soflabasser

Congratulations on the 9.9 pounder, it is a beauty. Did you measure the length and girth of this bass?

Peacock bass can be caught in almost any freshwater canal in South Florida. Poppers, propbaits, jerkbaits, lipless crankbaits, and regular crankbaits are good choices.

Go fishing when you are able to and enjoy it.

Caught another personal best fish and a couple new species added to my fishing lifelist since my last post. This might be my best multi species year in the many years I have fished. There is a couple weeks left this year so lets see what happens.

That is one thing that I am not looking towards to when it comes to ice fishing, wearing all that cold weather clothes. I rather dress in athletic clothes which is what I usually do. Weather is very nice in South Florida at this moment so I will go fishing tomorrow.

I do not read old post much and focus more on the newer post. I am very fond of fishing so I do not see myself giving up fishing for 5 months every year but that is just me. Maybe 1 month of no fishing but no more than that. Nice huskies you have, I am sure they love the cold weather.

You are not going to fish for 5 months? Ice fishing sounds like a good choice compared to no fishing for almost half a year. LOL! I already caught muskie, smallies, walleye, trout and other northern fish on previous vacations. I fished during the Fall or Spring so I did not ice fish or see hard water. Will leave the ice fishing for a future vacation.

I caught several new personal best, caught new species of black bass and other species of fish that I added to my fishing lifelist. Overall it has been a great year and I look towards to what I will catch the following year.

West Palm Beach county has good fishing for peacock bass and largemouth bass. I agree any freshwater lake or canal should have bass in it. He should be able to have a good time as long as no cold front passes on the days he decides to go fishing.

I usually do not read the tournament section of this forum but I am glad I did this time since I got a couple of good laughs. I agree. I have had several +50 bass days and several +20 pound 5 fish limits, from the bank in public waters. Many members here have done the same and many of us could care less for tournament bass fishing.

Welcome to the forum

There is good fishing this time of year in the Fox River, Dupage River, Kankakee river, and other rivers that rarely freeze over. Muskies, smallies, walleye, and other fish can be caught. The sub 35 degree temperatures and +20 MPH winds does not help but dressing in layers does help make the fishing easier in less than ideal weather. There has to be a river nearby that does not freeze over. I would drive +2 hours if needed to bass fish a flowing river, would not like staying home when I could be fishing.

I have caught some nice smallies this time of year when the water was in the low 40's. Find where the fish are, fish slow, and you will catch them eventually.

Seems like winter came early for many northern states this year. Hopefully it will be a short winter so you guys do not have to deal with hard water for long. You can also fish a nearby river or other body of water that rarely freezes.

Those Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish look more like lobsters than they do crayfish. Must of been fun catching them!

Congratulations to Joe Capilupo for catching the new Illinois state record smallmouth bass. Goes to show you can do very well while fishing from the shore.

I have caught some of my biggest bass and other nice fish on rainy days.

I grew up in South Florida and can tell you from personal experience (not something I read online) that fishing for native freshwater fish is excellent. It is common for me to catch largemouth bass over 5 pounds in the same waters that have spotted tilapia, mayan cichlid, peacock bass, and other exotic fish. I also catch a bunch of 1-4 pound bass in these waters and catch more bass than snakeheads. Largemouth bass are excellent predators and are known for eating baby snakeheads and eating other ''invasive fish''. I also do well with other native freshwater fish such as bowfin, gar, bluegill, etc. With that said I find it funny how some of the biggest snakehead haters I know are the ones who fish for them the most. It is like their life goal is to get rid of snakeheads and that is a goal they will never accomplish that you can bet on. Snakeheads are here to stay and might as well enjoy fishing for them.

You have to spend more time on the water fishing than spend time online if you want to improve in bass fishing, whether it is fishing from the bank or on a boat.

Try fishing with a buzzbait.

Welcome to the forum

I have had some vicious frog hits from snakeheads but never heard of one doing a backward somersault to evade capture. Maybe it watches gymnastics on YouTube? lol I catch bullseye snakehead in South Florida and they are one of my favorite freshwater fish to catch. They hit hard, pull harder than a equal sized largemouth bass, and are very fun to catch on hollow belly frogs or other frog imitation lure.

It depends where I am fishing and what my goal is that day. Sometimes I fish for less than 1 hour, other times I fish for 12 hours or more. On average most of my bass fishing trips are around 4-8 hours.

Various sized bucktail jigs and other types of jigs would be useful in a survival type situation.

12-15 pound test mono