N Florida Mike

I think it was bluefish. I filet a lot of the bloody meat out. It’s actually pretty good, but Im like you, I’m not to particular about fish. My favorites in salt water are red snapper, sheephead, flounder, and reds. Catfish are my favorite in fresh water.

Bream , catfish , bass , whiting and a stray pompano! Also a mystery filet or two….. Yum Yum!!!!!

Thanks! I haven’t been in several years now but hope to before long. Still wanting to catch a smallmouth someday so…

I want to go! Have been to the top of Mt mitchell and Clingmans dome , but it’s an easy hike! Thanks for sharing. I love the Smokies…

This is a very interesting subject to me. The amount of forage , stress factors, growing season based on location , numbers of fish , all contribute to large fish production( or not ). Ive been trying to manage my little lake for years, and it has its ups and downs. Fishing pressure comes into play also. The lake record is 13 1/2 pounds, caught in the 70s. I caught an 8 pounder 3-4 years ago, next year a 7.6, next year only a 4.12. This year a couple just over 4. This is Very strange to me. I attribute the lack of bigger fish caught to increased fishing pressure on my lake due to the virus, and that I think the bigger class of fish just timed out, I think they only live 10 years or so. A nieghbors friend did catch a 6 1/2 pounder last year. I know it’s against what some br members promote, but you can try live bait, you will find out pretty quick what all is in your pond.!

I remember the first time I officially went bass fishing. I had 6 fish bite on creme worms, and missed all 6, because I couldn’t get the timing on the hookset down. I also fell in the water as I got out of the boat at my friends house. I think he caught around 5 nice fish. I was disappointed, but not discouraged. I was back on the water asap., and slowly began doing better. Im sure you will do better eventually. Look at it like a puzzle you are trying to solve. Talk to older fishermen that have fished there a long time. Fish other waters. And by all means, keep fishing!

The bait monkey has nearly starved at my house. He’s on life support, but I’m sure he’ll pull through by spring a least… I could fish for 10 years with the baits I have and not run out. The problem is I don’t consider them “hot” baits…

Im pretty sure the goal of the excess colors is to catch fishermen, not just fish.?

Myself. I never studied any kind of bass fishing much. I just went out and fished and learned. Everyone around here either fished texas rigged worms or live bait. Kind of like how I fish now a lot . ? I never heard of any of those guys , except very faintly remember hearing of Charlie brewer. I started finesse fishing not knowing it had a name. And it was mostly because a friend gave me several smaller combos he didnt want. I just sized down to accommodate the combos. I love the extra variety in the baits and presentations. And of course, the good fishing it provides…

Mine decreases the colder it gets.

Not really. I probably have 10 pocket knives and I just grab one for the trip. I also carry small scissors in my tackle bag…

I can help for N florida. I dont fish much south of Ocala, but could make some recommendations north of there. Feel free to pm me as it gets closer to the trip…

Ive watched a few clips of it, like the one where they fight the bikers. I like the one where costner runs off the tourists that are near the grizzly bear…I dont think I can get it on basic cable though… Ive watched some longmire episodes and thought it was pretty good. My wife LOVES heartland . I like it, but wish it had a little more action and less talk. It’s the only show I can stand that my wife likes!

Zoom super flukes, senkos, trick worms, curly tail worms , U Vibe speed worms. There are others, but these are my favorites. June bug in stained waters, watermelon colors in clearer waters.I texas rig them , and use a 3-0 wide gap gamakatsu hook, tied directly to the line.I rig it as weightless as I can get away with. I catch most of the fish just dead sticking. Look for pond drains or any kind of inflow.

Fried bass filets are great. Would rather have it than a speck. Old bay, garlic, salt- mix with flour. Add fish filet. Add filets to veg. oil in fryer. 4-6 minutes filet will float. Done - Sampling them before my wife comes in!

