Captain Phil

Progress is a good thing. Before flashers the only way to know water depth was with a pole. If you have never tried to find fish with a flasher, you don't know what you are missing. About the only thing it would tell you is there was something down there. Some people claimed they could interpret a bunch of light lines as fish. I never could. Still, it was better than running aground. Spot lock is probably the most useful new electronic feature. My son uses it when fishing for inshore salt water fish and he finds it invaluable. It can hold position against the strongest tide. My Lowrance units both have GPS which I hardly ever use because I know where everything is. If I fish somewhere new, it does help me get back to the ramp. Here in Florida, all I really need to know is depth. No sense in looking at the bottom because it's mostly featureless. Things are way different in a reservoir or a lake with bottom structure.

The same thing happened to me in Miami. I was told the parking fee is $25 a night. I went to another hotel.

Years ago, the City of Miami put road signs all over town directing tourists to the beach. This happened because out of town drivers were being robbed when they drove into bad parts of town. After two German tourists were killed, some people suggested they install signs with a cartoon robber pointing a hand gun at a car to warn people away. We thought it was a great idea, but someone in City Hall nixed the idea. They eventually passed a law removing all rental car decals and license plates.

That's a keeper! ☺️

Mepps spinners are deadly baits. I first used them on vacation when trout fishing and they worked great. They are not often used in Florida. This is a mistake as they are some of the best schooling bass baits made. I don't use a swivel. If your Mepps spinner twists your line, you are fishing it too fast.

Practically all the people I knew who made out well in life started out with no money. Practically none of them had college degrees or parents that funded them beyond high school. I have known more than one who was the son of a millionaire who lost everything they had. Most of them were very unhappy as they tried to live up to their father's legacy. True happiness is growing old knowing what you did you did well and without anyone's help.

I flip and pitch sitting down. I started doing this when my back trouble started about 15 years ago. It took me some time to perfect this, but it's natural for me now. I see fishing this way as an advantage. Sitting lower, I am less visible to the fish. I tried Kayak fishing a number of years ago. I enjoyed it because I could fish places where I couldn't launch a boat. It was hell on my back, so I sold it. At my age now, I couldn't get in a kayak much less fish in one. When I read your post, it gave me a chuckle. What would it be like to hook a ten pound bass flipping from a kayak? You would be in for some cartoon ride!!

Having money when you are young is a handicap not a blessing. Without it, you learn what it takes to make your own way in life without relying on someone else. The value of fishing electronics is greatly exaggerated. Sure you can see fish, but it doesn't catch them for you. TV fishermen and fishing shows are sponsored by companies that want you to buy their products. They want you to believe you need a $100K bass boat with a motor bigger than your truck engine, $4K in power poles and enough electronics to launch a mission to Mars. All this to catch fish less that 30 inches long? When I was a kid, bass were the poor man's sport fish. I knew people who fished without shoes who could catch bass better than 99% of today's fishermen. The first time I saw Shaw Grigsby, he was fishing barefoot. The last time I saw him, he was fishing in a trailer park marina where he won a national tournament. He didn't need a TV to tell him where to fish. My boat has two pieces of electronics, one in the dash and one on the bow. Neither one cost over $500 and they tell me all I need to know.

Great information. Sorry this is off the subject. Talking about jet boats brings back a memory of a 17' jet drive ski boat I had with a 500 hp 460 Ford engine. Scared the heck out of me.... ?

I have owned just about every small boat brand made. Everything from Terry Bass boats to Rangers, Hydrosports, Skeeters, a custom built Storm and a Gambler. I have also owned at least a dozen salt water skiffs and flats boats. My aluminum boats included Trackers, Starcrafts, Lowes and a few with no name. In the early days, say before the year 2000, Trackers were pretty cheap boats with lots of wood in the wrong places. Their fiberglass boats were especially bad. Stating this will probably get me in trouble, but it was widely known. Since then, Trackers have come a long way in improving their quality. I would have no problem buying a recently new one today. Before I purchased my Ranger RT178, I seriously considered buying a similar Tracker. I went to the Orlando Bass Pro Shop and was told I couldn't get one for three months and they couldn't guaranteed a delivery date. The Ranger Dealer had my boat in stock, so I bought it. The difference in price between a fully rigged out the door 17' Tracker and my Ranger was about $5,000. The difference is in little things like hardware, finish, construction, electronics, and pride of ownership. Is my Ranger worth $5,000 more? I think it is and that's what matters. There is no doubt the resale value of a Ranger is greater, so there's that to consider. Is it worth $5,000 more at the ramp? Those things don't concern me, so I can't say. Do bass care? I've caught bass out of a leaky wooden boat that I built in my garage, so I doubt they do. I would have no issue with buying a new Tracker boat. In my opinion, new Trackers are great bass boats for the money.

