Captain Phil

I have fished Toho during numerous past draw downs. We would launch south of the lock, lock through and idle out to the middle where the deepest part was about 4 feet. The bass fishing was incredible. Florida lakes are shallow. Water fluctuations are normal and desirable. Draw downs control hydrilla and rejuvenate the lake. When the water level is low, the shallows are exposed. Wind clears the bottom and the sun drys it out. When the water returns, bass bed on cleared sand and their population increases. Without water fluctuations, the lake bottom will turn to muck and fishing will decline. Don't worry, be happy.

Try a Gambler Flapp'n Shad. I rig it with a screw lock hook. Works on top when fished as a buzz bait too.

The insurance on my 2021 Ranger RT178, 75 Merc 4 stroke, trailer and all the electronics is $158.11 a year.

I owned a Lowe Roughneck for about ten years. Lowe's are not the fanciest boats around, but they are tough as nails. I used mine for bass and inshore salt water fishing. I put that poor boat though hell and it never let me down. My Lowe was 16' with a 60 hp Merc 4 stroke and it was plenty fast enough. I believe I paid about $12K for mine about 12 years ago including the trailer and Minn Kota trolling motor. The more "stuff" you have on a boat, the more things there are to fix.

When traditional flipping, you do not use the reel to cast the bait. I am 6' tall and flip sitting down. I am right handed, so I hold the rod in my right hand and control the line with my left. For a long time I had problems if I did not move my left hand to the reel on the drop. If I got a strike, I would jerk the rod up to set the hook. If I hooked a fish, this put me in an awkward position with too much line off the reel. You don't want to see a ten pound bass jumping around on slack line. It's happened to me and it's not a good feeling. The amount of slack line is controlled by the position of your hand holding the line. I don't know if anyone else has ever had this issue, but it's something I have struggled with.

So what's the problem with trolling? It works!

Every lake, pond, canal and ditch in Florida contains bass and bluegills. Most of them are connected either underground or on the surface. As long as it is more than 1/4 mile from the coast and can hold water year round, the fish are there. When I lived down south, I had a canal behind my home. When I moved there, most of the bass were 1-3 pounds. My son and I fished Okeechobee practically every weekend. We kept our bass and put them in the backyard canal. We put a number of 7-9 pound fish in that canal. Little kids in the neighborhood fishing on the bank would occasionally hang one of those big bass. It scared them so bad we could hear them scream as they ran down the street. ?

While we are on this subject, the question sometimes arises if it's better to flip/pitch standing up or sitting down. For years I flipped standing while leaning against a butt seat. As I grew older, I started to have trouble standing for long periods of time, so I started flipping sitting down. It took me some time to get used to this as you have to lift your arms higher than when standing. The best flippers are tall left handed anglers who have a farther reach and can lift the bait over reeds and surface obstacles. Left handed anglers can also flip without changing hands. Sitting down also has an advantage in that you are less visible to the fish. Casting a shadow on the water when flipping is something I try to avoid. I believe it also helps if you dress in nature colors.

When Dee Thomas started winning tournaments back in the 80s, his fishing technique opened a lot of eyes. Contrary to what many people believe, Dee didn't invent flipping, he refined it. For hundreds of years, bass fishermen had been using long cane poles to present bait vertically into cover . They called it "Tule Dipping". In the South, they called it "Doodle Socking". Some tournament competitors complained that Dee had an unfair advantage with his rod length. Ray Scott asked Dee how long a rod did he need? For lack of an answer, Dee told Ray 8' 6" was long enough. The question is "Do you need a long rod to flip/pitch/punch for bass"? All are vertical fishing techniques. When using these techniques, at least 95% of bass hit the lure on the way down or just off the bottom. It is the fall that triggers the strike. I have seen a few times when bouncing the lure off the bottom triggered a strike in the dead of winter. Keep in mind that I only fish in Florida, so this may be different in colder states. My feeling is using a long heavy rod when flipping is not necessary and it may in fact cost you fish. Sure you can reach father, but you also lose sensitivity. What I want is a rod that I can hold all day without fatigue. I want it to be sensitive so I can feel if the fish has the lure in it's mouth before I pull it out. I have flipped with 8' 6" flipping sticks so stiff you could pole vault with it. I have also flipped with a 7' 2" modern composite rod and I don't see the difference in fish catching ability. Everyone is different, what feels better to you is what you should use.

