soflabasser

Yes that's a good time. Best part is that there is usually nobody to bother you when you fish at night. No boaters, jetskiers, pleasure boaters, and random people that approach you. Just you fishing enjoying the outdoors.

Next time try to get a picture of the whole bass if possible and maybe measure its length and girth. Regardless your smallmouth bass is a beauty.

That's a bigger weight than what many would use for rainbow trout fishing but if it works for you go for it. I would use 12-15 pound Big Game Mono for a 3/4 ounce weight when targeting other species and never had the line snap on me, even on far cast.

What matters most is that you got a bunch of blowups. That means you are throwing something they like, now you need to find what retrive will make them smash the lure and get hooked. Maybe change hooks if they are not sharp enough. Keep being persistent and you will eventually catch the fish you are after.

I like your idea of getting a picture of a big bass and putting it in a nice frame for the wall and might consider doing it. At this moment I have a couple albums full of big bass pictures and no pictures/replicas on the wall.

Did you get a picture or a video of the whole bass hanging from the scale? Here in Florida the whole bass ( from the mouth to the last tip of the tail) has to show on the scale if we want to submit the picture to the TrophCatch program. Also the hand cannot touch the metal that weighs the bass. Lots of bass have been disqualified from the TrophyCatch program because of people submitting partial weighing pictures but it might be different in your state.

Congratulations to your son for catching his first pike.

Congratulations on your new personal best bass caught on a flyrod.

Congratulations on your new personal best bass.

Welcome to the forum

Fish at night

Find out what the lunker bass want in that lake and give them a offer they can't refuse.

I have fished in zebra mussel infested waters for muskie before and never had my line cutoff by the zebra mussels. I used 20-30 pound test Big Game mono. That stuff is extremely abrasion resistant line. You can use 30 pound Big Game Mono for extra abrasion resistance but that might be too much if you are using small lures.

Congratulations on catching your first bass of 2018.

8-20 pound test Big Game Mono.

Anywhere from weightless to a couple ounces depending on what technique I am using and what I am targeting.

Congratulations for catching a 9.7 pound smallmouth bass. It is a beauty and bigger than most bass fisherman's home state PB largemouth.

Welcome to the forum. Try fishing in the public parks near the area you live. These parks often have good fishing and are easier to access than fishing a place where the grass is not cut low and other obstructions.

Didn't see you say it had to be a baitcaster so I will say that a Shimano Stradic spinning reel is worth every single penny and its under $300. Penn also makes good spinning reels such as the Penn Fierce, Battle, Spinfisher, and other models well under $300.

I prefer using fresh cutbait or live bait for channel catfish. Chicken liver is another good channel catfish bait.

The species you are holding in your hand is a golden shiner.

Well said @optimator. People come to internet forums to discuss subjects they like and there would be no point for a internet bass fishing forum if people used Google to get all the answers they are looking for bass fishing. With that said the "official" Florida state largemouth bass is 17.27 pounds and the unofficial Florida state record largemouth bass is 20.13 pounds. There have been old reports of bass even bigger than these caught in Florida but they where not killed and examined by Florida biologist which is required to make a largemouth bass a official state record largemouth bass. All these bass where all natural, not stocked in a man made lake with easy to catch trout to feed so its impressive they got as big as they did without trout. Last year in Florida a young man caught a bass that was almost 17 pounds. It is only a matter of time before the Florida state record gets beaten and I am certain it will happen this decade or the next.Here's a article that dicuss some of the biggest bass caught in Florida; https://sites.google.com/site/biggestfloridalargemouthbass/

Congratulations on your new personal best bass.

The snakehead are spawning now and will continue to spawn for a couple months so now is a good time to get one over +8 pounds. The small ones are fun to catch but they just don't compare to how a big snakehead hits a frog and runs.

The biggest bass in the world is no match for a big snook so you should upgrade your gear if your goal is to catch a big snook ( any snook that is 40" and up). You need a rod with a solid backbone to pull the snook away from structure and a reel with a powerful,smooth drag to handle the abuse a big snook will give your gear. Make sure to use at least a 50-60 pound mono leader when targeting snook over 40" since big snook have a sharp gillplate that can easily cut mono of smaller size. Many snook fishermen use 80 to +100 pound mono leader when targeting big snook so 50-60 pound mono leader is not as heavy as you think. Yes you can get lucky and land a +40" on light leader ( have caught snook over 40" with only 30 pound test mono leader) but you will most likely get cut off by the gillplate or the snook will get you stuck in the mangroves, concrete pillings,etc.