N Florida Mike

Got this 19 inch fish on my new Lew’s combo. Bit a watermelon red ’dinger.

Well , I got the combo yesterday. Caught a nice fish on it already. I’ve already got it dialed in perfect. Getting 125+ out of it with a weightless fluke and dinger. Has good sensitivity-I could feel the tap with a big bow in the line from the wind. Handles great , casts great,Sets great fights great- Loving it. Realized today it’s not a mach but an exfinity. I dont think it had ever been used once before going to the pawn shop. I know it’s a lower priced combo for most of y’all, but it’s an upgrade for me!

I plan to be on the water before sun up. Will probably fish until 11 or so…

I think some of it is due to poor time management. They wait to the last minute or have poor organizational skills, or just stayed too long on their latest video game or drug high. In fact, A lot of it has to be drug related…? Sometimes I think they’re playing some kind of game I don’t know about…

There’s speeders and then there’s irresponsible speeders. The second group are more who I’m referring to. The other day I was on I-10 , ( a 55 zone of it ), and a car that had 2 flaps of a quarter panel hanging off it came flying by at a high rate of speed. The first thing I did was look in the rear view for the police. Thought it was a pursuit. This driver never slowed ( maybe the brake lights didn’t work?), as he dodged in and out of lanes cutting people off , making them swerve to avoid him. I usually have several of these a day. I fully expect to see a wreck or them at least pulled over down the road, but never do.

The last place they want to end up is Polk county . Sheriff Grady Judd doesn’t put up with “rude behavior “…

Yes sir. What’s blamed on “Florida man” is more often than not someone who doesn’t have Florida roots. Many of these people want Florida’s benefits but will have the same thinking they had in the state they left .Driving is just one symptom of all of it… In all honesty I know some fairly crazy true Floridians too…

Not when I was young, which was before millions of newcomers came here. It was very quiet back then. Speed limit was 55 on the highways. Im not saying people didnt speed . But it wasn’t close to this.

Yeah, I was about to mention that too. I was on 295 , which is the beltway around Jacksonville. It was around 11:45 pm. I was cruising along around 65 , and all of a sudden 6-8 of them passed me going over 100. The sudden noise “ like to have scared me slap to death “ as Jerry clower would have said… I prefer leaving earlier and taking my time the older I get…

We have a problem here too with what I call car clubs. There will be dozens of them in parking lots doing donuts, burn outs , etc. I hear racing and tires screeching at night pretty often off in the distance.Latest news is that police are cracking down on it. Not sure I buy that. I mean , sometimes you want to get over and can’t. I feel safer just staying in one lane. When I try to change lanes to get out of the way , they come whipping around me and nearly hit me. If someone was way under the speed limit I would agree.

I have been driving now for around 45 years. I had my times as a young man racing and driving fast on highways and remote straightaways. It didn’t take too long for me to decide I didn’t want to be Richard Petty ( who my mom taught in high school by the way). I have had to drive for nearly every job I’ve had too, which means I’ve seen a lot out on the road. I am 100% sure I have never seen as fast driving as I have seen in the last couple years. I consistently go 5-10 miles over the limit on highways, and that’s mainly because I’m thinking that, if I don’t I will get rear ended or sideswiped. Cars pass me going 80-90 all the time, and they wait until they almost hit me and swerve at the last second. ? It’s like they know it’s their last day on earth and with the way they drive, it very well could be! I wish just once I would see police pull them over. They got me for going 56 in a 45, so it bothers me to the core. Just wondering if y’all are seeing the same where you are.

It doesn’t matter if it’s on the connection part. If you hook it in the circle part of the guide it can cause nicks and line breaks.

Praying you and the girls have peace. The time you spent with with them will make a huge difference in their lives…

I think it is good that they care that much. If they’re serious then they need to rotate going with you on a schedule! That being said, I’d probably have a hard time with it. Not so sure mine would come looking for me anyway if I was missing. I have a son that would but he’s 1000 miles away!

Many of mine don’t have one. I don’t always use it when I do have one. Guides are fine, as long as it’s hooked into the part that connects to the rod, not the guide itself.

Same order here. Generally, the shellcrackers ( red ears ) start around the full moon in april. The bluegills and redbreasts in may, and september is the last month of them bedding. June - august are the best months.

A man I worked with got bit by a cottonmouth and nearly died when he had an allergic reaction to the anti venom…

I was making 4.00 an hour on a farm then and thought that was bad… It won’t affect me much, if any . Will fish mostly in the home lake and local ponds. I doubt if it will keep my friend with a bass boat and me from going on the occasional trip from 40-60 miles one way. He’s such a good friend he won’t let me give him any gas money. Of course, that may change with these prices…

We have numerous non venomous snakes: Garters , rat snakes are very common. Lots of banded water snakes too. We have diamondback and pygmy rattlers, lots of cottonmouths and a few coral snakes. I actually saw a copperhead also once a few years ago on a dirt road in st Johns county. They are said to only exist in west Florida. But there’s at least one in N.E Florida!

I like the opposite on spinning . I do a LOT of skipping with spinning and I can control it so much better with full cork. I honestly dont mind either one on casting,

It could be the speed craw trailer. I had used others without much interest. Today I fished it for a couple hours continually to get the 3 bites. Starting to Get confidence in it now…

Caught a couple more with the chatterbait and lost one that got close to 3 feet out of the water and threw it. Also got a couple on yum dingers…

I like the way it grips too, and the big handle grips. It had the exact specifications I was looking for, which is hard for me to find . I have spent hours looking at combos and something was always off- that’s why I feel like this was a good find. I saw it , picked it up, did a false cast or two, Engaged the reel a couple times- looked at the specs- got the price - sold.

^^^^ THIS