Captain Phil

Rapala makes a wide variety of lures. I have not tried them all. Yes, you can still buy the original floating minnow. They come in silver and gold. They are still made from balsa, which is one reason they work so well. If you can find one in gold with the thin white stripe on the belly, it's a killer on largemouth. I paint the stripe on mine. This lure works best in clear water. I dare you to throw it all day without catching a bass. If that happens, you should consider taking up golf. ? Another ultralight lure you should have in your arsenal is a Heddon Tiny Torpedo. I like chrome and black. The only problem you may have is that a big fish may eat this bait. An eight pound bass on an ultra lite outfit is a handful.

What you need is an original Rapala Minnow. Best ultra light bass lure on the planet. They make them in sizes from 1 1/2 inches long. NOTHING CATCHES MORE BASS!! It is impossible to work this lure wrong. Seriously, you will get tired of unhooking bass from this lure. ☺️

I am right handed. There was a time when I experimented with left hand casting reels. At the time I was fishing mostly plastic worms. I felt I could set the hook faster and harder if I held my rod in my right hand. It worked well. As I migrated away from worms to spinner and crank baits, it wasn't as much of an advantage. When I got older, hand fatigue became an issue and I switched back to right hand reels. These days I cast plastic worms on a spinning outfit and hold the rod with my right hand. For everything else, I use a right hand casting reel. I have fished with a number of left hand anglers when flipping. Left handed anglers have an advantage in this type of fishing as they don't waste time switching hands.

Be careful with Acetone and Lacquer Thinner. Both can attack plastic parts. I use mineral spirits and WD40.

Our Christmas decorating has diminished significantly in recent years. There was a time when we would buy a huge tree and spend days decorating the thing. The front of our home is mostly glass and the tree faced the street. I swear you could see it a block away. My wife even had mechanical dear grazing on the front lawn. All this started around Thanksgiving and continued to well after New Years. Our kids are grown and we stopping buying each other Christmas gifts years ago. If either one of us wants something, we don't need a holiday to buy it. These days, our holiday decorations are minimal. Some may find this interesting. My father was born during the depression when things were very tough financially. He told me they didn't put up any Christmas decorations until Christmas Eve after the kids went to bed. He said it made Christmas morning much more exciting. I imagine it did. ☺️

I would go with the Jon boat. Eventually you will want a larger boat so you can fish with a buddy. You will also want a small motor so you can run farther. A Jon boat can also do double duty as a back country flats boat. GreenPig's boat looks perfect to me. I once bought an old Starcraft and rigged in similarly. Great boat for the Everglades.

Looks like a great flipping bait. Love the color. Back when I was actively fishing tournaments, my partner and I bought Gambler Craws 1,000 at a time. We spend hours gluing glass rattles in the pincers. It was worth the effort. ☺️

I fished sailfish tournaments out of Miami for many years. This was mostly live bait fishing under a kite rig. Fluorocarbon leader made a huge difference in our standings. The only live bait bass fishing I have done was using giant shiners. Line size made no difference. We once fished a private pit in Central Florida. We took 7 dozen 8-10" gold shiners with us in the live well. We ran out of bait by 11:00 AM!

Most Florida bass are caught in or around cover where line visibility doesn't seem to matter. Where it matters is in clearer water out in the open such as you find in the back of residential canals. Some lures work better on lighter line because of their weight or action. Two lures that come to mind are the Rapala minnow and the Heddon Tiny Torpedo. I throw these on 8 pound mono and the difference is noticeable.

I find it interesting that many young people don't marry. With so many divorces and bad marriages, I can see how this happens. Marriage gets a bad name. The perception is, one day you are living with one you love. As soon as the license is issued, things start going down hill. I am shocked by the number of married people my age who seemingly hate one another. People often get married for the wrong reasons. Social and family pressure causes this. Having children changes everything. Why would you create children and not raise them as a family? When I hear about celebrities and sports figures having children without respecting them enough to marry, I wonder where their priorities lie.

It's all about compromise. When both partners are happy, it works. ☺️

To be totally honest, if it weren't for children I don't think we would be married. My wife and I would be just as happy living together without a license. This is coming from someone who has been married for a very long time. Both my wife and I came from troubled homes. When we got together, we swore we would not repeat that life. My parents were totally mismatched and my mother suffered from severe depression. My wife's parents were both drunks. We rarely fight and argue. When you are married, you have to pick your fights. Some things are better left unsaid. Having children can be the best thing or the worst thing for your marriage. Your husband and wife relationship must come before your kids. If you treat your spouse as if you are still dating, you will be rewarded. If you take each other for granted, your marriage will be miserable. I have a friend who complains that his wife quit having sex with him. I asked him when was the last time he took his wife out to a romantic restaurant on a date? He told me 30 years ago. I said, "exactly". ☺️

We just celebrated our 57th wedding anniversary. We were high school sweethearts that married right out of school. We have similar family backgrounds and interests. If you want to fish for the rest of your life, marry a girl who likes fishing! My wife is the most intelligent person I have ever met. She worked for me in my business at one time. I worked for her in business later in life. In a business, someone has to be the boss. A good marriage is based on mutual respect, it's not a business. So you know, our sex life is still great. That's important. I don't think of my wife as "my old lady". My wife is my best friend. Everything we do, we do together. She is my greatest cheerleader and I am her biggest fan. It's been wonderful....

