Zcoker

Excellent points! With the whopper plopper, I cannot buy a bite on one out in the everglades. At one point it was the ONLY thing I used out there, like every cast, boom! Heck, I won tournaments on the thing using it and only it, 7-10 pounders annihilated it. Now they don't touch it no matter where I fish out there. The big questions is this: how the heck do ALL the bass obtain negative information about this one lure holistically? Or any other lure, for that matter? It seems like once they know, they ALL KNOW. As far as sonar off, I do the same thing, shut it off. When I was running it in the shallow water with hard bottom, the fish spooked easily away or the hits would be few and far between. When it's off, the hits increased dramatically. I only turn it on now when I shove off to get a temp reading, that or when I am in a new unknow body of water. In any event, FSS is the in thing for pro tournament fishing, here to stay unless it's regulated in so form. Hard to imagine anyone fishing without it. Seems like ALL the pro boats have it, like a blower on a nitro pro drag car, can't race without it.

My whole take on this FFS thing is that folks will keep buying it and using it no matter what. Doesn't really effect the way I fish, so I'm not all that up in arms about it. I mean, sure, I'd hate to think that it's harming the big breeder bass. Other than that, I have yet in all my years fishing out in the glades seen anyone using FFS. It's about as old school as old school gets out there. Perhaps one day bass will learn to adapt. They'll evolve to avoid it. I've just recently heard interesting stories about how bass shy away when the units are in close proximity, that or they just go completely lockjaw. They've done the exact same thing with fishing lures, so why not with FFS?

Yep, what do I know. They were catching them before FFS way back when but with trout fed lakes instead. They gonna get 'em one way or another, I guess.

Maybe some of them don't say nothing. Josh Jones does admit to loosing a few fish each outing....a few DD fish! That's a BIG loss, imho, regardless of the fish that they still catch.

I dunno, maybe it's me but I've caught them up around 12 pounds and none of their eyes were as big as some of them that I've seen lately. I mean, I've seen bass with big eyes before. In fact, bigger bass do indeed have bigger eyes. Maybe it's when they are taken directly from extreme depths that they look freakish? With YouTube and all, these FFS dudes show these catches all in real time and some of those bass, I tell ya, looks like their eyes are half hanging out by a cord.

I just don't know what to think about all this FFS stuff anymore. Seems like it has altered bass fishing in a big way, literally. I'm no biologist but I've seen some of these DD fish taken from extreme depths and it looks like their eyes are ready to pop out. I often wonder if they ever make it. They may swim off, sure, but guys like Josh Jones at least admit to loosing a few of them. On the whole, I reckon it's no good for them and most perish. No place to hide anymore. They will be found. They will be caught. And we will see many more big wins in tournaments yet to come.

Typical Florida everglades bass fishing, things can seem totally off for a while and then boom! The sky opens up and the lightening bolts flash. Big bass everywhere! Glad it worked out for Scott! I've encountered much the same on that lake as well as many other places around the lake. Find a spot, stay put, fish slowly and methodically, and sooner or later that big girl will hit! I've caught 7's just about every trip so far. February thru March are prime months.

Big congratulations to Scott Martin for scoring a win on the big O here in Florida. 90lb record goes to show just how good that lake can be...when it wants to cooperate! Lotta guys got into some very nice fish, including a 10 pounder for the heaviest. Everglades bass fishing at it's very best!

Well, I can only speak for the creative ways. I still need the shore power. And this is how I charged my kayak battery one trip. I landed my yak after fishing all night, got on the dirt road and found this little farmhouse shack-style restaurant in the woods. Took me a looonnggg time to eat my cheeseburger lol. Lasted me another night.

I don't fish anything traditionally. I work baits in all kinds of ways until I find what works. I use a lot of saltwater lures and they work just as good as the traditional bass lures, sometimes even better. Always think outside of the box, would the best way to work any fishing lure. Find out what the fish want and then fish for them that way, whatever way it is.

