N Florida Mike

Ahhh. Cooling news from the north.Another 6 weeks and the temps and humidity will begin dropping here enough to turn on the fish. Cant wait!!

Ive been out many times with lightning all around but never had the line rise or heard cracking sounds.One of the worst storms I was ever in while fishing was at Palestine lake in N. central Fl. There were 4-5 of us in 2 boats. The lake is around 3 miles long and about a mile wide. We were fishing the north end and a storm popped up suddenly from the northwest coming our way. We ran down to the south end and the storm looked like it would miss us .We were right by the boatramp but one of my best friends thought we could go to the southwest side of the lake and keep fishing. But another storm had slipped up on us from the south and before we knew it we were caught. We ran up into the Cypress trees ( dont know if that was a good idea or not )and laid down in the boats.It was a toad strangler rain , I mean. Lightning all around us every few seconds. ? We had a prayer meeting right there! We were all pretty shook up, soaking wet, nerves shot and half deaf after it all. I dont remember us fishing any more that day after the storm.We just quietly loaded up the boats and went home .

"Jake from state farm " is my favorite. I either laugh or at least smile every time. Also liked the cave men gieco commercials. I get the feeling it offended someone ( imagine that in our society ) because they just abruptly stopped showing them. There was a guy at my church that reminded me of them and he was a singer. I would think of the commercial every time he would sing

er, glad she was at least one county away from me.....

Hope your right about Florida. Got all the pieces except QB is still ???

• mowing yards •bonanza steakhouse bussing tables • working on a farm.

I was working but kind of wanted to see it. Weatherman said it would be clearer out towards the beach so I had a stop out there and went.Rain and clouds!! So after the stop I had about 15 minutes before the peak time ,now the weatherman says best chance for a break in the clouds is inland. So headed that way and toward a little litening in the clouds .Pulled over with several other onlookers and the sun popped out almost right on peak time. I thought Id be able to see it without the solar glasses , Honestly, I couldnt see much difference, could not see the moon., but there were some cool sun bursts coming down. We were supposed to be 90% coverage but I was suprised it didnt get much darker than normal.

I only went home twice ever,derectly after losing a fish. Once was around 20 years ago. Had the 10+ fish up to the boat and it made one last ditch surge and broke the line. I yelled and looked up and 2 men were staring at me off another dock nearby. I just dropped the rod and went home. The other time was this spring when I went home over a 5 pounder. I had been in a big fish slump for a few months and then lost that one. ? Was so ticked off I kicked a hole in my gate when I got home when it wouldnt open the way I thought it should. Glad my wife didnt see it!!!

I used to fish all over the Gainesville area, but in a boat.Bank fishings difficult at the natural lakes there. If you have connections at U.F you have access to their property at wauberg lake ,which includes bank fishing and boat check- out.I wouldnt wade fish those lakes.One of the highest concentration of gators and moccasins anywhere. I can tell you about surf fishing.Done it all my life in the st Aug. and Jax area.I start going again in Oct. Plenty of spots to fish.With surf fishing,its more about conditions , bait ,and rigs than it is about where you go.

I love Calabash. We went there several times and got seafood when I was a kid. There were only a couple restaurants there then. The one We went to was right across the street from the docks where they brought it in. I think the name might have been Thomas seafood.( This was app. 50 years ago.) Calabash is special to me because it was my parents favorite place to get seafood.I can still picture us there in my mind. My Granma and uncles family lived at Shallote NC for many years and Id go there for 2 weeks every summer, hang out with my cousins, and fish. Caught a 3 pound or so black drum at Ocean Isle when I was 8. That fish is the one that really got ME hooked on fishing!!

Yeah Ive got family all over SE NC. We used to surf fish a lot at Ft Fisher and at Ocean Isle beach.

I was 4 or so and we were near Ft Fisher NC .My dad and me had waded out in the marsh and I caught this small purple fish on shrimp. He thought it was some kind of perch.I remember begging him to keep it but he made me throw it back. The fish must have been really small because his idea of catch and release was catch and release into the ice chest!!!

Thats it^^^ It wears me down . But if I dont GO today it doesnt mean I dont THINK about it.In fact, early this Sat. morning looks good!!

The Bible Favorite Fiction book is The Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings.

I hope not. We had that near miss/hit last year from Matthew and it was bad enough. The crazy thing was that my mom had passed away 2 days before the storm. Then The dang thing went up and hit the part of North Carolina she was from and we couldnt do the funeral right away because relatives couldnt get there from all the roads being washed out.I had one cousin that could not get out of her nieghborhood because of all the flooding.

My mom had increasing dementia the last several years of her life.Her sweet disposition never left her though, which was a huge blessing.We had her living with us the last 5 years of her life, for which Im thankful. You and your dad will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Ive been through that too,but if theres no clip how do you post a pic?

Im content on my small home lake but I might be tempted to move somewhere on another slightly bigger quiet lake thats much further away from a big city.The city and bar scene is not tempting to me atall. There are a thousand lakes like this in Florida.For me, Id stay somewhere in N Florida.For years I wanted a place on Sante fe lake .Its still nice,but more developed now than ever. Still...Cypress trees and docks . aaaah!

The PB illustration made me smile. How awesome is that! Congrats !

Tried to post a picture. First one in awhile. The paperclip attachment thingie is gone. Whats up with that?

Here we go wih this again. I tried not to say anything but....I got a 5/0 hook in my right eye when I was 24 .Out nite fishing. Girlfriend took me to the hospital .5 hours of surgery. Detached retina, and shattered lense. Thank God the doc saved the eye but it was close. I now wear a strong contact in that eye and have enough sight to help the stronger eye. I wholeheartedly agree with the post, for obvious reasons !!!

At first it seemed like a tough choice, but I would take the PB. Theres a lot of other kinds of fish I can catch for the 3 months in Florida!!?

Wish I could visit E. Tennessee more. Havent been there in 6 years now.

We had one fish in my small lake and it was caused by oxygen depletion.The guy that sprayed for weeds killed too many weeds at one time and the resulting oxygen loss caused all ( I think ) the bigger bass to die. I have a friend who used to work for a lake spraying co.He said if its a lot of small fish dead it was caused directly by the herbicide.If its bigger fish then its oxygen losd for whatever reason.

Glad you had a good time. Summer is most often trash fish or dink time for surf fishing here,but once and a while you get a decent fish. The only tarpon I ever caught was while surf fishing and using a live finger mullet for bait.But it was only 20-25 pounds.