soflabasser

The bass are still biting very good in South Florida if your willing to fish early in the morning, late in the afternoon, at night, cloudy days,etc. As for lures, I have been catching quality sized bass this summer on topwater frogs and poppers even on the hottest, most humid days.

I have a large collection of old fishing books from the 80's and 90's that I cherish for the timeless information they have. I got the first couple books as gifts from my grandparents when I was a child and recently bought the rest of the books to complete the collection. These books are worth every penny! I bough books about muskie and smallmouth fishing, read the books, and used the information I learned to catch my first couple muskies, smallmouths, and other northern fish in recent vacations.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum

Well said @scaleface. Internet forums did not exist when I learned the most about bass fishing. Back then I learned by putting my time on the water, learning from each fishing trip, and reading books about fishing. Honestly I haven't learned much that I didn't already know while reading forums compared to what I learn while actually fishing( besides a couple fishing spots I got from internet forums,youtube videos, google earth, etc).

LOL

Put your time on the water and try your best to learn from every single fishing trip. Understand that expensive gear is not truly needed, there are plenty of land based fishermen who caught several double digit bass from land and people with top of the line bass gear and boats who haven't caught a single bass over 8 pounds.Try to find someone who is very skilled in bass fishing and fish with them as long as you can.Understand that bass fishing is a sport where you will learn for a lifetime. Above all make having fun your number 1 priority while fishing.

Sounds like he is a wise and honest man since not everyone can say they caught a bass over 22 pounds.Most if not all trophy bass anglers have used or continue to use live bait for trophy bass, its part of the game when targeting trophy bass. I give Mr.Kurita lots of credit for being honest on catching the +22 pound bass on live bait, since their are many California anglers that have caught most of their DD's from live bait( such as live trout, crayfish, etc), but tell others they caught these fish on big swimbaits or jigs and even put down live bait to look like they don't use it all.Mr. Kurita claims he's lost bass much bigger than his +22 pounder on a lure and says he sees trophy bass in schools together, which is something that many expert bass fishermen says does not happen( it does and I have seen small schools of trophy bass before).

Fish at night

I wonder if Mr. Kurita is a member of this forum and what advice he has for bass fishing. He has the current world largemouth bass so it would be interesting to hear his perspective.

Good report. Sounds like you had a fun day catching lots of bass and catching a big snapping turtle. Come to the Everglades during low water periods and you will have a decent chance of catching +100 bass in less than 6 hours of fishing time. Its like the bass are in berserker mode and they will attack anything that moves and can fit in their mouths, including a bare hooked worked quickly on the surface.

Nice snakehead. You are very fortunate to have snakeheads in your area since they are stronger fighters than bass and they add some variety to your fishing. We have snakeheads in South Florida as well, but they are a different species(bullseye snakehead) and they also fight better than the native largemouth bass. The bullseye snakehead are coexisting quite well with our largemouth bass, and I often catch bass in the 18-22'' range as bycatch while fishing for snakeheads. As for what to do with these snakeheads, you did the right thing giving it to somebody since that snakehead appears to be hooked deep and you don't want to kill an animal for no good reason, just because its ''invasive'' or ''exotic''.

Welcome to the forum

Yes there is a strong possibility that the bass might be eating the frogs, especially at night. it might be a good idea to fish that area with hollow body frogs, soft plastic frogs, and other topwaters.

Interesting subject. I fish for bass both on land and on boats and have noticed that many boaters in South Florida tend to be rude to land based fishermen more than the other way around. Its not uncommon here for a boater,jetskier, etc to fly pass a area where people are fishing from land.Anyone with common sense will know that what these boaters are doing is rude and unsportsmanlike and I am sure those boaters who drive aggressively do not care if what they are doing is wrong. The funny thing is that often the land based fisherman catches bigger bass than these boaters, maybe the boaters should learn to slow down a bit and effectively fish the water better and not run and gun so much!

Congratulations on your new PB

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum

Be willing to put in your time on the water and not make excuses about why the fishing is hard. Find solutions to why the fish are not biting as well, and change the way you fish until you start catching fish well.Learn from every single fishing trip you have and understand that fishing is a sport where you will learn for a lifetime. Above all, always make your fishing trips fun and don't take fishing too seriously, its just fishing.

Sorry to hear you can't find a alligator free body of freshwater in South Carolina and that you can't fish at night.That has to make fishing much more difficult in this intense summer heat we have been having. You can always get a canopy for your boat to give you some shade while bass fishing, fish under the shade of trees if your fishing from land, and try to fish more at dawn, dusk, cloudy weather to avoid the high UV index that occurs during the middle of the day. Make sure to bring plenty of water to stay hydrated and do not over exert yourself if your not feeling good while fishing. Fall is right around the corner, so soon the temperatures will drop and make it more enjoyable. Wow that's a lot of snow, glad I don't have to deal with that and it makes me realize our weather isn't so bad.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum

I wouldn't mind a little extra rain in South Florida since that means the spillways will be open pumping extra water.The snook and bass fishing can be amazing when the water is coming out strong out these spillways. Besides me and my family lived thru Hurricane Andrew just fine,aint much I haven't seen in South Florida when it comes to hurricanes.

My strangest unintended catch while bass fishing is catching a fish called a big mouth sleeper (Gobiomorus dormitor) , which I have caught several of them from land in freshwater. These fish are very rare to catch in South Florida and I know few people who have caught them. I have caught much rarer and harder to catch fish in saltwater.

I fish for fun 100% of the time and will continue to do so.