18 foot Ranger powered by a 175 hp Mariner and a Motor Guide 83 lb trolling motor. The boat is equipped with a Garmin fish locator in the front of the boat and a new Lawrance HDS7 in the drivers station. I am located in Hernando County, Florida and fish many brackish waters in Hernando and Citrus counties. I also fish Lake Tarpon in Tarpon Springs near Clearwater and Lake Rousseau in Citrus County, which also connects to the Withlacoochee River. The state of Florida does not allow fishing guides to purchase a freshwater fishing license to cover the boat in fresh water so they want you to purchase them yourself. You can buy them at local tackle stores, Wal-Mart or online as well as a toll free telephone number ( License info)
Story below by Jim Lee
If you have never caught a bass like the one pictured, you might not be doing enough of the right things. As an avid bass fisherman, I had never caught such a fish for many years. I found that I had not been doing enough of the right things for a long time.
When I started bass fishing as an 11 year old boy, I fly fished in the lakes around Orlando and the St. Johns River Florida. At first my results were poor. But my mother liked the fact that I would bring home fish for supper. So I spent many hours after school and on the weekends on the lake near my house. The point of this is: Technique and time on the water equals fishing success.
Bass guides spend many hours on the water for each hour of guiding. They also have the technique of the particular lure, worm or fly that they are using. Good technique and hours of time on the water in one area leads to fish like the one pictured. You must learn just what goes on in that body or section of water. If you can’t tell if a bass has picked up your worm, ever so gently, before he spits it out again, you will not catch that fish.
To get the technique, one way is to fish with someone that is good at it. A friend or perhaps a fishing guide would fill that void. I was grouper fishing with a friend. He was catching grouper, I was catching grunt. I ask why. He replied; I'm not fishing for grunt. After that I watched and learned.
Learning technique and spending time on the water will give you the ammunition to catch a wall hanger. There are plenty of guides in the phone book. However, if you asked them, the one you ask is always the best. A straight forward guide will tell you your chances of a good catch based upon the weather, water temperature and conditions for that time of year. For instance, summer fishing is a lot different than winter fishing. In winter, conditions change rapidly in Florida. If conditions are marginal, a good guide will tell you so. Regardless, you or your guide must know where the fish are under all conditions. That knowledge will make for a successful fishing trip. Try this link for more information: www.alwaysfishing.net It's a guide site that is complete with weather and much more. You can learn a lot just from Capt. Frank's web site