N Florida Mike

One of my favorite stories was when a friend I nicknamed " hoot owl " and me went speckled perch fishing in a lake near Gainesville Fl. So Hoot owl begged me to take him fishing. I'm pretty sure it was his first time. (22 years old) .We got some minnows and went out on the lake. He could not bait the hook. He could not cast a zebco 33. He threw off every minnow I put on the hook. I finally would bait the hook and just get him to drop it over the side of the boat. He actually caught a low IQ speck or two that way. After a while I decided to try to teach him to cast a spinning reel. At first he seemed to do a little better with it so I turned my attention to catching specks. Within 5 minutes he said " Somethins wrong with this reel. What was wrong was he had reeled the line all the way around the handle somehow and it was tied up and immovable. He had asked me to borrow one of my hats and I let him wear one of my favorite Gator hats with the stipulation that he not let it get wet. Shortly after the wrapped up reel incident I see my hat floating by !! I look back at hoot owl and he's fishing intently with not a care in the world. He didn't seem to understand why I raised my voice at that point. To quote Andy Griffith " Some's got it , and some aint "?

I have also held the opinion that the North end warms sooner because the sun is on the southern horizon.. But if you think about it , wouldn't the south end get the same sunlight unless there were trees to block the sun ? In my little lake the extreme North and the extreme southeast part of the lake have shallow , weedy flats. Fish always seem to bed in those two areas first, which seems to indicate that the water temps there are slightly warmer , and are caused by the shallow water more than the sun's angle.

Sorry for your loss.

Purdy fish !!

Not saying it isn't a cool idea. Id go if I could afford it. And I'm not saying I don't see any northern plates. It just seems to be less than its been. New Jersey / new york are the most common up here.

I used to camp in remote to semi-remote areas with boat and gear and only had one issue I can remember. That was a theft of my cooler and lantern at a campground on a lake . Fishing was good but we never went back there again. When I camped, I kept everything I could locked in the truck and slept in a tent with my revolver handy.I dont overly enjoy camping alone , not out of fear but just wanting to enjoy the experience with someone. So I never had any other problem. I wouldnt let fear stop me from a great experience but I would thorougly research the area and take a friend and you should be fine.

Ive been seeing a lot of texas plates too , and Tennessee for some reason. We always see a lot of Georgia ,the Carolinas and virginia. I honestly havent been seeing as many northern states plates lately. And Im on I-95 almost daily . Maybe the Exodus is finally slowing down.

Thats nothing. Try leaving the freezer door open FOR A WEEK while on vacation for a wonderful wifely response , when all the fish , game , and DEAD SHRIMP thawed out. ?

It would be cheaper just to move to Florida ! ?. Whats one more among the millions of other transplants ?

Got two on the first two docks , both on a 10 inch watermelon seed ole' monster. This one was the better one. Not another bite after that.

Not me lol. I did watch " Grumpy old men " with their ice fishing scenes the other day.☺

Still got an old x- box and a few games. Got so good at EA sports mlb baseball that the computer rarely beat me so it wasnt a challenge anymore. And their Ncaa college football. Love that one and got so good I would try to handicap myself so it would keep it interesting. My favorite of all games though was the computer game Civil war generals 2. The field of play were very authentic maps of the real battlefields. Even took washington once. ( with the South )?. I Dont play it anymore since my computers been broke for years and I havent replaced it.

Jon boat or bass hunter at least 80 %. Mostly small lakes.Got a yak too but havent used it in over a year. Used to wade fish a lot. Almost never anymore so its bank fishing ponds the other 20%.

I fish with a floating line with my primary bait choice , which is usually some kind of soft plastic. I watch for the twitch as the bass takes the bait and usually try to set the hook in the opposite direction from the way the fish is moving. I guess you could say Im in the slower camp but have tried to speed up some so I dont gut hook the fish. I rarely use any attractant and I feel confident that I rarely miss a fish picking up a bait. One reason for this is seeing the twitch. Another is that I maintain some contact with the bait so I feel them pick it up. I dont know if its the plastics I use , but its uncommon for me to have a fish let go of a bait once he took it , An exception to this is a bedding fish moving the bait off the bed and quickly dropping it. With worms , I usually hook the fish in the mouth near the edge. With flukes , I try to set the hook faster , because flukes gut hook fish more than any other bait I use. My opinion is that I lose more fish with an immediate hookset than not. I often will set immediately if its a very weedy or structure filled area so the fish doesnt bury himself. Otherwise , I get myself set and see which direction the fish is heading and set the hook. I know thats not the popular opinion but to each his own. What Im saying is I know a bass can very quickly spit out a bait but it just doesnt happen to me that often.

Week of the full moon in March in N. Florida.

I generally fish small waters because I hate crowds , so its not likely to happen with me. That being said, if anyone fishing a tournament asked me nice, I would gladly give up the spot , unless I was fishing a tournament myself. If they roared up and cut in to where i was too close without asking , I would have a problem with that. Although I wouldnt leave , I may or may not say anything. If I had the chance to share a few tips on spots and baits with a pro on a local water body I would do it in a heartbeat. With me , its the non fisherman boaters that cause most of the problem. Had a dunce run right over my line the other day with no regard to me whatsoever. Then seemed genuinly suprised when he got yelled at !?