Captain Phil

I did a lot of research before I had my surgery. Back surgery is an art. Everyone's body and physical condition is different. Seek out the most experienced back surgeon in your area. Don't choose one from a TV ad or because a friend told you about one. In all of Florida, I ended up with only three choices. All three were from nationally known orthopedic hospitals. One of them wasn't taking any new patients. It took me six months to get an appointment. It was six years between my first MRI and my surgery. They tried epidermal shots with no effect. I tried physical therapy with the same result. Drugs don't do anything good. They mask the problem and create new problems of their own. I am still working on getting my stomach straighten out six years later. Thank God I had good medical insurance. I just received the final statement for my operation and hospital stay. The total bill was an unbelievable $460,000! Between Medicare and my supplemental insurance, they actually received about $30K. I paid nothing. I am extremely pleased with my result. My hope is to be fishing when I'm in my eighties.

About twenty years ago I noticed I had pain in my hips and legs when standing. I first noticed it when fishing, then it crept into my everyday life. It wasn't shooting pain, but a heaviness like I was carrying around an extra 200 pounds. Ten years ago I went to an orthopedic surgeon and after a MRI was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, which is a narrowing of the spinal canal. Being in my sixties at the time, I was told to wait to see how it progressed. Two years ago it got so bad I had to hang on the sink when I made the morning coffee. All my activities were affected. I sold my boat. I couldn't work on or even wash my own car. I couldn't stand anywhere without looking for a chair. I took so much Advil, that I burned up my stomach lining. I had no life ahead of me and I was sure I would be in a wheel chair soon. I'm 74 and didn't want to end up like that. I had TV surgeons tell me they could fix my problem with a laser. These quacks are out to get your money. If medicare won't pay for it, don't do it. I went to the best Orthopedic surgeon in Florida and on March 1st of this year I had major surgery. My surgeon performed a laminectomy and fused four vertebra. It was the first major surgery I had in my life. My leg pain was instantly gone. It has taken this long for my back to heal completely, but I can walk, fish and stand for over an hour. I bought a new bass boat and am back fishing 2-3 days a week. I am not supposed to lift anything heavy, but I was able to change the water pump on my 1955 Ford without pain. This whole experience has changed my life. Instead of having nothing to look forward to, I am looking forward to the future. Getting old not for wimps. I don't know what is ahead of me, but I know I can deal with it.

We have black bears here in Central Florida. I have seen and heard quite a few of them while fishing. I never felt threatened by a bear in Florida, but I give them a wide berth. They come out on garbage day.

In my twenties and thirties, I often fished the Everglades alone at night. The mosquitoes were horrible, but the fishing made up for it. The bass I caught night fishing were substantially larger then those I caught during the day. When you are alone at 2 AM in a swamp twenty miles from the ramp, your mind causes you to think the worst. More than once I would leave and go home early when my fears got the best of me. I never saw anything I couldn't explain, but that didn't make me feel better.

I started fishing when I was 12. That would have been around 1960. At that time, my fishing was limited to walking the banks of canals and rock pits. I caught tons of bass up to 4 pounds on a regular basis, mostly on plastic worms. In my teens I started to travel farther to fish. Many of the canals in South Florida are connected to the ocean. Once in a while, we would hook a large tarpon or snook along with the bass. Peacock bass and Oscars started arriving in the eighties. Before that, snook and tarpon were a bycatch of bass fishing. When I moved to Central Florida in 1997, exotics had started to take over. The Highway 27 canals were so full of Oscars catching a bass became rare. I never had a chance to fish for Peacocks. My son lives in Weston and the lake behind his house is full of them. If you really want an experience, ride over the Everglades City and fish the 10,000 islands.

My wife and I grew up in South Florida, raised a family and started a business. As kids, we fished the canals and rock pits for bass. When our son was a baby, we took him to Tamiami Trail and walked the bank fishing with him watching us in a portable crib. On the weekends, we would overnight at the pier on the ocean. Before all the condos were built, the bay was covered with ouster bars, snook, red fish and snapper. When we had money for a boat, we fished Okeechobee, The Keys, The Ten Thousands Islands and the Bahamas. South Florida is a fisherman's paradise. Enjoy! ☺️

My father passed in 1978 of a sudden heart attack. I was 31 at the time and found myself overseeing all the family business. In my father's desk was a small box of index cards. He had taken the time to write down everything I needed to know. Military numbers, bank accounts, insurance info, pension with contact numbers and addresses. It sure made my life a whole lot easier. I can't imagine what I would have had to go through without it. Do your kids a favor and make this happen.

