Captain Phil

My only experience with smallmouth bass was a few years ago on Lake Erie. Two years back to back we trailered a bass boat and spent a week fishing Pelee Island. I took a number of rods with me on those trips. Fishing was fantastic. What I noticed was I seemed to lose more smallmouth than largemouth on the way to the boat. To fix this, I put down my light spinning rod and went to a medium heavy casting rod. It seemed smallmouth bass needed a harder hook set than largemouth. Two weeks is not a enough time for a definitive test. I'm reporting what happened to me.

I am not a fan of braid for all fishing situations. When I use it, I use Power Pro. I tried Spider Wire when it first came out and I didn't like it. It may have been improved since then? The majority of my bass fishing is done with mono or on rare occasion fluorocarbon. It's if not broke, don't fix it.

I built my first flasher from a Heath Kit. Soldered it together on my dinning room table. I couldn't believe it worked, but it did. At least you knew how deep the water was. Finding fish with it was a different story. ?

My first bass boat was a 4' x 8' wood boat I built myself. I screwed and glued it together from a sheet of plywood for the bottom. It leaked like crazy, but it got me off the bank. When I got a little money, I moved up to a 12 foot car top Jon boat with an old white case mercury 10 HP outboard. Bass boats were starting to arrive when I bought a 15' Terry Bass, 50 HP Johnson and stick steering. After my first tournament, I moved up to a 15' Terry side console with a 75 Johnson. This was considered state of the art in the late sixties. When I saw my first Hydrosport in a tournament, I had to have one. My Johnsons couldn't keep up, so I moved to Mercury 150s. Back then, we ran two blade props. To get on plane, the passenger had to go to the front of the boat. Those props vibrated so bad, the depth finder looked 18" wide running down the lake. Bass boat trends come and they go. There was a time when Ranger made inboard powered bass boats. All my boats caught fish.

Back in the late seventies, I was in a new industry called the computer business. This was very early on and things where not like they are today. I wanted to learn to program, so I found a guy in Omaha that was a programmer. I called him and we discussed a partnership. He told me he was a fishing nut like me and I booked a flight to Omaha the next week. When I arrived, we talked business and went on a fishing trip that afternoon. As we were driving, I asked him how long until we got to the lake? He smiled and said 5 hours! Coming from Florida, this was shocking. We drove all afternoon and stopped in Pierre South Dakota. The weather when we got there was beautiful. That night a cold front came through. At dawn, it was 40 degrees with 30 mph winds. We did manage to catch one tiny walleye. I made a lifelong friend on that trip and learned a new skill that started me on a great career. We still laugh about that first fishing trip. You never know what can happen on a fishing trip.

Fall is a good fishing month in Florida. Storms are gone, cold fronts haven't started and hotel rooms are plentiful. Late October early November? Toho is probably the best that time of year.

Harris Chain?

Try fishing slower. If you like to burn a spinnerbait near the surface, throw a buzz bait or a blade bait. Our fish are notorious short strikers. I never throw a spinnerbait without a trailer hook and I catch more fish on the trailer than the main hook.

Tournament fishing can be addictive. This can affect your attitude toward others, even those you love. When I was young, all I thought about was winning tournaments. I was consumed with it. I prefished every weekend leading up to the tournament and every weekend that followed. My wife and son often fished with me, but I found myself angry when things didn't go my way. When I started traveling, it kept me away from home for a week at a time. I called home often. My wife supported me, but I could tell she was unhappy. One night I called home and the phone wasn't answered. I called back at 2 AM and still no answer. After that, I reevaluated what I was doing. No tournament is worth losing your family over. Everything worked out as I have been married for 57 years this November. You may not be so lucky.

In my tournament days my go-to bait was a Rattle Trap. Ripping a Rattle Trap all day is tough on your arms and wrists. I switched to flipping and things got a lot easier on my body. Unlike most younger anglers, I flip sitting down. This slows me down and I can cover an area more thoroughly.

