FloridaFishinFool

I would not pay that much for a DVD. I enter only the word "bass" into the ebay search engine and only look for DVD's and you will get results for bass guitar and bass fishing, but if you type in "bass fishing" you will exclude a lot of DVD's. So to avoid missing any, only use the word bass in the search engine as it will hit on just about all of them. Next, arrange the results in price from lowest to highest. Then, click on 200 results per page view and scroll down through the results. I am buying the DVD's to my door for less than $5.00 most of the time. I just purchased a multi-DVD set with 3 hours of bass fishing to my door for $4.11. So with a little searching you can find the good deals. Here's one: Shaw Grigsby's fishing for bass in clearwater- to your door for less than $6.00. I just bought one and there were 10 copies available, so 9 are left: http://www.ebay.com/itm/221661742727?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

ebay is loaded with bass fishing videos!

I think it started decades ago when the only reels made had handles only on the right side. I do believe this situation is changing due to left hand retrieve reels being so readily available and more and more in demand.

Why did Seattle throw the game away?

They could not deflate the balls that's why! You knew that was coming! Looks like the patriots are making a comeback! Someone needs to check those balls ASAP!

The old guy who was about to- well you know- until he lost his last blue pill out the window! What follows was hilarious! And how the dents in the Fiat popped out and all the ladies perked up! Best one so far!

The cold might have something to do with it. I have found that river bass who live their lives fighting the current for every moment of their lives put up a much stronger and longer fight while lake and pond bass seem to give up sooner and don't put up quite the fight I can get out of St. Johns river bass. River bass are some brawlers! I have also noticed 2-4 pound bass are quite scrappy while a 7 pounder or bigger tend to tire out and roll over and give up a lot quicker, but those are just my observations and are by no means scientific!

I guess it is hit or miss with Interstate. I had one in my SUV work reliably for 5 years with no problems. And I know a local Interstate rep who sells me batteries for basically his cost, so I am using them in the boat now and going on my 3rd year with it- again with no problems. My SUV Interstate battery recently failed within the warranty and Interstate told me since I could find the receipt that it did not matter what the rep tagged out on top of the battery- none of that mattered to them. Interstate told me they go by the date code stamped into the plastic housing of the battery and mine was old enough to be out of warranty- meaning one of their Interstate reps sold me an already 2 year old battery as new making mine now well over 6 years old and out of warranty! I told Interstate I would not be buying any more of their batteries. So I now go to the same battery reconditioning stores that commercial companies use for their industrial batteries in fork lifts, bulldozers, and heavy equipment. I can buy reconditioned batteries for $50.00 each with core trade in. It costs a little more if you don't have a core trade in, but these mom and pop local reconditioning companies stand behind their battery work and if I have a problem with a battery I just take it back in and they trade me out with a newly reconditioned one for a small charge if I have had it a while, otherwise within the 2 year warranty it is a free trade for another reconditioned battery. I have never handled my batteries like corporations do, but I am now and so far so good. They even replace the batteries in my battery operated hand tools and they install batteries 4 or 5 times stronger and higher quality than what you will ever get from a Home Depot.

Just wait until they do put fish finders on drones! I don't think there is any stopping this advancing technology now! I am sure they will try and regulate it and already are. What bothers me the most out on the water are all the water skiiers who think they own the lake and will try and swamp fishermen for the fun of it. I see this all the time. They even mark some places "no wake" zones, but those ski boat operators do not follow the laws quite often. A few years ago it got so bad on one lake here in central Florida the police were called in and they put police out on the lake pretending to fish in jon boats with the water line barely 6 inches below the top rail of the boat and video taped numerous ski boats coming in too close at too high of speeds and intentionally turning at just the right moment sending a wall of water directly at the fishermen (police) just sitting there minding their own business not bothering anyone. Needless to say it but some of those ski boat owners had an unpleasant afternoon after that. I'd rather have a drone buzzing overhead than ski boats any day.