I have been drag racing since high school. That was a very long time ago. We raced as a family for many years. I enjoy oval track racing, but it doesn't hold a candle to the top fuel cars. In my opinion, NASCAR is the most boring thing imaginable. Who wants to watch a field full of identical cars chase each other around for hours with the only excitement being a crash or the last ten laps? Pro drag racing is exciting, fast and there is no redo. Anything can happen and it usually does. The sound of 11,000 horse power unleashed for 3 seconds has no comparison.

Been using that "yellow handled thing" for over twenty years. We use it for sharpening large offshore marlin hooks and they are much tougher than any bass hook will ever be.

How you choose to close the bail does not affect line twist. Spinning reel line twist is caused by installing the line backwards or by lures that twist on the retrieve. Most often, you install the line with the label on the spool facing up. To check this, stop every 10 or so cranks and make sure the line is not twisting as you crank it on. If it is, you will see the line ball up when slack. If you try fishing with a spool full of twisted line, you will be in for a bad day. I use a pair of cotton garden gloves when installing my line to put tension on the line. Dragging the line behind your boat without a lure will straighten it out. It's better to install it correctly the first time. Flipping the bail over manually has advantages. It allows you to straighten out loops in the line before they cause a bird's nest. These loops are what causes this problem. It slows down your fishing as many bass fisherman fish too fast. Your lure falls deeper and more naturally. There is less wear on the reel. Back in the day, I used to carry extra bail springs as they failed often.

Oops! Bill Dance. Sorry about that.

The first issue of Bassmaster Magazine was in 1968. I was 21 years old at the time and had been bass fishing since I was 12. I read everything in those magazines cover to cover. In those days, bass fisherman were pretty closed mouthed about where and how they fished. What Bassmaster did was put information in the hands of anyone who could read. Hard to imagine today with the Internet, YouTube videos and TV shows. Bill's (edited) TV show was one of the best. His sense of humor was fantastic. If you read between the jokes, he was and is a great teacher.

In the early days of bass tournaments, Bill Dance was the king. You can read all about him in Ray Scott's book Bass Boss. I have met many of the early pros. I regret missing Bill Dance, one of the greats of bass fishing.

Bass fishing has been very popular in our area for a very long time. We have weekly bass tournaments that have been going on for as long as I can remember. Bass fisherman from all over the country come here to fish and retire. At one time, I fished a Seniors tournament tour where one angler in the boat had to be 50 or older. If you want to see real competition, fish against a bunch of old guys that have been fishing since they could hold a rod. Guys like Top Water Charlie and the Adams brothers. Occasionally, we had some big name anglers enter these tournaments. They couldn't hold a candle to these locals. Most of them are gone now.

My first boat was a boat I built myself out of an 8' x 4' piece of plywood and some wood planks for the sides. I've owned everything from Jon boats to 40' sport fish. My first real bass boat was a Terry Bass with a 50 Johnson and stick steering. Since then I had over a dozen bass boats, including Hydrosport, Ranger, Gambler, Skeeter and Storm. This year, I purchased the Ranger RT185 that I'm fishing out of now. Hard to say which one was the best. They all had their positives and negatives. Back when I bought my first Terry Bass, we plastered the sides with decals and painted our names on them. It was all about "Look at me I'm a bass pro!" Today we have wrapped boats and power poles that do the same thing. When Hydrosports came out, it was about speed. My 18' Hydrosport would run 65 mph on a radar gun, pretty fast in the eighties. My Gambler was the highest quality boat I have ever owned. You can pick out a Gambler blindfolded using only your hands. The Storm was like fishing off an aircraft carrier. It was made to run Lake Okeechobee on bad days and it did that well. I would have to say the best all around bass boat I have ever owned was my Skeeter. I fished tournaments and guided out of that boat for ten years and it's still running today. It was the best bass boat for the money. I'm older now, so my fishing has changed. I no longer need speed, but I still like a racy look. I don't want to own a tow truck and anything heavy is a problem. Modern aluminum bass boats are a miracle of engineering. I love my little Ranger and wouldn't change anything about it.

When you get into spinnerbaits for as long as I have, you end up with a box like this. ? Anyone here remember this bait?

You guys are bringing back memories for me. Twin spinner like this?

Years ago a great fisherman taught me a lesson. Bass will sometimes hit your worm when you are reeling it back to the boat. When this happens, you should switch to a spinnerbait.

