Captain Phil

When plastic worms hit the market, the only color available was natural worm. I caught my first bass on artificial using a natural colored Creme worm with a front spinner. That was around 1960. A year or so later, we discovered purple worms and thought they were magic. Since then, I have fished probably every color worm you can think of. I have seen days when pink was the only color that could get a bite. Other days, it may be Merthiolate or bright chartreuse. Nothing in nature is this color. Bass bite lures for reasons other than food. Curiosity, territorial protection, quick reaction and just plain anger all go into the response. In murky water, I start with dark worms. In clear water, I start with translucent green hues. This is where fishing tournaments can help you. It gives you a chance to obtain inside local knowledge that is not generally available. That is until everyone gets the message and you have to start over.

A weightless worm is the shallow water "nuclear option" in bass fishing. My smallmouth bass experience is limited, but it sure works on largemouth. There are many ways to rig it besides hooking it in the middle. You can rig it Texas Rig style in weedy water. In deeper water, I put a small swivel 12"-18" above the worm like a Carolina Rig without the sinker. It gives the worm just enough weight to sink without affecting the natural look of the bait. I fish this rig on 8 pound mono. The Zoom Trick worm is the best bait I have found for this type of fishing. This is a great rig to fish behind a power fisherman. You can fan cast it from the back of the boat and catch fish in every direction. Sometimes it works so well it's rather embarrassing. ?

When fishing a shallow weedy lake, try using 20 pound mono. It's makes the bait run shallower and you can jerk the bait free from the grass. Rattles will help you in dirty water,

THIS ^^^^^

I've lost count of the small lakes that we used to fish that are now private property. People are clamoring for water front property. It's a dream for many people to retire on a lake. Developers see this demand and respond. Lakefront property values in Florida have gone to the moon and beyond. We even have developments where lakes were artificially dug and stocked with fish. Thankfully, the county where we live has kept and improved many small lake boat ramps. Some of our best bass fishing comes from those lakes.

True. I will say I have benefited greatly by learning from other anglers. The problem is you have to sort through and find information that will work for you. Just because someone else does something, it doesn't mean you can do the same thing with the same results. That's where "time on the water" comes in.

Prop baits work much better in choppy water conditions. Years ago, this was my go-to bait when the water is rough. The South Bend Nip-I-Diddee is a big fish lure.

Weights are tools, you should use the right tool for the job. When fishing a Texas rig, I generally go with 1/8 oz. bullet weights. I don't think the material the weight is made of is significant. If the bottom is dirty, I may go to 1/16 oz. If it's shallow and not too weedy, I may go with no weight at all. Anything deeper than 6 feet, I use 3/8 oz. That weight size works great down steep banks. I use 1 oz. weights for Carolina Rigs, but that is for another reason. All my heavier weights are used for flipping and pitching. The majority of the time, I use 5/16 oz. or 3/8 oz. weights pegged to the lure with a bobber stop. In heavy hydrilla, I have used 3/4 oz. I fish the openings and shake the lure through. I believe anything heavier than that gets fewer bites.

Over the years, I have learned bass can be anywhere there is enough water to swim in. I have caught them in lakes, rock pits, rivers, canals, even shallow roadside ditches. I've caught them in three feet of 90 degree water in summer and a foot deep in the dead of winter. I've caught them on a rock pile out in the middle of the lake and open water trolling with nothing under the surface. Modern electronics can tell you where to start looking, it can't tell you if they will bite your lure. The best way to find fish is by fishing for them. I once decided to fish all the water in Little Lake Harris. At 2,700 acres, this was quite a task. This was in August when everyone else was fishing offshore. I found one of the best spots I ever found on a featureless bank in 4 feet of water loaded with giant bass. Why they were there, I don't have a clue and I don't care.

Structure is not defined by water depth. Bass don't need deep water, they need food, oxygen and water deep enough to survive. Schooling bass prefer chasing bait in open water. If you find active bass in deep water, there is a food source they are attracted to. Some bass prefer to lay in shallow water cover where they can ambush their prey. Other bass may live their lives in the back of a residential canal far away from any break line. Where ever they prefer, close proximity to food is the major attractant. Find the food and you will find the bass.