Hmmm... up north they know how to handle it? That's debatable! But what is not so debatable for many of us Floridians is that when you see 'bad drivers' in Florida look for the car tags from out of state or a rental car or some white haired retiree that moved into Florida. That's how many of us here see it anyways... now take a look at how well they handle it up north: I usually don't have a problem driving in torrential down pours, but I see people from out of state trying to drive through a heavy rain who are not use to it slow down to 5 or 10mph on an interstate and turn on their flashers (which is illegal for moving vehicles in Florida) and many just run up under an overpass bridge to get out of the rain like it is going to hurt them or something as us Floridians sail on by wondering what the heck their problem is??? When hurricane Charlie & Francine hit along with tropical storm Janine I had to drive in the rain and I can tell you Rain X is hurricane Charlie approved! My old Volvo windshield wipers failed during Charlie and Rain X saved the day! No wipers needed! It is awesome stuff! I use it all the time here in Florida and would not want to be without it these days.

I can not believe anyone would name old Charlie Hargrett! I love the old guy! And he lives right here in north central Florida still! And he ain't dead yet! I see him all the time around Florida and worked many shows with him. He is such a nice guy and a great old time guitarist with a monster sound! He is the man who made all those old BLACKFOOT songs great along with Jakson Spires on drums. Jakson died a few years ago from a brain aneurysm. Just keeled over instantly dead from it. He never knew what hit him fortunately. Here are some recent photos I took of Charlie Hargrett performing here in central Florida just a few months ago not 5 minutes down the road from me. Back in his BLACKFOOT days with the way he would bounce around on stage I nicknamed him the Rubberband man!

I love hurricanes! Well, the nice ones anyways... I follow a rule- 100mph and under not a problem. 101 mph and up- time to run! When hurricane Charlie hit back in '04 I had a video camera in one hand and a bottle of JD in the other. I creeped outside to the corner of the house and watched it hit. It was amazing too. I never really realized how those winds come in from a hurricane until I watched it with my own eyes. They actually spiral down from out of the sky. This is why the tops of trees snap in half 20 to 40 feet above the ground is because the winds hit the tops of the trees first where they have the largest spread of limbs and leaves to oppose the wind, and the tree trunks usually can not take it and they twist and snap higher up the trunk. It was amazing to watch first hand. You can still drive around Florida to this day and see entire forests of trees all leaning in the same direction from how Charlie pushed them all over. Charlie packed a punch, but not as bad as Andrew which was a small tight powerful chop saw of a hurricane that just ground everything up in its' path. We can tell well in advance of the storm whether to run or dig in. I have been fortunate to never have to run from one yet. I would of run from Andrew, but it was too far South. It is kind of creepy in the hours before a hurricane hits as you know its coming and you gotta prepare as best as you can, but when it gets dark and that hurricane is on top of you the pounding is relentless for hours on end as you worry about the house coming apart. It does not stop until the eye moves over top of you, and then you know it is coming again from the backside. A slow moving hurricane can pound you for hours on end and it will get on your nerves as you hear all the clanging and banging and trees snapping and falling down all around you. It is amazing, but to ride one out you gotta have nerves of steel. Here is the first photo I took the morning after Charlie hit. Notice the top of this pine tree is snapped off 40 feet above ground. Hit in the top first by winds spiraling down out of the sky at 100mph. Another one snapped off well above ground from the instant freight train hit at the top of the tree by high wind gusts: This oak tree was twisted up like a candy cane. All the energy of the storm hits the tops of the trees first and the trunks simply can not take that kind of twisting force. Look how it split this oak tree like it was nothing: And here hurricane Charlie laid two oak trees down in our yard one on top of the other. Never seen anything like it before: Honestly, I'd take the smaller hurricanes over the snow and ice and blizzards any day of the week! At first light, all you hear all across the path of the hurricane is the sound of chain saws.

Yep! Sure is good sledding weather! Way down here in Florida we feel for you when we have time to! Ha!

And a little bit of Florida to contrast with it... I'm snow blind!

Why not have an underwater drone seek out the fish? Its' coming! I have no problem with anyone using one to fly around with for video or other. As long as you still fish the same way and hope they will bite all is well. But one day they will have robot drones doing the fishing for us! Then it would take the fun out of it.

