Captain Phil

There are subtle differences in Florida bass coloring depending upon the water they are caught in. The darkest bass come from water stained with tannin from cypress trees. The blackest bass I have seen come from Blue Cypress lake near Vero Beach. Bass caught offshore in the Harris Chain can be almost white (see below). Lake Okeechobee bass are dark green with very black eyes. Bass caught in backwaters look different than those caught near the main lake. With experience, it is possible to tell where someone has been fishing by viewing the fish at the weigh-in. Many years ago, a major tournament cheating scandal was uncovered by someone with this ability.

Some may find this strange, but I gave up fishing jigs all long time ago. Florida bass much prefer soft plastics to hard jigs. I have tried everything I can think of to fish a jig in Florida and it never works for me. Throw a plastic worm, lizard or creature bait in the same place and bass eat them up. I have thought about this for a long time. I think it's a water temperature thing. I once fished a tournament on the Kissimmee Chain when the air temperature was in the 40s. I couldn't buy a bite. I tied on a black and blue jig and started throwing it around some rocks. I caught a three pounder on the jig. That was the last and only fish I caught that way. Of course, if you never throw something you will never catch a fish on it. ?

Wildcat is a deep clear lake without much cover. Most big fish are caught on shiners. This bass was caught on a plastic worm. Forest bass are beautiful!

Caught this bass in Wildcat lake off Highway 40.

Guilty as charged. These days I use the bottle so I don't fall over the side. If you live long enough, you will too! ?

Problem solved. Go to Walgreen's and buy one of theses. Works for men and women. ?

This is happening all over Florida. The once pristine Butler Chain near Orlando is now surrounded by gigantic luxury homes. Residents attempted to close off public assess for many years. Thankfully, someone willed a piece of land for a public park and boat ramp. Lake County has thousands of lakes from small ponds to the Harris Chain. At one time, many of these small lakes had ramps that are now private. The good news is there are still plenty of lakes left where you can fish. A bigger issue is bass tournaments. While they are great for the economy, they max out our public boat ramps from January until May. I avoid them by fishing small lakes during the season. I have the big lakes all to myself in the summer and fall. One of the reasons I own a small aluminum boat is so I can launch in these small lakes.

This Chinese balloon thing is much about nothing. If all China can do to spy on us is float balloons, I think we are ahead of the game. China can't make an auto part that fits and works for more than a few days. Heck, they can't even make dog food right. All they have to do is wait around until we go broke by spending money we don't have.

Texas has done a phenomenal job with their bass fishery. The ancestors of these bass came from Florida hatcheries. Catch and release has allowed more people to experience the thrill of catching the bass of a lifetime. Even so, catching a double digit bass is still a rare event. Not all bass have the potential to grow to that size. Not all lakes have the food and habitat requirements. A bass needs to live a long life in order to reach double digit size. Carrying bass around in a live well kills fish, especially during the heat of summer. Promoting catch, photo and release tournaments would stop much of this. I immediately release every bass I catch no matter what the size. If everyone did the same, catching a big bass would be more common.

When Jelly worms hit the market, they were all the rage. Many many tournaments have been won on those worms. Tom Mann made a fortune off them. He also founded Hummingbird.

Fifty years ago, I used to soak my worms in anise oil. Some anglers kept dipping pots full of the stuff in their boats (messy). I haven't used anise in a long time, so I suspect it didn't help or hurt. We thought it did, so there was a benefit. When Mann's Jelly Worms came out, we stopped using it. When Zoom salt impregnated worms hit the market, we threw away the Jelly worms. The thinking was you needed something to mask human scent. Some sunscreens were suppose to have fish repelling properties. What I believe it does is make the bait shiny. It also lubricates the bait, which makes it penetrate cover better. I use Bang fish attractant which does the same. Anise smells a lot better than Bang. ?

My wife and I were having lunch last week with an old friend. She told us her son recently caught a 14 pound bass in a local public lake. I didn't comment because I hear those stories all the time. The fact is double digit bass are rare even in Florida. The largest bass I have ever seen myself was a little less than 14 pounds and it was caught twenty years ago. (see below) Rodman produces a few huge bass each year. Most are caught with live shiners. Rodman is unique as there is so much cover many bass live out their lives without ever encountering an angler. The problem with hunting huge Florida bass today is fishing pressure. From now until April, the onslaught of anglers is relentless.

Most DD bass are actually 6-7 pounders. ?

Mudfish or bowfin are actually fun fish to catch. They grow fairly large and their fight is strong. We normally encounter them in very shallow water, the hotter the better. They get a bad rap because anglers think they have a big bass on the line when they don't. They are somewhat ugly with those beady eyes. I don't think they can move on land. We have a "walking catfish" that can. Years ago, during one severe drought in the Everglades, I have seen mudfish and gars so thick you could destroy an aluminum prop hitting them as you rode down the canal. Some bank fishermen will take them. I have heard they are terrible eating. If you are hungry I guess you will eat anything.

