thundermug

I fish N.E. Fl. Spoons only work in certain situations, and bedding fish is one of them. The fish are very hungry that time of year and will eat almost anything. It is all in presentation and how you twitch it to get the fishes attention. In deeper holes and ledges, I'll cast over it and as it falls I'll give a couple small twitches. When it reaches bottom, reel it in and do it all over again.

Pat Curtis

When we can find them, smelt really is a killer for muskies and northerns.

Chuck7

Wow, I still can not get over that... I am thinking about moving and making a career out of that! Are shiners easy to find in rivers, creeks, and ponds in your area? Buckhunter

We do not have alot of creeks or rivers/ hardly any. Our lakes are mostly from underground springs. I've caught the shiners before. You have to go along the edge of a lake and throw in a cast net. Most folks latch hold of a rock though ...thus ripping thier net up . We do have lots of tackle shops though. Since this is central Florida we do have quite a large population of bass fishermen. I moved here stictly for teh lakes...we have tons of lakes. Probably before youshould move here ..I would talk to some of the owners of the tackle shops. If you want I can post thier phone numbers. They could help ya. I can't imagine anyone making a living selling bait. I can only see that as a side job. The bass guides do well here and the guys who cast net for catfish and nile perch on the lakes do well. Also...gator hunting is allowed on some lakes.They do ok too. I raise my own fishing worms{red worms} I keep a mist sprinkler system under my rabbit cages. I buy th eminnows at 4.25 a 1/4 pound . The kind you use for crappie. Our wild shiners{Golden shiners } sell from 6.00 -12.00 a dozen according to length. Chuck7




The bass pictured here was caught on a wild shiner...I have no idea who the man is.

buckhunter14

Chuck7, I was only kidding about moving. There is no way I could move across country to sell bait to local tackle shops, escpeically due to my age. Thank you very much for the offer of the phone numbers.

Also, I can't even say anything about that bass! That thing is huge! I don't know about down south, but them bass are unheard of around here. That would easily beat out the state record of Michigan, I think. Are fish don't grow nearly as big as the south, but people say they fight twice as hard?

Chuck7

At this time in my life I would gladly trade my bass paradise for a trout stream , walleye river or deer woods. I don't eat bass anyway.
I am trying to get a 10 lb or bigger this year. I will fish a few days using shiners.
I've met a couple of nice folks on here and got permission to hunt in MO and VA. I am very fortunate.
C7

Pat Curtis

Florida Bass are different from Northern Bass. The current world record was said to be a cross between the two. I just saw a week or two ago on "One More Cast" that a Florida Bass has such a different metabolism than it's Northern brother, but it's not caused soley by climate. Stock a northern lake with Florida bass and they still get huge...but clearly not as big.


But this year, I plan to do a lot more muskie/northern/walleye fishing. Bass fishing rocks, but I'm gonna expand my horizons a bit.

Chuck7

Yes ..Pat they 're different. I ate the bass I caught in Maryland as a kid..but the bass here ..no way.Taste real grassy and very wormy. I will say this though the bass are much bigger here. It's not unusual to catch a 5 pound bass in any given day.And....it's not unusual in our spring to get up to 30 hits. YOu can expect one of those hits in the spring time to be a line breaker.Ususally after 30 minutes of no bites and when your about ready to quit one pulls your rod tip undr the boat and wakes ya up. And you may slipup and say a bad word...as the fish broke off.Talking about line..I found what looks like great flipping line.I'll go get it. Wait here.........Stren Super Braid 20 lb test. 12.95.
Looks like the old braided Spider Wire which I loved. What I hated about Spider Wire was that it turned white after about a month of use. This appears to be only half the diameter of Fireline. I 'll let ya all know how well it performs.
Chuck7

Pat Curtis

Stren SuperBraid rocks! It's cheap up here though, always $10.99 or so. They undercut Fireline and Spiderwire like crazy.

Chuck7

I just put on about 40 feet. I only use it for flipping so there's no sense wasting it.
Chuck 7
Now I'm ready..I also tested my Medium action rod...I was going to use.I broke it.Cheap rod. So I'll be using my Medium Heavy 7' Bill Dance Flipping Stick by Quantum

Champlain Islander

Best lure for bedded bass for me has to be a white tube or curly tail because I can see it. When it disappears I wait a second and set the hook.