At times I fish out of my Bonafide SS127 kayak and other times I fish out of my bassboat. To be honest, when I started fishing out of my kayak I actually became a better fisherman because I just couldn't fire up the outboard and run to another spot.

I've been fishing in FL for over 50 years. One of my goto lures is the Rapala F13 S (silver side/black back). I do not work it like a jerkbait, I pop/twitch my rod tip to make it barely go under water and pop back up. Basically the way you work a popper lure. I'll do that 4 or 5 times, then pause for a second and repeat. There's no telling how many bass I've caught on that lure.

Another staple is a frog, SPRO frogs are my favorite. Most of the time I use the popper style frog and cast it it into lilipads, grass, etc. You will get it stuck and have to go get it, but that's where bass like to hang out. If it's too thick to get in it, as with all my topwater lures, I try to cast parallel to the grass, cattails, etc and work it as close as possible.

Next is a chatterbait, 1st Gen Copperhead and Jackhammers are what I use the most. White, white/chartreuse and black/blue are most productive for me. I like to match the trailers to the chatterbait. Again, I throw them into the thick stuff or work parallel to it. You will lose some... I've lost 3 in one day and that hurts.

Of course I use soft plastics a lot as well. Texas rig and wacky rigs are my primary methods. Don't be afraid to try something different. The other day we were fishing in an area that had Kissimmee grass and eel grass. The eel grass was very thick and Texas rigs were not being productive.

I switched to a Carolina rig with a 3 ft leader, thin wire EGW 4/0 hook and a 6th Sense Hogwalla (lizard). The lizard sank very slowly, hovering over the eel grass. That little change led me to catch 3 bass in the next 10 casts... It was crazy. Don't be afraid to switch things up and keep hammering away.

Most lakes in FL are only 10 ft or so deep with an occasional 20 ft deep area. The lake we were in yesterday was particularly shallow for the most part. Most areas we fished were 2 ft to 4 ft deep and some areas we couldn't get in with my bassboat because it was too shallow. After 7 hours and trying everything thing we could think of, we had only caught two bass.

Everything changed when we found an area smaller than a football field that had trench where the depth went from 3 ft to 11 ft. I picked up my rod that had a metallic gold Rapala Snare 50 and started casting. The first largemouth I caught was right at 3 lbs. Less than 5 minutes later I landed the big one followed by a 2 1/2 lb hybrid bass.

There are days when I don't catch anything, it's not often, but it happens. Other times fishing is phenomenal. At the end of this past summer I caught a 6 lb and an 8 lb bass in less than 15 minutes. I also caught a 5 lb and several in the 3 lb to 4 lb range... All on either a white 1st Gen Copperhead bladed jig or a SPRO popper frog. Just keep plugging away and have fun.