Captain Phil

TinBoats.net is an awesome website for anyone looking to restore an aluminum bass boat. It's amazing what you can do with a little skill and ingenuity. Well worth a look...

There was a time when I would carry 10 rods and a giant "possum belly" tackle box with me fishing. Rattle Trap, Crank bait, top water, spinnerbait, worm, Senko, Flipp'n Stick, Carolina Rig, Mojo Rig, Spinning rod and a couple more for good measure. My boat deck looked like a fishing flea market. My boat compartments were full of every bass bait imaginable. I told myself I needed all that stuff in case my partner caught fish on something I did not have. These days, I start out with a spinnerbait. If that doesn't do the job, I pull out my flipp'n stick and go to work. I haven't been skunked in years. I will occasionally throw a plastic toad just to break things up. Part of the fun in bass fishing is collecting tackle that you will never use. ?

Your post reminded me of something that happened back in the seventies. A group of us were regulars at Everglades Holiday Park off highway 27. Back then, it didn't have the big crowds like it does now. In the summer we did a lot of night fishing. Guys starting spreading stories about a giant bass that would tear up tackle. I never hooked the fish myself, but people I knew did and they were obviously telling the truth. Reels were stripped, rods were broken and nothing could handle that fish. A guy named Tom came out there and started fishing the spillway in front of the park. He fished giant live shiners at night on salt water tackle. He caught some tarpon in the current and more than one huge bass. One night he caught the "devil bass". It was a 35 pound landlocked snook. Snook and Tarpon commonly swim miles from the ocean. I have hooked tarpon and Jack Crevalle in Lake Okeechobee while bass fishing and seen 40 pound snook in South Florida drainage canals.

Florida is a fisherman's paradise. If you like to fish, you will never fish all that is possible. There are big lakes, rivers, rock pits, small lakes, ponds and canals. Every one of them contains bass. On both coasts you have backwater, flats and offshore fishing. No boat? No problem. Fish from bridges, piers or walk the bank. A resident freshwater fishing license costs $47. You don't need a license if you are under 16 or over 65. You don't need a fishing license if you are using live bait on a pole without a reel. Big coastal cities like Miami are crowded and expensive with lots of traffic. You can live a nice life style in a small Florida town for much less. Doctors and hospitals are plentiful. Florida has no State Income Tax. The sales tax where I live is 7% with no tax on food. Our monthly electric bill averages about $200 a month between summer cooling and winter heat. There are no window bars on the homes in my neighborhood. I have never had anything stolen or have I ever felt threatened by anyone in my town. Obtaining a concealed weapons permit in Florida is as easy as taking a 2 hour course and costs less than $100. You don't need one, but you can if you want one. A thief would be nuts to be caught breaking into a home around here. The town where I live is directly on the Harris Chain with 50,000 plus acres of water. Rodman Reservoir is a 45 minutes drive north. The St. John's River is 30 minutes east. Kissimmee is about an hour south. There are literally thousands of small lakes in between. The temperature sometimes gets into the 30s in winter, but it doesn't last. It's hot in the summer months. To be honest, I have seen hotter days in Northern Alabama and Texas. I love diversity. If you don't, you can live in a gated community like the Villages where everyone and everything looks the same. My town has trailer parks, country clubs, new developments, small older homes and multi million dollar estates. Most are retirees. My next door neighbor is from England. Our Pastor is from Colombia. We all get along and no one cares where you came from, how much money you make or what you did to make it.

The value in putting anything on TV is in the money sponsors pay when you watch. Watching some guys crank in dinks all day is not entertaining. Watching someone catch a big fish is. I would rather watch no fish being caught than two hours of the same little fish coming to the boat. If tournaments went to a big fish format, bass fishing would improve. States would work to raise the size of their bass, tackle companies would produce more big fish lures and anglers would learn how to catch those fish.

I believe bass fishing would be better off reducing tournament limits, not increasing them. Anyone can catch a boat load of small bass. Is boating 100 of them equal to catching three 8 pounders? Maybe it's a Florida thing, but we had to give B.A.S.S. tournament exemptions so they could weigh fish smaller than the State limit. I would be embarrassed to weigh a 12" fish in a local tournament, much less one for $100K. I don't want to catch more bass, I want to catch bigger bass.

