N Florida Mike

They’ve been biting zoom super flukes the best for me lately. My lake ranges from fairly clear to moderately stained depending on the time of year. Right now more weeds are dead in North Florida due to the ( slightly) colder weather. So the lake is more stained at present. This is an important consideration for choosing colors. Watermelon red plastics are probably the best in sunnier conditions, then anything with a red or gold sparkle . In lower light days, watermelon seed is good, or June bug. Zoom makes some cool color patterns. Houdini works well in mostly sunny days. Watermelon slice is good too. I start new waters with flukes and senkos in the colors mentioned. Yum makes the bama bug color which is pumkin on the bottom and June bug on top. Their yum dingers in that color work real well. I also like watermelon red and June bug trick worms, and ultra vibe speed worms in the same colors, also baby brush hogs and speed craws in the same colors. I fish with as little weight as possible. With the smaller , lighter baits I use a bb shot with a 2/0 wide gap hook, Texas rigged. The bigger flukes and senkos I use weightless , with a 3/0 hook. When bank fishing look for grass, drains , lay downs , shade. If you see kids feeding ducks, fish there after they leave. The bread attracts minnows, shiners, bream etc. , which then attracts bass. Mike

That was my dad. His idea of catch and release was - you caught it and released it into an ice chest!!

I might be able to take you if you come through the Jacksonville Fl area. I may not have a full day available though but just contact me a week or so before so we can plan it. Just post on here for now or send me a pm. mike

Maybe have a voluntary pot at least.

When I was 10 or so a lady on a pier at st Augustine got really excited when she caught a “ floundah “ Her husband came along and informed her it wasn’t a floundah but it was a “ Stingaray “ ??

I had a friend from Michigan and any bass over 3 pounds was “uuuugge”. We always use the H . As in Herbs. Not urbs.

For many years we called them MUSTARD hooks. And how do you say Rapala? You’ll probably say RAP a la. I always said ra PAL a.

That reminds me to get ready for our fish fry this weekend!!

@WRB was right about us lumping all sunfish into one term “ bream” Bluegills are copperheads here. Redears are shellcrackers, spotted sunfish are stumpknockers, red breasts are... red breasts!! we call crappies “ Specks” We just call largemouths “bass”. If it’s a subspecies we say the specific name, like Suwannee bass, etc We call yellow bullhead catfish “ butter “ cats, and brown bullheads are usually called just bullheads or maybe river cats. One of the old cracker terms I don’t hear much anymore is a large fish or nice buck was called “ a HAIRY one” and usually had “SON” as a prefix or suffix.?

Not where I’m at. Mudfish are bowfins. Chain pickerel are jacks, in fresh water anyway.

Caught around 15 more bream before dark.

Seems like they just wouldn’t have counted that one fish . Especially since they obviously told on themselves. Am I missing something here?

That must be the smokies in the background. Man, I love that area.

I decided to fish off the dock this evening. Cool, crisp temps. Caught 15-20 bream including this nice shellcracker and a catfish. Also caught a 3 pound bass on a small bream but didn’t get its picture.

I wracked my brain and cant remember ever doing it. Seems like I would have though... I do occasionally fish WHILE working because I’m not on the clock and get paid commission. I still feel a little strange doing that sometimes, and park discreetly so nobody calls in on me ...?

8^^ Heres one of my favorites.

I have a stick worm in my arsenal at all times. That and zoom flukes are my go- to baits. watermelon colors ( and June bug ) are my best.

They were originally at silver springs for the Tarzan movies I guess. They are being spotted as far North now as St Johns county. People are being told not to shoot them for some reason.??‍♂️

We had ( have ? ) a rule that we don’t make big purchases without each others input. So she goes and buys a new vehicle without me , ( don’t remember which one now ) and that’s ok, but I can’t buy a new fishing combo without complaints.??‍♂️ That was earlier on in the marriage though. Now we have no funds to buy either anyway.

You ought to challenge him to a one- on- one competition. My bet is you would never hear from him again...

Got out the last 2.5 hours of daylight. Had a urge to use my finesse Combo with 8 pound line , and tied on a t rigged baby brush hog .Got the first one on the 2nd cast at the dock before I even left. Got the middle fish on the same, and got the last one off a sea wall where fish are known to bed, on a 6 inch senko type bait. Also got 6 or so on the super fluke.

I’ve never liked raw ones either. I don’t like any seafood uncooked ( I call that bait around here) I can eat a lot of fried oysters with fairly heavy batter. The less they are battered the less I like them. Never done any scalloping, but my son has. We used to eat at the closest seafood restaurant to give us a break on cooking. Their scallops were often HORRIBLE. We would complain and they would just say “ sorry” and not even take it off our check. Probably was stingray. We finally quit going there.

I have met Peter Thliveros. I don’t know if he fishes tournaments anymore. He used to own a restaurant near me with a bass fishing theme.He would stop and talk fishing even though obviously busy. Never seemed to be in a hurry...

I just don’t like all the yelling and every fish is “ big” and then it’s 1 pound 8 oz.with Ike. He’s a great fisherman and success story though- Happy he’s been successful. Yeah Id like to meet Scroggins and Shaw Grigsby. I went to the Rules section on the MLF website. It explains the format very well on there. Thanks for all the input everyone.

But what about knockout rounds, challenge cups, rankings? Wish I could see it in a bracket or spread sheet with all the names and where it’s at in the season. Who’s out, who’s still in , how it looks going forward. Maybe it’s too much to ask. MLF is kind of a love- hate relationship to me. I enjoy the anticipation of watching it, but by round 2 , I’m usually dozing off or switched the channel to gunsmoke reruns or another outdoor show. ( Or actually go fishing) ! Last week was an exception as I was rooting for Terry Scroggins, a Florida angler, who made a last minute comeback to take 6th place (to qualify him for the next round) and edge out Mike Iaconelli, who , lets put it nicely, is not my favorite.