N Florida Mike

Here’s some more. I was rowing a jon boat once and facing backwards I saw a fish swimming all around erratically. I went back and when he came by I scooped him up. I put him back in and he wasn’t any better. I reckon I konked him with the oar while rowing. Happily, he was not wasted. Another time I was cast netting bait in a tidal creek and when I pulled it up there was a redfish skeleton in it. Recently I hooked a bass , reeled it in, and saw The bait had gone all the way through the gills and out and the fish was hooked in the side. No gill damage either. I told this one before awhile back. My wife asked me what I wanted for Father’s Day one year, and I told her a new baitcasting combo. She didn’t reply, which generally means NO. So the next day she took the kids fishing, had what she thought was a bite, reeled it in , and there was a baitcasting combo on her line. I got my Father’s Day present...?

I hope y’all don’t mind a few more. These are wildlife stories... I was out with my g. Daughter a few years ago, and we were fishing the home lake by the island. She has real good vision and said “ I see an owl in that tree over there “ I looked and saw it too , and cut loose my owl call. He immediately flew over to a limb right over us and started checking us out , probably thinking we were the strangest looking other owls he had ever seen.It was a fun experience to share with her. Another time I was fishing with my best friends teenage son. He made a comment out of the blue “ I’m scared of bats “ I don’t think I’ve ever heard another fisherman say that. 5 minutes after he said that, a bat was flying by and when he went to cast the bat got stuck between his line and rod. Never seen that happen before or since. Since he was entent on watching his bait in the water, he did not notice the bat. I kept telling him but he acted like he didn’t hear me and the bat finally got free. I think David thought I was pulling his chain...?

You know it’s been good when it looks like this.

Caught 32 this weekend in app. 8 hours of fishing time.Took a friend fri. Night and he caught a couple small fish too. The biggest was 5.1 ( first fish pic ) Got several 3-3.5 pounders also. Biting really good for the summer. Caught most of the fish on the June bug zoom speed worm . Got 1 on a frog.

I would at least put them in ice . I’ve done that overnight and cleaned them the next day and never had a problem, and I’m in Florida.

One time I was bank fishing with a friend. He bent over and was looking at something in the water. All of a sudden he thrust his hand in the water and pulled out a 2 pound bass. Another time I made a bad cast and it went over the top Cross beam of a dock , which was 10 -15 feet above the water. It came down and landed in the water and a bass got on it immediately. I set the hook and pulled the bass up to the top of the beam but couldn’t get it over . It got stuck there and the bass flopping trying to get loose.It was too high to get to , and we started laughing at the rediculousness of it. I was about to cut the line and the bass fell back in. I have also set the hook and missed a fish , and had the bait go over the boat and land a fair distance away. And a fish get on it then. Another time I was bank fishing in my back yard and set the hook on a fish that broke my line. I yelled a little in disgust but then noticed the broken off line still laying right near the bank and starting to move away as the fish began picking up steam. I jumped over a kayak , landed in the water and was able to grab the line in the same motion. Then I hand-lined it in . 4 pounder!?

I recently tried a beefier off brand hook because they were so much cheaper than the Gammies.Wont ever do that again. Hook up and catch rate went way down.

I’m that way with Gamakatsu hooks. I have a very good catch rate % with them.

Good fish. Don’t know ‘bout that hat tho!?

Caught this poor thing . Skinniest I’ve ever caught. ?

I can relate to what y’all are going through. Like others have said, it has become the “ new normal “ for companies to ditch long time faithful employees. The same thing happened to my wife in 2014. She had been at her dream job for 10 years and had been a great employee as a business analyst.( I still don’t understand exactly what that is) Her company began a merger and they began to micro manage and started trying to find faults in her performance so they could get her to quit. She toughed it out for a year until she got another job . It turned out the new job was even worse, and she was let go after working 24 straight hours and missing a meeting because of it ! Since then she has only been able to get contract jobs that end after 6 months to a year. Her latest contract ends in 3 weeks so we are in the same boat. She is trying to land another full time job. I could live comfortably by myself on what I make , and come close to supporting her too , but we have relatives that live with us that are a huge drain on our economy and apparently don’t care. And my wife won’t put them out on the street with her big heart . So I will probably be working til I drop . My wife will probably retire in 10 years and get a modest SS check. Hopefully she will have something to retire from ! We have each other and have learned that things really don’t bring happiness. It has been a miracle time and time again that we somehow are just able to pay the bills. Yall have my prayers and support.

Got this one before the rain on a zoom fluke in watermelon slice.

Nice. Got this one and a couple of his friends in about 5 minutes using a cut-off Zoom June bug speed worm.

Use a zoom fluke or senko weightless. You’ll get bit!?

After watching Glenn’s video I’m going to try the hook he recommended. Maybe you CAN teach an older dog new tricks.?

