Alligator Alley MM41 3/30/19

SFL BassHunter · March 31, 2019, 08:14:38 AM

FloGrown and I met up at MM41 ramp at 7:15am and noticed a bunch of trucks with trailers parked, and a few boats launching. Busy morning there.
We launched and headed west. FloGrown had never been out there so he was relying on me and my past experiences with this area. We got to the first bridge and decided to start fishing just after it. We weren't sure if his boat could make it past the weir on the south side but we figured we would fish to the end and turn back if we needed to.
The early bite was decent buzzing vibes on top. I had a few fish in the boat with a few that came off. FG also got a couple using the mag vibe. After a little while that died down and the topwater bite became non-existent afterwards.

I tried the frog for about an hour at this point and couldn't get the fish to go for it. Tried all the tricks in my book and nothing. So I decided to stop spinning my wheels and just fish my strengths. FG got into them using a variety of baits. He caught some on spinnerbait, jig and ol monster worm. Most of the fish he caught were on the big worm.

Eventually I found my groove and worked a stick-o with a 1/16oz unpegged. Letting it drop, sometimes they would get it on the fall, most of the times I just deadsticked it and they would come and get it from the bottom or the ledge. Most my fish came deep or off the ledge. I'd spend a lot of time casting shallow and not getting consistent bites once I started casting to the edge of the ledge and letting it drop, the bites became consistent.

We eventually went over to the north canal and fished west to the Miccosukee buoy. We did well on the north and got to a section with bigger fish.
FG lost a biggun. He was working the jig and got the fish to the boat. Tried to lift it by grabbing the line but the fish hit the gunwale, shook and came off. The fish had a big ol head and if I had to guess was 6+ lbs.
I'd caught a smaller fish on a jig earlier. While the bite wasn't as consistent on the jig, some fish were willing to eat it.
In the same area where he lost the big one but the other side of the canal, I found a 17" and an 18.25" that were willing to eat the stick-o.

We ran back to the weir on the north side, fished that area and then let the wind push us west again. Not far from the west side of the weir we had a bass boat with two guys pass us slowly, then pull up right in front of us. We looked at these two

and just shook our heads at first. Wasn't long before we had to comment to each other about the disrespectful

. We fished behind them for a bit, but FG took a nice approach to this. We knew we were on fish, and had patterns we were each working. So he set his TM just fast enough to catch up to them. The canal is wide enough to where both boats can fish side by side with plenty of space in between. They knew what they had done, not one word was said between either boats. They talked among themselves and we did the same as we fished next to them. The difference was we were pulling fish out, we caught 5 or 6 working the north bank as they boated 0 fish in that time frame. Eventually got tired of this game and FG decided to ride back west closer to where we had caught those bigger fish. This time around we didn't catch any bigger ones but we kept on catching.

One of my fish spit these guys out! They say match the hatch...bring out the fly rods...

At the end of the day we finished with 49 fish, and were off the water at around 5pm.

Thanks for the invite FloGrown! Had a great time talking and catching fish!

Donald Garner · March 31, 2019, 08:24:47 AM

Congrats on the catching and tks for sharing the trip and pictures with us also.

Quick question here: What is a weir?

FLO GROWN · March 31, 2019, 08:25:46 AM

Awesome day Rick we caught alot of fish they didn't come easy we earned every one of those 49 you had a really nice fish that probably went 4# and I lost probably my personal best cause I didn't get my lazy butt off the chair to lip him. As far as that boat the pulled right upon us we put a nice little fishing clinic on for them. You forgot to mentioned the gator that wanted to fish in the boat with us

Great day as always fishing with you thanks for posting report!

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big g · March 31, 2019, 08:45:23 AM

Nice job guys. Sorry you had to put up with the other boat, but there is no better revenge then catching when they aren't! Lot's of boat traffic yesterday for the alley. I saw three guide boats working the area out west.

Capt. BassinLou · March 31, 2019, 08:55:03 AM

Appreciate the report Rick. Nice fish!! I really hate it when another boat pulls that

. I honestly don't know what compels people to do that when there are MILES and MILES of canal available.