I'm 74 and have lived, camped and fished in Florida all my life. Alligators are reptiles. They don't think, they react. The problem with alligators is they grow big enough to be dangerous. There was a time when human alligator contact was rare and you had to go out into the Everglades to see one. Increased human development makes this contact more frequent. Where I live, 8 foot plus alligators often sit on my boat dock. They eventually lose their natural fear of humans. When this happens, they become a nuisance and the State removes them. Every year in Florida there are about 7-10 serious alligator attacks. Since I have lived here, 25 people have died. Alligators are not aggressive. If you leave them alone, they will leave you alone. Fishing in a 10 foot boat shouldn't be a problem, but you should be aware of a few things. Never take a small dog or child with you. Alligators are notorious for snatching dogs from Jon boats. Numerous dogs have been lost this way. The same goes for low shorelines. A few years ago a small boy was killed by an alligator as he walked along a lake at Disney World. I have seen large alligators challenge small boats. This usually happens during low water when alligators are trapped in canals. Never swim around large alligators. The chances you will have an encounter with an alligator are rare. Give them a wide berth and you will be fine. Keep your eyes open and use common sense. You don't want to get into a wrestling match with a 10' lizard with big teeth.

I've been fishing tournaments since the seventies and I have never had anyone run me off a spot or have I ever asked anyone to give up a spot for me. I have had a few non tournament anglers offer to leave so I have a better chance of winning. I am not bothered by other anglers fishing close to me. I would rather deal with that than one idiot on a jet ski. ?

My home waters are Florida's Harris Chain. I live on the Chain and have been fishing here since the 70s. In the spring, we have bass tournaments going out of multiple ramps every weekend. A few of these tournaments are major National events with hundreds of anglers competing. COVID has multiplied the number of boats. Currently, it is difficult to find a parking spot at the ramp near my house in Eustis on the weekend. You would think bass fishing would be getting worse. The opposite is true. All this fishing activity has a positive effect on the local economy. This gets noticed by County and State officials. In the past, good fishing was something that wasn't given a high priority. This seems to have changed. For example, in the late 90s, Florida declared war on hydrilla. In the process, they nearly destroyed all the lake habitat. It took nearly 30 years for fishing to recover. There was a time about twenty years ago when I could fish all day and never see another angler. Currently, bass fishing on the Chain is as good as it's ever been. In one major recent tournament, the winner caught and released 100 pounds of bass on the final day. Does this mean bass fishing is easy? NO! Bass fishing with artificial lures has never been easy. What it takes to be more successful than the other guy is to not follow the crowd. Get out of the community fishing holes and find your own fish. Find what the fish want, not what everyone thinks they want.

It took me years to catch my first spinnerbait fish. Back when I first started, I caught most of my fish on plastic worms. I read about others catching fish on spinnerbaits, but they never seemed to work for me. One spring day on Lake Okeechobee, my wife and I were fishing back in some grass when I tied one on. The fish were active and we both caught fish all day. Once that happened, I had enough confidence to fish them. Like most anglers, I fished what I knew worked. If I tried something new, I made a few casts and went back to my comfort zone. Spninnerbaits are deadly bass baits, but they need to be fished right. They should be fished close to cover. The cover could be grass, pads or even a tree stump in deep water. They should be fished slow. If you like to fish fast, you would do better with a buzz bait. You will catch more bass with a small spinnerbait than a big one. One of the best spinnerbaits ever made was the S.O.B. (Small Okie Bug). I downsize the top blade to make them more effective. Getting the right cadence is very important when spinnerbait fishing. Once the bait is "in the zone", it's magic. I find a 5/1 casting reel about right for these baits. Modern 7/1 and most spinning reels are too fast for spinnerbait fishing. Experiment until you find what works for you.

Buzz baits have been around since a rod and reel was used to catch bass. I have a Buel arrowhead spinner in my collection with an 1852 patient date stamped on it. Al Foss started making buzzbaits in 1915. When I was introduced to bass fishing as a kid, my fishing hero used a Johnson Spoon with a Arobogast Hawaiian Wiggler spinner on the front. Before flipping went mainstream, anglers used feathered buzzbaits on long poles to reach back into the cover and pull bass out overhead. I once watched an old timer troll down a canal pulling a buzz bait with the boat and he caught a boatload of fish.

