Long time lurking rookie here would like some tackle advice

[Mike DelaCruz]

Hey Guys,

 

I've just recently got into fishing and after lurking around the forums I've gathered the following tackle notes: 

 

Clear water, clear skies, little wind = Swim jig

Windier, murkier, cloudier = Spinnerbait

As the sun starts hitting the water = senko or fluke.

 

I mainly fish south Florida canals and lakes which rarely dip under 70degres. How spot on are these notes?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

[riverbasser]

Nothing wrong with any of that. Ill swim a jig anytime tho as long as their biting it. 

[bigfruits]

looks good but dont get too stuck on any "rules". for example, ive caught fish on spinnerbaits on calm, sunny days in clearish water on more than several occasions. you will notice that many variables affect what the bass want and two identical days (weather, time, lighting, wind/current, location,moon etc) could vary greatly as far as what lure produces more fish.

 

agreed as mentioned above that a swim jig can work anywhere at anytime of the day or year. can even be pitched, hopped and dragged for more versatility when you come across a laydown or some isolated structure. rage menace on a grass jig works well for this.

 

a couple more notes for LMB:

darker colors for soft plastic/jigs in darker/muddier water

vibration and/or noise in darker/muddier water

natural colors in clear water (smallmouth will often go after chartreuse in clear water - go figure)

fish slow when water is cold

 

again not laws of nature but more of a way to find out faster what the fish want that day/hour/second.

[Mike DelaCruz]

2 hours ago, riverbasser said:

Nothing wrong with any of that. Ill swim a jig anytime tho as long as their biting it. 

 

Thanks for the feedback!

[bigfruits]

a few strange things that i cannot explain

 

myself and a friend are fishing same bait - different color. one of us is landing fish, the other skunked or close to it. (this is rare)

 

same scenario as above. the productive bite stops suddenly and the guy who was getting skunked starts getting bites. (this is very rare)

 

i was teaching a friend to fish and he had a spinnerbait sitting on the lake bottom at 30 ft and he was just twitching it. He pulled out a 4lber (this is a decent fish in VA). I was not having luck dragging football jigs in same location.

 

another noob at the time friend of mine was t-rigging a topwater zoom toad with a 1/4 worm weight and landed 5 1.5-3lb fish in about 30 mins shortly after i laughed when i saw his rig. I caught 1 fish  in 4 hrs that day on a 1/4oz jig.

 

Sorry to go off topic. 30 more mins and i get out of work.

 

 

[Mike DelaCruz]

29 minutes ago, bigfruits said:

looks good but dont get too stuck on any "rules". for example, ive caught fish on spinnerbaits on calm, sunny days in clearish water on more than several occasions. you will notice that many variables affect what the bass want and two identical days (weather, time, lighting, wind/current, location,moon etc) could vary greatly as far as what lure produces more fish.

 

agreed as mentioned above that a swim jig can work anywhere at anytime of the day or year. can even be pitched, hopped and dragged for more versatility when you come across a laydown or some isolated structure. rage menace on a grass jig works well for this.

 

a couple more notes for LMB:

darker colors for soft plastic/jigs in darker/muddier water

vibration and/or noise in darker/muddier water

natural colors in clear water (smallmouth will often go after chartreuse in clear water - go figure)

fish slow when water is cold

 

again not laws of nature but more of a way to find out faster what the fish want that day/hour/second.

 

 

Thanks for the elaborate feedback!

 

I started off with fishing senkos and comfortable fishing them and have successfully caught everytime I go out.

 

I'm now ready to venture into another type of bait and based off your feedback and that of riverbasser I think I'm going to jump next on swim jigs.

 

I'm trying to learn one bait at a time, how to fish them and when to use them.

 

Your advice really helps!  

 

 

 

1 minute ago, bigfruits said:

a few strange things that i cannot explain

 

myself and a friend are fishing same bait - different color. one of us is landing fish, the other skunked or close to it. (this is rare)

 

same scenario as above. the productive bite stops suddenly and the guy who was getting skunked starts getting bites. (this is very rare)

 

i was teaching a friend to fish and he had a spinnerbait sitting on the lake bottom at 30 ft and he was just twitching it. He pulled out a 4lber (this is a decent fish in VA). I was not having luck dragging football jigs in same location.

 

another noob at the time friend of mine was t-rigging a topwater zoom toad with a 1/4 worm weight and landed 5 1.5-3lb fish in about 30 mins shortly after i laughed when i saw his rig. I caught 1 fish  in 4 hrs that day on a 1/4oz jig.

 

Sorry to go off topic. 30 more mins and i get out of work.

 

 

 

 

LOL Thanks for sharing that story man! In a nutshell expect the un expected lol.

