N Florida Mike

I saw one panther when I was around 10 years old, about halfway between Jacksonville and St Augustine. It jumped out of the brush and jumped right back in when it saw our car coming. This would have been around 1970, when they had nearly been hunted out. Around that time an older friend was hunting and someones dogs ran a big panther right by him. Most of the sightings then were in and around durbin swamp. A 600+ pound black bear run over by a semi in the same general area. Now Florida has millions more people , but more panthers than then. 16 got run over last year in Florida!

Fished for a little while before dark. I caught the bigger one after hooking a little bream and she swallowed it. Nice fight on a small bream hook, 6 lb test , and ultralight combo. Got 2 more on the same brushpile just down the lake… on the june bug magnum speed worm…

Congratulations Koz ! I will miss the stories about the old hotel and it’s issues…

No. It just parted on the set. I don’t remember seeing him retie all afternoon though , and he caught 5-6 fish. I have never caught one in my lake in 50 years.

@Swamp Girl We dont have pickerals in our lake. There is a small gar population, but I have never had 1 bite an artificial bait before. And my friend is a very experienced bass fisherman. I think maybe he had a little nick he didn’t notice . Still, 15 pound big game !! Hard to believe.

Had a friend come over and fish from 3:30-6:30 . Fished hard - they were not biting real good today but we managed 13. I got into a little flurry of activity and got 4 in the last 1/2 hour, including the big fish of the day. Caught those 4 on the magnum speed worm. This was when we were nearly back to my house, fishing the northeast part of the lake. We each had a fish break our line , his broke 15 pound big game. Still hunting the elusive big fish.

@AlabamaSpothunter Yours is a beautiful fish man ! Did you measure her ?

Got out today for app. 1.5 hours. Temps in the low 70s, cloudy, light breeze. Got 3 in the boat, and missed 2. Caught 2 on the 10 inch Red shad culpit , including this one, and 1 one on a 10 inch mister twister worm. Fish are up shallow, and I’m seeing a bed by my dock. It’s that time of year again!

@TnRiver46 Affording them is bad enough! I can catch my own, if I have enough time.

@gimI’ve fished with them a lot through the years. Wild ones work much better than those raised at a farm. @AlabamaSpothunter Thanks. I have had some big bass through the years, but otters cleaned some of them out The last few years. The lake used to be full of shiners, but they aren’t nearly as common anymore. I have fished with big shiners a lot. The population is low right now but getting better. I throw them back now because I want them to reproduce …

Sometimes I get lazy and just want to relax and sit while I fish. Today , the last hour of sunlight was perfect for that. Nice temps in the low 60s. Calm wind. Perfect time for some bream. Ended with app. 15 , with some nice ones mixed in. Also got 2 giant golden shiners in the mix . One of them was 12 inch ! They fight like a bass on my ultralight. I’m excited to see them because I dont have near as many now as in the old days…

Not my photo . But I couldn’t resist this one, because it’s so rare we get a heavy snow in Florida…It’s the beach at pensacola

Thankful it went well…🙏

It happened in my small lake recently. I was catching fish over 8 pounds until about 4 years ago, and it just stopped. The next 3 years only 2 that were just over 4. Here are my possible explanations. 1. Someone began catching and keeping them all of a sudden. I would say this is 100% not the reason. I do 90% of all the fishing done here. Only a few people bass fish, and they don’t go often. I know them personally, and we are friends and catch/release all the big females. 2. They somehow escaped through a drain or outflow. That is a small chance because our lake is lower than the outflows. Only during a heavy rain does it wash out instead of in. Even if some did wash out, not all , most , or many would. 3. A fish kill due to loss of oxygen or chemicals for weed spraying. We haven’t had one since 2011, which is a whole nother story. 4 Otters. This is my conclusion. I started seeing an otter occasionally starting a couple years ago. He hasn’t been back now in months, so I’m starting to catch bigger fish again. That may be your problem, but on a big lake they have plenty of areas to hide. I’m betting they are still there but you just haven’t found them.

Caught one on the june bug magnum speed worm. 43 degrees when I caught him. Hit it on the fall.