N Florida Mike

GO Gators!!

I assume you mean freshwater fishing. All the creeks off the river even past downtown toward the ocean have freshwater fish, esp. the further back up in the creek you go. Ive never caught a freshwater fish past the arlington river because its too salty. But between there and way south down the river you will catch fresh and saltwater fish as it is brackish. Ive caught mullet way up in crescent lake. The further south= more freshwater fish. The closer to the ocean= more saltwater fish. I might be wrong, but I believe FWC considers the buckman bridge to be the dividing line for salt and freshwater licensing. So Drs lake is just into whats considered freshwater . There is a lot of fish to catch. If you are dock fishing in Drs, Id use multiple baits, especially natural baits, cut bait, worms, live and dead shrimp, live shiners, etc. Youll catch more fish. I caught most of my fish in there in the tournament on red shad culprit worms fished slow. I caught nearly all the fish near eel grass . I dont know if theres much of it left there anymore... If you have a boat , and just want to catch something, fish deep holes or pilings in the river with dead shrimp. You can catch some nice bream fishing worms under docks in Drs lake too.

The virus has caused more people to get outdoors and fish. Haven’t you noticed fishing supplies being greatly depleted at the stores? More fish were probably caught this year than previously , just because of the sheer numbers of people fishing. Im sure the fish instinctively fear people just like most animals do. As far as the virus reducing pollution I dont see that at all, . More people on the water than normal= more trash. As far as a major impact on the climate, no. I agree Tom.

I won a tournament in Drs lake- the only time I ever fished it.?

I grew up near Mandarin. I could write a book ( and may ) on all my gator experiences in the area. Grew up fishing Julington creek , the river, and small lake I live on. A friend killed a 11 1/2 footer near clark’s fish camp when we were 12 years old.

That pretty much describes my experience frog fishing every time. I did get a 7.3 and a 5 pounder froggin through the years at least .

Good to hear from you friend. Bless you brother... Ive had a spike in blood pressure the last few days and have felt pretty bad. Am doing better today I think. Hearing from you is a real encouragement...

I rarely use an anchor while bass fishing . My best numbers day in the last year though was real windy ( like 25 + ) and I got on some fish on the windward side of the lake . I anchored and fan casted . When the bite slowed , I pulled up and went aways down the bank and anchored again, and started catching again. I anchor a lot though for other kinds of fish.

I had a day like that last month. I would have caught around 15 had I hooked all the fish that bit. As It was , I caught 6-7 with the biggest at 1 .5 or so. Discovered later the hook was kind of dull... lesson learned.

I think a lot of it is fishing what you are confident in. That being said, I seem to do better using watermelon red in sunnier days ( or any kind of flake ) and I do well with watermelon seed on more cloudy days , especially on somewhat clearer waters. The water clarity seems to matter to me as to color of bait but theres good opinions that contradict that. I have one murky lake I fish, and blue seems to be the best color. All my clearer spots watermelon colors ( except I dont do well with watermelon magic ) Tannic stained waters are dark but have a certain clarity to them. These waters I do better with black grape or red shad. As for low light, I do better with dark colors , especially june bug an hour or so before the sun goes down. As for using dark colors at night, I was always told it is the dark silhouette against a slightly lighter sky comparatively that does the trick . Seems to work for me...

I just hate the way it ends and they all drown- I know they all really died that way so they couldn’t change it but it is a very haunting movie, maybe because I’ve spent a lot of time on the water too. I sometimes just randomly think about it for no reason. I love the quality and acting , story , etc. Very well made movie.

The worst things for me so far this year was my closest cousin dying suddenly in January, and my daughter totaling my truck. She’s ok at least... My brother supposedly caught the virus but never showed any symptoms. Thankful for that. Praying for you and yours @Catt

I love it but hate it at the same time.

You say you dont have the answers to catching big bass, then you give some answers...

This first one is sort a lament for Floridians who are old enough to remember Florida before all the development came... Then my favorite cheerful sounding lonesome song...

I caught fish on a lot of baits this year. Biggest fish was caught on a baby brush hog. Runnerup was caught on a rage tail cut-r . Numbers winner this year was zoom super flukes followed by speed worms.

You are a real encouragement and have shown us what friendship, courage , and faith should look like. Prayers sent for you and yours my friend...

Me too- but I use the same styrofoam cup as long as possible...

The suwannee has been on my bucket list for years, but Ive never fished it. I have fished the Sante Fe river though, which flows into the Suwannee. I have caught suwanee bass, mostly with red shad culprit worms fished near Cypress trees. I would fish with beetle spins or roostertails in there for panfish or just get live worms and fish around the cypress. Itll be a scenic trip, on a beautiful river...

Haha was thinking how good theyd be fried up too...

I like hunting but love fishing.

Thanks for the responses.

They do the same things in Fl. Hated that FWC had to put this one down, because it was a state record by far. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-biggest-florida-bear-killed-20150121-story.html?outputType=amp

I liked the tags I bought , but they went up , from something around 28.00 a dozen, up to 40 something I think. 28.00 a dozen seemed high to me to start with. I want to be able to at least I.D each individual fish somehow ,not just make the same mark on every fish, which wouldnt tell me anything... When I did it the first time, I only did 24 fish. Only 3 were ever recaught. Im wondering if the tags fell off because its been probably 6-7 years since I tagged them. All 3 of the re-caught fish were caught again within the year I tagged them. 1 fishwas released without getting the fishes number to record. The other 2 were both recaught near where they were first caught. Its very interesting to me. I would love to have info. on fish movement in the lake especially, and growth. Also what it was caught and re-caught on.