N Florida Mike

Tom, Wasn’t Dottie the largest bass ever weighed , or were there others you know about in that size or bigger?

Those are some nice, healthy fish ! I avoided the skunk today in a new pond, but not by much…

We don’t get many anymore. A security salesman was absolutely the pushiest one Ive ever had. He thought he would eventually wear me down . He was not successful… I do sales for my work, but thank God I’m not required to knock doors. I do put out door hangers fairly often though…

It’s now been over 40 years since I’ve been in one. Not drinking for 40 years might have something to do with that !! Had my share before that though. I don’t know how it was elsewhere, but back then we would fight and nobody ever called the police because no one ever pulled a gun or knife even though most everybody carried both…

Not Armadillos lol. You can walk right up to them before they realize you’re there. Then they jump and run 50 feet or so, stop and commence digging again, not realizing you’re still there…

This^^^^ . I would add that lately Past regrets have been on my mind more than usual. I won’t get too into specifics but many involve former girlfriends. Also had a rift with an uncle , that I regret, along with several other things. My take is that life is too short to live condemning yourself for your past failures and sins so I fight against it and try to just let it go. I have an enemy that continually brings up my past so I remind him of his future!

I don’t think I’ve ever bought any in my whole life. Ive still got some old spice my brother gave me probably 8-10 years ago. And I take my saturday night bath whether I need to or not …?

Gators is just part of living here. I had the same experience one time fishing in a lake south of Gainesville. I was coming into a large patch of pads with an opening near the bank. I was paddling in looking down, and when I looked up the big bull (10-12 foot) was right there on the bank. Our eyes met. He tensed up, me I was back paddling! He dove into the water , went right under my boat, and went through the pad field taking pads under with him. He went out just past the pads , came up , and sat there watching us… That wasn’t the scariest time though…?

I’ve hooked a 6 -7 foot Gator, a duckling, and a trot line while fishing a crankbait in a night tournament. Thoughts of a lake record and tournament win were foremost as I fought the trot line up to the surface at boatside. Probably the most disappointed Ive ever been while fishing when I saw what it was… I probably hooked some other stuff but don’t remember at the moment… My friend hooked a cowboy boot on his first cast ever bass fishing . He was so heartbroken when he pulled it up and it wasn’t a bass. ? My aunt caught a 50 year old baitcasting reel and rod while fishing off a dock. My wife caught a newer baitcasting combo the day before father’s day one year. Guess what I had asked for , and what I got ? …?

Sunrise this morning !

When we fish in my good friends boat , we listen to bluegrass ( which is mostly what we listen to all the time)…and his wife just gave him some kind of blue tooth hookup for his boat complete with speakers. This was the first one we heard when we were out last week …

I’ve done better with black grape or red shad in those waters, but I haven’t fished purple as much though…

Come on ! You probably didn’t get enough of the Sante Fe either, did you ? Im actually sitting here at Trout Creek off the St Johns writing this… When they do the palatka tournament launches , they go about this far north and turn around lol.

Another creek off the St Johns that I fished with my son and friends in the past…

I won a tournament there once with red shad culprit worms fishing eel grass patches. I haven’t fished it now in years. Much of the eel grass in the river system is gone now, which is one less pattern you can depend on. I would start with grass if you can find some, or lily pad patches..I used to also do well with black or black grape producto tournament worms in the river system.They are still available on line. Id get the larger size ( 8 inch ?) . I never fished with them in there , but Id also try spinnerbaits or chatterbaits around any grass you can find. I would try docks also ( skipping under and around them), and cypress trees when the tide is high. It is generally shallow , but you can easily get a depth chart on google and try to fish the few deep holes too with rattletraps or crankbaits. There is a deeper channel of sorts just inside the 17 bridge that goes into the lake for a few hundred yards in the middle. If it’s real windy you could try swimming pen creek or the few canals…

That one with the swamp in the middle sounds interesting to me. Ive been trying to go back to some of the old natural lakes I fished years ago. The next one in our sights is Sante Fe lake. It’s a big body of water with everything I love to fish, grass , docks, cypress trees, and deep holes. 2 Lakes in one , joined by a big cut, really 3 if the black lake canal is open…To me it’s a special, beautiful lake. The bass fishing isn’t easy there traditionally , but it’ll be fun to fish it again. That’s if we don’t get sidetracked and go to George’s lake again first. We know that lake well, and it’s our top producing lake besides my little home lake.

My experience is this: I don’t gut hook very many with live bait ,and the ones that I do gut hook I carefully operate or a few times leave the hooks to rust out . I have never had a floater and there would be no other reason for them to die . If they’re fine when they swim off ( I don’t mean barely swim off, but vigorously) why would they suddenly die? Nothing personal, but a lot of “scientific studies “ have a built in agenda. I’m just a skeptic I guess and don’t trust all scholarly sources… I’ve had plenty of fish die almost immediately from artificial bait damage though, and actually gut hook more fish using artificials…

Yeah, and they are tough as nails. They aren’t like a lot of other baitfish that you basically put on life support as soon as you catch them. They’ll sometimes live for days in a bucket of water without aeration! Reds and flounder love em… I once caught a bass on one out back !

We have bait holes that we get ours from when we fish certain inshore areas. We can get mullet, mud minnows, shrimp, barnacles, oysters, etc. In freshwater, I can catch shiners or throw a cast net for them. We can use bream for bait, but they must be caught on hook and line, without a net. I have a worm bed out back too. I still live bait fish for bass occasionally, and all bigger bass are released unharmed. Have not had one die on me in many years now…

Live bait ! ?

I’m not sure about that. The more I catch, the more I want to go !!

I enjoy the whole experience. That being said , I enjoy catching fish THE MOST. I can still experience and enjoy the essence of nature without fishing and not catching anything. I go to catch fish. The other stuff is icing on the cake of catching! And then there’s also eating some, which you will also not experience if you don’t catch any !

Sounds like you’re doing great to me …??‍♂️

My wife doesn’t snore much anymore, but she wakes up and stays up and comes back to bed several times a night. It doesn’t take much to wake me up, but I’m able to go right back to sleep. She doesn’t ever complain about me snoring or whatnot. Im just glad I’m not like my dad - he would have nightmares and make scary loud noises in his sleep…?

That is impressive and certainly something to be proud of. When I fished tournaments I got skunked once, and didn’t weigh 5 fish several times. And that was here in Florida!