Fishing Simplified!

New Online Fishing Show

Bobby: Fishing Simplified will be your one stop comprehensive weekly online fishing show for all of your Central Florida freshwater and saltwater fishing information. Captain Todd Foucher and Captain Bobby Blizzard will give you up to date tides, weather reports, solunar periods, wind forecasts and in depth location information to make your weekend trips more productive. The website also has a new message board for viewer interaction. Fishing Simplified will tell you ideal species to target based on the upcoming tides and solunar period, proper rigging to target the fish better, and then most importantly tell you where to catch them! Freshwater fishing reports, tactics, and information will also be provided by Captain Monte Goodman of Central Florida Bucketmouths Bass Fishing charter service. Check us out at http://www.fishingsimplified.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cannon: When do we get to see the first episode?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bobby: The first show will air on February 4, 2009. The website is up and running in all aspects right now. The message board, weather, etc are all at your fingertips.

Soft Bait Overhaul Part 1, Warriors, Come out to play!

Warrior Baits. Flippin' Heaven.


Vince: Soft Plastic overhaul part one. Warrior Baits has won my flippin' heart, with these three baits. Sure they have others, but as you'll see in soft bait overhaul part 2, I am a two timer. But as far as the flippin' goes, you cannot believe these baits till you try them. Big Fish Outfitters now carries samples. Tell him to bring them into stock so I don't have to special order them.

Great color assortment, great quality, and great action.

In no particular order:

A beaver that will actually give you action.


Great for flipping grass: See my previous post.


Grandaddy of all Flappy.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bobby: I was talking to the owner of Warrior Baits yesterday and he informed me that Preston Clark would be a Warrior Baits Pro Staffer for 2009.

Soft Bait Overhaul Part 2, Gotme again Gitem!

Gitem Baits


Vince: Gitem Baits Has a good selection of baits, a commitment to quality, and service to match. I have spent a week or two trying out each of their baits, and will be replacing much of my arsenal with 5 baits from Gitem.

In no particular order:

Goodbye Ole Monster, Hello Curly 10". Durable, soft, and priced far better. How can you lose?


Goodbye Gambler Paddle Tail, Hello Big Flapper.


Trick Worm got Warlocked. Same great action, greater price, more durable.


Horny for Gitem Toad: This is bar none the best soft plastic toad on the market.


It's not a Fluke, its a Shad. Getit?


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cannon: Is it really "priced far better?"

Deep South, Deep Rods.

Deep South Fishing Rods


Vince: A few months ago Bobby mentioned that he might be bringing in some rods by Deep South. I had seen them a few days before at Ron's Tackle Box in Lake Alfred, and in a moment of great weakness, in total denial of the realities of my pocket book, I almost bought one right then and there.

When Bobby brought them into Big Fish Outfitters I finally got to try one out. If you are more thoughtful of the way you spend your money than the Loomis guys, but know there is a difference between quality and "uh... yeah... not so much" then this is your rod. Retailing in the $140.00 range, this rod performs like the $400.00 rods. Rich, and the gang, have a wide assortment of rods for every occasion, from 7'11" flipping sticks to stubby dock pitching crankbait sticks. They work hard to get the product to you that suits your needs.

The Deep South Fishing rod is everything that you want a rod to be. It is light, strong, and sensitive. You can hear the fish whispering around your bait, I promise.

I have been thouroughly impressed with the friendly, family style approach the company takes. And at this point in an act of complete disregard for the afforementioned pocketbook, I will be replacing 90% of the rods in my arsenal with Deep South Rods.

As the season progresses, I will review specific rods in my lineup.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cannon: As much as i hate it, i have to agree with vince o this one. A great rod for a great price. I do wish the toad rod had a bit more back bone.

Gold Rush!

Live Gold Minnows

Bobby: Here is something a bit different from what we have been doing. The Speckled Perch (or Crappie as the northerners call them) are coming into full swing as we speak. With each passing cold front, the Specks move closer to the shorelines to spawn producing some of the best meat fishing of the year. This year, Big Fish Outfitters has started to carry a different product for the hard core Speck fisherman. Probably 95% of live bait retailers carry your run of the mill plain old minnows. We have now added live gold minnows to the fray at Big Fish Outfitters. Gold minnows get thier color from only having 2 color pigments in thier bodies. Regular minnows have 3 color pigments making them a dark black color. Now, gold minnows (or Rosie Reds) as some call them are not a brand new product. They surfaced some years ago, but most shops stopped carrying them due to space restraints in thier live bait tanks especially considering many shops carry 2 different sizes of minnows. However, the shops that do carry gold minnows sell good numbers of them. I am only aware of one area shop other than Big Fish Outfitters that carries them, and that is Last Cast in Lake Alfred. Steve Morgan, the owner of Last Cast, says he has good luck with them sales wise and certainly recommends them as the premier Crappie bait. Here at Big Fish Outfitters, we invite you as well to step up the game a bit and try our new gold minnows.

