N Florida Mike

You dont know me. The saga continues. So they are fixing my work truck and they give me the spare. Does fine yesterday but wont start today, clutch wont engage. I try and try and it finally starts. Get to work , try and try and it wont start. Tell the mechanic. He comes back in and says " the place mat was up under the clutch " ?

I know the feeling.?

Have you fished bienville lately? Maybe theyve got it back on track but I went with an experienced friend there a few years ago and we fished hard all day all over and caught 3 dinks. Water was chalky. Rumor was people were not renewing due to the poor fishing. But I would ( and do )fish Florida. I would fish The St Johns in various locations , Rodman reservoir, and stick Marsh. And I would use live ( wild ) shiners. A trophy is a trophy. Doesnt matter to me what I catch it on.

My dad drilled into me about being careful with my Rod and reels.I can only recall 2 that I lost for good. I dont remember breaking any by accident except the 2 I broke bank fishing by throwing them after losing big fish.The first one I lost was when I had a live worm out on a dock in the river. Something grabbed it and pulled the rod out so fast that it didnt hit the water until 6-8 feet out. Water was neck deep. I got out there and felt around for awhile but it was gone. Lost a old quantam reel and custom rod this year .When I got home in the bass hunter it was gone. Never noticed it gone but did remember hearing a splash near the boat and thinking it was a fish at the time. Another time I was fishing a big lake just after sunup and just as I shut the motor off a bass blasted something near a cypress tree. I excitedly grabbed for a rod and when I picked it up another combo had got caught in it and it fell in the lake. My sons only rod!. So I prayed and jumped out in 6 ft of water. It was cold, windy and lake full of gators.After 5 minutes of feeling around I stepped on it! And a friend broke the rod that I caught my PB on as he bent it into an arc and asked " Is this an ugly stik " and the rod snapped. My son though has lost several of my outfits through the years.But this post is long enough already!

When I went to UF I made some local friends real quick and they had boats. I fished many of the lakes within 1/2 hr of there but in a boat. You could try lake wauberg. It used to have a good amount of bank fishing on the side owned by UF. But watch for gators!

Just let me know what day if you want to go... theyve been biting real good recently.

Ive done that a lot in the ocala national forest. Fwc puts out a book of some of the lakes in there. I have some recommendations and dont mind sharing a few spots, including one that is my favorite. My spots are all primitive,but free. Send me a pm if you decide to go there. Mike

Favorite soft plastics • Anything by Zoom But especially: • Salty super flukes • Trick worms • baby brush hogs • Super speed craws • Z - hogs. • horny toads • ultra vibe speed worms • Stick baits • yamamoto senkos • yum dingers • stick - os • Other Plastic worms • Culprits • lucky strike curltail worms • producto tournament worms • manns worms • Topwater frog • Booyah pad crasher jr. • Swimming frog • Ribbet ( and horny toads ) • Primary Colors • watermelon seed and w. red • tequila sunrise • grape shad • red shad I have other categories of baits I fish such as spinnerbaits ,but the above are my primary baits.

I havent had too many experienced bass fishermen fish with me in recent years. So there isnt many excuses. One friend I fished with was always analizing the weather as his reason for not catching fish. I take more inexperienced adults and kids fishing and since they dont know much anyway they dont normally make excuses.( but they do ask lots of questions )

Good advice bigbill. I agree. If you fish the same small waters a lot like I do you will eventually find that the fish get used to seeing the same baits ( and being caught by them ). For example, on my home lake about 10 years ago my main bait was zoom flukes. I fished them heavily for 5 years or so ,then the catch rate began dropping. Then I started on senko type baits and wore them out until last year. Same thing happened, catch rate dropped. So now Ive switched primarily to small plastic worms and the bass are lovin em. But this year I tried some totally different baits than normal for me as well and did fairly well. So I have some new tools in the box. Its becoming more fun to me to see if I can catch bass on diverse baits. I still use all the baits mentioned above but mix it up more than I used to. But right now the fish seem to be locked in on the small worms.

