Fishing Articles and Information

Do You Love Florida Bass Fishing? Use Big Bait!

By John Carll

Wasting even a few minutes seems to be a tough task nowadays but believe me that the time spent in reading this article about Florida bass fishing is not going to prove a waste of time.

If you enjoy Florida bass fishing, you are sure to enjoy this article for the content it contains.

Every effort has been taken to provide you with quality content which might be useful to you.

During the course of your reading of this article about Florida bass fishing, you must have realized that there could be more than one approach towards one topic.

That is what we have tried to do-taking a new approach to Florida bass fishing.

Whenever I am not guiding or tournament fishing, I trully enjoy spending time fishing strictly for big fish. Over the years I have always been the type who would rather catch just one big fish in a fourteen hour day as opposed to twenty small fish in an hour.

In my case, looking for big bass is more of a "hunting trip" rather than a day of fishing and I have learned to treat big bass as completely different critters that their younger and smaller relatives.

To me, a "big bass" starts at around seven pounds. Consistent catches of bass over seven pounds requires major changes in fishing locations, tactics and no less important, mental preparation. The hardest part of the whole process may be "psyching" yourself into the fact that during your fishing time for big fish you are going to get fewer bites and you are going to have to be much more focused. Also, you must mentally assure yourself that the reward will be worth all the effort in the end!

In the beginning itself I made it clear that it was not our purpose to make you omniscient about Florida bass fishing. What we wanted was to make you aware of the fundamentals of Florida bass fishing and that is what we are doing.

I like big baits for big bass. There is no question in my mind that as a bass grows so does its appetite. I have boated four pound bass with the tails of baitfish over eight inches long hanging out of their mouths and they still had the tenacity to strike the big baits that I so often throw.

I love to tell the story about how when I was a younster, my brother, my cousin and I would fish for bass with live frogs on spinning rods. We used frogs so big that we could not cast them with the rod. We had to lay the rods down, flip the bail and throw the frogs by hand!

We caught some BIG bass on those live frogs but we also caught a large number of two pound fish that we figured had to defy the laws of physics by somehow getting those huge frogs into their mouths. So, I have learned that just because I choose big baits it does not mean that I will not catch some smaller fish as well!

Large topwater baits are my favorite fishing methods to use for a BIG bite. Big Spooks and buzzbaits are my favorite choices. The bigger the bait the better. In fact, I am having to make my own versions of these baits because there aren't any as big as I like them on the market! I like a buzzbait blade so big that you could get a ticket for using it in a "NO WAKE" zone.

The interesting part is that I like using these big topwater baits during hot, humid and sunny days between the hours of 8am to 2pm. I like summer days with temperatures in the upper 90s+, little or no wind, a lot of humidity and a chance of afternoon thunderstorms.

My favorite key areas under these conditions are shallow grass cover or steep, undercut banks with overhanging shade trees. A very slow presentation is crucial. I like the buzzbait blades to turn as slow as possible and, my fishing partners can usually eat a can of Vienna sausages before I get a big Spook back to the boat!

Slow presentations with big popping type baits along grass lines or on grass mats have also produced well for me. One thing I have recognized is that many big fish are less pressured in shallow areas during the mid-day hours and do not see many topwater baits. Most people put topwater baits away after the sun comes up.

This ends the discussion on Florida bass fishing and now it is for you to apply in your practical life what you have learnt here.

John's website help beginners and advanced bass fishermen to catch a boat load of fish.