Captain Phil

My first electronic "fish finder" was a flasher I made from a Heathkit. It didn't find many fish! 😄

Basic electronics is one thing. Having enough electronics to launch a trip to Mars is another. TV bass tournaments have become spectacles. It makes the average fishermen believe he/she needs $100K or more worth of boat to catch bass. The next time you watch one, notice who the sponsors are. A hundred years ago, bass fishing was a poor man's sport. Today, it's all about selling stuff. Remove the stuff and you remove the sponsors.

I think they should outlaw all electronics from bass tournaments. Give everyone a 6' pole like we had in the old days. While you're at it, make everyone use round Ambassadeur reels, Lew's Pistol Grip Speed Sticks and Arbogast Hula Poppers! Seriously, this will never fly...

I keep mine in the original packages. They last longer and retain their smell and texture.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your father. Losing a parent is tough. When it happens, a part of you dies as well. It's not a bad thing that your mother is not aware of what happened. My wife and I are both in our late 70s. Our minds are good, but we often think about what life would be like if we lost each other. It's not the person who passed that we are concerned about, it's the survivor. Where would we go? Would we be alone? Who would look after us? It's not a pleasant thing to think about, but it's inevitable. The only way to gain peace is to place your future in your faith.

My little Ranger came with two Lowrance Combo units, one in the dash and one mounted on the front floor of the boat. Here in Florida, any water over 8 feet deep is rare. Because of this, I rarely use my front unit. Your local conditions and how you fish will determine what you need.

I have lived in Florida for 73 years and you are spot on. The things that happen here are just weird. The majority of the current population is from somewhere else. When I ran my company in South Florida, you never knew who or what was going to walk through the door. I once had a client that was one of 80 children. His father was a king or something from an African country that had a dozen wives. Politics, especially in Miami, is very strange. Between the New York and New Jersey Folks, Latins and who knows who else, it's in a constant state of turmoil. Driving and traffic is insane. Other than that, it's paradise. Fishing opportunities are endless. The good news is there are small cities in Central and North Florida where you can escape the madness, at least for now. This particular stunt has to be a dare, social media video or something similar. Tarpon are worthless as food. This guy is not taking it home to eat. He made no attempt to shield his identity. I'm not sure what the charge would be as the net and the fish couldn't be worth much. I have to admit it would be fun to watch. 😅

As long as you don't lose the feeling you had when you first met, your marriage will last.

I totally understand this. A marriage license is a legal contract between two people. It's not suppose to change or alter your feelings toward each other. I never wanted to think of my wife as "my old lady". I always wanted to think of her as my best friend, lover and partner. Many of us came from dysfunctional families, my wife and I did. We did not want the same thing to happen to us. Except for children, we see no reason for a paper document to keep us together. I never wore a wedding ring for the same reason. After all this time, nothing between us has changed.

My wife and I have been married 58 years. We met in the 10th grade of high school. She loved the same things I did, fishing and fast cars. We fished together before and after school. We were married at the Miami courthouse. We both had jobs working in a grocery store. We drove there in a borrowed car with holes in the floorboards. We have always worked together in numerous businesses. Whatever problems we ran into, we fixed. A great marriage is based on love, friendship and respect. If you are missing one or more of these, it's going to be tough.

My Mitchell 300. The reel that changed bass fishing forever!

I never use the drag on a spinning reel when bass fishing. Back in the day drags were so inconsistent, I found it easier to back reel. Bass don't make long runs, so I have never had a problem. If you try this with a Bonefish or Tarpon, you will never catch the spinning handle. Training yourself to flip the bail over manually is worth the effort. You can say goodbye to bird nests forever. So is learning the right way to fill the spool.

The only difference between "power" and "finesse" is is how you fish it.

I have been fishing Florida water's since 1960. Spent my life chasing bass in Okeechobee, the Everglades and anywhere else you could find a bass. I helped Slim's son hand crank the old Slim's Fish Camp bridge when I was a kid. I guess you could say I know something about that lake. I didn't say spraying is beneficial, I said it is a necessary evil. There aren't enough mechanical harvesters in the world to make a dent in that lake. The lake's poor water quality is not due to weed spraying alone. It's due to agriculture, cattle farming, human development, channelizing rivers, artificial water level manipulation, septic tanks, highway run off and I probably left out a few. This issue is much deeper than spraying hydrilla. Progress is being made. All you have to do is fish Lake Apopka to know that.

You guys are saying the same things I have been saying for years. Nobody likes weed spraying. Unfortunately or fortunately depending upon who you are, Florida waters must be managed for a wide range of uses. Lakefront homeowners don't want to look outside their million dollar home and see a sea of grass. Pleasure boaters don't want to stop to clean weeds off their prop every 200 yards. Waterfront restaurants and marina owners want clear navigation. I have seen Little Lake Harris so topped out with hydrilla only a kayak could fish it. Same thing for some parts of the Kissimmee Chain. If you take the time to talk to scientists, fisheries biologists and game officials like I have, you will discover it's not just nuking the lake with poison. Informed management is the answer. It takes time and money before you see the results. Twenty five years ago, the Harris Chain was dead. There were smelly fish kills all over the place and the water looked like brown goo. Tournaments were won by fishing back far in the canals. After hundreds of millions of dollars spent to restore the lakes, we now have 2-3 tournaments each weekend and the fishing is better than I have seen it in 50 years. Instead of bellyaching about weed spraying, go to the local meetings and get involved in the process. The people in charge want to hear from you. Be polite and listen more than you talk. It is working here and it can work where you fish.

