Captain Phil

I pay $175 a month to dock my 18' Pontoon boat. My dock has a cover, water, electric and a lift. Dockage is sometimes hard to find. They may have a waiting list. Docking your boat is great as long as you like the lake you are on. Little Lake Harris has always been one of my favorites, so I'm happy. When you retire, all kinds of things can happen that are unexpected. I just had back surgery. I'm recovering well, but you never know how things will go. It's much easier to change docks or boats than an expensive house.

I have been fishing bass tournaments since the late sixties. Here's my advice. Unless you need to run great distances to fish, your boat is not a factor in how well you do. As long as it's reliable, comfortable and has a good trolling motor, you will be fine. Don't think that because someone has an 80 mph wrapped boat with a huge motor with every attachment, you can't out fish them. A great angler can beat most tournament competitors fishing off the bank at the ramp. Start off by joining a bass club. Find the best club you can. The more competitive the better. Keep your mouth shut and don't let your feelings get hurt. The big mouths won't give you much respect. Let your fish do the talking. Go non boater at first. If you are lucky, you will be drawn out with one of the club leaders. Watch and learn from them. After you learn the ropes, you can venture into local team tournaments. Some of them pay pretty well. Expecting to make back your expenses from tournament winnings is unrealistic. Pro anglers need sponsors. Fishing for and catching sponsors is a lot harder than bass. When I was guiding, I used my fees and my time on the water to support my tournament fishing. Guiding by itself is a hard life with horrible pay. Keep in mind you will be fishing against anglers who have a tremendous advantage over you. They can spend countless hours scouting a lake. I occasionally prefished 30-40 hours for a club tournament. Could you do that? Tournament fishing is different than fun fishing. When I was totally immersed, I didn't think about anything else. It's very easy to forget about your wife, girl friend or family. Leaving them home weekend after weekend is not good for them. One night, you may call home a 2 AM and get no answer.... If your dream is to make a career from bass fishing, it will help if your family left you a big trust. I was fortunate in that I had a successful well run business supporting me.

Here in Florida, the best spinnerbait trailer I have found is the Zoom split tail trailer. I have been using them for years. Anything you can do to improve a spinnerbait's fish catching appeal is a good thing. If you experiment, you will find what works best for you. If you stay the same, your fishing will stay the same. More important than the trailer is the trailer hook. I understand why some anglers avoid them as they increase hang ups. Not using one costs you more fish than you know. If you don't care about that, don't use one. You will never know about the fish you don't catch.

For years, the Harris Chain has had a weekly night bass tournament. It's attended mostly by locals. As far as I know no one has died, but there have been numerous close calls. Running at night is full of dangers. Two good friends where fishing that tournament when they hit an object running in Big Lake Harris that opened up a hole in their hull. It was probably a tree limb or piece of building construction that was floating out in the open. They made it back with water filling the boat. If you hit a big alligator, the motor might turn and throw you out of the boat. Fishing at night should be done with the utmost care. A few years ago, three well known professional ball players were killed in the Clermont Chain when they hit a dock at night. My own dock was been struck by night time cruisers. Be careful out there!!

Great question. The rag comment came from a story my father-in-law told me over 50 years ago. He was a Florida road surveyor working back in the fifties. He always carried a fishing rod in his truck. One day he spotted a likely spot. It was an old spillway miles from anywhere. He had his rod and reel, but for some reason had no lures. He ripped off a piece of red rag he found in the truck bed and tied it on a hook. He told me he caught a 6 pound bass on the rag. I have no reason to doubt him, but I wasn't there. A bass will eat anything alive it can get in it's mouth. If you want to catch bass that have a taste for rags, you know what to do. ?

The best name I ever saw on a boat was "YOUR NAME HERE"

You can catch bass on an old piece of rag tied around a hook. There is a world of difference between a quality spinnerbait and one that's made to sell cheap. Sometimes you can find quality baits cheap on a close out or some other such anomaly. The components of a spinnerbait are very important. Wire diameter, wire bend and line tie location all affect the vibration, which is one of the most important factors. Blade shape, plating, polish, thickness and connecting hardware do like wise. If you and I went fishing and you used a cheap spinnerbait all day and I used one of my favorites, you would see the difference. You would catch fish. I would catch more and better quality fish. Lots of people give up on spinnebaits when they don't catch fish for them. If they used the right baits, threw them in the right place and learned the right cadence, they would change their mind.

