would say only 1 was not preventable or at least not due to someone ignoring warning or not being attentive. What will likely kill you? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/16/chart-the-animals-that-are-most-likely-to-kill-you-this-summer/ Be smart and aware and you should be fine. I'd be more concerned with the drivers in cars on your way to the body of water.

Yes, when playing hide and seek, it is generally a no-no to hide near or in the waters edge.

So I have been living in Florida for about a year and 3 months. I have a small retention pond by my house, as well as 2 ponds with pads and more vegetation, and when I first started fishing in November last year it was decent. I'd catch at least one it seemed every other trip. I'd usually put out a crawler once in awhile too and get some catfish. The catfish were pretty active and I'd see schools of them. So the fishing was pretty good until about April. Then as the water warmed, I seemed to have more and more blanked trips in between catching one. So April through about now the fishing tailed off significantly, although I did get my biggest at the end of July, and that was fishing one of the other adjacent ponds mentioned before. Even the catfishing got difficult and I stopped seeing schools. I am curious if people find the summer and fall months tougher with higher water levels, plenty of forage and warmer water temps? For the life of me I have not been able to establish a seasonal pattern. The bite and location of the fish seems pretty random, which isn't too surprising, since the pond is small with little structure and just some hydrilla on the bottom being about the only vegetation growing. I've tried around a full moon, new moon, after the barometer dropped, after rain, the windy side after the wind has blown from the same direction for a few days. The only real structure is a storm sewer which I though would hold fish, especially after rain, but it doesn't appear to be the case. Thoughts?

Wish I seen this post sooner. I'd might make a trip for a snakehead party because I'd like to catch some just to be able to say I did. I'm not sure what I would do with a snakehead. I've generally throw invasives back because I feel like killing them is a exercise in futility. However I'd catch and kill if I was participating in some sort of fishing rodeo round up. Now if I found snakehead to be appeasing to my palate, then I'd be filling the freezer.

Stay out of the water and be aware. Quite frankly I would be more concerned with snakes who might be harder to detect and even seeing them is rare.

Welcome aboard. I'm from Lake Mary. I moved from Minnesnowta last fall and unfortunately I am shorebound until I get the wedding out of the way, so I have little info.

Flukes! I know this is an older post, but my 2 cents. I used a unweighted Bitter's Bait Skip Shad for this fish. I use them for not only retrieving across the surface, but for flipping when there are a lot of lily pads, but not much slop/matted weeds on top. I dropped the skip shad in a pocket right next to shore and watched the action, the way it sinks with the nose slightly down and how it convincingly bounces of the stems like a meandering feeding baitfish makes it my go to lure in pads, when I can use it. As I said, when I can means when I don't have to punch through floating vegetation. When I run it across the surface, I start out with a fast retrieve. I find the slower you run it, the more likely it will catch in the notch of a pad. You normally will get the lure back, but usually it takes turning it into a projectile. Retrieving it fast, the bait normally bounces off the pads and naturally follows a path that keeps it in the seams and pockets between pads, keeping it on the surface of the water, as opposed to traversing over the leaves. If that doesn't work I slow it down, sometimes switching to a scum frog.