soflabasser

Caught my first bass of 2017 on a Zoom Fluke.

I know a guy who caught a +9 pounder on a $1 Wal-Mart spinnerbait and I have done well with them myself. They are not the best spinnerbait in the market, but they are great for throwing in areas you would not want to throw and maybe lose a +$7 spinnerbait in.

My ''secret lure'' is whatever lure I am currently catching big bass on. This lure is often many different types of lures since the big bass in my area learn quickly to avoid certain lures(Pure Florida Strain Largemouth bass in highly pressured waters).

Well said. Some people have amazing genetics for longevity and can live over 100 years with bad lifestyle choices, but most people have to take care of themselves to have a high quality of life. An example of someone who lived a extremely long lifespan while smoking for decades is Jeanne Calment. Mrs.Calment lived for over 122 years and picked up smoking at the age of 21 and stopped smoking at the age of 119,which means she smoked for approximately 98 years(depending on what sources you read). Most people don't have the amazing genetics Mrs. Calment had, so it is not very realistic for someone to compare their lifestyle choices to her lifestyle choices. The percentage of people that live over 80 with a +30 pack year history is very small, and more people die before they reach 80 years of age with a +30 pack year history of smoking than those who take care of their health.

Nice catch. I have caught lobsters as bycatch when fishing for snappers.

One of my favorite jerkbaits is a Rapala X-Rap. Its also a great lure for multi species fishing, both in freshwater and saltwater.

They say he's one of the best quarterbacks that has played in the NFL.I am sure he can bass fish for 6 hours if he wanted too.

Choose the one you feel will be the best choice for you.

Interesting article.Age is just a number for those who exercise regularly and eat a well balanced diet.

Thank you. I am very fond of the outdoors and I often make my fishing trips short just to marvel at natures beauty like you do. Love taking pictures of the wildlife around me and spending time with my better half, family, and close friends.

Lots of bass fishermen leave trash in the public lakes I fish,and they seem to not care that they are polluting.These same bass fishermen pride themselves in catch and release bass fishing,which is ironic since they seem to not care for the environment the bass live in.

I often fish public parks and many of the bass fisherman that fish these places leave soft plastics scattered all around the lakes. Many of these soft plastics are in good condition, so I use them and catch many bass on their lures. Also find hard plastic lures often in trees and have acquired a decent collection of topwaters, crankbaits, jerkbaits, etc.

Yes most of my bass fishing rods are Medium Heavy or Heavy action rods and these rods have helped me land many large bass out of very heavy aquatic vegetation,which we have lots of in South Florida. As for reels,I mostly use size 3000-4000 spinning reels,since I am able to fish a wider variety of lures with these reels compared to a size 1000-2000 spinning reel.I use these exact setups for inshore saltwater fishing as well (mostly snook,tarpon,jacks,snappers,etc).

Yes you can do flipping and pitching with spinning gear,I do it all the time and never had a problem using spinning gear for these applications.In fact,I prefer using spinning gear for most of my bass fishing, since spinning gear is very useful for a wide variety of bass fishing techniques.

My favorite monofilament for bass fishing is Berkeley Big Game,which I mostly use from 8-20 pound test. Also use this line for multi species fishing and it had helped me land sharks that weighed several hundreds of pounds each.

Ugly Stiks are great rods for a good price and take much more abuse than most rods in the market. The following lures should get you started in bass fishing, with time you can get more lures if want; Hollow body frog Topwater popper Spinnerbait Jerkbait Crankbait Fluke Trick worm Senko Take your time to learn how to fish these lures well and you will most likely be very successful in bass fishing .Make having fun your #1 priority in bass fishing and you will enjoy this sport much more.

My biggest skill in bass fishing is my ability to consistently catch big bass in highly pressured waters. My biggest strength in bass fishing is topwaters.

I will gladly take the bitter freezing cold for a good ice fishing trip, especially if I have a good chance at catching a big Muskie, Pike,Lake trout,etc!

Never seem 7 degrees weather in my whole life,but will consider it since I want to go ice fishing for one of my vacations.I wear shorts and a T shirt in 50 degree weather,it's not that cold.

It's 84 degrees where I live right now and supposed to drop in the 50's tonight. Let's see what frosty can do in South Florida.

Congratulations!

This thread has inspired me to fish a couple of my old Rapalas this weekend, maybe Saturday. Should be able to get +20 bass easily within a couple hours,since the bite has been fire!

The Rapala website gives excellent, easy to follow instructions on how to use these lures, but nothing compares to putting in your time on the water with these lures.

I wouldn't mind some cooler weather down here. Its been in the low to mid 80's almost every single day where I live, and that's not the best weather for some of the outdoor sports I enjoy doing this time of year.

Been using Rapalas for well over 2 decades now and they are among my favorite lures to use.Here's a couple Rapalas that are very effective for me; Skitter Walk Original Minnow Jointed Minnow Shad Rap X-Rap