bigbassin'

More of early morning fishing, but one time wading around 4:00 AM we were catching sea trout pretty much as fast as we could reel them in. The whole time I was hearing something crash in to the bait bucket I had tied to me about 6’ away. Finally saw it and it was about a 4’ shark just hitting the bucket, closed mouth. Luckily no stringer with fish for it to grab.

It would be neat if successful, I’ve got a lot of great memories fishing for them. With that being said, unless you’re controlling the water temperatures I don’t think they’d make it in a pond. The rivers they live in are effectively climate controlled by the number of springs. The river I typically fished never got warmer than 77, and never got colder than 53. I would think if they could survive warmer water they would have a wider range in creeks/rivers around central Florida. Conversely if they could handle colder weather they’d probably be more spread out in South Georgia. Lastly, I never caught one out of stationary water. They always came off of current and around hard bottom. Maybe if they didn’t have to compete with LMB they could survive in a pond setting but they seem to be outcompeted in this type of environment in the wild.

I enjoyed the read, this just isn’t a frequently visited sub forum as far as I can tell.

Most of my inshore catches that were worthwhile came while wading. I can’t really think of any good stories, but I do think about a snook I lost pretty frequently. For reference, I always wade with a medium fast spinning rod, 20 lb braid to a 15-25 lb leader. This has never been a problem with trout/reds but probably isn’t enough for a snook of any size. Wading a flat, I’d probably seen 30+ snook (18-25” range) in a little over an hour but a small jack was all I had to show for it. Right up against the end of the flat where it drops off, I see a roughly 30’ log under the water and toss my fluke past it. As the fluke passes the log, a massive mid-40” snook rises up and follows for just a foot or two. This was easily the biggest snook I’ve ever seen in person, and it was dark too. It must of been fresh out of the river with how dark brown it was, it blended into the log perfectly but was very distinguished when it kicked that foot or two over the sand. I take the same cast again, as my lure comes in front of the snook it began to move further off the log and slowly swims along the flat, I figure the fish just isn’t interested in my artificial at this point but a third cast couldn’t hurt. I lead the fish by about 20’ and just start working the fluke as frantically as possible. The snook charged the fluke and absolutely blew up the water surface when he struck. The strike was more disruptive than any tarpon I’ve ever seen. Keep in mind this all played out about 30’ from me. I set the hook and come tight with the fish. I don’t think it realized it was hooked as I was able to get 5-6 reel cranks in with minimal effort and the fish slowly moved my way. Almost like a flip was switched, the snook hit a 180 to turn away from me and took 2-3 swipes of it’s tail pulling drag at will before it’s head started to come out of the water. My 15 pound test leader snapped the instant it came out of the work. Fight lasted all of 5-10 seconds.

I’ve never been able to get one on the fly.

I know that lake, as well as Sinclair below it, are supposed to have phenomenal cat fishing. I’ve read here and there that Oconee has good bass fishing, but cat’s are what it’s really known for.

I’ve only tried Red Bug once from shore, caught a couple of specs on live shiners. I’ve thought about taking the kayak out there, it looks like it should be good. I wouldn’t paddle board on Jesup.

Pretty much every residential pond in that area will hold bass, with the exception of the ponds off Winter Springs boulevard. Not sure if the ponds are too shallow or too young, but they don’t really seem to hold much. They’re probably all posted now anyways. if you know anyone that can get you onto Bear Gully, Little Lake Howell, or Lake Howell I’ve always heard they’re good fishing. Secret Lake Park by you has good fishing and a kayak/canoe launch. We used to catch catfish on Lake Jesup, never tried bass fishing it.

How do y’all post multiple pictures on the same post? I’ve got a handful of flies I figured I’d share here, but it will only allow one picture.

Good info on the rivers, that’s what I assumed but wanted to be sure. I’d have to lay everything out in my kayak, not sure I have the space for the pedal drive and the stripping basket in mine. The more I think about, if I were to fly fish out of the kayak I’d probably be treating it like a SUP to help with spotting fish/easier to cast so I wouldn’t really even be using the drive.

I keep thinking about doing it, even just informally. I’ve got largemouth, spots, and shoal bass in GA this year. I’ve got Suwannee’s and smallmouth as well this year, just not in GA. Outside of shoal bass, Chattahoochee bass are the ones I’m most interested in. From what I understand, your best chance for them is in private “trout water”, which is more than I’m interested in paying.

I’ve been fishing reservoirs with conventional tackle out of a pedal drive kayak for about the last month, and so far the pedals are far superior to paddling for this application. I do have two questions for situations I haven’t fished yet: 1) When fishing rivers, do you still use the pedal drive or am I better off using my paddle? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use a pedal drive while river fishing. 2) For those that fly fish, how tangled up does your fly line get in the pedal drive? Is it to the point I’d be better off leaving the pedal drive at home if I’m bringing a fly rod?

Just depends on the current, typically t-rigged with a 1/8 or 1/4 oz weight. I don’t see any reason split shot or weightless wouldn’t work if the current permitted it.

