soflabasser

My 2 favorite snakehead rods are both under $60 each. Both have caught lots of big snakeheads, including one over 10 pounds. Like other types of fishing it is more important that you are fishing in a good location and using the most effective techniques possible for the day you are fishing. With that said this subject reminded me of a guy I meet on a jetty recently. He was bragging to me about his +$1000 size 4000 spinning reel. I asked him what was the biggest fish he caught on it and he said 40 pounds. After that I told him my old beat up size 4000 spinning reel caught a 7.5 foot shark (fish big enough to eat his best catch on his +$1000 reel) and my reel cost 1/5th of what he spent on his reel. Guess you can say I got the best bang for my buck and catch bigger fish than he does without needing to spend extra money.

Probably weighed 3-6 pounds depending on its girth. Have caught dozens that size and bigger with the biggest one well over 10 pounds. Couple guys down here have caught snakeheads over 13 pounds so there is always the possibly of catching a +10 pound snakehead in South Florida. Those tend to be harder to convince to bite, especially from public waters. One thing I learned about snakehead fishing is that they do not always stay in the same spot and they tend to move around in the canal systems. One week a certain spot might provide good fishing and the next week you will be lucky to catch one. Snakehead fishing is more like hunting than fishing. You have to walk very slowly and not get too close to where you plan on casting. Have caught clown knifefish, pacu, peacock bass, and other exotics as well.

I live in the Fishing Capital of the World so I have no need to relocate for my fishing hobby. Florida also has world class diving which is my favorite thing to do. Still plan on traveling to catch bucketlist fish but my favorite place to live will always be Florida.

What is your PB bullseye snakehead and PB largemouth bass from the bank? I use bass fishing techniques (frogs, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, etc) for snakehead and they seem to like it.

Why have you not fished since November? You don't have to go far to catch a bass in Florida so you can always do a quick 1 hour fishing trip.

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Looks like the plastic worms bass vomit after being caught. Yep! Seems like most northern states have been suffering from a brutal winter this year. South Florida is experiencing a little ''cold front'' as I type this and the temperature is 64 degrees outside. Other states are in the low 30's or below at this moment with many frozen lakes.

Nice catches especially if they where caught from a public body of water. There is a public lake in South Florida where I caught a double digit and have not heard of anyone catching a bass bigger than 6 pounds from it. That lake has lots of one to three pounders, decent amount of 4-5 pounders, but not many 6 pound or better bass, at least they are not caught often. Other lakes I have caught the biggest fish from what I know. With that said there where probably bigger fish in those lakes that I caught so I cannot say 100% sure I caught the biggest fish in those places.

Must be hard growing up fishing the stick marsh/surrounding areas and having to deal with increased amount of people fishing it every year. From what I read the Stick Marsh is very popular with tourist and the more people brag about what they catch the more people will show up and fish it. Let's hope they keep it a catch and release fishery or at the very least not allow harvest of bass 18 inches or bigger.

I did more research on this subject and it confirmed what I already knew. It seems that many out of state tourist fish the Stick Marsh and many times these tourist outnumber Floridians during the snowbird season. Some of these tourist are well known for keeping limits of black crappie and taking them up north in several coolers. I also read that some of these tourist keep trophy bass to mount for the wall when most Floridians release the trophy bass they catch. Knowing this I feel it is best to keep the current regulations of catch and release bass fishing in those places and not allow catch and keep, even for small bass. Seems like some of these tourist could care less for our resources from what I read and I am sure they would not like if Floridians where to travel up north in large numbers to fill coolers with smallmouth bass, muskie, etc fillets and drive down to South Florida to share with friends.

11 pounds of drag is more than enough for black bass fishing and lots of 50 pound or better fish are caught with only 10 pounds of drag.

Fish for striped bass or blue catfish if you want to catch a 10 pound or better fish in South Carolina. A 10 pound or better largemouth bass is a rare fish and even the best of the best guides will have a hard time helping you catch a bass of that size.

We both agree that is best to release trophy bass so we are not disagreeing in that. I release all the black bass I catch and see no problem if somebody keeps a legal limit of bass that are 16 inches and less. Those little bass are a dime a dozen and are easily caught throughout the state.

Another vote for Ande monofilament line. It is a good fishing line but I prefer Berkeley Big Game Mono.

Turkey lake is a nice to fish but they only allow you to fish a couple hours on the boat rental. Have fished it both on the boat rental and from land. Have caught quality sized bass from Turkey lake but catch much bigger ones in South Florida on average so it is not a place I plan on visiting anytime soon. With that said it is worth fishing Turkey lake on the boat rental in the morning, eat lunch, and fish the rest of the day from the bank. If you have another day you can fish one of the many ponds in Central Florida which might be the place you catch your next personal best bass from.

It is safe to say that most of us agree that is best to release trophy bass but I do not see a problem letting people keep a legal limit of 5 bass 16 inches and under. Bass that small tend to be better tasting and more plentiful so it makes sense to allow harvest of bass that size. In fact it might improve the fishery if people keep bass 16 inches and under and release the bigger bass. The biggest problem these places will face is the trophy hunters that keep bass to mount on the wall and they will come in droves once those places are open for harvesting trophy bass.

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You should see the picture of the IGFA ''length record'' largemouth bass. It only measured 24.016 inches in length yet it appears to be over 30 inches long in one of most well known pictures from how bad the long arming is. Did not have much girth either so that bass was probably under 8 pounds.

Good advice. I use saltwater grade trebles when canal fishing since you never know if a peacock bass, snook, or tarpon hits your lure that was intended for largemouth bass. I also replace worn down trebles with new ones when needed. Setting the drag at the correct setting is also important and a too tight drag is a common cause of bent treble hooks.

That is a good way to see how accurate a scale is. Another good test is to weigh a gallon of water which weighs a little over 8 pounds. If a bass does not feel as heavy as a gallon of water then it most likely weighs under 8 pounds.

Do you fish for other species during those 6 months you do not fish for bass? It would be difficult for me not to go fishing for more than 1 month, 6 months would be way too long! I also take pictures for memories and have albums filled with big bass I have caught throughout the years. At this point in my life I feel that I need to properly document my catches to show the true size of the bass. I do this by taking length and girth pictures. I take pictures of bass being weighed if they weigh at least 8 pounds and do not bother weighing bass if I think they are under 8. Anyone can make a 2-4 pound bass look like it is +8 pounds by long arming the bass but a accurate measuring tape never lies. A 25 inch bass is 25 inches when it is properly measured just like a 8 pounder is a true 8 pounder when weighed on a decent quality scale.

Welcome to the forum

Have used orange and yellow braid with success but prefer fishing with green braid. I use a size 4000 spinning reel when using 12 pound test mono.

A couple years ago I caught a +8 foot tiger shark while fishing for bull sharks. It was a nice surprise and one of my favorite catches from land. I have caught other unexpected catches such as bigmouth sleepers, a baby Goliath grouper on a jerkbait, and other fish.

Orlando and surrounding areas has very good bass fishing so you should be able to have a good time. Do your research and locate bodies of water that you are allowed to fish and do not underestimate the many small ponds that are in the Orlando area. Lots of 8 pound and better bass are caught from those ponds and many of them are only a couple acres in size.