Zcoker

I use them only at night. I make my own with big #5 or #6 Hildebrandt thumper blades. They do catch BIG fish but if I can use something else, I generally will.

I didn't post the video. And I know it's not a constellation lol. Someone on here said that it was Starlink Satellites lining up before taking their final orbit, which makes sense since I'm close to Kennedy Space Center. Still an awesome site!

Yep, but where I fish I need to go much much heavier, minimum 50lb strait braid. Most of my hunt is on top of the water. Just something about a big bass at night blowing out of the water onto a helpless lure. Can't seem to shake that rush. Always comes back to me if I try anything else.

Some good points brought up here that I'd like to emphasize on. Bass don't act that much differently during the night as they do during the day. There are slight differences but not a whole lot that I've noticed. They feed in spurts, or bite windows, just like they do during the day. They hit most of the same baits. Preferably black but I've caught them on ALL colors. Another one is stealth. One of the biggest advantages to the angler at night is stealth, masking the presence of the angler. But don't presume that just because it's dark that all is well. Bass can see a LOT, day or night. Even though it's dark, I dress in dark clothing. I sneak up on my spots motor off. Not wake or waves. No ripples. My fish finder is never on while fishing. My cast are deliberate. I try not to impress any such harsh movement over the water. One thing is clear: BIG bass feed at night and anything out of the ordinary, any such bang on the boat or smoking or coughing or talking on the phone, any artificial light, any such oddity and they are GONE GONE GONE OUTTA THERE!

Never encountered those. There's these bugs called no see ums on our coastal shores, mainly on the west coast beaches. Now, those things are a different story. They will literally eat you alive. They burrow into the skin, like dig in and stay put.

Man, I just don't get it with the bug hype. I mean, I used to live up in Massachusetts, way up there in North Adams Berkshire mountains area and never had a bug issue at night fishing around dock lights nor on land off the bank. Same with the everglades. I don't even think the word BUGS. I don't even carry BUG spray. That's how far away they are from my thoughts. And I fish out there in the glades 2-3 nights a week all night long until sunup. Maybe it's called "mind over the bugs," maybe.

Man, I hope so too! Find the places that you KNOW have big bass 8 pounds and up. Fish those places as much as you can, even if they're far off. Try night fishing the shallows, if possible, working a big musky jitterbug. That lure has captured more record fish than any other lure in history! I make my own for my everglades excursions.

Night fishing can also be skunk city. The bass can go to sleep and never wake up until the sun comes up. I've had nights like that where the bass wouldn't hit a thing, no matter what time, no matter what was tossed at them, and even in seemingly ideal conditions, they just didn't feed. It can just as easily be like that in the daytime, the exact opposite. So both worlds, night or day, can be very unpredictable. Night or day, catching those bite windows is what it's all about.

Yeah, right! I'm sitting there with a full sky of stars, watching these little dots--which looked like stars--all come together to form one strait line. Craziest thing I've ever seen in the night sky.

Yep, like I said, the glades can get surreal with numbers, but it’s only usually when water levels get very low that it gets like that. There’s a lot of guys on here like @Captain Phil who know the glades very well and who can certainly vouch for the sheer numbers of fish when the water levels get low out there. It’s not uncommon to get 100 fish or more each outing. It’s not uncommon to get a bunch of bigger fish, either. The average length that I’ve seen back-to-back on them is a consistent 20 inches. So it’s all out pedal to the metal and it even gets crazier when the water starts flowing!

Summer has been "hot and wild" down my way. With very low water levels, the bass fishing is almost surreal. I actually have to change my bait selections to stay AWAY from catching so many fish. Can easily knock off 75 bass in a few hours, one right after the other. Sometimes the fish run in wolf packs, which makes the fishing even more exciting. I've had days (and even nights) where 200 inches for 10 bass came within 30 minutes. Going with bigger baits, making my own Jitterbugs, stuff like that, all in an attempt to stay inline with the bigger fish has been my overall summertime goal.

Rod stays in my right hand. When I'm ready to net the fish (which can happen at anytime) rod goes to left hand and I use my right hand to net fish. This all happens impulsively, which should be the goal. The less thinking, the better!

I'll give anything a fair shot. My belief is that bass will hit just about anything when feeding. So being in the right place, right time is what I shoot for, is what I have confidence in. Whether I'm punching, on top of the water, or below the water, one or the other will follow suit.

Down my way, that's a common site!

