N Florida Mike

Sometimes I get a little prideful about it. At this point with all the fish Ive caught in my life, it just seems strange that I would miss as many as I do sometimes. I mean, yesterday I caught the first 3 , then missed 7 in a row!!. Then caught 4 in a row, and a few more misses and catches made the day. There were some reasons. ( or explanations) 1. They were smaller fish 2. They got me into brushpiles 3. They were not engulfing the whole bait like they often do. 4. Eel grass sometimes is a good place for you to lose touch with exactly where the fish are when you set. 5. Poor or wrongly timed hooksets. ( Not that I’d ever do that)?

At it again this afternoon. They were biting anything I threw. Perfect weather- Mostly cloudy, temps in the 70s, Windy at times but perfect for fishing the home lake. Started out with the baby brush hog, then the speed worm, then a culprit, then a ol monster. Caught 10 , but lost that many again. They were tight to the bank and I lost several after they got into brushpiles.

My wife and me had our first date when she invited me over to cook dinner for me. I am a big eater. I love almost everything. Almost. So my future wife made saurkraut ! ? As much as I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, it wasn’t enough to motivate me to eat it! She cooked me a hamburger. We've been married since 1991 !

I used the word “bath” to mean cleaning himself , whatever the method.

I could write a book of experiences on this. I’ll start with “Stinky”. He was our mechanic when I was a manager at my last company. He was nicknamed that because you could literally smell him before you could see or hear him. Employees would debate when he had taken his last bath. That would have been ok had he been a better mechanic. He was average on a good day. He often would get on a roller and roll under a truck to appear that he was working, then take a nap.His uncleanliness was eclipsed only by his total lack of social skills. He had one crony that would always take up for him, who had his own problems. The owner of the company thought he was great and kept him on no matter what. The daughter of the owner couldn’t stand him and told me once, He grunts once for yes, and twice for no- haha. That was truthful. One day he started dating a girl. He showed up at work with a haircut, and he didn’t stink. Unfortunately, it did not improve his work ethic. His new nickname after that was “ prince charming “ , lol ?

Got this one a little while ago. I didn’t weigh it , but it was 21 inch…caught it on a watermelon red yum 5 inch dinger

Gopher tortoise!

On the hunt…

The only other job that comes close is the dang time share people. I wont launch into my episode with them, but if I hadn’t said no 5 times we’d have one still today. ( My wife was convinced after the 3-4th try.) My car dealer story was when I went to look at new trucks at the dealership I had planned to get one at. I snuck onto the lot and couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for in the time I had. I was almost to my car when the salesman found me. He convinced me to step into the office… I told him he had 5 minutes and I had to go. He leaves and comes back with the manager, who looked liked “ the ugly”, on the “ Good , the Bad , and the Ugly” He said “ I understand your looking for a truck”? When I said yes but I would have to come back because I was about to be late, he said “ We’ll get you in a truck today”. I said , “ not today , because I’m about to be late” I stood up to leave. He blocked the doorway. I told him again. He didn’t budge. I lost my temper and told him I was walking through the door with him in it or out, and that I had planned to buy a truck there but would NEVER come back. He was nearly crying as he moved and I walked out the door, and him begging me to reconsider!? I went to another dealership, found what I wanted , and bought it. No hassle, the way it should be!!!

My overall goal used to be to get as remote as possible. Probably the most remote I ever fished was a couple different spots in the Cohutta wilderness. in N. Georgia. I took my wife through there once, and came inches from getting pushed over a drop off on the dirt/gravel road when a rogue dump truck was coming down as we were going up. No guard rails up there! In Florida it would probably be the Ocala Nat. Forest. I’ve been all through it fishing/ hunting. 385,000 acres, if I remember correctly… Also did several day trips down the Ockloconee river near Tallahassee, where we didn’t see another soul all day… The Ocklawaha is like that too, looks like old Florida before all the newcomers came…

My fluke / senko rod is a 6.6 medium ugly stik. I hav caught a few thousand bass on my 25 year old one. It is virtually indestructible, inexpensive, moderate sensitivity, and has what I feel is good backbone… It doesn’t have prestige but it works for me…

This is another mountain to climb. I love scrambled aggs…? My specialty is FRIED fish. I can grill but the other three… I don’t think Ive ever had in my life ! Isnt there a low fat vegetable oil I can fry with???‍♂️

I do walk a lot , but I get inconsistent sometimes. Doing even more now. I do curls with weights several times a week…

Think I’d just as soon stick with the oatmeal… I occasionally eat the maple brown sugar Quaker oatmeal, I have been putting butter in it ( same for grits), but with my new cholesterol issue , I reckon the butter days are over. I have learned some good tips though on this thread !! ?

