Bassin' USA - Bass Fishing Forum Archives

Well, I live here in Central Florida.Polk County, A conuty that produced the state record for largemouth bass.It is early February and the weather should be warming up soon. If any of you live in FL and fish it often, could you give me some tips on what selection of lures I might use to help produce more fish for me. The water I usually fish is a little murky. Any advice you give I will consider. Thanks for allthe help. Cole

Cole, always good to hear from you. Although I have never fished Florida, many of my comrades have so I will pass on what I know. First, A bass is a bass, no matter which state they live in they all react the same. Of course Florida bass turn on much earlier than Iowa bass, but that's only due to water temperature. I'm sure that during your adventures in Florida you will be fishing heavy weed beds and matted vegetation. Some good bait selection for these areas include: Large plastic worms, eight inches or more, fished Texas rigged with heavy weights. Flip or pitch these into open pockets in the vegetation. Color? Hard to beat standard black, black/blue or purple. I recommend a straight tail worm, they are less prone to snag on vegetation, sometimes, curly tail worms and creature baits will wrap aound a weed and either snag, or you scare the fish trying to pull it through. A jig and pig will also work, though for me, they tend to attract too much moss and weeds where the line tie area is. An often overlooked bait for semi-vertical fishing is a plain silver minnow spoon tipped with a short pork strip. Simply let the bait free fall into the open pockets, pull it out and find another pocket. Watch where your line enters the water, you may only see a slight twitch to alert you to a strike. For matted vegetation where you are forced to fish on top of the slop, most baits designed for that style fishing will work, scum frogs, moss boss etc. I do have one tip I'll offer you, as you know, or will find out, when fish blow up on baits crawling across the vegetation, the fish will miss the bait more times than not leaving nothing but a hole in the slop and a broken heart. Here's how I handle the situation, now keep this just between us okay? When I use a scum frog or whatever, I tie a one foot leader, strong line, to the lures hook, to that I tie on a tube jig, rigged with a weedless hook, no weight. When fish blows up on the bait, never set the hook until you feel the fish. If the fish misses pull the tube jig into the open hole left by the strike, often, the bass will come back and grab the tube. Gotta go, good luck and I hope this helps, Johnnie Crain Iowa Pro Staff.

Cole- Did it seem to you that Johnnie was in his boat talking to you about what to use and how to work it? He has an uncanny knack for sizing up bassing situations and describing them so well that even I can understand them.

Johnnie- Keep it up. Great stuff.

To you both, much obliged. Joe

Joe, there's no place I'd rather be than sitting in a boat with Cole. I'd love to spend time with this young man, and pick his brain a little. One thing I've always found is, there's something to be learned from everyone, if you'll only watch and listen. Good luck Cole.