N Florida Mike

After seeing some of these comments, it makes mine seem pretty small. I have had a cracked tooth that I never went to the dentist for and it eventually just fell apart. It hasn't hurt any more after that. Another was a lower back pain I had for a week or so that was caused by lifting a Jon boat with water in it, and twisting it sideways to dump it out. Felt like I was getting stabbed in the back whenever I moved much. The meningitis was an off the charts headache . Felt like a man was inside my head pounding it with a hammer.

Praying for Finn and family.

I'm so sorry man. My mom had it too. She stayed sweet to the end though. This is my 2nd mothers day without her. Would give any thing for one more hug from her. Give your mom an extra hug when you see her again.

Got out after 4 today, once I did a couple mothers day chores for the wife after church. The bite was on fire, esp for the first hour and a half. I had a couple packs of yamamoto flukes thanks to @Fishing_FF , who generously brought them on his trip up earlier this year.The fish esp. Liked the watermelon red sparkle today, and when I ran out of them, the ones that I think are watermelon slice. I caught the 4 pictured fish nearly all in a row. The second fish was just under 3,The third was a 3 pound, 3 oz fish, and the last was a 3 lb 1oz, the last 2 being caught with back to back casts. Also caught a few on senkos, mostly throwing to schools of bait fish that bass were feeding on out in the open lake. Ended up with 24 again.

SON ! Good job Roland. Er , uh,, Lonnie. Not sure how I posted you again Lonnie.sorry bout that.

I did not get a freshwater licence in Florida until I was 21, because of a rebellious nature. I never got asked to produce a license , and did have many close calls, fishing all over North and central Fl. One day I felt strongly impressed to get a license and did so. The SAME DAY I got it, We were launching at Orange lake and THE MAN asked me. I started chuckling, and told him my tale, while producing my brand new , freshly printed license.He was not amused. Ever since then, I have done my best to stay within the law, after seeing where the money goes to fishery and wildlife. I believe without a doubt I am blessed to catch a lot of fish because of this compliance . I call it reaping what I've sown. Some would call it karma. If I saw someone not in compliance, I wouldn't hesitate to call on them, unless they were possibly fishing to survive or just naive. But I would definitely speak to them about it . But we already have way too much Gov. Involvement imo, so I would be opposed to stores asking for your license, and for all the other good reasons mentioned above.

This is a casting reel, Not sure about the line, it was given to me but it's 50 or 60 pound braid. The rod is a 7'0 medium heavy.I use the horny toad , the z-man frog, Ribbet frogs, etc. The hook is a 5/0 gammy frog hook .Very sharp. I have tried all kinds of hooksets many times and my hookup % and catch rate is terrible, maybe as low as 40 %. In contrast, when I fish other plastics, It's probably close to 90 %. In most cases, I initially hook the fish, but it comes off during the fight. I had thought about watching some videos on it, because the bass definitely are interested in these baits. But the poor catch rate takes most of the fun out of it. Thanks for the feedback.

Books have been written on your questions so we'll have to try and simplify things. First of all, do you have a boat ? If you do I would personally start with smaller water bodies. It makes finding the fish easier for someone new to an area. I would probably not fish Apopka. It was a dead lake for many years due to agricultural run off, and only recently has begun to improve. But there are thousands of better lakes than that at this time. Toho is legendary , but a big lake . I assume you'll be living near there so if you do fish it, it'll take time to learn it. I know many of the N and central lakes but anything south of Ocala is out of my area of expertise. Some of the baits I would use for starters : Some kind of ribbontail worm, like culprits, 4-5 inch senkos, Zoom super flukes, all t-rigged,and some kind of spinnerbait. Swimming and floating frogs are good too esp. Late spring to early fall. And don't hesitate to use native live Shiners. Best bass bait there is. Let the water color dictate the colors you choose. Where to fish is hard to say because there's so much variety . With the weather heating up , I would focus on boat docks, esp. After 11 a.m. I like fishing grass lines early. If you can ease along parallel to the grass and throw a spinnerbait, esp. On a cloudy day with some wind, you should get bit, and fish the spinnerbait by weed edges. I love cypress trees as well, they usually hold some fish.Mouths of feeder creeks can be good too.Offshore fishing can be great, but that only comes with much time and learning the contour of the lake. Lay down trees are great too. I fish them slow and use a skipping technique, like I do with boat docks, to get the bait where they are in a subtle presentation. Senkos work great for this.You can also do some flipping or pitching into pockets of pads or grass. I honestly catch many of my fish just diligently blundering around the lake, not over thinking it. Like I said, It's just too big of a subject to really address well on here. If you come north of Ocala I can be more specific.keep us posted. Mike

