FloridaFishinFool

You know I have a lot of respect for Ray Scott founder of B.A.S.S., but over the years I think he has gotten involved with business people who may have used him and his name to make some money or, for all I know it is his own invention, either way, his battery operated lighted soft rubber baits is one of the more unusual I have seen sold... Some years ago I did some research for one particular tackle manufacturer museum and did some research into patents for rods and reels and even lures and I can tell you there are some really weird lure patents on record, many of which were either never marketed or marketed and did so poorly virtually no one ever heard of them or even remembers them. One day I'll have to do some posting of those patents for some good laughs!

The title of this thread can mislead! What I mean is this... you asked for which brand is the best, but what is ironic is in the real world, there are only a few bearing manufacturers worldwide, so many of the "brands" being thrown around are all made by the exact same manufacturer. So it is endlessly humorous to me to read this brand or that brand is best when they are made by the same source! I have preferred to skip American branding and simply go to the source, which for many "American brand names" is China. Even the great legendary Boca Bearings does NOT make any of the bearings they sell! Boca is a distributor that changes the bearings they buy from overseas manufacturers into Boca bearings once they hit the states. It is actually a re-branding! The company's VP even admitted this on another website forum I can dig up if you care to read it. So now I just use ceramic hybrid bearings I buy directly from a Chinese manufacturer and save a ton of dough on them rather than buy the same bearings from an American re-branding company with a much higher markup price. Braid fishing line suffers the same situation! When I did my research on the production of the gel spun plastic fibers a few years by digging around in the plastics industry periodicals and associations I found out that worldwide there are only about a dozen or so manufacturers who actually have the gel spinning plants that make the PE fibers for braid line- with more than half of them in China. But how many braid fishing line brands are there selling PE fibers? Hundreds? Kind of funny how all those brands have to seek out one of those dozen or so manufacturers to buy their PE fibers for their lines each brand trying to out weave, out dye, and out lubricate the next brand to outsell everyone else as the best made. Going from memory which can be faulty, I think USA had one or two gel spinning plants, Europe, Germany, etc. had the others, and I think 7 are located in China- who makes the bulk of the world's supply of PE fibers. I love the smoke and mirrors and game in the marketplace! I love to watch the gamesmanship going on by one to outdo the next. I prefer to cut through the smoke and mirrors and buy direct and save! You can too! Here are 10 ceramic hybrid ball bearings direct from China for $35 and $4 shipping with no taxes. Try and buy the same thing from Boca costs about $120 plus shipping plus taxes. Hey that VP of Boca has to pay for his luxury car and big house some way off the backs of the American fishermen willing to pay their prices for an inflated brand name reputation for bearings they don't even make! But ssshhhhh! Don't tell anyone! http://www.ebay.com/itm/ABU-SHIMANO-3x10x4-Hybrid-Ceramic-Stainless-Fishing-Reel-Bearing-ORANGE-A7-/251420138740?hash=item3a89cedcf4:g:ViMAAOxyXp5SO6NI

I have been watching an auction on ebay for a G. Loomis pistol grip rod I was interested in, but bidding is going through the roof on this one. It is at $129.50 and climbing. (This price includes $15 shipping) http://www.ebay.com/itm/351637729715?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Since I began this thread, I have already picked up several new to me used pistol grip rods including a Lew's for a sweet deal of like $10.00. To me, this old Lew's is an awesome rod! And it has a graphite rod blank through the handle to the butt of the rod too. The rod blank can be seen just above the trigger going through the entire handle: I got it so cheap from a pawn shop because it remained on their rack for 6 months and they just wanted it sold, but it did not sell because it had 2 broken guides on it, but the rod blank was in perfect condition. I am going to strip all the guides off this old rod and turn it into a spiral wrap with micro guides. Looking forward to using this one real soon. Which reminds me, I gotta go to mudhole today for some new guides... I also picked up an old Berkley Series One pistol grip rod for $5.00 too. I am finding that demand is so low on the old pistol grip rods they are hard to sell and anyone who has one really has to drop the price to sell them. So this is to my advantage... Now as to the comment above about pistol grips not having the power to handle fish??? I have to disagree with that. The rod does have the power, sometimes not the length some would like, but they were good enough for the pro's 30 years ago and were the standard. What is kind of funny, if you look at this image taken of Tommy Martin today, look at the rod he is holding in his hands. How is this really much different than an old pistol grip rod? Just because the rod bank extends past the handle a few inches changes the perception of the rod and now it has more power? I think the pistol grip rods do have the power, just not the ideal grip situation. I compensated by using my left hand to support the tip under load of fish by holding the rod just past the reel. It is not much different with more modern rods too, especially for salt water fishing where putting one hand on the rod beyond the reel is common when fighting a big fish. And, in salt water rods, a lot of them are short rods too and for huge fish much bigger than bass! I plan on using the old pistol grip rods a lot more this year!

Thanks for posting that video! It answered two questions I had. 1)He is admitting they do have sponsor contracts that compel them to use only their sponsor baits. 2)He is admitting they also use non-sponsor baits he has to purchase himself and he goes on to say the reason he does that is he wants to catch fish and often his sponsor does not make the bait he thinks will work for the situation, and that using the non-sponsor lure he has to be "sneaky" using it! This might go a long way to explaining why some fishermen are locked into certain lures even when not working! If they get caught breaking the sponsor contract they could lose it all together! So rather than risk losing a sponsor... well the rest is obvious.

