Zcoker

I cover the water in order to find a place to pick apart, or, more specifically, to get the layout of the land. Moving around is just part of the drill. And yet, moving around has gotten me some great catches. Often, going back to an area can have great results. Just a matter of timing, being in the right place at the right time, which wouldn’t happen if I didn’t move around. All in all, moving around paints a sort of living image of the situation(s) that I will need to focus on…..techniques, presentations and so forth, rounding out my day or night.

I don't even see how some these Bass Tubers come up with some of this content. I mean, some of them have been on the Tube for a while and make multi videos a week. After a few years of doing that, when do ya run out of things to say? Some of them are young and haven't even fished that long, if at all. They seem like they are grasping at straws for content, literally, picking up crumbs for the sake of putting something together. I watched a vid just the other day. Half the vid was about the dude getting up, makin coffee, gettin in his car, starting it up, and then driving to where he was going to fish. HALF the video! The other half was next to nothing in actual knowledge about bass fishing, just rambling or the classical "come watch me fish" format. Shame to see it get that way. Many, many new comers rely solely on YouTube for their knowledge base. Guess it comes down to weeding the videos out to find the good stuff, which can be a daunting task in itself!

Welcome aboard! If I at all can offer any good advice would be to get those things that are going to be top notch for your intended usage, even though they may cost a lot more. Get them now because, in the long run, I've seen folks spend twice as much achieving what they could've gotten in the first place for half the cost.

There's good ones, decent ones, and weird ones here in south Florida. And I know that they're all "just doing their jobs". But I had one write me up for fishing off a fishing bridge in the Keys with cut bait. First off, he makes me open my bait cooler, then he gets in there between the ice and takes the cut bait out, piece by piece, and lays it down on the hot pavement. Then he starts putting it together like a puzzle. Once together, he measures the fish, which was acceptable duh. Then he says that I can't cut the bait on the bridge, has to be cut on dry land before it's taking out on the bridge. Never heard of that one. I was like, "what?" I said that I didn't cut it on the bridge. Says he's giving me an official warning anyway. I took the warning with an ironic smile. Watcha gonna do.

The best video with the best instructions are right before your very eyes when you first launch.

That's kinda what I learned when I first started Kayak fishing: tether EVERTHING. Well, seems like you got bit pretty hard. Hard lesson to learn regardless of how it happened. I feel for ya. Hope things work out for the best. And I know the feeling. Feels like the wind is knocked out of you. Feels like an acidic syrup, eating away at the whole aspect of fishing. It will get better, though, trust me. The horrible feelings along with the horrible reminders will eventually go away like dust in the wind. You'll might even be joking about it one day while having a beer with friends.

I don't fool with florocarbon for leader material. Just don't trust it. Has to be tied correctly else the knots can fail in a heart-beat. Mono is much cheaper and I've caught so many nice fish using mono leaders that I see no reason whatsoever to change. It's cheap, strong, the fish could care less and it just plain works. But if I had no other choice, I'd most likely go for the Sniper.

Good point because once a big fish is caught from a certain spot, it's more than likely that another one will take it's place at the exact same spot, sooner or later. I've played this out many times, fishing spots were I've caught big fish before only to catch another big fish about the same size (8lbs and up). I've also caught multiple big fish from the exact same spot at the same time, one right after another, which shows me that big trophy sized fish can and do buddy up. It's all a matter of timing, right place, right time, right bait. Sometimes a prime spot may appear to be dead but it's just not the right time, etc. Come around again to the same spot at another time and, boom, there she blows!

Sometimes ya gotta catch a lot of little fish to catch one big fish, which means fishing normally. Yep, I welcome them all knowing that she’s coming around the corner real soon. It’s kinda like when you’re looking for a hardware store on a Saturday and there’s none in sight but when you’re not looking for one they seem to be at every street corner!

If I’m flipping, pitching, or punching they ain’t runnin anywhere! Your situation probably should’ve told ya to tighten up on them when they bite.

I’ve never been rescued but I have had the Fish & Wildlife (FWC) call my phone in the middle of the night to make sure I’m ok. They run my tag to get my number. What I do now is leave a courtesy note on my truck seat to alert them of my nocturnal activities.

Hooksets are free. When in doubt, light 'em up. A good rod blank is a must. Braid is very friendly on the senses. If it stops chattering or vibrating or pulsating, light 'em up. If it feels like a big mushy purse on the other end of you line after punching a mat, light 'em up. A bass mouth is big and the bigger they are, the bigger their mouth's are. It's very easy for a bait to get lost in there. When all else fails, trust your instincts.

