Captain Phil

LM Bass larger than a few pounds lay in wait for their food. If they are pressured, as so many are these days, they will be deeper in the cover. To catch these fish consistently, you must place your bait as close to the fish as possible. There are a couple of ways to do this with a spinnerbait. Making long parallel casts down a weed line is one. You will occasionally hang up on the weeds. This happens to everyone. If you are not touching the weeds every once in awhile, you are not fishing close enough. Touching the weeds with your lure as you reel is actually desirable as it can trigger a fish to strike. If you are constantly hanging up, you can get better with practice. Another way to target these fish is to fish pads. Obviously, you can fish the edge. If you look, you will find small trails and openings in the pads that you can run your lure through as you bring it back to the boat. One of my best spots is a small group of pads in front of a canal intersection. Big fish hang out in those pads around midday. That group of pads is perfect because they are sparse enough that I can cast beyond them and reach the sweet spot without splashing. I have taken a dozen bass over 6 pounds off that same small group of pads. Slow down! The small bass that you will catch by reeling a spinnerbait fast was caught by the angler fishing before you got there. Think about this and apply it to your own conditions. ☺️

The Zoom Trick Worm is by far the best plastic worm ever made. Everything else is in second place. It's not fancy. It just flat works. I don't believe there is any way to rig it that won't catch bass. ☺️

Using a swivel or a split shot 12" ahead of a bait is not a problem as it does not negatively affect the bait. When offshore ocean fishing, we use ball bearing swivels ahead of our leaders to facilitate switching baits. The problem comes when people use heavy snap swivels to connect their line to an artificial bait. This deadens the bait's action, adds a failure point and looks unnatural. Sometimes you have no choice. When I fish in Canada where a huge Pike might eat my lure, I use metal leaders and the Pike don't seem to care. Tarpon and Snook have sharp gill plates that can cut light mono. For those fish I use 50 pound plus mono or fluoro leader tied with a knot.

I live in an area where it seems everyone is packing a gun. We don't have much crime, but TV news has people so scared they feel like they need one. I know little old ladies who bring a gun in their purse to church. I like guns and have owned many of them over the years. I have guns in my home and my wife and I know how to use them. I don't want a gun in my car or on my person. I don't because I would regret using it. If I shoot someone, even if it's in self defense, I will spend the rest of my life in court or on my knees praying. If I lived in a place where I had to carry a gun, I would move.

I see no need for a swivel when fishing a fluke. The weight of a Zoom fluke is easy enough to cast with a modern casting reel. If you want to weight a fluke, use a lead nail inserted into the bait. You can cut the nail to adjust the weight and placement. There are times when I use a swivel. I often use one 12" above a weightless Zoom Trick worm. This adds a little weight and allows it to go deeper. Some people kink the worm to make it spin. I don't, but a swivel will keep it from twisting your line. Years ago I was taught a technique that I never hear about any more. That technique involves using a straight tail weightless worm as a jerk bait. The best worm for that is an 8" Creme Scoundrel in purple with a fire tail. When that fire tail jumps around it draws a lot of attention. Try it sometime.

If I may offer a word of advice? Overall, I have been healthy all my life. At 75, I take some blood pressure medicine but I'm rarely sick. In my fifties, I started having pain in my legs when standing. I went to an Orthopedic hospital and they gave me an MRI. They told me I had spinal stenosis that was compressing the nerves in my back. They also told me to wait to see how it progressed. In my sixties, I had another MRI as the pain had worsened. I tried epidural shots, physical therapy and Chiropractors. At 73, I had major back surgery. After 18 months, I can fish, drive, walk and do most everything I want to do. Surgery can fix many issues, it does not restore you to the way you were thirty years ago. Most people are disappointed to find this out. If I had not had my surgery I would be in a walker or wheel chair by now and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life like that. What happens when you have surgery is you trade one pain for another. You will need to decide which one is worse.

I believe catching a world record bass anywhere in US public water today is a near impossibility. Fishing pressure is too great and anglers are so much better than they were 100 years ago. California was an anomaly. It's sad to hear those who fish there say they don't catch big bass there anymore. Florida still has plenty of ten pound plus bass. With catch and release, we may have more than we did 50 years ago. A world record bass needs two things, genetics and a long life. We have the first thing, not the second. Rodman has produced many double digit bass. A 17 pounder was caught in the last ten years. Rodman is unique because of it's environment and the way it's managed. Chemical spraying is not allowed, hydrilla is controlled with draw downs. There are places in Rodman where a bass can go that are unreachable. You can not easily draw down lakes with residential homes. It took years to get locals to approve the draw down on Lake Griffin and it was a struggle. Rodman has no private land or homes on it's shoreline. If there is a world record bass caught, it will be artificially engineered and it will be swimming in a place where it has enough time to grow. As for Live Scope, I prefer to find my fish the old fashion way.

