High water temps, bright sun, little wind, stained water.

[Further North]

1 minute ago, Brew City Bass said:

This is one thing that I've always felt blessed about living in the north. Nothing tries to kill us up here. I mean, we have rattle snakes and brown recluses, but in my 23 years on this earth, I've only ever seen one rattler in my state and they seem to stay out of the lakes. If I had to deal with cottonmouths, widows, gators, and everything else you guys have, I'd probably never fish at night!

Yep, the bears and wolves pretty much leave people alone...our biggest worry is really Lyme disease from ticks.

 

...and the fact that we can't seem to put out repeat offender drunk drivers in jail...

4 minutes ago, Brew City Bass said:

This is the first year I am gonna try and give ice fishing a really good shot. I about went nuts last winter being all cooped up with no fishing. I've ice fished before, but never seriously. I am gonna get a gas auger, ice sonar set up and a decent shanty and see how it goes. It's gotta be better than not fishing at all. 

I'm not wired for ice fishing...too much sitting...but then I can't learn to enjoy jigging for walleyes, or trolling for any kind of fish either...

 

Duck hunting, deer hunting, turkey hunting...any of those sit-and-wait type of activities are just things I can't get accustomed to.  In the fall, I'll chase grouse and pheasant, and once it snows there's cross country skiing and stuff...there's ways for me to stay busy.

 

[Brew City Bass]

Just now, Further North said:

Yep, the bears and wolves pretty much leave people alone...our biggest worry is really Lyme disease from ticks.

 

...and the fact that we can't seem to put out repeat offender drunk drivers in jail...

My God, we practically promote drunk driving here! I went to court last summer for a traffic ticket and the guy before me was in for his 4th DUI. He got let off basically with just paying the fine. He might have had his license suspended for a month or so. It's absolutely nuts. Of course, the judge gave me the third degree for going 10mph over and didn't knock off any points. What a joke.

It's all a cash grab. If we keep them on the roads, it's an easy $5,000-$10,000 in their pockets and they love repeat offenders. My cousin got drunk last fall and drove into a tree killing himself. Luckily no one else was involved. At his funeral, my moms side of the family had the audacity to get drunk in the parking lot and drive home. Absolute horsecrap. These people treat drinking as a lifestyle. 

[soflabasser]

6 hours ago, Further North said:

Yup, different worlds.  I was down your way in June, once...the skeeters drove me nuts.  Not sure if I could adjust or not.

 

...On the other hand...you can fish in January...when all we can do is jump up and down on the ice...

What did you fish for when you where here in June and what did you catch? I wear long sleeve clothes+ bug spray in areas with lots of mosquitoes and seems to do well. January is a excellent month for targeting big bass as well as many other fish.

6 hours ago, Brew City Bass said:

This is one thing that I've always felt blessed about living in the north. Nothing tries to kill us up here. I mean, we have rattle snakes and brown recluses, but in my 23 years on this earth, I've only ever seen one rattler in my state and they seem to stay out of the lakes. If I had to deal with cottonmouths, widows, gators, and everything else you guys have, I'd probably never fish at night!

This is the first year I am gonna try and give ice fishing a really good shot. I about went nuts last winter being all cooped up with no fishing. I've ice fished before, but never seriously. I am gonna get a gas auger, ice sonar set up and a decent shanty and see how it goes. It's gotta be better than not fishing at all. 

You can't do any good diving in your state and that's a huge negative for me since diving is my favorite sport to practice (even more than bass fishing).The winters are quite brutal up north and snow+wind+trees with no leaves+gloomy skies is something I don't like. I would like to try ice fishing in one of my vacations but I have a feeling it's not as fun as fishing in warm weather. Our winters are very nice and that's when bass fishing and many other types of fishing is best in South Florida. You guys do have muskie which is one of my favorite freshwater fish so I do plan on making more trips up north for muskie fishing and to add new species of fish to my list.

[Brew City Bass]

1 hour ago, soflabasser said:

What did you fish for when you where here in June and what did you catch? I wear long sleeve clothes+ bug spray in areas with lots of mosquitoes and seems to do well. January is a excellent month for targeting big bass as well as many other fish.

You can't do any good diving in your state and that's a huge negative for me since diving is my favorite sport to practice (even more than bass fishing).The winters are quite brutal up north and snow+wind+trees with no leaves+gloomy skies is something I don't like. I would like to try ice fishing in one of my vacations but I have a feeling it's not as fun as fishing in warm weather. Our winters are very nice and that's when bass fishing and many other types of fishing is best in South Florida. You guys do have muskie which is one of my favorite freshwater fish so I do plan on making more trips up north for muskie fishing and to add new species of fish to my list.

I find winter beautiful in it's own right. My state is covered in snow mostly before Christmas and well into spring. It sucks to shovel, yeah, but it's pretty and I enjoy skiing so it's a positive for me. Sadly, we lack mountains

I've never dove really, so I wouldn't have any idea what a good diving spot is. I have a few friends who dive here and they have some quarries and lakes they go to every week. I am sure Florida is way better, though. 

Muskie, we do have em. They're called the fish of 10,000 casts for a reason though. I don't ever really target them, but I got two 45+ inchers to the boat last summer throwing spoons. They're cool, but so fragile. Most people stop fishing for them when the water temps get above 75* around here. I prefer fishing for northern most of the time if I am gonna target things other than bass. I feel they fight better and they can get just as big. Just a lot more of them around. 

[scaleface]

Well the very  first   thing I would  do  is look at   my   depth  finder   for  a thermocline   and   a depth   that  is holding lots   of   fish   .  Then if I can   find   a nice   point   or   two ,  fish   them   at those   depths  . If  that   doesnt   work   , move  shallow   and   fish cover .

[r83srock]

4 hours ago, scaleface said:

Well the very  first   thing I would  do  is look at   my   depth  finder   for  a thermocline   and   a depth   that  is holding lots   of   fish   .  Then if I can   find   a nice   point   or   two ,  fish   them   at those   depths  . If  that   doesnt   work   , move  shallow   and   fish cover .

I agree with this. 

[AO2point4]

I fished very similar conditions the other day on the Willow Flowage, a couple hours east of where you are.  Only technique that produced strikes was a frog in shallow water.  Hopefully you have better luck than I did.

[thinkingredneck]

At first I thought you were describing my home water.LOL.  In the South,  LMB fishing goes well in muddy water.  T rigged plastics, fished slowly near structure and cover (wood and weeds/pads).  Or a jig.  Dark colors with glitter.  I do best with trick worms or U vibe worms in Candy bug, Junebug, or other dark colors.  Black and blue jigs. Hop and soak and slowly drag, twitch, etc.  Repeat.  If there is wind, I have good luck with spinner baits.  If it is calm, try top water.

 

I agree, they need to toughen the laws on drinking and driving.  Also texting.