Some women may have a genuine interest in fishing but sooner just shrug it off else move on to something else, like QVC lol My wife used to love fishing and fished with me all the time, even camping on the bridges in the Keys when going after big sharks. Now I couldn't even hand her a fishing rod. A select few may get very serious about bass fishing, serious enough to go on to the big league. Hats off to them! For the most, I think many women who bass fish could really care less.

I've never had a floater. Then, again, I fish very shallow water. I've heard that bass sometimes don't fare well from coming up from the depths. I know Josh Jones says he's had a number of floaters out at O.H. Ivie, which is a bummer because he usually brings up giants! If they come in bleeding badly, I usually put them back in the water before hook removal, long enough to settle things down. They all seem to swim off lively. If they're bleeding that bad, or if unsure about things, it's better to just cut the line as close to hook as possible and toss them back.

With this one, there's something that you can do. If they're bleeding profusely from a fatal nick, get them in the water asap! Lotta fishermen don't know this but fish blood coagulates IN THE WATER. So the blood will thus gush out while messing around with them out of the water and it looks like they're goners. A quick soak will usually stop the bleeding long enough to get the hook out. As a word of caution: just be mindful where you are dipping a bleeding fish. In some places, using a net to dip the fish is a safe practice.

12" Zoom Magnum Ol'Monster with a 6/0 EWG hook weightless. The worm not only catches BIG bass but also stays together even after multiple fish. I can usually catch 5 or more bass on 1 worm. So it does have a sorta economical side to it lol

Late hookset = more time for the fish to swallow the bait. That's a given BUT I've had them swallow the bait instantly on the hit. Those gut hooked fish softened you up. Might go bigger on the hook and flatten down the barb. Hook pulls right out with least damage. I like the ewg offset. The idea on the ewg offset is that it might grab something before going lower into the throat. Get your confidence back. Shake it off.

I hear ya loud and clear on those shark setups. Spooling with miles of braid can be fun....and expensive! All my big stand-up gear is old school with Senator 14/0's mated to 10ft unlimited custom made shark rods. Ironically, my most expensive gear is my light surf setups for catching sharks on topwater poppers and stickbaits.

I have a new Champion XP at the local tackle shop now getting the second guide re-wrapped. I've had problems with guides pulling out with those rods. I sent another Champion XP strait back to Dobyns because 3 guides needed to be re-wrapped. The whole process from start to finish was very streamlined and pleasant. Dobyns supplied the shipping label. I supplied the rod tube, which I already had (so keep those tubes!). They did all the guide work at no charge. So far, all my experiences with the company (whoever it is) has been positive. My only complaint (possibly) might be quality control.

Sold to GSM Outdoors. They kept Gary Dobyns on as an employee in some capacity. He didn't really elaborate when he was speaking about it but he sounded positive about the new ownership. Only time will tell.

Probably not your landing skills. Spinnerbaits can be like that for the bigger fish, even with trailers. Catch come, loose some, just the way it is. Sometimes a little bit of slack can be introduced; the attention can be taken away from the fish for a few seconds while trying to get the net, enough time for the fish to get the upper hand. Lotta things to consider and to consider well, at least for the next go-around.

I don't see how your question would be offensive. Plenty of hardcore females out there. Kristine Fischer is one of them. Quite popular. She just stated doing pro tours with good sponsorship, or at least she's just getting into it. She was once kayak only and did a ton of pro kayak tournaments, out fishing many male competitors in her rigged out Hobie. She's also has a large following on YouTube with her channel. From what I gather, she's a HUGH advocate for female anglers. Inspirations is a good thing. Gotta start somewhere!

We have a small lake here in southeast Florida, Kenansville Lake. At one time that place was the most epic place in the entire state to get a monster bass, so much so that it got the nickname "Jurassic Park'. Even now near death, it still produces monsters yet nowhere near like it did just a few years ago. They have literally 'nuked' that place to death. It's basically lifeless now. Dark brown dead and dying vegetation spread out all over the place like dry dead leaves, dirty dingy water...hard to imagine anything living in it. I fished it a few months ago and got only one decent fish. Yet we have places like the everglades that is doing much better thanks to some of these water management projects, which in fact do work--some of them, at least! Lake Okeechobee is another one. Years ago that place was a mecca for big bass. Over the years it's gone through much the same thing, a ton of nuking, which has about wiped out a big percentage of its greenery. Some places in it once so green and lively are now mudholes. Lotta folks blame it on the sugar fields but those are all south of the lake. It's the dense population boom north of the lake which has caused a lot of its current issues, issues like run-off, leaking septic tanks, algae blooms... Some places fare well, others don't. Just gotta hunt down the decent places and fish them else just do the best ya can in the mudholes.