Little Foot Bigfoot, and reBigfoot

Little Bigfoot from Southern Lure


Vince: I am re-reviewing a previously reviewed bait, and reviewing a new one for you. Two for the price of one.

After I reviewed the Bigfoot from Southern Lure back in August, I called Dan at Southern Lure to discuss some things that I liked and didn't like about the frog. He graciously received my observations, and told me that they had already worked to beef up the plastic in the back so that the legs would stay in place longer. It worked, and without sacrificing hookups. The revised Bigfoot is better.

While I was on the phone with Dan, he pressed me to try the Little Bigfoot. I told him that I would be happy to try it, but i was skeptical about losing casting distance. I was also concerned that if I weighted the bait that it would no longer float. My concerns were dispelled.

Everything I said of the Bigfoot can be said of the Little Bigfoot. So read this review, mix in a little less commotion on the surface, insert additional casting distance, and there you have it, the Bigfoot Littlefoot.

Check them out at Scumfrog.com.

Jeepers, Creepers...

Where'd you get those Reepers?


Vince: Bobby tossed me a box of baits from Warrior Baits the other day when I was in Big Fish Outfitters the other day (shop at Big Fish Outfitters). I picked through the box. There was a nice looking swimbait that I have yet to try, a great buzzbait that I reviewed below, a "warhog" bait that looks a little something like another hog we've seen before, a beaver type bait that looks great, and a few others, but then I saw the Reaper.

This bait has a great flipping profile. It has all the benefit you get flipping that stick bait with more action and a broader profile. The good folks over at Warrior Baits were good enough to send me some in a custom color (sorry I can't reveal it) to try out. I didn't have them in my possesion in time to get on the water with them before the cold front came in, so I don't know what they will do when the fish are biting. I can, however, tell you what they can do when the fish are not supposed to be biting. Here we are a day into a serious pressure change, which sends these finicky Florida bass into a tailspin. I went to pitch a section or two of pads to check out the action of the bait. 1st pitch: 6lber. 3rd pitch: 3lber. Enough said.

The bait is not terribly thick at the insertion point of the hook, so the rate with which you burn through bags should be somewhere on the order of Gambler's Flappy Daddy (Check out the Warrior Craws on the company website, I haven't tried them yet, but wow.)

Standing there flipping those pads I had a daydream about a day-mare that I have had on the lake many times. You have seen it. When the shad pile in the grass and the bass are blowing up all around you. You throw everything in your box and can't get bit. If my daydream is correct, I may have found the bait.

Check them out.

Bobby: Gotta say that I have added these baits to the shop inventory yet, but I am probably going to in about a month or so. They have some great looking stuff and the service I have gotten so far has been nothing short of exceptional!

Buzzbaits bug me, but...

Warrior Baits Buzzbaits:


Vince: I hate buzzbaits. I have never felt that if I threw a buzzbait I was improving my odds of getting bites by the slightest fraction, but...

The Warrior Baits Buzzbait is still tied on my line for the third straight trip, I have thrown it every trip, and I have respooled with 30lb braid so that I can fish it in heavier cover. I'm going out on a limb here, but if you are fishing a bait with a metal blade, you are going for noise. This bait is loud. The construction of the head of the bait gives it more lift so you can fish it slow as you please. Loud and Slow, now thats a buzzbait dream.

The construction of the bait is solid and the hook is good.

If you like buzzbaits you need to try this one from Warrior Baits. I caught several schooling fish right at dusk on Friday before the front came rolling in.

Give it a shot, I think you'll like it. I still have it tied on, but...

I still hate buzzbaits.

Check 'em out!
____________________________________________

Vince: Anecdote: I cleaned my reel tonight, and walked out to the phosphate pit near my house to see what the reel felt like. I cast the buzzbait for 10 minutes and had three big hits. I missed them all. I think i need a trailer hook if I am going to fish this bait at night.

Gitem got me!

Gitem Toad



Vince: I am suspicious of every new attempt at soft plastic toads because it is hard to improve on what is already out there. This Gitem Toad got me though.

