N Florida Mike

It finally got better, Once and awhile it slightly hurts in the same area, but its only 5% of what it was.

fish at night or early morning. Mid morning I switch to skipping under docks or fish shade. I rarely do this anymore, but I fish the deepest hole in the lake with a big worm very slow. Just cast out and let it sit as long as you can stand it. Oh, and one more option: Live golden shiners or bluegills!

Ive only caught a couple catfish with artificials. I would welcome catching more. I love fried catfish!

They did.

I was on I-95 today for over an hour and it was the busiest Ive seen in a long time. There were a LOT of semis on the road too. Rush hour is still far from normal. Not sure what this is indicating. People vacationing because they arent working?

I like beetlespins.

I was a once a week drunk for 5 years. Driving drunk, fights, wake up sometimes next morning in bed , rack your brain to try and remember how in the world I got there. I have a big scar on the side of my right thumb that was caused by me riding with a drunk driving friend , hitting an oak tree nearly head on with his dads brand new Ford truck. He wasnt injured. About 6 months later he was at it again and ran into a bridge abutment. He wasnt injured. Had another aquaintance that killed a mother and daughter by driving drunk and hitting them head on. He got 7 years in prison, got out and started drinking and driving again. He was drunk and got ran over one night walking across a road. Talk about justice! But still sad. I was driving drunk one night on a gravel road out in the country somewhere west of Gainesville fl. I remember going off the road and riding around in somebody’s back yard. Got back on the gravel road and was going 70 or so. I heard a voice in my mind say “ STOP!!!!” I slammed on brakes and slid right up to a deep drop off into a big drainage ditch full of water .The road just ended . My life nearly did as well. That half sobered me up and I drove carefully home. I was completely delivered from alcohol in 1982, at 22 years of age. Haven’t had a drink since. I have a couple family members that have been drug addicts for 20+ years. I have tried and prayed for so many years for them to no avail ( yet) . Its a miracle their still alive...

Sure man, that’d be great. Send me a pm if you dont mind. Thanks for the info @Bluebasser86

I rarely hear about anyone doing well with them, strangely enough. What do you fish? How do you fish them? Results?

My top 7 were all on soft plastics , mostly on or near the bottom. Tied for # 7 was caught on a topwater frog. # 8 on a live shiner , # 9 on a live bream. Then a lot of fish in the same general size 6- 6 3/4 pounds. One of them was caught on a spinnerbait, I think the rest on plastics. Its interesting to me , but my home lake generally has very slow topwater fishing, but I catch enough to keep me interested! I agree the fish caught on top water tend to be quality fish. They also seem to be the healthiest fish I catch. ? Wonder why? I Haven’t caught many skinny bass on topwater!

Im sorry for your loss , thanks for sharing it.. My mom passed 3 1/2 years ago. It was the hardest time of my life. I still think of her most every day. I pray for grace and help for you and your dad. It’s fortunate you can still fish with your dad. Mine couldnt the last 20 years of his life or so due to arthritis in his hands. I have nothing but many pleasant memories of times spent with both of them without a care in the world. I regret not being a better son, especially to my dad , although I tried .They were the 2 best people Ive ever known.,and I dont expect that will ever change.

It feels good to get organized doesn’t it? Until a few years ago I was still carrying my fishing accessories in a small bucket on the boat. After being ridiculed by a friend as a “ bucket man” , I saw the light and bought a cheap accessory bag from Walmart. I love it. Has several zippered pockets, and a big one in the middle. I have my pliers, scale, ruler, sunscreen, bug spray, extra knife, cell phone , extra baits, a perfect size compartment for my hook box etc. It can easily hold other supplies like snacks ? I guess us older dogs can learn new tricks occasionally.

Got out late so I stayed near home. Contrary east winds were making it tough . Caught a couple on the red shad culprit, and did get a healthy fish on a frog before dark. My house is right below the notch in the trees in the middle.

I use their stick worms and catch fish. I like their 6 inch ones. That size is hard to find with other brands. Also do very well with their craws in pumpkin. And you cant beat the price.

I rig em to use the slit at first, but when it gets torn I rig it sideways, then upside down. I cant tell any difference- any position catches fish.

? interesting.

I rank stick baits I use as follows: 1. Senkos 2. Dingers 3. Big bites 4. Stik-os. That being said, I use dingers most of the time. Cheaper , and work fine for me. They last longer too.

Order some producto tournament worms. They are not in stores much anymore but they are very supple and slinky. I like the black grape best. Culprits are always a great producer as well. It was my go to bait in the 80s.,but I still keep them on board at all times. I also do well with zoom trick worms, watermelon red. The mister twister 10 inch in black grape is another good producer. Its probably because I dont fish them as much anymore but Jelly worms dont seem to produce like they did in the 70s. Lucky strike worms in grape work well too for me, esp. in the fall. Bass just love worms. Its in their DNA !

I was curious what time of day y’all do the best with top water frogs. For me , the first hour of daylight has been best by far , then nightime, then the last hour of daylight. I never fish them in the middle of the day but suspect it wouldnt work too well.

Ive caught quite a few of them while catfishing in my home lake, and other spots. Ive never tried bass fishing with one , although I heard of a 19 pound bass being caught with one, I think in lake Tarpon. It was a very interesting story in a Florida Sportsman magazine from the 80s . Ive even caught a few sirens. They are eel looking things with little arms up towards the head, and they have a larger flexible fin on top. Wish I still had the pic of the last one I caught that was around 3 feet long but that was in the cell phone that got wet when I was out in the kayak. This video shows the arms well around 3:45.

purdy fish -5-6 pounds. Welcome to the forums man. Go to introductions and introduce yourself to everyone. Never mind. I think you already did.

My lake has had way more people out in it than it has in many years. Almost all of them are just paddling or trolling around- not fishing. The few new ones fishing are pretty much all in the “ upside down “ reel camp. Nothing to worry about. These same people dont know much ,if anything about boater etiquette. The other day 2 men Id never seen before were having a go with a canoe, and by the looks of things, hadnt seen a canoe before either.? They were trying to turn but it wasn’t happening. They went between me and the bank I was casting to. I don’t even think they had any idea what they did. Another group of foriegn folks kept following me, and Everywhere I went they would come too. Not fishing, but they seemed interested. Probably thought I was one of the “swamp people “ or something ?.

I’ll probably never retire, unless forced to. I fish a lot, regardless of work. My desire to fish is not much different than when I was young. But now it’s mostly up to 5 hours and thats it. Lower back starts yelling its time to go home.

Traffic is picking up during the day around here, but rush hour in the morning is still eerily quiet. Im writing this at 7:10 a.m. Usually by now you would hear the roar and sounds of traffic on the roads going towards town and it’s completely quiet out there. The shortcut out of my neighborhood ( no stop light) is very difficult to get out of in the morning, but has been easy since the virus, and still is. Business for us has been great though lately.May was a big boost after a below avg. march and april.

You’re 3 days older than me. I had a high hbp reading, so I put two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar with 2 tablespoons of honey and mix with a small glass of water. I drink it every morning. The headaches and flushed feeling in my face has 95 % gone away. And I largely have quit eating salty snacks. I feel a lot better.