Everglades "What a Day" Report, April 5th.

[FlatsNBay]

Booked a guide trip with Captain Lou to fish for peacocks and bass deep in the Florida Everglades. Our special guest was Jeff from Pradco Outdoor Brands. If you don't know, Pradco owns about 10 different lure companies including Booyah, Yum, Rebel, Heddon, Cotton Cordell, Norman, Bandit, War Eagle, among others. Our goal was twofold:  to test and evaluate different lures for Pradco and to provide content such as pictures videos, and articles for Pradco. Capt. Lou was up for a fun challenge!

On the water just after daylight and we were off zipping down one of the remote canals in the Glades. After a short run, we stopped in a productive looking gator infested area. Lou and I began throwing a Heddon BOYO Spook which is a small 3"ish sized spook which is perfect for throwing with baitcasting gear as it is quite heavy and comes equipped with a loud rattle. Boom we started connecting soon after we began with explosive strikes on the BOYO. Jeff went to town with a Heddon Baby Torpedo and was getting hits on almost every cast. Most of the peas were of very good quality and we caught largemeouth bass with regularity too. We soon figured out the bite window and specific location the fish were holding to and our success increased. Perfect casts often resulted in vicious strikes!

Next up was the small Yum Pulse swim bait and the small Gene Larew swimbait. both fished on a jighead. They worked great for both peas and bass, however you had to keep the bait moving at a pretty good pace or you would catch a Myan cichlid, Oscar, or jag. They were both very productive.

The shining star of the day was a 3" Rebel Trackdown minnow in brown trout, a color not made for south Florida Fishing. It was amazing! The brown trout color is gold with a variety of different spots and specs on it which matches the forage in the Glades amazingly well. We proceeded to flat wear the fish out once we figured out the speed and cadence of the jerkbait. There were many times that we caught fish on back-to-back casts. It was nonstop action. We also caught several fish on a Smithwick Super Rogue Jr. jerkbait in clown color.

We rotated through a variety of lures and techniques, and all seemed to consistently catch fish. We finished up around 3:00 with 118 peas and bass total caught.

Super fun day. Lou will add the pics and his report.

Thanks Lou! What a day indeed. All smiles.   

[big g]

Thanks Flats, what a great report!  I don't know where you were fishing, but it brings back memories from the early 90's in the glades.  Lots of top water and explosive bites.  So happy you guys had a fun day out there.  Great report!

[Larry Francis]

Now that's a day.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Great report Steve. You summed it up perfectly!  Thank you.

What a day indeed. As I mentioned on previous posts, I have been looking forward to this trip since it was booked month's ago. To have the unique opportunity to fish with a representative of Pradco, along with fishing with their extensive product line, all on my home court (Everglades), was special to say the least. Over the coming days, I will break down each of  the lures and baits we used through out the trip. As Steve mentioned, both of us now have 2 favorite lures added to our fishing toolbox. @ Jeff, if you happen to read this report, thank you once again. Great having you on the boat!! 



I do not have much to add to this report. Steve did such a great job and covered all the important points. The only thing I can add is, that it was fun to watch these guys fish. Steve has fished with me several times before, but we have never had the type outing we had yesterday. It was like fishing with 2 excited kids. Hearing and seeing their reactions when a nice peacock would demolish their baits was PRICELESS!!

An 8 hour trip, is a long outing out in the glades especially when your throwing 100% artificial lures. But both Jeff and Steve handled it like seasoned pro's. They took very short breaks, and were super excited to jump back on the saddle, and continue casting away for the next big Peacock. Steve did not mention this, but he lost two BIG peacocks!! The blow ups sounded like a cinder block being dropped into a pool, from a roof!! 



Both Jeff and Steve had a profound appreciation of the Everglades, from seeing all the the wildlife, to catching  exotic fish that all call the Everglades home. South Florida has such a unique ecosystem, and I'm thankful to experience just a sliver of it.



To Steve and Jeff. Thank you! You guys rock!! 

[Princeton_Man]

What an awesome day! Did Jeff hook you up with any of the new Norman Lures Magnum Speed Clips? I have got to get down there one day!

[Capt. BassinLou]

What an awesome day! Did Jeff hook you up with any of the new Norman Lures Magnum Speed Clips? I have got to get down there one day!

No speed clips, but I did receive a box of all these,,,

[topwaterrob]

Wow, what a day.

[Donald Garner]

Great outing there Lou    Tks for sharing the day and those pictures with us also 

[Princeton_Man]

What an awesome day! Did Jeff hook you up with any of the new Norman Lures Magnum Speed Clips? I have got to get down there one day!

No speed clips, but I did receive a box of all these,,,

Years ago, my tackle box was full of Heddon plugs. Funny how we tend to drift away old baits to new baits when the old ones worked just fine to try new lures that work just fine.

[Capt. BassinLou]

What an awesome day! Did Jeff hook you up with any of the new Norman Lures Magnum Speed Clips? I have got to get down there one day!

No speed clips, but I did receive a box of all these,,,

Years ago, my tackle box was full of Heddon plugs. Funny how we tend to drift away old baits to new baits when the old ones worked just fine to try new lures that work just fine.

Pradco lures have been my staple of lures for quite sometime for both my largemouth and peacock bass fishing. The "new" lures look cool and all, but I have gravitated towards the old school lures over the last few years. If ain't broken type deal.

Heddon and Rebel have made a couple of changes recently on a couple of their lures, that I have yielded me fabulous results. I will be discussing and showcasing those baits next week. 

[Smallie_Stalker]

What a day! I saw some of the pictures on FB but I always like hearing the story behind them. Thanks for sharing with us guys.

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