How I do it (over here) and it works

Howdy Crappers ��
I've been lurking the forums for a spell now and decided to toss in my experiences. I just haven't seen folks shoot n scoot in the manner that's afforded to me. I thought this might encourage others who are reluctant to walk, explore & stalk.

I'm from east central Florida. I participate in several fishing disciplines from surf fishing in the fall during the mullet run, begging ranchers for access to watering holes (you have to want to really walk) down to getting into the swamp for crappie, blues, war mouth, stump knockers etc. To be honest I derive the most satisfaction from getting into the swap. Solitude, shade, sun, the plethora of wildlife you'll see while fishing (my favorite is when otters come to say hi). But the big kick is never knowing what's going strike.

This place I love is a creek and doubles as a perennial swamp. During the summer months water is over your head while during the winter months fishing the main channel is pure delight. You've just got to be willing to walk a solid mile to get there.
First there's the 7 mile drive on a dim road nobody can access unless you work for the Florida wildlife commission or have disabled access permit. Then most folks won't go the distance because they're lazy and want drive up convenience. Fine with me, more fish and no pressure on them.

Every year it looks different. Most Old landmarks get washed away, few remain while new ones pop up. One pretty much has to have a good sense of..... Something that comes from experience to comfortably get around until you get to the main channel which is not wide by my standards.

The water is tanned from the decay of leaves etc, but pretty clear. If the bottom wasn't so dark from rotten stuff you could see it. You can see it if it's shallow, tan leaves, black muck, twigs..... You just won't see the fish. They're too well adapted as you will see.

The odd thing I've noticed over the years is species numbers will change. One year you'll be catching mostly black specs and lil of anything else. Some years you will catch mostly war mouth. Some years you'll catch a but of everything. But rarely, bass. This year it seems than long ears are all over the place and bass are in second. I've caught no specs or anything else, though I haven't been moving up or down the creek more like I should. Walking is slow this year, lots of debris and muck to get around and my body starts to hurting so I can't push myself and not ask myself "is there enough pain tolerance left to get me out of here?".

Last week on my way, there's a small bridge 7 miles away from where I go off road. The creek passes under it. It's a good deep area, it's generally over fished and I've talked to folks there who complain there's no more fish there. I hate to rub there nose in it but what works for you're other fishing spot by the house often won't work in spots 20 miles away. I have noooo problems catching nice fish there though. I know exactly what works the most, what color patter triggers strikes and it's never changed.

I use a cheap 5' Berkeley cherrywood UL, okuma 10 UL (I'm not taking an $$ reel into the woods for nobody) and 5lb test line. I'd like to go with 2-4lb test but experience has told me that surprises happen anywhere in the creek. There's no targeting one species. They all go after the same things.

So on my last trip on the way in I decide to go stop at the bridge for relief and a leg stretch'n and pulled out a rod to relax. Found a spot where it seemed the long ears were up to something. I'm not pulling "your ear" when I tell you that every cast to start was a hookup.
After pulling in 8, I think they'd had enough.

Blackest long ears in this creek! But on UL gear, who cares?
But once things stopped I walked under the bridge to the other side. Quite a few casts resulted in nothing. Maybe that 5' gator made em nervous? Then the silence was broken when something broke water back under the bridge. I went to look. What I thought was a big butter catfish came up again, grabbed something went back down in the deep part (about 6-8'). Probably grabbing falling seeds. I'd never catch him though, not if they're interested in seeds. Took a break for water. I was about ready to get back in the truck when I was struck by the old "What if I played my lure this way" bug. Heck, it's only 30' away.... Off I went. Tossed my slightly modified STRIKE KING Bitsy minnow between and beyond the bridge pilons knowing full well if I caught a nasty it would be a severe challenge to steer it just right and win the battle.

Here's my secret


There's the pilons

Not even 6' between em.
So I let my minnow slowly sink about 3 ft down. Then I just twitched it a couple times, I saw that bit of dirty yellow blur nab it. Soon as I felt tension, hook set and the fight was on...... For 5 dern minutes I finnessed and steered what I knew was actually a bass. I was also surprised too because I've never caught one at this location. It was such a fight, trying to tire it out while steering it away from the pilons. I was using 5lb test on the UL rod and I knew the fish was big and couldn't stress the line out any more than I was.

Theres no doubt in my mind that I should have lost this fight. The sad part is "she" never broke water. (yes, of course I released her).



So off I drove into the woods and walked the walk of walks into the swamp.
Once there I started catching long ears again, smaller ones, about 10 ounces each. Trust me they are the best eating. Better than the big'uns. Last year I found a honey and took a friend and a kreel. In fact I hrs we hiked out of there with 11lbs of good eating. That's not including what we threw back.
I didn't want blues. I wanted anything but. War mouth, spec, stump knockers..... I'm beginning to wonder how hurricanes can flip variety of species so much that you can't catch one.
I'm leaning over logs under branches, bending myself in ways just to get my lure in those spots that would lurk something precious. Nothing but long ears.
I moved down about 100 yards.... Honey hole (full of long ears). Every cast was a hookup. Then suddenly it stopped. I just started, why. Then the answer came when he showed up to say hi.
Mr otter. I sure didn't mind.


Pretty though, ain't it?



Starting to get tired and it's time for the long dreaded last cast; and we always dream that it will be a most memorable catch to tell the grandkids about. This one ended up being a surprise alright....
I guess this fella didn't get the memo though.

(must be some kind of state record or something)
Time to head out.

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