Captain Phil

Retail has changed a bunch in the last ten years. Unless you're selling $20K Rolex watches or cheap discount items, you may as well close the store. Online is where it's at and Bass Pro does a better job at that than most. As for quality rods and reels, I have had good luck with Tackle Warehouse as long as you know what you want. I haven't tried some of the other online retailers mentioned on this forum. There are still a few great local tackle shops left. For how long, I don't know.

Bass Pro Shops is a good company for on-line ordering. Their stores are a waste of time. Popular fishing lures are always out of stock, the shelves are a mess and the people are clueless. They have plenty of their own brands, but few name brand items. They do have a decent selection of boating accessories. Unless you want T-shirts, order on-line and save the gas.

I heard stories about Lake Talquin for years, few were good. Never fished it myself. However, I drove by there a few weeks ago and it's a nice looking lake. Very natural in a pretty part of the pan handle. From what I have read, the lake has had a lot of work done to improve fishing in recent years. I would give it a try myself. It looks more like a northern bass lake than a South Florida swamp. Let us know how you do.

Here's my Thunder Chicken. ?

I also learned the blood knot when making fly fishing leaders. So far, I have not used braid lighter than 30 pound test. If I'm going that light, I use mono or flouro line.

True. Other than a man made rock pit or canal, I don't believe I have ever caught a Florida bass in water over 6 feet deep.

I use an old school blood knot. Been using that knot for years and have never had one fail. May not be the best knot if the lines you are joining have widely different diameters.

It depends on where you store your boat and what you want the cover to do. I just went through this with my Ranger 178RT. My boat is stored in a covered storage yard about two blocks from my home. Rain and snow are not an issue. All I want my cover to do is keep dust and dirt from falling on the carpet. I was using a tarp, but I found it heavy and cumbersome. I don't trailer my boat with the cover on. If I did, I would buy a custom cover. For my purposes, a cheap $60 cover from Amazon works fine. If It only lasts for a year, I'll buy another just like it.

My Ranger bass boat has two combo GPS/Sonar units that I don't use. It may be hard for some to believe, but I still catch plenty of bass. For years the only depth finder I had was a wooden pole. If I want to spend my day staring into a computer screen, I'll stay home and play Nintendo. I'm not against using electronics. I just don't need it myself.

I can't wait until you guys get back to fishing. What's next, UFOs? ?

I have a lifetime of fishing memories. Most of them are not about fish. Things I remember most were the smell of sugarcane cooking when I fished Lake Okeechobee in my youth. That smell permeated the air for miles around. I remember fishing with my teenage son when he and I were fishing buddies. I remember freeing a bird caught up in fishing line deep in Everglades National Park and the helpless look it had before I cut it loose. I remember watching a mother racoon walk down the bank followed by three baby raccoons tumbling along behind her. I remember the people I met. I remember sitting in my boat before light in the rain waiting for the tournament to start. I remember the tournaments I won. I remember the majority which I lost. Fishing is not about fish, it's about the experience.

I can tell you from experience, retiring with no worries is a myth. Your kids, your spouse, your future, potential illness, even the daily news will worry you. No amount of money will keep this from keeping you up at night. The best way to prevent this is to put all your worries in God's hands. Only then will you have true peace. Works for me....

I have been fortunate enough to do every thing, go every where and buy every thing I ever wanted, so I would give it all away.

When the water in the Glades is low the fishing gets absolutely crazy. Exotics were a problem when I left in 1997. Can't imagine what's happening now? If you want to target only bass, fish a large black worm on the bottom. You may catch a gigantic mud fish, but that's not a bad thing.

Don't neglect the Zoom 4" lizard. They are excellent finesse baits when times are tough. I won a number of club tournaments in the dead of winter throwing them on 8 pound mono with a Mojo Rig sinker. The strikes were so light I didn't know I had a fish until I saw them at the side of my boat.

Welcome. I live in Eustis. Been in your family's tackle shop many times. Fished lots of bass tournaments on the Clermont Chain back in the day. Grew up in Miami fishing for anything that has scales and swims. ?

I suspect I'm a bit of an outlier here. I would rather fish for a week to catch a big bass than catch a boat load of small fish. I often fish all day for a few bites. If I catch one nice fish, I'm happy.

Any lizard larger than 6" in Florida is a baby alligator. ?

Lizards are not numbers baits, they are quality bass baits. They represent larger bass food. I can't remember when I caught a dink bass on a 6" lizard. Perhaps that's a Florida thing? Others will give their opinions.

Forty years ago I drew an angler in an Okeechobee tournament that had been written up in a few magazines. I don't remember his name, but he claimed to have caught a hundred bass over ten pounds on artificials. When he fished with me all he used were lizards.

I agree. Bass see movement, hear sound and feel vibrations. If it looks like something alive that will fit in their mouth, down it goes. The main reason bass don't hit your lure is you are not fishing close enough to the fish. Often that's inches.

I use lizards as flipping baits year round. They are awesome baits on the fall in heavy cover. Those little legs and the tail wiggle all the way to the bottom. My best color is Zoom Chartreuse Pumpkin. When everyone in the free world is throwing June Bug, I'm catching fish.

This is by far the funniest comment I have ever read on this forum. It made me chuckle all day long. ?

This is how a spinnerbait looks when it's being pulled too fast or is out of balance. Out of balance can be caused by bent wire or a mismatch between jig and blade size. Spinnerbaits work best when pulled slow and as close to cover as possible. Every spinnerbait has an optimal cadence. It's up to you to find it. If your spinnerbait tilts at an angle when retrieved, it's not working to it's full capacity.

I was always the youngest person in my circle of friends and business associates, now I am the oldest. ?