Captain Phil

Hildebrandt Okeechobee Special

Roland Martin was once asked for the secret to catching more bass. He said "Go early and stay late". If you feel good, you will fish better and stay longer. When you are over 70 like some of us are, this does not happen every day. I enjoy fishing more now than I did when I was younger. You appreciate everything because you don't know how much longer you can.

Good video. Many northern anglers who move to Florida struggle to catch our bass. When they ask for help, I often find them attaching their lures with snap swivels. I believe this is because they are used to using leaders to prevent cutoffs from pike? Nothing destroys the action of a bait like a heavy snap swivel. The loop knot is a very easy knot to learn. Some older anglers tell me they need a snap because their fingers don't work like they used to. If you are going to use hardware to attach your lure, use the smallest snap you can find.

One of the best old top water lures was the South Bend Nip-I-Diddee. It works best when the wild is blowing hard. I've caught a lot of big fish on this lure. Throw it out and give it 2-3 hard jerks then let it sit for as long as you can stand it. This bait calls big bass. Blowups are impressive. I like the color in the photo below.

I haven't worked on a Motorguide trolling motor in years. Switched to Minn Kota and never went back. Back in those days, I changed a lot of broken cables. Changing the cable is a mostly disassembly reassembly project. The hardest part is disassembling the head of the trolling motor. If you have some mechanical ability and the right tools, it's not too hard. Is the cable available? Ask around. There is normally someone in every area that repairs trolling motors for a living that may sell you the part. Better yet, they can change it for you.

Braid has it's advantages. In my opinion, it's not when fishing soft plastics in clear water. I have witnessed two anglers fishing plastic worms side by side, one using mono and one using fluorocarbon. The fluorocarbon fisherman got more bites. Braid makes this difference greater. This doesn't matter as much when the water is murky or stained. When fishing clear water in the back of a spring fed canal, it makes a difference. No matter what you do to braid, you will never make it as invisible as thin mono or fluorocarbon. You can make it thinner, but it's still opaque. Fish do see the line. If it's only one fish out of twenty, it's too many for me. Many line factors can affect the action of a lure, like diameter, buoyancy, stiffness and surface texture. I want my line to be as invisible as possible and have as little influence on the lure as possible. If you believe braid does what you want, do as you will. I want every advantage on my side and braid isn't always one of them.

Bumper sticker I once saw on the back of a Florida pickup truck. "Send more snow birds, they were delicious!"

Bass fishing in the fall can be some of the best fishing of the year. I like it because fishing pressure is light. There are week days when I can fish all day without seeing more than 2-3 boats. Fall is spinnerbait and Rattle Trap time in Florida. The fish are feeding on shad and will be fattening up before the spawn. After Thanksgiving, snow birds fill up the boat ramps. This doesn't bother the fish as much as it bothers me. I enjoy fishing when it's peaceful and quiet. Nothing is a beautiful as a big bass on a cool Florida fall day.

I'm staying home today watching boats crisscross across Lake Eustis. I know today and tomorrow will be crazy on the lakes, so I'm watching football on TV. The day after Labor Day kicks off the best time of the year for bass fishing in Florida. It's been crazy hot this summer and I've only been out a few times. Somewhere in the next few weeks a tiny cold front will come through. I will know it when I walk outside and feel the morning air. The bass know this too. All the vacationers will be gone and I will have the lakes to myself. Can't wait!

What I like about tournaments is the only thing that matters is fish. You can't weigh stories, opinions or marketing. One fish can make the difference between getting paid or going home a contributor. A strictly recreational fisherman only has to satisfy him/herself. I don't care what line I fish with or who's line I use. All I care about is putting fish on the scales and I will use whatever it takes.

Very difficult to determine as the fish aren't talking. From my experience, the visibility of your line does affect the fish. How much and to what extent is highly debatable. I think it depends upon the clarity of the water and the lures you are using. If I had two anglers fishing plastic worms out of my boat and one was using braid and the other mono, the mono fisherman always caught more fish. For some reason, the braid fisherman tended to use too heavy of line. Where the mono fisherman would use 10 pound line, the braid fisherman would use 30. This got so prevalent that I would hand the braid fisherman one of my outfits so he/she could catch more fish. If the braid fisherman had used 10 pound line, this would have made little difference. There is more to fishing line than visibility. The line affects how your bait falls and acts. If the line is buoyant or impedes the action of the lure, it is going to affect it's action. I use braid when I need to. Frog fishing is one of those times. I also use braid when ripping a Rattle Trap. I can feel the vibration in my rod and I lose less hooked fish with braid. When fishing soft plastics, I always use mono or fluorocarbon. If you have confidence in what you are doing keep doing it, but keep an open mind. Confidence is the greatest factor in fishing success.

Check out the Jimmy Houston knot. I've been using it for years. Works well with all lines.

I've read about tournaments where all the tackle must be pre WWII. I wonder how many bass would be caught on a 3/4 oz. Creek Chub Darter? Better bring a bunch of Advil! ?

Years ago there was a big national tournament on the Kissimmee Chain in Florida. That was the first time I saw Roland Martin. He was young and good looking and all the women swooned over him. During practice two guys used a chain saw to cut a path into a tiny lake off the Chain. A big cold front came through the first day of the tournament and one of the anglers used an aluminum boat to get into that lake winning the tournament. This caused a huge stink as some competitors thought he got out of the boat to get into lake which was against the rules. After investigation, he was awarded the win. I am sure that happened before and since.