Gamakatsu #58413

You should learn all you can. My point is don't get the idea that everything you read about bass fishing applies to your local situation. That was my mistake. Each lake is different. Each bass is different too. I have won numerous tournaments fishing in places that others would never think of fishing. These places never get fished because no one ever writes about them.

When I was just starting out as a young angler, I read everything I could about bass fishing. People like Jason Lucas and Buck Perry were my early heroes. I owned a stack of Fishing Facts magazines which introduced me to Al Linder and offshore structure. I built my own flasher and spent many a day out in the lake looking for break lines, humps and creek channels. Unfortunately, I never had much success. What I learned was bass fishing is very dependent on local conditions. What worked for Buck Perry, will not necessarily work for you. Bass don't read books, magazines or watch videos. An outdoor writer once asked Kevin VanDam (the greatest bass fisherman in the world in my opinion) if he caught his fish shallow? He said "There are always fish shallow". He did not mean "all fish are shallow", but he did give us something to think about. I do not wish to discourage you from fishing offshore, just know not all the fish are living out there.

My wife and I have traveled abroad extensively. Most of our travels have been on fishing trips, occasionally to some very remote places. We have had a few medical scares. Once in Venezuela, a person in our party was stabbed in the street. They took him to the local hospital, which was worse than being stabbed. Luckily there was an American doctor in our party who brought him to his hotel room and sewed him up. I fished in Guatemala in the late nineties. Rebels blew up the bridge the night before we were leaving and we had to ride over the mountains in the dark. We spent some time fishing the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Australia is a huge country with very few people. We had a wonderful time. After that, we fished Papua New Guinea for a month. This place is the antithesis of the modern world. If you can imagine fishing in a King Kong movie, you got it about right. The inoculations we received before going was like what you get in the military. Even with all those drugs, my wife got malaria when she returned home. This was a very serious situation that the local doctors had no idea how to treat. They sent her to a military doctor who had experience with this disease. That was twenty five years ago and she made it through. Since COVID, we both stopped flying. It seemed every time we did, someone got sick. If we can't drive there, we don't go.

Nice truck. I would keep it. My wife and I recently went car shopping. What an eyeopener! With increased prices and interest rates, I don't see how anyone except lotto winners can buy a new vehicle. When I bought my 2020 Explorer new, I got a big discount and zero interest financing. Today, $5,000 down, $700 plus a month for 72 months is normal. You can pay cash, but you will give up 5-6% on your money market. I believe we may have bought our last new vehicle.

My boat hasn't seen the water in over a month. Our bass fishing is over by 10 AM. Afternoon thunderstorms start around 3 PM. If you like fishing in 95+ degree weather with no breeze, you will love it here. ?

The Carolina rig is an excellent deep water search rig. It can tell you things electronics can't. What I look for is hard bottom composition. Here in Florida, many of our natural lake bottoms are soft. What I am looking for is hard clean bottom. This is also where you will find shell beds. The best place to start is on points that taper from the shoreline to deep water. I use a 1 oz. weight to start my search. If the bottom is soft, you will know right away as the heavy weight will attract bottom debris. If it's hard, it won't. What I want to feel is the weight bumping along the bottom like it's on a washboard. If you feel that, you are 90% there. Start by casting up the point and retrieving deep. Then try the other way around. Don't pass up docks with long walkways out into the lake. They are generally built on hard ground. Bottom composition is more significant than depth. I have found some wonderful spots using a Carolina rig. If you do, you may have it all to yourself.

I have caught two fish on one cast numerous times in my life. The first time was when I was about 16 years old. I was fishing off a bridge and was able to see how it happened. I hooked a three pound bass on a LS Mirrolure. While the fish was fighting, a larger bass tried to steal the lure from my fish. Both got hooked and I caught a three and a six on the same cast. The funniest thing that happened was about 20 years ago. I got a call from the Orlando Newspaper Fishing Editor asking me to take him fishing. We went to the Butler Chain and launched the boat before dark. I idled down a canal and started to fish. It was just starting to get light. The writer was sitting in the back of the boat watching me fish. I was throwing a Devil's Horse along a sea wall. I got a strike and the fish went to the bottom. I could feel it thrashing around, but it didn't feel right. When I got the fish to the boat, there was two three pound bass hung on the lure. The writer said he had never seen that. He wrote an article in the newspaper telling everyone in Central Florida I catch two bass at a time! I got a lot of kidding from that. Here is a photo I took about two years ago. These two fish hit a Rattle Trap in the bottom of Little Lake Harris. This was after my back surgery when I was fishing from a Pontoon boat.

