MM41 Florida Everglades, 8/12/18

[Capt. BassinLou]

I fished MM 41 in the Everglades this morning with Rick. Below are the conditions:

Conditions:
Sunny skies
Hot and humid
Water Temps: 84-86 F
Water Clarity: 3-4ft
Current: Running East
Wind: SE 5-10mph
Fishing time: 7am-2:30pm
# of fish boated: 13

Rick and I arrived at the ramp 645am, and by a little after 7am, our frogs were being annihilated. From 7am to 8:15am the action was steady. The bass weren't hitting like crazy but the fish were active. Rick had his heart broken by a monster bass, but he will tell you that story.



At 8:15 the bite died and we had to roll up are sleeves and work!! The hits were very sporadic at best. Later in the morning George and Roberto met up with us and we all fished together for a while. (It was great seeing you guys!!)










At around noon, we took a break, ate some of Rick's kick ass chicken wings and resumed fishing 20 minutes later.

We had a short burst of blow ups that yielded 3 quick fish, and the bite died again. I basically stayed with the frog for 95% and over the course of 2 hours, I landed a few more fish and I called the trip at 2:30pm looked at the fish counter and we managed to boat 13 fish.






Day in Perspective:  Rick, as always, awesome fishing with you. My stomach is still sore from laughing so much. Sorry you had a tough outing today.

The bite was tough!! The fish were relating to cover hard. What I mean by that is, the bass weren't not travelling far to hit the bait. The strike zone was less than 1 foot. That means the casting had to be precise or you weren't going to catch them. Fortunately, I stayed the course and manged to catch some nice fish, but we had to work for them. Summer fishing can be brutal!! 

[Lipripper]

Thankis for the report Lou and glad you and Rick got out and had a great time fishing in tuff conditions. I love me some chicken wings.  Nice looking fish. I will be waiting for the story about the one that Rick let go and I also heard he was fishing for tree bass again. 

[SFL BassHunter]

Thanks Lou for the invite out and as usual I had a great time, despite the tough time catching. I was certainly a little irritable today after several heartbreaks that crushed my spirit and confidence. It's amazing what having a positive outlook can have, or even a negative outlook for that matter.

It started with a fish that hit my Teckle Sprinker frog. Set the hook, reeled it a few feet and it came loose.
Then a huge bass showed itself to us. Lou managed to get his frog in position first, but the fish swirled around it and didn't take his offering. I followed up with my frog and got a big strike out of it. I watched as my line went down, I set and during hookset a pop was heard. Instantly the rod unloaded, and nothing was on the other end. I had no words as I looked at my line, and then at Lou. It took me a moment to process what had occurred. Looked at my 65lb braid and saw it was not a knot failure which was my initial thought as I had just tied a Fish N Fool knot for the second time ever. I cursed the knot and then looked and realized the failure was in the line somewhere above the knot.
We then watched as the fish breached again with a head shake trying to get the LT 55 out of it's gullet.
Though the issue was not the Fish N Fool knots fault, I went back to my normal Palomar. Checked my line and found no frays.
That was my last LT 55, so I went to a Booyah Pad Crasher. A few minutes later another strike. Again I watched as my line dove, I set, and no pop. Started bringing the fish in and got it close to the boat. The fish then surged and went around the back. This was a decent fish, probably 18-19 inches. It seems when I tried to pull it back around the change of direction dislodged my frog from its mouth and again I was left with nothing on the other end.

With 3 lost fish, I was disheartened. I switched to other baits in hopes of hooking some fish and keeping them hooked, but that didn't work out. I couldn't buy a bite on soft plastics, or spooks.
The spook was not able to get into the zone Lou mentioned like a frog could. With little room for error in casting it just wasn't productive. I went back to the frog after some time, and tested several frogs in my box including the little tiny 4.5 H20 frog. I was finally able to make it walk, but only half the time.

Eventually towards the last hour we hit a flurry of bites and one fell for my booyah. I cracked this one as hard as I could, if it was going to get away it was going to have to bust my line. I brought it to the boat successfully while unleashing  fire and fury  at it with words I can't post here. Unleashing the anger that had been brewing  inside for hours. Sorry you had to hear that Lou l

I was able to kick the skunk out of the boat.

Thankis for the report Lou and glad you and Rick got out and had a great time fishing in tuff conditions. I love me some chicken wings.  Nice looking fish. I will be waiting for the story about the one that Rick let go and I also heard he was fishing for tree bass again. 

Actually I'm pretty sure I got hung up just as much as my fishing buddy. I just have a bad rep for catching trees cause I admit it and joke about it.
Catching trees is part of the game, especially when the fish are tight to specific cover and the room for error is almost non existent. Skipping baits, and frogs under branches, and around trees constantly, it's bound to happen. It's not like it's open fields on either side of the canal and a tree here and there. The entire canal is lined with trees.
But some day I will improve and catch less trees lol. 