Some homie central Florida boys Cody Detweiler and Eric Panzironi kicked butt out there today and lost by only 2 ounces! Next time boys!

I have to wonder if the pro's are limiting their lure selections based on sponsor contracts?

beetle spin!

I did a conversion for my boat too, but when I researched for materials I found that I should never use any pressure treated wood because the chemicals used to treat the wood are corrosive to aluminum. I even replaced the running boards on the trailer so it would not sit on corrosive treated lumber. So when I did my conversion I did not use any wood at all. I used only aluminum framing and aluminum 1/4" plate for the transom, and I used expanded foam PVC board for the decking. So none of the materials I put into or on my aluminum boat are corrosive, none will rot and deteriorate either. And, on top of that, my front casting deck in physical weight of materials is far less than treated wood which can be heavy. And none of the materials I used on my boat soak up any water at all. So keep in mind that using wood, it will soak up water like a sponge and get even heavier. It can mildew, and mold, and it will eventually rot out and need replacing yet again, if the soft aluminum hull survives intact without serious corrosion issues. And, you gotta be careful of the metal hardware you use on the aluminum too. Using dissimilar metals causes galvanic corrosion. " Galvanic corrosion is an electrochemical process in which one metal corrodes preferentially to another when both metals are in electrical contact," mmm so when two different metals are in contact with each other, guess which one loses the corrosion battle? The weakest metal, and if the case of aluminum boats, it is the aluminum that is eaten away to nothing. My boat had this problem from a previous owner who was clueless. I had to repair his mistakes. So to avoid this problem I simply ordered all aluminum hardware, aluminum hinges, etc. I did use some stainless steel in specific location in the transom where stronger bolts were needed, but not on the hull where it is normally wet or below the waterline. And this brings up another issue of aluminum boats. Do not connect your battery or electrical system to the hull of the boat! This will speed up the galvanic corrosion process big time! Always float your electrical system and wiring on an aluminum boat! Do not use the boat hull as part of your electrical distribution throughout the boat! Keep the electrons away from the hull or else! So please keep this in mind as you move forward. Another issue I see with your conversion is you are trusting the seat rivets to hold the front casting deck. Over time you will be stepping up and down and up and down on that casting deck. Those seat rivets holding the seats in are going into the hull which is very thin. How long do you think it will be before those rivets start to wear and give out? For my conversion I took this into consideration and created a heavy duty rear L bracket to hang the back of the casting deck from the heavier top railing so I don't run into a problem of tearing out seat rivets from the hull- because they were never made for that type of loading. Another issue I am wondering about is the paint you used. No doubt you used a good paint but what about the primer? Was this directly onto bare aluminum or was the boat previous painted? Paint tends to not stick on bare aluminum. So there are specific primer paints used for bare aluminum, and they are not cheap! And it is not just a paint, it is a chemical process of surface etching the aluminum so the primer can get a grip or foothold on the bare aluminum to stick to it. Then the top coats can go on. When I did my boat I contacted an epoxy chemical engineer who helped me through the entire process. The aluthane primer was $100, and the top coatings of epoxy were also about $100 and I used the same outdoor UV rated epoxy paints that are used on large ships, bridges, and water towers, the best made because I figured if I was going to do it, I was only going to do it once and do it to the best it could be. Here are some images of my conversion: All solid aluminum 1/4" plating. No corrosive treated wood used in repairing this transom! This plate cost around $150.00 and I cut it by hand using a template I had drawn by hand and fit onto the boat before transferring the image onto the aluminum plate. I had only one shot at this and it had to be right the first time! No welding of the upper bar across top of transom. Welds in this location tend to crack and fail as the previous owner found out. So I used bolts to act like hinges when the top of the transom flexes under thrust loads. I designed it to flex. I used just two pieces of aluminum for the transom repair and in 3 years no issues. It is now 3 times stronger than factory and no wood to rot out. This transom can now outlast me! Here are images of the transom welds cracking and failing from the previous owner. This transom knee weld is cracked 4/5's of the way around the top of the knee just under the outboard motor mount: Here is a welded side thruster bar the previous owner installed. Also cracked. This is what happens from years of flexing under load. I wanted my repair to avoid this problem and I have succeeded so far since I have no welds to crack now. Here is an image of the front casting deck under construction. The front two cross members are mounted on the seat mounts on the hull, but I knew I would tear out those rivets eventually if all I used was the seat rivets to support the rear of this casting deck, so I hand cut and hand hammered into shape some custom L brackets I hung from the top railing using 3 aluminum bolts to give me the needed strength and support the back of that casting deck would need for having full grown men step up and down from it day after day, year after year. I was not going to trust a couple tiny little rivets drilled into a thin hull for that support! Here is an example of galvanic corrosion from the previous owner who installed his own oar locks using all steel hardware. You can clearly see the outline of the steel washer he used and how where it got wet over time ate through the softer aluminum hull. I had to make custom all aluminum washers to cover these hull breaches. This image was taken after the final epoxy coats & before the repair. Here is an image of hull corrosion I found under the transom knee when removed. The boat was leaking here. It was caused from salt water use and the salts were not rinsed out and over years caused this corrosion. I would like to show you some images of a second boat I was given that I was not able to restore due to 30 years of salt water use completely destroying the soft aluminum hull. This boat was a 1983 alumacraft outfitted for salt water use. When water and salt reached the wood on this boat, the corrosive results were catastrophic. Even sitting on a trailer with treated 2X4's under it severely corroded the hull beyond use and beyond repair. Here is the transom wood before being torn out. Notice it is rotten enough to hand stick a screwdriver into it and all the white is dried up salt crystals. Some salt crystals on this transom board were 1/4" thick! Now take a look at what it did to the hull in the transom: If light can shine through, then water is certainly getting through! Salt and aluminum do not mix! Just look at all that hull pitting and corrosion! This is from using wood, combined with salt and water. It ate this hull up! Here is an image of what happens to an aluminum boat hull when sitting on treated lumber on a trailer combined with salt water: I am posting this to be helpful in communicating some of what I have gone through when converting my own boats. And I will follow this same path for future boats as well. I hope this information will be of value to you in your own conversion. My nearly finished conversion: I'd like to add a couple of things... before buying any aluminum for this boat, I contacted alumacraft and asked them what type of aluminum was used to build this boat. Once I got that information I could then buy matching aluminum so galvanic corrosion would be at a minimum. There are different aluminum composition alloys and I did not want to buy differing metal alloys that could interact with each other in a negative way, so I tried to match aluminum alloys as closely as possible. Next, the way I did this conversion is recyclable. If this boat should fail I can always buy another boat just like it for under $500 and remove all of the parts I used for this boat and re-install them into the new boat with little to no fabrication work. And virtually no additional costs too! Alumacraft sold tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of this exact same model starting in the mid 1950's up through the 80's. Next time I will look for one in a state with no salt water anywhere near it! No more salty dogs for me! This boat is a 14' boat, but alumacraft also made a 16 footer same as this one with 2 more feet added to the back of the boat. Same dimensions, so these parts I made for this boat will transfer over to the 16 footer too!

