Everglades (FD Visit) 4/19/23

Capt. BassinLou · April 19, 2023, 03:53:15 PM

Had the extreme pleasure of fishing with FD and our good friend JJ today. FD was in town briefly, and what better way to spend that time than fishing in the Everglades?

We took FD to a pretty nice system. Arrived at the ramp at 0 dark thirty. Shot the breeze for a while before we began to see light out on the horizon.

As dawn approached, we launched and made a very brief run. JJ hooked up to a nice bass almost immediately on top. A little while later, FD hooked up. A short while after that, I finally stuck one. Whew!

We spent the rest of the outing hooking up with bass here and there. Some were nice, some were small. Caught them on plastics and hard baits.

Another cool part about this outing was that FD brought down with him a few of his recent custom rod builds to test out. Let's just say, the rods are sa-weet! Especially the frog rod. I have said too much already.

All in all, we had a great time. Tons of laughs, good fishing, and great company. Too bad FD had to leave so soon, but when he comes down visit, we have fun time. @ JJ thank you again for the outing and lunch. As always brother, you're a great host.

We ended up boating 42 largemouth amongst the 3 of us.

Thank you for reading!

Smallie_Stalker · April 19, 2023, 04:02:14 PM

Fishing is always fun but when it's with good friends like that it's even better.

Nice job guys and thanks for sharing the pics Lou.

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Donald Garner · April 19, 2023, 04:05:23 PM

Lou, Tks for sharing the trip and pictures with us. Congrats to you three on the catching.

big g · April 19, 2023, 04:09:05 PM

Well brother a lot of knowledge there in that group. Glad your guys got together and found a mess of them. Thanks for the report.

Capt. BassinLou · April 19, 2023, 04:18:44 PM

Thanks gang. FD has a long drive back home, maybe he will chime in tomorrow and share his experience. He sure took a lot of notes this time around.....

FLStorm · April 19, 2023, 06:20:07 PM

Sounds like a great trip. As always, appreciate the report.

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FlatsNBay · April 19, 2023, 08:35:14 PM

Nice report. Glad y'all got to fish together on your home turf. Did you catch any peacocks?

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FD · April 20, 2023, 02:52:25 AM

Made it home safe. This trip wasn't supposed to be over until tomorrow but getting mine and JJ's schedule to line up this time of year is nearly impossible.

I walked out of the rod shop at 2 am Tuesday morning with a handful of rods including my prototype frog rod. At 5:20 I'm in Pompano loading my gear into JJ's boat and we head south then west into the Glades. At 645 we arrive at a ramp so far off grid I have no cell service and can't even track myself with GPS.

It's only JJ and I because Lou's schedule didn't match up for Tuesday. A cold front had come in the night before so blue bird sky's and chilly and fishing was a grind. 6 hours later we had only boated a dozen or so largemouth with two around 5 pounds.

We met some of JJ'S crew at Mineos in Lauderdale for lunch then back to his shack for a shower and to talk a little business. Mrs JJ made fresh off the boat Mahi tacos for dinner. I crash at his house and then Wednesday morning we head out at 430 to meet Lou at the ramp.

The best thing about fishing with these two is the fun we have independent of catching fish. The second best thing is I have to make zero decisions while we're on the boat. So I sit in the back and play mad scientist with gear and tackle.

The first rod I hand Lou is the prototype SJ 736 A2 frog rod paired with a new 13 Fishing Concept reel. Let's just say I know what he wants for Christmas this year. I had to wipe the drool off of it when i got it back.

The second rod I hand him is the B473 XS Cobra Rod / Lewis Custom Lite rigged with a vibe. On his 3rd cast he boats one of the biggest fish of the day.

The other combos we tested were;

SJ 703 BFS rod with a Shimano Aldebaran 30. I caught most of my fish on this one.

MB 890 MH-F with an SLX DC.

I caught fish on every setup I brought and even several of the Central FL baits and techniques worked pretty good in the Glades. That was not expected.

Back to Lauderdale for lunch at My Big Fat Greek restaurant and headed north to the house. I rolled in around 7pm exhausted. I was gone exactly 41 hours. Two trips in the Glades, 3 awesome meals, 50 ish fish caught, and many hours spent laughing with my two best buds.

And I would be remiss if I didn't thank my two young foreman for running H3 flawlessly without me. I didn't get 1 phone call during my trip and was able to enjoy myself without any thought of work.

Sent from the very edge of civilization...where I belong

Larry Francis · April 20, 2023, 05:56:22 AM

Nice trip guys looks like a blast.

J.W. · April 20, 2023, 06:48:06 AM

Looks like y'all had fun! Nice.

Donald Garner · April 20, 2023, 12:05:27 PM

Lee, tks for sharing the trip and those photos with us. Glad you made it back home safely. Congrats on the catching also

big g · April 20, 2023, 02:10:33 PM

FD great two days on the water. Glad your trip was a big success. Congrats!

FD · April 21, 2023, 08:14:58 PM

Thanks guys.

As always, I learn something new when I fish with these two. I hit the Kissimmee chain today without re rigging the rods from my Glades trip. On an extremely tough day I put 5 fish in the boat in 3 hours. Dave B, who is usually kicking my but, was with with me fishing normal central FL techniques and only got 1 bite.

Whenever you can, fish with someone better than you and pay attention. I took what I learned, modified it just a smidge, and caught fish on a day that could have easily been a skunk for me...just sayin.

Sent from the very edge of civilization...where I belong