N Florida Mike

FIVE rods now ? If you keep on your going to win in this broken rod contest we’re having . Im still at 3 , but the year is still young. Im glad you’re friend could come visit. Got to have lunch with my best friend yesterday- just an hour does a lot. As for golf - I played once and never got invited back , maybe because I lost so many balls then laughed throughout the whole game at my miscues. Thanks for the positivity- I had a very rough day at work yesterday but you remind me to look up and let go.

Dang A.J . Ive only owned 6 vehicles not counting the wifes. 2 of those my son totaled within 24 hours. ( dont ask ?) Ive had the Ram 21 years now , and the other 5 for a total of 19 years combined. Guess which one is my favorite??

I saw him at least 4 -5 times. He would play 4th of July freedom fest in jax.

Im glad it’s about the only site I can go to where I dont have politics and agendas crammed down my throat. Thanks , Glenn!!!

I have a ‘98 dodge ram.( Ol Faithful ) 196,000 on it. Looks like its been rolled down a hill and flipped a couple times but it still runs pretty good. It takes almost as much oil as gas. We fixed 3 of the freeze plugs that were leaking with a bolt and JB weld.? I dont want to spend too much money on it, but we’re fixing to take a trip to the U- pull it lot and get some newer accessories anyway...

There are several reasons its tough . The part of the main river from palatka to the north has relatively little vegatation anymore for some reason, but creeks like trout and 6 mile do have a lot of pads. Warm water is a factor. There is just so much water it can be difficult to find fish. Ive fished it most of my life and found it slow most of the time. Fishing seemed much better in the 70s and 80s. This time of year pitching/flipping deep cover would probably be best. Fish are sluggish in the summer here, but are usually most active first thing in the morning. If you can find eel grass and fish around it , you will find fish. I have a very experienced friend that fished Doctor’s Lake recently and only caught a few ( with one 3.5 pounder) fishing all day.

We call it “the bear” . Ive had the bear get on me a few times, having worked outside all my life. The last time was a couple years ago laying sod in the summer. I had about 25 pieces left , and I had NOTHING left in the tank. I willed myself to finish , but had a headache and was feeling sick and hot. Made it home , and after a cool shower, drinking cool water, and putting cold washcloths on my temples and wrists for 2-3 hours, I finally began to feel better. I think I was pretty close to heat stoke that time. Good post , A.J . The bear slips up on you before you realize it. Drink plenty of fluids the day BEFORE doing anything in the heat.

Got this one with a bruiser bait 10’ curly tail worm in green pumpkin. Happy 4th everyone!!

Looking south on the st Johns, about 25 miles south of Jax.

We had an unusually cool june until around the 20th. Had a low of 62 one night, which is the lowest since that day in 1961 . It’s been normal highs ( 90s ) since. In the summer , I only go first thing in the morning until 11 or so anymore. They bite pretty good most mornings.( caught 19 this morning) Im with @Catt . I used to fish all day from sunup to sundown and still wish I could keep on fishing...now the lower back tells me when to quit. The heat is just a contributor to making me go home. And if they are still biting... well , you know how that goes.

Got out early this morning with a good friend. We ended up with 19 total. John caught his personal best twice !! We caught most of our fish on baby brush hogs, and a few on super flukes. The lake we live on has an island with trees and plenty of laydowns. The trees produce some good shade after 9:30 or so. We caught most of the fish around the island today, since it was already scorching hot by 9:30 . Also saw a pair of barred owls ( in the pic one is far left, the other is far right ) that watched intently after I hooted at em.?

It seems like there’s always at least one in every area. I follow these guidelines: 1. Never fish in anyone’s yard. 2.Never cross anyone’s yard to get to water. 3. I never fish where there is a no trespassing or no fishing sign. 4. If I get asked to leave I usually comply. There are other spots. Where I do go is city and state parks, schools ( when kids arent there ), business parks ( during off hours, and especially closed businesses. ) , D.O.T ponds alongside of roadways , nieghborhood common areas, and city common areas. I generally fish the small to medium sized ones so the fish are easier to find. I like ones with some aquatic vegetation around the edges. Following these guidelines, Ive minimized issues, but once in a while, MR or Mrs Crabbs will show up anyway...

