N Florida Mike

I watch videos on water I’m planning to fish no matter who makes them. I only have a few that I’m subbed to, and that’s more to help them out than anything. I have been thinking about making some fishing videos, but I’m terrible with technology.

I switched companies almost 4 years ago. I do the same job ( sales) I did at the last co. It would take 30 minutes or more to explain all the positive differences my new company has. Family owned and operated. 3 weeks vacation. Bonuses. A great attitude from the owner and managers. Better benefits. Better pay. More work to do( which means better pay). Complete freedom to come and go. Company car and phone. Yesterday we had a nice lunch at a sports bar as we listened to the new company insurance man give out the info. The list goes on…

They look tasty!!

I’m that way too. My dad grew up hard and one of his sayings was “waste makes want” I really struggle with not keeping an illegal dying fish, or keeping it. Tbh , I keep more than I throw back. Not promoting breaking the law , but …the struggle is real.

Grew up fishing on this creek ( durbin creek )

What was his second place pay out ?

Yeah. Ive used coke to clean off battery acid. Just think what that does to your insides… I keep bleeding fish for a while. If they live, they can be released. If they die , they are eaten…with no regret, I do hate it when bigger bass die, but that very rarely happens … I don’t think I’d ever eat a carp though…?

The main reason I do “selfies “ at all is to give a reference for how big the fish is. Im so busy trying to get all the fish in I don’t smile sometimes! But it’s in there !

Made it back home yesterday . I worked today but the lake was calling so I answered and got out in late afternoon… Perfect conditions- low 70s and a slight breeze, partly cloudy. Ended up with 12- all caught on the black/grape with blue tail 7.5 inch culprit worm. I used nearly the whole pack, because of all the fish that bit the tails off.

We ended up going to Rockford dam , at the advice of a local . We tried paddletail swimbaits, tubes, spinnerbaits, flukes, crappie jigs, steelhead flies , even worms and didn’t get a bite. We might have done better had we used more of the baits that y’all recommended. My son thought he had some of those but when we were already there we couldn’t find them. Anyway, We fished in the river and below and above the dam. I thought for sure Id catch something in the deep, clear water below the dam, but didn’t. It was a pretty area and I enjoyed the experience anyway. Maybe I can return when the fishings better… Thanks for the responses and recommendations… Back to Florida tomorrow Lord willing…

No. Heard it’s great .

Having some yellow perch for lunch. First time eating them. It has a distinct but very good taste!

? . I was misinformed then… Didnt see any bucks anyway.

? . We could easily have gotten a deer… I didn’t want to buy a license. Someone said it was 400+ for an out of state one…

Thanks. The trip has been great . The weather has been good too. We went to fish ladder park for a little while yesterday. My son had caught some smallies there in the summer I think. There were a lot of steelhead fisherman there that weren’t catching anything. We didn’t get a bite either, but we only stayed for a short time and had to leave because his girlfriend’s family were coming over… We plan to go in a little while - Riverside park looks like there’s a lot of access- is that pond there any good? Also looks like a lot of fishable water at Millennium park… Im looking at the other spots on google map too… Thanks for thinking of us… Mike

And it probably seemed like a foreign country to you, because it’s usually warm around Christmas there…

It’s a novelty for me. I have only seen it on the ground maybe 5 times in my life !

The last of the “old guard “ in my family passed this year.( My aunt Eva in NC) Now me and my brother and first cousins are the old guard. Wish we could all be together today but we’re all spread out… Im spending thanksgiving at my sons. He’s a very good cook at most anything, from fish, game , and whatever. And the one person in the world that makes me laugh the most ! Happy thanksgiving everyone!

Snow on the ground at my son’s in Walker Michigan… First time seeing snow in 10 years for me…

We made it to Michigan. It’s 38 at the moment, and high is supposed to be 49. No breeze. I don’t see any reason to hinder me from fishing. We plan on going tomorrow and/or saturday. We’ll be bank fishing and have some spots that y’all mentioned. What would be your top baits for smallmouth? ( I’ve never fished for them). We plan on taking some worms just in case. Might try for steelheads too. Thanks.!

Ive cleaned fish and game for a long time now , and grew up outside ,,which means plenty of injuries, some with some level of blood loss. None of those bothered me much. When I was in biology class though we had to draw our own blood. I tried but just couldn’t do it. So I picked a scab and got blood for the sample that time. The second time the scab was healed… so a girl at the table did it for me ! Needles don’t bother me as long as someone experienced is jabbing me. The only other time blood really bothered me was being the first responder to a head on crash between a vw beetle and school bus. The vw’s drivers face was a bloody pulp. I ran and got help but It was to get away from it as much as anything. I saw another bad crash and one of the drivers had a head injury and put a white towel up to stop the bleeding. I saw that people had stopped already to help, so I turned into mcdonalds and had something to eat… It bothered me someone was hurt, but that time the blood didn’t. I said a prayer and ordered my quarter pounder…

Exactly! We’ve been married 31 years now. I nearly lost her several times because I was more into my pursuits than her. By the grace of God , I began to change for the better, and noticed she was happier , and stopped nagging as much to get her way. Now , we almost never argue, and appreciate and respect each other more than ever. I can fish without it upsetting her because Ive made her a priority. I think many people lose the “feeling “ of love , and think that they aren’t in love anymore. If you want to get the feeling back, do something for your spouse. Do it even though you don’t feel like it at the time… People say “ I want my ____ to do this , or be that, and they wont. My advice is be the person you want your spouse to be…

When I was 10 years old or so my dad and uncle almost bought a lot on my second favorite lake. When we went to look at it , we were lost in the woods for several hours trying to find the lake. There were countless dirt roads like a maze in there. This was way before gps days. They had a road map but it didn’t show any dirt roads. We finally found it and I remember standing there listening to them discuss the pros and cons, with me hoping they would buy it , of course. I remember us making a second trip there again and only being lost for about half the time as the first. They did not get the lot, or I would likely be living there now.

The way I understand it, the female visits various beds, not just one. If you leave the buck bass , he’ll guard the nest. And they are generally much smaller and less desirable to keep in a tournament anyway.

Well, that’s comforting A.J Looks like maybe some ice fishing …?