Captain Phil

Fish live in water. Sound waves travel faster and more effectively in liquid. Fish use movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water to locate their food. No two lures are exactly alike. In a lot of 1000 same lures, these factors can vary. Thickness of the plastic, hardware variance, hook balance, number and placement of the sound makers, even the location of the line tie can change. With spinnerbaits, the thickness and bend of the wire is significant. Fishing with cheap knockoff lures is like playing Mozart on a toy piano vs. a Steinway. Both make sound, what reaches your ears is somewhat different. ?

For years I fished against an older angler who fished this way. We have a small lagoon on the Chain called the Gator Hole. It's a large sink hole in the grass about 18 feet deep. Every single tournament he would sit on that hole and cast out a Zoom Mag II worm. He let it sit on the bottom and fished it like live bait. He smoked a whole cigarette before he moved it, then repeated the process. If you came in with a good bag of fish, you never knew when he was going to pull a ten pound bass out of his bag. If I fished that way, I would explode. ?

I keep a stash of Killer Rattle Traps. Some of these are twenty years old. I kept them for use in tournaments. Not all Rattle Traps catch fish the same. If you find one that works, hang on to it.

One thing is certain. If I get on the water at 9 AM and go home at 3 PM, I will never catch a bass before then or after. ?

For years I have noticed bass in the Harris Chain are the exact opposite from most all the other bass lakes I have fished. Maybe it's me or the way I fish, but I catch my biggest bass between 11 AM and 2 PM. On most lakes, the best days are cloudy and rainy. Not here. Our best days are direct sun overhead and just a few clouds. A little wind is better than dead calm. I don't get on the water until 9 AM. If I'm on the water at dawn, it's dead until the sun gets overhead. I used to think it was because the water is so dark. Now that it's cleared up, it the same. Weird...

I don't understand the controversy. I use braid, mono and fluorocarbon depending upon the circumstances. Each has it's positives and negatives. I don't understand why anyone would use a leader for bass fishing? If braid is as great as some anglers believe, tying on a leader seems counterproductive. All a leader can do is create a knot that can fail or hang in your guides. I use braid for frog fishing and top water fishing around heavy cover. I don't like it for flipping as the rough texture often interferes with the fall of the bait. You can overcome this by using more weight, but you won't get as many bites. Big Game mono is much better for that type of fishing. There is one type of fishing where braid shines. That's Rattle Trap fishing in tournaments. I have lost so many big fish on Rattle Traps it's ridiculous. I now use 50 pound braid and crank them into the boat. Haven't had a fish jump off since I switched. For sensitive bottom fishing with plastics, I don't think you can do better than straight flouro.

I carry cash and plastic. Normally a couple hundred in cash. My credit cards pay me back with money, so I charge most everything. We use the cash back to fly first class on vacations. We pay off our balance every month and never run a credit card balance. It's a good habit to get into. Running credit card balances is the road to bankruptcy.

I never cut school to go fishing. However, my girl friend and I often went fishing before school. There was a water treatment plant in the neighborhood and the outflow canal was full of bass. When you find a girl like that, you keep her. We will be married 57 years in November. ?

I went to Bitters and they had lots of rods and reels, but they didn't have what I wanted in stock. Going there was helpful as I don't like to buy something without seeing it first. I ended up ordering it from Tackle Warehouse and it came in a week. Thanks for the tip. ☺️

Bass don't care about the price of your tackle. It's what you do with it that counts. The idea that spending more money on a rod makes you a better fisherman is BS. It's all about comfort and pride of ownership. My 20 year old spinnerbait rod cost about $40 when I bought it from Bass Pro Shop. So far it's caught more fish than my $200 Zodias. If you hold both of them side by side, you can see and feel the difference, the fish don't.

Frog fishing is great fun, it's also frustrating. I don't believe a major problem with frog hookups is with the lure or technique. Frog fish are normally buried in cover. They feel vibration or see movement and strike in the general area of the food. They miss more times than they get to eat. "I have other lures that work a heck of a lot better than a frog" .

You will never strip the gears in a Curado 150 MGL bass fishing. If you use 200 pound braid and hook your line to the back of your cousin's monster truck, you might... ? The only observation I have is the spool seems narrow compared to my old round reels. A prehistoric Ambassador 5500C seems gigantic compared to one of these moderns reels. I love my MGL.

Spot on! An expensive rod in the hands of an inexperienced fisherman won't make that much difference. My $50 rods caught a lot of fish for a long time. The advantage of better rods is in the lightness of the rod and how it's made. My Zodias rod feels like it's made out of air. The blank runs down into a composite handle, transmitting the slightest movement in the bait. If I don't know what that means, another fish is going to make a fool out of me. Learn to fish first, then decide what you need.