At one time there was a "secret" Rattle Trap used by a few old timers on the Harris Chain. This color is no long made. It was a dull grey color with black stripes and a small spot of orange. Not very impressive looking and not something you would pick up in a tackle store. This Rattle Trap was a stone cold bass killer on cloudy and foggy days. I still throw it on occasion and it still works. If I had but one lure to fish for bass, that lure would be black. If you stash a bag of black worms in your pocket, you are good to go. ☺️

It surprises me that more fisherman don't fish for catfish. Florida has great cat fishing, but they seem to be ignored by fishermen. I've caught catfish up to 15 pounds flipping for bass. Believe me, that will put a bow in your rod! For years the State record catfish was caught on the Harris Chain in Haines Creek. Big catfish prefer live bait. Little catfish will eat anything they can get in their mouths.

I was always extremely careful when I had clients in my boats. You never know what type of personal issues someone may have. It only takes one small mistake to cause a catastrophe and I didn't wish to spend the rest of my life in court. Think about this the next time you fish a draw tournament or invite someone to fish with you.

That's a hand full. I once saw a guy while fishing in the Everglades with a 15' Terry Bass stick steering boat with a 150 Merc bolted on the back. He must have had a death wish. The fastest bass boat I have owned was a Gambler with a Merc Pro Max. We shot it with a radar gun at 78 mph. A guy passed me once in a Bullet. There was an Allison that used to run around on the Harris Chain that could run near 100 mph. Racing and fishing are two different things. Fast boats are fun, but they don't help you catch more fish because you will spend all day running the lake.

Nice try. I've owned more outboards than most people have owned cars. I was a John/Rude guy in my early years. Switched to Mercury in the seventies for better performance. I destroyed a number of 150 Mercs in my past, only one Black Max. All my salt water boats were Yamaha powered and they performed flawlessly. My current bass boat has a Mercury 4 Stroke and it's amazing. The most important thing to consider in an outboard is access to maintenance. You don't want to tow your boat 100 miles for a minor warranty issue or an oil change. Here in Florida, Mercury Dealers are like McDonalds. You won't need much maintenance with the newer 4 stroke engines. They start immediately no matter what. They hardly use an fuel and they run great forever. I wouldn't buy an "off brand" outboard motor for one reason, that being resale value. If you stick with Mercury, you won't go wrong.

Don't judge anglers by their boat, tackle or the way they look. That barefoot country boy just might kick your butt. ☺️

It's not blood that bothers me, it's suffering. I hate to see anyone in pain. It's worse when it's someone you care about. I consider myself lucky that I did not have to experience combat. Those memories would haunt me forever.

In my early fishing years, I invested a lot of time thinking over this issue. I read magazines like "Fishing Facts" where authors would talk about offshore structure, break lines, depth contours and creek channels. I built my first depth finder (flasher) from a Heath Kit. Armed with my new electronic wonder, I combed the depths looking for bass hideouts. I had some success in deep water. I once found a rock pile where I caught over 50 bass while anchored in the dead heat of summer. Interestingly enough, my offshore results never matched my shallow water fishing. I concluded this was because the majority of our lakes are shallow swamps with little offshore structure. Our offshore bass have little on the bottom to draw them to, so they suspend following bait schools. My eyes were opened to deep water fishing when I fished my first tournament in a reservoir north of the Florida State line. We now know there are always some fish in shallow water. Shallow fish are active fish. They may not be willing to chase down a bait, but they are there nonetheless. This is why flipping works year round. Not just any shallow water holds bass. Like offshore fishing, some areas are better than others. I've caught big bass in 90 degree water less than 6 feet deep. The best flipping months for me has been August thru October. I have seen them even shallower in winter. It is common in Florida to find bass hunkered down in a foot of cover during a cold front.

Roland Martin was once asked for his secret to catching more fish. He replied, "Go early and stay late."

It's not the bait you use, it's how you use it. When you have confidence in a bait, you throw it more. The more you throw it, the better you get at fishing that bait. The only truly new bait I have fished lately has been a chatterbait. I had heard about them, but did not try one until a friend gave me one. I caught fish on it, but I caught more on the same spinnerbait I have been fishing for the last twenty years. Plastic frogs are fun to fish, but their hookup ratio is abysmal. I fish a spinnerbait about 50% of the time. I flip about 30% of the time. The rest is topwater and rattletrap. I hardly ever cast a plastic worm anymore unless it's on a Carolina rig. Nothing is truly new.

I agree when it comes to native species. The problem comes when non native exotics are introduced into the eco system. As mentioned before, South Florida waters contain all kinds of non native fish. Some, like Peacock bass were stocked by the State. Some were dumped from discarded fish tanks and others where intentionally brought in by emigrants from other countries. Snook are natural emigrant fish from Central America. The problem is you never know what affect these fish are going to have on the environment. There are canals off Highway 27 that are literally eaten up with Oscars. Oscars are a popular fish sold in pet stores. I have been told they are good eating and have seen commercial fishermen target them. It's nearly impossible to throw a Beetle Spin into those waters with catching one. There is still a lot of good bass fishing in South Florida despite this. Bass in those particular canals don't have a chance. I fear this will happen with snakeheads. What worries me about snakeheads is most other South Florida exotics can't tolerate cold water. This limits their spread. This is not the case when it comes to snakeheads. It's too late for South Florida. Between iguanas, pythons, snakeheads and "who knows what", their fresh water fishery is irreversibly altered. I pray this won't happen to the rest of the State.

After Ian, we drove over to the St. John's River ramp on Highway 44. The floating ramps were scattered all over the place and the park was closed. I can only imagine what they look like now.