N Florida Mike

^^^Wow. Five of us went fishing on Fourth of July to a remote lake in N . Florida with 2 boats. Dark clouds began to appear to the northwest. A few rumbles of thunder. We had time to make it to the ramp, which was a couple miles to the southeast. We ran down to the ramp but idled there and had a debate about what to do. It looked like it would pass by well to the north. So we decided to go over to the far southwest side of the lake and keep fishing. Suddenly a flash and roll of thunder alerted us to another storm that had come up from the south . It literally wasn’t there when we left the ramp area , and came up 10 minutes after we made it to the new spot. For an hour it was one lightning strike after another and rained as hard as Ive ever seen. All we could do was pull in under some cypress trees and hunker down. The water in the boats got so deep everything was floating around. We had a fervent prayer meeting to occupy our time. ?

Very tough choice . I am a non discriminatory bait user as long as it’s some kind of T rigged soft plastic. Its a toss up between a Zoom super fluke or 4 inch senko. Watermelon seed or watermelon red. Lots of close seconds.

It doesn’t bother me near as much if the fish jumps and throws the hook. I work hard to not let them jump in the first place though. what bothers me the most is if I lose a big fish because of some stupid mistake, like the drag not being set just right, or knowing there’s a little Knick in the line and you should have retied.

I have never used the crawdad so I couldn’t speak to its color.

Got off in time to get on the lake for a couple hours. Stayed closed to home with the limited time .They’re saying it’ll be the last warm day for awhile . ( Think it was 82 today ) , so I really wanted to get out. I was determined to catch some on a tube( see the tube bait thread in the tackle section) So I got one on the small tube, and one on the bigger 3 1/2 inch one . Watermelon red . They weren’t biting it much so I switched to the zoom watermelon lizard and they were all over it. In a lunker slump , but got a few decent fish anyway.

I don’t use brown worms much, but when I do I use Moccasin Culprits.

I think 1-2/0 . I’ve got a couple bags of the 3 inch ones. They aren’t a confidence bait for me. I just need to fish em more. Bass in my lake haven’t seemed very interested in them though. Too busy eating flukes, I reckon.?

I was thinking about trying tubes again soon. I’ve not fished them much but the few times I have, Ive only caught a few total. What kind of hook do y’all use for a T-rig with tubes ? I have to use a T- rig because of all the weeds in my home lake.

Got out on Saturday with a close friend I grew up with. I have known him and his family since was 11 years old. He was my first fishing buddy, and we would primarily fish the lake I now live on before we got vehicles. We fished all over north Florida together once we got trucks, and fished in the same club. Anyway, we got out on the St Johns river and it was rough. Tried fishing a few docks with no results. Hard to keep the boat in position with the wind. We ended up running up into Julington Creek, which I fished a lot as a teen and young man. I tried a chatterbait with a pit boss trailer with no success around some pads. He threw a spinner bait, also with no results. We eventually switched to worms and slowed down, still with no action. We decided to fish a creek off the creek and got 2 bites, both on beaver- style baits with orange bottom. Didnt catch much for the time we put in., but the “ catching up “ between friends was priceless. Already planning 2 more trips !

Just found out the ramp on the north side of the lake is still open. Planning a spring trip soon.

I went with a friend Saturday morning I hadn’t fished with in a few years. Kept waking up every 1-2 hours , looking at the clock, and trying to figure out what time it really was ( Alarm clock is stuck on 40 minutes faster than it really is ) ? Also tried to subtract 30 minutes from when I was actually leaving so I’d have time to get ready. Bottom line: woke up right on time . Haven’t used the actual alarm in many years now.

Wow, sounds like a great dad. Thankful I had one like that too.

^^^ This.

Just another night for me. Went to bed at 10:30. Woke up from a dead sleep at 330 from a late fireworks barrage. Rolled over and went right back to sleep. Next morning I awoke, noticed a bunch of notifications from the “ next door “ forum. Seems the local suburbians are disgruntled about all the fireworks. It’s still going on today. They are fixing to start a anti fireworks resolution which will include new laws that somehow will work better than the existing laws that make it illegal already, and they want a new governor that will support the new laws. I’m not making this up folks. Apparently people’s pets are having seizures or otherwise freaking out , and latest studies have shown thousands of birds dying from fireworks each year. I have never seen a dead bird anywhere after fireworks , but we usually have a couple people killed from revelers shooting their guns off into the sky. What goes up must come down you know, and after all , it is Florida ?. You know , the latest “ sky is falling “ paranoia. I think I would almost rather have the fireworks than “ next door “ , but what do I know??‍♂️ . Happy new year!!!?

Well, Florida won as predicted. Virginia played well though I thought.

It shouldn’t take long! I’m the exact opposite- I need to use a spinner bait until I catch some!!

Another glorious sunrise this morning! Good dog!!!