N Florida Mike

For some reason, I have tended to use the zoom lizards mostly around beddin' time , and for long periods of time dont use them. I always have them in my box though. I use the zoom pumpkin 6 inchers with as little weight as possible. The more weight I use, the less fish I catch. Every time. Where I fish, they mainly want it horizontal and I catch a high % of them with it moving. Throwing it through and around eel grass edges is deadly in late spring, summer, and fall when the eel grass is emerged. I catch better quality fish on them than baby brush hogs. One struggle I have is that they dont cast as good as I like with the small weight I use. But if I add weight they just dont bite it as much, even if I try to keep it up on top. I can cast it just far enough to get bit so I guess thats all that matters. And the bites on lizards are usually violent !

The one that happened to Bill Dance is my favorite. The exact same thing happened to me once.

Maybe one of them could haul your boat or kayak overland into a remote area. Of course, youd probably go homeless to afford one.

I caught my PB in the month of december in 2 foot of water. I just caught a 5 pounder in a foot of water. Caught 3 6 pounders the last 3 decembers, all in 3 feet or less of water. My theory is that the shallow water warms up faster in the winter. Also, Some of these fish were either bedding or right before it, since our decembers have been mostly warm lately. Your water temps wont be much colder than mine. The main thing I do differently in the winter is just slow down my presentation as much as I can. I personally dont catch much in deep water in the winter. Of course, where I fish there isnt much deep water !!

I told this one on an old thread, but it's been long enough now I can re-tell it. When I was in my late teens, early 20s, I had a friend... (crazy mel ) that was a few years younger than me. He was actually a decent fisherman. One day we were out and he noticed my rod and reel combo ( that I had caught my PB on.) Without any warning he picked it up and said " Is this an ugly stik " , as he bent the rod tip to butt like they used to do in the commercial . SNAP went the rod. I could not say a word. I could not move. All I could do was give him the stare down. He jumped out of the boat and swam to shore without saying a word. He ended up giving me his sorry rod. Another time he decided to see how it would be to put two big chews of red man in, one in each cheek.After awhile I realized he hadnt said anything in a while ( he was normally very talkative ) I turned to see what was up and he was green. ?About that time he barfed. I put him out on an island until he got to feelin better.

Reply of the month !!!!

When I used to fish for them more, we did some drift fishing with minnows . We used a split shot and no cork so it stayed on or near the bottom. Did well with numbers of smaller fish, would get nice catfish that way too.

@Catt Your story was similar to one I had .One of the few times I got a genuine " skeer " , ( not a bad dream , but reality ) , was when I went wade fishing in a big , cypress tree filled lake out in the woods. I had gone maybe 500 feet or so from the ramp, and hadnt caught anything. I suddenly heard something crash back in the swamp and heard something coming. It had taken me probably an hour to get that far, but I dont remember it taking me but 5 minutes or so to get back out !!!?

I have one every now and then. Im fishing my home lake and when I get out there , someone has cut down all the trees on our Island and Im trying to understand why. And one part of it is I never catch anything. It is definetely my lake, but its surreal, kind of like wearing yellow tint sunglasses. In the dream , I think there is a little creek going out of it at the south end that goes to another lake ( There isnt in reality ) , and Im always trying to find it in the dream and cant. When Im really fishing I remember it in the dream sometimes. Not a scary dream, just weird.

Maybe it was a roogareau.?

What is the " big rock show " ? never heard of that before.

So why not just wait until the 7th person dies, then go look?? Maybe thats too simple?

Glad things are turning around. Many memories are built fishing favorite waters and we certainly dont want to see it end. I have mentioned this before, but I am on the board of directors for the small lake I live on. We always have a tension caused by excessive weed growth from spring to fall. The lake is shallow, so if we never treated the weeds we would have a swamp, not a lake. It is very difficult to get the right balance from year to year. Also, we have a wide range of opinion between our residents. Some dont want to see ANY weeds , no matter how much herbicide is needed. The other extreme is people who could care less if the lake is completely overrun with weeds. I am more on the weedy side, but dont want it taken over. As long as I can get my jb through it, we're good. Our lake sprayer is very good, but we still have trouble keeping the weeds from taking over. My excuse to the " no weeds " folks, is that we dont want a fish kill like the one we had in 2011. Most, if not all the big bass died in that fiasco. We are now getting 8 + fish again, and I want that to keep increasing!

Ribbon tail worms, flukes, trick worms - texas rigged ! That will broaden your horizons. ?

My plan in the old days was just throw a red shad culprit worm all day in grass and cypress. No back up plan. 99 % of the time youd do pretty good.? If they werent biting you just changed to a moccasin culprit and maybe go across the lake and do the same thing.

Looks like you hit the nail on the head @Catt ! And Clemson's offense has been great, largely due to that freshman QB

Ive caught a lot of fish on them. Esp. the watermelon red, and black with red sparkle. I use a bb shot for weight. They work best for me in brush ( imagine that ! ) I have only caught a few fish on the brush hog, but one was a 4 pounder. The green pumkin chartruese tail yum dingers are great too . I tend to catch bigger fish on them than the bbhogs.

What is the curse ? That they spend all that time , money and effort and never find anything?

Glad to hear your getting better ! Praying for a full recovery.

I THINK Bama will probably win. I usually root SEC all the way. BUT... I HOPE Clemson will win. That QB doesnt play like a freshman. + Dabo's a good coach and a good person.

I used to have a bass boat . Fished all over North Florida. Got tired of all the upkeep and $ involved, and was soo busy with family , earning a living , ministering to others , etc ,so I sold it and bought a Jb and kicker. I have loved the simplicity of it , and fishing small waters .The only thing I have missed is the ability to fish large water bodies. So, to the point : Recently a good friend since childhood bought a bass boat. We grew up fishing together, fished tournaments together. I took him bass fishing the first time he ever bass fished. He had a bass boat back in the day and sold it for reasons similar to mine. Now we are planning to get back out occasionally to some of our old waters we fished when we were much younger, probably starting with the St Johns river , since its close to us both. I can hardly wait. This friend and me fished together many times , and never had the slightest disagreement. I know life is short in this world and know it could end tomorrow., so Im not taking it for granted that I will live long enough to do this that I plan but it sure is fun to think of it while I wait. What do y'all look forward to this year ?

Confidence usually comes with successes. If you never catch any fish, how could anyone stay confident very long ? You would then over analize, looking for answers to your fish drought. I think thats a common pattern with most of us.

Catchin' a few. ? but It's been a little slow. Ive been off since dec.21st and fished several times. Only caught 17 , but one was an ounce shy of 5 pounds.

I thought the same thing about the south well into my 20s and it is true but....then I met one of my best friends who was from michigan. He loved to hunt and fish too ! Me and my other local friends had so much fun with his childlike love of bass fishing, and other northern stereotypes .To him, a 4 pounder was uuuuuggge, as he put it. Then he would holler for his MeechiGANDER net. He was and is a true blue friend and outdoorsman. Changed my perception some, but not completely. But By far the best outdoorsmen Ive known were southern. Of course, that was all we had growing up. Now, In Florida, that has changed... not so many people are from here anymore. I personally think most country people ( and some in cities )anywhere do outdoor stuff. Whether it be north, south, east or west.

I kept my PB, ( at least her memory is still alive on my wall )and most of the other fish I caught I ate, until I started releasing all the bigger bass . I still keep a few smaller bass occasionally.