SFL BassHunter · March 31, 2019, 09:45:43 AM

Quote from: Donald Garner on March 31, 2019, 08:24:47 AM
Congrats on the catching and tks for sharing the trip and pictures with us also.

Quick question here: What is a weir?

Any time Donald!

Quote from: FLO GROWN on March 31, 2019, 08:25:46 AM
Awesome day Rick we caught alot of fish they didn't come easy we earned every one of those 49 you had a really nice fish that probably went 4# and I lost probably my personal best cause I didn't get my lazy butt off the chair to lip him. As far as that boat the pulled right upon us we put a nice little fishing clinic on for them. You forgot to mentioned the gator that wanted to fish in the boat with usGreat day as always fishing with you thanks for posting report!

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I did forget about the gator. That was a big one. Came straight for the boat and didn't back down. Slapping the water next to him with your rod just angered him and he started to open his mouth lol. Sucker followed up quite a bit. Protecting it's domain. But never puffed up or growled at us.

Quote from: big g on March 31, 2019, 08:45:23 AM
Nice job guys. Sorry you had to put up with the other boat, but there is no better revenge then catching when they aren't! Lot's of boat traffic yesterday for the alley. I saw three guide boats working the area out west.

Yeah it was a PITA. The good thing is both FG and I are laid back so while it bothered us, we weren't about to ruin our day. Just pulled up next to em and caught fish then motored out of there when we had enough.

Quote from: Bassinlou on March 31, 2019, 08:55:03 AM
Appreciate the report Rick. Nice fish!! I really hate it when another boat pulls that . I honestly don't know what compels people to do that when there are MILES and MILES of canal available.

It's happened to use a few times, but never like this. These guys seriously were maybe 3-4 boat lengths in front of us when they started fishing, they pulled away for a bit, max 8 to 10 boat lengths, I think FG also slowed down on the TM for a bit before he kicked it into high gear to catch up.

I'm sure when they pulled up I could have clonked em on the head if I had a nice 1/8oz or 1/4oz bullet weight on, especially with the wind to our backs. A hollow body frog would definitely have pegged em good. But we took the less violent route, and the one that didn't get us shot lol.

FLO GROWN · March 31, 2019, 11:21:19 AM

We made our point pulling up next to them and slinging bass in the boat than motoring up,than we saw them at ramp and they couldn't get boat straight on trailer

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Lipripper · March 31, 2019, 02:09:33 PM

Thanks for the great report Rick and FG. Sounds like y'all had a great day together in spite of the Gator and jerks who don't follow good boat ethics . Y'all did the right thing and pored salt in their wounds by not saying anything and just pulling up next to them and putting fish in the boat and they wasn't getting any.

FG sorry you lost that fish maybe next time you will think about getting up and liping it.

Wow glad that gator didn't try and get in the boat.

LgMouthGambler · March 31, 2019, 03:37:26 PM

You guys killed it!

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SFL BassHunter · March 31, 2019, 07:15:35 PM

Quote from: Lipripper on March 31, 2019, 02:09:33 PM
Thanks for the great report Rick and FG. Sounds like y'all had a great day together in spite of the Gator and jerks who don't follow good boat ethics . Y'all did the right thing and pored salt in their wounds by not saying anything and just pulling up next to them and putting fish in the boat and they wasn't getting any. FG sorry you lost that fish maybe next time you will think about getting up and liping it. Wow glad that gator didn't try and get in the boat.

Thanks Lip! I agree! FloGrown is lazy. Can't even be bothered to stand up when he catches a 6lb fish.

Quote from: LgMouthGambler on March 31, 2019, 03:37:26 PM
You guys killed it!

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FLO GROWN · March 31, 2019, 07:17:42 PM

Lol when you catch as many as we do it gets tiresome

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Capt. BassinLou · March 31, 2019, 07:36:00 PM

Quote from: FLO GROWN on March 31, 2019, 07:17:42 PM
Lol when you catch as many as we do it gets tiresome

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uh... not when its a 6lbr!!

FLO GROWN · March 31, 2019, 07:38:11 PM

Quote from: Bassinlou on March 31, 2019, 07:36:00 PM
uh... not when its a 6lbr!!

I'm kidding,my back was really bothering me it was hard to move

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