Here in Florida, it's a Mudfish also called Bowfin and Grinnel. They grow fairly large and fight like Heck!

For many years I have carried one spinning rod and reel loaded with 8 pound green Maxima mono. I have won numerous tournaments with this outfit. The reel is a trusty old Daiwa Black Gold BG13. The rod is a 6' 6" Browning Medallion. I have used Daiwa Black Gold reels on everything from bass to bonefish and tarpon. They are cheap and they work. The rod is on the stiff side with a sensitive tip. You don't need to spend a ton of money on a spinning outfit. As long as the drag is smooth, the reel is light and reliable and the rod is comfortable, you will be fine. Learn to flip the bail over by hand. That will keep you from having the dreaded "Bird's Nest".

The problem with fishermen is they get locked into one thing and when that thing changes they don't adapt. I remember a tournament on Lake Istokpoga twenty five years ago. In the months leading up to the tournament, the lake was practically topped out with hydrilla. The fish were offshore and everyone was catching fish. A few weeks before the tournament, the spray boats came in and most of the hydrilla sunk to the bottom. Everyone was ticked and thought the lake was dead. Fisherman who knew better followed the fish onto the shoreline and started flipping the shoreline pads. It was the craziest fishing I have seen. Those pads were full of monster bass. We didn't have braid back then and break offs were common. It took over thirty pounds to win that tournament. Most of the fishermen zeroed because they fished where the fish weren't. Modern aquatic weed spraying does not kill fish. They do the same thing you would do if your home get's hit with a tornado, they move to the closest shelter they can find.

I have owned and restored dozens of classic cars in my life. I have never built a Kit Car as I chose to own the real thing. It's a great hobby that will teach you many useful skills. Never go into the hobby thinking you are going to make money. It costs many times more to restore most cars than they are worth. The biggest most expensive issue is "rust" and paint. A good paint job can run $10K these days without major body work. If you like building and tinkering with things, you will enjoy the hobby. Most people buy a project that's too far gone and give up before they get done. If you like driving and going to car shows, buying one already done will save you money. Have someone knowledgeable inspect it before you buy so you don't buy a basket case. Never ever leave your car at a restoration shop that charges by the hour. If you do, I guarantee you will live to regret it.

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail...

You must be reading some old material? There was a time when Florida made just about every mistake you could make in aquatic weed control. About thirty years ago,the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) declared hydrilla an invasive plant to be removed by any method possible. This allowed local authorities to do whatever they felt necessary to destroy these plants. They put this in the hands of people who had no idea what they were doing or how to do it. For example, here in Lake County the water department's mosquito control unit had this authority. Without environmental and fisheries knowledge, they almost totally collapsed the Harris Chain bass fishery. I fought with them for years over this and was one of their most vocal critics. More recently, the invasive Plant Management Section of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is the lead agency in Florida responsible for coordinating and funding two statewide programs controlling invasive aquatic and upland plants on public conservation lands and waterways throughout the state. The section also ensures that beneficial native aquatic plants in Florida's ponds, lakes and rivers are protected through its permitting programs and funding research to find more cost-effective management techniques. Working with fisheries biologists, they are doing a much better job of managing aquatic weed control. Florida is a special case when it comes to aquatic plants. In most States, cold winters keep hydrilla from taking over the lake. In Florida, it doesn't stay cold enough and hydrilla can quickly render a lake unfishable. Fisheries biologists tell me the best weed to water ratio is about 20% growth. To attain this takes management. Management costs money. Since weed control is now being managed by biologists instead of politicians, things are much better. The Harris Chain is an example of this. Bass fishing on the Chain is better now than in the past. Hydrilla will always be a problem in Florida. It's been here so long that it is no longer invasive, it's become a part of the environment. Before hydrilla there were bass. If you find the hydrilla where you were fishing last week is gone, be assured the fish did not die, they just moved.

I am sure there will soon be AI technology that will find bass, tell you where to cast, maybe even make the cast and crank up the fish. If this is what you want, why not stay home and catch fish on your computer? The joy of fishing is not always about how many fish you put in the boat.

My father's wings.

Many of us had fathers or grandfathers who served in WWII. It's hard to imagine their sacrifice. My father was 21 years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked. According to his family, he was a happy go lucky kid. The war changed him. You didn't know how long the war would last, you were in "for the duration". He spent almost four years in the Pacific riding in the rear seat of a Dauntless Dive Bomber. He was in many sea battles, the major one being the Battle of Midway, which was a turning point in the war. His ship was hit by a Japanese Kamikaze and many of his friends were killed. If that wasn't enough, he contracted malaria which followed him his whole life. WWII veterans rarely talk about the things they did and saw. They did their duty and never thought of themselves as heroes. When I was a small boy, I found three purple heart ribbons in a drawer and I asked my father what they were? He said it was something that happened at that's all he said. It wasn't until after he passed that we found out what that was. I am sure many others here have similar stories.

In bass fishing, you can get away with most any reel. You don't even need a drag as long as you have some experience. If you are going to tackle larger fish, you'll need something a little stouter like a Shimano Calcutta. A Calcutta 200 is about as strong as it gets. Most salt water sport fish will turn a Chronarch into a pile of parts. While they are heavier than most, those old round Abassadeurs can take a beating and if they break, you can fix them with a nail file. 😅