Recently I was saw a pack of these frogs at a tournament down on Okeechobee. They looked so good I begged for a pack so I could give them a try. I'm glad I did.

There are four criteria that I evaluate soft plastic toads by. Action, Castability, Color, and Texture. The Color and Texture are almost completely unimportant to me because of the nature of frog fishing, but I'll adress them briefly.

Color: The gitem color choices are broad enough that you can get what you are looking for. When you are fishing a fast moving reaction bait, I believe the phrase "close is no cigar" does not apply. These fish are reacting. Get the color in the ball park and you are golden.

Texture: In all my frog fishing I have never had a fish suck a frog in and spit it out. I have had them miss the bait entirely, but never reject the bait once they commited. They have put the bulk of the bait on the nose and tapered it back hard to the legs. The gap in the middle makes for good hook penetration, and they avoided the mistake that Berkley made where they left the plastic to thin to keep the hook embeded in the bait. If i have a complaint with the Gitem Toad is, however, in the texture department though. I am conscious of the fact that if you use an offset hook this will not present a problem, but as I use a screw in 1/64 ounce weight in front of a straight shank hook I would prefer a tougher plastic, so that I dont go through quite as many toads. There is enough bulk however that I can pull it through heavy cover without a problem.

Action: If you like the Zoom Horny Toad, you will love the Gitem Toad. It has the same subtle action with the gurgle cranked up just a notch. You'll be able to make a little more noise without risking loosing those fish that are looking for that subtle action. Another benefit to the shape and action of the bait is that it kicks right into action at the end of a long cast. I often find I have to jerk my Horny toad to the top after a long cast, whereas the Gitem Toad comes up swimming.

Castability: Here's the formula. Where Stanley Ribbit = 1 ... Zoom Horny Toad = 1.33 ... Gitem Toad = 1.5... You can cast into the wind, and further than you have to date.

Check 'em out!

P.S. Some of you Rage Tail lovers will wonder why I haven't used it as a basis of comparison. How do I say this? I would rather fish with the head from my daughters barbies than tie a Rage Tail toad on my line.

Wave of The Future

Costa Del Mar Sunglasses














Bobby: Hands down, best sunglasses I have ever owned. The difference you ask? Costa Del Mar sunglasses filter out more low level light than any other brand. Now I know what you are thinking.....man, how can I drop over $100 on a pair of sunglasses? The answer is simple. They are a tool. Quit looking at your glasses as a fashion statement for a sec bro. You drop hundreds of dollars on rods, reels, lures, etc. to gain an edge. Why would you not want an added edge of actually seeing better on the water? I have 2 pairs of Costa Del Mar glasses. One pair is my driving pair. Obviously, if you have kids maybe that is not for you as they are bound to get broken when they try them on, lost when they steal them when you are not looking, or stepped on in the heat of travel battle by the little rugrats. However, I do still highly recommend a pair for the water. I keep mine in its protective pouch in my tackle bag at all times. They are a tool for my fishing and are treated accordingly.

The beauty of Costa Del Mar sunglasses is that they carry a lifetime warranty as well. The lenses on these glasses will not separate or delaminate like the cheapies. They do not scratch up like the cheapies. They protect your eyes better than the cheapies (Trust me, you guys who swear by those cheapies will be sorry when you are crapping out your cornias later in life).

Now on to the right pair for you......Costa Del Mar offers two different types of lenses. The first is the 400 series and the other is the 580 series. The only difference is the amount of low level light filtered out (the 580 lenses are better). For fishing the flats or freshwater, I would recommend using blue mirrored lenses. The typical rule of thumb is to use blue mirror inshore and green mirror offshore. The different colored mirror reflects the different colors better. As far as frames go, once again forget style points. Pick the frames that cover your eye sockets as full as possible. The less light you allow between your eyes and the lense the better. I use the Wave Killer model frames (pictured above) because I have a fat head and big eyes (brutal truth, but the chicks dig it). One of the more popular frames is the Fathom frame. It tends to fit the most people so check those out first unless you have a jughead like me.

In closing, they are the best sunglass product and a very necessary one for successful fishing. Fish with a pair and you will see. Putting them on in the store and trying to see a big difference is futile. Get out and experience them. There is a reason why top fishermen prefer Costa Del Mar.
_______________________________________________

Vince: Bobby, too rich for my blood. I grab the $13.00 Renegade polarized glasses, because, inevitably, I will think to myself, "I wonder if my motor is spitting water well." At that point I will look over my shoulder and WOOSH, there goes another pair of glasses right into the drink. 4-6 pair a year is not uncommon.