Captain Phil

We are fortunately enough to have a Bass Pro Shop in Orlando. I haven't been down there in a while. They sell a series of graphite rods for under $50. I buy them 3-4 at a time. You can walk down a whole aisle of rods and pick out the action you like best. They're not fancy. They won't impress your friends. You won't get a tingling feeling in your pants when you look at them. When you snap one off in your car door, you won't need therapy. They just work. The funny thing is, the fish don't care what rod you use. :>)

Roland Martin was once asked what the secret is to catching more fish. He replied "Go early and stay late!"

One of the largest bass I have ever seen was caught on a cane pole with a crappie jig.

Confidence is a good thing as long as it doesn't limit you from trying new things. Tournament fishing will cure you of this. Standing in line at the weigh in next to someone with a bag of eight pounders is humbling. Having this happen over and over again is humiliating. It makes me want to find out what that son-of-a-gun is doing. If I have to follow them with binoculars, so be it. Competition makes you better. The better the competition, the better you will get.

I have used 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 oz. Rattle Traps for bass. I have had my best luck on the 1/2 oz size. The 3/4 oz. rattle trap works where big shad are the primary bass forage. I don't see why you couldn't catch bass on the larger lures, but I think they are mostly for salt water use. A big snook or tarpon could easily eat one. We don't have big Northerns or Muskies in Florida. The problem I have experienced with Rattle Traps is losing fish. Bass seem to throw them too easy. I prefer spinnerbaits.

I flip more than anything else. Reminds me of the roulette player who says all his big wins are on number 17 when 17 is the only number he plays. Now that I think about it, I once caught a bass on a Rattle Trap that was so long I couldn't squeeze it into my Skeeter live well. I didn't have a scale with me, so I released it.

Before you fish any water, look at it's clarity. If the water is clear, top water lures should work well. If the water is murky or turbid, vibrations catch more fish. Straight tail worms for clear water, paddle tail worms for darker water. Rattle Traps work well in murky water. Wacky rigs and finesse worms for clear. My biggest bass in Florida were all caught flipping heavy cover. I know of no better way to catch a bass over ten pounds unless you count dynamite. :>)

Top water bass are generally larger than fish caught on other lures. This doesn't mean you can't catch big fish on anything else. Big bass eat large food. They are not going to waste energy chasing a school of minnows. They would rather eat the fish that are doing the chasing. Big bass are territorial and don't like it when something noisy is splashing around their area. A Florida tournament tactic that has won a lot of money is throwing a noisy Devil's Horse into or next to cover. I am convinced these fish are not hitting the lure out of hunger, they are chasing it out of their yard. You are not going to get as many bites fishing top water. The fish you catch will average larger.

Florida summer bass fishing is much better at night. Our summer days are unbearably hot. In my younger days living in South Florida, I did most of my summer bass fishing alone at night in the Everglades. You haven't seen mosquitoes until you have tried that. When you are 20 miles down L67 canal by yourself at 2 AM, it can be pretty scary. I did what I had to do. There is a night tournament on the Harris Chain every Wednesday night. Most nights it takes at least 20 pounds to win it. Safety is important. You don't want to fall out of the boat or hit an alligator. Top water baits attract alligators. The best night lures in Florida are big black worms or dark colored spinnerbaits. Whatever you do, don't fish alone and stay safe.

All the bass I catch these days are Florida strain. Bass coloration in Florida varies considerably. I can tell where a bass was caught by looking at it. Clear water back country fish are dark green with black eyes. Open water fish tend to look washed out, even off white at times. The darkest fish come from lakes with lots of cypress trees. Those bass are almost black. Years ago we had a national tournament in Clermont Florida. It was not one of Ray Scott's tournaments, it was the American Bass Fishing organization. At the time, Jack and Johnny Adams were two of the best bass anglers in Florida. Johnny was the only angler to turn down an invitation to the first Bassmaster Classic. When the fish came to the scales, one angler's fish looked different than the rest. Jack noticed the difference and protested saying the fish did not come from that lake. This uncovered a cheating scandal that brought down the whole organization. Open Water Florida Bass Back County Florida Bass

Have you ever noticed how much better the fish bite on weekdays vs. weekends? One of the perks of retirement.

Size is another variable that influences fish to strike a lure. There are times when large worms work better than small worms. Back when I was fishing tournaments, I caught many a "kicker" fish on a Ol' monster red shad worm. In the seventies when Rodman first opened, we were throwing J&W Hawg Hunter worms. Those 13" worms made the Ol' Monster look small. If you want to catch a big fish, use a big bait.

Because of my back problems, I recently sold my bass boat and went to fishing from a pontoon boat. I never thought this was workable as most pontoons are hard to control and position. I made a few posts about this in the boating section. Fishing from a pontoon boat has made fishing fun again. My boat stays on a lift so I don't have to tow and launch it. The small amount I pay the marina is well worth it. The new smart trolling motors are like having a guide in the boat. My 18' boat has two bass seats up front with nothing between me and the fish. My wife sits in the back under a canvas top and she doesn't have to worry about sitting in the sun all day. When you get older, it's best to take someone with you. I hope I can keep fishing into my nineties.

