Captain Phil

A Mojo rig will snake through grass better than a Carolina rig. It's a finesse technique. When bass are pressured or the water is very clear, smaller lures are more effective. In smaller ponds and lakes, the fish tend to be smaller as well.

The Mojo Rig was a secret technique in Florida tournaments for years. It's deadly on highly pressured waters like we have here in Florida. I throw it on a spinning rod with 8 pound green Maxima mono, pegged 1/4 oz. cigar weight and a 4" Zoom finesse worm. If you can't catch fish with that, you should take up golf. :>)

West Lake Toho in Kissimmee is arguably one of the best bass lakes in the country. From time to time, that lake almost completely tops out with hydrilla. This relocates the fish. Instead of relating to shoreline cover, the bass move to deeper water next to the thickest hydrilla beds. This also clears the water substantially. Top water lures fished around these beds works exceptionally well. Try to find holes and coves in the hydrilla where you can cast back inside. Hang on!

When you find a "good spot", there is something about that spot that attracts bass. If you remove a bass from that spot, another bass will take up residence. What it is that attracts bass to that spot may not be obvious. There is a sunken dock in Lake Harris left over from the days when citrus was taken to market by boat. You can not see this dock from the surface as all that is left of it are poles. There is a nice bass that lives on this dock. This bass has some unique markings. I have caught this fish numerous times. The first time I did, she weighed about six pounds. The last time I caught her she weighed a little over eight. If someone kills this fish or she dies, that spot will have a new resident bass. Hopefully, I will be around to catch her too.

That is the reason I don't use braid for flipping. When flipping, anything that impedes the fall of the lure has a negative effect on triggering a strike. Many anglers want to follow the lure down with the rod. They dip the lure, not let it fall on under it's own weight. The fall is what triggers the strike. Braided line has a rough texture which slows the natural fall of the lure. You can overcome this by adding weight. This makes the lure fall like a brick. I want my lure to fall through the weeds like a pin ball machine bouncing off everything on the way down.

I'm curious. Why do you use fluorocarbon for flipping? Flipping in our parts is a heavy cover technique where the fall of the lure triggers the strike. Hard to believe a bass can see your line in all that stuff. There is so little line out that stretch isn't a problem. Lure falls, bass sucks it in, you set the hook, game over. Then again, Florida lakes are not that clear. I use 25 pound Trilene Big Game mono for flipping. It's as tough as it comes and I have never had a bass break it off. I see no harm in using fluorocarbon other than the extra expense.

I can hardly lift my tackle box. When I go fishing, I always fish with the same 3-4 things. Back in the day when I fished tournaments, I was afraid my co-boater would catch fish on something I did not have in that box. That never happened. We have been conditioned to think the more lures we have the better fisherman we are. This goes for rods, reels, boats and all kinds of gadgets. I once had an electronic box that was suppose to tell me what color lures to use. It stuck on black. Some anglers swear by the lunar tables. They have never worked for me. If your watch stops running, it will be right two times each day. :>)

Hydrilla has rejuvenated many old reservoirs across the US. It's part of bass fishing in most of the country. You are fortunate to live in VA where it dies back in the winter. Here in Florida, it continues to grow all year. Chop it into 1,000 pieces and you will have 1,000 new plants. Left untreated, it will top out an entire lake. The good news is bass love the stuff.

Years ago when bass tournaments first started in Florida, I drew a well known fisherman as my boater. I was thrilled to fish with him. When I walked up to his boat he saw the giant tackle box I was toting along with a huge armful of rods. He said "Put a bag of black worms in your shirt pocket and you will be good to go." He was right. :>)

The Mitchell 300 was groundbreaking in it's day. Before it came along, most bass fishing was done with casting reels. When plastic worms came out, bullet worm weights hadn't been invented. Throwing a light plastic worm with a non free spool casting reel is nearly impossible. The Mitchell 300 solved this issue. These reels were built like tanks. They are heavy by today's standards. Their only weakness was the bail spring. I changed many of them in the boat. The quick change spool was innovative for it's time. The reel in the photo is nearly new in the box. I have had it for more years than I can remember.

I hear you. Our bass club is very competitive. Every tournament is a war. Winning top rod for the year is the ultimate to some members. Some things aren't fair. The younger guys who work for a living can't prefish like the retirees. They complain that the older anglers have an unfair advantage and I agree. I once prefished 35 hours for a club tournament. The lake we fished was very tough. I caught one fish and came in second. I caught that same fish in practice.

There is a lot more to spinnerbait fishing than the brand. I fish Hildebrandt and Terminator spinnerbaits exclusively. At one time or another, they all work. Two things are important about spinnerbait fishing, cadence and getting close enough to trigger a strike. When offshore trolling for billfish, some boats raise more fish than others. This is believed to be due to the vibrations coming from the props. Spinnerbaits give off the same type of vibrations. Cadence is a function of reel ratio and how fast you turn the handle. Every spinnerbait has a "sweet spot" cadence that attracts more strikes. Most bass fisherman retrieve spinnerbaits too fast. They chunk it out, reel it up, hit the trolling motor and move on. They would catch more fish if they slowed down and made multiple slow passes to the cover.

I think most anglers would do better if they specialized in a few basic techniques instead of using them all. All successful professionals have a strength. I have fished against great fisherman that only do one thing, but they do it well. One thing done right is better than everything done poorly.