I sure wish BassMaster would get into helping us protect this river! They sponsor pro bass fishing tournaments in Palatka of all places! The main source of the toxic waste! I surely wish BassMaster and pro bass fishing organizations would help publicize this and take a stand on not doing any more tournaments at the site of toxic waste dumping into the river! I'd like to see those tournaments moved further South in the river where it is much cleaner and only contains tons of cow dung and regular run off waters. But I think the situation is for one, not having large enough facilities to accomodate all the boats, trucks and trailers, and general public, and the event- which we do not have, and also a problem of navigation. Up there in Palatka the river is navigable and you don't see or hear about boaters grounding out and getting stuck on sand bars. Down here in central Florida this would surely be an issue.

I am trying to do my part to spread the word on this situation. So I am contacting news agencies across Florida about it, and state and local governments about it, especially those in the affected areas. And I have a friend here in central Florida who is a lawyer and a fisherman so I let him know about it and he is already doing some digging. What I am hearing so far is yes, this story is true. But the dumping has not begun because the approval process is in jeopardy right now. Our state of Florida Constitution and laws require certain things from our elected officials and how they operate and this is where they have failed. It appears what has happened is that big money businessmen approached our governor here in Florida, another big money businessman with a past of corruption, so together they colluded to approve this project and move it forward under radar so to speak and this is giving we the people some ammunition to use against them. They were able to get a federal court to approve this toxic waste dumping, but it is presently being held up on appeal now going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The first issue of the appeal is that when this project was moved forward under the radar, our laws and Constitution REQUIRES a public notification and a public objection process. The governor and his big money friends skirted this in a shady way. So the appeal is bringing this issue up that the governor failed to follow the law as well as his big money friends. They did not want public notification and they certainly did not want any of us to object to it either. So the appeal might be won on this issue alone. But there is a second issue in the appeal which is an interesting one... in Florida we have a "constitutional requirement involving public trust review" which was also ignored. And this one involves the governor directly because as governor he is the chief executive of this state and required by law to follow the law, and in this case he failed to do so trying to sneak this toxic waste dumping into existence without following the law. So in effect what governor Rick Scott has now done is considered a dereliction of duty. All of Florida's public waters are held in trust and it is we the people who own this trust, but it is the governor who oversees and executes the trust, and in this case, governor Rick Scott has failed to do his duty to the benefit of we the people and what is in our best interests as well as the state and condition of our natural environment held in trust he is sworn to uphold and execute for us. So not only can this help the appeal process to stop this toxic waste dumping from moving forward, but if enough people were inclined to push the issue the governor could face some penalties himself for failing to follow the law intentionally and willfully trying to get away with this. There are a couple of up sides to this situation, namely for one, the dumping is not approved and now has legal support to help stop it. And, the toxic waste dumping will be into the river in Palatka and will only affect the river to the north of Palatka where it flows out into the Atlantic ocean, so the lower river basin will remain unharmed by this willful destruction of nature and our water supply. And I am also being told that "the waste goes thru a process similar to what all public utilities have to do to make our drinking water safe." So this means that the toxic waste to be dumped into the river will be filtered and treated to a certain approved level of contamination before reaching the river. The question is to what degree will it be treated and how contaminated will the waste be when it reaches the river. I am hoping to hear back from some state biologists concerning exactly what this waste water will contain. I have mentioned before that the St. Johns river had a pollution problem that reached a peak in the early and mid 1980's before river cleanup operations began. Even back then the main contributor to river pollution came from the paper mills in Palatka, and it is precisely from this same industrial site where this new toxic waste project will be dumped into the river. I do not want to see the river as polluted as it was when I was a kid. It was so bad we could not swim in the river, and we had to stop fishing it because the fish and blue crabs were coming out of the river with black cancerous looking abscesses on them and missing fins eaten off by the pollution and crabs were missing legs and had stubs where legs should be with black nasty cancerous looking discoloration creating a situation where we were afraid to eat or consume any fish or crabs caught in the river north of Palatka. Let's hope this toxic waste dumping can be stopped on legal grounds, and I would like to see those responsible held accountable too.

