N Florida Mike

Id like to camp on a remote Northern lake and catch smallmouths. Im doubtful I’ll ever be able to though. Id like to do the same thing on the Suwannee river. ( Catching suwannee bass. )You’d think I would have by now but just never got around to it. Id also like to get an inshore boat and fish our intracoastal and St augustine area for reds, sheephead, flounder, black drum , etc. My son had a boat but had to sell it to pay his bills. Id also love to get back out to the Ocala Nat. forest and camp/ fish . But it’s hard with no truck at present…

Yeah, I took it that way. My reply was a little off topic…

My lake is fairly clear. Ive only used watermelon red and green pumpkin craws. And it seems like either they are all over craws that day or not biting them at all .

The one I pictured is the only one Ive ever seen that had those colors…

I have had decent success with soft plastic craw baits. Our lake has some craws in it, the ones Ive seen are reddish and black mottled. My nieghbor down the lake found this one up in her yard. I thought the colors were very interesting. Think Im going to try and find some baits that look as close as possible to this. Of course, fish see things differently. I know crawfish are different colors , but why? Water coloration? Male or female? Have you seen much difference in “ matching the hatch “ vrs just using any old color in your success with craw baits?

Glad everything went smoothly…? I had my first one last year. The prep WAS crappy but not the procedure . Lost 10 pounds but gained it all back in a week or so.

I caught one 4 pounder 6-7 times off my dock. I couldn’t help but catch him. I called him “ Lucky “ . I didn’t see him anymore after the last time. Maybe he finally got fed up with all the fake meals .?

Whats wrong with your mailbox?

She hasnt been the least bit interested in them. I keep the baits high up on the rods anyway. I keep the door shut too when I’m not there.

A little down time with a friend…

I was working here today. What a great dock area. I fished this lake 35 years ago , and it was pretty good.

Same here. I cant comprehend people that just discard their trash along and in waterways. I think this is the main reason. Parents not teaching their kids right.

Ive surf fished all my life barefoot and never stepped on one. My cousin stepped on a cut off stinger on the beach and I couldn’t pull it out with a pliers . Ive never seen anyone in so much pain in my life. We took him to the hospital and they cut it out. He lost all the feeling in his big toe permanently…

There’s lots of small bonnet head sharks in the surf up here right now .Also small blacktips, hammerheads , etc. We caught some on memorial day weekend on the intercoastal side near marineland.. Many years ago I had friends that would kayak out 1/4 -1/2 mile out at NIGHT, and drop a bloody fish out there , and go back and wait for a bite ….. They asked me if I wanted to take a fish out… I said , no thanks…?

Wow. A real man lippin’ a catfish…

It was a pop up thunderstorm that came up from the south. We had just ran away from one that brushed the north end of the lake. We had a foot of water in the boat when it was over. We had to hunker down in the cypress or take a chance at running across the lake to the ramp. Should have gone to the ramp after we avoided the first storm! Growing up in Florida I have seen some Lightning ! But never anything as intense as that day…

Ive done well after 10 skipping under docks. When the early morning bite slows, not long after the fish start relating to shade in general,but especially docks, or thick cover . I also have caught some big fish casting a big worm into deep holes, and working it SLOW . I once caught a 6 pounder by casting a manns jelly worm into a deep hole. I waited 15 minutes without moving it, until the fish finally picked it up…

Id rather fish on a cloudy day than sunny. Sunny and calm winds are the hardest for me. But sometimes I catch fish anyway on days like that . I suspect the Barometric pressure has more to do with it than we know… Sometimes everything works out ( like a day off) and I want to go fishing. First thing I do is check the forecast. That is now. When I was young , I just went regardless. Caught a lot of fish that I wouldn’t have, but I have had some wild scenarios because of my lack of concern. I once sat under a cypress tree in a lake while the worst lightning storm Ive ever been in raged all around us. I went fishing once at night when it was in the high 20s and when a catfish pulled my pole off the dock, I promptly jumped in and got it back. I have fished many times as a young man in the middle of the day in july with no water and was fine.Maybe thats why Im so addled now.?

Went for a few hours this evening. It was real slow for the first couple hours, but I finally found some fish on the windy south east corner. I caught most of the fish skipping a senko along an eel grass line. The subtle approach of skipping accounted for most of the fish. Ended up with 9.

Man, I wouldn’t beat myself up for catching 47 in one day. …

Got cousins in your area. One lives in the Ogden/ wrightsville bch. area. She had a lot of damage with that hurricane 2 years or so ago… stay safe! On another subject; My mom was from Clarkton. They used to fish some of the lakes around there like white lake, singletary, waccamaw, etc. Have you ever fished any of them? Sorry if we had this discussion before…

Yeah, it was nothing more than rain and 20 mph sustained winds until that last band came through…

Power is still out. I think we got 3-4 inches of rain. Found out the tornado was about 1/4 of a mile East of us at its closest point, which isnt visible on the video.

We had a tornado go by about 1/2 hour ago associated with Elsa. I actually got video of it as it moved past the south end of our lake. Also got some damage video. I am terrible with video- thought it wasnt on and it was , and vice versa…