St. Johns River in Brevard 10/20/23

[FlatsNBay]

On the water at sunrise with a buddy from church. First stop was a small island in front of a slough. I immediately noticed that the current was ripping much harder than normal. We cycled through a bunch of different baits and kept moving around in the river with not even a hit.

We moved to the mouth of the river and one of the lakes and had a good hit on a fluke casted to a little island. Worked around the island and then caught the first Bass of the day, a nice 3 pounder flipping a Paca Slim into a mat of vegetation in the island. We worked out into the lake as we drifted with the current when I picked up another 3 pounder on a fluke along the current seam.

We moved around the lake and caught 4 more pitching the Paca Slim into vegetation islands. Ended up with 6 bass total. Fun day just to finally get back out in the boat, the fish were a bonus. Off the water at noon.

[Canesfan]

Nice looking fish.  Congratulations.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Solid bass, well done!    Appreciate the report. 

[JohnFLA]

I see the paca slim looks like a crawfish. What type of rig do you put that on?  Do you hook from the front so the crawfish looks like it  is foraging or do you hook from the back so it looks like it is ready to fight?  Do you inject air into the pinchers to get them to stand up?  (I'm new to bass fishing and Florida. I'm amazed by bass lures. I think a Colorado trout would beach itself out of fright if one of these lured bounced by) thanks
John

[FlatsNBay]

Hey John, I rig the Paca Slim on a Texas rig and thread it on the hook from the bottom so that the pinchers are away from the hook and weight. I don't do anything special to them.

I usually don't use them but was trying to use up some of my plastic baits so I put them into the rotation.

The technique that I used them for was pitching and flipping so it was more of a reaction bite as the bait sank. Hits were immediate. Hope that helps.

[JohnFLA]

Thank you. That does help. As I am learning bass fishing, I realize trout are some dainty fish. I once got in a discussion debating if the gold thread on a fly would spook a trout. Meanwhile the bass are hitting spinnerbaits that look like something from the Alien movies.

[Donald Garner]

Flats, congrats on another successful outing.  That's a nice looking fish there.  Tks for sharing the trip and that picture with us also