N Florida Mike

My wife bought one for the grandkids for 500.00 and they used it 2-3 times and that was it. You are right how much of a pain they are. It would fill up with water if we left it in the lake. A friend pulled it out to try and dump out the water and left it there and it killed all the grass up from my boat ramp. I think one reason my lower back hurts sometimes is from trying to move it around ( full of water or not). We finally winched it up out of the water across a narrow section of dock and left it hanging in the boat house. One of the hardest things I ever did was to try and lower it back in the water without it hitting the dock and putting a hole in it. We finally got some patsies to buy it for 350.00. I was so glad it was gone I didnt count the money and they shorted me 20.00. I’m absolutely sure they reaped more than they sowed on that deal, haha.

Where are you going? This might be the year I get up to @TnRiver46 neck of the woods and catch a smallmouth finally. There’s a better chance of it than the last 5 years or so anyway… Id like to take a couple speckled perch trips this year. Should of thought of it when I was off for 2 weeks. There’s a pond full of em 3 miles from here.

What do you think killed all of it? The river used to be full of eel grass , esp. up here. Is FWC having it sprayed? Seems like they’d know better if so…

I got out this afternoon . Fished the North end of the lake . They were biting the june bug speed worm well, but I only caught 1 on the retrieve. Also got several on the bama bug dinger. Had a big fish swirl up and grab the worm 2 feet from the bank. She Somehow broke the line on the set. . Many of the fish I caught were tight to the shoreline. Im sure we’re in the early stage of the spawn. Theres a bed behind my jon boat at my dock! Anyway… the last fish I caught looked like it had an old plastic worm sticking out of his mouth . But it turned out to be a little siren, which is an eel like thing with little arms. I ended up with 12. Good afternoon overall.

Ive got 10 bass combos- 7 spinning and 3 casting, 4-5 saltwater combos, 2 panfish combos, and 6 catfish combos. I also have several cheap kids outfits , and I have 8 or so of my son’s saltwater rods… When I fish my home lake, I generally fish 2-4 of them depending on the way conditions look. When I travel to fish, I take 5-6 of them… I just got 3 rods added to existing reels. One I fixed, One I bought, and One I found . Lately Ive thought about selling a few of them but most are so old and used I wouldn’t get much for them.

Glad you’re still able to fish. My dad stopped in his 70s because of bad arthritis in his wrists and hands. Personally, I just switched my last braid reel back to mono. I get better hook ups with mono. Actually broke 30 pound power pro twice in 2 trips, one on a cast of all things. Maybe it was old, but not THAT old. Maybe I’ll try braid again someday.

I’ve fished the Ocklawaha and found it to be difficult. There are some huge bass in there but hard to catch unless you use shiners. George’s lake is one of my favorite lakes besides the small lake I live on . It’s definitely a numbers lake, right now the hot bait is a 7.5 inch zoom UV speed worm in june bug red …More people tend to fish it for specks than bass, I guess because the avg. bass is 12 inch in there. You rarely get one over 16. Ive fished Lake George a few times. Came in 3rd in a tournament once, fishing the river just north of the lake by Drayton Island… using mostly red shad culprit worms…mostly in the pads…

What part did you fish? We primarily fished little Santa Fe in the past. I think every fish I ever caught there was on culprit worms around Cypress trees.

I work nearly 7 days a week and still just barely make it, but when we have money she doesn’t complain if I buy fishing / hunting related items. She even bought me a 5 year hunting liscense once, and I liked the thought but told her “ What if I died before the 5 years is up? “ She hasnt done it since… shot myself in the foot there… I get nice bonuses and gift cards at work, and thats the main way I get my fishing stuff. She wanted me to spend some of the 250.00 one on food, but I drew the line there. We already have more food than we could eat up in 2-3 weeks, just not what she wanted, lol. So I got my 100.00 rod instead… and she didn’t bring it up again… Hopefully it wont resurface if we ever have another argument…?