I have done a couple of these conversions. I would say the worse mistake is adding too much weight. Some people put wood decks or floors in Jon Boats attempting to make them into bass boats. Simplicity is key. Adding bass seats is a must for me as my back needs to lean into something. Mount everything within easy arm reach. A Jon boat can be a great fishing platform, just don't overdo it.

At one time, a 6 foot Lew's pistol grip fishing rod with an Ambassador 5500C was the outfit to have for any serious bass fisherman. I must have had at least a dozen of them over the years. I have one pistol grip rod left. These rods are useful when working lures that require a lot of action like jerk baits and top water baits. The shorter length and lack of a long handle make working the lure easier. They also make casting more accurate in tight quarters. I use mine when fishing top water lures like the Devil's Horse.

I hesitate to post this as we have enough boat traffic as it is. The Harris Chain water levels are normal. If anything, they dropped the water before the storm.

I own a couple dozen fishing rods. Some cheap, some expensive. If I were you I would go to Bass Pro Shop. Walk around and check out their line of cheaper graphite rods. Pick each rod up and see how it feels to you. Ten years ago, I was buying their cheap graphite rods for $39.99 each and I would buy them six at a time. It's amazing how much fishing rod value you can get for your money today. A cheap rod may not be pretty, but it will work better than you may think. My favorite spinnerbait rod is one of those old BPS rods. You already have it right. Get a rod with a good backbone and a sensitive tip. You'll need a fairly heavy action for a 3/4 oz. spinnerbait. The fish you catch on that bait will be larger than most.

OMG! I had my wisdom teeth removed 50 years ago without a problem. My wife had all her's pulled at the same time plus major gum surgery at the same time. They put her in the hospital to do this. I visited her when she woke up and she was spitting up blood in a pan and I about fainted. She told me she would rather suffer once than be tortured multiple times. Women are tough...

I own a bunch of autographed fishing stuff. My wife allows me to use our extra bedroom to display all my junk. Books, hats, rods and a reel or two. The walls are covered with mounted fish, plaques, photos and trophies. Each one has a special memory of when I acquired it. None of it has any value to anyone but me. When I die, I am sure it will all be in the dumpster. ☺️

Just kidding. ☺️ You are not alone. Lots of people don't do well with spinnerbaits. Spinnerbaits work best when water clarity is poor. The best time to use a spinnerbait is when it's windy. Spinnerbaits work by utilizing flash and vibration. There is a "zone" where the cadence of each bait attracts fish. The trick is to find the cadence that works best for the bait you are using. Spinnerbaits work best with slower retrieve reels. The best reel for spinnerbait fishing is a 5/1 casting reel. It seems to work better than any other. Spinnerbaits don't work well with most spinning reels as they are too fast. Spinnerbaits need to be fished close to cover. Actually hitting the cover on the retrieve is a good thing as it often triggers a strike. If you are fishing down a straight bank or weed line, position your boat directly on the edge and cast down it. I have used these baits in 1/8 oz. all the way up to one ounce. Most of my fishing is done with 3/8 oz. You only need two colors, chartreuse skirt with gold blades and white with silver blades. Single blade lures thump more and work better at night or on a drop. Tandem blades are what I prefer. One of my favorite tactics is to spinnerbait boat docks. I can run the lake all day doing this. Pads are where larger fish hang out when the sun is directly overhead. The fish you will catch on a spinnerbait will be larger than caught on a worm. Spinnerbaits minic large minnows, shad or shiners, which is the main food of larger bass. Keep trying and you will eventually love them.

