Thanksgiving Fishing Adventure in South Florida

Hello all. My Son and I decided to go fishing on Thanksgiving morning. Under a balmy 75-degree sky and bright bluebird sunshine, we headed to our usual spots in the Everglades off of highway 75. I won't give away all of our secrets around locations, but that should be enough for you to take a look at on a map. 😆 We figured there should not be as many people out their bank fishing on Thanksgiving, and for the most part, we lucked out. We had many of the places we like to fish off of the highway to ourselves.

Armed with a great plan to be successful, we got up around 5:30 AM and were out the door a little before 6 AM. We normally just go to the gas station, grab some donuts or something, some coffee, and some energy drinks, and we're off and running! You also definitely have to make sure you have enough water in your vehicle that you can drink while you're fishing. Even in November, it can get very hot, so you've got to stay hydrated.

I had done some research at home around some different techniques to try a few things that are different. Son likes to "grip it and rip it" with the jerkbaits. And I have to say it is a really fun way to fish if you've never done it before. The peacock bass down here in South Florida are so aggressive that they like fast movement, fast herky-jerky darting action from the lures. Most of what we like to use is really different sizes in the Rapala Husky Jerk or X-Rap. And really it was more the Husky Jerk that was getting it done on this day. More than anything for the peacock bass.

I've really been using the shaky head quite a bit in November and have had a lot of luck back home in more of a normal fall, cold, transition type of weather. But, I had an inkling that a shaky head will work in any type of condition as long as you know how to fish it, which I think in the past has been something I needed to figure out. Now that I've learned more about what type of rod, reel, line, and weight is necessary to match what the bass want at that time, I really think I've had a lot more success with catching bass with the shaky head.

In all the years that I've been fishing in South Florida and have caught many peacock bass, I've never seen a peacock bass bite a shaky head worm. That was definitely a new thing for me and it was pretty amazing! I really think it has to do with the style of presentation at the end of the day. When you really look at a Zoom Trick Worm, and the action of it in a Texas rig scenario, it looks a lot different than what the action looks like with a shaky head. The big winner on this day was really the shaky head for me. I was catching a ton of largemouth bass and a few peacock bass that were going forward as well.

The other lure that I tried was the Zoom Ultravibe Speed Worm because I've heard a lot of great things about it down here in the Glades. Sure enough, I was able to catch a couple of bass on the speed worm as well. It has a really great looking action to it that I think the fish really like as well. I did not catch a peacock bass on the speed worm but I did catch a bunch of largemouth bass on this day using it.

My son caught a ton of peacock bass with his normal jerkbait setup. He was very happy that he could fish this way and didn't want to fish with any other poles or lures 😄. He said, "You know, Papa, we're on vacation, and I don't normally get to fish like this at home, so I'm going to take full advantage," which he did!

We ended up catching over 30 bass on this day, with my son landing the first cast of the morning. It was a truly memorable Thanksgiving, a day filled with gratitude and the joy of fishing. Later that day, we gathered with family to enjoy a delicious turkey dinner that I smoked on our gas grill. As we shared stories and laughter, we gave thanks for our blessings, our loved ones, and the incredible experiences that fishing brings into our lives.