Zcoker

Florida is still about as wild as it gets. For me out in the glades it's all solo. I've never encountered much anyone out there at night. We still have winding rivers filled with life. The pic below is ironic because it was taken directly off of busy I-75 interstate. Goes to show that even in close proximity to the concrete jungle, it can still be very wild out there.

For high confidence, I'd recommend using a basic mono leader, something along the lines as Berkley Big Game. The possibility of knot failure always lurks with floro, which has reared it's ugly head a number of times with me, not only with knots breaking but on the actual spool itself (if using all floro). It's just prone and vulnerable to failure if not tied correctly. On the spool it gets kinked and breaks on the cast. Both not good. Up to you to decide.

Be nice if companies at least offered the barbless option. I tag sharks for NOAA and all my hooks get the barb removed. And I have never lost a fish related to going barbless...or at least none that I know of, specifically. I was also very much involved in the current FWC (Florida) shore-based fishing regulations and tried very hard to get barbless hooks written in as a rule, but they opted for a "recommendation" only along with the none-offset, none-stainless circle hooks.

Here's an example of some creative lure modification....modifying a small 4in lure that is normally a lite tackle minnow lure into an all out monster getter. 400lb #19 stainless thru wire threaded by hand from nose to belly to tail. This lure has produced 180lb tarpon off the beach....no boat to chase them down, all tackle and two feet. I call it the BEAST!

I modify most all my lures, that or just build them myself. The right sound/vibration at night gets the big strikes, so tuning the lures just right makes modifications mandatory. Sometimes I need to build lures from the ground up, spinnerbaits, bladed jigs, buzzbaits, jitterbugs, etc. Hooks/split rings get upped in size relative to the bucket mouths that I'm after. Blades get changed and tuned. Super strong saltwater hardware comes into play, BKK Fangs. Strong trailer hooks go on everything with a fail safe keeper system. Often I need to make the lures much stronger because the fish that I'm catching are 8 plus pounds. Fish like that will make short work out of cheap hooks, flimsy split rings, and so forth. A store bought lure will rear it's ugly faults with any giant everglades bass!

yeah, but their idea of “essential repairs” could also include nuking. This is a quote I got directly from the SJRWMD related to the closure: “staff plan to address some of the vegetation issues that impact the lake”

I can vouch for those Jitterbug mods. I had to add extra heavy duty hangers for my side hooks; they were ripping them off. Curling in the front cup to achieve a certain sound they like takes some trial and error but once right, it's game on....drives them batty lol

The spraying that they do in these lakes is down right depressing, staining them into oblivion. I reckon they have their reasons. Headwaters Lake is were it's at right now, having just won over Orange Lake for trophy fish (380 of them). But don't go running down there just yet. Just got word from the st. johns water management district that Headwaters is closing in June, probably to be sprayed. If that's the case, then it'll take a LONG time for recovery, same as the Stick March, Kenansville and just about every other popular lake that gets nuked on a regular basis.

Scum Frog Launch Frog in Sloppy Toad. What I truly love about the Scum Frogs, they never fill with water, which can be a nuisance with other frogs, having to always squish squish squish before the next cast. With the Scum Frog cast after cast it always comes back bone dry ready to go again. I don't know how in the world the designers did it but it sure does make fishing with it a pleasure.

The guides have conditioned the bass like one of those pellet feeders. When they draw up on a spot with a boatload of clients the fish are there waiting. It’s all about the bounty on that lake.

Maybe so. But I've seen a few fish very hard to define unless looking at them magnified. I reckon a lot of these photo judges in some of these smaller tournaments are laymen and just accept them, figuring that they're legit. And why not? We're only talking fractions here. Seems that way because these double fish submissions have been going on for a good while.

The battery thingy caught my eye. At first, I couldn't wrap my mind around it but once it was explained, I was like, whoa! They (cheaters) take three AA batteries and wrap them together with duct tape and then place them under the fish to be measured right in the middle of its body. What this does is shorten the actual measurement. That I couldn't understand: why would anyone want to shorten a fish in a length contest? Well, as it turns out, one can use the same fish twice! Once for its actual length and again for its manipulated length, just like they do with board bending. CPR tournaments have been won by mere fractions of inches, so it does make sense.

