N Florida Mike

Interestingly, I met a guy who dives/swims in there last sunday. To say that I picked his brain would be an understatement. He said he sees “a lot of big bass”,but that he’s never seen a catfish in there. There are a ton of little turtles. But never seen a bigger one.As many times as Ive fished it , Ive never seen any kind of animal in it, except geese. Ive not seen 1 gator either in 28 years. We dont have Muskys. Gars break the water to get air ( This doesn’t) A mudfish? My experience with them is that they will roll on the surface often ( This doesn’t). It fights like other big bass Ive caught. It just seems considerably bigger… My conclusion👉… Its a giant Bass.

Correct. It’s a Gammy 3/0. I usually use a small bait holder hook for this type of fishing . Youd be surprised how small. I think Im going to go up a couple sizes on the bait holder hook. It is a heavier guage hook than the EWG gammy. I wont sacrifice bait action with it at all, because it’ll still actually be a smaller hook than the 3/0. I will endeavor to persevere! 🤠

@A-Jay, I am geared up. 8 foot rod with a Black max 60 series and 40 pound power pro. Slightly ashamed to admit it lol. I cant go bigger on the hook without sacrificing action for the bait. A stronger guage hook probably would work , at least in low light conditions.

I definitely get less bites with braid. I don’t do leaders either , for a few reasons. I dont like Floro , So its fishing mono that gives me the most bites, I use Braid mostly for frogs and flipping, but thats it…

Out at the church pond again as the sun came up. Slower today- but I finally had a run and popped him. Acted like the target fish again. Swimming left to right... Had a bigger bream than last week on. But she had gone under a branch. I got 2-3 turns on her and thought the line broke. Reeled in and found this… Ive had this happen less than 10 times in 50 years of bass fishing… Tied on a new hook, and after a long time, had another run, going to the right and out. Took up the slack , set the hook, and whiffed 😕. Lord willing, I’ll try again soon… At least I enjoyed a beautiful sunrise!

Ive caught a couple fish that had a weird looking spot on the gill flap. It was circular, and solid green, and had a different texture than the rest of the flap. Kind of like a moss growing on the flap…

June bug is a top color around here. I do better with it in lower light conditions though. Watermelon red on a sunnier day. Watermelon seed on a cloudy day. Of course , this is in part relying on water clarity. Around here , most water is somewhat stained, more clear than murky. I think colors matter, but maybe not as much as some would like us to think.And if you are more confident in one color over another you will fish it better which = more fish . 😉

I found out today that the pond is 45 feet deep in the middle ! That is very deep for any pond or lake in Florida. A friends son caught a 13 pounder in it 10 years ago or so. With that kind of depth , bass can take advantage of thermoclines and not get stressed in extreme temps… so theoretically they should live longer and thus get bigger!

The consolation is that you taught her to fish !!

This fish fought good, but not like that bigger fish I’m chasing. Not that I’m unhappy with this one. In the 2 times I hooked the big fish, I didn’t gain an inch of line on her. I have only had a a couple fish on ever that I couldn’t turn.

Meanwhile in N Florida: We are in severe drought stage. My lake is so low some of the newer residents are wondering if the lake’s gonna dry up ! I told them I’ve seen worse a few times. It does appear to be changing. It’s rained the last 4 days for about 1/2 inch total … Before that we didn’t have any rain for at least a month …

I’ll come up with something AJ…😁

The fish ended up measuring at least 22.5 inches, up to 23. Can’t remember if I measured her including the drag knob or not, but it’s about a half-inch difference. So I’d agree it’s 6+. I actually just remembered it was from the first guide to the top of the reel rim, not the drag knob. So closer to 23 …

Thanks! She was a very healthy fish- pics don’t do her justice.There is some submerged weeds/grass.The pond is deep- nobodies sure how deep. I know someone will silently criticize me for catching it on live bait, but I have fished this pond consistently for 28 years, and the biggest on an artificial was just 3 1/2 pounds. I just got tired of it after awhile…

