N Florida Mike

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.

Sometimes mine wouldn’t run WITH gas!

This makes 3 for the year! And some of y’all may remember that I had never broke a rod before this year. This one snapped in the middle when I set the hook. Must have been a big fish. Ended up with 12-13 fish but nothing over 2 pounds, so no pics but the broken rod. It was an old one anyway. Now I’m using a 3rd string rod on a first string reel!!

Same here! Maybe it’s the way we were raised. If I threw down a wrapper or something I was always told that “ the policeman would come get me “ if I left it there. When I got older , it was always “ He’ll write you a big litterbug ticket” or you may have to go to court etc. It worked!!

The urban ponds in my area are the worst- and I rarely see anyone else at the ones I go to. Little styrofoam worm containers are the most numerous, followed by drink cans, bread bags, etc. I think it’s largely the non- serious , occasional anglers that do it. They are also the ones that keep everything in spite of limits. In my area , a lot of them are foreigners that haven’t been here long. I don’t mind people keeping some fish- just obey the laws. I keep Bass occasionally in the home lake to thin the herd and get a better average sized fish. My little slot is 12-15 inch fish only, unless a bigger one dies on me, which is rare anymore. Filleted bass is good!! My biggest aggravation while trying to fish off piers or docks in saltwater is the rude, or oblivious boaters that get too close going by and wrap up all your lines. I get almost fighting mad when it happens ( which is at one of my favorite spots in st Augustine) , but I’m usually very mellow about most everything else these days...

My wife likes it . I tried it once but didn’t. I make up for it with all the fish I eat though!

I’ve switched several times. I’ve gone from Stren to trilene, back to stren, then P- line , back to stren, then Yo- Zuri, then back to Trilene, sometimes big game. Very happy now with these two, although I prefer the extra strong Trilene. I like the smooth casting trilene for some applications I use. Ive given up on Stren. Just too many break offs. P line was strong but way too many bird nests. I really liked Yo Zuri for a year or so , but I relined with it a couple times and started getting bird nests and break offs. I rarely get either with Trilene.

Welcome from N Florida!

I got some upside down flukes from them once. The slot that’s on the bottom was on the top. Theyre my favorite bait company by far though.

I’ve done it some and haven’t had any fish die. But that was just transporting up to 8 fish no more than 15 minutes away. I just fill up a cooler with water. I don’t use an aerater , but that would work if you have longer distances to travel.

I caught my first decent fish as a child at Ocean Isle beach. My granma lived at Shallote. I don’t claim to be an expert there, but fresh caught dead shrimp will catch a lot of fish there, especially “spots” , black drum , whiting, etc. If you can get bloodworms at a b/t store the Spots love em.

I’m sorry for your loss. My mom passed at 96 3 1/2 years ago. It was the most heartbroken Ive ever been. I have nothing but good memories of her and dad. Praying for you, and also you too Sloan.

Looks like you “found” the big one! Nice fish!

Not biting too good today. It was mostly cloudy with a nice breeze. Cool here for May. I thought it might be a good spinnerbait day, and I did get a few on one with a double blade and black skirt , also some on a big bite craw in watermelon seed. Only cuaght one on a fluke.