Davy Hite says using a floating worm is a hot lure during spawn: Hope floats for best bass bites Davy Hite March 12, 2007 Photo by DAN KIBLER Davy Hite likes to use a floating worm for spawning bass during April. This month, depending upon weather and what lake you’re fishing, you’re probably fishing for bass sometime around the spawn. And that’s a perfect time to fish a floating worm. A floating worm isn’t technically a topwater bait, but it’s close to it. You will get to see some ferocious strikes; a lot of fish will blow up on it, and you’ll at least to get to see most of the fish strike at it. Plus, it’s a great way to catch a lot of fish — plus some big fish. I catch quality fish with a floating worm in all stages of the spawn, but you really do better with a floating worm than, say, a spinnerbait, when fish are at the peak of the spawn or postspawn. In clear water, you can catch a lot of prespawn fish, and you can catch a lot of spawning or postspawn fish. It’s really just a good bait to use throughout the entire period. You can fish a floating worm at just about any Carolinas lake; you can fish it in stained water, but it’s best in clear water. If I can drop a bubblegum worm down 18 inches and still see it, I’ll throw it. You just go down the bank and throw it. You’ll see most of the fish as they come out and take a whack at it. Now, I’ll admit I do own some spinning rods, and a lot of people fish a floating worm with a spinning rod, but I don’t. I fish them on a 6- or 6 1/2-foot medium-action All-Star baitcasting rod with a Pfleuger Presidential reel, a bait-caster with a 6.3-to-1 retrieve ratio. I use 12- to 14-pound Berkley Sensation mono because it’s extremely low stretch, which you need when you’re setting the hook on a fish that’s hit a floating worm. If I need to make long casts, I’ll use the 6 1/2-foot rod; if I’m fishing somewhere I need more control, like fishing around a lot of willows or skipping it back under a dock, I’ll use the 6-footer. With either one, you can cover a lot of water. You can rig a floating worm weedless or with the hook showing. Most of the time, I’m fishing it near some kind of cover, so I rig it weedless. When I do, I use a 3/0 Owner “J” hook. If I’m fishing it with the hook exposed, I’ll use a 3/0 Owner straight-shank hook. About 90 percent of the time, I fish a floating worm with a little barrel swivel a foot or so up the line; that keeps line twist out and gives you a little more weight so it’ll cast better on a bait-caster. Like most fishermen, when I’m fishing a floating worm, I’m using bright colors. It’s easier for me to see a bubblegum worm when I’m working it along, a foot or so under the surface, but I think the brighter colors are more effective for drawing strikes from bass. I think it has to do with them being more aggressive because they’re going on the bed or protecting their fry, and I think the bright colors may trigger them a little. A floating worm doesn’t put out any kind of vibration, like a spinnerbait, so it’s a visual strike. I’ll fish one of four colors 99 percent of the time: bubblegum, yellow, merthiolate or white. If I’m fairly sure I’m going to be using a floating worm a lot, I’ll have all four colors rigged before I leave home. I’ll just start with one and keep trying them. If I’m fishing with somebody else, I’ll start with one color and have them start with another, letting the fish decide what they want that day. And believe me, the color they want will change from day to day. As far as action is concerned, I’ll let a floating worm sink just a little bit after I make my cast, then I’ll work it back the way I work a hard jerkbait or a stickbait. I’ll fish it with a twitch-twitch-pause action, and most of the time, they get it on the pause. You’ll catch a lot of fish using a floating worm just going down the bank because there are so many fish shallow. But the real draw for me is that you’ll catch a lot of big fish. They’re in there to spawn, and a floating worm just does something to trigger them into striking. It’s a great bait.

I agree with Scott F. Braid for everything. I never use a leader. No need to. In my opinion a leader can be a weak link in the chain... One of my local fishing buddies swears he needs them. But when he loses a fish, guess where the break usually is? The "link" I leave out. I have yet to see or experience a fish fleeing in fear because of a braid line in the water. On the contrary I have seen small baby bass in the 6 to 8 inch range peck at it like it was something to eat. So I have seen braid line actually attract fish to it rather than be scared away by it. Abrasion resistance is another reason I have seen some fishermen justify using a leader as though the only line to ever touch anything that could damage the line was only within the leader length range. Yeah right! When I first started using braid line I listened to all those in favor of leaders and I quickly learned to just go with braid from reel to hook and I have never looked back and don't regret it either. And I don't lose fish like some people I know around here who swear by them!