For those of you who do not know, there is more to using a leader in salt water fishing than visibility. Many salt water fish have teeth or sharp gill covers that can cut mono line. Snook and tarpon are the most prevalent of these in Florida. It is futile to fish for these species without a leader. You don't need wire leaders unless you are fishing for king fish, barracuda or sharks. When plug casting for snook, I use 30 pound fluorocarbon leaders. For Tarpon, you need at least 50 pound leaders. Offshore fishing requires larger leaders. Marlin fishing leaders can be hundreds of pounds.

I fished salt water tournaments for many years, both inshore and offshore. I can tell you from experience that using a fluorocarbon leader catches more fish, especially when using live bait. Back then, all we had was mono and it worked well. Today, many anglers have gone to braid for the main line. If you use the correct knot for the job, you won't have knot failures. If the lines you are joining a not too dissimilar in diameter, a Blood Knot is a good choice. This is the line I use when joining 30 pound flourocarbon leaders. It runs through the rod guides well and I have never seen one fail. If there is a wide difference in line diameters, I use a wire line to mono knot also called an Albright knot. This knot will hang in the guides, but it's not all that bad unless the leader material extra heavy. I am not fond of fluorocarbon as the main line. It's a mess to cast and has a lot of memory. I haven't tried hybrid/copolymer lines myself. In any case, tie the right knot and you will be fine.

Florida is a swamp. The swamp has been drained and filled, but the swamp remains. When the water temperature rises, the fish are more active. When the temperature drops they slow down. Other than that, I have not noticed a difference in bait preference. As stated above, our bass relate to cover. Most lake bottoms are featureless. Here in Central Florida we have natural springs, some are quite large. The water temperature in those springs is constant year round. They can be great places to fish during extreme weather fluctuations.

When I was young, I could fish 24/7 365. Now, I am only good for a half day. For two years in a row, two friends of mine towed a bass boat to Lake Erie. We rented a house and fished solid for a week. We would fish from dawn to 10 PM every evening. I was good for two days straight, but I had to take a day off every third day. My buddies kidded me for staying home to rest, but I just couldn't physically keep up. Your body is trying to tell you something, listen to it. Don't even think about driving when you are tried. That never ends well.

I have tried all colors of weights and my experience was been the same. Dark or natural weights seem to work the best. Brightly colored weights and/or line doesn't work as well for me.

The Ocala National Forest lakes are know for small fish. The water in those spring-fed lakes is very clear. It takes a long time for a bass to reach double digits. Releasing bass helps some. It also takes large food. The Harris Chain is full of large shad, blue gills and shiners. The Ocala Forest lakes are not as prolific. I have a study done by the Game Commission that compared the bass population in clear Florida lakes with similar lakes having high nutrient loads making the water more turbid. The bass population in the turbid lakes was much greater in terms of population and size. Back when Doug Hannon, the Bass Professor, was catching giants from the forest lakes, fishing pressure was practically non existent. Not so today.

Owning a tackle shop is a tough business. I recently interviewed a number of local shops for a client that wanted this information. You can't just hang out lures and expect to compete with on-line stores. The key to profit is services. Back in the day, fishing reel tackle repair shops were common. I had a good friend who's whole family was involved in this. Today's reels are expensive. You can't charge $75 to fix a $50 reel unless it's your father's reel or it has nostalgia value. Rod and reel repair is an under-served service that is very difficult to find locally. Live bait is very profitable as well. My local shop sells extra large native shiners for nearly $30 a dozen and they sell all they can get. Keeping live bait requires investment in tanks, pumps and equipment. It also requires some knowledge. A bigger problem is finding people to man the store. Most people think working in a tackle shop is a fun job. Stocking shelves, hauling buckets of bait around, cleaning tanks, running the register, selling rods and reels and dealing with customers is just a little of what you must do. My local tackle shop also repairs boats and outboard motors and he has all he can handle. Some tackle shops sell their own brand of lures. Bitter's Tackle in Orlando is an example. Their soft plastics are very popular and they work well, some better than the name brand stuff.