I have bought a bunch of boats in my lifetime. Some were new and some were used. Most used boats have decent bones. If you buy a fiberglass boat, look for one built in the last ten years or so. Before that, fiberglass bass boats had wood in them that could water log and/or rot. Look for obvious cracks in the transom or around the console. If you find anything serious, move on. With a little work, you can make an old boat look like new. Normally, the biggest issue with a used boat is the motor. Stay away from off brand motors. Make sure you have access to local parts and service. Use the Internet to research your model engine. If a motor had too many issues, you will read about it. Again, stick with newer engines. Personally, I wouldn't buy a used Johnson or Evinrude outboard. They were great engines years ago, but they had problems in the later years. If you stick with Mercury or Yamaha, you will probably be OK. Have the motor checked out by a good mechanic before you buy it. Don't take the sellers word for it. Boats are expensive. If it wrecks your budget to buy a boat, you are going to have problems keeping it running. Aluminum Boats are a great way to get into boating on a budget. They are light, inexpensive and relatively trouble free. The motor is where the major expenses happen. I paid $27K for my new Ranger RT178 with a 75 HP Mercury 4 Stroke, 24 volt Minn Kota, 2 combo GPS/fish finders, 3 bank charger, Trailer with spare and a bunch of extra goodies like an 8 year motor warranty. It's probably worth around 20K right now. My Ranger engine has less than 50 hours on it. It's been stored in a covered garage since new. If you can find a used boat like mine, you will be doing good.

In 1929, Heddon released the meadow mouse lure. It was very realistic in it's day and popular with bass anglers. I had a NOS Heddon Meadow Mouse with the original box in my lure collection for a number of years. I sold it when the value got out of hand.

FYI. There is a significant difference between the 6' 10" MH Zodias and the 7' 2" MH Zodias. The 7' 2" blank is much thicker. It's a stout rod best suited for large crankbaits, Rattle Traps and spinnerbaits. The 6' 10" rod is great for soft plastics. Both rods are very light and sensitive.

I own two Zodias casting rods, one is a 7'2" MHGA. Before purchasing these rods I went to a tackle shop where they had both the Zodias and the Posion Adrena. Holding them in my hand, I could not see or feel enough difference to justify the price difference of the Poison Adrena. I am sure both are great fishing rods, one has a cooler name. Everyone is different. We have different size hands, arm strength and casting mechanics. You won't know until you physically hold and inspect both rods for yourself.

OMG, what is that thing? The last time I saw something like that was in London following the Pied Piper. I once had an old fishing buddy that loved to throw weird stuff. One day he pulled out a huge furry rat lure he bought from Cabelas. It was brown with shaggy fur and looked more like a squirrel than a rat. Whenever he pulled it out of his tackle box and tied it on I would kid him about it. I didn't think he would ever catch a bass on that thing. One club tournament in Kissimmee, he had it tied on and was pulling it over some offshore hydrilla. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a giant hole in the water as his rat lure disappeared. The bass that ate that lure was 9 pounds. I never kidded him about it again. ?

All the time! In South Florida they have huge flocks of Coots. I have seen flocks so big in Okeechobee it sounded like thunder when they take off. In the Everglades, they have a nasty habit of flying across the canals in front of your boat. Often they poop as they fly by. You would poop too if a 70 mph bass boat was bearing down on you! I once killed a coot by accident with my Gambler. I didn't know it until I saw it's legs sticking out from under my front seat.

Living in Miami, I saw some incredibly fast ocean race boats, especially in the 70s and 80s when smuggling was the thing. Most of those are now sitting on the bottom. The fastest bass boat I ever owned was a Gambler with a Mercury ProMax back around 2000. It ran in the high 70s with two anglers aboard and all our gear. I was passed a few times, normally by guys in Bullets. The Harris Chain has a couple of local bass boats that run over 100 mph. One of them is an Allison. Owning fast boats is a different sport than fishing. Most guys who own fast boats aren't that good at fishing because they spend all day riding.

Over the years, I have done my share of live bait fishing. I don't care to use live bait for bass as it tends to kill fish and I can catch more bass with artificials. In salt water fishing, it's the difference between nothing and loading the boat. For example, you can troll dead bait and lures offshore on a busy weekend forever without a bite. Fish with a frisky live bait and you'll catch fish. In billfish tournament season, bait boats get $100 a dozen for live bait. There is a reason for that, it works. When bass fishing, there is nothing boring about fishing a 10" live shiner. That is unless you think catching 8 pound and up bass is boring. I would rather people wouldn't do this, but if they do I hope they release their catch.

