soflabasser

Have bought lots of lures from Ebay and Amazon, especially lures that are hard to find in the local tackle shops by my house. Most of the time I get the lures at a lower price than shopping in the local tackle shops with free shipping. Have bought other fishing gear from other countries and so far I am happy with my purchases.

I do not like fishing with yellow braid but my little cousin does and he catches bass that will make most bass fishermen envious. He lives in Central Florida where a bass under 6 is nothing special and he has caught a bunch of trophy bass on yellow braid. I have taken him fishing in clear South Florida lakes for largemouth and peacock bass and he has done well.Other people fish with white braid and say it is the best braid for them. Have caught quality bass on orange braid so I feel that having confidence in the way you fish is far more important than what color line you use.

You are very fortunate to live so close to the Stick Marsh which is one of the best trophy bass fisheries in the state of Florida. I am in Miami Dade County so the Stick Marsh is a far drive but I plan on visiting it in the future.

Welcome to the forum Mr. Acetylcholine

Yes we are blessed to live in the Fishing Capital of the World but we still have to work hard to catch decent fish. I have had plenty of trips where I catch nothing and it was not from a lack of trying.This Summer was much better than average for me and I most likely had my most memorable Summer for bass fishing that I can recall at the moment. You have muskies and smallies in your state and they are fish worth traveling for. I plan on going up north soon for more muskie and smallmouth bass fishing and hopefully catch some.Illinois is right next to Wisconsin and has a +13 pound state record largemouth bass so I don't see why its hard to believe Wisconsin with a 11 pound largemouth bass. There's people who doubt the Illinois record as well, which is no surprise since its a extremely impressive catch for that far north. A man did catch a 11.71 pound largemouth bass in Crab Orchard lake,Illinois recently which is not too far from where you are.

Try fishing with crickets with light mono.

You are in one of the best places in the state for trophy bass so you are very forunate! Our bass in SouthEast Florida bass don't get as big as your area of the state, but we do have a bunch of 6-9 pounders (with the rare +10 pounder). I honestly don't bass fish that much compared to other types of fishing I do but decided to challenge myself for a month and did well. Got rained on hard on every trip I went but it paid off. Probably going to focus on other species now until near the end of the year when I start getting serious again about chasing the big bass.

Welcome to the forum

What part of South Florida are you in,SouthWest Florida? I am SouthEast Florida and the bass fishing has been awesome this whole summer, in fact probably one of the best Summers I have had. Can't wait for Fall and Winter since that's when the bass are the thickest and heaviest!

Your post reminds me of one my fishing mentors. He would use a permanent marker to darken the first couple feet of braid and told me he has caught more big bass doing this than letting the braid fade. His PB bass is almost 15 pounds (much bigger than most tournament angler's pb bass) and he has albums full of big bass that he caught from clear, weedy lakes with strait braid. He did not like to use leaders. I don't darken my braid anymore but I do follow the other lessons he taught me.

Yes I keep several hand written journals where I write down some of my fishing trips. Some of the information I document is the following; 1. Location 2. Date 3. Time 4. Temperature 5. Moonphase 6. Pressure 7. What I caught 8. What technique I used 9. Any other extra notes that are needed I feel that writing these fishing journals and reviewing the information I write has made me a better fisherman to the point where I have no need to hire a guide for bass and I catch my own fish just fine.

The Florida keys has good snook fishing and you might even have a shot at a +40 inch snook from land there since that area of the state is loaded with trophy snook.The West coast is not looking too good at this moment from the effects of red tide and thousands of snooks (and other wildlife) has died from red tide poisoning. I won't be traveling to the West coast until that nasty red tide clears up thats for sure!

Yes those are good times. Have caught plenty of big bass in +90 degree heat, very sunny conditions, and in the middle of the day, but I don't enjoy that type of fishing anymore. I rather enjoy my fishing trips and fish during high percentage times, catch some more big bass,and protect my skin from the intense sunlight as much as possible. Skin cancer is no joke and lots of fishermen die from it so that gives more reason to avoid the middle of the day sunlight. Sunblock and protective clothing helps a great deal but it does not stop the sun from damaging the exposed areas.

