N Florida Mike

I know, but you must really put forth an effort to find them. Katie, you would love all the ponds and small lakes in the Ocala nat. Forest. They are still wild, except even there you will run across more people than before… No arguments here! 😂 The 33s were made with more metal parts than the plastic 404s. I still have a 33 but it needs fixing.

I think that picture was from the Withlacoochee River. I actually catch more fish from my small water craft than when I had a bass boat. We ate what we caught back then. My dad was a big influence in that! I remember when Zebco 33s were popular for bass fishing. The retrieve was slowwww ! Don’t know how we got many fish to the boat !Then, everyone had to have an ambassador bait caster…I now take around 5-6 rods each trip. I have never cared one bit how I catch bass, as long as it’s legal. I loved it when you could fish anywhere in Florida and not have crowds ( or sometimes anyone) fishing the same water you were on.

We always considered dog days to be August primarily because of the heat and humidity. Ive only fished there once , for a little while. You would think the Jax urban ponds would be great, but I haven’t found that to be the case. They are stocked by FWC. , especially for catfish,but that doesn’t seem to help much with the bass. But there are some huge old bass in them. A 14 pounder was caught years ago in the ocean way pond, and I believe a 13 in the Hannah park pond. Some of them have poor water clarity , which is hard to fish for those of us who fish clearer waters more often. Black and blue is a good color if the water is murky there. It would be best to get a kayak out there and fish vegetation, the bass really relate to it in this area.. I remember that lake being kind of void of vegetation when I was there . This time of year early morning to around 10 is best. Id free line little bream or shiners while you fish with the artificials. Using a small hook and light line with little to no weight is best. Im sure the pressure doesn’t help either. Try something different in plastics.IMHO it would be difficult to catch much this time of year on anything but plastics fished very slow , or live bait… You might try the ponds off new Berlin at Sheffield park. I lost a nice fish there once when it got up into some cattails.

Remnant of old Florida meeting strip mall …

Hey @GRiver, Different subject completely , but is there much eel grass in the river down there anymore? It’s mostly all gone up here, apparently from the hurricane flooding.

I mean, a hook anywhere in your body is bad. For me , getting hooked anywhere else than an eye ( almost anywhere else ,lol😂) is less traumatic .

When I was in my 20s, all I wanted was a cabin in the woods , with “ a woman and the kids and the dogs and me” I got the woman, kids , and dogs, but the woods have receded like my hairline. 😂. At least I get to live on a lake…

A single hook in the eye was enough for me! @GRiver I feel your pain. Get better soon.

Well done ! You caught 28 in 2.5 hours?😮. Is that on your lake ? Those are some healthy , beautiful fish.

My nieghbor Leon called and had a new topwater frog he wanted me to see . I had fished all morning and was relaxing but he’s always so excited about fishing I met him down at the property line. He had had 2 blowups but missed them. He insisted that I try with his combo and frog. It casted probably 125 feet. Boom! Fish on ! 😄 He couldn’t believe it…

I was on the water long before the sun came up. Clear and warm with a nice 10 mph breeze. Started out at the south end of the lake. I Tried the pad crasher for awhile , and had one half hearted blow up that I missed. I went to the Bama bug dinger and immediately caught 2 good fish. Then I moved to the southeast corner of the lake , and caught another good one on the dinger . I picked off a couple fish on the horny toad in the deepest hole in the lake, and one on a red bug truck worm , then began fishing around the east side of our island , hunting for shade. Got several on the June bug speed worm and lost several in brush piles. Came around the south end of the island and switched to a watermelon seed super fluke, and caught a few going up the west side of the island, including these 2… I caught a couple more on the fluke as I headed home , and stopped at the north deep hole on the way home. I had switched to a Houdini super fluke because it was so bright, and got this 4.25 pounder to close the morning. It was the best day I’ve had in several years on my lake. The lake is clearly rebounding since the otter has been gone the better part of the year… Ended up with 16, with a 16 pound bag for the top 5… It was one of those rare days where nearly everything went right! Got a good case of bass thumb to go along with it lol . Happy Memorial Day everyone!

