N Florida Mike

Well, look on the bright side. You could always stock it with fish!

At this time, my question Id like answered is : What must I do to catch the 9 + fish that I know live in my home lake? I got an 8.1 two years ago and a 7.6 last year that was 26 inches. My son got an 8.2 three years ago. I have very diligently searched all spring for larger fish , and a 4.10 was the biggest, along with several others around 4. You might say someone else caught and kept them. I do 95% of all the fishing on my lake. About the same % of time, Im the only one fishing on any given day. Im about to go into a live bait( bream or shiner ) campaign to solve this question, if I cant do it with artificials.

Got up this morning and decided to throw a frog a little before work. It was the same fish I caught and released yesterday

Had a big rain and the fish were fired up near our little spillway . The water got high enough to flow over it. This causes a slow current and bass come around to eat the little fish that are drawn to them. I got 6 bass, 2 catfish and a few bream. I caught 4 of the bass while catfishing on cut bream, including the biggest one, one on a live bream, and 1 on a fluke. Left em biting at dark. ?

I have a 12 foot jb, with a 2.5. And I weigh 250. My best guess would be around 5 mph. I would think a kayak would go a little faster than that due to the shape of it.

Yeah , boating stupidity has and will continue to be a big issue. I think it’s because of several reasons. 1. Alcohol ( No explanation needed ). 2. Boater education. If the same level of liscensing with boating as is involved with driving was enforced it would help some . Im generally against more laws though , so at least some kind of required boater course would be beneficial. 3. Perception. By this I mean people in general just think boating is easy-they just dont think it’s dangerous- and it can be, especially with all 3 or any combination of the other reasons at work. Back in my younger days I had my bass boat parked at a girlfriend’s house in her canal. I took her out for a dusk ride. She was up in a creek so we rode out into where the creek got much bigger. Theres a bridge out there, so we went out to it, turned around and started back. We passed a boat on the way back that was flying towards the bridge , full of people on it hollering etc. We went way up a side creek after that and turned off the motor to hear the swamp sounds . Night had fallen , and We started seeing lights on the horizon . We got curious and rode back out to see what was going on. There were a lot of flashing lights out by the bridge. Since we were closer to her house, we went there. Found out the next day the boat we had passed had hit the bridge and a pretty girl I knew from high school had died- alcohol was involved.... Very sad but avoidable.

^^^^^ This!!!!!

You are a true North Carolinian. The only reason I didnt include them is I didnt think most people would know what they are.

I turn 60 this September. 60 . Where did my life go? Thankful that I still take no medicine. 30? That didnt bother me at all! My advice to you as an older codger is don’t waste your time on lesser things, like unforgiveness, worrying, arguing, and with high living comes high consequences. Been there. Just my 2 cents. Happy Birthday!

Man, glad things turned out ok. I threw some clothes in the dryer once and was leaving to go to church. I was walking out the door and caught the faintest whiff of smoke, which caused me to go back in and check. Dryer was on fire. Got it turned off and put out the fire. As big as the flames were, it hadnt gotten anywhere else! The house would have burned down no doubt had I left and not caught that slight whiff of smoke . Divine intervention!

Baby Brush hog Flukes U-vibe speed worm.

He'd probably be fine if you get the water temp. about the same...

I generally see them head deeper. But Ive caught the same fish a few times after hooking it or having it break the line. Doesn’t happen much , but it does happen. Theres another thread going on about fish memory...

The only thing I can get a carp to bite is a big bread ball on a small , but strong hook. I caught a 32 inch one that way. I chum with bread for awhile til they come around... I also snagged a 23 pounder with a treble hook. That fish was in the top 5 best fights of a fish in my life...

Ive took pictures , weighed and measured fish, and admired them probably too long but I cant remember one fish that didnt swim off afterwards. That doesnt include the occasional gut hooked or gill damaged fish that dont make it. They wont be wasted though!

Hard to be sure , but this ones probably in the top 5...

