Hi Guys, just a quick note: We've had a condo in Venice for the last 15 years and just recently getting serious about saltwater fishing. Before you haphazardly jump into fishing random golf courses for all the bass that hang out within, suggest you check out YouTube for the many videos of the (mostly) kids with the same intentions.
Inevitably, residents with no sense of humor, call the cops and spoil the fun. Luckily, I have access to a couple of great ponds with super neighbors, but strangers aren't welcomed at all (and they're identified quickly). Just a word of caution, out sux to ruin an otherwise great day of fishing.....☘

I'd say you guys pretty well covered everything that needs to be said 🤔. Good job 😉!

Now we can all get back to reading some "interesting stuff".... gotta admit though, "I didn't know about the ATTIC", thanks for That 😅😄🤣😂😁.....☘

Hi Guys, So glad to see interest in Venice-area Fishing all of a sudden 😉. I'll be back in Venice this January also and anxious to hit the jettys as well as local bridges and surf for whatever 🐟 is left from the deadly red-tide that decimated the gulf coast over the last year ☠. I've been busy tying saltwater knots off u- tube, preparing for saltwater fishing and looking forward to hooking up with folks off the "forum" to venture as far as the Sunshine Bridge to wet some lines 🎣.

The fishing in Colorado Springs has been fantastic over the last several months; snow one day and 70 degrees the next, on Fort Carson. With four reservoirs to choose from, I've limited on trout 9 times out of 10 trips using everything I threw at them except corn! The biggest "killer" was red worms and colored marshmallows on #10 hooks, rigged through a sliding egg sinker or, my favorite, a drop-shot rig! Here are a couple of pics of trout and a bluegill along with a couple reservoirs and the nearby mountains. Colorado charges $100 for a yearly out-of-state license while Fort Carson charges Vets $30 to fish on Post for a year. Since I was here for that time while my S-I-L was deployed to South Korea, I chose the latter 🤔! Fishing on Post was at the foot of NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain and in the shadow of Pike's Peak, at roughly, the 8,000 foot level (takes a little getting used to 😥). ☘

I'm with you 100%, Pat, the fact that you can't use minnows for perch or crappie in Washington State drives me crazy 😠.
I fished so many years in Michigan with minnows.... it'll spoil ya for the fun of catching table - fare. Besides, it seems like the only thing they want you to fish for in Washington is rainbow trout, and who wants to eat them 😝? No comparison to walleye, perch, crappie or bluegill 😛.....☘

Lolol fishing news and views requested for newbie.

Wow, great suggestions for the local Colorado Springs area 😁, thanks for the excellent ideas and places to check out 👍. This group constantly amazes me with the friendliest members and quickest replies when questions are asked, no matter what the various fishing-related 🐟 subjects 🤔. Thanks to all; I'm gonna follow-up on the many suggestions and hopefully get my grandkids interested in local 🎣fishing so they can get their dad to continue the fun-tastic sport when he returns from his overseas assignment next year 😉.....☘

I'm gonna be in the Springs 🏔 area for the next 8 months or so. I'm not a fly fisherman and don't have access to a boat, so I'm limited to "nearby" reservoirs and/or waters in/on Fort Carson or USAF Academy for trout or better yet, 🐟 panfish.

Any experienced locals with suggestions for me how, when and where to introduce my early teenaged grandkids to the world of fishing while their dad is stationed overseas, would be greatly appreciated. They are unsure about wanting to even try their luck. I bought them tackle 🎣 when they arrived here nearly 5 years ago but they haven't pulled any of it out of the rafters since 😦.....☘

I'm with Joemac 100%: gonna be in Colorado for the next 8 months or so, left my tackle in Florida. Found a garage sale over the weekend and fell into a pair of Zebco combinations (Chinese Zebco rods equipped with American-made "33`s"'.
Like new, coated in cobwebs and years of dust! I spent less than an hour Sunday afternoon, taking them apart, discarding half the 10lb line and replacing with 8lb fluocarbon on each reel, relubing, cleaning, tying several new dropdown rigs (for later), and smiling all the rest of the evening at my great find! Especially after checking my local Colorado Springs Wal-Mart price for a Zebco 33 combination at $25 each and Amazon at the same, Plus Shipping! Now my biggest concern is buying the out- of- state fishing license for Colorado; I'm a 76 years old vet, and it's gonna cost me $100 to take my two grandkids fishing while their dad's in North Korea till next February. 😲 Oh yes, I miss Florida Now ⛱.....☘

I too, grew up fishing for perch and s/m bass in Lake St. Claire and the Detroit River for walleyes 👍. Best eating anywhere, and when they're running, they number by the millions 😰. My most memorable trip was on the Canadian side of the "River" on a charter for combined perch @ walleye; 6 of us from work along with one of my sons: knocked 'em dead 🎣. From Michigan to Washington state and now living in Florida (south of Sarasota), still haven't been able to come close to the joy of fishing in Michigan's rivers and lakes..Just Say'n....☘

IF you watch the guys who magnet fish on u- tube, they get really excited when they pull up one of those bumper jacks that used to come with the 1950 Ford's (remember them, 3 pieces: handle, main body, and foot?). I swear, those kids (That's usually who fishes off those bridges with magnets), almost Wet themselves when they pull up "genuine antiques" like those 😅😄😃🤣

IF you watch the guys who magnet fish on u- tube, they get really excited when they pull up one of those bumper jacks that used to come with the 1950 Ford's (remember them, 3 pieces: handle, main body, and foot?). I swear, those kids (That's usually who fishes off those bridges with magnets), almost Wet themselves when they pull up "genuine antiques" like those 😅😄😃🤣

Beautiful stringer of bluegill, I'd pass on turkey dinner for a platefull of those fillets😉. The trout should be fun to catch but I'd release them and try for another batch of those luscious gills before quitting for another day 🤔.....just say'n.....☘

Sorry about that: anyway, my son just bought a 24' tri-marian (sp?), for use on Lake Pend Oreille next spring and summer. Hopefully you and I can get together on that for some spiny rays 😉!

I've got a 12' Porta Bote up on Whidbey Island at my Brother-in- laws with a 5hp Nissan 4 cycle outboard that's never been in the water. Bought the pair in 2007 and they've been up there ever since. I actually used My original Bote extinsively in and around Olympia where we lived from 2000 to 2015 but sold it for an aluminum boat when we moved to Spokane. Long story but now I own my B-I-L's Bote and he's got my 12' aluminum (either way, at 75, the wife and kids have forbade me to fish on anything But a pontoon or tritoon anymore 😓. Sorry to ramble on, good to know there's somebody on here from our neck of the woods.....☘

Hi CheneyA, I'm jeretired, 75 years young, living on Spokane 's south hill and tickled to hear all the old timers on this forum questioning what a spiny ray is 😅. They're actually my favorite to and eat too, like yours. I graduated from "Eastern" back in '74 and fished nearly every lake in three area at that time. All pour neighbors loved to see my dog and money heading out fishing because they knew I'd limit pin trout and give them away because after awhile they just lose their taste appeal (unlike bluegill, perch and crappie

Hi fish4fun, I’m in Spokane, WA right now (got dumped on yesterday with 5-1/2 inches of snow ☹️), so much for local-fishing this weekend! I too, fish Venice, FL during the winter months, we’ve had a condo for many years down there but only recently got into surf fishing. This year I’m looking to try the Sunshine Skyway Bridge for the first time. Sharkey’s is always crowded and I’ve never seen any really “good” catches from there. Hopefully we can get together this winter and try our luck.....☘️ Jeretired