| The weather is great and the time is right to try | | | | golden scales. the angler must then be at the |
| one of the oldest bass fishing techniques today. | | | | ready to set the hook before the terribly |
| Catching a lunker largemouth bass in balmy | | | | destructive gut hooking has a chance to occur. |
| Jacksonville is one of the best bass fishing trips | | | | Gut-hooking is a bad thing for the fish since the |
| available. The modern way of catching a | | | | removal normally cannot be accomplished unless |
| largemouth is to toss the bass a jog or a plug and | | | | the fish is destroyed. The best option is to cut |
| wait for the strike. The "old-schoolers" rarely | | | | the line and hope for the best. Normally a bass |
| resorted to this bass fishing tactic and felt that | | | | can survive this gut hooking as long as the tag line |
| the only way to battle the fish was to use a | | | | is cut close to the throat opening. Enough of that |
| "livelier" specimen. The north Florida largemouth will | | | | doom and gloom, the fish are plentiful and as long |
| accept a plethora of live bait offerings that | | | | as the angler is attentive to the love bait at all |
| includes but is in no way limited to shiners, shad, | | | | times a lip hook is promised. |
| bream, minnows, and anything that can fit into its | | | | Jacksonville has many places in which trophy bass |
| gaping mouth. | | | | fishing can take place. Bass can be landed or at |
| A favorite bass fishing tactic is to use a Florida | | | | least hooked, in the greatest river around the city. |
| wild shiner. The ubiquitous shiner with its flashy | | | | The landing part is totally up to the angler and the |
| gold coat is a favorite meal of any self-respecting | | | | fish. The largest river in Jacksonville is the St. |
| bass in the neighborhood. The plentiful schooling | | | | Johns River. Northerly flowing and fresh water |
| bait fish is the number one fish on the menu for | | | | based, the river offers the best pro bass fishing |
| the bass and suffice to say it will do just fine. No | | | | around north Florida for miles and miles. |
| matter what the size of the bass the shiner will | | | | The bass fishing trip will be greatly enhanced with |
| elicit a natural inert response to be eaten, it is | | | | the use of live bait. If this is too old fashioned for |
| what they do. The bass fishing guide rarely has to | | | | the modern bass master, the Rapala will do just |
| question if the shiner is the correct bait for the | | | | fine. Either way there are plentiful bass stocks in |
| occasion as it always is. The issue is not the | | | | their beautiful coastal hamlet and the bass are |
| effectiveness of the shiner but to the fairness of | | | | usually only more than happy to oblige. 95 South |
| the live bait. | | | | will easily bring the pro bass fishing troops from |
| After the shiner is placed in the vicinity of the | | | | the Carolinas (either North or South) and a quick |
| bass the waiting game may commence. The bass | | | | right turn and there it is, bass heaven. There are |
| usually makes short work of the apparently | | | | docks and piers and little unknown less used |
| wounded and unable to offer much of a flight risk | | | | bodies of water in which a trophy bass fishing |
| shiner and the bait is engulfed in a shower of | | | | excursion may take place. |