My wife has been selling Central Florida lakefront homes and lots for nearly 20 years. I work with her whenever lake or fisheries questions arise. I doubt there is a body of water in Florida bigger than a puddle that I haven't fished or boated in. Many retirees come to Florida with the dream of living on the water. The idea of having your boat on davits in your back yard is common. There are things you should know. You first need to determine what kind of lake you wish to live on. Living on a small 300-500 acre lake is perfect for someone who likes solitude. Water quality and fishing is better than in the big lake chains. There are few water skiers and summer swimmers. Properties tend to be cheaper, but there is no such thing as a bargain waterfront home in Florida. That train left the station years ago. The problem with small lakes is you may quickly become bored. If you like to cruise or want more options, the bigger lakes are better. Another thing to think about is the location of the lake and the surroundings nearby. Will you need access to doctors or hospitals? How far do you want to travel to talk to a roofer? Living in the sticks is not for most wives who are used to shopping and restaurants. There are few large lake chains in Florida that you can build a home on. Okeechobee is surrounded by a dike with locks. The Kissimmee Chain is surrounded by swamp. Lake George and the St. John's River are prone to flooding. This leaves the Harris Chain and the small lakes west of us. Homes directly on the Harris Chain start around $350K for an old fixer-upper that needs $200K worth of work. Decent lakefront homes start around $600K and can go to millions. Canal homes off the main lake with a dock can be found starting around $300K. Prices are escalating and lake homes sell fast. In today's market, you will can easily find yourself in a bidding war with a dozen other buyers. Lake homes come with other issues. Rebuilding and maintaining a dock or a seawall is expensive. So is flood insurance. This does not mean you have to be rich or live in a shack to enjoy a lake lifestyle. Our own home sits on the top of a hill overlooking Lake Eustis. From our living room, you can see across the lake. The public boat ramp is 2 blocks from our home. When I used to keep my bass boat at home, I could be in the water in ten minutes. There are public boat ramps all over the County. I'm too old to launch a boat now, so I keep my boat on a lift in a Marina directly on Little Lake Harris. Many of our friends use an in-and-out storage facility right down the street. The price we pay for boat dock age is minuscule compared to the cost of buying and maintaining a lakefront home. Over the years, thousands of people have walked through my wife's Real Estate office wishing to buy a home on a lake. Some of them do. Most of them find less costly more long term beneficial alternatives.

There are more ways to lose fish than you can write about. I have seen most of them. Every fishing situation is different. Every angler is different. When you're fun fishing and the fish on the end of your line isn't that special, you can be cavalier about what landing method you use. I try never to touch the sides of my bass. I release them with as little trauma and handling as possible. I don't like to use a net as it disturbs the sides of the fish. When I was a kid, I bass fished from the bank with a Mitchell 300 and 4-6 pound mono line. This was necessary to throw the light plastic worms we used as far as possible. I lost a lot of big fish because the drag wasn't set right or I tried to pull the line. After some time, I learned to anticipate what the fish was going to do. Even now, when I hook a big fish I am always ready to give line if it surges near the end of it's fight. I have successfully fought and landed salt water game fish in excess of 100 pounds on 8 pound mono using this method. Tournament fishing is a completely different kettle of fish (no pun intended). The idea is to get the fish in the boat whatever that takes. I cringe when I watch TV anglers dip their hands in the water to grab a bass with a bunch of treble hooks hanging out of it's mouth. I have been hooked myself to such fish and it's no fun. When I fished tournaments, I used tackle big enough to get the job done. With 20 pound test, I could swing most bass right in the boat. Have I lost a few fish that way? You bet, once it cost me a big pay check. That's fishing. Many fish have been lost by bad netters who stab at the fish. The right method to net a big fish is to hold the net still and let the angler guide the fish into it. In the beginning, it's probably better not to touch the line. When you gain some experience, you will learn what works for you.

I enjoy reading posts from Northern fisherman. Living in Florida all my life, I have never had to contend with "ice outs" or lake turnover. To us, a thermocline is a thermos after a visit to the dentist. Here in the South, there is no bad time to throw a lipless crankbait. It's one of the most effective search baits ever made. They shine in really tough conditions. So many times I came to the weigh-in with a limit of small fish only to be beaten by someone who caught an "out of the blue" big fish chunking a Rattle Trap. ?

