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Hello fishing thread, I live in Florida and do lots of fishing. Mostly in the Tampa Bay area and Florida Keys. Last year we went on our first guided trip targeting strictly Bonefish off of Sugarloaf Key and had an amazing day, I caught five Bonefish and my son caught four. They are an amazing game fish and put up a hell of a fight for such a small fish. If anyone here is thinking of going on a fishing trip I highly recommend it.   After that trip we decided we needed a skiff because we were tired of fishing from shore, and the area we live in is just too good not to have a fishing boat. Unfortunately we can't afford a fancy Hells Bay skiff like in the pic above so after watching CL for awhile ran across a good platform to start with, a 14' Rabco Buccaneer, and we just added what we wanted for local flats fishing.   So far it's been working out great, 3 people is a bit too much for it but for two it's perfect. We use it a lot to get to secluded islands and beaches or just drift in the flats. It's a cool skiff but we are already looking for the next one that can handle more people (at least three) and more weight but for now it does the job and gets us on the fish! 
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Jul 26, 2022 16:20
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Ok, when I'm ready to sell it I will post it here! Or you can check out Rabco's website, the hulls are actually pretty cheap. https://teamrabco.com/buccaneer-14-new/ Applebees Appetizer fucked around with this message at 18:03 on Jul 26, 2022 |
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Jul 26, 2022 18:01
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It was for me too, ever since the Walker Cay Chronicles in the early 90's watching Flip Pallot pole his skiff around the Keys catching Bonefish and Tarpon. When we were actually doing it I was like holy poo poo man, living the dream! This June we went down for Tarpon but had no luck, still trying to land a big Tarpon. Have hooked a lot but never landed one, it is not easy.
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Jul 26, 2022 20:05
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Math You posted:Only critically endangered according to that Wikipedia article too. I uhh.. would not be too happy if I caught one of those and it died! Wiki says Goliath Grouper are endangered as well, but if you ask local guides and fisherman they will tell you the opposite. Juvenile goliaths are taking over a lot of inshore fisheries in south Florida. I'd be curious what the local guides over there say about the giant sea bass.
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Aug 6, 2022 20:13
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the yeti posted:Bless my dad's heart, he's starting to research fishing stuff so we can fish together on family vacation---hoping to get a house on the NC coast on the intracoastal waterway with a dock so we'd theoretically be surf fishing and off the dock. No real target in mind but for the season we're likely to see whiting and bluefish in the surf and idk what in the ICW. I'd be satisfied catching whiting and blues and if an eating size sheepshead or drum shows up in the backwater then great. I would just get a decent medium setup for both dock and surf, then get some jigs and paddle tails and you'll be set. Whiting love Pompano jigs (with a teaser) if you can find some, and if you can find Zman paddles tails in Slam Shady color that's the jam for just about anything that feeds on baitfish. You can probably get a 4000 or 5000 Daiwa BG setup for each of you in your budget which is a very decent rod and reel, much better than getting four rods that are basically disposable
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Nov 10, 2022 22:23
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Kind of a funny fishing story....so my son and I started out at daybreak fishing the flats of Ft Desoto state park in our skiff. Had no luck initially, and weren't even seeing any fish until we decided to trek to the other side of the park and started seeing tons of redfish and snook around the mangroves, none of which were biting at all. Since there was a nice breeze I decided to just do some drifting across the big flat, and that's when we hit paydirt, pulling in some speckled trout and jacks, nothing huge mostly normal sized. We must have drifted the flat four or five times. Around three or so after a long day of fishing we decided to head back in. We got to the boat ramp and my son noticed there were some huge snook hanging out under the dock, so we tied up the skiff and got the rods out. We each had a paddle tail on and the snook were going nuts trying to eat them, going so nuts that they were fighting each other for it and missing the drat lure all together. My son hooked up twice and broke off each time. My first hook up, he got under the dock and broke me off. I had one rod left with a leader and put a paddle tail on and tightened up the drag. I hooked up a snook immediately and pulled hard, not letting him get under the dock, then lead him over to the boat ramp and that worked. Biggest fish of a long day at the boat dock going home, literally the last cast  
Applebees Appetizer fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Nov 10, 2022 |
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Nov 10, 2022 23:00
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the yeti posted:Nice, yeah I'd definitely prefer to not buy disposable stuff. For tackle I'd been planning on high-low and carolina rigging stuff in the surf but if jigs or plastics will work that'll be good for when I inevitably get bored. Get a little bottle of Pro Cure Super Gel for the lures too, that stuff works like magic
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Nov 11, 2022 04:13
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Picked up a new fishing boat the other day, super excited to try it out!