Exactly. One way in yet no way out. Magically shifting.

Easy to get lost out in the glades even with GPS. Easy to get trapped. Thing is, with any wind the landscape can change instantly, espeically when fishing big areas that have a lot of floating vegetation like hyacinth mats. Some of those mats can be acres! Which means the whole area can change shape instantly. Very easy to get boxed in with no way out because some of the mats are so high with trees on them, very solid and heavy duty, which means no physical way around them until things start moving around again. And even at that, luck needs to be involved to clear the way....but the "way" may not be the right way. Whole lotta things to look out for when fishing the everglades. There's many things that can go very wrong and get very nasty very quickly. Takes some good planning to fish out there, day or night.

The spawning season down here for bass runs December through May but I never really pay it no mind. They’re active all year long in my neck of the woods. Seems like they eat no matter what!

Another angry everglades bass puttin on a show!

Lotta hard knocks there. Chalk them all up as teachable moments. May come in handy one day. See how that weather turned on a dime?

I've seen this many times out in the everglades, certain areas dead as a door-nail while other areas are full of life. Then, next time around, it becomes the exact opposite. Could take days or even weeks or even months for that to happen but it eventually does. For example, I was out fishing the other day. This one fishy spot has ALWAYS been dead as a doornail. Sure enough, I fished it regardless of its past history and it produced what it has always produced, which is absolutely nothing. So I continued my fishing. Later that afternoon on the way back I so happened to pass by my dead spot and made a lazy cast. Well, what do ya know, an absolute giant hit! Moral of this little story is to never, ever assume that a spot is no good. Always try. And ya don't need nothing but good intuition and a little persistent discipline to make it happen.

Lotta folks think big bass are solitary creatures. Lotta folks think big bass spook easily. Well, I kinda thought that myself until I ran into the wolf packs! Hard to imagine with all the commotion after a good catch that all the other big fish just stay cool, calm, and collective, in the EXACT same spot where their buddy was just caught! I've foamed up the water good while catching a tail-slapping giant, only to cast back a few minutes later to the exact same spot, catching yet another giant....and so on. Mind you, this is in very shallow water and in close proximity. You'd think they'd all spook away. Now I know better.

I'm not setup to film out there, especially at night. Not uncommon to catch multiple fish over 7lbs in matter of minutes during a hot summer night. Maybe someday. Sure would be nice to share some of these action packed encounters. The fishing can be quite dramatic!

There are some spring days down here in the south Florida everglades that are only what dreams are made up, literally. All year has great fishing but there are days when a giant is practically around every corner. Every hit is a biggun in the net, sometimes one right after another, getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I haven't seen much of a fluctuation as far as the catches go, that is, one year being better than the other. Much of the action can depend on our local water management districts. On the whole, though, springtime has been pretty consistent here in S. Florida.

I don't think I'll ever use mono again for bass fishing. Much of my success out in the everglades I attribute to using braid. Makes a world of difference in my world. I tried the mono and the stretchy nature of it was just to weird for my liking. I like direct contact, or as much direct contact as possible, both for feeling the hits and hooking the fish. I can tell right off the bat if I got 'em pinned good. The braid transmits that victorious feeling. She ain't going nowhere!

Check out Bama Bass and his pet bass, Moby. That fish more than proves that bass have unique personalities, anger being one of them. His bass gets angry, has fits, even jumps out of the tank and slams onto the hardwood floor! It eats and eats and then eats everything in site and if it doesn't get enough to eat, it starts spazzing out, flicking across the tank, striking everything in site. He caught the fish when it was no bigger than his pinky finger.

I've had them dance across the water many time like that. They're disoriented from the catch as well as being out of the water, a sorta instinctual dance.

When I go fishing, I make up my mind on the get-go that the big one will hit, one way or another, she will be there. I will find her, and she will hit my lure. Now, being ready for her is another story altogether. Took me a long time and many missed fish to realize that my mind can be one way while my body is altogether different. I'm usually not ready. I might be lazy on the strike. Or I might even be thinking about something else. Everything must work in unity, you see. Doesn't have to be big fish, either. When I want numbers, I try to think and act in a unified way. It's all good to have tenacity, determination, and so forth but one's actual mind has to be clearly made up along with the body armed and ready to follow through with the mind's clear intention.