I throw spinnerbaits about 70% of the time. Gold blades catch more big bass here in Florida than any other color. My favorite spinnerbait has a gold body as well. I use tandem blades and downsize the top blade to give it a different look and to make it run deeper. We have both gold shiners and white shad in our lakes. I have seen days when silver blades worked better, but mostly it's gold. Native gold shiners are our preferred bass food.

Before you join any bass club make sure it's going to be a good fit for you. Some clubs are all about competition and some aren't. If you are in a club to learn, you want to fish with the best. If you are there to make friends, fishing skill is not a high priority. In any bass club there are going to be differences. Some members will have the best of everything and some will be fishing on a budget. Some will be seasoned veterans and others will new to bass fishing. Some members like to talk and some don't. It's best to keep to yourself until you find out where you fit in. If you feel uncomfortable, find a different club. It's all about learning, making friends and having fun. Some of the best times I have had fishing were in a bass club.

I have been fighting sea sickness all my life. When I was younger, I can remember dolphin (MahiMahi) fishing when I would have to go back to the dock between fish. Having done as much of it as I have, I have learned a few things. You are far more likely to get sick from boat fumes than motion. Diesel sport fish are notorious for this. Stay out in the fresh air and avoid confined areas where fumes accumulate. Keep your eyes on the horizon. Don't watch the waves and don't talk yourself into an anxiety attack. Don't move around excessively and never start picking things up off the deck. If you believe you are going to be sick, you probably will be. Dramamine pills taken at least 30 minutes before you leave the dock works, but it may make you feel drowsy. In my opinion, drowsy is much better than sick. If you wait until you are sick to take them, pills won't help. In time, you can get used to being offshore. I have never been sea sick in fresh water. I have fished offshore in 14' seas and I was too frightened to get sick. I fished the Greater Miami Billfish tournament for some time out of a 24' Contender. Best offshore boat I ever owned. The Captain who ran the boat for me held the boat steady in 10' seas. If you know what you are doing, you can safely fish in some pretty tough conditions.

I retie every time I change lures or hooks. When I fished tournaments, I retied before each tournament and between each fish. Some lessons are learned the hard way.

Fishing tournaments adds another dimension to the sport of bass fishing. Fishing them can significantly improve your skill level as competition is a great motivator. Unfortunately, some people have a difficult time keeping their ego out of the game. It's not money that causes problems, it's pride. No matter how good you are, no one wins all the time. One day you are a hero and the next day you are a zero. If you can't handle that, you shouldn't be fishing competitively.

Spinnerbaits work best when pulled in cover. How close? Inches... I fished them for years with little success. When I started to fish them in cover, I started catching bass. That's practically all I use now. Spinnerbaits are big fish baits that work year round. Hugging the bank and casting parallel is the way to go. If the guy in the back of the boat complains, bring him to the front with you.

I try to fish at least 1-2 days each week. I don't stay out all day like I did when I was younger. I no longer fish tournaments. The Chain has changed a lot in the past 40 years. It's better now than it's been in a long time. I hate fishing on the weekends. Since Covid, the boat ramps are always full. I have enough spots that I can most always catch a few fish. If you're going to be in the area, you can email or call me. My contact information is on my website at www.lakecountybass.com

Growing old is not for wimps. It seems like everything hurts. You can't eat what you used to and a new health adventure is always right around the corner. Attitude has a lot to do with how you deal with it. If you let it get you down, you will sit in a chair all day watching the news waiting to die. I hurt most of the time. I force myself to do things. I find I can do most everything I want just not as long as I used to. I went fishing on Monday. In the first hour I caught a 4 pound bass throwing a spinnerbait. When it got hot two hours later, I loaded the boat and went home feeling satisfied. As long as I can do that, I'm happy.

We have Chain Pickerel, but they are not a real problem as they rarely get over 3-4 pounds. Frog fishing in cover is an exception. For that, I use 50 pound Power Pro. I doubt bass can see the line under those conditions. I find 20 pound Power Pro works for most everything else. If the water is clear, I use a fluorocarbon leader. I spool the line on my reels as tight as possible and never have trouble with the line digging in. I do find braid a little harder to deal with on a casting reel.

