soflabasser

I have caught several channel catfish over 10 pounds on bread but have more success with fresh cut bait. Freshly cut bluegill works very well in Florida for catfish and many other species of freshwater fish.

You do not need to rent a boat to do well in South Florida and you can do well from the shore. Bring some hollow belly frogs, spinnerbaits, soft stickbaits, flukes, swimbaits, and trick worms. Good luck and have fun!

You do not need a boat to catch bass in South/Central Florida and you can do very well if you put in the time needed. Focus on learning how to read the water, learn bass biology, and figure out which lures work best in the areas you fish. Good luck and have fun!

There are plenty of talented bass fishermen who do not care for tournament bass fishing. Some people rather focus on trophy bass fishing and not deal with the drama that is well known in tournament bass fishing. Also many people enjoy multi species fishing and fishing will quickly get boring if all they did was bass fishing.

This subject reminds me why I do not care much for tournament bass fishing or invite people fishing with me who are too competitive in bass fishing. I will never leave a spot I am fishing since some ''pro'' or wannabe pro feels he is entitled to fish exactly where I am at. Besides harassing a fisherman is illegal in the state of Florida so a ''pro'' will be breaking the law if he decides to pull off this type of behavior. Sadly many tournament fishermen are too arrogant to understand this. Nobody owns public water yet these ''pros'' seem to think they are entitled to fish a spot in public water and a recreational fisherman has to leave if for the ''pro'' to fish it. Whoever is fishing a spot first stays there and if they leave then someone can go fish that spot if they want. They think they are above recreational bass fishermen, even though there are plenty of recreational bass fishermen with bigger PB's and overall better fishermen than many of those so called ''pro'' bass fishermen. You will be surprised how many talented bass fishermen do not care for tournament bass fishing and will never waste their time in a tournament since they rather catch lots of big bass the way and not deal with the petty egos involved in tournament bass fishing.

The fish above is a walking catfish. Have caught many of them as bycatch while fishing for other species of catfish.

A couple years ago I dived in a clear river with trout. I plan on filming trout underwater in a future vacation along with other freshwater fish.

The top fish is a Guadalupe bass from Texas and the bottom fish is a Bartram's bass from South Carolina. I agree he needs to send the picture to TPWD to have a fisheries biologist identify his catch.

Welcome to the forum

I wonder how much money it would take to buy off a Youtuber and make him post videos of him fishing with googan combos with helicopter lures and banjo minnows on top of a fishing jetski? I have noticed that as well.

Saw the video and I agree with you. Youtubers will keep advertising these reels as long as they get paid you can bet on that! Remember the helicopter lure? My grandfather bought me a couple of them when I was a kid. Those lures where terrible but they where advertised well. There will always be overhyped lures as long as companies pay professional fishermen to do so. That is why it is best to put lots of time on the water and learn from real life experience and not pay much attention to what some paid fisherman says about a fishing product.

Is it wrong for me to sort of smugly enjoy knowing the fact that there are northerners in muskie waters that have never caught a muskie yet I caught a muskie in my first day of fishing for them while on a weekend vacation? If a person falls into this ''northerner who never caught a muskie in his life group'' then it might make them a little salty knowing that? That salty feeling is very similar to the feeling many gullible newbies in bass fishing have when they buy overhyped gear and realize they did not get what they expected. That is one of the many reasons why I focus more of my time learning on the water to improve my bass fishing game and not so much time on other sources of unreliable information about bass fishing

A size 4000-5000 spinning reel is good for small/medium species of saltwater fish and I would recommend a size 8000 for species that you need the extra line capacity/heavier line for. My favorite spinning reel brands for land based saltwater fishing is Shimano and Penn. Shimano, Penn, Ugly Stik make good inshore fishing rods. Make sure to get a rod that is rated for the baits you plan on casting.

It is a well known fact that many in the bass fishing industry are deceitful when it comes to what products they recommend. They will say they caught a bass on their sponsors overpriced lure when in reality they caught that bass on an established, better priced, older brand like Rapala, Zoom, and other lure companies that don't need to advertise themselves much. Same can be said for those fish with Shimano reels in tournaments yet advertise some other reel company since they are sponsored by that company.

Welcome to the forum

Looks like South Florida is having a little cold front today. It was in the low 50's early this morning and it is now in the mid 50's. Nice weather for running and soon it will be back in the mid 80's. Might do some saltwater fishing this weekend for snook and tarpon if the weather is nice.

I use Berkley Big Game Mono for leader material and do well with it.

Carp are fun to catch but they are not even in my top 10 list of favorite fish to catch. I agree with you that we are very fortunate to have so many species of fish to choose from and for that I am very grateful. A couple weeks ago I caught a +46.5 inch grass carp on 12 pound test mono. It was a fun fight but I rather catch another 10 pound or better largemouth bass. As for fighting ability try catching a 7.5 foot or better shark on 30 pound test line from land, you will never see bass the same after that.

Read the news and saw that many Northern states are still getting lots of snow, freezing temperatures, and lots of lakes are still frozen. It is already March, by now it should be warmer than it is now but it seems to be a longer than usual winter for many northern states.

Good underwater videos of trout thank you for posting them.

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Last month I caught another trophy bass to add to my photo album of big bass I have caught. It was caught during a time that the ''experts'' say was not the best time to fish for trophy bass. That is one of the many reasons why I do not pay much attention to people that write books on bass fishing and instead focus my efforts on actual bass fishing since it is what matters most when it comes to catching big bass.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum

Try telling that to those with boats that drive +30mph in no wake zones, jet skiers, pleasure boaters, and other people who seem to not care for others fishing. Best thing to do is to adapt to the situation and be consistent at catching big bass, that is what I do and it keeps me happy while on the water.