I never liked them much since they tend to catch lots of small/medium bass which is ok but I prefer fishing other lures that I do better with for big bass. I do feel that they have their place and time that they do best and will fish them if I have to.I do not fish tournaments but agree that +6 pounders are better than anything under 6. That's why I do not fish with common little lures when I am seriously targeting big bass. A blind squirrel does find a nut every once in a while just like you hear about reports of people catching big bass on little crappie jigs, inline spinners, etc.

Never had a problem with saltwater damaging my braided line. Clean the braid with freshwater after your saltwater fishing trip and do the usual reel maintenance as needed. Most decent freshwater reels can handle some some saltwater fishing if you take care of the reel. I use the same reels for snook fishing that I use for bass fishing and my reels work great.

One of my fishing buddies has caught several +8 pound bass on senkos/other similar lures and swears by them. I do not like fishing with these types of lures but do acknowledge they work for big bass on some occasions. I rather fish with topwaters, swimbaits, and other lures.

Catching big bass on a consistent basis is not easy and you usually have to fish for big bass differently than you would fish sub 6 pounders.Nighttime is a great time to target big bass, especially during the summer. I have done everything I mentioned in this list,continue to do so and have seem myself grow as a bass fisherman, even after + 23 years of bass fishing. There are techniques I learned to fish better this year and hope to learn more techniques as time passes.I would highly recommend #1 on the list to anyone who wants to increase their PB, whether it be the biggest bass, top 5 bass in 1 month, top 5 bass in 1 day of fishing,most bass caught in 1 day, most species of bass caught, etc. Like the saying goes its hard to fly like a Eagle when you are surrounded by turkeys so find yourself the best bass fishing buddy you can find and learn from them while actually fishing!

Fish during low light conditions such as nighttime, dawn, dusk, cloudy days, etc.

Yup you got that right! Confidence is very important in bass fishing and I have 100% confidence in my ability to catch big bass with strait braid in clear water. I don't even bother weighing bass anymore if I feel they are under 9 pounds, that should give you a idea how good I did bass fishing this Summer with strait braid.

I have been very happy with Big game mono for both leader material and for applications where I fish with only mono. There are other good brands of mono out there but I find no need to change when I am already having great results. If it aint broke don't fix it! The bass definitely see the wire arms on spinnerbaits, a-rigs,and hooks just like they see flourocarbon under water. You are right confidence is extremely important in bass fishing, and some guys get confidence fishing a ''invisible'' line like flourocarbon even if its not invisible.

Flourocarbon line is not 100% invisible under water and anyone with decent vision can see flourocarbon line in a cup of clear water. Bass often bite out of instinct (reaction bite) and that helps explain how there are lots of people fishing with strait 50-80 pound braid and they catch +8 pounders with plenty of 4-7 pounders in the mix in waters many would consider clear. As I stated earlier I have lost count of the +24 inch bass I have caught on strait braid in clear bodies of water, so I got real life experience on this subject, not something I read online, in a book, or regurgitating something a tournament fisherman told me to do. I use the uni to uni knot for my leaders and a uni knot or Rapala knot when tying the lure. As for the quality of my knots, I have caught +150 pound sharks on 30 pound test braid mainline (with a mono top shot and wire leader to prevent line being cut from teeth) so I think its safe to say my knots are done quite well.

I have also noticed that flourocarbon is much more fragile fishing line than monofilament and that flourocarbon tends to break at the knot much more often than mono does. Have been using Big Game mono for leader material and have been very happy with the knot strength, shock resistance, and abrasion resistance it provides over fluorocarbon lines.

Try fishing a different location or change the lure you are using, retrieve,etc until you find what the bass want.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum. There are some peacock bass in SouthWest Florida but you will most likely do better fishing for peacock bass in SouthEast Florida. You do not need to hire a guide to catch peacock bass and you can do just fine fishing from the shore. You can find plenty of peacock bass locations online in the FWC webpage and lots of Youtubers give out locations if you ask them. Easiest way to catch a peacock bass is with live shiners. You can also catch peacock bass on lures such as poppers, propbaits, spooks, jerkbaits, lipless crankbaits, crankbaits, and jigs.