I'm 73. Fishing was always a big part of my life. I was lucky to marry a woman who enjoyed fishing as well. I started my own business when I was 22. I never took a vacation longer than a few days. I fished tournaments on the weekends. I sold my business when I was in my 50s. Retirement didn't work for me. It wasn't financial issues, it was the feeling of not working. Being productive is an important part of who I am. Working only when I want, with whom I want and for how long is the best part of what I do now. About ten years ago, I started having trouble standing for long periods of time. I went to a doctor and they told me I have spinal stenosis, which is arthritis in the spine. It started getting worse and the doctors started talking about operations. Don't do it! I eventually learned to deal with it. If I end up in a wheel chair, so be it. I learned to flip sitting down. This works well for me. The fish don't seem to mind. When I was young, I would go fishing in the dark and come back in the dark. I have arthritis in my hands too. These days I limit my fishing trips to a few hours at a time. My boat is in a slip on Little Lake Harris, so I don't have to deal with towing and boat ramps. I'm telling you this so you will know getting old is not as bad as you may think. When there is the will, there is a way.

I refuse to pay more than $100 for a rod. I use Shimano Bantam Chronarch 100 and Calcutta Reels. I think they are the best bass reels ever made. I buy them used on EBay.

Pink floating worms were hot in Florida about 20 years ago. Merthiolate (hot orange) was too. I've caught bass on every color worm imaginable. A color gets "hot" because someone starts catching bass on it and tells his buddies. This flows through the grape vine until everyone is throwing the hot color and it quits working. Years ago when multicolored worms came out, they were all the rage. Anyone remember Pace or Fleck worms? Worm color isn't nearly as important as size and shape.

Pads are the most productive bass cover in our area. Isolated pads are even better. If you see 4-6 pads off by themselves, you can be pretty sure there is a bass under them. One cast is not going to do the job. Multiple casts are needed from varying angles and depths. In only takes five bites to win a tournament, it could take thousands of casts.

Any place where you can cast from the bank is good fishing in the Everglades. The closer you get to the coast, the more salt water fish you will encounter. That's not a bad thing as snook and tarpon are larger than bass and will readily hit an artificial bait. If you can cast to the other side of the canal, it's a plus. The water in those canals is generally clear. Top water lures and Rapalas are deadly. Watch out for critters.

The Harris Chain is a highly pressured fishery. On any given weekend, we may have a half dozen tournaments going on. This makes fishing tough. When fish are pressured, their strike zone shrinks to inches. Turbid water shrinks it even further. Getting an inactive fish to bite takes patience and perseverance. It may take me 10 or more casts to catch that fish. The fish that hit on the first cast has already been caught.

What line you prefer is more about confidence than anything else. Whatever keeps you fishing is good. I use quality mono 99% of the time. The best mono for bass fishing is Maxima Green. Time and time again, I have found mono to be superior to braid when it comes to the number of strikes I get per cast. To me, braid is like fishing with cable. If you are going to use a leader, why use braid at all? I realize I'm probably the last fisherman on earth to think like this. I carry one rod loaded with 50 pound Power Pro. I use it for frog fishing in heavy cover. I did little frog fishing until recently, now I can't seem to get away from it.

Rapalas don't have the sharpest hooks and they tend to dull over time. Buy a hand held hook hone. The one I carry has a yellow plastic handle. Sharpen your hooks before you use any lure. If the hook point will stick in your fingernail instead of dragging over it, it's sharp enough.

Every type of tackle has it's place. Spinning tackle is light line fishing. The lighter the line and/or the smaller the lure, the more strikes you will get. For years most successful tournament anglers used spinning tackle and didn't talk much about it. That changed and finesse tactics became commonplace. Obviously, light line is not suitable for all bass fishing situations. Along with my casting rods, I always carry one spinning outfit loaded with 8 pound test.

This has happened more than once and it has not always been lures. One day on Okeechobee nature called and I had to pee. I had just made a cast with a worm. I laid my rod down in the boat and left the line out. While I was doing my business a fish grabbed the worm and pulled my rod and reel into the water. Luckily the water was only about 6 feet deep. I spent the next hour fishing for my rod and reel. I eventually caught the line and pulled everything back into boat. There was a three pound bass still hooked on my line. Back when trolling motors first became popular, a member of our bass club bought a brand new Motorguide with a foot control. This was a big deal back then and expensive at the time. He mounted it on his deck with wood screws. The first tournament after that was in the St. John's River. In practice he hit a log and the whole thing broke off the deck and fell into the river. Our club spent all afternoon fishing for it. The river is deep in places with lots of current. We never found it. We did learn how to properly mount a trolling motor. I have fished for my hat more times than I can recall.

Deadly. I once won a tournament in the dead of winter fishing a Mojo rig with a 4" lizard. It was 35 degrees. The fish were so sluggish they didn't bite the lizard, they just hung on to it.