I don't know if you've already made your trip not but Sarasota is not going to have much if any peacock bass. Instead of going deep south to places like Miami, can always go to Lake Ida in Palm Beach County. That lake is loaded with peacocks as well as many other exotics. Might as well tap into a few clownfish while there. Other than Ida or Miami, the canals along Alligator Alley have peacocks, more on the eastern end toward the Fort Lauderdale area. Any of those pull-offs can produce some great peacock action. The western end of Alligator Alley turns more into brackish water, great for snook and juvenile tarpon. Bare in mind that any intense cold weather effects peacocks severely. A good cold snap will float them belly up.

If naysayers tried on the higher end PDF's, then they just might have a different outlook. I, too, didn't realize just how different they were related to fit and finish. I opted for the NRS Chinook as well and I can wear that thing all day hardly noticing that I even have it on. Even when it's a trillion degrees out mid-summer in the Florida everglades, I can still wear it without burning up. I can cast and cast and it doesn't get in the way. The overall design is for the active fisherman in most any condition.

Lotta folks get the idea that PDF's are bulky and uncomfortable and since they've never had a bad accident or feel in some way that they are immune to accidents or harm, they simply decide to do without.

My range has always been localized to my home state or immediate hometown vicinity. Could say that I’m a “park & fish” type of guy. Just luv convenience, especially when it comes to setting up for a night of heavy sharking. Yet I do get around. My truck I purchased new three years ago and it already has 120k miles on the clock. Lotta driving to get to those remote everglades areas! What I do best is to make the best out of any situation that I may find myself fishing in. I work the water to find the fish and then catch them the best way I can. Aside from that, it’s all about having fun and enjoying the thrill. When I have finished a long hard day of fishing, I always feel like I’ve lived just a little more.

Everglades sunrise always a good rise!

Glad you had a good trip! Part of that road to Kenansville was recently paved, so you only got to experience half the dusting. And then you saw that ramp! lol Sometimes that ramp gets totally clogged with thick vegetation and running that road only to turn around can be a big let-down.

Moving around, being in the right place at the right time with the right bait, I couldn’t have caught some of my best fish if I didn’t follow that simple strategy. Bite windows open and the chance is there, the hits happen and then it’s time to start all over again. If you fish long enough, you come to find out that the pattern is nothing but a cycle, on or off throughout a 24hr period.

This is exactly what I mentioned in my post earlier up "Slow is a good method but not necessarily a rule."Gotta figure the fish out for any given situation, just like you did. Sometimes they want slow, sometimes fast, sometimes they don't want nothing at all. But at least be willing to bend those rules, thinking outside of the box to get those strikes. I've broken many so called rules when it comes to bass fishing with surprising results.

That'd be some wade fishin right there, getting in the thick of it. My first thought: ain't gonna happen down here in the everglades!

I do whatever it takes to get the fish. If I have to cast a hundred times, then I'll cast another hundred. Catching is only part of it. Landing the fish, dehooking, releasing the fish (such with sharks). Fishing then becomes a 'package deal', which is precisely my style.

Well, yeah, duh You at least fish! Hurricanes and big waves usually stop me....sometimes

The old timers have been replaced by desktop anglers. Lotta them out there, these days. I meet a lot of guys who are so much into fishing but they don't actually go out to fish. They're all very opinionated, though, have a LOT to say. Feeding off influencers, they rarely seek to develop and cultivate their own unique style. Get busy fishing or get busy dreaming!

I bank fished back when this post started 16 years ago. Got a kayak now and don’t leave home without it.

I'd take the reel. I've broken too many nice high-end rods out in the everglades. The nice reels, though, are still cranking away strongly!

Worms for your second question--who fishes with them anymore? Not many that I know of. Fake worms do so well that the live stuff is no longer necessary. I catch more bass on fake worms that I've ever caught on the live nightcrawlers. Even still, the live stuff certainly has its merits. Most of the bait shops that I walk into down here in south Florida never carry live worms. They have shrimp, shiners, or frozen bait. The worm racks are long gone.