[Capt. BassinLou]

Rick pulled a tree out of from its roots!!

[big g]

It was good to see you guys out there.  A lot more wood in that south canal.  It was a beautiful morning but by 10:00 it was brutal.  Rick it sounds like a heart breaking day losing those fish.  Good job Lou catching those under tough conditions.

[Canesfan]

Good job all of you in these unbearable conditions. Wish I could have gone but wife had other ideas. We worked in the back yard pressure cleaning and then sealing the concrete slab and pavers. Was soaking wet with sweat in no time. Would have much rather worked up a sweat trying to catch fish.

On the positive side though, at least that project is out of the way for awhile.

[SFL BassHunter]

Rick pulled a tree out of from its roots!!

Thanks...You're not helping. 
Don't make me post that video I have been holding hostage for a long while!

It was good to see you guys out there.  A lot more wood in that south canal.  It was a beautiful morning but by 10:00 it was brutal.  Rick it sounds like a heart breaking day losing those fish.  Good job Lou catching those under tough conditions.

Yeah George, it's tough cause fish that size don't come every day.

[FlatsNBay]

Nice job fellas. Rick, I'm glad you got out of the funk and turned things around. We've all been there!

Lou, is that a Spro frog that you're throwing? They must be out of Live Targets if you are throwing other frogs!

[Capt. BassinLou]

Nice job fellas. Rick, I'm glad you got out of the funk and turned things around. We've all been there!

Lou, is that a Spro frog that you're throwing? They must be out of Live Targets if you are throwing other frogs!

Flats, I'm currently trying out other frogs because the LT'S are becoming hard to come by.

[FLO GROWN]

Wtg Lou!!!Thanks for the report.

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[Capt. BassinLou]

Wtg Lou!!!Thanks for the report.

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Thanks bud, good luck tomorrow!!

[Capt. BassinLou]

It was good to see you guys out there.  A lot more wood in that south canal.  It was a beautiful morning but by 10:00 it was brutal.  Rick it sounds like a heart breaking day losing those fish.  Good job Lou catching those under tough conditions.

Thanks George. Those fish were sticking to cover like white on rice. You had to basically hit them on the head to get bit.

[FLO GROWN]

Thanks bud, good luck tomorrow!!

Thanks looking forward to it

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[LgMouthGambler]

Flats, I'm currently trying out other frogs because the LT'S are becoming hard to come by.

Really? Because they are all in your tacklebox. Lol. Good to see you guys still got a few to play along.

Rick, pulling a tree from the root ought to count for something. Lol

<")))>{

[SFL BassHunter]

Really? Because they are all in your tacklebox. Lol. Good to see you guys still got a few to play along.

Rick, pulling a tree from the root ought to count for something. Lol

<")))>{

Hulk strength!


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[BarryFL]

65lb braid is like that.

~Barry~

[SFL BassHunter]

65lb braid is like that.

~Barry~

What it can pull a tree from its roots but snaps on hookset? Lol
Apparently yes.


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[Capt. BassinLou]

Really? Because they are all in your tacklebox. Lol.
<")))>{

... I used to have a good inventory of them, but not no more. Fortunately, I think I came across another frog that will  serve me as a very good substitute. 

[BarryFL]

What it can pull a tree from its roots but snaps on hookset? Lol
Apparently yes.


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Mudfish or Gar with teeth?

~Barry~

[SFL BassHunter]

Mudfish or Gar with teeth?

~Barry~

I wish it would have been lol
But no. I got a quick glimpse it was certainly a bucketmouth.


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[Donald Garner]

Tks for sharing the trip with us.  Congrats on the catching also.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Mudfish or Gar with teeth?

~Barry~

No that was one helluva bass. That pig blew up on that frog 6-7 yards away from the boat and I watched how the whole thing happened because my frog was just in that area. Hearing and seeing a huge bass blow up and hearing the braid snapping like the sound of a rifle crack is heart breaking. 

[BarryFL]

I guess Rick may want to ease off on the hookset.

I've never seen 65lb braid snap that didnt have a nick or something.

I watched Walt snap 30lb braid on hooksets three times in one day but I think he had a bad spool of the cheaper Suffix (not 832).

~Barry~

[Capt. BassinLou]

I guess Rick may want to ease off on the hookset.

I've never seen 65lb braid snap that didnt have a nick or something.

I watched Walt snap 30lb braid on hooksets three times in one day but I think he had a bad spool of the cheaper Suffix (not 832).

~Barry~

You know how it goes Barry, sometimes we will never know what caused our line to snap, and we will wreck our brains trying to figure out why. Bottom line is, the fish won that round, and we just got to be prepared for the next one.

[BarryFL]

At least you know where it lives.

~Barry~