I don’t use horny toads much anymore because to me they had a low % of fish caught for all the effort. And I would lose many of the fish that did bite. I didn’t have much trouble with them flipping over though. I never found a hook I liked, even some that were recommended. The smaller the hook, you couldn’t hook the fish because the body of the toad got in the way. If you used a bigger hook, it was too long for the toad body. So at least I can empathize. I love Zoom z- hogs. They are lighter and the hookup and catch rate improves greatly with them. Havent seen them in stores lately, but I’m assuming they are still there. It is one of my fav. summer baits. I seem to get a larger avg. size fish with them too. The best hook I can find is a Gammy 3/0 wide gap hook. It isn’t the best because it doesn’t fit the body of the bait just right but it will catch lots of fish if you don’t mind The bait slipping down the hook a lot. I’m sure there’s a better way but haven’t found it yet. Maybe the screw-in hooks. I never could find the right size for them either though.

I used to squirrel hunt with an old 22/410 over/under that belonged to a friend. I have a separate 22 rf and 410 sg that I used to use a lot. I often didn’t use a scope with the 22 and was pretty accurate . Where I primarily hunt now has fairly high pressure from other hunters, and my eyesight isn’t what it used to be, so I use my 12 gauge with 7 1/2 shot . The squirrels there are so skittish they are often pretty far away and I can reach out to them ( and still hit them ) with the 12. I let my grandson use the 410 usually. I like to slowly stalk through thick woods with big trees , esp. Oaks. Walk a few feet as quietly as possible, stop and listen and look, and slowly move on. In a particularly good area , I may sit and wait awhile. Watch for them on the ground too. A friend gets probably a third of his squirrels that way. My problem now is finding new areas to hunt close to home. The N east Florida woods are rapidly diminishing due to all the new subdivisions coming in.?

I know it sound simplistic, but I just fish the heck out of a variety of soft plastics. Which ones I use each trip mostly depends on kind of an instinctive direction I get, which I believe is partly or even mostly based on experience. I’ll go fishing and just kind of think of a bait I want to use and so usually go with that direction. Some of it is based on the weather, time of year , etc. but the bait that I want to fish is often what the fish seem to want that day. I may change it up a few times and often it works. I fish spinnerbaits occasionally also , following the gut feeling also. I also do some frog and top water fishing at night or low light conditions, again following the thought of those baits and following the desire to fish them. I realize this is more philosophical than “ how to “ , but it seems to work for me .

Caught my first fish out of the marsh at Ft Fisher NC when I was 4 . It was some kind of little perch, according to my dad. This would have been 1965. Caught my first good sized fish when I was 8. It was a 3-4 pound black drum, caught while surf fishing at Ocean Isle beach, NC , with my dad and cousin. I was completely hooked on fishing after that. I started bass fishing in ‘74 or’ 75 , after going bank fishing at the local lake, catching some bream and seeing a small bass swim by. Caught my first decent bass ( 4 pounds ) on a doughball shortly after that. Have loved bass fishing the most of all kinds of fishing since.

Welcome back! You have this to look forward to:

I played golf once with friends from work. I couldn’t quit laughing at all my miscues. For some reason they never asked me to go again ! I like it better than soccer though (but that aint saying much ) I actually seriously considered getting a golf course membership so I could fish all the ponds!?

I don’t use circle hooks for bass unless I’m live bait fishing. It helps to reduce gut hooking fish in that case. I probably don’t hook quite as many bass with a circle hook this way but it’s close enough. I use a relatively small one too, I think it’s a # 2 ( not 2/0 ) . This size hook allows the hooked bait to swim naturally instead of being too weighed down by the hook. I just let the fish get it almost tight, then lower the rod , start reeling and as it tightens, lift the rod in a slow but continuous motion.The fish will most often get hooked in the corner of the jaw.

I have never used a leader once in 45 years bass fishing. I get plenty of bites in the moderately clear water I fish. I don’t see how using a leader would catch me more or bigger fish. It definitely opens the door for more to go wrong. I tried floro once and hated it because it sinks, and I rely on mono or braid because they float, and it helps me to see that “ twitch “ when they bite. As for braid, I don’t prefer it on spinning either, but I tone down the hook set considerably and it helps. But I lose a lot more fish with braid on spinning gear than mono. My keys to not losing fish: • Use sharp hooks that match the bait you are using • Check diligently for nicks, and retie frequently even without having one. • Don’t let the fish jump. • Maintain constant pressure on the fish. • Religiously check and readjust the drag

I’ve tried too, and can’t find one that helps either. My son loves em, but I have big wrists and forearms so the fit is too tight and won’t allow good air flow. I may try a Columbia shirt tho and see how it does. My shirtless days are long gone but Long sleeves burn me up.

I’ve known a few. One of my old friends was one of the best I ever fished with. He was “ the man “ on one of our local creeks and the river. He went off into the turkey hunting twilight zone, never to be seen again. Another one used to fish tournaments for years, and had a membership at a privately run series of lakes. He just up and quit, sold his bass boat and took up golf. He called a couple weeks ago and we went fishing for the first time in 5 years. Looks like he’s starting to come around.