The Creme worm was the first soft plastic bait I can remember. I include all soft plastic baits in that same category. Senkos, flukes, lizards and all the rest are great baits, but the worm came first.

Here are my top ten. I chose these lures based on their ability to catch bass and their groundbreaking influence on the sport of bass fishing. They are not in any order. These lures created an entire class of lures based on their design. I did not include jigs. 1. Creme Worm 2. Zorro Aggravator Spinnerbait 3. Rapala Floating Minnow 4. Johnson Spoon 5. Smithwick Devil's Horse 6. Arbogast Jitterbug 7. Rattle Trap 8. Rebel Deep and Wee R 9. Rebel Pop R 10. Heddon Zara Spook

Some salt water fish change color when their activity level changes. For example, bill fish "light up" and turn an iridescence blue when attacking a bait. Dolphin (Mahi Mahi) change color radically from bright green chartreuse to silver. These color changes are so striking they can be seen from the cockpit.

There is more to this story. This issue arose because many local anglers, including me, didn't believe anyone could catch that many bass a day for months on end. The numbers claimed were staggering and it was on the honor system. The newspaper sent a reporter out with the angler to see if his claims were true. The contest was for the greatest number of bass released. What we didn't take into account was there was no size limit on the bass caught. This guy was using a 2" Rapala in the Everglades canals with a second angler clicking the hand counter. When the water is low in these canals, it is nothing to catch hundreds of bass a day. Most of them are less that 12". When the details were known, the contest category was discontinued. It's really hard to imagine how crazy the bass fishing is in the Everglades during low water. I have had days where a bass would grab a plug, jump and throw it only to have another bass grab the lure before it hits the water. It's literally shooting fish in a barrel.

Definitely. The most effective is the Bagley Bang-O-Lure. It's a killer in Florida. I like the one with the tail spinner. They all work.

As I remember, the Rapala came out in the sixties after a magazine article was written about them. Everyone wanted one and they were in short supply. Some stories about "renting out" Rapalas started circulating. The best tackle to fish them on is a light spinning outfit. Some of the modern casting reels should be OK for a skilled caster with light mono. The tiny 2" Rapala will catch fish when nothing will as long as you don't mind catching a lot of dinks. I caught a 6 pound bass on 6 pound mono on one of those once. The Miami Herald newspaper used to hold an annual fishing contest. They had a prize for the most bass caught. The winner claimed to catch thousands of bass and some people protested him. The fishing editor of the newspaper went out with him to verify his catch. He was throwing a Rapala in the Everglades canals and used a hand counter to add up hundreds of bass an hour. They gave him the prize.

The Rapala floating minnow is one of the greatest bass baits of all time. There is literally no way to fish them wrong. These baits need to be fished on light line. Fishing them on anything heavier than 8-10 pound mono kills the action. Tie the line directly to the lure using a loop knot. Never use a snap, swivel or hardware of any kind. They work best in calm water with no wind. You don't need to change the hooks, just fish them as they come. Both silver and gold minnows work well. Some days the bass prefer one color over the other. I use two sizes, 4" and 6". Twitching the lure on top is the standard retrieve. Snapping them under the water like a jerk bait can be deadly as well. If you can't catch bass with this lure, you might consider taking up golf. ?

Bass often change hue depending upon the water they come out of. Here on the Harris Chain, you can tell if a fish has been caught in the open lake, in a canal or in the pads. Open lake fish are pale and much lighter than those caught inshore. Back water bass are much darker. Okeechobee bass are dark green with very distinctive black eye pigment. The bass that come out of tannin stained lakes like Blue Cypress are almost totally black. The most beautiful bass are in the Ocala National Forest lakes. They have white bellies, green backs and their markings are highly detailed. Years ago a major cheating scandal was uncovered by an angler attempting to weigh fish in a tournament that weren't caught in the tournament lake. This came to light when an experienced angler noticed the difference. The scandal brought down a major organization that was competing with Ray Scott's B.A.S.S at that time.

"DINK WHISPERER" Love your handle! ☺️

Sounds like I need to go for a ride. Thanks!