I have a city park near me that has some woods and a hiking trail. There is a pond back there that is right off the trail. There’s houses on the other side. I fished the park side once- no fish but no problem. The next time I go , here comes a lady around the pond from the houses saying I cant fish there its private property, which I found hard to believe. It’s literally 30 feet from the trail and not posted. I wasnt catching anything anyway but gave her a couple verbal salvos as I left . I Wasnt hurting anything and she just had to do that. I tried to find the park property line in a property search online but its not clear who owns it. There was a no fishing sign across the pond according to the lady , but I couldn’t see it where I was. The sign was right - “ no fishing” could have been shortened to “ no fish “ because I caught nothing...so I didnt stand and argue, just left.

When I fish flukes , I try and set the hook right away because out of all the baits I use , I gut hook more with the flukes than the rest of my baits. I love a T rig senko, but dont catch much with wacky rigged ones for some reason. And it drags weeds a lot worse.

In my experience If I set the hook immediately It either bites the tail off, or you swing and miss. I wait until I know where he’s at and which way he’s heading before I set the hook. Almost every time a bass picks up a plastic bait, he will move off with it. They usually swim somewhat parrellel to the boat, or sometimes toward the boat. If you set the hook immediately, the fish may not be where you think he is and you’ll miss the fish. For some reason I dont have many fish spit baits out once they pick it up.

I didnt see many either, but the ones I did see were immense- almost thought one of them was a horse when I first saw it...

That’s a real good story. Ive fished up aways on jacks river several times in the cohutta wilderness, and the same up at Conosauga lake.Never seen a bear, but seen some hogs and huge deer. There is definitely good food sources there for bear or cat . Glad you weren't on the menu.

Im careful what I tell to people on the small lake I live on. If someone wants to know what Im fishing with , I just tell them soft plastics work pretty good, but I usually leave it at that. Most of them try with a bobber and worm for a few minutes, and never do again. As far as keeping fish , I used to keep everything when I was a teen. I changed to catch and release ( some of them,)to catch and release ( most of them). I do keep some in the 12-15 inch range to thin the herd. A friend on the lake gets irritated when I tell him I keep some and why. Ive explained it several times and he still doesnt get it. This last time I sent him to the pond boss site so he could read up on it for himself.

This is my normal mindset all the time- not just when fishing. It comes easy for me for some reason ! ?

I wanted to add that I fish a topwater frog occasionally and I fish it at least as slow as I do soft plastics. But the bites are fewer and far between. I have the patience for plastics, but not as much for frogs. Almost all the bites I get on frogs are fishing them very slow. I usually quit them too soon because I think Ill get more bites with something else.

This is making me wish I had kept track. I do keep track of fish over 4 pounds and high number days in my head .This year my best numbers day is 35. I have only caught 3-4 over 4 so far this year. I estimate that at least 90% of my fish were caught on T rigged plastics. 2nd is probably spinnerbaits, maybe 5%, then the other 5% everything else. I have probably caught 200 to 300 bass in 2020.Just too lazy to write it down . ?

Being told to leave because its private property. Ive never had the police called on me once, which is a minor miracle. I have been threatened a lot though! I would never trespass in someones yard, but common areas and the occasional business park pond are fair game. I could write a book of stories about all the times I have been asked( or told) to leave. The older I get , the less it bothers me. And the less Im asked to leave. Maybe because Im looking more and more every day like the innocent grandpa type and so Im trusted more??

I totally agree with fishing slow, if using soft plastics ( not counting the Zoom uv speed worm )? My motto is” if you arent catching fish , you're fishing too fast. But I have enjoyed learning how to fish with moving baits like spinnerbaits that cant be fished too slow. I typically do better in spring and fall with moving baits. Just have several rods rigged with different baits and when the right condition for one of them arises, use it. But 90% of my fishing is soft plastics, and I fish them very slow. I will let it sit sometimes 15 seconds or more before I move it. Most of my biggest bass were caught that way.

I was out at the crack of dawn. Coudy, slick calm and warm. Got 3 blow ups with the pad crasher in the first hour , but missed all 3. Had a nice fish to the boat on a small shiner swimbait, but it came off. Then I got on a pbj senko bite, which I caught the biggest one on. I ran out of them , and started with the watermelon red dinger, and caught several more.Had to be in by 10:15 but I left em biting again.

That’ll be a tough one this time of year...