N Florida Mike

I manage my small lake for weeds, algae etc. I don’t do the actual treatments but work with a local company. If we did not treat the weeds the lake would be quickly overrun with weeds in all the shallow areas, which would greatly reduce fishable area. We have 2 extremes of people on the lake. Those that never want to see one weed in the lake, and those that want it all natural- no weed control. Most people could care less. I’m about 2/3 of the way to all natural myself, because it’s better for the fishing, but I also have to please those that are in the “ no weed “camp. It’s not easy. That being said, I have seen 0% reduction of bass in our lake with once a month treatment. When the weeds all die in the winter the fish don’t relate to the weeds because they aren’t there. Fishing becomes tougher. When the weeds come back in late spring, fish immediately start relating to them again. I am very much against total herbicide control of weeds in lakes but I realistically must allow some control. Our old lake sprayer,( a resident) got nearly total control of weeds and only sprayed 1-2 times a year. He did it for 25 years without a fish kill. In 2011 he killed all the weeds( they were really bad because he hadn’t sprayed in a year) , the oxygen level tanked, all the big bass and bream died. My wife watched him scooping them up with a net.It took me 3 years to catch a 4 pound bass again. I wanted to wring his neck. He also lied to me about it. The smaller fish generally survived. Now, our bass population is excellent, and no re stocking was needed. I actually need to cull some out we have so many. And this is with once a month treatment. It sounds like you can’t do anything about it but try different baits than normal- maybe the fish got used to the same old baits.

Was able to get out for a couple hours before dark. Not biting real good, but I was able to get 6 on this windy evening. Caught 5 on the watermelon red fluke and 1 on a cut off senko. Lost the best fish which was the first one that bit. This was the second biggest, which ain’t saying much. But I’m thankful to just get out!

Me too. I do alright when I can go but haven’t got out in a month or so. Of course you can always watch the tigers play. Seems like they might have a big game coming up next sat. ???

Why do I use em? Beacause bass love em!!

I sniff a bass every now and then. Have always loved it. puppy breath ? Not so much.?

Man, I grew up fishing George’s lake, but haven’t fished it for many years now. Cant believe I’m seeing a post about it- it is a fairly obscure lake.I did well there for numbers nearly every time. I never got the bigger fish dialed in though. Caught about 90% of all the fish on a 7 1/2 inch red shad culprit worm, mostly bank beating. ( No depth finder)Sometimes we would just turn around and cast out into the lake, and do a very slow retrieve and would get bit. We caught fish all over the lake, especially doing well under docks and off maiden cane grass edges . We also caught a lot of fish in the canals on the west side of the lake. It is not murky but pretty stained anyway. Speck fishing is pretty good also. I met an old man that was a customer of mine that had 2 mounted bass ( 10 pound + ) on his wall. When I asked him where he caught them, he said “ Georges lake” According to him, they had found some offshore drop offs and ... he then said they had caught 50 + bass over 10 pounds in many years fishing there !! And guess what he used primarily? A 10 inch red shad culprit!! The lake record according to the old fish camp owner was 13 pounds, caught on a big shiner. I was told by a resident that the lake was named after “ Old George” which was a huge Gator that ruled the roost there. He was( is ? ) 16 ft + according to the resident. I don’t remember seeing many when I’d be there. Didn’t see him, that’s for sure. Also used to love the short cut through the woods to get there.app. 10 miles through the woods instead of 25 or so on the paved road way! Keep us posted. I’ve actually been thinking about going there again for a day sha vu trip lol. Heard today the ramps are now closed there. Don’t know for sure.

The best day I ever had for numbers was fishing the windy end of a lake with 20+ knot winds. I had to anchor and fish the area , then move a cast or so away and repeat. I caught the majority of my fish there. I was using a zoom speed worm, and got bit either on the retrieve or dead sticking. I tend to think the fish bite better when there is some turbulence producing bait fish disruption. But sometimes I fish too fast if getting blown around so If it’s real windy I anchor and fish slowly.

I believe filleting bass takes some of the “ muddy” taste out of them. It seems like eating one on the bone has a stronger taste. My dad didn’t filet any fish because he was determined to get every little bite of fish he could off them. He even ate the tails! So as I grew up I found that filleted bass are good, but with the bones and skin, not as much. We fried them all, of course!

Thanks for letting us know. You’ll be in my thoughts and prayers. Be of good cheer... Ive been going through some struggles here lately that has also kept me off the water. Not health related but involving black sheep family members. Learning to lean and trust that it will all work for the greater good in the long run.

Hoping all is well. Prayers sent!