No one knows how or when it was released. They suspect someone dumped a fish tank and it took off from there. I don't remember hydrilla being a problem in the sixties. By the mid eighties, it became a serious issue here in Florida. Invasive species is a term used to describe living things that are not native to an area. By now, hydrilla is native to Florida. Scorched Earth hydrilla policies cause more damage than they fix. Hydrilla can rejuvenate an aging fishery. This has happened all over the country. However, it must be managed. This takes tax payer money, which is the real issue.

Wherever there is hydrilla, there are fish. Before it was released into our waterways, hydrilla was placed in pet fish tanks as prime habitat. That said, hydrilla can cover vast areas of water. This means you have to find the fish in the hydrilla. Some have suggested fishing structure in the hydrilla. That is a good plan if you have hard structure. Not going to help you much in a shallow dishpan lake like we have here in Florida. Hydrilla itself can create it's own structure. Edges and holes are places that bass can use as ambush points. Lakes with a lot of hydrilla are normally clear. This makes top water a great choice. Be sure to use heavy tackle as your bass will probably come in the boat covered in a bushel of grass. Punching or Flipping is a great way to find bass in hydrilla. You don't need extra heavy weights if you look for holes in the grass. The sunlight streaming down those holes positions the bass around them. If you are lucky enough fish a lake with enough clear water over the hydrilla, a Rattle Trap will work well.

Years ago I was fly fishing on the St. John's River. I hung a small bass about 10 inches long on a popping bug. The bass was back in some weeds. When I pulled the bass over the weeds, a huge bass grabbed my fish. I saw the fish and it was well over ten pounds, probably closer to 12. The big bass fought me up to the side of the boat, then let go of my fish and swam off. I've seen this happen more than once. Once with a mud fish on the line as bait.

I live near the Ocala National Forest. The forest is covered with small lakes, some of them are pretty remote. The bass you catch from these small lakes are generally small with a 3-4 pound bass being a big fish. This does not mean there aren't big fish in those lakes. Doug Hannon, The Bass Professor, was one of the first fishermen to discover this. Small lakes are also more easily affected by changes in the water, I suspect there are big fish in your lake as well, but the small fish get to your bait first. You might try fishing it at night.

When I was a kid, we often used live blue gills for bait. We caught our own bait with tiny hair hooks and white bread balls. Shiners were what we were after, but sometimes we had to settle for blue gills. Bass love them as long as you don't use them too large. What you want is a blue gill no longer than 4". We hooked them in the back and fished them under a bobber. I used a large blue gill once and caught a gigantic cat fish.

Bass fishing has never been easy. Tournament fishing changes your outlook. You see other people catch limits of fish and you don't understand why you don't. It's been that way forever. TV makes everyone believe they can be experts. All they need is an $80K bass boat, a $50K truck to tow it with and $5,000 worth of tackle. When that doesn't work, they blame it on fishing pressure. Bass learn from experience. If a spot gets pounded by anglers, they avoid that spot. If they are caught 10 times by hitting lure XYZ, they quit hitting XYZ. Stop fishing where and how everyone else does. Forget about catching fish and take the time to find your own fish. If you are not catching fish, you are probably fishing where they aren't. Sounds easy doesn't it? It's not and never has been.

Bitter's is one of the best independent bass tackle shops in Florida. If they don't have it, you don't need it. ?

Back in my youth, I did a bunch of night bass fishing. Most people start out fishing top water at night, as did I. Night time is when big fish are most vulnerable. Nothings works better than a big black plastic worm. A close second is a large spinnerbait. Night fishing is not the time for finesse tackle. You don't want to hang the fish of a lifetime and lose it on the side of the boat. Keeping contact with the bottom is essential. Slow down, don't make quick movements and take your time. Night fishing is not for anyone who is physically compromised. Never fish alone at night. I did and it's a wonder I'm alive to tell about it. Issues that are small during the day can quickly escalate at night. I never used a light when night fishing. When your eyes adjust, you can see well enough to cast. I carried a small light if I needed to tie hooks or something similar. If you do, don't let your light shine on the water. Their was a local guy who only fished deep phosphate pits at night. All he used were huge plastic worms that he made himself. He ended up catching one of the largest bass ever caught in Florida at 17 pounds. Night fishing can be very rewarding, but it must be done safely.