soflabasser

Central/Northern Florida would be your best bet in Florida if your goal is to catch double digit bass. Lakeland, Ocala, Jacksonville, Tallahassee areas are loaded with trophy bass, with many people catching +13 pounders. South Florida has much better variety of fish than Central/Northern Florida but the trophy bass fishing is nowhere as good as further north in the state.

Maybe since I only fish 1-2 times a week at most. I know many on this forum fish 4-7 days a week, that would be a excessive amount of fishing for me. Besides I use most of my free time for working out, other hobbies, and more important things.

Welcome to the forum

Must be hard to wait for the lakes to thaw out, especially since many here do not like ice fishing. No hard water in South Florida and my first day of bass fishing in 2019 was January 1st.

There are plenty of young anglers that are much more talented in bass fishing than most people with several decades of bass fishing experience. For example there are young people with +10 pound largemouth bass PB's with less than 5 years experience in bass fishing while there are many people that have never caught a single 10 pound bass in +4 decades of bass fishing, even with traveling out of state (or out of the country). Some people are just plain better at figuring out patterns in bass fishing at a early age and those are the type of fishermen that consistently catch big bass while others are barely getting by with small/regular sized bass. With that said never underestimate someone just because they are young and instead it would be best to keep a open mind since you might one day meet a young angler bank fishing that can teach you a trick or two about bass fishing that you where not able to figure out by yourself.

I would bring 2 of each lure to be safe just in case you lose one. There are many ways you can fish a spoon. You can reel it just below the surface, reel it midwater, or reel it just off the floor if there are not many obstructions. You can also jig the spoon every once in a while. Change retrieves to find the retrieve the fish like best on the day you are fishing in. You might want to get some 1oz spoons as well since they cast further. There are lots of bluefish and mackerel running in Florida at this moment in time and there are hitting gotchas, spoons, jigs, and jerkbaits.

Heddon super spooks, spoons, Gotcha plugs, DOA soft plastics, and bucktail jigs are good lures to use when fishing from the beach in Florida.

Walking catfish are known to ''walk'' across land to reach other bodies of water, especially during heavy rains. Have caught many of them in the past +20 years in South Florida including one that was albino. They are a small species of catfish and any over 16 inches is considered a big one.

Welcome to the forum

Everyone is different when it comes to what weather they like. I can stand the heat+humidity+occasional hurricane but I would not enjoy waiting for frozen lakes to thaw and dealing with snow+wind+grey skies, already got a taste of that on vacation up north, not nice weather to say the least.

You got muskie, smallmouth bass, and other fish I enjoy catching but that's about it. How was your most recent trip to Florida, did you enjoy it? Any bass over 6 pounds? Would you consider retiring in Florida? I know I will never consider retiring up north since I like seeing green trees, open water 365 days a year, and catching big bass whenever I want without leaving my home state. I enjoy seeing alligators, iguanas, and other reptiles when I fish so that is a big plus for me. With that said I would still consider visiting up north for bucketlist fish and try ice fishing but never live in the frozen north. I have lived through Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Wilma, and other hurricanes. It is not bad if you have a well made house and prepare in advance which is very easy to do. Beats living in a place where it is cold +9 months of the year and nasty, windy, cold, snowy, frozen lakes for +6 months of the year. Besides hurricanes rarely hit South Florida and where you live it gets hit by dreadful winters every single year. Saw in the news that there where storms with hurricane strength winds+lots of snowfall up north recently, that is even worse than a hurricane! We rarely see tornadoes and that seems to be common in some states. No drought either unlike other states, just lots of green plants everywhere and world class fishing both in freshwater and saltwater. Are the lakes still frozen in your area? Its late March already, open water can't come soon enough!

I caught my first bass well over 2 decades ago. In that time I have caught double digit bass, lost count of the 8 pound or better bass, and hundreds of bass over 5 pounds. At this point in my life I am more interested in fishing for big bass and catching new species of bass. I also hope to continue improving my ability to catch big bass in new bodies of water.