http://data.ecosystem-management.org/nepaweb/nepa_project_exp.php?project=41935 Lake Delancy Boat Ramp Improvement Project Improve recreation infrastructure, public safety, and satisfaction associated with access to Lake Delancy. Location Summary Lake Delancy District: Lake George Ranger District Project Documents Analysis Lake Delancy Draft EA (PDF 991kb) US Fish and Wildlife Concurrence Letter (PDF 715kb) Wildlife Biological Evaluation (PDF 535kb) Aquatics Specialist Report (PDF 168kb) Lake Delancy Recreation Specialist Report (PDF 138kb) SHPO Concurrence (PDF 653kb) Engineering Report (PDF 1196kb) Wildlife Biological Assessment (PDF 580kb) Scoping Lake Delancy Scoping Letter and Map (PDF 1687kb) Lake Delancy Scoping Comment letters (PDF 1574kb) Scoping List (PDF 240kb) Scoping List (PDF 131kb) Supporting 30-Day Notice and Comment Period (PDF 58kb) Mail Box Rd FSR 11-18.4C5 (PDF 847kb) Lake Delancy Pic 1 (PDF 222kb) Lake Delancy Pic 2 (PDF 646kb) Legal Ad Notice and Comment Period (PDF 429kb) New Objection Process (PDF 86kb) Notice in the above image it shows Lake Delancy is now two lakes? This is because water levels have dropped considerably. Back in the 1970's when Ronnie fished this lake it was all one big beautiful lake- as it was when I fished it too, but now it is not the same lake! I wonder why water levels have dropped so drastically since the 1970's???

Not sure where to post this, but right now, this story is causing a lot of people in Florida to get really angry and motivate us to uncover the truth of this matter and very quickly too. So for right now I am going to go ahead and post this breaking news... as I am not sure what to make of it right now, but I already have emails in to state biologists with FWC and checking with St. Johns River Management as well as other agencies to uncover the truth and full scope of this breaking disturbing story found published today by a Philadelphia news outlet: OpEdNews Op Eds 1/26/2016 at 10:10:04 The St. Johns River, a pristine natural treasure, falls prey to the greed of the Koch Borthers and their powerful allies By Samuel Vargo (about the author) Permalink (Page 1 of 2 pages) Related Topic(s): Allies; Fishing; Greed; Koch Brothers; Koch Brothers Scandal; Koch-funded Pacs; Oil; Pipeline; State; Unfit; (more...) Addto My Group(s) 1 1 1 View Ratings | Rate It opednews.com Headlined to H2 1/26/16 Become a Fan (3 fans) - Advertisement - I love the St. Johns River in Florida. It's a beautiful stretch of 310 miles of lackadaisical southern water that moves so slowly that it almost appears to be a large lake. The St. Johns River is a living example of the slowed-down lifestyle people appear to enjoy who live south of the Mason-Dixon line. Time ticks away at a slower pace 'down South' and folks enjoy the little things - like fishing, boating, picnicking near the river, or just sitting along the riverside and watching dolphins skip the surface of the river. When I lived in Jacksonville for several years, I often enjoyed the recreational value of this beautiful waterway. I did a little fishing off the banks of the St. Johns with some of my friends and sometimes would just sit on a bench overlooking the river at the Claude J. Yates Branch of the YMCA on Riverside Avenue in the warm Florida sunshine and take in the serenity that this precious natural gem emitted. It's a beautiful river that's unique in many ways. And it's important to keep the water of the St. Johns pure because so many people live around it and will be affected adversely if its watershed becomes polluted irreparably. The St. Johns is unusual in that it is one of the few rivers in the world that flows south to north. Sometimes as I sat on the bench of the YMCA, I'd see dolphins jumping out of the water way on the other side of this wide river. Their schools were breathtaking - skirting the water and leaping into the air as they enjoyed frolicking to their destinations somewhere - who knows? Numerous lakes are formed by the St. Johns or flow into it. And its width even outdoes Old Man River - at the St. Johns' widest point, it's almost three miles across. The narrowest point is in the headwaters, an unnavigable marsh in Indian River County. In all, 3.5 million people live within the various watersheds that feed the St. Johns River. The St. Johns winds through or borders twelve counties, and three of these counties are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from headwaters to mouth is less than 30 feet (9 m); and like most Florida waterways, the St. Johns has a very low flow rate - 0.3 mph (0.13 m/s) and is often described as "lazy", according to Wikipedia. The St. Johns River has fallen prey to the Koch Brothers and their very powerful friends, however. Georgia-Pacific/Koch Industries has been permitted to discharge up to 60 million gallons of toxic waste per day into the St. Johns, which will collect on the bottom of the river, making for a poisonous sludge collecting there, which will create a water-mass unfit for humans and animals. Greed and powerful sycophants that jump at the commands and demands of David and Charles Koch will in time see this once pristine natural wonder turned into a place where nobody will be able to fish, water ski, or do anything else - chalk off another fresh water body to the rubber stamping of our government. According to a petition being circulated online by change.org: "The pipeline easement was issued by FDEP, as agent for the Florida Governor and Cabinet, after a highly misleading newspaper notice and no fair opportunity to request an evidentiary hearing. (http://bit.ly/1zBpbMj.) The river should be held in trust by the Governor and Cabinet for the people of Florida, not given away for private use as dumping grounds and without just compensation." Daily Kos writer Leslie Salzillo's article on Oct. 26, 2015 shows the debauchery, greed, and deception involved with selling the St. Johns River down the proverbial river: "The unethical, and allegedly illegal, Florida indenture involving four very well-known political figures, including a 2016 presidential candidate, continues. Now, the matter is before the U.S. Supreme Court. The scandal involves Charles Koch, Davaid Koch, Florida Governor Rick Scott and Presidential candidate Jeb Bush. ""They are part of a deal made that allows Koch Industries' highly profitable paper and pulp company, Georgia-Pacific, to dump millions of gallons of toxic waste per day into the St. Johns River in Florida." An attorney from Florida, Steve Medina, has been working on this case, pro bono, to expose the corruption that has spiraled from this scandal in Tallahassee and Putnam County, Fla. Here are some of the court documents that are available. In a letter to Daily Kos writer Leslie Salzillo, Medina complains: "The corporate media simply will not cover these issues to any significant degree," another Daily Kos article explains, also written by Salzillo. "I think this is partly because the subject matter can be wonky," Medina writes in his letter to Salzillo. "And Americans are presumed to be stupid. But mostly I think it is because critiquing public officials as potentially 'mercenaries' when they are supposed to be 'fiduciaries' strikes a little too close to home for news outlets primarily funded by advertising revenue. Because I believe that this particular public trust case is so important and potentially precedent-setting, when I took my current job as an assistant public defender in the Florida Panhandle a couple of years ago, I got special permission to take off vacation time and continue to work on the case as long as it did not interfere with my regular job. A lot of late nights, early mornings, and weekends later, we are still alive, barely, and sure as hell kicking." (Please click on title for link to original article in full)

