N Florida Mike

Go with older , more experienced fishermen. I learned the most new stuff the fastest this way. I only had 2. One friend taught me the basics, and the other was more in depth. I have learned most of the rest by fishing myself , and occasionally a tip here and there from friends, and of course, bass resource.

That happens every time you fish, lol. So if that is your logic, then just give up fishing completely.

Another nice bullhead.

I havent been out this year yet, just catching a few bank fishing. Today was very windy and cool but didnt feel like going and battling the wind. So I did me some lazy man dock fishing and caught me a 5.10 on a little bream. The beddin' is starting too. They have began scooping right by my bank, like they do every year. This fish was out away from the bank, but was holding just offshore gettin' ready !!

When I was in my teens / 20s , I not only targeted bedding fish but kept all of them ( as did most of my friends ) It was because we were taught by our parents to keep fish to eat because many of them had had a hardscrabble life and one mor fish on the table meant the little mouths at that table were fed again. I fished very heavily the small lake I now live on and caught and kept dozens of big bass but it never seemed to affect the fishery in a negative way. I grew up this way but in my 30s began realizing how beautiful these bass are, and realizing they arent quite as good to eat as a lot of the other fish we caught. So I started catch and release of all fish over 17 inch, bedding fish or not. That being said, I dont think it one bit unethical to bed fish. I do it but never keep them and release them asap. No harm, no foul . And Just because you find a bed does not mean its easy to catch the fish. It does greatly annoy me now if people keep big bass esp. in a small pond or lake and off a bed. But its maybe hypocritical thinking, because I did it for years.

My wife and me have an understanding. I keep up with the honey do's , and when I want to go fishing, she doesnt complain. Great way to live. But I still love that Brad paisley song !

I drive around working all day. I pass ponds continually, dozens of them every day. I often wonder if that one has anything in it or not, what bait looks like it would work there , whether or not Id get run off or mugged ( depending on what part of town Im in ) if I tried fishing it , where to park, etc. Sometimes, the daydream turns into reality !☺

Ive done real well with junebug , esp in lower light conditions. Ive caught a lot of fish with black grape using worms other than trick worms.

Bill's one of my favorites. Been watching his shows since I was a teen. Prayers and best wishes for his recovery.

A lot of places I fish are too weedy for rattletraps and too shallow for cranks. I have fished some deeper, clearer lakes you can fish those on though. Ive done a little better with cranks than r.traps . Trolling cranks across deep holes at night has produced some big bass. A friend got a 11 pounder like that on a baby bass c.bait in a deep, clear lake.

My Strong point is soft plastics and skipping. I also can read structure and figure out where the fish are. Im moderately good with spinnerbaits and certain topwater baits. I am not good with crankbaits and jerkbaits. I also dont do well with jigs. There, I said it. Jigs. I like to catch fish and soft plastics are the ticket to that around here. Why fix it if it aint broke ?

That's great Lonnie. Good for him. Wonder where he got it from ? ?

I found some in a pond up here and couldnt catch any on bread balls or piece of a live worm. I would throw the b.balls right in their bed but they showed no interest at all.

It's really sad how he died. To do all he did, then get killed senselessly by someone he was trying to help. But he died doing something positive. Good example and lesson to us that remain....

My least favorite road to drive in Fl. is I-4 . The traffic there is unreal. We were trying to go home from Dizzy- world with 2 of the G-kids and waited for the rush hour traffic to die down. Left at 10 a.m and it was stop and go all the way to past downtown, top speed 5 mph.. No wreck, no construction , just too many people. There are courteous people there though. Some friends and me were in a van down there once and we had a blow out somewhere downtown on I-4. We were in the far left lane going 55 or so. The driver was able to keep it under control, and people slowed to let us get across 3 lanes to the shoulder. We changed the tire and had gone a mile or so and the van overheated. We couldnt fix that. Apparently when the tire blew it somehow cut one of the hoses for the cooling system, but we couldnt find it . We had limited tools and it was after hours , in the dark ,so we started calling friends we knew in the orlando area ( which wasnt many ) Finally got ahold of a pastor we knew that brought his old towncar 20 miles, picked us up, we dropped him off, and rode home to N. Fla. Had to have the van towed.And bring his car back the next day. Have not gone back, but it could have happened anywhere I guess.

There's plenty of camping and fishing available in North florida. I have only made reservations once in my life. Its a little early though esp with all this cold weather we've had . Around the Full moon in feb. ought to be good at rodman this year.

Nice ! I need to rethink this jig thing. All I catch with them is weeds.

Good Job , Easton ! ?

^^ 10

I still use it some. It seemed to be great when I first used it , but I have had several breaks lately with it. Seems to need to be re-spooled more often. Lately Ive been trying trilene again . I like the strength of it, and it casts fairly well, but gets too many bird nests.