[bigfruits]

learn normal jig techniques if you dont already know them. good size fish (as well as small) will bite and there are many days when i dont pick up another bait. swimming a jig can be done with any jig, a swim jig is just made to move better when reeled than a arky, football etc. usually a skinny cone like head with the line tie at a different angle.

 

a 1/4oz jig with a 3" trailer like a baby rage craw should inspire some confidence. 

[Bassun]

On 1/20/2017 at 5:01 PM, Mike DelaCruz said:

 

I'm trying to learn one bait at a time, how to fish them and when to use them.

 

 

...and that is how you become proficient!  Great call!

[primetime]

Welcome to the site. As a fellow Florida Angler, I would suggest becoming confident fishing soft plastics both weightless as well as pitched into structure since most lakes/Canals fill up with weeds in Spring, many are full of weeds all year round so the general rules of fishing are often different in Florida. I grew up fishing in NY until I moved to Florida 10 years ago, and you can still use the same baits but learning to Flip/Pitch, as well as learning how to fish Lipless cranks in sparce grass, Skipping Jigs, Bladed jigs, Spinnerbaits all have their place but you will find that you can almost always fish a Plastic Worm or Creature bait all year long.

 

Some of the soft baits I would have with me at all times are the following:

Stick Worms in 5-6"-Black and blue for stained water is most popular along with Junebug, but colors like Red Shad, Green Pumpkin, Watermelon red are always popular as well as laminates with contrasting colors.

-Flukes- Rare that fish will not strike a Zoom Fluke rigged weightless and fished over or through weeds, Whites, Greens work well, but there are many that are good, I favor the Strike King Caffiene shad cause they cast far, and sink with a shimmy like a Senko

 

Few other must haves at all times. You don't need much.

 

-Zoom Speed Worms, Ultravibe as a weedless buzzbait, or for pitching.

-Brush hogs, Beavers, and a pack of lizards for this time of year.

-Soft swimbaits-Yum Pulse, Skinny Dippers, Swim Senko, lots of great articles if you google florida bass and soft baits

-My favorite Lipless cranks are the ones that hunt with the head down like the Spro Aruku Shad, Fall slowly like the Red Eye shad, and Cordell Super spot for shallow, also the Suspending Spot works well for weeds. One Knockers can be good for working a spot, right now in Tampa FLorida area Lipless Cranks have been helping me locate fish and catch numbers as they are aggressive already.

 

Buzz Bait, Floating Minnows like Bomber Long A, Rapala Floater, Rebel Pop"r, Devils Horse or torpedo Prop baits work great during the spawn. 

 

Spinnerbaits are good on windy days but I prefer to swim a Jig or Bladed Jig like the Chatterbait, but in Spring you NEED a spinnerbait in an Orange/Red color as they will often produce more fish than any other color. White in Spring summer, Chart all year long for stained water.

 

Lastly, You can fish  toads like the Stanley Ribbit, Zoom Horny toad most of the year, then a few hollow belly frogs like the Booyah pad crusher. If you want to catch bigger fish consistently, Check out Videos from Scott Martin and Gene on this site on how to pitch, locate the right types of weeds, and even from shore it is hard to beat a Texas rig.

 

Also have a light spinning rod ready at all times for Finesse tactics like small 4" Worms, Jig head and Worm-Slider/ned Rig, After Cold Fronts and on pressured lakes and ponds, smaller baits often produce baits, then something that mimics the giant Wild Shiners we have in most Lakes/Ponds. 

 

I guess my point is you can do everything you need all year long with some soft baits like a Power Worm, Senko, FLuke and craw style baits, and colors are pretty basic. I love buying tackle and have enough to last 10 lifetimes but I find myself fishing Texas Rigs and Jigs of all types 75% of the time then Minnow baits like the Long A over weeds the rest of the year. Frog fishing is the most fun and will often get bigger fish before you look for them under the weeds, the bigger fish are almost always Deep in the cover when you are catching them on the edge where 99% of Fisherman target, very few guys really fish deep into the cover since it is hard to learn but if you start with plastics, all the rest become easy to fish imo.

 

Hope that helps, I type fast but wanted to give you a breakdown, most guides on their sites tell Fisherman that in Florida you should leave 90% of your tackle home since the weeds are too thick to fish like you do in the north in most lakes. Deep is relative, average depth in most Lakes is say 4-6', so 8' would be deep unless fishing Pits, and Various Strip Mines or areas where they d**n a river/Canal that is often deeper than usual. You can find info on your area using google and searching for lakes or ponds you see on Google Earth, Never discount Public parks even if you read that they are terrible, Many people writing those reviews want you to think it is a waste of time. Urban Parks managed by the DEC receive little pressure from Serious Bass Fisherman and have Big Fish in good numbers since they are managed and stocked yearly.

