N Florida Mike

I was high up In the Georgia mountains camping and drunk water coming out of a hole in the rocks. Best tasting water I've ever had. No Ill effect. I also went camping with the family in the Florida backwoods and we all had some of the melted ice cooler water. Before long, we were all hunting our own private palmetto bush ! Glad we had plenty of toilet paper !

I have a 4 year old Minn kota trolling motor. It runs fine when it's out of the water. As soon as it touches the water, it quits. I have never had this problem in owning various units for 35 years or so. The battery is new and well charged so it isn't that. I also just put new clamps on to try and solve the problem, but it wasn't that either. What do y'all think ?

Got out around 6:30 this evening. Trolling motor won't work. So I unload it and the battery at the dock and head out with the paddle .Caught a few pound size fish and made it down to the deepest hole at my end of the lake, which is ringed by eel grass . Caught a couple , and then had another fish break my line, which rarely happens to me anymore . I was a little aggravated by that, kind of grumbling to myself. So I kept fishing the hole. Had another fish attack the 5 inch yamamoto senko, in a watermelon red type color. When I set the hook , I knew it was a nice fish. Thinking maybe 4 pounds. It surged under the boat and I pulled it out and then she surged away from the boat and I pulled her back and was able to lip her. To my surprise, the fish was a lot bigger than I had thought. She ended up weighing 8.1, and was 25 inch long. I'm still hyped up after an hour and a half. Thankful !

Stand up in a kayak ? You must be more flexible than me, brother. Getting in and out of it is hard enough !

Yeah, and we have lakes like Kingsley. Some of the locals think the next Florida ( maybe world ) record fish swims in there . I've heard of several 14+ fish caught in there recently. But you can't get in there unless you are military or know somebody that lives on it.

Was out at our church farm this evening and noticed some topwater activity in the pond. So I grabbed an old cheap spinning combo that was there, and found 1 hook that would work, and searched diligently through my tool box and found 1 old rootbeer fluke. Caught this one reeling it across the grass near shore. Also caught a dinkand lost a few others. Also saw a fair sized buck at the woodline, but too far away to get a pic.

You caught it on a senko ? Never heard of that before. I caught one that was 23 pounds and it was just under 3 feet long. For a minute there I was wondering if he was going to spool a BIG saltwater spinning combo I have. I vote your fish for "carp of the year "?

Sounds like you described my home lake. Except the jig-in-winter part.

I wasn't aware of your chemo. Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Oh no. Here we go again....

Well, at least it didn't happen while your were ON the camping trip.And you got a truck. Sounds like things are working out.

Shell bars take time but birds will often be near them waiting for bait fish to appear. Also watch for boat clusters ! I also like fishing creeks in the spring when the fish are bedding. I would hang around whiteys fish camp also on Thursday night's if they are still having the tournaments and see what they're biting.

What are you fishing with ? I use ribbon tailed worms like culprits and Producto tournament worms in red shad, black grape, or black. Dark colored 5 inch senkos too. Look for lower to the water docks, and skip up under them. There are also lots of wrecked docks from the storms that you can pick apart .I've also caught good fish fishing cypress trees at higher tides, and also they will occasionally be on shell bars feeding on bait fish, esp.bream. If you can find eel grass or pads they will relate to them also. I have never done much of the " offshore " fishing out there, but I would try cranks and rattletraps off deep structure, and try the plastics there too. I would focus on one or two areas that maybe take in a mile of area, and start picking apart the area.. or you can run and gun between docks and other structure with the boat . I've done well in Drs lake, julington creek, Around Mandarin ,and the stretch of river down by lake George. The river is intimidating because of its size, but it's basically fishing structure just like you would anywhere else.

I don't think it's nearly as common as it used to be. As much as I love fish, bass aren't up at the top of my list to eat, esp.on the bone.I like bass filets, but would rather eat a good number of other fish more. Bass apparently do have higher levels of mercury, but unless there's an advisory in the area, or you eat them more than once a week ( don't know anyone who eats bass that often ) I wouldn't be concerned.

I wouldn't worry about it. I've been eating fairly large quantities of fish ( fresh and salt ) all my life , and I feel good, and thankfully have no chronic health issues. I also believe that our waterways are cleaner in general than they were. I also believe that a vocal minority get a lot of people worried about relatively minor issues. That's my take on it anyway.

Hey, that's good. You do well to catch much from the bank there. I catch most of mine in the back corner by the car dealership. Got a 4 and a 3 and 6 others one time. Heard of a 10 being caught there. I usually take my J. Boat with T. Motor. I'm done with my work but it's storming at my house. I guess we'll wait and see....

I got into the Bradford chain of lakes a couple times and got a 5 pounder. Used to fish the ockloconee river too, and caught a lot of variety there. Used to be a sand ramp off tower rd , and we would fish all the way to hwy 90. I tried talquin once and didn't catch any. Carr lake used to have a rep. For huge bass but It may have dried up recently.

And... there's always Julington creek ! I don't fish it in the summer much, but if you have a boat, docks are a good place to start.

I use a big Dark colored worm. I Don't let it sit as long as I do in the daytime. I reel it about 6 feet or so, let it sink, wait maybe 10 seconds, pick it up, and repeat back to the boat. 2nd choice is a booya pc. Frog. Also have done well with a devil's horse but Not crazy about the trebles at night either.

I have done well with these: Culprit worms Mr Twister curly tail worms Producto tournament worms Mann's Jelly worms ( PB caught on one ) I would use black or black grape fishing at night.

Soft plastics !!! Why ? Because they catch fish the best for me.?