N Florida Mike

It’s a little humiliating to admit, but here goes: I backed a boat the first time in my early 20s, and never had ANY problem backing a variety of boats from various vehicles, all trucks or suvs.. no problems loading either, until I had been backing boats for around 30 years. then… A friend and me fished beinville plantation in N Florida, and I went to back my friends truck down with trailer to load. ( he’s waiting with motor idling) I couldn’t do it after several tries. First time in my life I couldn’t. The problem was : I have always been able to back perfectly by looking over my shoulder and adjusting the wheel accordingly. I never had to use the mirrors before. His truck was a little higher , the angle of the descent made it more difficult, and The result was that I could not see the trailer looking over my shoulder. I couldn’t do it with mirrors. My friend somewhat lost his temper( found out later he was bipolar also), and ran the boat up on the bank and backed down himself. Then my lifelong friend that I bass fish with got a truck with higher ground clearance also, and the same thing has happened a few times. Add to that, most Florida ramps now are a zoo with all the newcomers . I have developed a fear of trying again, guess I’m somewhat dislexic and didn’t know it all those years. My lifelong friend doesn’t call and invite me to go anymore, which I don’t hold against him , in my mind it’s because of my backing escapades( I actually did finally get the trailer backed down each time though) , but it’s probably ( hopefully) not because of that.

My friend caught a cowboy boot once. I can still see the disappointment on his face when it broke the water. His first cast ever while bass fishing. I told him to throw back over and catch the other one. 😆

Took a friend this morning from 8:30- 1 . It was very windy , and clear to cloudy. It was slow to say the least. Paul had never bass fished. At least I was able to put him on a couple fish. I only caught 4 myself, and every fish was caught on june bug yum dingers. We lost around 7 fish.I hooked a big fish on my finesse combo with a baby brush hog, but he got off near the boat. Coming home we stopped to fish a deep hole and I was reeling in a pumpkin speed worm . It got nailed by a fish but was going around the front of the boat. I turned the boat to get a good angle , and the fish let go right before I set the hook. One of the more frustrating days I’ve had on the water in awhile ! Still glad I was able to go.

Ours is an older house built in the 50s so it was very affordable, even for waterfront. What gets me is that only a few people besides me ever fish it.

Fished the home lake for 2 hours before dark. Temps around 70, mostly sunny, with a light ripple of wind. I fished the eel grass beds going down the lake from the house , and the june bug magnum speed worm and the smaller speed worm produced 4 fish. I didn’t take a picture of the biggest fish I caught , because I caught it in front of a family relaxing on their deck and didn’t want to make a big deal about it in front of them…it wasn’t much bigger than the pictured fish anyway. I lost the biggest fish I hooked at the boat , but it wasn’t over 3 it didn’t look like. only the eel grass produced today. No fish activity in the wood or in the deep holes. I caught nothing at the south end of the lake, which seems to be a trend lately. Beautiful day to be out on the water. The last pic is what I see when pulling up to the house…

Got a beautiful, healthy fish out of the church pond- 5 pounds even, 21.5 inch…

Fished a pond this afternoon that I haven’t fished in awhile and caught some big bream but no bass. I came home and fished on the dock. Bass were not biting at all, got a few little bream and a small catfish. I got a bite on my 5 foot ultralight that has 6 pound test, and was baited with bread. but when I hooked the fish, it was something big. I have probably caught 200 bream, shiners and catfish on this same hook. It is so weak now , I have to bend it back in place every other fish or so. So I fought the fish by keeping just enough pressure to keep it on the line without bending the hook. I also manually pulled line out when the fish would run. I was not expecting a BASS. but that’s what it was. I am sure this is the same bass I caught the other day. Same weight, length, and appearance. 5 pounds, 3oz. Hooked barely in the top lip. On a piece of bread.!! when you’re hot, you’re hot ! 🤠

It’s been all shore lately…

Got a 5 pound 3 oz fish out back just now. It was a little “long in the tooth” at 23 inch.

@FloridaFishinFool did the research. I know all about the lady and her property now. It’s amazing what is available for anyone to find out. Some of you advise giving up. I will after a couple attempts. But this lake would be so convenient for me to fish . I am better than average at reading ponds and it looks really good. There is another very similar lake that’s actually nearer to my house. I’ve fished it twice, and plan another trip there soon. It’s public but I’ve never seen another person fishing there. I caught 7-8 fish there the 2 times I fished it, the biggest was 3 1/2… so I have options…😊

I read the Bible the most, usually several chapters a day, but also enjoy Louis Lamour novels, Florida historical novels, Non fiction and fiction Military history, especially the civil war, and the pacific theatre of ww2. Also enjoy reading stories of Appalachian lore.

