N Florida Mike

Hit me up - maybe we can go - I’m in the Jax area.

I nearly lost a friend who bought a small sailboat and went out with his girlfriend to an 800 acre lake to try it out. They were out in the middle of the lake and decided to jump in for a swim. Did not anchor , the wind picked up , and they were in big trouble, as the sailboat drifted away, and they couldn’t catch it. She was a stronger swimmer than him and was able to get him back up several times as he would go under. Miraculously, a lone fisherman saw their plight and got there just in time. Me and my girlfriend at the time showed up with my bass boat literally minutes later and saw the fear and shock they had of their close call. Somehow,in the struggle they lost a tackle box with their car keys in it. The lake is app. 40 miles from town out in the woods.His dad had to come all that way to bring the extra key , and hear the story of the very close call.

One of the views from work today... No, I’ve eaten a lot of things but not otters! My daughter just said suppers ready: Hot dogs , lol?

Dead otter tonite . Crossing the road to our lake!! Daughter saw him crossing this morning. Someone didn’t see him and ran over him in the same spot crossing this evening. Hopefully he didn’t pick off too many of our catfish before his end.

?

She must have been a pretty one....

I love a palamar knot for braided line. Easy to tie and I’ve never had one slip out.

That’s in my home range. I like 6 mile better. It’s got less boat traffic, goes further, has deeper holes, and is more remote. The big local ramp is at Trout, so it gets more attention. Lots of pads to fish, and 6 mile especially has some big cypress trees , which usually hold some fish. I do best in that area on large dark worms fished real slow. Live Shiners would be best though.

It’s ok to want to preserve bass. I just don’t want any more new laws to make it happen.

It’s because of that hat with the T on it. ? I have never heard of them being redone but seems like it wouldnt be too hard.

My pb was a skin mount and it didn’t look like the real thing either. Much darker than the real thing.

How could I have bass fished all these years and never heard that?! That explains a lot! Thanks, Catt !

Let me know about when you are coming. There’s an outside chance I could come down. I also live on a lake in the Jacksonville area. If you have a few hours let me know and we can go. Didn’t mean to turn you away from the forest with the negativity. Like I said , I fished and camped for many years there and had no problem whatsoever. It’s good to be careful anywhere nowdays... keep me posted!

• Coming in last in a tournament on one of the lakes I knew better than most , if not all of the other fishermen. • Any time I get hung in a tree with people around( which is the only time it ever seems to happen! ) • Hooking a trot line and thinking it was a big bass. • Not putting the plug in the boat once and almost sinking. • Losing a huge bass and then seeing folks on the bank watching intently after hearing me yell in frustration. • And once going bream fishing in the st Johns river with a friend and his dad. Before we had got far I knocked the cricket container over. You can imagine the outcome. Every few minutes would come another reminder. All day ? Thats about it I think.?

I haven’t done well at night so don’t have much to contribute. But since I primarily fish afternoons until shortly after dark it’s probably that I don’t go at night enough to judge it. What seems to happen every time, (talking hundreds of times) is that they can be biting great but as soon as it gets dark, they stop. I mean completely stop. I suspect that they start again later in the night but it just gets so dead I go home. I have done best at night ( which isn’t saying much) with a hollow body frog. I have also caught some using a stop and go retrieve with a dark colored worm.

Swimming toads, like ribbett, etc. I do ok with the hollow body frogs. Probably strange to most of y’all on here, and somewhat off topic, but I have a much reduced hook up rate with ANY bait , using braided line as opposed to mono.

This one was caught in Orange lake, fl. last year, by Brian Hammett. It was the second heaviest fish ever recorded in the Florida trophy catch program. I love fishing Orange and lochloosa lakes , although I don’t get to much anymore. They are very different water bodies, connected by Cross creek. Anyone fish them regularly?

I’ve trapped a lot of rats , ‘coons, and nutria rats. We were staying at a cabin on a mountain in N. Georgia and we hadn’t even got settled in good when my wife started screaming in the kitchen. I thought maybe she cut herself or something. So when I ran in, she was up on the table. The mouse came running right at me. It startled me and It ran by and headed for the fireplace. I had grabbed a shoe to hit it with when it went by but missed and it went into a hole in the fireplace. So I went down to the little towns hardware store, got me the last victor mouse trap they had. Baited it with peanut butter and went to bed. Next morning: mouse in trap, wife happy!?

I haven’t had one since 1982. I drank mostly Busch, because that’s mostly what my crowd drank. I couldn’t just drink one. I would drink until I got happy, then would get mad, then depressed, then drive home drunk. I Would get mean and fight over anything when drunk. It’s amazing I survived. I don’t have any desire for it anymore, but I don’t judge anyone that does it in moderation. But I’ve seen it and drugs totally destroy families and total strangers. So I’m against drunkenness for a variety of reasons.

You could go to Disney world near Orlando. They have a lake there you can hire a guide with. I’ve never done it but I hear it’s good. And you’d have plenty of other stuff to do.

Depends on how big the water body is , and if I can get some fish able water with high winds. Generally, 20 is my cut-off. My best day for numbers last year though came on the windiest day I fished which was 25-30. I may need to re-think 20?.

Wow- seems like that would be a sure thing -,we can usually get out within a few days or sooner.

Where are you located. I know it’s not near me , my biggest problem is ALL the competitors!!!

I didn’t think about it much when I was young. My dad was by far the biggest influence on me about work.We worked around our property and I saw him work 6-7 days a week for many years. My first word wasn’t momma or daddy - it was “ outside”. All the jobs I’ve had have involved being outside. I mowed a few lawns, and worked on a farm and loved it, due to all the fishing/hunting benefits! I was good at baseball , and wanted to play MLB from childhood until High school . Did play in college at least. went to college, and didn’t like being cooped up all day so would skip and go fishing 1-2 times a week. Got a degree in a phys. Ed type major, and Thought about being a coach but ended up for awhile as a park director. Manage kids sports in the afternoon and adult sports at night. Very low pay so I quit. To get to the point, about this time I decided I wanted to be a fire tower operator so I could live in the woods and totally live a off the grid type life.Also wanted to be a game warden for the same reason. Got no response to the applications so so when a friend asked me to work In lawn care/pest control, I did. Didn’t know what else to do, so I kept doing it. I have generally enjoyed it for the most part, and it’s met our needs. Have also wanted to be full time in the ministry since I was 25 , so I could help people with their needs. I have done it as a volunteer for many years now.

I used to fish down there some. Don’t have any recent reports though. Ask the folks at the fish camp. I know a lot of people fish the spring runs off lake George this time of year because the water is warmer. You can catch a variety of species in the “ croaker hole” which is on the west side of little lake George. I think it’s a 40-50 foot deep hole there. I stayed at the fish camp at Welaka before. And launched there a few times as well. Came in 3rd in a tournament mostly fishing the pads in the river between Lake George and lake little lake George. Used worms primarily. Make sure to give us a report! Mike