Thanks for the info. Bass Pro in the afternoon. Anyone from the forum going then?

Murder of Gregg Hawkins remains under investigation Published: December 30, 2015 The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office continues to investigate the murder of Gregg Hawkins. The local resident was shot and killed at the Mona Boat Ramp on October 16, 2015 after a morning of fishing with his 19-year old daughter. Detective Dan Goodwin feels confident that the murderer likely told someone something about the crime, which is not hearsay... Hawkins was likely killed after walking up on a crime in progress when he went to retrieve his truck. Anyone who has information about the murder is asked to call lead Detective Kyle Norrod at 615-904-3043 or Detective Capt. David Hailey at 615-904-3113.

You know, I always wanted to try the electro-shock method to see what I could shock up out of our lakes and rivers! I know how the state does it, and I know how to do it too, but it is also illegal... shame! And it does not hurt the fish or have any lasting negative effects I am aware of, just a temporary stunning, and they float up. Simple as that! Even the biggest bass can not outrun an electrical shocking! I'd never need a hook, lure, live bait or rod and reel again!

Is anyone going to the Southern Open in Kissimmee this Saturday the 30th around 4 or 5 PM??? Due to my work schedule, Saturday afternoon is the only day I can make it to the tournament, and I'd like to meet up with any forum members also attending at that time if possible. Not sure how this can be arranged so any information and advice would be appreciated. And, if any of you forum members here are making plans on attending on other days, 28 through 30th, and want to meet up, by all means discuss your plans for attending and how to meet up on any day of the tournament. ------------------------------ 2016 Bass Pro Shops Southern Open #1 Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Kissimmee, Florida January 28 ~ 30th, 2016 The Kissimmee Chain of Lakes including Lake Tohopekaliga has been a popular venue for Bassmaster tournaments for more than 40 years. The fishery has hosted 22 Bassmaster events including the 1977 and 2006 Bassmaster Classics. Chad Morgenthaler was the lastest to win there, claiming a 2015 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Southern Open title with 52 pounds, 7 ounces. The local host for the event is Visit Kissimmee and the Central Florida Sports Commission. Opens angler Ryan Davidson sent this great catch to us. Unfortunately, it's only for practice. He's hoping he can find this one again on Thursday.

