Boatless Fishing Forum, Reports, Info

I went today to the lake next to my house and had like a gathering. In the end caught two 3lb bass with some of my friends..... We went and found some great spots with my friends but we were trespassing. Have any of you trespassed anywhere and how did you get out of this situation?

Bass should be in pre-spawn as are most fish(fattening up) and this is the time of year if you want the big girls with the fat guts. Best thing to do when caught trespassing is play dumb as rocks, apologize and leave. Obviously if there no trespassing signs every 10ft of the lake you're probably s.o.l..

If it's next to your house how was it trespassing? If it is like in a separate community just befriend a fisherman from there and have him say you are a guest they should allow guests, my community does. And to get out of trespassing, if it's the cops u need to be super apologetic and act like u thought it was ok and say u never do it again, but if it's just rentacops aka security just tell him to go eat a cheeseburger and get outta there before they involve the cops.
The security at my community hassles me sometimes and I'm like dude don't you have a more important job to stop the high schoolers from breaking into homes and cars? He asks for ID, I'm like u can give me a ride to my house if u want proof lol then they ask for ID I say I'll show my id when the cops come and they too scared to get told off by the real popo for being stupid

baseball4life702 wrote:If it's next to your house how was it trespassing? If it is like in a separate community just befriend a fisherman from there and have him say you are a guest they should allow guests, my community does. And to get out of trespassing, if it's the cops u need to be super apologetic and act like u thought it was ok and say u never do it again, but if it's just rentacops aka security just tell him to go eat a cheeseburger and get outta there before they involve the cops.
The security at my community hassles me sometimes and I'm like dude don't you have a more important job to stop the high schoolers from breaking into homes and cars? He asks for ID, I'm like u can give me a ride to my house if u want proof lol then they ask for ID I say I'll show my id when the cops come and they too scared to get told off by the real popo for being stupid

They have a slide area thats closed down ( where i caught the first bass) and the second is the bridge they have wich is somewhat broken down because of hurricane Andrew but guess what... thats my little spot from now on

Yeah, I'd just say I had no clue and leave, then come back the next day. You're fishing... Not committing a crime... Basically all of Miami has turned into this and it is creeping FAST down to the keys! It is in big part because people are SLOBS and leave trash everywhere they go...

-Swordfish

swordfish wrote:Yeah, I'd just say I had no clue and leave, then come back the next day. You're fishing... Not committing a crime... Basically all of Miami has turned into this and it is creeping FAST down to the keys! It is in big part because people are SLOBS and leave trash everywhere they go...

-Swordfish

Agreed, I wouldn't even fathom leaving trash freshwater fishing but somehow these people manage to ...if your using a whole pack of hooks or sinkers and throwing the wrappers down your doing something wrong lol...imo freshwater fishing requires minimal gear and to be trashing the banks with junk just means they're overdoing it and prob not catching much

baseball4life702 wrote: The security at my community hassles me sometimes I'm like dude don't you have a more important job to stop the high schoolers from breaking into homes and cars?

Sounds like you live in a rough neighborhood. I think you should move out.....

lol Yea super ghetto where I live have lived here for like 30 years though so no plans on going anywhere and I enjoy the lakes within an arms length

Quite often your gut feeling about place with no fishing or trespassing signs can guide, there are places you just know won't work out well. Fishing the Boynton/Delray/Boca area I try to stay away from places with single family homes and condos, but I have fished some, so far so good going with my gut. I would suggest being neat and clean, don't be a bucket fisherman, be as quiet as you can and don't stay in 1 place too long. I have had no problems at all at apartment complexes. I've been fishing golf course ponds many mornings getting there right before sunrise. I try and fish as far away from the homes as I can, don't stay at 1 pond too long before going to another. This has been working out great for me, the rangers see me and just wave, so I guess I'm ok. Catching some awesome bass too.

Quick question what bait or lures are you guys using to catch bass? I'm heading up to central Florida tomorrow and would like to catch and release some bass. Also would my light setup be okay? I'm going to take my ultra light rod with a 3000 reel spooled with 6lb mono (this is my saltwater bait rod.)

For me, worms or shiners are killer and every now and then I will use a top water or small x-rap. The rod and reel sound fine, I use 10lb though because in my past experiences I have run into slobs that can pop 6-8lb test easily. But not saying 6lb won't work just more challenging to land the bass

baseball4life702 wrote:For me, worms or shiners are killer and every now and then I will use a top water or small x-rap. The rod and reel sound fine, I use 10lb though because in my past experiences I have run into slobs that can pop 6-8lb test easily. But not saying 6lb won't work just more challenging to land the bass

What size hooks for the worms and shiners? Also circle or j hooks? And my last question, does fresh water fishing take leaders or do I just tie the hook / lure to the main line straight?

For worms there's a worm hook it's like a long J but is labeled a worm hook in the stores, I use from 1/0-4/0....For shiners I'm going to put a picture cuz I don't know what the hooks r called but the first time I ever bought shiners the guy to me to use these and they haven't let me down, as for size on those it depends on the size of the shiner. I have never ever used a leader for freshwater fishing always tie straight to the main line and nobody I've fished with uses one so I assume leaders are a no go with freshwater.

baseball4life702 wrote:For worms there's a worm hook it's like a long J but is labeled a worm hook in the stores, I use from 1/0-4/0....For shiners I'm going to put a picture cuz I don't know what the hooks r called but the first time I ever bought shiners the guy to me to use these and they haven't let me down, as for size on those it depends on the size of the shiner. I have never ever used a leader for freshwater fishing always tie straight to the main line and nobody I've fished with uses one so I assume leaders are a no go with freshwater.

Awesome! Thanks for all the info!

xtremeh18 wrote:Quick question what bait or lures are you guys using to catch bass? I'm heading up to central Florida tomorrow and would like to catch and release some bass. Also would my light setup be okay? I'm going to take my ultra light rod with a 3000 reel spooled with 6lb mono (this is my saltwater bait rod.)

I use any worms that are black( basically really dark color) and a 2/0 worm hook texas rigged and freelined. throw it anywhere and i usually catch nice fish

dark colors are definitely best specially in winter but I've had good luck with both dark and lighter colors in summer like some greens and orange

baseball4life702 wrote: dark colors are definitely best specially in winter but I've had good luck with both dark and lighter colors in summer like some greens and orange

I still dont understand why the bass hit them in light colors because the arent even natural??

A friend turned me on to these lime green/bright orange worms, I was super skeptical cuz you could see it so clearly anywhere in the water and looked like it was straight out of a nightclub, until I started catching so I went and bought like 6 packs lol

Best to match the rod and line to the cover you have to pull the fish out of. In open water 6# is fine on ultra light, dealing with some heavier vegetation I'd use a rod with more backbone. Personally I'm a braid and leader user, 15# is about 4# diameter and 20# is about 6#.

grouperking wrote: They have a slide area thats closed down ( where i caught the first bass) and the second is the bridge they have wich is somewhat broken down because of hurricane Andrew but guess what... thats my little spot from now on

LOL! A bridge messed up since Andrew! Sheeet that's a long time. Sounds like the fishing is decent though...

Occasionally I hit up some lakes by the Turnpike when the canals are producing much action. One lake has no fishing signs because of supposed "alligators" and the one just across street does not. I've never seen any in 20 years and so far I've never been stopped. If you aren't an a-hole about it most cops are cool....or I've just been lucky!