Fwc has a “trophy catch” program, for the biggest bass and the number of bass over 10 pounds caught that year. It ranks the top 5 lakes for that on there…. Other than that, I would echo what others have already said, and emphasize hiring a guide !!

I used to drink a daily small cup of the AC vinegar with some honey. It seemed to help the blood pressure symptoms at first, but then didn’t seem to work anymore. It wont hurt anything, so I think I’ll start that back up again and see if it helps. Thanks! My moms first move cooking wise was the crisco, haha. I think she told me when she was young in North Carolina they used bear grease . She said bear meat was good tasting but tough. I agree man, no telling what alls in the store bought food. I know there’s a lot of salt, bad fat and whatnot. Its hard to find something to eat that’s not bad for me in some way.?

I’m on Hydro something for BP , but it’s been running low. My wife made fried chicken tonight for all of us and all I had was a tiny piece. My stomach is growling as I write this. I had 2 big bowls of Homemade vegetable soup at a friend’s house earlier, I am still hungry tonite but not gonna eat anything else. This is kind of hard. ? I’ve had a big appetite all my life!!

I would enjoy some of the top-shelf old guard , like Dance, Martin, Houston, etc. Or most any Florida pro like Grigsby, Scott Martin, etc. Not sure of the format, but it would need to be better than asking questions and not getting a response…

That’s encouraging. I’m glad she’s better.

I nearly drowned in an undertow while surf fishing , but swam out of it. Barely. I was about all in swimming across a large pond too, but eventually made it. Got hemmed in by 2 large Gators while wade fishing the St Johns river. Nearly stepped on a moccasin while bank fishing more than once. Have been in sevral terrible lightning storms on the water. Disobeyed my dad as a kid and walked out on an oyster bar mud flat. You can imagine the outcome of that . My feet were cut to ribbons after my shoes were pulled off by the mud suction. Had a boat break open on it’s side while trying to navigate a rough Lake George. But The hook in my eye incident was by far the worst…?

Mine is 247 total , and 178 ldl. I know once before , like 20 years ago, it was 260 total. The doc never made a big deal out of it until now. I generally eat better than I used to. I eat a lot of salad now , despite my other food choices. Mine is hereditary too- my mom had it for years and lived to 96.

Got my blood/urine sample took, and the results say I am in the high zone for total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. Girl from the Dr office told me the Doc said to don’t eat fried food, taters, white bread, sweets. And get more exercise to lose weight. Good grief. That’s like 75% of my diet. I also have HBP, but the BP perscription is helping that. For now , I’m reducing portions. Trying to get out and walk every day, but it’s cutting into my fishing time… What are y’alls experiences with it?

I used to struggle with telling friends I loved them , but I got over it. I don’t have any problem hugging them either. Of course, it’s not the same way I hug my wife…?

Fall bite is on here. I’m going to fish as much as possible in the next few weeks. Even started taking a combo in the work car again. ( I’m commission pay only, not hourly ?) Got this one on a watermelon seed Fluke jr. , and one of his friends…

I used to set the hook straight up very hard. I realized I have more fish come off with that approach, so as time has gone by I dropped to 3/4 , then to a sweep set. With a straight up set , you are pulling the fish into a jump, basically, which leads to more lost fish. You have much better control of the fish with a sweep set keeping them from jumping… I still set the hook hard but not like the old days. Im talking about soft plastics primarily here. With moving baits like a spinnerbait, the rod just loads up and I just sweep set in the other direction, but not a hard set, if that makes any sense…