As with anything, stuff like this can ruin it for everyone else. What do they say about a bad apple? At least these fishing organizations are taking action to make things as fair as possible and to limit the possibility of cheating as much as they can. Even still, if there's a will, there's a way. Even with all these new restrictions and re-written rules in place, new devices and so forth, cheaters will always find a way to beat them. Some of the techniques that cheaters come up with just boggles my mind.

At least your health gave you the opportunity to get out again! Looks like you made the best of it.

Live bait can be cheating, espeically in CPR tournaments, which don't allow live bait. But there's really no way to enforce that, either. Just gotta go by the word of the angler to follow the rules.

Looks like you said it yourself, already made the decision "I feel a clear conscience is far more important than even a 15 pound bass, but the dark side is strong." Luke Skywalker, man, resist that dark side!

Those boards are still allowed for certain local contest. Most all the big name CPR tournament's like KBF don't allow them for the reasons stated. If you notice the yellow board in the picture I posted, you'll see how faded the numbing eventually gets. The remarking of them just gave cheaters another opportunity to take advantage of. I'm quite sure the makers of the Hawg boards didn't anticipate any of this nonsense! They're really not a bad board.

Yes, the hawg board was banned from the more popular tournement organizations. They even found ways to cheat with that one. The hawg board is thin and easily flexed. So smushing a fish against it to bend it, the board would draw down and show shorter lengths. The measuring lines on it were also very faded and people would remark them. I also head something about cutting the board. So basically a single fish could be used for multiple entries. The Ketch board on the other hand is thick and cannot be bent. The lines are dark and clearly defined. The board also has upper rail measuring points.

They do and I have them, as required but I don't use them out in the everglades while fishing. When I'm navigating, they come on. No one around but me out there anyway. Now, on an open body of water fished by others, sure, they come on and stay on, obviously.

Headwaters isn't the only place producing bigs. There was a 13.10 caught over at Kenansville and recorded on trophy catch.

Great report! Yes, very shallow running. Big girls come out at night. All those sounds that you mentioned and then some!

Where one fishes can dictate what tech to use, or how good one has to be to use it. Out in the glades, for example, I have no use for electronics, nada. Just not practical because it just wouldn't work out there, plain and simple. The graphs are nothing but a jumble. It's so shallow mere inches and loaded with weeds. Plus I use no lights at night and the graph-light is a nuisance. Now, when it gets into navigation, I'm high tech all the way in that department. And I wouldn't have it any other way. I rate myself high with using that tech to get around. There's nothing that I cannot navigate through out there, thick or thin. The fishing, on the other hand, requires some good 'ol fashion ingenuity, common sense, and practical wisdom. The tech department has to take a back seat on that one.

I've come to appreciate the wind more than anything else. Barometric pressure has it place, I reckon, but the wind is something I can actually see and feel. It's effect is immediately known and understood, espeically at night.

Dang! You'd think they'd be a bit more reluctant after that last weight debacle. It'll never end. They'll find other ways to cheat. Just amazes me what they come up with...what extent they go to. Some of these crazy ideas, like this dude who cut off a live bass tail to use on other bass during a CPR tournament. Gained 'em few inches. They've since changed the rules...no hand covering the tail area.

Yes, I can still see it now as clear as day, forty years ago, I was fishing with my girlfriend in a rented Jon boat out at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. I was fishing parallel to a ditch in a deeper cut, maybe five feet, which is actually kinda deep out in the glades. The water clarity that day was clear enough to see the bottom. I was working a Snagless Sally along the ledge while arguing with my girlfriend when, suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I saw the biggest whitist mouth open up and engulf my lure with such a violent thump that I almost lost my balance. That fish then yanked and yanked and pulled and pulled and yanked and yanked so hard that she finally broke my 30lb mono leader. Probably the biggest bass I've ever encountered. That one fish on that one day changed my life as it pertains to bass fishing. Even to this day, no fish has come close to the ferocity of that one bass. There was no way that she was coming in; her mind was made up. The determination of that one fish to not be caught has stuck with me my whole life.