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Jan 11, 2023 23:33
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camoseven posted:Bro hell yea congrats Thanks! It's my second skiff, I have two now lol. Not gonna sell the other one yet until I make sure I like this one for what I intend to use it for. As you can see I have limited space to keep a boat so my options are limited, but I wanted a Panga hull that would handle rough water better and be able to go into deeper water and handle rough conditions if they occur. My other skiff is a 14' tri hull which is super stable when static, but doesn't handle rough water well at all and is a pretty rough ride. With this new one the trade off is it's not as stable, BUT it's much more capable and safer overall, it's foam filled, basically unsinkable and rides like a Cadillac. I fish on the gulf coast of Florida, mostly inshore fishing for Snook, redfish and Tarpon. But I wanted a boat that could go into deeper water as well, and do it safely so I can go after the big snapper and grouper that can't really be found much inshore. So we'll see how it goes, I took it out once already and it was too rough to fish, but the boat handled the conditions great. Unfortunately tho It's a lot more tippy static than the tri hull so i will have to get used to that. So the plan right now is to fish it for awhile to get a feel for it and see how I like it, I can always sell it if I'm not happy with it. I've posted the other skiff here before too, it's a Rabco 14' Buccaneer 
Applebees Appetizer fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Jan 12, 2023 |
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Jan 12, 2023 16:49
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 Second time out in the new skiff, drifting out on the flats, caught some speckled trout.
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Feb 24, 2023 14:31
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Zman paddle tails have been working great for me, I probably catch 75% of fish with lures using those. Slamshady color to be specific, but that's the color that mimics the baitfish here, order some in the color of the baitfish near you and you'll have success. Also adding procure (scent) to it helps big time.
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Feb 24, 2023 21:34
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Wanted to post this here cuz people that fish will understand and appreciate it Been trying for a long time to land a Tarpon which are a notoriously difficult fish to land. Over the past few years of trying on our own (my son and I), hiring guides in the Keys on multiple trips, lots of trial and error locally (Tampa Bay area) produced lots of hookups and fights, with some very large fish but they jump around like crazy and have an uncanny ability for spitting out the hook. A few times came close but no cigar, and it's extremely nerve wracking because when you're fighting a Tarpon it's all in the technique, and even then if your technique is perfect you know you can lose the fish any second. So after lots of experience fishing for them and learning what to do and what not to do from professional guides in the keys and other experienced Tarpon anglers, my son and I finally figured out what Tarpon really like, get them to bite (which is difficult in itself) and finally keep them on the hook. First my son landed one, and about a week later I landed my first Tarpon and it ended up being an epic day when I landed three more within a few more hours after that.  That's my son with his first Tarpon and it's a small one It's been a few months since then and we have been catching more Tarpon now that we actually know what we're doing and have a few favorite spots we go too, we've been averaging smaller ones in the 30 to 50 pound range but our goal now is to land some bigger ones in the 150+ pound range which will be much more difficult but we're ready for the challenge now. Also registered for the Cuda Bowl tournament that's every year in the Keys in February, gonna be our first tournament so it should be fun, Barracuda are a blast to catch!
