N Florida Mike

I have hooked bass in the gill plate a few times on the outside. They probably spit out the bait about when I set the hook, causing me to snag them. I was bream fishing and hooked a small bream with a tiny hook. A 4 pound + bass suddenly came from nowhere and swallowed the bream. I set the hook as hard as I dared with 6 pound test. I hooked the fish and fought it carefully on in and it was hooked in the lip. The hook was just big enough to fit on the lip. I actually have caught several like this.

I guess that wouldnt hurt anything. We tend to try to keep. gov. out of our lake matters. Had a problem a few years ago with beauracracy with our lake. We have found (what a suprise) that less gov. involvement is better. I do have a friend thats an officer with fwc that could help with electro shocking. But I already know that the population is either way down or extinct. I just want to know WHY.

Like I said before, Ive got plenty of browns. Last time the otters came, they ate all of them. I mean, to the point that I didnt catch any for about 2 years. So , Im sure its not otters this time, because why would they not eat the browns this time? And the last time, I saw at least one otter nearly every day I looked at first light. Havent seen any in years now.

Ive never been to a Cabela's. But their catalogs are nice. It sounds about like the one time I went into a gander mountain store. We were about the only people inside the store, almost including employees ! The employees had a hang-dog look about them.Maybe they had just heard the store was closing or something. I usually can find something to buy, but didnt see anything I liked . Not even a cap. Now thats bad !!

Interesting thought. They always have for 40 + years. I dont see why they wouldnt all of a sudden.

Dang. Im just glad summer's finally over .

I fish enough that I do both. Im usually more of a numbers guy, but if Ive had a few numbers - emphasis outings, then I'll do one for big fish. I probably catch as many or more bigger fish during numbers trips than when I target big fish. Either way, its all good !!! ☺

I do very well skipping with a spinning setup, but not so much with baitcasting. I personally dont know what difference it makes. With spinning , I use the same motion as skipping rocks, or throwing a baseball sidearm. The lower to the water the better. The only problem I have is that every now and then I get too much of a bounce with the first skip and the bait will end up in what Im throwing to instead of under it.

I caught my pb on Dec.31st at around 11 in the morning. I dont usually get a strong bite in the winter at first light til 10 or so unless its been warm. And I get Lazy in winter except for hunting early in the morning. I salt water fish more though at first light in the cooler months, because its further away and we want to get our monies worth for the drive. But for bass , I like starting anytime after 11 in winter. That being said, fish gotta eat , and you sure as heck aint catchin any laying up in the bed !

No, unless he doesnt like brown bullheads. We have plenty of them .The last otters ate all 3 varieties of them. I didnt catch any for 2 years after we last saw the otters. Then they all came back from the fry. We just dont catch channels or yellows anymore. My personal best channel catfish was just over 22 as well ! I caught him in this lake. We only stocked channels once, and they did fine for many years, until the otters cleaned em out. My son and me caught about 45 and put them in about 10 years ago, and I recaught a few, but none in 5 years now. Nobody fishes for them except me and Ive only kept a handful of the recaught ones.My nieghbor , who moved and rarely ever fished anyway, caught one while jug fishing around 5 years ago that looked 8-10 pounds, and thats about the last one Ive seen. The yellows and browns were natural to the lake , since it used to be a cypress pond with a natural creek out to the river. They dammed it up and enlarged it in the 50s. Maybe a disease is affecting the yellows and channels but not the browns. It may be the only logical explanation. The first chance I get , Im going to pull an all nighter at the other end if the lake and catch as many as possible and see if theres any variety down there at all. I used to catch all 3 varieties off my bank, but not in years now.

I'll check into that. But to go from catching plenty of yellows to none is weird. I have always caught em, except for when the otters were there.They had made a good comeback after the otters too, so its very strange.

I heard that before, and it probably explains them anyway , but where are all the yellows ?

As some of you know, I live on a small lake. I monitor and manage the lake for aquatic weeds and fish . Ive fished on it over 40 years. The primary fish are Bass, several kinds of bream, and historically, 3 types of catfish. Ever since Ive fished the lake, we have always had channels, and brown and yellow bullheads , except for once about 10 years ago, when otters got in and cleaned em out for awhile. After not seeing the otters for a few years, the catfish came back and all was good for awhile. So the mystery is that in the last few years I have caught only brown bullheads. There is a good population of them, and I catch them whenever I want. It has been at least 5 years since I caught a channel, and at least 2-3 years since I caught a yellow. No otters around now,, and they ate all the browns last time too. Where have the channels and yellows gone ? It makes no sense.

We had a mid-nineties Jeep cherokee. It was in the shop about as much as on the road. My friend had a late 70s-early 80s jeep cj-7 ? I think. Kind of a dull orange color. I have been through a lot of mud and sand but that thing would go through anything. We would put his jb into a small lake in N. Florida. You had to back it down into the lake on an unimproved ramp that was usually nothing better than a mud bog. The hardest thing was keeping the trailer and boat straight .We would have water/ mud to the top of the tires when pulling out sometimes and it would pull just like a knife through hot butter. No spin. I have wanted one ever since.

Went out the other day and remembered the jellies and told my G.daughter to look for them. She leaned over and said There's one. This is it on her finger. Kind of looks and feels like a big contact lens.

In my area they are nearly extinct. The surviving ones are saltwater bait and tackles nearer the beach. There used to be several local ownwd freshwater bait and tackle shops around but now we have Dicks, Academy, and wal marts all over, and fixing to get a bass pro shops. None of these sell live bait, except worms , which makes it much harder for the casual fisherman. I learned to catch live bait as a kid here but we have so many people here now that arent skilled at that because theyre not from here. Freshwater fishing has gone backwards here and definetely the emphasis is salt water, and that from a boat because thats where the money is. Our local b/t ( Thats long out of business ) had a bass tourney every spring. You could fish anywhere, and bring them the fish for weigh in. Top 10 for the month ( and big fish ) won some nice prizes from the store. I placed several times and LOVED it. Its really sad to see these stores go, because thats where most of the local knowledge and trading of info, and friendly fishing fellowship ( FFF) was.

I've heard of them, arent they in the Orlando area ?