N Florida Mike

The water itself is fairly clear, but the eel grass is thick , along with the algae. It’s getting hard to paddle through it. I’d have to clean the T motor constantly,

It really is. When the lake is at full pool it covers it up some. I would say we are easily at 75% coverage now. Areas that were 3 feet are only a foot. I can just barely get my boat to my ramp now, and still get out without getting my feet wet. Can’t park and step out on my catwalk anymore either. There is no water where I usually park the boat !!

I finally got out on the home lake this morning. Conditions were warm an calm. Mostly cloudy. The lake is 2 feet down, which very significant in a shallow lake like mine. I haven’t seen it this low in 20 years. The weeds and algae are approaching the worst ever… Anyway, I caught a few going south down the lake. All in pockets between eel grass beds . At the southeast end of the lake I fished a clear spot between the eel grass and bank and got 3 successively bigger fish on a few casts. # 3 there was the biggest fish of the day. I caught several more along the same shoreline. Started back and caught the rest of the fish on the east side of our island. I ended up with 16. 15 were caught on the watermelon red speed worm, 1 on a fluke. Not a bad outing for july.

I haven’t had much time to fish lately, but picked off a few here and there.

One of my uncles was stationed on an escort carrier in the South Pacific. He didn’t talk about it much, but I remember him telling about how he saw a bunch of dead Japanese floating near his ship and it made an impression on him…

St Johns river- one mile from my house.

I wonder about @bigbill sometimes . Always enjoyed his Bigfoot posts 🙂

Another nice fish out back…

Got a 4 pound 11 oz fish, and about an hour later caught a 6 pound 12 oz fish…both in one of my church ponds..😉

I’ve been back 3-4 days but missed this thread somehow. Good to see everyone and THANK YOU Glenn ! I thought I had another password lockout for awhile there ☺️

Got 9 more before dark. I caught them all on yum dingers and senkos.

Got this purdy one on a baby brush hog.

Did your son share any info about the winner? I'm wondering about his temperament. @Swamp Girl All I know is they met at church. They had a mutual respect because of him winning on the show and my son being a black belt in Brazilian ju jitsu.

I love this subject, and I love that show. The guy who won the first episode( I think ), was from Blairsville Ga. I picked him to win, and rooted for him . He won. He was good with skills but strongest in his mentality. Another guy quit the first night because he heard animals in the brush. I’ll be honest , I called him a few names out loud.🤠 These were on vancouver island.^^ Then they had episodes in the mongolian wilderness. One of the contestants figured out how to catch fish in the river, and he lived high on the hog until… it got real cold and the fish quit biting. On the same episode, a young man from Nebraska and the fisherman were the last 2 contestants. I thought for sure the fisherman would win , but he quit. The Nebraskan that won is actually a friend of my oldest son, who was stationed there in the airforce. Personally, I think I have the mentality for it, and certainly would figure out how to catch fish. I did a lot of primitive camping when I was younger, but other than survival in the south, I’d need to brush up on and learn/ relearn bush craft before doing it..especially in cold areas. Fun to think about, but at 65 that ship has sailed. ☺️

Haven’t been fishing much lately because Ive been under water with work. But I’ve been getting a few…😉 Mostly on watermelon red super flukes.

Hopo your’e back to normal soon. I pulled or tore a muscle in my upper chest over 7 years ago. It hurt really bad for 3 weeks or so , then slowly started improving. I have aggravated it a couple times since. 3 weeks ago I mowed the yard and the next day it felt just like the time 7 years ago. There is pain on the chest muscle , and underneath my arm to the elbow, that really hurts. Will probably have it looked at once I get my teeth fixed !😅

This is the lowest my lake has been since I moved onto it nearly 19 years ago . (although I have fished it for 50 years) The last time it was nearly this low was around 15 years ago . At full pool the level will be 2 feet up the bulkhead !

3 pounder out back…

My son Joe got a 3.5 pounder this morning in one of my favorite ponds…The bite was very slow though, that was the only bite.

Got one to start the day …

Nice catch and award @Joedodge !!

My fishing G daughter got this 3 pound 7 oz fish at one of my (somewhat) secret ponds…

Got a 3 pounder out back..

Just did the final count for all the fish we kept and it was 137. Before someone says it was too many, they will all be eaten I assure you. We can’t eat out much, but we don’t have to ! 🤠

Day 2 of our trip. It rained most of the morning, but we got out again between 11-4. We caught around 80 keeper bream and channel cats today . We easily caught that many that we released. There were 6 of us that fished in 2 boats . We found the fish in a deeper part of the Ocklawaha river than we fished yesterday . They were just outside the pad line and we fished some downed trees out deep to catch some of them. We caught 95% of them on dead shrimp, of all things. And 3 of the family went to a secret spot that is a run off the St Johns , and caught 10 trout and croakers last night! ! That should tell you how little rain we’ve had lately- the salinity is high way up in the river. Also got to spend quality time with my immediate family, and especially my g daughter Mackayla that fished with me today …