Maybe Florida’s alligators are different but when I walk up on one they run into the water. I used to wade fish in the St Johns river for many years and never had any aggression from them. But I would agree with the other Floridians. There are WAY too many people coming here. fishing season? ??? for bass??

If I spent equal time doing both I would give the edge to... artificials. They are more efficient and take less time to rig. With live bait I catch mine also which takes more time away from catching bass. I tend to catch a bigger average size bass though using live fish for bait like bream or shiners. In times when fish aren’t biting very good, live bait is better. I can catch a lot of little bass though using live worms but I don’t count that. And by the way, if you don’t want to gut hook fish using live bait,use circle hooks.Hook the baitfish through both lips. The bass will nearly always be hooked in the corner of the mouth. Just don’t try setting the hook with a circle hook or you’ll not hook the fish very often. You just reel up the slack and slightly lift the rod as it comes tight. It’s hard to do this if you’re used to setting the hook, but it works.

Don’t think I’ve ever caught a northern strain lmb. But the Florida strain fish I’ve caught fight pretty good. ? River fish fight harder.

Saw one big waterspout going down the St Johns river around 8 years ago or so. I was around a mile and a half from the river and thought it was a tornado. It looked like it was heading for my daughters house but it was further away than it looked.Thank God.

Maybe Fulmer should start coaching again. He would definitely do better than the last two.

At least y’all have the best fight song imo. ( rocky top ) The dog is kinda cool too. Be of good cheer brother. They’ll get it right someday. I generally root for Sec teams unless they play Florida, it’s better for us when we beat a team with more wins. ??? ?

Nice hefty fish!! Congrats!

I’m sure Disney and UCF are fine. They are well away from the coast. I haven’t heard of any tornadoes either. It looks like my family in NC are going to get hit again. My cousin that lives in Ogden just got her roof fixed from the last one a few months ago.

The local news has now found an area that has minor flooding. The buzzards are congregating there as we speak. Another urgent report just in: Kids Are now SWIMMING in the flooded area of their neighborhood! News station is not recommending this because the water could be contaminated! Also this just in: An armadillo has been spotted swimming in the same area. My word, plenty of news people out there with lots of valuable info. So we will survive this.?

I understand what you’re going through @Catt . I have had several plumbing issues through the years . I have what we call a gate valve - it’s outside up against the house. It’s supposed to completely shut off the water but it’s old and only shuts off about 75%. Which isn’t going to work when I do an indoor plumbing project. So I have to turn it off out near the road which is the cities valve. It is very hard without the specific tool for it. ( and that’s after finding it again and getting the top off, then digging the dirt out enough to get down to it.) But it can be turned off with a vise grip . And sometimes a hammer and chisel to get it loosened up enough to turn it. (And water running from the leak or broke pipe all this time. )And then closing it after the job is done. My son is a plumber among other things so he does a lot of it for me now and just charges for parts. He has not fixed the gate valve yet tho...

Me too. looks like bass would love em but I have not caught one fish on one.

I’m glad I’m not the only one that thinks this way....

Well, the turtle is almost here. This one appears that it will be further offshore than Matthew. I don’t think we’ll have much wind damage, unless we get a tornado, which is my biggest concern. There will likely be some coastal flooding . I am somewhat aggravated by all the news hype. They want you to stay tuned in because they are selling viewership. Every weather event, big or small , is like the end of the world. I totally get leaving SE Florida in the face of a 185 mph storm. I don’t get how the hype continues. And the news stations “ preaching “ - I was watching local news just now, the young lady doing the report just told an older man she was interviewing that hopefully he would get indoors soon.( but it’s ok for her to be out there ). I hear this with every little thunderstorm. They think we have no common sense apparently. They have a lot of time to fill, so the preaching accomplishes the filling. In our area, they have put out mandatory evacuations for certain lower zones. I can understand it may be advisable but mandatory? They act like they can’t believe you would stay. Well, some people just can’t leave because they have no money for gas or no vehicle or no relatives or friends to stay with or money for a motel somewhere. The problem with this hype is that when a real emergency occurs people will remember all the “ Crying wolf “ events of the past and take it lightly. On the other hand, I guess all the gov. Agencies and news stations are scared of Being too unconcerned and it leading to deaths and lawsuits. But the Bahamas? Folks, they need everything we can do for them. I wish I had the means to drop everything and go there to help.

I thought it was ole miss. , not Miss. state. Still a good win for Memphis.

They were biting good as the hurricane looms... It was warm and windy . Ended up with 21 , caught all of them on various color zoom flukes. If the sun popped out, I used those with gold sparkle. They really liked the gold sided ones with sparkle and red top. If the sun was in I switched to watermelon seed, or watermelon red. I fished the middle of the day , which I rarely do in summer. These were the two best.