What do you have against aluminum bass boats? Do you feel they are an unfair advantage? Just curious.

Our local bass club ran an annual bass tournament for a number of years. We did this to raise money for the club and some local charities. These tournaments were one big fish tournaments and they were open to the public. We required all boats to have safety equipment and working live wells. They were very popular. On most lakes, any good bass angler can catch five keeper fish. The winners are always those anglers who have the most weight in their bag. I'm all for reduced bag limits. If B.A.S.S. and others went to a 3 fish limit, all kinds of good things would happen. It would kill less fish and anglers would develop new ways to catch bigger fish. I don't know about anyone else, but I would rather win a tournament with one eight pound bass than five small fish. I do like the catch, weigh, photo and release format. That's the best of all worlds.

Welcome Robert. I currently live in Central Florida. I grew up fishing in South Florida. There are a multitude of fishing opportunities in your area. Every pond, rock pit and canal in Florida contains largemouth bass. While there are many small fish, there are some giants as well. The introduction of exotic species has expanded the list. The Everglades canals have some of the best bass fishing in the State. Lake Okeechobee is about an hour away. Salt water species are also abundant. The coastline and the inland waterway are full of Tarpon up to 200 pounds and snook up to 40 pounds. Offshore is some of the best Sailfish and Dolphin (Mahi Mahi) fishing in the world. About an hour and a half west of you is Everglades City. You can fish there for a lifetime and never fish everywhere there is to fish. I don't know the current regulations when it comes to Snakehead fishing. Florida has many fishing regulations. It would be a good idea to check them before you run afoul of the law. In any case, you have landed in a perfect spot for fishing. Enjoy!

The right thing to do is set the drag properly. However, some of us were fishing before modern drag systems. I never use the drag when bass fishing. I have been hammering it down since the seventies. Reel drags can be inconsistent and I want to know what is going to happen before it does. A bass is not going to run off 100 yards of line like a bone fish. When I set the hook, there is no question that the hook is buried. If a bass surges, I push the button into free spool and use my thumb as a drag. If I'm using a spinning reel, I back reel. I don't recommend this unless you have a ton of experience. I do use the drag when salt water fishing.

Here in Florida any water over 8 feet is deep. Many of our lakes have mud or debris filled bottoms, especially those subject to weed spraying. For that reason, 1/8 or 1/16 oz. Texas rig weights are common. Canal fishing requires more weight. I use 5/16 oz weight for flipping Kissimmee Grass. In thick hydrilla, I have used as much as 3/4 oz. For Carolina rigs, I prefer 1 oz. so I can feel the bottom. Lighter if the bottom is covered with grass.

Years ago, if you went fishing with me we would start fishing before the sun went up and come back in the dark. The following day, we would do it all over again. These days, I am into quality over quantity. I'm never on the water before 8 AM. The fish I'm looking for are not early risers. I head for home right after lunch. Except for night fishing, I catch most of my big fish around midday. Roland Martin was once asked what his secret was to catching more fish? He said "Go early and stay late".

Harris Chain spinnerbait bass caught this morning.

I still have my original copy of Jason's book "Lucas on Bass Fishing". It has all the underlines I made when I was 16 years old. A lot of bass have come over the sides since then. ?

There was a time in bass fishing when casting spoons where very popular. The Johnson Silver Minnow was the go-to bait for many. Casting Spoons are heavy lures. Back in the day, you needed a heavy lure to get any distance with the reels we had. In the sixties, soft plastic baits replaced heavy wooden plugs and metal spoons. These lures are more natural in action and bass hang on to them longer. To throw these lures, spinning reels like the Mitchel 300 were developed. Eventually free spool casting reels became available. Today, it is possible to fish weightless plastics with a casting reel. Heavy metal lures don't have the natural appeal of soft plastic baits. If you get a bite on a spoon, the bass will quickly realize it made a mistake and may spit it out. Also, the heavier the lure the easier it is for a bass to throw it. As far as inline spinners are concerned, I use them on occasion. They work great on schooling bass. I've won more than one bass tournament with a Mepps Comet Mino spinner. Anything that imitates bass prey will catch fish. Some work better than others.

Use as little weight as possible. A 6" worm is big enough. You want the worm to look natural on the fall. After you have inserted the hook into the worm, hold it up and make sure it hangs straight. If you are patient, you will get bites. They may be difficult to detect at first. Don't let the bass swim around with it too long or the bass will swallow the hook and you may kill the bass attempting to remove it. Tell us how you do.

Don't make bass fishing more complicated than it is. Bass are ambush predators. This means they position themselves so they can catch their food by surprise. The hardest part of bass fishing is finding the fish. Look around your local lake. Are there any pads, weeds, rocks, docks or anywhere a bass can lay in wait? The easiest lure to learn that will catch bass is a plastic worm. Buy some Zoom Trick worms in Black or June Bug. Rig them Texas style with a light weight, light line and a 3/0 wide gap worm hook. Ten pound mono is a good place to start. Bump those worms slowly on the bottom near whatever cover you have. You will know it when a bass picks up your worm and moves off with it. Set the hook and fight the bass. After you get this down, you can try all the other ways of fishing bass. You don't need expensive tackle or years of experience to have fun catching bass. Keep this in mind, most good anglers don't catch nearly one bass per hour. I've been bass fishing for over 60 years and if I catch at least one bass a day, I feel successful.