N Florida Mike

Congats again. Academy is my favorite outdoor store here in Jax. My wife had been looking for work too for 3 months. Yesterday SHE GOT a JOB TOO. So prayers answered for us also ! ☺

It's a brown bullhead. That one had more white in it than normal.

Had a friend over from work to catch whatever we could. Dug up 100 worms and we caught a nice string of shellcrackers ( red ears ) , bluegill , and catfish. About 20 minutes after we started , I caught a nice bait- sized copperhead bluegill and threw him out on my live bait rod. I had been watching the cork and had taken my attention off it for less than a minute. The cork had silently gone under and had been taken 200 feet or so out in the lake in that short time .When I tightened up and set the hook , the fish came all the way out of the water. The fish ended up weighing 6 lb 11 oz , and was 24 inch. That was the only run we got all afternoon on the bait rod.

Whatever you fish , do it slow. I haven't been much lately. I would still try senkos or zoom super flukes , but just throw em out and let em sink. The flukes aren't being bit with the twitching retrieve right now. Try ribbon tail worms too. Another thing people often forget about is using live bait, shiners or bream in the winter. That'll get em biting!!! .

Awesome, Michael. Happy for you !

My son got 23 specks at Rodman the other day. Some were in the 2 lb range. Can't wait to get down there soon. I may try a few ponds this weekend . I'll report any results.

Nice catch. My son got 23 specks ( crappie to y'all) down at Rodman dam the other day. Going with him soon.

One of my closest neighbors growing up was Sicilian. I think the only ones I've ever met. She made absolutely the best meatballs in the world even better than my mom's who was a North Carolinian born and bred ! But miss agata could not have beaten my moms fried chicken or fried fish , samon cakes , or cornbread ! Present day I go to olive garden every now and then and enjoy the food and trying to pronounce the words on the menu !?

Fishing if the weather's nice. I don't care anything about the game.

Interesting ! Never seen that before.

Welcome from N. Florida !?

Wire leader! To prevent them from biting through the line. I've never used anything but my hands to unhook em , but a fishing pliers would help ! Another fish caught that way is Spanish mackerel but I'm not sure when they are in that area.

I can't speak about smallmouth , but I have gone full circle and back a quarter on largemouth. When I was starting to bass fish , most people kept most of the fish most of the time. It was a prevailing attitude down here from our depression era fathers and the condition of much of the South before that. We fished to feed our families and still do. Attitudes changed slowly regarding bass and much of my change toward it occurred by watching BASS members practicing c/r. My dad couldn't believe people would fish and throw them all back. He would always say "You could feed a starving family with all those fish " So it was hard for me to throw em back too. So I adapted by catching and keeping lots of other fish , which we have plenty of around here. I got to where I released nearly all bass unless they died on me. Then the lake got too full of little fish and I realized culling some was the best solution , so I starting keeping fish in a slot of 12 - 16 inches .Kept 150 last year. I give most of them to a friend and filet maybe 1/4 for the family. Every fish over 16 goes back. Sorry for the long post. I believe you need to obey the law and do your part to conserve the fishery . That being said , keeping some doesn't hurt most fisheries. Balance is the key.

Welcome to the forums ! I dont personally know any guides in the panhandle but if I was looking I would Google " Lake Seminole guides " and see what comes up , since its probably the best known lake over there.

I'm trying to learn jig fishing as well. What kind of jig would you experts use in a shallow , weedy lake , fairly clear water ,with a good amount of laydowns along the banks ? Excuse me , not trying to hijack the thread.

I think bass react like bass fishermen do. Sometimes we buy ( bite ) the lures that look catchy ( pun intended ) to us.

It's hard for me to pick one or two , because I'm in Florida. I'm very content with the small lake I live on . It has consistently produced for 40 + years now. Caught my pb largemouth , catfish , and bream in it . Have had lots of fun experiences through the years here with family and friends. If not there , I'd like to live or fish on a remote part of the St John's river, where the area around it would never be developed. A part of old Florida that would always stay the same....

I was on a hike way back in the NC mountains and came to an old house at the "head of the holler " I didn't go in but wanted to. Looked like the perfect set for one of those backwoods horror movies .It looked like a little breeze would finish it off. Got pics on an old phone. If I can I'll post it later. Be safe out there.

I've caught some of those , but not recently. They love dead squid or shrimp. I'm sure they bite lures , but I never caught one that way.

Just use a #2 circle hook, 1 -2 oz weight and cast fresh dead shrimp in the surf. Use a fish finder rig. It isn't too common to use lures in the surf there but if you do spoons are ok. Bluefish are the main target for them in the surf. If you can find somewhere inshore , use d.o.a shrimp or a chartruese grub on a jig head , or live shrimp under a popping cork . Use a gold spoon for reds. We usually fish live/dead finger mullet, or mud minnows for inshore fishing. They will work in the surf too.

Ok that makes more sense. Pitching might work on my shallow lake. It's 5 feet avg. And pretty clear, so getting too close will spook them. Deepest hole is 8 feet , and it's fairly clear of weeds there but has a grass edge on one side so...maybe There. I also have some good laydowns I can pitch into. Catt, do you ever jig fish after dark? Seems like it would work better then on a shallow, clear lake.

Hope y'all are doing well today. Looks like day 2 was good for you.