N Florida Mike

I probably had 10 pursuits at my peak. Through the years each one has drifted away. Except fishing. I like to hunt but just dont have the opportunity I used to. I dont get much of a chance to get away to fish anymore, but I’m satisfied with living on a small lake with good bass fishing. Shoot , I still get excited catching a bream, so just multiply that times 10 for a bass…

I just get the cheap wal mart ones. They’re like 6 bucks.!

I thought that was a catfish at first glance…

Sounds interesting. I have one I cant find either. Around 15 Japanese and 15 US marines are stranded together on a small island . I cant remember much about but it seems like they make a truce about the water hole on the island. Cant remember how it ends up either.

This has been a strange summer. About the only thing Ive had any consistency with are yum dingers. They arent even biting real senkos much.

Im not saying I disagree with the oxygen theory, but is Florida in the summer included in that? Because 10-5 here on a hot summer day is TOUGH. Daybreak until 10 can be pretty good …

Caught a bunch of copperheads in the church pond today.

St Johns Florida. You would think with all the people coming here he could find someone worthwhile…

I fish those weightless with a 1/0 wide gap hook T rigged. I use a light finesse rod with 8 pound test. You can’t throw em very far like that, even with spinning tackle, but you can throw them far enough. Caught this one on one…

Ive heard the natives in cherokee say “Yee-uns “ And yes, my wife got better eventually, esp. after we bought an incline table . Thanks!

I have a friend that is looking for help for his lawn mowing business. He’s paying TWENTY DOLLARS AN HOUR , and still cant find anyone. I said , shoot , if I was 10 years younger…

I love that whole area. The last time we were there , we went horse riding somewhere west of bryson city, and my wife got bucked off her horse. She was real sore the next day so she stayed at the cabin while I took the grandkids to a trout farm in between bryson and cherokee. The local young man who ran the store there asked me if I’d like to see the “ Bar “ he just kilt . Easily a 400 pounder. As we started down to the pond , he said “ Yuns have fun now “. I thought, dang they don't even say y’all here.?

My dad got me started with mostly saltwater pier, bridge, and surf fishing. My whole family would go. Dad, mom, 2 aunts , an uncle , and my brother and me. I started fishing the lake I now live on when I was 14. Learned how to catch bream/catfish. One day I caught a 4 lb bass while fishing with a handline for bream and whatever with doughballs . I was head over heels bass fishing after that. My friend bobby lived on the lake and he taught me the basics. Later, another friend (,Billy) would take me fishing in a creek off the st Johns and taught me more.That was when I was late teens , early 20s. Since then I have mainly learned on my own.

? Thats a relief ! 2/3 or more of the fish I catch are with zoom products.

It has been the coolest summer here that I can remember. Today it was 93-94 , which is the hottest day this summer. The majority of days has only been in the 80s. We have been getting buckets of rain , after a bone dry spring. Having lightning as usual, but more in the middle of the night than usual. It’s been raining a lot in the mornings here too , which is also unusual. Also had a tornado go by and just miss us. I hope and pray for no hurricanes this year… My roof already leaks, and I dont want the boat tarp I have up there to blow away!

We do that with Honey bee removals. We then let them loose in the woods or give em to a bee keeper. Yellow Jackets now… we take no prisoners! Wasps usually aren’t numerous enough to vacuum so we kill em with wasp freeze and knock down the nests.

I did well with orange senkos. I think they were dark on top and fading into a glittery orange on sides and bottom. I used up the whole pack pretty quick, and havent found any on the shelf since.Ive also caught some on the watermelon orange finesse worm. Went fishing with a friend last year in a creek off the st Johns. The only fish caught was on an orange bottomed craw imitation bait…

I agree that unless you go, you wont know. But Ive fished enough slick calm, sunny days to know that most of the time days like that won’t produce as well . I get that wind velocity keeps some off the water, or makes fishing like you want to next to impossible. But if you are fishing a small water body, or can stay stationary on the windy side of the lake, then it can often produce outstanding results. I have generally done much better in lower light conditions, but not always. Sometimes everything is just right as you see it, but the fish dont cooperate. In that case, I attribute the lack of bite to 1. The barometer not being conducive for a good bite. 2. The moon isnt in the best position for a good bite, or… 3. I havent found the fish. or… 4. They want a bait I havent shown them yet. or… 5. Im fishing those baits too fast ( usually the case) , or ( rarely ) too slow , or… 6. It’s so hot or cold it’s just shut them down. ( although I usually dont fish these conditions much anymore ). But the older I get , I’m learning that I can overthink the whole thing, and taking it to an extreme , rarely go fishing. Once I get on the water, I dont think about much , except finding the fish , and using a bait they want in a way they want it. And once Im on the water, I almost never quit until the time I have set aside to fish is up. And if they’re biting, there’s always another “ last cast “?.

I personally think Bama could beat the jags on a regular basis… at least last year’s “team”.

The kind I have is dark green. It is low in the water, near the bottom. Sometimes I nearly break the line trying to get it off. Then we also have that brown , matting algae on top. Fish pick up a bait, swim off under it , and you cant tell exactly where they are so hooksets are difficult. All it takes is one little piece between your line and the fish and your hookset is off. As far as nutrients, we have lots of geese- ‘nuff said.

Tennessee is probably as far as I could go , time and money wise. I really like east Tennessee anyway, especially the smokies. Cades Cove is one of the most beautiful places Ive been. I fished for 4 hours once on the new river between there and Gatlinburg. Just as soon go to Tennessee…

That’s definitely a better possibility for me than yankee land! Same here if you come to gator land !

A friend and me had a mini- tournament yesterday. We only fished between 6-8:45 pm. Robert in his kayak, and me in the JB. His scale was messing up, so we counted fish by length. We fished my home lake. My plan was to go straight to the south end, because it’s deeper and less algae . I had also been catching most of my fish there recently. I stopped and fished 1 spot by our island. First cast with a UV speed worm , had a bite . Fought the fish to the boat and it was at a poor angle to lip, so I tried to grab it on its side but it dove under the boat and broke the line on the underside of the boat!!! Noooo !! I hollered. It was pretty demoralizing, because the fish was around an 18 incher. So I fished on , after that I fished the wind blown southwest corner. Really thought the fish would be there , but they weren’t. I then went across to the southeast shoreline, where I had done well on an eelgrass line several times recently. I only caught 1 small fish there. I finally caught a better fish on a fluke. I decided to spend the last hour or so fishing back toward home . Fished the east side of the island, which usually produces a fish or two - nothing. Robert caught up with me just past the island and he had only caught 1 fish. I had a 7 inch lead on him. Interestingly he had lost an 18 incher right when he started too, right at the kayak! I decided to fish back with a bama craw yum dinger. That end of the lake is now full of eel grass and algae, so I fished clear pockets through it back to the house , catching 4 more fish, including a 17 .5 inch fish. I ended up with 76 inches of fish, to his 24. It was only his 2nd trip to the lake. The first time he actually cuaght the most. Overall , we had a great time! Already looking forward to another one in the fall!

I hope not. Especially not Texas with all their drama. And I hope they dont send bama to the east either. 100% agree. I felt the same way…