soflabasser

The only fish I weigh in grocery bags are the fillets of fish I keep which are saltwater fish. I don't weigh any bass in a plastic bag and rather weigh them by the mouth.

Best of luck trying to get rid of all the exotic fish in South Florida, which includes snakeheads. They are here to stay and fishing for exotic fish brings millions of dollars to the South Florida economy since many people will glady spend their money to catch exotic fish.

This summer has been better than normal for me when it comes to bass fishing. It's been raining a lot lately where I fish in South Florida and cloudy,rainy days tend to be cooler than sunny,rainless days. I would be night fishing if I lived where you are now. +100 degrees with a high heat index is no fun for me unless I am diving. Florida gets cool breezes from both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico which helps keep the temperature lower than many similar areas. I rather have hot,humid, rainy weather than live somewhere with higher heat,dry,very little rain, water shortages, and huge forest fires caused by drought.

Freedive spearfishing,lobstering,big game fishing, multi species fishing, microfishing,powerlifting,calisthenics, long distance running and other hobbies.

Amazing how so many states north of South Florida have much hotter temperatures, many with little rain.

How hot is it during the night? I would probably fish more at night and not during the day if I lived in a location where it was over 100 degrees during the day. Wow look how hot it is in California and Texas. Goes to show you that South Florida is not that bad when it comes to the heat and makes me appreciate the weather we been having this summer. Also helps that the fishing has been extremely good for me this summer, hopefully it continues to rain like it has the past couple days.

Congratulations on your new personal best bass.

I have fished for bass at night for over 20 years now,especially in the summer time. Good lures to use at night are the following; buzzbaits spooks poppers wakebaits hollow belly frogs spinnerbaits swimbaits various types of soft plastics.

Like the expression says "the sizzle sells the steak" and that is a major problem with many YouTube channels these days. Most people in general are more interested in YouTube videos that are overly dramatic with lots of hype and fluff. Not many people are interested in channels that are strait to the point,show no hype, even if these channels are educational and show plenty of big fish.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum.

A lot of YouTube videos are educational and I enjoy watching them. I have learned about new locations to fish,new fishing techniques, and how to fish in locations I have not fished before from watching YouTube videos. I like to see honest fishing gear reviews and they can be found on YouTube, especially from small channels that are not sponsored. Saw a video where a chinese made spinning reel broke at the handle while fighting a regular sized freshwater fish and this video taught me not to buy those reels.

Welcome to the forum

Happy birthday and congratulations on catching the 6 pounder.

Welcome to the forum

You are welcome. Spoons are good lures to use for inshore fishing. Other good lures are the following; Poppers Spooks Jerkbaits Jigs with soft plastic trailer Bucktail jigs Lots of guys prefer using flourocarbon when inshore fishing but I prefer using big game mono for leader material. It's cheap, extremely abrasion resistant, and I catch a lot of quality fish on big game mono. I prefer using a uni to uni knot when tying a mono leader to braid. For the lure knot I use a uni knot or Rapala knot.

You are welcome. What pound test line you plan on using? I would advise against using braid since it has poor abrasion resistance against structure and would recomend mono as your mainline.You can get lucky and land a shark with 30 pound braid and no leader but that is rare compared to using thick mono with a wire leader.I like using 50-60 pound test mono mainline,5-8 feet 100 pound test mono topshot, and 3-5 feet of 120-200 pound test wire leader when fishing for medium sized sharks(4-8 feet long). I use heavier line/wire leader when targeting bigger sharks (8 feet and above).

Welcome to the forum

3-5 feet of 40-60 pound mono is usually enough leader for small/average size snook,juvenile tarpon,redfish, and jack crevalle. You can go up to 80-100 pound mono leader if you are fishing for big snook,tarpon but the thick line might decrease the amount of bites you get. You can also use 20-30 pound mono leader to get more bites but you might get cut off more often.

Make sure to not let the shark go under the pier and be careful not to let the line get cut off by the pillings or other structure. Landing small sharks ( under 3 feet) from a pier is relatively easy, medium to large sharks are hard to land from a pier. Many people fight the shark from the pier and walk down to the beach to properly land the shark. Make sure to release the shark as soon as possible once you catch it so it doesn't die.

Smallmouth bass fight good for their size but there are plenty of fish that fight harder pound for pound. Peacock bass destroy smallmouth bass and all black bass species I have caught when it comes to overall pound for pound power, endurance, and acrobatic ability. Tarpon are even better fighters than peacock bass and give a skilled fishermen a hard time to land. Tarpon fishing days are classified in the following ways; number of follows you get, number of jumps you get, and the ones you actually land. Sailfish are another species of powerful,acrobatic fish but they are not as acrobatic or strong as a tarpon is pound for pound. Jacks and tunas are other species of fish I have caught that are extremely powerful for their size and they will give anyone a decent mini workout, especially when they are over 20 pounds.

You should be able to catch sharks in North Carolina as well but they tend to be smaller on average compared to sharks in South Florida. You can surf cast the bait or kayak your bait out for a better chance at catching a bigger shark.

I agree with you that South Florida is a fisherman's paradise since it offers so many species of fish both in freshwater and saltwater. We have fish from at least 5 continents and many of these fish can be caught from land in public waters. I am very fond of bass fishing but admit that I spend most of my fishing time targeting other species of fish such as snook,tarpon,peacock bass,clown knifefish, bullseye snakehead, various species of sharks, and other species of fish. Also do deep sea fishing, freedive spearfishing, lobstering, especially in the summertime. Go to the Florida keys bridges with appropriate shark fishing tackle and you will have a good chance at catching a shark. Good baits to use are stingray, jack crevalle, mullet, barracudas,and mackerel. I prefer using fresh cutbait and have noticed more bites with fresh cutbait vs old previously frozen cutbait.

The smallmouths I have caught fought harder than a equal sized largemouth bass, but both of these bass fight less than a equal sized Suwannee bass. Peacock bass fight much harder than any black bass species I have caught and they are a species of fish worth adding to one's bucketlist.