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Oct 14, 2023 23:50
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sexy tiger boobs posted:Id be bringing my snorkel gear along on my fishing trip, best believe I'm going after that bitch if I snag it on something. I lost a nice Rapala twitch bait after like three casts the first time using it after it bounced off a dock, the water was nice and clear and I spent like half an hour looking for it and still couldn't find it lol, and that was for like a $13 lure. If it was 50 I'd put a GPS locator on it or something
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Oct 22, 2023 17:22
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Charliegrs posted:Losing expensive lures to snags has gotten me to the point where I almost exclusively just use plain lead jig heads with Berkeley gulp minnows. I still lose a lot, but they are pretty cheap. Also they work really well. I tend to only use my expensive lures now when there's no structure or big rocks around, or fishing from shore with tons of weeds and trees around. Fishing off the beach is great cuz no worries there obviously, and if we're on the skiff we can just troll up to wherever the snag is. But yeah we've got one of those Zman binders full of their plastics, paddle tails, shads and crabs of different sizes and color. Put em on a screw lock hook, make em weedless and go to town otherwise gently caress it.
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Oct 25, 2023 13:47
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Was on the beach the other day and had my paddle board and fishing setup with me cuz we were shark fishing and we use the paddle boards to run the bait out further than we can cast it. While watching the shark pole we saw some major feeding explosions going off about 300 yards out with the birds going crazy so I jumped on the board and paddled out to it. It was a big school of large tuna going nuts feeding on bait that was everywhere so I started casting a Rapala jerk bait that looks exactly like the bait they were feeding on (green backs), while I was casting I noticed there was a ton of crab trap buoys all around me and I was a bit worried it could be a problem and of course it was. I hooked on to a good size tuna and the drag started instantly screaming, my heart was pounding in my chest, I knew this fish was really big and it was already pulling me around on the paddle board. Just when I though I had it in the bag, had the drag set just how i wanted it, the tuna ran around one of the crab trap lines and it seemed almost intentional. As soon as that happened he darted in the opposite direction and was bringing the trap rope up to the surface. I knew if I didn't get it untangled I was hosed, so when he turned me around the buoy was right in front of me and I took the only opportunity I was going to have to dip the rod tip under the buoy and get the line out from around the rope. And that was all the tuna needed to get away, he had already bent the hook enough that when I released tension for a few seconds he was able to get off. I was so pissed at those stupid loving crab traps, I was about to have the most epic catch ever off one of my boards. It was a few days ago and i'm still thinking about it  Oh and while I was out there chasing and fighting tuna my son pulled this bull shark in and I missed that too LOL 
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Nov 22, 2023 22:59
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Nice bass guys, I haven't caught a big bass in awhile, and my son just caught his first fish (bass) on fly the other day and loved it so now he's all in on fly fishing lol
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Dec 5, 2023 04:02
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Dec 9, 2023 21:28
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wesleywillis posted:What are y'all MFs using for tackle boxes or bags these days? We use a Yeti Loadout box for the boat and to keep most of the stuff in, and use a backpack when just going to fish off the beach and ponds and stuff, this one works great actually. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V42WRWJ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
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Dec 27, 2023 04:10
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Got a Ned Rig kit from Zman today, used the TRD Ticklerz in the kit and caught two bass and a big bluegill. Apparently these "ticklerz" baits are the poo poo for bass and work well for inshore saltwater species as well. Gonna test that out soon when we take the skiff out on friday. If anyone is not familiar with Ned Rigs this is how they work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiI7L-aMr-0 It's a different fishing philosophy for sure, but I've heard and read stories about people pulling in lots respectable fish on light tackle. Works especially great for high pressure areas where the fish are getting harassed all day, the lighter the better. I was using a medium heavy rod with 20lb braid and 15lb leader which is my lightest setup, and could tell I was too heavy. I'm going to get a super light setup and really put this to the test in salt and fresh water. I have a trip to the keys planned in the summer and I'm gonna try this on bonefish as well. [e] turns out I have a medium fast rod so all I need is a 2500 or 3000 reel and some super light line and leader lol, will report back Applebees Appetizer fucked around with this message at 06:10 on Jan 3, 2024 |
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Jan 3, 2024 05:10
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Yeah it was my first time trying it and I could tell right away the rod was too heavy for the jig. My son used a medium and he did fine but we were still using too heavy of a line for these, if we go lighter I'm sure we'll get way more bites. All I need is a smaller reel for each of us with 8 to 10 pound braid. I also got some of the heavier weedless lock type jigheads that Zman makes but I've used similar (I think) rig you're talking about with the TRD Craws, not really a ned rig per se, but acts the same way, a ned rig specific jig will just be easier to setup and use. These are the weedless jigs i got: https://zmanfishing.com/collections/terminal-tackle/products/finesse-bulletz We fish lots of big, open shallow flats inshore (way more than fresh water) so it will be ideal for redfish, snook, flounder and trout as well. My goal is to be dialed in with a setup before going to the keys because i think it will be perfect for bonefish. Applebees Appetizer fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Jan 3, 2024 |
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Jan 3, 2024 06:18
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Dang that sucks dude We have a tournament coming up in Feb in the Keys as well, I'm really hoping the weather is going to cooperate but you never know. Six hour drive there for us with reservations for lodging and a guide so it would really suck if it got cancelled, really hoping for good conditions.