I recently bought a Shimano Zodias casting rod. I have never paid more than $150 for a rod before this rod. Most of my rods are over ten years old and cost about $50. I use the Zodias rod for worm and Senko fishing. This rod is amazing. You can feel the quality just by holding it in your hand. Fishing with it is like nothing I have ever experienced. The lightness and sensitivity is well worth the extra money.

I hear you. I had major back surgery on March 1st. Before that, I had so much pain standing that I thought I would be in a wheel chair the rest of my life. I found a wonderful surgeon who performed a quadruple fusion in my lower back. Six months later, I bought a new bass boat and I am back on the water. You have to learn to do things differently. Wiping your butt is just one of the many challenges. Take it easy and don't try to do too much. Good Luck!

Summer bass fishing in Florida can be tough. It's not the fish that are to blame, it's just too hot to be comfortable. When I was younger, I could sit outside all day in 95 degree weather. Now, the heat tires out me. The water this summer has been consistently in the high eighties and low nineties. There is little deep water and practically no offshore structure. Despite this, I have been catching at least one nice bass on each trip. It's all about reaction strikes. In the summer our fish are inactive much of the day, so you have to fish within inches of them or they won't bite. Night fishing is great if you don't mind missing sleep and fighting mosquitoes. I have fished in Canada and Lake Erie in summer and fishing is much better. If you want to take a bass fishing vacation in Florida, don't come in the summer.

It's true things weren't all good in the past. Since I was born, our country fought three major wars. Many of my childhood friends died or were wounded in those wars for reasons that are hard to explain today. Racism was the norm and people were treated badly because they were thought to be different. Time has a way of erasing the bad memories and only remembering the good. When you get old, you will remember them all both good and bad. You will reflect on your life and see things in a different light. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana

My father took me to a football game when Jim Brown and YA Tittle were playing. Look them up.

Born in 1947. Here are some things I remember from when I was a kid. Riding in a train and sleeping in the sleeping car. I like Ike (didn't know what it meant) Going to a church revival meeting Getting new clothes on Easter, Easter baskets and chocolate bunnies Grandma's cooking on Thanksgiving Fishing on the bank with Grandpa Toy robots Model airplanes Polio shots Saturday morning TV Pretending to be Superman Howdy Doody and Micky Mouse Club (especially Annette in a sweater) The National Anthem played when TV went off the air at night Carrying a jug of water in the trunk of your car in case of overheating Three Musketeers candy bars for a nickel Cokes for a dime Going to the Drive-In Asking a girl to a dance Eating lunch in the school cafeteria for a quarter

This varies greatly. Here in Florida, we have so many diverse fishing opportunities that anglers are all over the place. I believe the vast majority fish salt water on the coasts. Many of those eat what they catch. Every lake, pond, canal or rock pit in Florida contains bass. I grew up fishing those banks as did many young anglers. I went back and forth between salt and fresh all my life. These days, all I do is fish for bass. I once booked a customer from Minnesota. He told me bass in his State are considered rough fish. He also told me bass fishing is looked down upon in his State. That was twenty years ago, so I don't know the current situation. Here's a photo of that customer with an 8 pound bass I put him onto. To say he was thrilled is an understatement.

Me too...

It helps if the bank you are fishing from has current running nearby.

Until recently, I have always relied on Bass Pro Shops for my tackle needs. Their Orlando store is about a 40 minute drive from my home. BPS has become worthless. Their tackle shelves are bare and all they stock are their own brands. I tried to buy my latest Shimano reel and rod from them. The counter man couldn't give me a delivery date. They did have racks of shirts and hats in stock. I now buy all my lures and baits at a small local tackle shop. Between them and Tackle Warehouse, I have no use for BPS.

My experience with Tackle Warehouse has only been with two orders. So far, they have been good. Their website tells you if an item is in stock before you buy, so it shouldn't be a surprise. Shortages are everywhere these days. My wife told me she can't find pickles at the store? Since when do pickles come from China? My last purchase from Tackle warehouse was a Shimano Curado MGL and a Zodias rod. Both were in stock and arrived within a week. My first order was some Z-man Jackhammers. They weren't in stock, I knew it and I got them three weeks later.

Frog fishing is different. When frog fishing, I use a longer rod so I can make longer casts and hold the line higher off the water. For top water plug fishing, I much prefer a shorter rod. I throw my plugs where others wouldn't. I look for openings in the cover where I can get back in. This requires accurate casting. I find shorter rods to be more accurate in those conditions. A shorter rod is also easier to work baits that require a lot of action.