I live two blocks from the Eustis City boat ramp. Any retirees out there looking for a fishing buddy? You don't need to be an expert bass fishermen. All you need is time and the desire to catch fish. I only fish on week days. I have my own boat. I fish alone, but I should be fishing with someone. Thanks!

Fishing in Lake Erie was a real eyeopener. I knew there were big walleyes in that lake, but I didn't expect the numbers and size of the SM bass. The area we fished was around Pelee Island on the Canadian side. The week we fish was around the 4th of July. We fished the glacier grooves in about 10-20 feet of water using weighted tube jigs in brown, purple and green flake. Together, we must have caught 30 or more bass a day. Most were 3-4 pounds with a few over six. That is one amazing fishery. A similar thing has happened here on the Harris Chain. By the nineties, these lakes had fallen on hard times. Back pumping from farms on Lake Apopka, highway and septic tank run off caused algae blooms. Hydrilla took hold and over spraying killed off all the water plants. In 1997, B.A.S.S. held a tournament that set a record for the lowest tournament weight. In response the State bought out the farms, built retention ponds and regulated new construction. Now our lakes have great bass fishing. There's hope. ☺️

Maybe some of you folks on the great lakes could answer a question for me? When I was a kid in the fifties, we were lead to believe the great lakes were some of the most polluted lakes on Earth. Stories were told of lampreys wiping out the trout and rivers catching fire. I imagined the water looked like a waste dump. About ten years ago, a few friends and I rented a house on an Island in Lake Erie. We did this two years in a row. Not only was the lake as clear as the Florida Keys, but the fishing was fantastic. We caught SM bass up to 6 pounds and some huge walleyes. We were told we should not use gobies for bait. The tube jigs we used looked just like them. As we fished, huge ships would come by. What changed?

Very little bass water in Florida is clear. 3-4 foot visibility is common with some waters less than 18". In conditions like that, bass will be shallow and hold close to cover. Visual presentations like top water lures don't work as well. Lures that vibrate or flash work much better. Fishing down a bank on 24 volt high is not the most productive way to go. Slow down and make multiple casts from different directions. Spinnersbaits are tailor made for this type of fishing. Not all lakes are good for flipping and pitching. If you can find heavy cover in deeper water, you can catch bass in the heat of summer. Pads are bass condos. Knock on their door and they will answer. ☺️

I have been a critic of braid for a long time. In recent years, I started experimenting with braid and discovered it's not as bad as I had thought. I still believe braid is a disadvantage when fishing soft plastics in open water. In clear water where I want as natural of a presentation as possible, I would choose mono or floro line. Obviously braid has an advantage when it comes to heavy cover fishing. I have found it works exceptionally well with Rattle Traps. My "fish in the boat" ratio is much higher with braid. I attribute this to lack of stretch. I think the biggest problem with braid is anglers use bigger line than they need to. Why use 50-60 pound braid for bass fishing? 20 pound braid is strong enough for any bass and it's diameter is much less. If you are worried about breaking off a big fish, go to 30. The thinner your line, the more bites you will get. The greatest lesson I learned from salt water fishing is how much your line affects your results. The clearer the water, the more effect it has. If you are fishing in coffee creamer, you can use cable.

The heaviest hydrilla mats I fish are in West Lake Toho or Rodman. Using 3/4 oz or less, I pitch to the small holes and shake the weight until it falls through to the bottom. Bass are attracted to those holes just like any other structure. I always use the lightest weight I can get away with. Maybe I'm wrong, but 2 oz. seems like fishing with a cannon ball tied to your line. I wonder what the bass thinks when it eats one? Until recently, the Harris Chain did not have much hydrilla. Most of my big fish came from pads or Kissimmee grass. Because of this, 5/16 and 3/8 is my most frequently used weight. Flipping and pitching is one thing I can do all day that doesn't wear me out.

If you are physically worn out from flipping and pitching, something's wrong. This is one of the least physically demanding ways to catch bass. I flip and pitch sitting down because I'm too old to stand up all day. Why are you using 2 oz. weights? The most weight I have ever used even when fishing heavy hydrilla was 3/4 oz. Look for holes in the grass before making your drop. If you hang a fish, you'll have a better chance of pulling it out. Relax and don't make this too complicated.

If you think today's cheap reels are bad, you should have fished with the expensive stuff we had 50 years ago! ?

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