At this point, I have wavy hair- one hair wavying good bye to the other one.? On top anyway. The sides and back I trim myself until it gets too thick, then it’s off to the Bb shop. I go maybe 3 times a year. Same one I got my first haircut with...

As some of you already know, I broke 3 this year. None for the last 52 years having rods. I do remember having an old pistol grip bc rod seperate at the reel but it was old and brittle. ( That was the one my wife snagged on the bottom and gave me for fathers day.) I still have the reel. The 3 this year- One was broke between my office and the first cast- I think it broke when I dropped it in my J boat. Another broke when a fish dove under the boat and the rod hit the boat. The last one was on a hook set- old 3rd string rod anyway . My middle son lost or broke a lot of my stuff. My g.daughter broke a rod by shutting a door on the tip. My mom broke my bream rod by shutting the garage door on it. My friend broke the rod I caught my PB on , he just grabbed the rod and said “That looks like an ugly stik(while simultaneously bending the rod in an arc) SNAP!!! I didnt have time to tell him it wasnt. I never said a word - just stared at him with an angry expression. He jumped out and swam to shore until I cooled off... true story.

This time of year its an hour or so with a Booyah pad crasher, then I assess what the conditions are and make a choice. If its cloudy with a breeze, Ill try a spinnerbait. If not, then I move on to a soft plastic. I have gotten a real good senko bite in late spring mornings so I’ll usually start there...

4+

Ive learned not to stop at mini-mart type stores anymore. There will inevitably be somebody buying lots of lottery tickets in front of me with one cashier . You can cut it any way you like,but its poor service to have to stand in line 5-10 minutes while some dummy is throwing his money away and holding everyone up. I always go to bigger convenience stores, with multi- cashiers mostly for that reason. But Ive had very poor service at them as well , just not as much. TIME is the critical thing for me. My 2 worst customer service incidents that come to mind involved a pizza place and a chicken restaurant. I spent a total of 90 minutes( I kid you not) just GETTING my food at both places combined.That should tell y’all the level of patience I have. Trust me, I will never darken the door of those places ever again though . I got no explanation just a nonchalant sah ree from the chicken employee girl. I enjoy seeing the friends Ive made at the stores I frequent on my work travels. Most of them are friendly AND quick. But if you arent friendly, at least be QUICK.

Me neither. 7’ is about my limit. I dont like less than 6.6 either.

I am . I probably catch 70% of my fish on or near the bottom, and I have NO complaints with mono . I can feel the fish just fine, and I dont even use any wieght most of the time. I have a high hookup ratio as well.

Im so blessed to have had a dad like mine. He worked all the time, but always found time to get me out fishing, playing baseball, and church. Largely Because of him, I also use fishing to help others -family, friends etc. Nothing like getting out in the boat and discussing life, whether it be spiritual, physical, emotional issues,or life in general. My middle son took to it like a duck to water. He is the most like me, fishing wise anyway. I don’t remember getting bored with fishing when I was young - even when we weren’t catching anything. Joe is the same way. Of course, we usually caught fish, because I wanted us to have the most fun possible. Now, he is so into it he commercial fishes part of the year and looks at it like he’s getting paid to do something he loves. There were times when he was a rebellious teen that the Lord used fishing to keep us from being at each others throats- literally. The time spent fishing is a gift that keeps on giving.

Mono is superior for me. I have used copylomer and generally have a positive opinion of it too. I hate flouro- mainly because it sinks. With most of my successful fishing techniques, a significant part of it is due to using floating line. I fish mostly soft plastics in shallow water and watching what the line does after a cast is crucial for me, seeing the twitch when a fish takes my bait. I also dont like setting the hook with fluoro, because it has sunk you must deal with the water drag when setting the hook. It’s very hard for me to tell where exactly the fish is in the water column. I have a couple reels spooled with braid, I almost exclusively now use it for thick cover frog fishing and larger , heavier baits .