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Jan 7, 2024 04:04
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I'm convinced a 3 to 4 inch paddletail (more specifically Zmans) is the best overall lure for anything and everything. That being said my son is a lure collector, he treats them like Hotwheels or something and 70% of them don't really work all that well. But all the marketing for this poo poo makes it seem like you'll catch a ton of fish, the social media marketing in particular is ridiculous. I've read and heard stories about people catching fish with live bait then putting whatever the trending lure is in the fish's mouth. Don't believe everything you see people
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Jan 9, 2024 01:49
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Sickening posted:I really love kayak fishing and I did a lot of it in my life. The hardest thing to get new kayak fishermen to accept is that they have to choose a strength for a kayak and accept it will do everything else not as well. You want the longest range possible? Accept that its going to be heavy, expensive, and less stable to stand on. You want the most stable kayak? Accept its range is going to decrease, its going to be heavy, and the wind is going to have its way with you. Want something light you can carry on your back to less traveled creeks? Well stability, a bit of safety, and storage is going to take a big hit. These kayak rigging videos seem to sell the idea that your kayak can do everything and that just isn't true. It's the same with the poling skiff market altho way more money is involved. You can spend over 100 grand on a full carbon fiber 17' poling skiff. The first time I ever stepped foot on a true poling skiff was in the Keys on a charter, the captain had a Hell's Bay Marquesa. At the time I had no clue about them, all I knew is it was this little boat with a poling platform that can float in spit, and from the size I just assumed they were inexpensive. When I asked how much I would expect to spend on a skiff like his ($80k) I literally choked on my Mountain Dew. poo poo is nuts. Also was just watching a video with my son that was a bunch of dudes tuna fishing in the gulf with the owner of NLBN lures. At the beginning of the video they were catching bait for the livewell and later on showed literally on camera someone that just pulled in a tuna and another guy comes from off camera (product placement guy probably) and puts one of the NLBN lures in it's mouth not even trying to hide it saying "he just pulled this in on this lure" yeah ok then what was all that live bait for if ya'll are lure fishing? It's a loving joke, and NLBN lures suck I've used them and they don't hold up for poo poo compared to Zman, it's not even close.
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Jan 9, 2024 21:55
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Yeah I normally use senkos for Bass fishing (wacky rig FTW), but the Ned Rig stuff has been working really well too so far and I'm glad I invested in that, especially with using a lightweight setup now, coming from saltwater it's always been about heavier setups so I'm learning the art of finesse and it's been super fun. Well worth it. I got a 2500 Diawa MQ on sale and put some 10lb braid on it lol, have never gone that light ever I think 20lb is the lightest line I've ever used around here.
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Jan 9, 2024 23:08
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Ugh I hate treble hooks, I usually switch them all out for inline hooks. Not as many hook ups but way easier to deal with for me and the fish.