There is much to talk about. When I first started fishing spinnerbaits, I threw them out and cranked them back fast and shallow. I caught some fish that way. Later we started experimenting with retrieves, blade size, weight, line diameter and trailers. One thing I am convinced of. It doesn't matter how you fish a spinnerbait as long as it's hitting something on the way in. That something could be shallow hydrilla, reeds, pads or even a tree stump in 12 feet of water. Back when I was fishing Everglades canals, I would use a single Colorado spinnerbait and let it helicopter down close to the bank. When It stopped, I would slowly crank it back to the boat. Bass always seemed to hit it on the fall or shortly there after. A spinnerbait is one of the deadliest pad baits there is. I cast it back into cover and work it back along any narrow pathway I can find. I get hung a lot, so I use heavy line. I normally use two colors, chartreuse with gold blades and white with silver blades. Some days the fish prefer one over the other. On rare occasions when it's dark, rainy or cloudy, I have been known to throw a black spinnerbait with chartreuse painted blades. If you add a fire tiger grub to this bait it's a killer combination. If fish are pressured, you may have to downsize your bait or the blades. One of the best spinnerbaits of all time was the SOB OKIEBUG spinnerbait. There is a big difference in a quality spinnerbait and a cheap knockoff. Both will catch fish if the fish are jumping in the boat. The quality bait will when they aren't. I prefer tandem spinnerbaits with a small Colorado in the front and a medium size willow on the rear. I often downsize the top blade to a number 4. Hard to find a better bass lure.

My understanding of the SoCal lakes is that they are clear and relatively snag free? The anglers I see in videos are all throwing big swim baits. I am a big believer in light line fishing if that's what it takes to get bit. Here in Florida, our biggest bass are often buried up in all kinds of stuff. Sometimes I think I could use a garden rake instead of a fishing rod. The first time I fished a tournament on the St. John's river was back in the seventies. I was so psyched out I refilled all my reels with 30 pound line. My line was like cable and I don't think I caught a fish. Lesson learned.

The heaviest bass I have caught so far, I caught flipping Lake Eustis in January. I was using 25 pound Big Game mono and a Gambler craw. The fish hit right under the boat. When I set the hook, the fish ran under the boat and broke my flipping stick in two on the gunnel. This fish cleared the water on the other side of the boat and the line got tangled around my trolling motor. I was sure I would lose her, but thankfully I was able to hand line her in. I weighed her on a digital scale, took this photo and released her back into the lake. The boy is my grandson. He's thirty now. If you fish where fish like that are swimming around, you might want to use some line that's up to the challenge. ?

It doesn't matter to the fish how you hold a spinning rod. Everyone's body is different. If it's comfortable and works, do it how it feels best. A properly balanced spinning outfit should feel best with your fingers around the reel stem. Please don't hold it upside down. Whenever I had a customer that fished that way, I knew I was in for a long day. If you wish to reel backwards, move the reel handle to the other side.

I have fished for fish where a good drag is necessary, mostly in salt water fishing. When a ten pound bone fish runs off 100 yards with your jig in it's mouth, you better have your drag set right. The first big bone fish I caught was on an Ambassador 6500 reel. That fish ran so hard against the drag that it back lashed my line on the first run. I have caught 100 pound plus sailfish on 8 pound mono, so I know how to use a drag correctly. None of this is necessary when bass fishing unless you are fishing with 6 pound test in areas of cover. Done that too. A drag is not going to help you when you have to dig a big bass out of a mess of pads or a hay bale of hydrilla. I was fishing for bass when reels had no drag. I have locked mine down ever since. I use 20 pound big game for most of my power fishing. The last bass that broke me off was when I was a teenager. Most break offs are due to angler error or poor knots. Before braid and fluoro, we used heavy mono to reduce line stretch. With modern lines, this is not necessary. When I hook a big bass, I already know what it is going to do and I am ready for it. If it surges, I push free spool and use my thumb as a drag. I have never had a bass surge more than 5-6 feet and I have caught a number of double digit bass. My thumb is more reliable than a piece of plastic or cork. If I'm using a spinning reel, I back reel. A loose drag will cost you fish as you won't get a good hook set. If you feel you need a drag, set it correctly and make sure it works.

Depends upon what the fish are doing. I once fished a tournament in an area with a bunch of schooling bass. Things were quiet until a boat went by. Each time, the wake from the boat stirred up the bait fish and the bass started biting. No one enjoys fishing in an area with a bunch of boat traffic. I think it bothers the anglers more than the fish.

Bass sometimes swim along with the bait holding it in their mouths and you won't know. I learned this years ago while stand up fishing in my boat. I felt the blades stop and looked back to see a large bass with my spinnerbait bait in its mouth swimming at the same speed as my retrieve. If you don't use a trailer hook, you are missing fish you will never know about. Look closely at this photo I took last week. What do you think the chances are you would have hooked this bass without a trailer hook? Zero...