Right now at walmart the Berkley lightning shock rod is on sale for $43.00. Model SHC701C. It is a decent 7' MH fast rod for a very good price. For a $100.00 you can buy 2! I am going to get me a couple of them for spares... and I'd also recommend a *** *** rod for a $100.00.

Try your local reel repair shops- and even non-local. They have tons of used parts in most of them, and any reel shop worth their weight in reels keeps boxes of used broken reels just for this reason. Also check ebay. JDtreasures and stickercathy are some I deal with regularly who have tons of used parts. Go to ebay and type in your reel's brand and model number and click search. When all the reels and parts for sale pop up, click on 'start with lowest prices' first and that is where you will find most of your reel's parts.

I'd say no. Not worth it to me. A $500.00 rod would not help me to catch more fish. I am perfectly happy with the rods I can buy for under $150.00. I have one custom rod worth about $300.00 and I like it less than some less expensive off the shelf rods. One of the best rod values out there is the Berkley shock rod in 7' MH fast action for less than $60.00. My next purchase will probably be a *** *** rod.

You were checking out that 14 pounder and wanted to get one too! I completely understand! Rodman is on my list too!

Here in Florida our bass listen to Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers! I have considered installing an mp3 player in the boat- one that is removable and not permanently installed, but what I really like to do when out in the boat fishing alone is to use ear plugs and a small mp3 player cranked up. I love it! And it won't bother the fish with ear plugs.

Don't worry about the fish population! It will come back, but get over there and take advantage of the draw down! Fishing could be better than ever right now! Cannibalism could be happening as the fish fight for less and less food they eat each other and this can be used to your advantage right now. There are different reasons they do this, but in the long run it can actually be beneficial to fish growth and sustained populations. It sounds like the draw down in your area is for repairs and possibly construction, but here in Florida I have seen them do it to clean up the water. One of the immediate benefits of a draw down is to rid the body of water of contaminants. This is precisely what they have done with Lake Griffin in Leesburg. It was one of our most polluted lakes and the only way to clean it up was to draw the water levels down as much as possible and rid the lake of contaminated water. Sometimes in a draw down they will bring in bulldozers and dump trucks and scrape the muck off the bottom of the lake so when refilled it will be cleaner than ever. When your lake is refilled give it about 3 years for the fish to recover. And look for the water quality to be improved and possibly the fishing will improve in the future as well. So in my opinion draw downs can be far more beneficial in the long run, but for now, I'd be over there taking advantage of all those big fish locked up in less water.

Is it just me or does that bass look a little heftier than 2.25 lbs???? What are you weighing them on? BTW, the rest of America is snowed under and iced over. Us Florida guys are a little ahead of the game while everyone else is wishing they were here! You're rubbing it in!

Get on the water before sun up. Be ready to fish at first light. Heck, start fishing before first light! I have quietly waited in the boat sitting in the middle of the St. Johns river and as the sun barely peeks over the horizon I have watched the bass go into a feeding frenzy hitting on schools of shad boiling up the water. Anything you throw in the boil is going to get hit. I keep my trolling motor at the ready and simply follow the feeding frenzy up and down the river just close enough to stay within casting distance. That is a lot of fun! And then it just turns off. But fun while it lasts. I doubt if you would see something quite like that in the ponds though, but you can keep an eye out for feeding bass and cast to them with a lot of success.

When I was a kid I use to fish Smith Lake in Alabama with my uncle who was an old bass fishermen who fished in some early Ray Scott tournaments way back when... and in 1976 when I was visiting with him and fishing the lake up there, I recall they use to send divers down to inspect the dam. And on the news in August of 1976 was a story about how the divers said they were not going to dive down there any more to inspect the dam because the fish were now as big as they were and the divers were in fear for their lives down there. And now I know why I don't noodle! What a monster #BigFishFriday catfish to Italian anglers Dino & Dario Ferrari! The giant wels (silurus glanis) was caught from the River Po in Italy recently and sets a new record for the pair at a massive 265lb, measuring 8.5ft in length. 265 seems a bit light...

Shoot, setting all that up is the fun part! Can you imagine having to try and play all that?