Back at the graveyard pond at crack of day. Got this one on a hand sized bream. No, I don’t have a scale because I dropped in the water the other day. I did get a measurement from my reel to first guide.- the fish fit perfectly between them . I will get the length when I get home( forgot my fish ruler too. This isn’t the one I’m after, but it’s halfway … I guess 5-6 pounds…

My last stop today was on the river. Jacksonville is just around the corner to the left…

2 other good ones are the “ Pee little thrigs” , , and this one …😂

I thought you said you already caught her once. My fish is the same way . All 3 times she was near the main inlet from a little creek into the pond. There’s also a drain into the pond about 30 feet from the creek. A friends son caught a 13 pounder in there app. 10 years ago, so it has the history of big fish potential…

Nearly all the fish I’ve caught over 6 pounds have been on spinning. I got started on spinning when I was young and learned to fish a BC later. I can’t think of any big fish I lost fishing with spinning that I would have caught with a BC. I realize I’m probably in the minority but I find spinning more versatile. Another thing most of you will probably disagree with is that with a BC your hand grips the side of the reel and the rod where the reel attaches . To me , it has always felt clumsy. The bigger the fish , the clumsier it feels when your trying to fight the fish…

The last time I went for any amount of time was Memorial Day. I feel like that was a typical day % wise. I caught 17 that day and missed 8 or so, I don’t lose fish much if I hook them…

So I fished our church graveyard pond early . Decided to try live bait. Some of you may recall last year I had fished there and set the hook on a fish that was around 10 inches . I had pulled him out of the water and when I took up the slack something had swallowed that fish . After a brief fight it got off . I couldn’t gain any line on it , and it was never hooked, but it was just hanging on to the small fish. I reeled in the small fish , and it had A lot of scales missing, which happens usually with bass and live bait. It felt huge for the brief time I had her. I lost her again a couple months ago, when she broke the line on the hookset somehow. Today a big fish nailed a bream , so I caught one and Before I could get it in it got hammered right by the bank, but it bent the bream hook out. Threw out another bream and got this 2 pounder… Threw out another one, and I immediately had a run. Got a great hookset, but she was angling parallel to the bank and began coming up to jump. Could not turn her in the time I had her. Right before she broke water, she came off , and the little weight ( only I thought at first )I had on flew over my head ! Another NOOOOO ! I tossed my rod a few feet. Thought it broke the 40 pound power pro, but it just pulled free somehow, still had the hook on too. Im determined to catch this fish and won’t give up !

This guy was hanging out at a customers house…

I had forgotten this one…when I went water skiing once with some friends. I TRIED water skiing is more like it. I couldn’t stay up. So one time after I fell forward, I just hung onto the rope for awhile as they pulled me along underwater. I felt a sensation on my stomach, kind of what a feather on your skin feels like. I let go, and started treading water, only to stand up in 3 fow ! We were well off the bank so I figured the water was deep ! I walked back a few feet and found a cypress stump that had a sharp edge sticking up… I had gone right over it, and when I checked, I had a red line going across my belly. But it didn’t break the skin. If I had been just slightly deeper, it would disemboweled me ! I shudder still every time I think of it !

I came close to drowning 3 times. Twice in undertows at the beach, and once trying to swim across a pond. when I got older , alcohol became a big factor. Once I woke up in my bed the next morning and the last thing I remembered was sitting across a table from a girl friend around 1 in the morning . I drove home somehow, but don’t remember it at all. Another time I was careening down a dirt road going very fast while drunk and heard a distinct voice telling me to STOP. I slammed on brakes and slid up to where the road just ended with no warning, and it dropped down into a deep ditch full of water. My tires were about half way over the edge. I backed up and slowly drove home, becoming pretty sober from the scare. I became a Christian not long after that !! Another time at work a talkative customer held me up, and as I drove back to the shop a big tree had just fell across the road . If the customer hadn’t slowed me down , the tree could have hit me… I also got hit on my side car door by a lady going at least 55 mile an hour on HWY A1A . I walked away with a few glass cuts. The paramedics asked about my friend who was sitting on the side of the road white as a sheet. I told them he was sick from swallowing his chew of red man when the car hit us…😂