The majority of my rods are Bass Pro $39.95 specials. They will do everything a $300 rod will do. A rod's action is more important to me than how pretty it is. No offense, but if I had to carry 15 rods to win a tournament, I need to do more prefishing.

Originally, tournament fisherman started carrying different rods to keep from retying. When different techniques were developed, specialized rods and reels became available. At a minimum, I would think you need at least two, a spinning rod and a casting rod.

I started out with a Pflueger Akron casting reel and a fiberglass rod. When plastic worms came out, I moved to a Mitchell 300 spinning reel. No one rod and reel works for all types of fishing. Retrieve ratios vary, different rod actions and lengths are required. The rod you use for flipping heavy cover is not suitable for fishing a finesse worm on a MoJo rig. I carry at least seven rods. A Spinning rod for light lures, casting rod for cranks baits, casting rod for spinner baits, casting rod for top water lures, A heavy worm rod, a flipping stick and a frog rod with braid. In a day, I may use all of them.

I'm 73 years old. You may be surprised to learn that in my mind I am still 30. I married my high school sweetheart and we are still going strong. I don't consider her as being any different than when we were dating. I can do anything as good as I always did... once. Sometimes my body reminds me that I'm 73. I try not to let that keep me from doing the things I love. The major difference in me now and then is I am a lot wiser. When things go wrong, I don't dwell on them because I know I can overcome anything except death. Death does not bother me because I am happy with my life and have no regrets. When you get old like me, you will spend a lot of time thinking about the past. You want those memories to be good. Take your time, enjoy life, be responsible but don't worry about things you can not control. In the end family and memories are all you will have, make the best of them.

The more gadgets you have on your boat, the more things that will break down. Why not catch fish on your phone? No effort required other than sore thumbs. :>)

Florida's Harris Chain is a classic example of what can happen when aquatic weed control gets out of control. In the late nineties, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection declared hydrilla an exotic species to be eradicated by all means necessary. Literally tons of herbicide was sprayed on the Chain over a two year period. Our lakes were turned into lifeless pools. Hydrilla died along with fields of pads and native aquatic plants creating an environmental disaster that took our lakes twenty years to recover from. For some time, the only catchable bass were in the back of canals where the herbicide did not reach. Deformed alligators and turtles began appearing. Our dwindling game fish numbers were blamed on a mysterious bass virus. Eventually, our lakes recovered from the man made disaster. A serious and lengthy drought cleaned the dead weeds from the shallows. The returning rains flushed out the chain, the water cleared and the game fish returned. Of course, clear water allowed hydrilla to regrow. Thankfully, for the moment at least, it seems Florida is coming to grips with allowing some hydrilla to grow. Politically, water weeds are troublesome. It costs money to manage them correctly. Lake home owners don't want them. Boaters don't like cleaning them off their props. No one wants a lake covered with topped out weeds. Lake managers have the difficult task of managing the lakes for multiple uses. What is required is a dedicated fund to manage the lakes correctly, not a few pennies from fishing license sales. With all of today's financial challenges, I don't see this happening. There is no easy solution to this issue.

I'm "old school". The only thing I use braided line for is plastic frog fishing. Mono line has less visibility, ties better knots, doesn't dig into itself on the spool and never wraps around the rod tip. Braid has no stretch. In my opinion, this hurts more than it helps. It's rough texture causes it to hang on weeds when flipping. A plastic worm fished on braid doesn't fall naturally like thin mono. My son is 54 years old and a very good fisherman. He loves braided line. I hate it. We agree to disagree.

This depends a lot on the depth of the water and local conditions. Obviously, you are not going to find many bass in a foot of 90 degree water. When the water is low in the Everglades canals, fish have no other place to go. Everything that swims is in those canals. I once caught three mudfish off some canal bottom structure in L67. Each one weighed at least 10 pounds. I was using a 13" worm. I got a hit shortly thereafter and expected to see another mudfish on my line. Turned out to be an 8 pound bass.

Many fisherman believe gar and bass do not coexist. If they see gar in the water, they want to move to a better neighborhood. Gar are part of the ecosystem. It's true gar and bowfin (mudfish in the south) can live in water with less oxygen. This does not mean gar and bowfin seek out these areas. If there is life in the water, there are mostly likely bass there too.

When fishing gets tough, I find the best thing to do is to go smaller. Finesse worms, small crankbaits and 1/8 oz spinnerbaits will catch fish when nothing else will. For years I fished a 4 inch Rapala on 8 pound test. A tiny torpedo will get you a bite most anywhere. 4" Zoom finesse worms are killer when everyone else is throwing big worms. The best way to fish them is on a Mojo rig.

Back in the day, a few Central Florida guides started offering money back guarantees. If you didn't get a chance at a ten pound plus bass, they would give you a refund. They used 12" shiners for bait. I never met anyone who got a refund, but I do remember seeing buckets of huge dead bass in the back of a pickup. Back then Florida had a 10 fish per angler limit with no size restrictions. My fishing buddy and I won an Okeechobee team tournament in the seventies with a 20 fish limit that weighed 67 pounds. This had a devastating affect on our bass fishing. Florida went to a five fish limit some time ago. At this time, you can only keep one bass over 16 inches in Florida. Tournament exemptions are available. Hardly anyone keeps a large bass any more, which is the way it should be. Golfers don't burn their golf balls at the end of the day. Sportsman don't kill bass, they catch them over and over again.