[Mike DelaCruz]

On 1/23/2017 at 1:26 PM, primetime said:

Welcome to the site. As a fellow Florida Angler, I would suggest becoming confident fishing soft plastics both weightless as well as pitched into structure since most lakes/Canals fill up with weeds in Spring, many are full of weeds all year round so the general rules of fishing are often different in Florida. I grew up fishing in NY until I moved to Florida 10 years ago, and you can still use the same baits but learning to Flip/Pitch, as well as learning how to fish Lipless cranks in sparce grass, Skipping Jigs, Bladed jigs, Spinnerbaits all have their place but you will find that you can almost always fish a Plastic Worm or Creature bait all year long.

 

Some of the soft baits I would have with me at all times are the following:

Stick Worms in 5-6"-Black and blue for stained water is most popular along with Junebug, but colors like Red Shad, Green Pumpkin, Watermelon red are always popular as well as laminates with contrasting colors.

-Flukes- Rare that fish will not strike a Zoom Fluke rigged weightless and fished over or through weeds, Whites, Greens work well, but there are many that are good, I favor the Strike King Caffiene shad cause they cast far, and sink with a shimmy like a Senko

 

Few other must haves at all times. You don't need much.

 

-Zoom Speed Worms, Ultravibe as a weedless buzzbait, or for pitching.

-Brush hogs, Beavers, and a pack of lizards for this time of year.

-Soft swimbaits-Yum Pulse, Skinny Dippers, Swim Senko, lots of great articles if you google florida bass and soft baits

-My favorite Lipless cranks are the ones that hunt with the head down like the Spro Aruku Shad, Fall slowly like the Red Eye shad, and Cordell Super spot for shallow, also the Suspending Spot works well for weeds. One Knockers can be good for working a spot, right now in Tampa FLorida area Lipless Cranks have been helping me locate fish and catch numbers as they are aggressive already.

 

Buzz Bait, Floating Minnows like Bomber Long A, Rapala Floater, Rebel Pop"r, Devils Horse or torpedo Prop baits work great during the spawn. 

 

Spinnerbaits are good on windy days but I prefer to swim a Jig or Bladed Jig like the Chatterbait, but in Spring you NEED a spinnerbait in an Orange/Red color as they will often produce more fish than any other color. White in Spring summer, Chart all year long for stained water.

 

Lastly, You can fish  toads like the Stanley Ribbit, Zoom Horny toad most of the year, then a few hollow belly frogs like the Booyah pad crusher. If you want to catch bigger fish consistently, Check out Videos from Scott Martin and Gene on this site on how to pitch, locate the right types of weeds, and even from shore it is hard to beat a Texas rig.

 

Also have a light spinning rod ready at all times for Finesse tactics like small 4" Worms, Jig head and Worm-Slider/ned Rig, After Cold Fronts and on pressured lakes and ponds, smaller baits often produce baits, then something that mimics the giant Wild Shiners we have in most Lakes/Ponds. 

 

I guess my point is you can do everything you need all year long with some soft baits like a Power Worm, Senko, FLuke and craw style baits, and colors are pretty basic. I love buying tackle and have enough to last 10 lifetimes but I find myself fishing Texas Rigs and Jigs of all types 75% of the time then Minnow baits like the Long A over weeds the rest of the year. Frog fishing is the most fun and will often get bigger fish before you look for them under the weeds, the bigger fish are almost always Deep in the cover when you are catching them on the edge where 99% of Fisherman target, very few guys really fish deep into the cover since it is hard to learn but if you start with plastics, all the rest become easy to fish imo.

 

Hope that helps, I type fast but wanted to give you a breakdown, most guides on their sites tell Fisherman that in Florida you should leave 90% of your tackle home since the weeds are too thick to fish like you do in the north in most lakes. Deep is relative, average depth in most Lakes is say 4-6', so 8' would be deep unless fishing Pits, and Various Strip Mines or areas where they d**n a river/Canal that is often deeper than usual. You can find info on your area using google and searching for lakes or ponds you see on Google Earth, Never discount Public parks even if you read that they are terrible, Many people writing those reviews want you to think it is a waste of time. Urban Parks managed by the DEC receive little pressure from Serious Bass Fisherman and have Big Fish in good numbers since they are managed and stocked yearly.

 

 

Greatly appreciate this great wealth of knowledge! Notes taken my friend.

 

[Bluebasser86]

I really like a bladed jig in stained to dirty water, especially around vegetation. 

[bagofdonuts]

I'll add one presentation to your clear ski's slick water conditions. Throw a hard head/swing jig with biffle bug or similar creature bait. Easy to fish- throw it out, let it sink to bottom, then real it back slow enough that it maintains bottom contact. When they bite just keep reeling till rod loads up and set hook. Hook up rates are real good, rarely miss one. best around rock. you'll be an expert in no time.