I received a PM asking me about how Ronnie died so I will try and do a write up on where discussion on this subject is at these days as this is still one of the most argued and passionately debated subjects of the plane crash mainly because survivors of the crash say different things in public often contradicting previous statements over the past 39 years since the crash. For now though, for the fans of Skynyrd on this forum I thought I would share another rare track, this one is still unreleased to this day and may never be released because of legal issues surrounding who should get paid if it is released. This song is called "CottonMouth Country" and as usual the words are written by Ronnie Van Zant himself and he puts the songs together first with his guitarists and then brings in the rest of the band to build up the song. Back in late 1974 the band went into the studio to work on their 3rd album called "Nuthin' Fancy." At this time in the band's career their fame was skyrocketing, but the band was worn out from grueling constant touring all over the country and the world. So for this 3rd album the band did not have a whole lot of new creativity in developing new songs like they had the time for on their first two albums, so some of the music for this 3rd album was created inside the recording studio and they made it up as they went along reaching for new ideas. Usually, the correct way to approach recording an album is to be well prepared in advance of spending tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars for studio recording time and engineers and producers. Again, usually the way Skynyrd went about preparing for a new album was to work on new songs out on the road developing them sometimes at soundchecks before a concert, and often including a new song within their set list for live performances and judge how it went across to the audience. But this time Skynyrd was not well prepared. They did not have all the songs prepared in advance nor their arrangements for all of them. They did not have a lot of them nailed down before going into the studio. So some of this 3rd album came from the studio experience itself, and this is how "CottonMouth Country" came into existence. It was one of those instant ideas turned into a song. What is interesting about this song is that its very existence is one of mystery. No one had ever heard of this song before it was recorded, and how it came to light is also one of great mystery. So let me try and briefly explain. The band was working with a world famous artist working with Skynyrd as engineer and producer. A man named Al Kooper from New York City who was in the South on a mission to revive his own useless music career and to also cultivate and make money on the growing popularity of Southern music and artists. Al Kooper moved down from NYC to Atlanta where he created his own record company called Sounds Of The South which was basically just a paper company, or a company on paper only, and his music was distributed through already existing big time recording companies like MCA Records out in California who made the product and used their network for distribution. Al Kooper discovered Skynyrd in a bar in Atlanta and signed to a recording contract for a mere $9,000.00. And it was Al Kooper, this old has-been from NYC who recorded and produced Skynyrd's first 3 record albums under contentious circumstances. For example on the first album Ronnie and Gary created a song called "Simple Man" which is today a Skynyrd classic, but in the studio when Skynyrd wanted to record it, Al Kooper hated the song and refused to record it. So what did Ronnie Van Zant do? Well in classic Ronnie style he told Al Kooper screw you yankee, we are going to record with or without you. And the story goes that Ronnie himself escorted Al Kooper out of the studio physically and threw him into the back of his limo and sent him to the airport and back up to NYC where he belonged. Then Ronnie and Skynyrd went back inside the studio now with Al Kooper GONE and the band went ahead and recorded "Simple Man" without Al Kooper. Al settled down and came back to the South- to Atlanta-to Doraville Studio One outside Atlanta- where he rejoined the band inside the studio and he took a listen to "Simple Man" and eventually came around to actually liking the song he refused to record and he eventually went on to play organ on the track for eventual release on Skynyrd's first album Pronounced. Al Kooper is credited on the album under the alias name Roosevelt **** as an additional player. So jumping ahead to Skynyrd 3rd album, by now Al Kooper was less contentious in the studio and more open to letting the band do as they pleased or else he knew Ronnie would again pick him up by the scruff of the neck and throw his yankee butt out of the studio if he did not co-operate with the band on what they wanted to record. Little did the band know while recording this last album that Al Kooper was already involved in secret negotiations with MCA Records to sell his Sounds of the South record label to them and bolt back up to NYC for good washing his hands of the whole Southern thing. And this is where the mystery of "Cottonmouth Country" begins... We know it was recorded during the studio sessions for the band's 3rd album. This is without question. An we also know Al Kooper was involved in recording it. But it was considered a blown track as you can hear Ronnie at the end of the track saying "Cut! Cut! Cut!" So something was not right and most agree it was because one of the guitarists had made a mistake. No one really knows why Ronnie said this. But what we do know is that this is the only known take or version of this song on tape. It was never duplicated and it was never finished and this song was never known to have been carried out on to the band's live stage performances. This song was lost in the studio where it was created. Around the time this song was recorded in the studio, Al Kooper had made a deal with MCA Records who was already making his albums for him and distributing them, and Al Kooper accepted $1,000,000.00 cash for all the rights to his record company Sounds of the South and all the music it owned, but there was a catch in the deal that MCA Records was buying USEABLE RELEASABLE music. This means that all of the numerous blown tracks and out takes, and unreleaseable recordings were not a part of this deal which meant that Al Kooper himself could walk away with Skynyrd recordings that were not finished or completed tracks! So many of us to this day believe this is what Al Kooper did. We believe he only handed over to MCA Records finished recordings such as the first 3 albums worth of completed tracks that MCA did actually release, but all the unfinished recordings we believe those disappeared back up to NYC with Al Kooper including this new song "Cottonmouth Country." It was common back then for band members to make cassette tape copies of their newly recorded music. Each band member had different requirements on what they wanted on cassette tape to take home with them to listen to and review in private so they could make changes to their parts, change arrangements, etc. And this is how many of us think this track "Cottonmouth Country" was actually leaked out. We do not think Al Kooper is behind the leaking of this track because it is not in his best financial interests to do so. But, if a band member took a rough mix of this track home with them from the studio on a cassette tape, now here is where it is most likely that this track was leaked out to the outside world. I know from conversations with an engineer at MCA Records that he has been searching for the original studio recording for this track and has not been able to locate it. Al Kooper has not exactly been a very co-operative person in this regard. So his line is to get defensive that he might still have something everyone is looking for and even if he has it, he is saying no he does not. Regardless, even if Al Kooper does still have that original studio tape it is now 40 years old and has probably deteriorated to a virtually unuseable condition as the glue holding the oxide particles onto a polyester backing tape turns to goo after so many years and requires thousands of dollars in restoration work before a tape like this can even be put onto a machine and played to see if there is anything usable on the tape. So more than likely, the original may never be found and if it is, it is probably not usable. Next, the modern day current Skynyrd band stated publicly they had an interest themselves in recovering this song for a possible new release. They can record an all new version of this song if they wanted to, but their mere mention of an interest doing so brought out the lawyers of a former band member- not going to mention any names- who claims he is one of the writers of this song and he would demand financial compensation if any such release and new recording was made of this song. Well, needless to say it, but the threat of lawyers and lawsuits and royalty disputes nixed that idea real fast. The band could have gone two ways on this song. One way would be to locate the original recording and overdub it releasing a part original track complete with the deceased original members on it plus all newly recorded overdubs on it, or the current band could just as easily have recorded a completely new version without any of the original 1974 version any where on it. Either way, that former band member and his lawyers would have certainly pursued legal compensation and the mere threat of this has completely nixed any possible released of this song ever! So today, all we have to listen to is one rare unreleased studio outtake that was leaked out to the public under unknown and mysterious circumstances. So take a listen to a very special "Southern" track by native Floridian Ronnie Van Zant and some very special words, lyrics, and message from the man himself nearly 40 years after he died tragically in a plane crash back in 1977... Here is his "CottonMouth Country" You have to realize this is an unreleased track, so there are no known official lyrics to this song. To come up with these written lyrics I had to listen to this song and attempt to understand what all Ronnie was saying and transcribe my own lyrics for this song. Even still, sharing the same ethnic and cultural roots and geographical roots as Ronnie, I was not able to understand all of what he was saying so there are some places I was not able to decipher his exact wording, so here is the best I could do: Here are the lyrics I came up with some years back:COTTONMOUTH COUNTRY:This here is a little swamp song.Lord, swamps....There is an old sayin' everbody knows is truethat home sweet home is the place that's best for you.I likes to travel and I do likes to roamWhen we get that fever before I got to go back home.I've seen them city folks try to move in way down SouthTry to tell them swamper people what it's all about.I seen them city people try to live in the bayouMutual of Omaha that they play for a foolWay down South ______________________(could not understand)You got to be careful of the gators and mud n' snakesjust a word of warning when traveling SouthboundI said, Cottonmouth Country - no place to fool around!It's a bad padJust one little Skeeter bite will make your body sweatAnd a twelve foot she-gator 'scare you slap to deathAnd they got them Cottonmouths as mean as can beAnd if he bites you, your maker your gonna seeWell don't forget the mud son is as deep as a creekand some old razorback gonna chase you up a treethey got them bobcats Lord tear you limb from limband if you get lost your chances mighty slimCottonmouth Country is a place that's miseryit's one of them places still the way it's suppose to bewell a man can be so brave tall as a big 'ol treebetter know his way around - wear boots above his kneesIt's a bad spot.Sh**! CUT! CUT! CUT! CUT! CUT!