There's a white hairy ape up in the Himalayas I was reading about. Probably explains the " abominable snowman "

I think I have just experienced the worst PAIN I have ever experienced. ( physical pain ) Well, It's at least in the top 4.The headache I had when I got meningitis in 2004 was right up there too. I got a splinter in my foot at the dock, and Monday it began to swell and hurt. By Wednesday it was 3/4 of an inch wide and wound up tight. I could not pop it. It is on the left side of my left foot under the pinky toe. The slightest touch of any kind brought on serious pain. I tried all kinds of home remedies with no result so I finally went to the doc. On Thursday. They rolled me over and the nurse held my leg down. ( Good thing she was a healthy woman ) The doc gave me a shot IN THE ABSESS to deaden the area so he could lance it to get the pus out. I can't imagine anything hurting worse than that. I have never cried since I was a kid from anything physical but Tears actually came to my eyes but didn't run down.when he began squeezing the pus out it was nearly as bad. When that was over, the nurse gave me a tetanus shot in the arm and a big shot of anti-biotics in the butt.That was a piece of cake. What's your worse pain ??

Hope and prayers for a complete recovery !

" only four "?

Also wondering about the rod. It's a 7 ft medium heavy. Seems like a heavy might work better. There's too much bend in the rod I think.

I have not used swimming frogs much in the last couple years. I watched a video of a 9 pound bass clobbering a moving topwater frog. Then I thought of a combo I could dedicate to moving frogs only. I found a 5 or 6/0 frog hook, and rigged it with a z-man frog that sinks. After 20 minutes I had gotten 4 hits. The first one hit it on the fall before I could start reeling in. Missed on the hook set. 2nd fish hit as I started reeling in after I saw the wake of the fish closing in. Good fish. Gave him an extra second and popped him. Had him hooked for a couple seconds and he came off. Caught the 3rd fish that hit on top as I pulled it over a clump of grass. Dink sized fish. 4th fish slammed it as it hit the water and let go before I could set. I have always had problems hooking fish with plastic frogs. The fish love em, but the hook up rate stinks. I have made sure the hook point and barb is out of the frog and that helps some, but there must be a better way. What do y'all do ?

I love Gamakatsu hooks. They cost more, but are super sharp, and have a nice flex that I like.I use a 2-3/0 wide gap hook for all my soft plastics fishing. I use Eagle claws as a second choice in the same hook.

Exactly !

Heard the frogs start up again the other night ! It's that time of year again ! Got to dust off the pad crasher !!!

He's been used to getting fed by people. He's waiting for you to throw him something.

I cull a certain amount of bass from my lake to keep it from being dink city. I don't keep fish over 16 inches. I have a friend at church that loves bass on the bone, so I keep some for him sometimes. I prefer bass filets. because I believe the skin of bass gives them a muddy taste. We catch a lot of saltwater fish that are better than bass. I like bream and catfish better than bass too. I have no problem with people keeping bass as long as they obey the law.

A picture ( or more ) is worth a thousand words... Had to rescue 2 granddaughters when the fell in the lake. ( at different times ) and calmed them down so that they eventually quit crying? Good job there dad!

I catch most of my fish deadsticking various soft plastics. 20 seconds is usually about the maximum I let it sit before starting to work it back in. I once caught a 6 pound bass over a deep hole in the middle of a day in The summer after letting the 10 inch Mann's Jelly worm sit there for 15 MINUTES.. I caught more big fish over that hole using 5-10 minute waits.