soflabasser

Good subject.I recently caught a nice sized smallmouth bass on a squarebill crankbait while fishing in a river and have caught many species of fish on squarebills.

This has been a very long,hard winter for many Northern states and the Southwest states hasn't had it easy either with several years of long droughts,having to paint the grass green since its all nasty brown from not enough rain, and other unfavorable living conditions. Makes me appreciate where I live in South Florida, the fishing capital of the world!

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new personal best bass.

Tube lures are good for river smallmouth bass. You can use weighted tube hooks to keep it closer to the bottom and hook the tube weedless.

Topwater

Seems like more and more people are leaving northern States and coming down to live in Florida. I don't blame them one bit for it since we are the fishing capital of the world, have warm weather, and other aspects that make life so much better here.

Welcome to the forum

That's disgusting but it doesn't surprise me they do that kind of stuff. I recently spent 6 days in rural areas of South Carolina and saw plenty of disgusting things there I don't see in South Florida or other areas I visited up north.The fishing was good though and was able to catch a bunch of fish such as Bartrams bass, smallmouth bass, Bartram's bass×Alabama spotted bass hybrid,blue catfish, and other species of fish.

Shimano and Penn

I got Rapalas that are over 20 years old, have caught lots of bass, and they still work well. They tend to last less for toothy fish like a barracuda but so do most lures.

Welcome to the forum

Congratulations on your first bass.

Let's be grateful that we are still young enough to have the energy for stuff like this! Lol

Welcome to the forum

Congratulations on your new personal best bass

I never lost a fishing rod to a fish while fishing, not even to a shark,billfish,tuna, or other fish that is far more powerful than a bass.

I agree. I have a open mind when it comes to fishing and enjoy +100 fish days as much as I do days I have caught double digit bass. Some prefer to just fish for big bass and that's ok for them but I don't want to be someone who lives in the past talking about past +20 year old accomplishments and not much in the present day since the present and future matters more than the past for me. Well said. Any day you catch lots of fish is a good day.

Try fishing small inline spinners on 4 pound test line.

Try fishing at night.

If you like tiger muskie you will love barracuda fishing. Barracudas are pound for pound much stronger than a muskie or pike, with much more endurance as well. They also leap out of the water and don't give up, even when you got it right by the boat. Average size barracuda in South Florida is 10-25 pounds, with some over 50 pounds.Good lures for barracuda are barracuda tubes, and saltwater versions of topwaters, diving plugs,etc.

Snakeheads are a game fish, there is no doubt about that. They are much stronger pound for pound than a bass of equal size and they love to hit topwaters lures, which is probably the most exciting way to catch a fish.

Any tiger muskies over 40"? The muskies that I have caught over 40" had some nasty teeth on them, I am sure they can easily cut 50 pound mono if those teeth where to clamp on the line.In the ocean I have caught barracuda( a fish that has a similar body to a muskie) over 50" without a leader, but that was because I hooked that barracuda in a spot where the teeth could not get the line, which is not often. Most of of the time I catch barracuda on wire leader and even then the wire leader gets messed up from the sharp teeth.

Welcome to the forum.

I got a separate freezer almost filled to capacity with saltwater fish fillets and lobster that I have caught. I enjoy eating fresh seafood and it beats buying old stale seafood that most people buy in supermarkets. I do give some of my catch to family members and a couple close friends when they ask me.

Welcome to the forum