Great question. I have been vacillating back and forth between foot control and hand control trolling motors all my life. This depends a lot on your fishing style. A foot control motor is heavier and you have the cable and pedal to deal with. A hand control motor is lighter and cheaper but it's less convenient. On my large bass boats, I used a hand control with a tiller extension and foot buttons. This worked well when stand up fishing. When sitting to fish, you have to be able to reach the buttons and turn the motor, so a foot control worked better for me. Hand control motors are cheap and easy to find used. Why don't you borrow one and see what you think before investing in an expensive foot control motor? I have a 24 volt Minn Kota Edge foot control on my Ranger RT175 and I have no complaints.

I paid $4.089 per gallon for regular this morning in Central Florida. Unless we have a hurricane or something unforeseen, I expect gas to go under $4 a gallon by the end of summer. Retail sales figures were up in June. Did someone buy more worms? ☺️

This is due to two things, the US is selling oil out of the strategic oil reserves and the world is in an economic slowdown. "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours".

We were already making progress towards reducing carbon emissions. My 2020 Explorer SUV gets 30 mpg on the highway, That is nearly twice the mpg of my old Expedition. My 75 Merc 4 stroke hardly uses any gas. I am not in love with the internal combustion engine and I don't care what powers my car or my boat. What I have a problem with is turning off the pump before we have a viable alternative.

One of the worst things the government ever did was add ethanol to gasoline. Ethanol has less BTUs than gasoline. This means you get less energy per volume. Anyone who has run a race car on alcohol knows this. The more ethanol in your fuel, the worse your gas mileage is going to be. Buying cheaper fuel with more ethanol does exactly the opposite of what you are trying to accomplish. Add the fact that alcohol attracts water and corrodes rubber and you have fuel problems that never existed before today's fuels. Does it make sense for us to use food to power our cars? The war in Ukraine is threatening to cause world wide food shortages while we are burning our food. The price of everything is rising largely because of higher fuel costs. The US has more oil within our borders than we will ever use. All we need to do is use it.

The Mag II is my choice for the best 9" worm. Best LM worm color? Junebug/Red.

Best straight worm? Zoom Trick Worm. Best 6" ribbon tail worm? Zoom U-tail worm. If these worms don't catch fish for you, take up golf.... ?

Fish are capable of learning, if even on a basic level. Your dog knows when you open the bag of treats that something good is about to happen. Can a fish who has been jerked out of the water by a hook learn to equate certain sounds with this experience? Since I was a small boy, I was told to fish as quietly as possible. I was scolded for shuffling my feet on the bottom of the boat or opening my tackle box too loudly. I make long casts and I don't run my trolling motor in the cover I am fishing. Does this help me catch more fish? I don't know because I don't catch the fish that I scare off.

The best raw oysters I ever ate were in New Orleans. I quite eating them when I turned 60. Oysters feed by filtering water and harmful germs can concentrate in their tissues. When someone eats raw or undercooked oysters, germs that might be in the oyster can cause illness. CDC estimates that about 80,000 people get vibriosis—and 100 people die from it—in the United States every year. I have enough things to worry about.

I believe the Universe was constructed this way for a reason. All you have to do is watch the news.

About 7-8 years ago, I suffered from bouts of dizziness. It was like I was going to faint but never did. It would come out of nowhere and at different times. It caused me all kinds of anxiety issues. I went to numerous doctors and they ran every test you can imagine on me. They never found anything wrong. Eventually, it went away on it's own. After all that, I believe I had an ear infection that was causing me problems. One doctor told me that anxiety is real and that I shouldn't think it was all in my head. Thank God that's over. It was horrible.

Hard to tell when bass fishing, especially when fishing in cover. When salt water flats fishing, this is much more apparent. This is the reason flats fishermen pole their boats. Any noise whatsoever will spook flats fish. Sight fishing for tarpon, bonefish and redfish is a stealth game. The water is very clear and even waves from a boat will run them off. I don't see that happening in bass waters.

I am sure they have their best people working on it. ?

Do you know that scientists now say the Universe we can see with our eyes is only about 5% of what exists? 68% is dark energy and 27% is dark matter. These same scientists do not know what dark matter or dark energy is. I think about this when someone who doesn't know what 95% of the Universe is says they don't believe in God.

I joined my first bass club in 1969. Fished my first tournament shortly thereafter. Everything I learned about bass fishing, I learned from someone who was trying to out fish me. Competition is the best teacher.