N Florida Mike

My plan in the old days was just throw a red shad culprit worm all day in grass and cypress. No back up plan. 99 % of the time youd do pretty good.? If they werent biting you just changed to a moccasin culprit and maybe go across the lake and do the same thing.

Looks like you hit the nail on the head @Catt ! And Clemson's offense has been great, largely due to that freshman QB

Ive caught a lot of fish on them. Esp. the watermelon red, and black with red sparkle. I use a bb shot for weight. They work best for me in brush ( imagine that ! ) I have only caught a few fish on the brush hog, but one was a 4 pounder. The green pumkin chartruese tail yum dingers are great too . I tend to catch bigger fish on them than the bbhogs.

What is the curse ? That they spend all that time , money and effort and never find anything?

Glad to hear your getting better ! Praying for a full recovery.

I THINK Bama will probably win. I usually root SEC all the way. BUT... I HOPE Clemson will win. That QB doesnt play like a freshman. + Dabo's a good coach and a good person.

I used to have a bass boat . Fished all over North Florida. Got tired of all the upkeep and $ involved, and was soo busy with family , earning a living , ministering to others , etc ,so I sold it and bought a Jb and kicker. I have loved the simplicity of it , and fishing small waters .The only thing I have missed is the ability to fish large water bodies. So, to the point : Recently a good friend since childhood bought a bass boat. We grew up fishing together, fished tournaments together. I took him bass fishing the first time he ever bass fished. He had a bass boat back in the day and sold it for reasons similar to mine. Now we are planning to get back out occasionally to some of our old waters we fished when we were much younger, probably starting with the St Johns river , since its close to us both. I can hardly wait. This friend and me fished together many times , and never had the slightest disagreement. I know life is short in this world and know it could end tomorrow., so Im not taking it for granted that I will live long enough to do this that I plan but it sure is fun to think of it while I wait. What do y'all look forward to this year ?

Confidence usually comes with successes. If you never catch any fish, how could anyone stay confident very long ? You would then over analize, looking for answers to your fish drought. I think thats a common pattern with most of us.

Catchin' a few. ? but It's been a little slow. Ive been off since dec.21st and fished several times. Only caught 17 , but one was an ounce shy of 5 pounds.

I thought the same thing about the south well into my 20s and it is true but....then I met one of my best friends who was from michigan. He loved to hunt and fish too ! Me and my other local friends had so much fun with his childlike love of bass fishing, and other northern stereotypes .To him, a 4 pounder was uuuuuggge, as he put it. Then he would holler for his MeechiGANDER net. He was and is a true blue friend and outdoorsman. Changed my perception some, but not completely. But By far the best outdoorsmen Ive known were southern. Of course, that was all we had growing up. Now, In Florida, that has changed... not so many people are from here anymore. I personally think most country people ( and some in cities )anywhere do outdoor stuff. Whether it be north, south, east or west.

I kept my PB, ( at least her memory is still alive on my wall )and most of the other fish I caught I ate, until I started releasing all the bigger bass . I still keep a few smaller bass occasionally.

8.1 . Caught on july 19 on a 5 inch torn up senko. I think it was watermelon slice color.

The same thing happenned to me today. I got a 4.15 as the light was fading. Made a few more "last casts " , and had a pound sized fish get on to close out the year.

Today is the anniversary of my PB , caught many years ago. Decided to fish longer than normal, and fish " Old School " large plastic worms like the jelly worm I caught the PB on. I still have a box of them from the 70s and 80s. Before I left I cast a couple times at the nieghbors dock and got the first fish pictured. Caught it on a late 70s , early 80s vintage gold flake paddle tail worm. Caught 1 more on it later. Went to the island to get some shade and got another on a black with blue tail curly tailed worm. I stayed with various 10 inch worms, and caught another on the red shad culprit. Very slow bite, almost slick calm conditions . Fished very slow to get them . It was starting to get dark and I de cided to fish a little of the east shoreline going home. I had rooted around and found a 5 inch alabama craw yum dinger. Nothing for a long time, then finally got this 4 pound 15 oz fish. ( last pic ) On the lean side at 23 inch. Not the PB I was huntin', but I'll take it . Happy new year everyone !!!

Tried out this creek today near the house .Had one on a senko but lost it.

5 pounds

What I have experienced is good fishing 3 days before and after a full moon., and similar around a new moon but not quite as good. I caught a 6 pounder on a full moon once, but usually the day of the full moon isnt great. Bass definitely will be bedding more actively around full moons and new moons in spring. Ive seen them on beds as early as december, and as late as april or early may in my area. I rarely check on the moon anymore, except full moons in the above months. I believe the minor and major feeding times based on the moon is significant, but I just fish whenever I can and usually do alright .? If Im planning a trip out of town to fish, I check it to see what the best day(s) may be. I tend to spend more time on cloud cover and wind . Barometer is a hole 'nuther can of worms.

Not quite, but getting closer every day...

Currently I use " my brain " But I'll check into this other stuff ?

Got out again today for a few hours . Decided to take my worm boxes only. I wanted to fish the east side of the lake and tried but it was too windy. Did get a fish off a tree in the water. Got down south to some calmer water and picked up another fish. Both fish on the red shad culprit. Lost a nice fish and they quit for an hour or so. Changed to the watermelon red / chartruese tail trick worm. Finally picked up 2 nice fish on consecutive casts. The one pictured is the smaller of the two - That pic was even blurrier than this one. Not a banner day, but better than yesterdays attempt at jerkbait fishing.

I had what amounted to a pet bass at my dock. I caught him 5-6 times because he was so aggressive. Named him lucky. He was around 4 pounds. Then he just left, and as far as I know, I havent caught him again. Guess he got tired of getting hooked.

I was suprised I didnt do better. The lake is full of quality fish, and I thought they would be all over it. It has been colder recently up here though , I had bluebird skys , I had a brisk wind in the more open parts of the lake, and the sheltered areas were full of floating leaves, etc, so it was harder to not have the leaves get caught nearly every cast. Like I said, I fished a variety of baits and presentations, and depths but the fish just werent active.

Well, I tried several jerkbaits for several hours today. I was not skunked, but not by much. I caught these 2 on a small gold rapala, both with a moderate speed retrieve. Tried every kind of retrieve I could think of. No wakes, no blow ups , no misses. Even the fish that bit did not hit it very hard ( of course their size may have been a factor ) I diligently cleaned all the weeds off after every other cast. Even tried lipless crankbaits with no sucess. At least I did not turn to my plastics like normal. Think this is driving me to live bait before the end of the week ?

Thanks. Think Im going to go with only my jerkbaits and see what happens. Kind of excited about a new challenge. I know how they love plastics around here so itll be fun to try something they havent seen much. I plan to rig 2-3 different ones up and alternate until I see what they want. I'll report back. Will probably go later today or tomorrow.