For a number of years I was the leader of the Benevolence Fund Committee at our local church. The fund is set up to assist people who have short term needs due to an unexpected hardship. It became necessary to form a committee as out of town people would come to the church office door and ask for help. This put the Pastor and the Church office personnel in a difficult position. The most common request was for overnight lodging. The Committee implemented an application process and it was my job to investigate and approve their requests. What I discovered was somewhat shocking. The reason these folks were asking for lodging money was it needed to be acted on immediately and the money could be used in other ways. As soon as it became known that the church was giving out money, the word got out and we were flooded with requests. One man even had the nerve to panhandle with his wife and kids in the parking lot before and after the church service. We offered him a job, but he wouldn't take it. We helped many people who were behind on their utility bills. One lady who was living on one social security check with a handicapped daughter, had a water leak under her kitchen floor. Her hot water wasn't working, so she was heating water with a coffee maker. The County sent her an $800 water bill and was threatening to turned off her water. I was able to renegotiate her bill and found a local plumbing company to fix her leak at no charge. There are many people who seriously need help. There are many more people who make a living pretending to.

Here in Florida, I don't consider a bass exceptionally large until it weighs 8 pounds or more. It has been my observation that the behavior of large bass is significantly different than bass under 8 pounds. There have been a few times in my 60 years of bass fishing in Florida when I got into a school of large fish. Those times were few and far between and only lasted for an hour or less. The majority of my bass over eight pounds have been solitary catches. Most, but not all have come on live shiners or flipping heavy cover. I once got into a school like that in Okeechobee just before a cold front. We caught 8-10 pound bass one after another for 30 minutes, then nothing the rest of the day. Those fish came on a weightless worm. I didn't start catching double digit bass with any consistency until I started flipping. All my double digit bass came from shallow water less than ten feet deep. If you want to catch truly large bass in Florida, use 8"-10" native shiners.

The largest and nastiest mudfish I have seen in Florida live in Blue Cypress Lake off Highway 60. If you cast a balsa crankbait in that lake, you will bring back a twisted piece of wire and a few bent hooks. The biggest mudfish I have caught weighed about 12 pounds. The State record is 19!!

No, but we have something worse.... Mudfish! They love spinnerbaits and grow big enough to swallow the whole bait then spin twisting your bait into a knot. The sure way to avoid destroyed lures is to keep them in your tackle box. All spinnerbaits catch fish, some more than others.

The only criteria I care anything about in a spinnerbait is it's ability to catch fish. If a bait cost $20 each and only lasted 3 fish, it would be fine with me. Hildebrandt spinnerbaits have always worked for me. Their blades are the best in the industry. The wire is thin and bent to create more vibration. Thank God the quality hasn't been compromised like everything else. I don't need a spinnerbait that lasts forever. I want one that gets bit. ?

Around 1965 I bought an old aluminum Jon boat from a pawn shop in Miami. It was my first real boat as I had previously built a boat from a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood and some planks. I carried the aluminum boat on the roof of my 1960 Ford. The Jon boat came with a white 10 HP mercury outboard. Anyone here remember white Mercs?

I am familiar with Lake Dorr. It's a different lake than Lake Dora, which is part of the Harris Chain. Lake Dorr is a forest lake near the tiny City of Altoona. I love that lake. It's probably the prettiest lake in Florida. The water is stained black from the cypress trees that surround it. It has a small dirt ramp in a park off highway 19 (see pic below). The park has a small fee. There are no HP limits on Lake Dorr. The ramp itself limits the lake to small boats. That lake is perfect for a small boat like yours. Lake Dorr is interesting in that it has two shorelines. The shoreline you can see is very shallow. 30-50 feet out there is another drop off. The main lake is fairly deep as forest lakes go being 15-30' deep in the middle. Small top water lures work well there. So do worms fished on the drop. There is a rocky reef offshore on the south side where a Carolina Rig works well. I haven't fished Lake Dorr in some time, but I plan on getting up there when the weather warms. They were working on the ramp for a while, but I believe it's open now. The biggest fish I have caught in Lake Dorr was about 6 pounds. There are plenty of bass to catch. Give it a try and let us know how you do.

I rarely fish spinnerbaits deeper than 3-4 feet. I catch most of my big fish in shallow cover where bass hide in wait. My biggest spinnerbait bass come from pads. Don't know if this is a Florida thing, or universal? You can get more depth from a spinnerbait by downsizing the blades or by slowing the retrieve. Heavier line causes the lure to run shallower. There have been rare times when I fish a spinnerbait on the bottom in 10'-18' of water. I do this when I know the bottom contains fish holding structure like a tree stump. To fish a spinnerbait at that depth you let the lure sink to the bottom then slowly retrieve with a lift and fall action. You may get hung on the cover or you may get hung on a fish of your lifetime. Seems like every bass I have caught that way was large. I have fished with anglers who fish a Rattle Trap this way in the winter months.

Good sensitivity in a rod is helpful when Carolina Rigging as strikes are often difficult to detect. I like longer faster rods for this type of fishing.

Welcome! I live in Eustis about 45 minutes NW of Orlando. The Harris Chain is in my back yard, but I do occasionally sneak up to Rodman and the St. John's River. I have been fishing this area since the 70s. Let me know if you have any questions. Lots of good information on this forum.

A lure's color is the least significant factor in LM bass fishing. I have fished with every worm color made from white, to blue, to Merthiolate, to pink, to red and beyond. A few years ago, I threw away a large garbage can full to the top with old worms. Some of them were 30 years old. Today, I fish with mostly dark purple worms. In clear water I use shades of green. If you have confidence in a lure color, you will throw it more and you will catch more fish on that color. You will be convinced that color works better than some other color. Bass don't care.