big bass

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Winter fishing for bass in the most epic cold front of the year means insane fish activity and even catching a personal best bass over 10lbs on a crank bait. I’m not saying it’s fun fishing on days like this but pre-frontal conditions, strong winds, usually rain, and overcast skies have been the ideal times to target trophy fish this year. The west wind, a normal signal of a front passing through in Florida, sets up perfect on some offshore structure I’ve found and that current supplied by the strong winds lines the fish bass up in an eating mood! For the most part the most successful fishing techniques all related to power fishing – and mainly grinding a crankbait on the bottom in 15-24ft of water. We did catch a few fish dragging a Wrecking Ball and Carolina Rig but fish seemed to want the bait moving fast and digging into the bottom.

Weather: winds WSW 15-25mph (we took water over the bow of the boat many times), overcast with occasional heavy rains – note temps were in the low 60’s-70’s, the next day saw lows in the upper 30’s – i.e. it was a massive cold front!

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Want to know what fishing lures, terminal tackle, and fishing/camera equipment are being used in the vids? Check it out all below:

Strike King 10xd http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Strike_King_10XD_Crankbait/descpage-SK10XD.html?from=mkfish

Mustad Triple Grips (Change your hooks!!!!!) http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Mustad_KVD_1x_Strong_2x_Short_Triple_Grip_Treble_Hook/descpage-MKVDEST.html?from=mkfish

Sunline FC Sniper http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Sunline_Super_FC_Sniper_Fluorocarbon/descpage-SLFCS.html?from=mkfish

You need this graph – Lowrance HDS 12 Carbon:http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Lowrance_HDS-12_Carbon_Fishfinder_Chartplotters/descpage-CAR2X.html?from=mkfish

My Costas http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Costa_Del_Mar_Blackfin_Sunglasses/descpage-CDMBF.html?from=mkfish

All the camera stuff, the drone, everything you need to shoot vids! https://www.amazon.com/shop/mikeybalzzfishing?ref=ac_inf_hm_vp

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Fishing for bass with hair jigs is awesome. This is not me generalizing, this is not a conventional video. This is my experience on the water using hair jigs to target offshore bass on Florida lakes.

I’ve caught a lot of fish over 7lbs using hair jigs. I only need 2 sizes, 5/8 and 3/4. I’m usually targeting largemouth bass in 13-30ft of water and those weights, even with wind and current, tend to cover all the fishing bases. Color wise, it’s simple – white. I prefer Gambler’s JTK Hair Jig which comes in a Shad color that basically incorporates white with a touch of olive green which is perfect for mimicking shad and other bait fish. If there’s one huge key to the fishing technique that I’ve found in the past 2 years it’s that a hair jig is the perfect hard bait fishing tackle for targeting suspended fish. Fish anywhere from 2 feet to 12 feet off the bottom. It takes some practice to dial in the retrieve and keep the bait in the strike zone but when things come together you’ll know you’ve figured it out!

All the stuff in the video is available through the links below. Make sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to keep the vids rolling!

JTK Hair Jig http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Gambler_Hair_Jig/descpage-GHJG.html?from=mkfish

Camera – GoPro Hero 4 http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/GoPro_HERO4_Silver_Camera/descpage-GPS4.html?from=mkfish

Sunline FC Sniper http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Sunline_Super_FC_Sniper_Fluorocarbon/descpage-SLFCS.html?from=mkfish

GoPro Shoulder Mount http://amzn.to/2lkPI0t

Floral Hat http://amzn.to/2oASb5H

You need this graph – Lowrance 12 Ti:
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Lowrance_Elite_12_Ti_Sonar/descpage-LET2.html?from=mkfish

Reel Shimano Curado http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Shimano_Curado_200_I_Casting_Reel/descpage-SCI.html?from=mkfish

Powell Max 3d 7′ Cranking Rod
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Powell_Max_3D_Crankbait_Casting_Rods/descpage-3DCC.html?from=mkfish

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Fished the Work Horse Tournament Trail bass derby yesterday and caught big fish for the tournament 7lbs 3oz and decided to put a new reel to the test for the first time tournament fishing. The reel I bought to try out for the first time was the KastKing Stealth http://amzn.to/2mT5srq I was pretty pleased – the reel comes in at a very comptitive price around $60 and frankly performs as well as my Lew’s Speed Spools which retail at $100.

https://youtu.be/g4-376rFt4E

Tournament baits and tackle –

Gambler Fat Ace:
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Gambler_Fat_Ace_5pk/descpage-GFA.html?from=mkfish

Damiki Neko Sinker:
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Damiki_Neko_Sinker/descpage-DNS.html?from=mkfish

Seaguar Red Label Flourocarbon:
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Seaguar_Red_Label_Fluorocarbon_Line/descpage-SRLF.html?from=mkfish

Shimano Zodias 7’2″ MH:
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Shimano_Zodias_Casting_Rods/descpage-ZDC.html?from=mkfish

“This video featuring the KastKing Stealth baitcasting reel is my entry for the KastKing YouTube Tournament, which pays out thousands of dollars in prizes. Please give it a Like and Subscribe to the KastKing YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0oeLSPx__hMggLznMByDJQ

KastKing Stealth and other KastKing fishing tackle products are avaiable at http://www.amazon.com/kastking

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an unforgettable day captured by gopro fishing the florida everglades.  with the water low fish push out into the last remaining deep water – i.e. the canals; and it can make for a big bass smash.  it’s not about catching them, it’s more about catching the biggest ones you possibly can.  best 5 went around 37lbs all caught on magnum baits – D&M Custom Baits Flippin Craw and 1/2oz Reins Tungsten.

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Got out on the water with awesome Everglades guide Captain Shane Procell! Shane is a topwater connonsieur but he wanted to take a look at some of the close quarters flipping applications we use up on Lake Okeechobee to bust thru heavy cover. Fish being pre-spawn and moving to some the heavy stuff it was a great opportunity to punch some mats and canopied vegetation.

All in all a great day – check Captain Shane out on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/captainshane100/featured or if you’re looking to book a trip for a true Everglades experience http://www.floridaevergladesbassfishingadventures.com

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the world is tiny – which is cool – and most people like to fish.

 

my best friend came down from Wisconsin for what’s becoming an annual 3 day peacock fishing trip in the mixed bag junkyards of the Miami airport canals.  among one of the evenings of crown and coke mixed with peacock footage we found it necessary to re-up on pop-r’s and rapala x-raps which the fish had simply been shredding.  made the trip down to my local dick’s sporting goods and grabbed what we needed.  as we were about to check out a guy comes up to me and asks “hey are you mikeybalzz….” – i was sort of shocked; in a metropolitan county of nearly 2 million people a dude recognized me from the vids on youtube ahhahahahah!

pieter's big bass on lake okeechobee
big toad special – “fish was just there…” (got it in on vid too, look for it on youtube in next month)

chance has a funny way of shaping things.  we ended up talking a bit and I told Pieter  – who fished a lot of the canals down here in south florida that we’d hit The Lake one weekend.  well, we hit The Lake a few weeks later – and things couldn’t have worked out more perfectly, got a taste of a monsoon and a drink of this 7+lbs truck on a buzzin toad!