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Jan 11, 2024 05:17
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https://www.facebook.com/reel/754177640074899 Dude went from "oh poo poo" to "OH gently caress"
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Jan 25, 2024 14:53
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Fished our first tournament this past weekend, the Cuda Bowl in Sugarloaf Key. https://www.cudabowl.com/ Fishing for Barracuda entails a florescent red or green rubber tube with a steel leader though it and a hook at the end of it. Weird I know, but it works well. Thing is you have to reel it in VERY fast, as fast as you can to trigger their feeding response, so imagine doing that for eight hours straight two days in a row. It gets very tiring, and my shoulder is still a bit sore. Unfortunately fishing involves a lot of luck and we didn't have any of it. I hooked a few very large Cudas and failed to bring them in, had one right at the boat with a hand on the leader which is technically a caught fish but it needs to be measured for the tournament. My son hooked a few large ones as well that could have won us the biggest fish trophy, but we only managed to pull in a few just over the minimum length of 30 inches. Each day each angler has five slots for the best total inches for two days and also there is a biggest fish prize of course. Winner of the overall did it on fly shockingly enough (has never happened before) at 719 inches total, and he also caught the biggest fish at 52 inches. Had lots of fun and can't wait to do it next year, we really want to try to win this thing.
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Feb 14, 2024 14:43
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My son caught this today in our local pond with a TRD Craw on a ned rig. Been doing lots of sight fishing on nests in the canals too, lots of success with ned rigs and the craw or short worm
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Mar 3, 2024 22:18
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If I noticed the Bass beds being pressured by other fish I wouldn't try to catch them. The canals we fish are mostly Bass, Tilapia and a few Gar here and there. Never seen or caught a bluegill or any other kind of panfish.
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Mar 4, 2024 03:05
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Sickening posted:Bluegill live anywhere there are bass. Kind of impossible for a body of water you describe to not have them. You sure about that? I'm in south Florida with lots of invasive species so it's a little different down here. Not saying I never see them or catch them at all in the area because I do, but in this particular canal, and also the pond in our neighborhood where I took that picture has virtually no bluegill. I've been fishing and cast netting this pond for over a decade and have never seen or caught one. Sure I guess there could be some but if so the numbers are so small they aren't even noticed which is quite different from some other ponds or lakes that do have them, it's quite obvious. The only thing I've seen in this pond are Tilapia which are the dominating species, then Bass, all kinds of Cichlids, and a few Gar. And of course the minnows like Mosquito fish and even some multi colored Molly. Along with turtles, some Cormorant, Egrets and even some Otters but have never seen a Bluegill lol  [e] when my son was young we would cast net the pond for molly and cichlids for his fish tank, never got a bluegill in the net. Cichlids are super aggressive and could be the reason we don't ever see or catch any bluegill. Applebees Appetizer fucked around with this message at 14:37 on Mar 4, 2024 |
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Mar 4, 2024 13:47
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Leaving tomorrow morning for an Everglades fishing trip. Gonna fish up and down the Tamiami Trail should be fun, will report back hopefully with some good fish pics!
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Mar 11, 2024 03:18
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Crab Dad posted:Please be careful to not get eaten by an alligator or Florida man. We actually got harassed by a gator cuz we were crushing the peacock bass and he wanted one bad lol. We are used to gators tho, unless they are really big we don't worry about them. Had a good trip overall, after trying in vain to catch some Tarpon in some known pond and canals in the area we gave up and focused on peacock bass and it paid off big time. Between the two of us we caught over 30 of them, then later in the afternoon they just stopped biting completely so we got there at just the right time. Great fight and just a gorgeous fish to look at up close.    And this is the rear end in a top hat that wouldn't leave us alone lol 
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Mar 13, 2024 20:45
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Southern Cassowary posted:any ned rig guys - i told my local tackle shop i wasn't digging the z-man elaztech neds and he grabbed some strike king ned cut-rs off the wall and said to try those. big winner - they do the ned float thing and are durable (7-10 fish per worm) but much, much easier to rig than the z-man neds. crushed using them the past couple of trips, like 8-10 bass an hour. I'm actually used to Zman now after rigging so many of them but yeah it can be a pain at times, will have to see if we got any of those strike king around here.
