N Florida Mike

Our company has a mole program. We bait active tunnels with “ Talprin” , which is a worm coated with a toxin. Then we treat with “ Acelyprin” Not sure if that’s correct spelling. It’s a grubicide and deterrant. We treat every other month and it works well. Expensive, but it works well. Our cat gets one every now and then. She brought in two one time. We did not know at first. After a few days…. We knew.?

I see them nearly every year, although I only went to the actual show once.. They fly out of NAS Jax sometimes, which is app. 4 miles from my house. I get a free show. It doesn’t matter how many times I see them, it touches my heart somehow. I get a little emotional. Can’t fully explain it. Guess it’s American pride…

I had it for awhile around 20 years ago. It started with my right ear ringing all the time . First doc said it was caused by too much salt and caffeine. I cut back on salty food some, and it helped a little. Lowering Caffeine didnt help at all. He called it “ Minears syndrome.” After that started I had a couple of real bad episodes of vertigo that was directly related to my inner ear problem. The worst one was when I got out of the car at home after a 3 hour trip. I fell flat on my face and had to crawl into the house. My goal was to make it to bed. I did, but began violently throwing up 5 minutes later. It was just as bad 5 hours later. Finally called the rescue squad , not knowing what on earth was going on. Within an hour I was fine. Got a different doc, and he put me on a compound drug called “ Beta Histine “ ( I think that was the name of it ) I gradually got better and eventually didn’t take it anymore. My ear still rings though .I haven’t had an episode of vertigo in years now . Thank God! The only time I’ve ever been sicker is when I had viral Meningitis.

I’ve never been to a live one. Actually, come to think of it, I did get 2 free tickets to “ Fiddler on the Roof” So I took a date and we had a good time, even though I had somehow gotten the impression beforehand that it was about a hillbilly fiddling up on a roof of his cabin in the mountains.? My mom liked some of the old ones because she was nearly a genius musically. The other three that I somewhat enjoyed were “ Seven brides for seven brothers “ and “Oklahoma “, because they were westerns , and “ South pacific “, because Ive always been interested in the pacific theatre of ww2.

Hey man, It’s a little tough on the st Johns river system in the summer. I catch what I catch mostly on soft plastics fished as slow as you can stand it. Maybe try a topwater frog for the first hour or so.Id be on the water at daybreak and fish until mid morning at least. Then, If the suns out focus on docks( hope you can skip under them). I would try a black and blue jig in black creek ( even though I rarely fish with them elsewhere due to all the weeds you snag.) BC is fairly clear and deep compared to most creeks in the area. It has a rep. of being hard to fish. If you’re catching dinks that’s better than most do in there. I would also get ahold of some producto tournament worms. use the bigger size one and black grape or black. If BC isn’t paying off, I would focus on ponds. Easier to find fish. I would go weightless or close to it in the ponds. If you can get into lake Asbury, there’s some good fish in there. Try Doctors lake too - I’ve done pretty good in there on red shad culprit worms. I grew up fishing the river, esp. Julington creek. I haven’t done well in julington in years, but i haven’t honestly fished it much recently. There are some good lakes within around an hour SW of you. Georges lake is a real good numbers lake. Could go on and on…

I have just about come to the conclusion that setting the hook on a fish is like hitting a baseball. Baseball players go through hitting slumps, and if they stick with it, they usually get back in the groove. I have had some trips where I’m at or close to 100% with soft plastics. But the next time I might drop to 60%, not doing anything differently.(apparently) I have the highest hook up rate with what I do best.( Soft plastics). With spinnerbaits I initially hook them but sometimes lose them on the way in. Spinnerbaits tend to make a bigger hole in the mouth which allows the fish to shake off more easily. Frogs- Well, we all have trouble with hookups with them. If I get 50% I feel like that’s a victory!

Love your versatility.

Well, there’s always @bigbill. But he’s in maine I think…haven’t seen anything from him in a long time.

^^^ This

Sounds like waylon…

I doubt if its over 25… I hooked one in the surf once and fought it for 15-20 minutes on 25 pound mono. It was just not coming over the sand bar and finally broke the line. I didn’t care. That one looked like the size of a small car hood !

In Florida in the summer? 6 a.m

Had our lake boat parade tonight , and when it was over I stayed out and they weren’t biting. Thought I was about to get skunked , but got this one last minute on a rage tail cut-r.

I’m hoping to be on the water at daybreak. Hoping for a good frog bite early, then we’ll see what happens. My home lake is an afternoon lake for the other fishermen usually…

I have used the red ewg hooks and did fine with them. Eventually I went back to the bronze ones. I have no problem with hook ups either way, but I do best with a straight shank hook for worms, and a ewg hook for flukes and creature baits. Eagle claw has a red ewg hook, but my hookups went down using them. They don’t seem as sharp as gammys, and they have kind of a weird shape.( The hook point is bent more towards the shaft it seems.

One of my favorites was the “ Saw bigfoot “ thread or something like that. Bigbills contributions were legendary!? I thread surf until I find an interesting topic. I especially like the southeast thread , even more so when it’s the semi- rare discussion on North florida fishing. I like the tackle thread, especially when it’s a soft plastic discussion. General bass fishing and the “other” thread provides a nice variety. Fishing reports are one of my favorites too. I also LOVE hearing how “ one of us” did in a tournament. The whole thing- what baits, kinds of areas, set backs, strategies-all of it.

All the boats I’ve launched, and never lost one. Not putting the plug in once was fun, esp. since I had taken a friends daughter fishing. A little while later she said “ why is there so much water in the boat?” I immediately spun around and made it back to the ramp just in time. We bailed out some, then ran out the excess. We didn't tell her mom what happened…?

Doing the one question was easiest for me.

Got a nice one in the church pond this morning on a watermelon/red/green Senko. I was reeling in on the surface and she followed and ate it. 19.5 inch.

A good pattern at night in clear Florida lakes is to troll a baby bass crankbait over deep holes . ( Deep in Florida is 20-30 ft) Had one get on that straightened the hooks out one night, and the next night a friend caught a 11 pounder in the same hole. You may not catch many, but they will be quality… I don’t care that it’s trolling, if it catches fish. It’s actually easier than trying to see where to cast, and a lot more ground can be covered. Most of the closest lakes to me like that ( deeper and clearer ) , are still an hour or so away, all around Keystone Heights Fl. So I haven’t been in years, because the ol eyesight isn’t so good for night driving…

I did the same thing once. Wierdest fish ive ever seen floating in the river. Went back later on my pictures and couldnt find it.

Not a golfer, but it would be fun to use the ponds for a fishing tournament ?. Each pond would be a “ hole” and there’d be a time limit on each one, record what’s caught, and move on to the next one. You could even use golf terms like a hole in one if you caught a fish on the first cast or something. You could use the golf carts for all your stuff, even have a fishing bag and your caddy could choose a rod based on the situation… Sorry, couldnt help it. If I golfed , I probably wouldnt like it either. Maybe complain to management about it.

I didn’t know a ray was considered a fish. And I thought the world record freshwater sturgeon was considerably bigger than that…

Caught this long, skinny fish on a june bug swimming fluke, on the fall. Fish aren’t biting moving baits AT ALL here lately.

^^^^ This