Florida Fishing

Recently I made an escape from the winter doldrums of Ohio for a week in Florida to visit a friend. Of course no vacation is complete without some time on the water or better yet the entire week. This year instead of flying down with carry-on luggage and sending some older equipment down in advance, I was joined by the owner of the local marina and we drove down allowing me to bring my good rods. The trip started of with a blown trailer tire in Kentucky about 4 a.m. in the rain; once repaired and 12 hours later we arrived to sunshine and 75 degree weather. We fished several lakes in the Lake Placid area, catching fish at each one, but no slaughter fest. Over the past four years fishing half a dozen lakes in the area, I have especially come to enjoy Lake June. On our 2nd to last day we held a little fun competition on lake June. I fished solo against the other two in the 2nd boat. The wind was blowing out of the SW 15-20 mph first thing in morning, I shot across the lake while the other two hid from the wind by the ramp. Spot 1 was a small weed bed I found last year up on a sand flat; in about 15 minutes this only yielded two line squeakers. Next I made a forty minute idle up a canal to where we spotted a good fish on a bed at the beginning of the week. Once near the area with the bed I boated five more small keepers in about 10 minutes using a Black Trick worm. I did not see the big female on the 1st pass so I made a 2nd pass thru the area when I came to the bed I thought she was on I pitched two feet to the side; she bit and just my luck I lost her in the brush. So I fired up the motor and made the long idle back out to the lake, along the way trying to figure out on the way how to improve on the small limit in the box. As I came out of the canal I looked across from the mouth of the canal at another little cove that was too shallow to get into last year & thought I'd check it out. A quick shot across the bay only to find that the water was lower than last year. As I stood on the trolling motor trying to find something to fish I looked down at the water to see a big fish spook of a bed close to the boat. Instanly I took my foot off the motor and let to wind carry me away from the bed. After fishing near by for a while I returned to the to try my luck at the big one. 1st cast missed the bed by ten feet. Instead of just reeling in and making another cast, I fished it in and caught a short one. Next cast had the distance, but  just right of the target and nothing. Cast #3 was just left; as I was getting frustrated with myself for the poor cast I felt the thump. I set the hook and knew instantly it was the one. About half way to the boat the reel disengages as it had done the day before. Here I am with the one I was looking for turning the crank and nothing was happening. Keeping my thumb on the spool I was able to keep from going free spool, a couple hard smacks on the reel and I was back in action. With a little more fighting and the tiny little crappie net that was in the boat I finally landed the fish. Now I was out to add some some quality fish to the box. After a quick run back to where I started the morning off, I grabbed my cranking stick with a Lucky Craft 1.5 and a few casts later I had a three in the box. I had caught that fish earlier in the week. I fished a couple more spots and upgraded a bit more, nothing too spectacular. Finally, the short six hour day was over and it was time to see how the other two did. We pulled the boats out and got out the digital scale. Ed only had one fish that went 2.5, Don had two that went 4.5, one of which was a nice 3.5 pounder. I told them I only had five little ones just for a little fun. It did not take long for them to call me a SOB. Five fish weighed in at 12.5 with the big one at five even, not a huge fish for Florida. A couple hours later we sat down to a feast, joined by a few of the neighbors of saugeye I brought down with me. As I am writting this now it is 32 degrees & raining; I look out the window to see Lake Loramie is high, muddy, and there is still ice; no getting the boat out this week. I guess I will have to get thru this week by looking back at the day I lost a good one, but actually landed the big one. All times are good on the water, just some are better than others. 

Welcome

Welcome to my blog.  As an avid tournament and recreational fisherman, I'd like to share my opinions on fishing as both a competitive sport and casual hobby.  I'll be blogging about my tournament experiences, offering fishing tips, writing about equipment I like and don't like, and expressing whatever else is on my mind.  If you like to fish the lakes and rivers of Ohio like I do, I hope you find my blog especially interesting.  And feel free to comment on my posts. Well, gotta go, I think I have a bite!