There are tons of snakes here. Pygmy and diamondback rattlers, cottonmouths( which are the most common). I even saw 1 copperhead, which aren’t supposed to be in NE Florida. Heres a healthy diamondback that was crossing the road between 2 palmetto fields in Guana preserve when I was hunting…

Started the weekend off right with another long skinny fish.. Also got a smaller one, both on the Bama bug dinger.

My son that lives in Michigan fried me up some yellow perch when we were up there. It was delicious !!

I’ve been eating bass for 50 years now. In the 70s and 80s I kept every one unless it was a dink. In the 90s I began selective catch and release. By this I mean that I keep some occasionally. When I bank fish ponds in my area I very rarely keep any. When I go to an out of town water body, I usually keep legal fish . If I fish my home lake, I will occasionally keep some to eat, only in the 12-16 inch range. Anything over 16 goes back, unless it dies on me. My lake is very productive for bass ,and always has been . Therefore, I must harvest some so there’s enough forage for the remaining fish. As far as eating them, I love filleted bass under 16 inch. I fry them and they come out very tasty. I don’t like them quite as good” bone in”. I think because of the skin. I love catfish , bream, and bass. I’ll eat any of the 3 interchangeably. There are saltwater fish I love more than these 3 though . I just don’t get the chance to catch them now as much as I did in the past.

Not buying the water rising thing. If I said what I really think, it would probably get banned. If it does rise , then I would hope that people would have enough sense to move inland.🤷🏼‍♂️

Katy , I agree that insurance is a big problem. Infrastructure is another one, trying to keep up with all the people coming here. The traffic is becoming a nightmare. Respectfully though, our coastline is no different than it was when I was a kid in the sixties. Oh we have the occasional storm that floods some houses, but we’ve always had that. I can go surf fishing and stand in front of the same dunes that were there when I was a kid. Like I said though, N Central Florida is still nice( not the crowded coast).

N. Central Florida is still a nice place to live, but it is rapidly changing. It is getting developed to death. IMHO the fishing isn’t near what it once was. I could break down the water bodies you mentioned but won’t for sake of time. I will mention Sante Fe for an example. We fished there recently and caught 1 bass in 6 hours of fishing. It is one of the most bassy looking water bodies you will ever see. It has everything . I personally did not get 1 bite in 6 hours. And I grew up here. My conclusion: Heavy pressure. The other popular water bodies are the same. If you can find unpressured water , then you will have success. Don’t get me wrong- I am very blessed and content to live here, and even more so, to live on a small lake. That being said , my lake now has probably more pressure than ever since Covid. The saltwater fishing here is very good , but you have to deal with lots and lots of people at the ramps and on the water. It’s frustrating for someone like me who , when I was younger, had wide open fishing opportunities with relatively few people around. As for the Greenville area, I have had this strange desire to live in upstate SC for many years now. And not just for the fishing. I’d like a quiet place back in the hill country. I doubt if it will ever happen, but it’s fun to dream…

Not much work today. I fought it all day , but finally had to get a few casts in. This healthy fish fell prey to the Bama craw yum dinger.

Somebody ( A family member), took my old gas can that I used to fill my lawn mower up with. My grandson had a new can that he uses for his 4 wheeler and dirt bike. I asked him if I could get a tank full of gas for the mower . He said that’s fine. But I like to never got the gas to come out of it for the device that hinders the flow for some reason. So I was looking for the old style gas can that actually works and thought I had found one at a gas station and bought it. I go to fill up my mower , and after pushing , pulling etc, could never get any gas to come out of it…😡 . I got so frustrated I considered breaking the whole thing off., but it’s probably connected inside the spout somehow. I finally just took the whole spout off and poured it directly out of the big hole , spilling some of the gas…😡😡 I am fairly mechanical but … why on earth do they make spouts like this?? I suspect it has something to do with not spilling gas, but I spilt far less with the old cans. Thanks for the vent !!

I was on all night security detail the night it happened and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, even though I was outside most of the night. I was around 7 miles west of Jax - maybe the city lights made it unviewable… To tell you the truth , I was disappointed when I heard about it. I’ve never seen it here in my life. The last time it was seen in Florida was 1989, and I missed it then too.

This is Florida. Wildlife everywhere

Tried a friends pond on the way home from work and got 5 on senkos and Bandito bugs…all around pad clumps. Nothing big , but it beats a skunk…

Got 3 in our small church pond , all on the bandito bug…

19 inch is all…