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Yeah Tom, I know what you mean.

We fish a lake in the summer, that has lake trout, as well as walleye & northerns.

It always amazes me, what I find in the walleye ! Big smelt & /or siscoes (sp?), as well as odd looking [bleep], that I have no idea of what it is.

+1 on the Jumbo perch. Tasty & extra pounds in the bag & therefore, fillets in ma tummy !

Love me some bonita springs!! Did you fish? I was there in July and can't get the fishing out of my mind.

Tom...tell us about your fishing in florida. DIY or guided? In-shore or offshore?

NoDuck like land, ocean not made for man.

Been deep sea fishing twice.. Not good.. Was slow. Wife and I are thinking of going to Costa Rica for our 15 year.. I would try there i hear its suppose to be really good there. I figure if i go to Costa Rica and dont catch anything must be a sign form the Ice Fishing Gods........

Jeff,

My bff from when we were kids moved to FL last year. Being a MN boy, he promptly bought himself a pretty bad ass fishing boat. A 26' Sea Hunt, center council, Yamaha 250, digital steering and throttle.

So we were not guided, it was DIY. We were just wingin it. He has fished a bit and learned some tricks. We were in-shore I guess you'd call it. He lives about 20 min from the bay. Keeps the boat in a marina and calls in when we are headed down. The marina puts the boat in a slip and it's ready when we get there. It was a sweet set up really! Mostly we fished in and around the Inter-coastal. We tried a bit at "The Gap" for Tarpon, which was a off shore as we got. A few miles out probably.

There was plenty to keep us occupied in-shore. The very first fish I caught was a F'n catfish! LMAO. Fly 1500 miles to fish in the ocean and I caught a channel cat.

Other stuff we caught was a Ladyfish, Red Snapper, Speckle Trout, Mackerel, Jackfish, Mako Shark, and Black Tip Shark. I'm sure there are a few more there I'm missing.

For bait we would stop in the morning and buy some shrimp and crabs. Sometimes we'd have to make a few stops for shrimp. They were either sold out or the suppliers weren't catching enough the day before. We would also toss a net into schools of baitfish if we got close enough. The Pin Fish was what we caught in the nets mostly. They look like a Bluegill and were about the size of a small one you'd catch off the dock at the cabin.

I caught 3 sharks and my buddy caught 2. All of them were on crabs or the Pinfish we caught in nets. Silly as it sounds, we were fishing in about 10' of water with "corks" as the southern boys call them. Slip-bobber to us Yankees, over a circle hook. The first shark was a Mako. We couldn't even bring him in the boat. From what we understood, they're Federally protected and you can't keep them or even have them in the boat. So, we grabbed his tail...but he went nuts and tried to bite whatever had a hold of his tail. When he did that, he sawed off the line. Which was fine with us. LOL!

The next one my buddy caught and that was a Mako as well. The rest of the sharks were Blacktips. None were very big but man!!! are they strong. The one we weighed was 9 pounds and probably 30" long. They took 5-10 minutes to get in on our gear though. They really make some runs and like to jump. It's a really, really fun fight. Much harder than the biggest muskie I've caught.

I'll tell you what, it would not be hard for me to adjust to that life at all! I've been to FL about 10 times but never to the Gulf Coast. It's quite a bit different from the rest of the state I've seen. It's a much more laid back, slow pace without the crazy traffic of central, southern and the eastern coast of FL. My wife also loves FL, so it's on our retirement list for sure.

Didja try swinging a dead cat?

Took someone long enough to answer.

Howdy all. I don't get on here as much as I used to but still have to come here and check on "my people" every once in awhile.
I enjoy hearing what you are all about and what your future plans are.
Tom , the gulf coast of Florida is the absolute best. I have spent lots of time there since childhood. My family used to vacation there and later I life guarded a summer there. We always referred to it as "the redneck Riviera". Actually the area around Panama City eastward thru Destin all the way to Pensacola is a great part to be in. I just never thought I could live there full time. When we decided to leave Atlanta in 1997 we did a lot of looking and upstate South Carolina had the most to offer but we did consider the panhandle region on the gulf coast.
I just wanted to look in here and see what was going on. Take care all.

Stan in SC

Hey look, I'm a grand dad !









Douglas, our Son, got a puppy on Saturday !

Guess it sucks to be me !!

Happy Easter to Dave, and all the Chickenbuckers, and everyone else that visits here. May the day be filled with good food, good friends, and good memories.

Prior Lake canceled school today. Crazy, is it just me or is it really that bad out...Maybe it's suppose to get worse as the day goes on.. I

IDK, my drive in to town kinda sucked but it wasn't any worse than normal. I did see a popo in the ditch with the cherries on and everything.

Shop Dog !!





Fuggin COLD !!





Got a real good feed everyday !

Nice!!

Mmmm, num nums !!

In ma belly !

Nice fish. I see some perch in there..

Yep, been getting some really nice ones.

That photo is 9 perch & 6 Walleye from Sunday.

Saturday was 8 walleye & 4 perch.

Friday was 8 Walleye.

The lake we fish has an 18.1" - 22.8" slot size. Fish were returned, all 3 days !

That is close to the slot we have to abide by on Lac Seul. I remember my Grandpa saying, "oooooooh, it is a sin to put a fish that nice back in the lake!".

I think we are living in a snow globe and the someone who is shaking it has a twisted sense of humor.

B-Man, Lac Seul is 18.1" to 21.8" !

Yeah, can not believe how many fat 19-20" "eaters" we've put back this winter.

Our normal lakes allow 1 walleye over 18.1", per licenced angler per day.

You might have to rethink coming back up !

MNR just introduced a 2 fish, daily (& in possession) limit for all non residents !!!!!!!

yep i know it is 21.8 that is why i said "close". it is amazing how many slotters you catch! so no more regular license huh? mostly we bought the conservation anyway but they better watch out or they might drive away those tourism dollars! keep posting those pics! i love them!