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Mar 13, 2024 20:51
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Voodoofly posted:I haven't fished in like 30 years, but my seven year old stumbled across a small mountain lake with people fishing off a dock when we were riding bikes. And now he really wants to go fish off that dock. Lol that's how it started for me. I fished when I was a kid a lot, and as an adult now and then but nothing serious. Then my son got the fishing bug about the same age, he's currently 16 and now we have a boat and enter fishing tournaments good luck
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Apr 11, 2024 17:01
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Charliegrs posted:What's that saying? The 2 greatest days in a boat owners life are the day you buy it and the day you sell it? Something like that. Or B.O.A.T. - Bust out another thousand? Maybe if you spend too much on one. I got a simple fishing skiff cheap, added a few things and I'm only into it for maybe $6k tops. If you keep it simple and can store it where you live it's cheap and easy. But yeah I live in Florida on the gulf coast and boats are super common obviously so you hear all kinds of horror stories. My dad had a cabin cruiser back in the day, it was a drain on his wallet and was not at all worth keeping for the amount of time he spent on it just cruising around burning gas and he was definitely happy when he sold it. If you have to pay marina fees to store a boat it adds up quick in addition to fuel and repairs and I think some people new to boating don't realize how much it's gonna cost. Fishing skiffs/boats are different I think tho because it's more of a tool for fishing rather than something to just cruise around in for fun. Applebees Appetizer fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Apr 13, 2024 |
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Apr 13, 2024 16:13
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Hekk posted:You could always just do what the vast majority of the rest of us do and shore fish until water temps get high enough to not have to worry about dying from hypothermia if you fall in. This. Don't be stupid taking out a lovely kayak in water that's cold enough to kill you in short order it's not worth it, just fish from shore there's no shame in it. We have a boat and two paddle boards and we still fish from shore a lot because it's fun and easy.
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Apr 17, 2024 03:46
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Found a local pond that had some big fish in it. At first we couldn't tell what they were cuz the water was a bit murky and they were super spooky so we just saw big blobs. After trying tons of different lures with no reaction whatsoever I figured they might be carp, so we went back a few days later with some bread on a hook and.... Grass Carp 
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Apr 20, 2024 16:29
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wesleywillis posted:Seems like the odds would be better if he tried to become a professional sports (football, baseball etc) player. It's exactly like racing, to make a small fortune in tournament fishing you start with a large one. My son and I entered a Barracuda tournament in the Keys, it wasn't cheap but we had lots of fun and plan on doing it again. I can't imagine doing it for a living tho, the major tournaments down here like King of the Beach (Kingfish) are for big money and it's mostly a bunch of rich dudes in their million dollar fishing boats drinking beer trying to catch the biggest Kingfish. I don't know how much it costs to enter and run in Bass tournaments but it can't be affordable by any stretch of the imagination.
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May 7, 2024 04:00
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Sickening posted:They release them. A lot of them die. Its why big tournaments have moved to a weigh and release method (some of them anyway). We did pic and release with the Barracuda, just lay them out on a measuring mat supplied by the organizers and take a pic it's easy. And if it goes by weight for bass, just weigh them and release them, and just have officials do it for the big tournaments. We've come a long way in Florida for salt water fish, Tarpon and Bonefish used to be killed for no reason back in the day in tournaments (cuz no one eats them) but it's a HUGE no no now, you can't even take them out of the water on to your boat or you'll get fined and ridiculed for doing so. The Bass thing is just about the TV aspect I think, they want viewers and want to make a big deal of it it's ridiculous but it makes them money I guess so I doubt anything will change
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May 7, 2024 18:38
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 09:21 |
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I can't eat any freshwater fish after eating saltwater fish for so long lol. Any kind of Snapper (Red, Mangrove, Hog) is just so good nothing comes close and when you're used to eating that everything else is just eh. Grouper is overrated
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May 8, 2024 03:12
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