N Florida Mike

I have to lean towards Tom’s opinion on the Perry bass. Lots of loose ends that will never be tied up with that one. As far as Dottie, california rules said it didnt count, but my understanding is that it was legit under International gamefish rules had it been confirmed. I dont know about other states but it would have been very hard for me to not say heck with cali rules. Very commendable what he did, not wanting a tainted record. As far as a new record coming from Florida, Im sure theres record fish here . @Captain Phil Im not too up on lake Apopka. I though it was extremely polluted and the bass all died in it? I heard it's making a comeback due to the state spending millions of dollars on it, but my thinking is how could there be a world record fish in it this soon after the re-nourishment? I believe there is likely a world record or at least close to one in kingsley lake or Rodman. I know of an 18 + being caught in the st Johns. Ive also heard of a huge bass being caught in Ocean pond on a live speckled perch. For unknown reasons the girl that caught it did not get it registered. She did get the head mounted ( I saw the pic) . the taxidermist said the biggest glass eye he could get fell through the fish’s eye socket.He said based on that and the huge size of the mouth and head his opinion was the fish could have weighed 24 pounds. I saw all this in a Florida Sportsman magazine, including the head pic. You could have fit a childs head in the mouth , it was that big. I have tried and tried but cannot find the article.As I recall , the pic was on the front cover of the magazine. Late 80s or nineties.

I had an italian nieghbor when I was growing up. Now I loved 95% of what my mom ( from NC) put on the table, including her spaghetti and meatballs. But Mrs Barbera’s were the best Ive ever had in my life.

Thanks Tom. I’ll check em out. Interesting info. You have a good one as well.

I dont have a ccp because I have a couple mentally unstable relatives. They said they’d get theirs when I did, so... I wont, although I might be able to pull it off without them knowing. ( these are close relatives- I’ll leave it at that) Where I used to camp a lot ( about as remote an area as you can find in florida) , guns were outlawed except hunting season. This was a big struggle for me because I am extremely law abiding but wanted me and family members to be safe. Result was... I always had my pistol in reach. Once, when the wife and me were camped out there, 3 guys on dirtbikes rode up. I got a strange vibe from them because, after the initial greeting, they wouldn’t leave. It seemed like they were waiting for something. I got on the other side of the truck with the pistol under my shirt. I did not move from that spot until they eventually left. If they were up to something, I think they got the message from my stance not to try anything.

Some people do like to target shoot. Actually, a lot of people like to. I have a bro. in law like that. He doesnt hunt and has never shot anyone.

The insert is gone on the one guide. The other guides have them. Its a penn slammer SL 6.6. 4th rod down the list, but its as good as my #1 finesse rod that broke, except for the guide/insert issue. As you can tell, I dont have expensive stuff, but they still fish good... I have a Berkley Cherrywood rod without inserts that I got in 2007 brand new.

Like I said , first break for me in 45 years on a hookset. I was thinking back on the day and remembered making a cast and the rod hitting the boat . It didnt appear to have any damage from it , but maybe it weakened it enough...On that particular fish , I set the hook about 3/4 from over the top ( to use baseball terms.), but it wasnt much different from the other thousands of hooksets Ive done...

I had one friend that set the hook and it snapped an Ugly stik. He got a free replacement, of course.

Another one Ive done is name each fish alphabetically as you catch them. Allen, then bob , etc. That started at the request of a friend . Helps you keep up with numbers if you’re catching a lot.

I enjoy frying fish, probably because I enjoy EATING fried fish . My whole family are filet eaters only. I’ll eat em fileted or with the bones. My wife cooks everything well. Actually , nearly everyone in my family cooks. Nobody going hungry ‘round here!!!

I play a banjo . Was pretty good before my oldest son left home. He was my accompianist on guitar. I dont play as much as I did. Gonna try to start routinely practicing again though.

Today I looked through my excess rods and found one thats perfect for my finesse reel. It had a little split in the guide that allowed the line to slip out. Not having a guide that size, I just put a little tape on it. Nearly as good as new!!

@Oregon Native Me and you are now tied for broken/ lost rods this year. Ive broke 3.

I loved that reality show about the bait store in Pierre Part. The owner of the bait store has a choupique bite his hand. I have to admit his reaction made me laugh. wonder what Choupique means in french? Teeth?

This is the first rod in my life that ever broke from setting the hook on a fish. I think it was Aaron Martin ( maybe ) that broke 2 rods in one MLF tournament on fish , and I’m sure they weren’t low-end rods like mine was...

@FishTankThe rod is a shimano 6.6. The specs are worn off the rod, since I’ve had it since the early 90s. It is a medium with a light tip. I used it while cat fishing ponds mostly. This year it became my finesse bass rod after the other 2 breaks. So I haven’t used it for bass very long .By the way, I didn’t say I had never caught a fish over 2 pounds on it . I just said nothing over 2 on the last last trip( on any rod). I agree that we definitely have plenty of fish over 4 pounds in Florida . I know there’s plenty in my home lake alone.

I had never heard of a “bowfin” until I saw a picture of one with the name. Mudfish is all I ever heard it called in Florida.

Obey the law concerning the keeping of bass in your area. That should go without saying. You can legally keep fish according to the law, and you shouldn’t feel bad about it. That being said, you also can choose to throw em all back. I personally don’t keep any over 16 inches. I don’t like to see people keep fish much bigger than that, because most of the larger fish are the females that lay eggs to keep up a good population of fish. But I won’t harass those that choose to do so even though I wouldn’t. It’s your perfect right to keep any fish you want under the law, bass included. There are also better fish to eat than bass, but they are still good filleted. ?.

I may need to. Thanks ! Even Academy doesn’t usually have the z hogs much anymore. Of course, I could always order them online. I think ZHogs look like a frog to the bass. Watermelon seed ones work the best for me. I get a better avg. size fish with them too. what hook do you use for them though? I can’t find one that holds that bait in place- it slips down.

Got me some Havoc Big fatty craws today at W.mart and caught several fish on them. They were out of zoom stuff except one bag of super flukes.?

Me too. Nothing beats em for the money. I’m excited to hear about the Zlinkies. I haven’t seen them in the store yet though. Looking forward to trying them. Z- hawgs are productive, but increasingly hard to find. Super Flukes are my favorite.

Good to see Kingsley on the list. I’ve fished it once. Very deep, clear lake. I’m told now it’s no access unless you’re military or live on it. A resident told me he trolls rattle traps around at night and does well. A 15+ was caught out there fairly recently.

It’s looking more and more like a new rod is on the radar screen!

What do y’all do to challenge yourselves, or maybe a format that’s fun to get yourself out of the same ol’ thing ? Different games you play while fishing? For example, seeing how many different baits you can catch fish on in the same trip. Another one is sectioning off where you fish into zones, and giving yourself 1 hour in each zone. I did that with a friend on my home lake and it was a blast. We started at different ends of the lake , to allow suspense to be part of it. Not talking tournament formats though, just informal stuff.