As I remember, the best fishing in those canals is around Mother's Day. It's May 9th this year. Good fishing!

Devil's Horse lures are made of wood. The line tie and rear hook mounts are screwed into the lure with long screws. As these lures age, the wood can crack allowing water to can get into the holes and weaken the plug. You don't want to lose a big fish when the screws pull out. Make sure the screws are tight and secure in the lure. The Heddon Tiny Torpedo is a finesse top water lure. Under cold front conditions, these lures will catch fish when nothing else will. Line size is very important. I use a spinning rod with 8 pound mono to fish these lures. In bass fishing, it's the closest thing to dynamite that I know of.

If you are going to learn top water, there are some things you should know. You may already know them. Top water is a big fish technique. This means you are not going to get as many bites as some other forms of fishing. The bites you get will be quality fish. Stick with it. You need clear water for top water fishing. You are wasting your time fishing top water in a murky or muddy lake. Often the best top water fishing is in residential canals. You must fish close to cover. This means you must be an accurate caster who is not afraid of hangups. Bass hit top water lures many different ways. Some blow them up, some suck them down lightly and others "flush the toilet". How you set the hook depends on how this happens. A good top water fisherman can catch fish under the worst of conditions. You can catch cold front bass by downsizing to a Tiny Torpedo. Sometimes, line size can make a big difference. There is a lot to learn.

The Devil's Horse is one of the most effective big bass baits ever made. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been won with this lure in Florida tournaments. One angler made a good living for years throwing this lure exclusively. His favorite color was chrome with a black back and an orange belly. My favorite is the "Spotted Ape" pattern which is dark green with black spots. It's hard to find now. I still have a couple left. Change out the hooks and you are good to go. This lure is made to fish in cover, so use at least 20 pound mono as monster bass eat this thing. I don't know what it is about this lure that makes it work so well. I suspect it's a territorial thing as big bass seem to want to kill it. I work it in short quick jerks. You have to be observant as bass often come up behind it before smashing to heck out of it. If you only used this lure all day, you would win more than you lose. I would trade a pile of "Whopper Poopers" for one good Devil's Horse. ?

My observation is Chatterbaits work best when pulled fast. Spinnerbaits work best when pulled slow. Many fisherman fish fast. This may explain why they prefer Chatterbaits over Spnnerbaits. In muddy or murky water, fish hang close to cover and won't move far to chase a bait. Under these conditions, fishing slow and making repetitive casts to the same target catches more fish. Slow rolling a spinnerbait is a very effective big bass technique. I carry both and don't care which one works better.

Back reeling when salt water fishing is a recipe for disaster. A proper drag is very important in that type of fishing. When bass fishing, I prefer to back reel. Bass don't normally run off a hundred yards of line and their surges can be anticipated. I don't use a drag on a bass casting reel either. If I hook a big fish and it gets near the boat, I push free spool and use my thumb. I remember one time when back reeling a bass lost me a fish. I was fishing in lake "Walk in Water" near Kissimmee. It was in the spring and I was fishing a big flat out in the open with 8 pound mono on a spinning reel. I hooked a huge bedding fish and it ran so fast the reel handle started spinning so fast I couldn't catch the handle. I always wondered how big that fish was?

Amen brother! Florida seems great when your boat is buried in a snow bank. Come back in July and see how you like it. Every part of the country has some good and bad things. The best you can hope for is to be rich and retired. Then you can fish north in the summer and south in the winter.

My handyman was bitten on the hand by a gator in the Harris Chain a few years ago. He was clearing out brush next to a boat dock when the gator grabbed him. He was lucky not to lose his hand. In the same area about 20 years ago, we had a small boy killed by a gator. It was very sad. In our area, game officials remove gators when they become a nuisance. If you report a large gator they send a trapper to remove the animal. Gators are protected in Florida. You must have a permit to hunt them.

The biggest gator I ever saw in my life was in Loxahatchee. This nearly all white gator was supposed to be 17' long and 100 years old. I doubt that, but I was in an 18' Ranger and he looked much bigger than the boat. The water was down and he was laying in the mud about 50 feet from us. Laying down, his hind quarters were over three feet high. It scared the heck out of me and my son. That gator died a few years later. Loxahatchee is not any place for a kayak.