I had a friend that liked sailing. One day his girlfriend and him jumped off the boat in the middle of the lake for a swim and the sailboat blew off too fast for them to catch it. He went under 3 times and his girlfriend who was a better swimmer kept supporting him. Right at the last minute, a fisherman noticed their plight and rescued them. We got there to fish and hang out with them a few minutes later… His keys had fell in the lake so we had to go to the nearest store ( which was a long way off) and call his dad, who made the 40 mile drive with the spare key… Very close call!

There was a canoe stuck at my dock after one of our hurricanes. I thought it belonged to a girl I grew up with down the lake. It was hers , and we took it back down to her house. She sold it to me last year for $ 25.00. !

Got a fenwick HMG rod and some baits, line, etc. Also was going through my auxiliary fishing storage area and found an old two piece South bend rod that I had somehow forgot about. Cheap old rod , but Im going to use it as my work combo as I travel around… Nice bonus Christmas “ present “?

I found my hunter after 45 minutes or so. It was only 400 feet or so down the lake , and had gotten into a boat slip and partially under a dock. I went right by it in the low light first thing and found it on the way back. I was glad the trolling motor didnt have the prop break off hitting something.

We had a cold front come through a couple hours ago and It woke me up. I started worrying a little about my bass hunter because I had just pulled it up on our little boat ramp and didnt secure it. I couldn’t sleep thinking about it . So I got up and checked … and it’s gone. So at daybreak Ill be out in the jon boat searching for it. At least I know it didnt blow over our little dam into the creek spillway, the wind is pretty high and is blowing it the other way down the lake somewhere… Ever lost a boat, at least for awhile?

I agree100% , but I think the comment was partly tongue-in-cheek…

So we are planning our next trip there. It’s been years since I fished it. It is one of my favorite lakes I’ve ever fished, because it has everything - Grass lines, cypress trees, Deep water for a Florida lake, large size, docks, and is somewhat off the beaten path. I have not done overly well there, but I’ve only been skunked there once, during a night tournament. It is a very special and scenic lake . There are a number of you tube fishing videos on the lake, I included one that was done by a semi- local that gives you an idea of what it’s like .Recently someone had a thread about “ If you could live anywhere what would be your ideal place” etc. I picked where I live now. But if I ever had another choice , it would be Santa Fe , or maybe George’s lake, which has outstanding numbers fishing. Wondering if anyone has fished Santa Fe and done well or not…

I picked spinnerbaits only because I caught a 6.3 pounder on one once in january. I use various soft plastics all year. I just switch them up based on conditions when I go. Zoom Trick worms and magnum lizards have been successful in particular. Bass are usually starting to bed for us here.

If there’s any otters around , the cats won’t be there very long…

^^^ This. I dont think Ive ever bought anything because a pro endorsed it…

Yeah , that’s what they look like. I know of a pond that’s full of them, and they wouldn’t bite anything. They were bedding in April. I even tried snagging one and couldn’t even do that , lol.

That’s the topic , haha

It was either a rage tail cut-r , or a baby brush hog. They caught the top 2 fish anyway…

Unless your kids get it first!

Yeah , I had a friend show me his drone and watched it fly around and watch the camera out of it , etc. I was telling someone about it and couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was called ( drone). What was extra weird is that he said he knew exactly what I was talking about, but he couldn’t remember the name of it either. We just shook our heads and changed the subject…

But they arent nearly as numerous as the others. You almost never catch a pickeral unless it’s in a little creek out in the woods. . Mudfish are in nearly every natural lake and river but not in great amounts except in the muddiest, shallowest water bodies… We do have a lot of gars , and a relatively small population of stripers in a few of the rivers. White bass are more in Nw Florida.There are relatively few tropical fish like south Florida, it’s too cold for them to be very high in numbers. We do have a moderate amount of some kind of tilapia that I can’t catch, lol. I’m sure there’s something I’m forgetting.