To quote a famous comedian, "If you think sex is a PITA, you may be doing it wrong. ☺️

This post makes me smile. I remember when I first started fishing spinnerbaits. It was a long time ago, but the memory is still fresh. I must have pulled them 1,000 miles before I caught anything. It was so bad, I started calling them "Christmas Trees". One day, I was fishing some pads with one of my worthless lures when a 6 pound bass ate the thing. It didn't register with me at the time, but spinerbaits are near worthless unless you fish them in the right place. If bass are biting everything that swims, you can catch fish on them. If it's the regular everyday slow bite, you have to be selective about where you fish. I also thought they worked best when pulled fast right under the surface. Not... Today, I fish a spinnerbait about 70% of the time and flip cover the rest of the time. I could care less about small bass. The fish I am want on my line start at 4 pounds. Spinnerbaits catch those fish. Chatterbaits? When they first came out a good friend gave me one to try. I see them as a weedless Rattle Trap. They catch fish, but I catch bigger fish on a spinnerbait.

Where can you invest cash and earn 7% today?

$200-$300 in cash normally. I pay in cash when my wife and I go out to eat. I charge everything else on my credit cards because they have cash back rewards. We pay off the balance at the end of every month, so we never pay interest. Paying interest on food that you already ate is the easiest way to get in trouble with credit.

March, April and May are the low water times in the Everglades. If you book a guide, you can often catch 100 bass a day. You can also walk some of the canal banks on Tamiami Trail and Alligator Alley. Watch your step and stay on the bare banks.

Mepps Comet Minnow

There is a county park in N. Miami named Greynolds Park. It's actually an old rock pit. When we were kids, we would get up before dawn to sneak into the park and fish the small lake where they rented pedal boats. The pond was brackish and connected to the inland waterway. It was also loaded with snook, baby tarpon and a few bass. The caretaker came on duty about an hour after dawn and would run us off. Great memories. ?

I bought my first bow mount foot control trolling motor in the seventies. The only motor to have back then was a Motor Guide. They were good motors, but the mount was weak and it broke often. They improved the mount and I was a loyal Motor Guide user until about twenty years ago. Something happened to Motor Guide when they started putting more electronics in their products. They broke down regularly and parts were ridiculously expensive. I finally jumped ship and went to MinnKota and never went back. I have never had a problem with one. Their 24 volt models cut though hydrilla like butter. The Spot Lock feature is worth it's weight in gold. As long as they continue to perform, I'll keep buying.

Over the years I have fished in hundreds of bass tournaments. I've won money, boats, outboard engines and a trophy nearly as tall as me (took it home in a truck bed). Of all the tournaments I have ever been in, winning the "Top Rod" in our bass club was the most competitive. Those guys were awesome fishermen and fought like tigers the whole year long. I was lucky enough to win it twice and that trophy is worth more to me than anything else I ever won. Fishing against Top Water Charlie was challenging as well. I can't tell you how humbling that was. I loved tournament fishing. It adds something to bass fishing that you can't get by fishing alone. It's not for everyone.

I had three of them, a 15' with stick steering, a 17' with a 70 Johnson and an American Bass Fisherman with a 150 Merc.

I fished my first bass tournament in the seventies. My fishing buddy and I joined a local bass club so we could learn. We were amazed at the fish those guys caught. Clearly, they were in a different league than we were at the time. In the mid seventies, I fished a B.A.S.S. State Federation tournament on the St, John's river. I had a Terry bass trihull bass boat with a 75 hp Johnson. The take off was a flare start and I thought I was going to be washed out of the river when all those boats took off at once. This was before high performance bass boats and guys had bolted bass seats on the front deck of ski boats with 150 Mercs. I learned a lot from those early tournaments and eventually began to have more success. Fishing tournaments is the only way to tell where you are. It's not the same as fishing for fun. You may believe you are a pretty good fisherman until you get to the weigh in and someone makes your bag look small. Even on the worst days imaginable, someone always finds fish. As you get older, it gets harder to win consistently. Tom Mann wrote about this in his book "Think Like a Fish". Your body is tired and you can't compete at the same level as a younger person. This makes Rick Clunn at 76 all the more amazing.

When considering where to live in retirement, it is important to be close to good doctors and decent medical facilities. These are things you don't think about when you are young. No matter how fit you are, father time will catch up with you. Also, when you get on Medicare, buy the best supplemental insurance you can find. It's money well spent.