soflabasser

Nice bass.Hard to tell from a picture, but that bass looks to be in the 4-5 pound range.

It is a common misconception to think that Florida only has shallow lakes.Down here we have many bodies of water that are 40-60 feet deep,with some lakes much deeper(both natural and man made lakes).The temperatures in these lakes is relatively stable and is one of the main reasons why many exotic species of fish thrive.Water temperatures rarely drop below 60 degrees, even on days where the air temperature is below 40 degrees.

Have caught plenty of bass in sub 45 degree weather(right after a big cold front),which is very cold for South Florida... ^This^ Find out what the bass want and you will be catching them long after most people quit fishing because it's "too cold" in the South for bass to bite.

+1 on Berkeley big game and Ande monofilament line.

Depends on what type of rod you use. I flip +5 pound bass and +5 pound fish of various species all the time with my fishing rods.Some of these rods are +20 years old and still function well despite decades of abuse. ^ This is the best answer given.

The Pflueger president is a affordable spinning reel that has proven itself to be reliable in bass fishing.

Sadly this type of behavior has become very common in this day of age of instant gratification. I have meet many of these types of fisherman that demand info ,yet are very rude the way they ask for information.These are the type of fishermen that I will never invite fishing with me.

It never surprises me how desperate some bass fishermen can be to find out what exact lures people are using!I have had lots of creeps follow me around bank fishing just to see what I am throwing. Most of these creeps don't talk to me,they just follow me wherever I go and very few are decent enough to come up to me and start a conversation.There's been several instances where these creeps have grabbed one of the rods on the floor or opened up my tackle box to see what I am using without my permission to do so!

^^This^^

Lots of good responses.Those who know how to put in their time wisely are usually the ones who are the most successful at consistently catching big bass.

The 20 pound,4 ounce bass caught in Lake Hodges did not eat stocked rainbow trout from what I read,which makes it more impressive that it got that big without stocked trout as a main prey.

Nice bass.

The record largemouth bass for Lake Hodges is 20 pounds 4 ounces,which makes it one of the biggest bass caught in the state of California.

Has anyone caught a teener bass since this Southern California lake reopened?

Nice catches.I see you caught lots of different species of fish during your trip in Florida.

Just saw a Wyoming license plate parked in a supermarket close to my house. Nobody will drive that long of distance unless they really want to move here.

I didn't click the link,so I didn't see the bass.

The only real way to know how big a bass is by measuring it correctly(weighed on a scale,measuring the length and girth). A picture alone is not a reliable way of measuring a bass, since there are people who love to long arm a bass or take pictures of bass at a angle that makes the bass look much bigger than it really is.There is also people who take bad pictures and make a big fish look small,but that is rare compared to the long arm fish pictures.

Looking towards to seeing pictures of your catches during your Florida fishing trip.

Same here. There's a public park lake down here that I caught a +10 pound bass bank fishing a couple years ago. There are hundreds, if not thousands of people that fish this lake every year and most people never get a 6 pounder fishing this lake. Big bass from these highly pressured waters are far from being dumb and if they where truly dumb everyone would have a +10 pounder as a personal best.

A typical 22'' bass is in the 4-6 pound range, with some bass below/above this weight. It is best to bring a scale with you to weigh bass since internet bass weighing calculators can be very inaccurate. For example, I caught a bass earlier this year that was less than a ounce away from being +10 pounds on my digital scale, yet a certain online bass calculator says my bass weighed 11.31lbs...way off to say the least!

You are going to get a lot of different answers since the best topwater choice depends on location and time of year. With that said I have caught plenty of bass on Rebel Pop-R's on days where the temperature was below 45 degrees fahrenheit, which is very cold for South Florida.

Fish whisperer

Flukes are definitely one of the best lures a bass fisherman can use.I like to fish them slowly with occasional twitches or twitch it side to side on top of the water.

Almost ran over a deer a couple months back.This deer didn't want to leave the middle of the road and I had to stop my car and honk my horn for it to leave,which it did at a very slow pace.