Not so sure about Mcdonalds on that list…

An old friend and me went back to a lake today I haven’t fished in 30 years. We get there and Jeff forgot to put the plug in. So we had to put the boat back on the trailer to let it drain. So we Launch again…. But now the motor wont start . We couldn’t figure out the problem. It started right up the night before of course. We had a full charge for the TM, so we went ahead and fished, starting at the ramp. Cool and cloudy at first , which turned into sunny and very windy. We fished the calm side so we could more easily make it back with the wind. We ended up with 15. I think we caught every fish either in maiden cane or under docks. We caught most of the fish on red shad culprit worms and yum dingers. The dingers were bama craw, junebug and pumpkin colors. We also tried spinnerbaits, chatterbaits , crankbaits, rattle traps, flukes, with not one bite. We probably missed as many as we caught. Even caught a bream on a dinger! Bottom line. Good day. No big fish , but all things considered, a fun trip…. AND When I got home and was unloading, I noticed ANOTHER screw in one of my tires. SO , I had to change it out , put the spare on so Id be ready for church tomorrow… I’ll sleep good tonite!

Got 5 this evening, 4 on watermelon super-flukes and the biggest one on a zoom magnum lizard in june bug, using a slow retrieve in the middle of the water column.

Im planning to fish one of my favorite lakes in a couple weeks and I’ll see how it works there. Theres been reports of big fish being caught there on offshore structure using big worms. We’ll see…

Better get the new destination secure, before the old one !

It was 59 last night here. That’s refreshing for my area. Of course, it’ll be low 80s for a high, but that’s a big improvement too. Great fishing weather , if I can find time to go. As for the flannel, not yet. Probably in another month…

I dont think about it much. I just go when I can. I usually do well in the fall . I fish afternoons more the cooler it gets. I like a light to moderate breeze with partly cloudy to cloudy conditions. We really dont get severe cold fronts much until true winter here, which keeps things from being too extreme. I can’t remember being skunked in the fall. I don’t catch many bigger fish in the fall for some reason though. Looking forward to a better spinnerbait bite. It is virtually non existent here in summer…

I had something similar to that happen to me. I was fishing one of the urban fish management areas in Jax. It is an area that is fairly large and has 2 ponds, a big one and small one. It has woods in and around it and is eerie at night, especially because a lot of drugs, prostitution and perverts tended to use it . It wasn’t always that way, and I had fished it for years before all the crazy stuff started happening.Went over there once with the kids to fish, and a drunk guy was coming out of the water with nothing on but his underwear , and the same day at the far side of the lake a car was parked and shaking from the occupants activities inside. Needless to say I was angry, especially with my pre teen kids giggling and asking me what was going on in there. Another time I went there and met 2 officers coming out of the woods who were arresting a couple for lewd and lascivious behaviour in broad daylight. Enough stuff finally happened there to cause the city to lock the gate leading into it at night. There was a FWC officer that lived there with his family that I was friends with. He trusted me to the point that , if I was there when he locked up, he would let me stay and catfish, and dummy lock the gate. When I left , I would really lock the gate. When I was there alone or with my son, I was kind of nervous the whole time, especially after this happened: I was loading my J boat up by myself after dark , and was pushing it up into the truck bed. A voice nearby said” Need any help ?” I nearly jumped out of my shoes. I had no idea anyone was there. After the initial shock, I asked him where he lived. He said “ In the woods” That was a fairly common response in my area back then, meaning you lived in the country. I said , Where at? He said “ IN THE WOODS”, and pointed to the woods nearby . I said Oh , THOSE WOODS” It was a fairly chilly evening and I offered to buy him some food or get him a blanket. He declined and went down in the woods for the evening. Never saw him again., but I was always looking over my shoulder after that, and always carried, and wore a large knife on my belt…

I have had several incidents there. I think nearly every time I fished it I had some kind of motor trouble( ( Which is the wierdest thing) One time we conked out several miles downstream from our camp. Night fell. At some point dozens ( if not hundreds) of Barred owls began hooting. All calls, variations and pitches. I have never heard anything like it since… Another time we were fishing there, hadn’t seen anyone for hours, total peace and quiet reigning except for the slight sound of water rippling down the river… Suddenly…. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSHHHHH!!!!!!! A fighter jet flew over us at tree top level!!! hey - Words can’t describe the experience…

There’s a good bear population along much of the st Johns …