There have been plenty of times I’ve caught river fish letting plastics just drift in the current without ever touching the bottom. Start standing perpendicular to the current, cast at a 45 degree upstream. Then using your body, face the lure and turn with it as it drifts. Reel just enough slack in as it works towards you to maintain a semi-slack line, allowing you to feel what’s happening with out impacting the drift. Once the lure is straight in front of you, just continue to allow it drifting until it’s about 45 degrees downstream of you. At this point your line tension will impact the lure, but it will appear as a baitfish struggling against the current. Once it’s at 45 degrees downstream, reel it in. You’d be surprised how many hits occur just after you start to reel. If you fly fish, think of swinging streamers. Effectively a marabou jig is just a fly with enough weight for you to cast with conventional gear. If you don’t fly fish, it still may be worth watching folks swing streamers just because that’s the best instruction for what I’m describing that I know of.

That topo isn’t detailed enough to tell us much. Do you have a map with tighter increments?

Outside of largemouth and Suwannee, which other black bass species are there? I know fwc lists shoal bass but from what I understand they’re pretty much nonexistent anymore down there.

I’ve been thinking of making my way up there, just haven’t done so yet. Any particular location you prefer to launch from? Been looking at putting in at the ramp closest to the river and working my way upstream.

Didn’t read everything so I’m not sure if this was already mentioned, but most people set the hook too fast with live bait. At 2 Mississippi reel tight to the fish, at 3 Mississippi sweep the rod.

Fished there yesterday, that’s what inspired the post. I’ve fished Lanier a handful of times, that’s where my PB came from. I’ve never crushed the spots but I do get 2-3 every time. I think if I spent more time learning the lake that’s the best chance at a monster around me, but there are less crowded lakes in the mountains if I go north of Lanier. You on a local GA forum as well? I think you commented on one of my posts there yesterday.

Lay lake is about ~150 miles west of me. That’s part of the Coosa so I would think Alabama Bass are native there? Some places, such as the flint river where shoal bass still have a strong population, GA DNR not only has no size limit but also encourages keeping your daily bag limit. Lake Lanier on the other hand has a 14” minimum on them. I believe Alabama Bass are native to Lanier however. I no doubt agree that they have done tons of damage, effectively eliminating smallmouth bass in the North Georgia lakes. Seems up to about the middle of the state they out compete largemouth as well, although they are still holding on to some extent. I’m not an expert, but they simply seem better equipped to thrive in deep clear water where chasing bait is more typical than ambushing prey, which sums up the reservoirs going North from Atlanta. While most folks do keep them from what I can tell, I think the damage in the lakes is done and it’s probably not reversible. The lakes right on the GA/TN and GA/NC border in particular are lost causes as far as I can tell, there’s not much left but spots. If I’m correct, the introduction of blueback herring had as much to do with this transition as spots themselves. I think the bigger focus at this point needs to be on preserving the unique red eye bass species/subspecies located locally in rivers and creeks. Shoal bass for example are nearly wiped out from spots.

Anyone find themselves predominantly targeting spots? Been on a roll with these guys the last month or so, in fact that’s the majority of my catches recently. Fishing relatively cover less bottom in 30’ with worms or chasing schooling fish seemingly in the middle of nowhere has been a good change up for me, and I’m catching fish so no complaints. My pb spot is right at 18”, no weight measurement but it probably went 2.5 pounds give or take. Anyone got any mega spots they’ve caught? Any tactics y’all have found that lend themselves better to spot fishing than largies or smallies?

Access is pretty easy, they’re in every canal from the middle of Miami south. Most ponds that way will hold them as well. As long as you don’t come right after a cold front, they’re pretty easy. 3” live shiners or jerk baits worked as fast as you can will catch them. They tend to show themselves within a few casts if they are in the location, if not just keep moving. Cover as much hard structure as you can, once you find them you’ll catch several back to back. Once the bite dies, keep covering water. As for largemouth, if you’re catching peacocks you may be around smaller largemouth (and potentially snook and tarpon) but you’ll want to go several hours north to get into the best largemouth fishing Florida offers. Same deal with the flats, I’m not aware of much in terms of wade able flats as far south as you need to be for peacocks. You’d either need to get a guide or go several hours north for DIY wading. If you go the diy route, flats fishing is pretty straightforward if you are a good bass fisherman. If there’s no grass or oysters, I wouldn’t waste my time on a flat. Tides control everything, no moving water no fish. Low tide is when you’re searching for tailing reds with shrimp/crab imitations. Rising mid to high, follow the current up looking for structure and eventually you’ll be skipping mangroves when it’s all the way up. Swim baits and flukes are the way to go with higher water. Peacocks don’t care what time of day you go, lmb timing depends on weather, flats is pretty much a right at sunup deal. Typically need to be wading by 5:30 AM at the latest, bite is almost always over with by 8:30 AM, everything after that is a waste of time.

In my experience, a lot of the clear, deep mountain lakes in Georgia just don’t hold large bass. It may be lack of harvest like @TnRiver46 said, but I think it’s mostly just that the lakes don’t match the conditions LMB have evolved to thrive in. There’s a reason why spots completely eliminated smallmouth and have effectively done the same with largemouth bass once they’re introduced to these types of lakes in Georgia, they’re just better suited for these these types of waters than the other two. Constantly chasing small, low-calorie nomadic bait rather than being able to ambush panfish and other larger bait produces small largemouth.

No, it’s centimeters. So 2.8” and 3.6”. 4.5” Rebel should work, they’re not picky at all. Just needs to get down 4-5’, twitching as fast as possible, and you’ll get hit. Any cold front completely shuts them down.

Just work a size 7 or 9 husky jerk as fast as you can, they’ll commit. Gold, Silver, or Fire Tiger all work.