Shane, I live on a small lake in Jacksonville fl. with Good bass fishing. Let me know if youre passing through here and maybe we can go. Safe travels to you. Mike

I am having quite a week. Yesterday I locked the keys in the work truck 20 miles from home. I may need to start taking a brain supplement or something. ?

I Found the worms !!? When I cleaned out my work truck lol. I had gone back by Walmart and didnt find them there ,so I went in and bought 2 more packs ! Then cleaned out the truck and.... So now I have five packs. At 1.56 per pack what a deal.

Believe it or not, Im sitting here thinking about those poor worms laying there in that cold ,dark parking lot. Its almost more than I can bear. I have to go by there anyway first thing in the morning. Maybe by some miracle they will still be there.

So I go to wal mart and get my new favorite worms. 3 packs of lucky strike tequila sunrise. Go out to truck and heard them fall out of the bag. So I stopped, picked them up, got in the truck, finished work ,went home. Totally forgot the worms until a little while ago. Go out to get them and... no worms. So I look back in the house, then back to the truck- 3-4 times. No worms. All I can figure is I left them on the tool box when I was unlocking the door. How could I do that. Really bummed out ?

Ive gone once a week for 4 weeks in a row now, for a few hours each time. 53 fish caught .Been fishing more for numbers ,trying to thin the herd some. Little worms have been the ticket here lately. Yeah we are supposed to get down in the 40s tomorrow night. Hope it doesnt mess with the fishing. Take care my friend.

Another few hours on the lake. Y'all ever have one of those days where you just feel like you'll get bit every cast? Thats how I felt. Ended up with 16 , but I lost more fish than normal . This was mostly because the fish were so active they would almost immediately hit the worm and swim off in any direction faster than normal. Caught probably 10 or more in blown down trees and limbs from Irma. Only had a couple lucky strike worms left , and I quickly used them up. Ended up using old manns ribbon tail worms in purple flake from the 80's and they loved them. Ended up with a 6 inch manns black screw tail worm on for the pictured fish. Fall bite is ON !!?

Not this again. Ok , I wont mention me getting hooked this time. Did have a close call with a girlfriend.When she cast she hooked my hat and threw it out in the lake. Now , Im usually kind of attached to my hats but this time I thought it was funny. Didnt marry her though?.

My first cast with one I caught one. Ever since then,nothing.Ive probably cast it 100 more times and nothing. Wierd.

Fished this afternoon and had the best numbers since spring.. Caught 17 ALL on the little lucky strike tequila worm. Fished a spinnerbait and whopper plopper too for an hour or so with no results. They love this little worm. The funny thing is they are in wal marts bargain bin. I think they are 1.99 for a pack.

Had that happen before a few times. Once I got hung up in a tree . When I jerked it loose it went over me and went the same distance on the other side of the boat. When I started reeling in a bass had got on there,and I caught him. Way to stay with him Mike.

Welcome to the forums ! To further muddy the water, there is Florida . We have our own names for fish here. Crappie are speckled perch or just " specks " to the locals. Bream are all the panfish species here i.e Bluegills, copperheads ( some in other regions call them coppernose sunfish ) , fliers,Shellcrackers ( redear sunfish ) stumpknockers,redbreasts, longears ,and warmouth perch.Largemouth bass are actually in the sunfish family.There are a few sub- species here ,suwanee bass,redeye, and northern and florida strain largemouth. When I was growing up , most people around here called them black bass. There are also white bass,striped bass,and sunshine bass,which is a hybrid of the former two. Plenty of fish to catch here, and they are all good to eat ,including the catfish ,and all the saltwater fish ! ? The bass arent quite as good as the others mentioned , so I usually release them. But not always !

I also have a 1920 shakespeare wondereel that my great aunt snagged while fishing off a pier in st augustine in the late 70s. Got it cleaned up and now it sits on the windowsill in my office. Reminds me of her and all those family fishing trips we took. I saw her catch a 3 POUND croaker off that same pier . Biggest one Ive ever seen.