Hey Mike! I will also check into lake Delancy and see if I can find out who now owns the boat ramp on this lake and see if it is still private behind a 6 foot chain link fence with locked gate. I have used google earth satellite imaging to look down on the lake and can see where people have been putting boats into the lake by just backing down the sandy bank on the SE side of the lake near the canal. Not sure if this is still the case or not.

It also depends on where in Florida you go because spawn is usually different in different parts of the state. Spawn typically starts and ends sooner in South Florida than it does in Central and north Florida. Another way to look at it is by temperature... January and February are typically our coldest months and the first 2 weeks of March. It tends to warm up in mid to late March on into April. Typically bass fishing is worst in coldest temps. Just sayin'...

Berkley. swimbaits, worms, creature baits... I was sorting lures just the other day and noticed about 50% of what I have in stock is all Berkley. Next would be Zoom and Culprit among others like Mann's...

Hey Mike! I just checked online and found numerous website offering various solutions to scaring away geese from your property. Apparently using certain decoys can do it such as a coyote decoy among others: http://www.goosinator.com/ http://www.getridofthings.com/pests/animals/get-rid-of-geese/

Dylan, not trying to confuse, but there is not one native American English language. There are many dialects. I am from the South so we use words, slang, and verbiage that would leave people from California and New York scratching their heads! So all across America is a variety of dialects and no two are alike! And then there is ebonics... and as stated the language of woman. You know- when she says yes, she really means no, and when she says no, she really means yes! Some things just are not meant to be figured out! Oh wait, when you say native do you mean Native? As in Native Indian? OK, maybe I am getting confusing! What they said above... go with it!

Here in central Florida I would say barometric pressure does affect the fish and my fishing. When a cold front is approaching colder air is heavier and this weight pushes down on the surface of the water and I think fish can sense and feel this change in pressure before the temperature starts to drop. And when this happens the fish tend to go deep and stay there and feed less and are harder to catch until the reverse begins to happen when the air temps begin to rise, the atmospheric pressure is lifting up taking pressure off the surface of the lakes and rivers and the fish then begin to come up move around more and are more active at feeding and are easier to catch. So yeah barometric pressure does have an effect on when I go fishing. When I know a cold front is coming, sometimes there is a feeding frenzy in front of it, but timing for that still eludes me and it is hit and miss, but if I know barometric pressure is increasing rapidly due to an approaching cold front, quite often I won't even bother to go bass fishing. Another "issue" for lack of a better word that sometimes plays a roll in whether I wet a line or not is something my father taught me. This was something his father had taught him back in the 1930's before our instant weather updates and modern weather predicting. Back then they often just looked out the window to see if the weather was good enough to go fishing, and usually they were fishing for food to feed the family so it was more important to them when putting food on the table versus sport fishing catch and release we see today. My dad said that cows and birds feed on cycles that go hand in hand with moon phases. I don't recall him saying their feeding cycles had anything to do with the weather though... so the old saying my dad taught me was that when the cows are laying down and the birds aren't flying then the fish are not biting. But if the cows are up and feeding and the birds are flying around, then go fishing! To this day I often wonder how valid this old timey information really is. Around here when I drive down to the river I pass by quite a few different cow pastures and find it kind of funny to pass one and see the cows laying down and birds sitting on the power wires overhead, and then drive a little further on and see that in the next pasture the cows are all up and feeding. So how do I judge this I can only wonder? But regardless of how true or not this old methodology really is, I still tell it to my own sons and pass it on down to the next generation as it was done to me.