soflabasser

Thank you for the advice @Deeare, I will consider using it the next time I fish up north. I use mostly lures for bass fishing and use live bait when the conditions call for it. Sometimes the reaction bite from a lure works best, other times the big bass don't want the fake stuff, I give them what they want to keep adding the +8 pounders to my photo albums.

Welcome to the forum

I also got a bunch of Rapalas that have not been opened from the box and I don't plan on fishing with these lures. Also got a bunch of lures my grandfather gave me and I keep them in my lure collection.

Every bass fishing technique has its time and place it works best and it would be foolish to not consider using a technique just because you think you are too good to fish a certain technique. This includes fishing with live worms and I rather catch a +8 pounder on some type of live bait that is legal to use than catch a bunch of dinks on lures. Good advice. I have not tried these methods and will consider trying them the next time I travel up north for smallmouth bass.

You are very fortunate that you have visited most of your bucket list places to fish, I have only begun my travels and have a long list of places to visit.I plan on fishing each continent ( excluding Artarctica) for fish I have only seen in pictures and videos. Me and my better half both have good professions so money is not a issue and I will gladly spend thousands of dollars to catch the fish on my life bucket list.

Try fishing with hollow belly frogs.

Nice smallies.

Welcome to the forum

White bass make good catfish bait in areas you are allowed to use white bass as bait.

Welcome to the forum

Hybrid stripers have many names such as sunshine bass, wiper, palmetto bass,etc. They fight much harder than a equal sized largemouth or smallmouth bass, at least the ones I have caught.

Looks fun.

I plan to visit South America to fish for peacock bass,arapaima, payara, and other hard fighting exotic fish. Have caught smallmouth bass and many other species of black bass,they don't fight anywhere near what a equal sized South Florida peacock bass does so I am looking forward to catching a speckled peacock bass from the Amazon.

Good advice. A long time ago I came to the conclusion that many people that drive fast in no wake zones are idiots with no compassion for others so I try my best to avoid times when these pleasure boaters,jet skiers,etc are most likely on the water. I am also very picky who I decide to fish with and I will not fish with someone who likes to drive their boat recklessly fast.

Fish at night with lures most people do not use in the area you are fishing in.

I fish similar places and use spinning gear in the 6'0"-6'6" range. Long rods don't help much when you barely have any space over your head or around you to cast. As for lures that depends on how thick the aquatic vegetation is in the place I am fishing at.

I live in South East Florida so that red tide is not affecting my fishing.In fact I had another awesome weekend of fishing and expect the fishing to get better as we get closer to the end of the year. Not the same can be said for South West Florida they are having a hard time with the red tide. Red tide is caused by a organism in the plant family and all that fertilizer rich water being pumped out from Lake Okeechobee is not helping the environment in that part of the state. Lots of people have moved to South West Florida from other states and many of these people are also not helping the environment by using lots of fertilizer for their gardens which eventually finds its way to the ocean.California is having a hard now with many fires caused by drought and I rather deal with some heat,humidity,rain,a occasional hurricane or 2 than deal with extreme heat,low humidity,drought conditions,and earthquakes.

I have a couple lures that I no longer fish with.These lures have caught me trophy bass and I plan on putting these lures in the mouths of the bass replicas I plan on getting later on.

Nice buffalo nickel. Old coins like that are getting harder and harder to find. I found a Indian head cent in my loose change a couple years ago and still find wheat pennies every once in a while.

Reading this thread makes me appreciate more some of the places I fish since they are places boaters are not allowed to fish.

I understand where you are coming from since we have many inconsiderate jet skiers in South Florida which fly past no wake zones. Would be nice seeing them get water balloons dropped on them. That's not good. I been reading about the recent weather in Europe and learned that Europe is been having record breaking heat in many locations. Guess I won't be visiting Europe in the summer anytime soon and would need to go during the winter.

That muskie is a beauty, did you catch it and how long was it? I have caught a couple pure strain muskies while on vacation up north, so I know how they fight. Muskie are good fighting fish for freshwater fish standards but they are nothing compared to most equal sized saltwater fish. I caught a 43 inch muskie and it barely fought compared to a equal sized barracuda. Have caught several +50 inch barracudas and I am certain no muskie compares to a barracuda of that size. With that said muskies are still my favorite northern freshwater fish to catch and I plan on traveling to fish for them again. Bluegills are definitely stronger pound for pound than a largemouth or smallmouth bass of equal size but these sunfish do not compare to some of the exotic freshwater fish we have in South Florida, like the pacu which fight reminds me of a permit, one of the toughest pound for pound fish in the keys.

Anywhere I can catch a new species of black bass is a place I would like to fish. Have caught many species of black bass so that narrows the list of places I will visit in the future.

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South Florida is having a huge population growth from people from certain Western,Northern,and Eastern states. They seem to like our weather(and other things) enough to move here, not many people are moving to those states though. I don't blame them for moving to South Florida since this area of the state is paradise for much more than the weather and fishing.