She has been strict about that through the years. They have violaters will be prosecuted signs up. Sounds like what I thought up. I am not a pastor of a church but have been to school for it, and I do a fair amount of teaching . I would mention my affiliation with my church and offer free help to her . I should just help with no strings attached. I’m not even sure she really needs any help lol

it’s just sitting there with nobody fishing it, which is a shame . A friend nearly got permission from her a few years ago but didn’t. Can’t remember why. That’s me in the old days lol.

The problem is I can’t get to her. She lives by herself in the back of the gated community and she has her own gate too. I think I know what I’d say to her if I had a way… I was thinking about sending her a nice letter asking permission and offering to keep an eye on things for her…

It isn’t on the church property though. I’m actually a licensed preacher already anyway, but that won’t impress this lady I’m sure.

I had a Mickey Mantle card when I was a kid. Also had all the stars and others in baseball from the late 60s through the 70s. My son took them to school with out permission in the 5th grade . When I went to look at them the next time, most of the valuable cards were gone. He admitted it but said they were stolen out of his desk. Now I have the remnants of that collection, and probably a thousand cards from the 80s and 90s that were my uncles. I doubt if they are worth much…

This is a picture of a lake behind our church property. It is inaccessible to the public. It has cattails around most of it , and has several sections that join together. it is owned and cared for by a woman who has had some kind of boat club for skiing. I very rarely see boats on it even in the summer. I have a goal to gain access ( legally of course) It is separated from our church property by a barb wire fence and has numerous no trespassing signs up. A spring fed creek flows out of it , and into the best church pond where I catch most of my church pond bass( we have 4 on our property). I met a friend of the lady that owns the off limits lake. But she didn’t come through for me to get permission. what would y’all do to get access? she lives in the back of a gated community that was built in front of her , and I can’t find any boat club listing there either!!

The Jax area has hundreds of small lakes and ponds. I’d try soft plastic baits like zoom super flukes, yum dingers, zoom speed worms, trick worms. Texas rig them with a light weight or no weights . Try different speed retrieves. There are a lot of public parks with ponds. Most hold bass. If you just want to catch anything, use worms or bread to catch bream. I catch catfish well on dead shrimp.

Nowdays it’s mostly fishing, I just don’t have much time for anything else.. I haven’t hunted much lately, but planning a hog hunt in a couple weeks. I used to garden and play softball but that ship has sailed, but I may have a small garden again if I ever retire. I play a 5 string banjo, so I do that 1-2 times a week at least… I do some reading, 90% of it is the Bible, the other 10% is historical novels, especially civil war books and Louie Lamour westerns.

I caught one over 6 on Christmas day once, and my PB on dec 31st . Both had eggs. Still early for NORTH Florida. It has been a cooler fall too, so it doesn’t make sense why they are on so early.

Just got a 5.13 at the house . This is unreal..🤠

Got a 7 pound 8 oz fish in the church pond. Id swear she’s full of eggs. I think this is the earliest in December Ive ever caught a bedding fish..

Suprised at the variety of responses. I lose the most fish fighting it up and down with the rod, instead of side to side. I will often switch sides once or twice too if needed. I very rarely lose a fish by switching, but you must switch quickly to not allow any slack. I can tell if the fish is coming up to jump, so I lower the rod tip nearly into the water to prevent the jump. If they jump, the chances go up on losing the fish. Its most important to keep constant pressure on a bass. I fish eel grass a lot , which makes that difficult. A stiffer rod helps some to neutralize eel grass affects on the fight. I don’t use a net or boat flip fish over 17 inches. I couldn’t tell you the last time I lost a fish at the boat by lipping or palming the fish…I do mainly fish in a JB low to the water, so it’s easier for me to reach over and grab them. Most of the fish I lose are at or shortly after the hookset, not well into the fight. I have cut down on line breaks by examining the line for nicks after every fish, or if the line came into contact with an abrasive substance…

I don’t fish spinnerbaits much. But when I do, I have used strike king and booyah. Willow and colorado combo, or a single colorado. A friend of mine does very well with a black skirt. I caught a 6.3 on a multi colored skirt, that was trying to match bluegill colors. I have caught some on a white skirt also. This was mostly in fairly clear waters, or slightly stained .

Got a bonus 3 pounder as the sun went down …