This subject made me curious to see if my fishing rods are ''balanced'' and so I tested them and most are balanced with the exception of some travel rods and saltwater rods I have. Those rods have caught me muskie, smallmouth bass, blue catfish, snook, tarpon, hybrid striper, various species of sharks and other nice fish. Based on my personal experiences I do not need a rod to be 100% balanced but acknowledge the fact that balanced rods might help some people who fatigue easily while holding a fishing rod for more than 1 hour. Maybe the heavy hammer dumbbell curls I do help my fishing game to the point I do not need a light, balanced rod? Point is everyone needs to fish the way they want and they will know if they are fishing ''the correct way'' if they are catching lots of quality fish.

Most automobiles can fit a couple 8 foot fishing rods so you should be ok with a typical bass rod.

Try fishing with a Zoom Super Fluke.

Last weekend I went surf fishing somewhere in Central Florida. I noticed that over half the cars parked in the beach had out of state license plates. Seeing this reminded me how fortunate I am to live in Florida and how miserable it has to be to live up north where people are willing to drive +1000 miles to seek warmer weather during the winter. Florida is truly a paradise for those who enjoy the outdoors and I do not blame the tourist for coming in droves to Florida every single year.

LOL That is a very nice Penn Senator. I have a collection of Penn Senators from 4/0 to 12/0, many of them are older than me and still work very well.

I would not eat any fish from a South Florida freshwater canal knowing well how much methyl mercury and other chemicals are in the meat of fish. It is so bad where the state says pregnant women should not eat any predatory fish (largemouth bass, peacock bass, etc) from South Florida canal systems. You are allowed to keep fish if you have a Florida freshwater fishing license and the law says you can keep 2 peacock bass in 1 day (one peacock over 17 inches and the other under 17 inches). You can catch all the bowfin you want in the Everglades. They will hit the same lures a bass will hit. It is easy to tell the difference between a bowfin and a snakehead. I suggest you see pictures online of what a bullseye snakehead and bowfin look like so you can better identify them when you catch them.

Corn or bread is a good bait for carp.

Yes you can use the same rod for snakeheads that you use for peacock bass if you want but I prefer using a heavy action rod for snakehead fishing. A 6-7 foot medium heavy spinning rod with size 4000 reel would be a good choice for most canal fishing in South Florida. Have caught peacock bass on ultralight gear with 4 pound test line for fun but that is not a good idea most of the time, especially since the canals in South Florida have rocky walls that can easily abrade light mono. Besides a long fight can stress a peacock bass and increase the chances of delayed mortality after being released. Better to keep the fight short and release the peacock bass as soon as possible.

It is a common misconception to think spinning gear is not as powerful as baitcasters. In fact many size 4000 spinning reels are more powerful than many bass baitcaster reels. I use size 4000 spinning reels for peacock bass, largemouth bass, snook, tarpon, bullseye snakehead, clown knifefish, etc and do very well for these species. I prefer using straight mono for peacock bass in the 8-15 pound test range, depending on the conditions and where I am fishing. You can catch them on straight braid if you want but it would be better to use straight mono or braid with a mono leader. I catch peacock bass in every month of the year and have caught them during cold fronts. Have caught +6 pound peacock bass in February which is usually the coldest month in South Florida.

The main species of peacock bass in South Florida is the butterfly peacock bass. They have been caught weighing over 12 pounds in Florida and the official state record is 9.08 pounds. The average size is around one to three pounds. A 4 pound or better peacock bass is a big one and anything over 5 pounds is considered trophy size. Pound for pound a peacock bass is more powerful than a largemouth bass so keep that in mind when fishing light tackle. Most people fish with 8-15 pound test line depending on the conditions. A 6-7 foot medium heavy rod is a good choice. Poppers, propbaits, crankbaits, lipless crankbaits, jerkbaits, jigs are good choices.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum. The bass in the picture appears to be around 4-5 pounds.

Congratulations on your new personal best bass.