In offshore fishing, we use heavy duty snaps to facilitate leader changes. The leaders are made of heavy mono 8-12 feet long or more. Ball bearing snaps are tied on using specialized double line knots like the "Bimini Twist ". I have seen very few snap failures even with large ocean fish. My concern with breakage in bass fishing is even less. Back when I was actively guiding, many of my regular customers were northern anglers who had retired to Florida and were having trouble catching Florida bass. A large majority of those fisherman would show up with wire leaders and/or snaps tied to the end of their line. The first thing I would do is cut them off and show them how to tie proper knots. It's not that you can't catch fish with a lure attached to the line by a snap swivel, you can. Not using one will increase your success rate substantially. This is why tournament professionals tie their line directly to the lure. This is also why they carry so many rods as it keeps them from wasting time retying.

I have fished around gators all my life. I never felt threatened, but I have been nervous a few times. Kayaking around large gators is not something I would want to experience, especially during the mating season. An 8-10 foot Kayak might look like a rival to a big bull gator. Gators like to lay in the shallows along the canals and sun themselves. If you come up on one, it may bolt towards the water. If you are in the way, it may rock your boat or something worse. I doubt a gator is going to attack you, unless it feels threatened. It's best to steer clear and give them lots of room. Never ever take a dog or a small child with you. That's asking for trouble.

I am not a fan of adding snaps, swivels or split rings to artificial baits. The only possible exception is when I'm fishing where toothy critters can cut my line, then I may use a wire leader. If a lure would benefit from a snap or split ring, it would already have one. Using line too big for the lure can dampen it's action. This is a common problem when using a heavy mono leader in salt water fishing. The "loop knot" was created so the lure can swing freely on the line. Using hardware to connect lures to your line can cost you fish. It can throw the lure out of balance, reduce the action or break at the snap. Some people must use snaps if they are physically impaired. If you are physically able, use a loop knot.

South Florida has had "South American" fish since before fisherman arrived. Snook are south of the border fish vacationing in Florida. Snook regularly grow to 30-40 pounds. They are not normally found father north than Mosquito Lagoon in Titusville. Lengthy severe cold kills them by the thousands. This happened about ten years ago. Since then, the State had to restock snook and they have recovered nicely. Fishing for bass in Florida, you might catch a 100 pound tarpon too. Peacock bass are relatively recent transplants. Oscars are fish tank escapees and our canals are full of them. If Florida has Arapaima, someone put them there. The everglades environment seems perfect for them. Personally, I haven't noticed a large mouth bass decline since these exotics arrived. We just have more opportunities.

Years ago, Tracker boats got a reputation for poor quality. I didn't own an aluminum boat back then, so I can't say from personal experience if it was deserved. I did fish in a few early Nitro fiberglass bass boats and they weren't the best. Since then, Tracker has consistently improved their boats to a point where I would consider owning one of their bass boats. Ten years ago, I sold my fiberglass Skeeter and started looking for an aluminum bass boat. I looked at Trackers, Skeeters, Rangers, G3s and Lowe aluminum boats. I planned to use my boat in both fresh and salt water. I settled on a new Lowe 16' Roughneck with a side console. I was used to going fast, so I powered it with a Merc 60 four stroke. I did not want a boat with racing stripes, carpet, chrome or anything that did not have a specific fishing purpose. Silly as it sounds today, I paid $12,000 for that boat, outboard motor, Motor Guide trolling motor and trailer. I chose the Lowe because the aluminum components were thicker and beefier than most of the other boats I looked at. I fished out of that boat for eight years and it was tough as nails. Would the other boats have held up that well? I can't say. All I can say is my Lowe did what I wanted it to do. Last year, I purchased a used ten year old Tracker pontoon boat with a 40 Merc four stroke. All my fishing is done within two miles of my marina and I'm in no hurry. As you would expect, it had a few scratches and dents. The seats held up fairly well and the motor runs perfect. The boat itself is solid. I fish out of it every chance I get. Sitting next to me in the marina are pontoon boats that I know cost $30K or more. My boat is slower, but none of the other boats does anything else that my boat can't do. This is the first Tracker boat I have ever owned. I would buy another one. As others have stated, the motor size and addons have a major influence on the out the door price you will pay for a boat. Some boats with cheap price tags are under powered or the trolling motors and/or electronics are inadequate. What I want in a boat may not be what you want. Take your time and find the boat that fits you and your budget.

That's Minn Kota Terrova. I hate spell check.... ?