September

[Micanopy]

The kick is up…..and it is wide left.




They are now showing the CONE OF UNCERTAINTY as having changed. Before it was gonna hit Tampa and roll right over top of me. Now it looks like the panhandle is gonna get this one. I will still get breezes and rain, but hopefully not wide spread damage.

They say Ian will be a major hurricane when it leave Cuba. Well there is nothing for it to encounter after that but warm Gulf waters. It will probably be a fairy strong storm as it flies past me. The key for my area will be how fast it is moving. It will pass by me in the dark of night, which I hate. I prefer being able to see what is going on out there.

Still the storm is a week away and it’s path might change some more. The power company was gonna base their assessment on what they saw reported today.




Currently the Great Mullet run is upon the surf fishermen of the East Coast of Florida. Seems everything likes to eat mullet during this annual migration. A man can cast net more mullet than he and his buddies can carry. I was fishing the run a few years back and had cast a fingerling into the waves in close to snag me a redfish. Well wasn’t no redfish that grabbed that mullet. The fish that bit took off at a high rate of speed and never slowed down. I tightened hard against the 65lb braid but the fish didn’t seem to notice. I watched as 400+ yards of braid left my now burning spool. Then he stopped, and started doing aerials. It was a monster tarpon. He jumped about five times at a distance of about 300 some yards. Finally his gill plate sliced my leader and it was over.

Well I reeled in and spent some time pondering why a fish that large would rub his belly in the shallows to get the little fish. Mullet swim according to size, and there were medium sized mullet and large and really large mullet available. The bigger they are the further off the sand. Yet he chose to ease up a shallow gut to get the dinkies.

Some time after that I realized what he might have been doing. Bears do this during the salmon run. They don’t eat the fish, they strip off just the choice morsels. They stomp them to squirt out eggs to lap up. They stack their stomachs full.

Well big fish can eat large mullet, but how many can he get in his gut. Smaller sized mullet can be slid in and packed really tight. Probably digest better. Probably better nutrients from the many than the few. Either way that monster fish was eating little mullet as a preference.

Last year this time I spied a school of minnows getting whacked about. Crappie and probably bluegills were nailing them. I felt sorry for them. No where to hide. Just swim along until you get taken. I eased the boat in for a close up look and saw minnows about 1 1/2” long. BullHead minnows.

So in a lake filled with all sorts of shad, would crappie still have a preference for minnows ?

Maybe so. Maybe they even taste a little better. Who knows. However it is true that folks use minnows and not shad to live bait crappie. I am sure some use shad, but most do not. So I wondered if downsizing lures during Fall might be a good approach.

It is hard for me to tie something small. I start out with grand plans, but soon I have this hanging off, this sticking out, and I get a medium or large jig. I made this one this morning.



I want to tie some more jigs, and plan to do just that. I prefer my plastics, but ties are always fun to make up and put in jars to store away for gifting later. LOL

I plan to dip that tail into Slab Sauce and really tear them up.

Well I helped my friend move her stuff out and found this in her garage.



It is just a tool holder thingie. Magnetized. The wood is very heavy though. It will be perfect for adding eyes to my junk.

The Duco Cement does not work for eyes. I was able to rip them off after it dried. Very disappointing. So the great glue hunt saga continues.

The larger sized rhinestones I ordered…..well that has been all bad. They told me a date that I would have them. Then they hadn’t even shipped them by that date. Now two weeks later they tell me they are on the way. I would certainly have chosen another supplier had I known. Don’t tell people lies about when the goods will arrive. Once in hand, if ever, I will mention the shipping during my review. Which they have been asking me to make for them already. We still have the product here with us, but tell us what you think about it mister.

Anyways, the rhinestones I got are 5mm, because that is the size that fits inside the eye cavity of one of my jigs. The ones that are coming are 6mm. Too large but they are a good size for another jig I make that has no cavities. In fact, I can skip painting the jigs and just glue the rhinestones on and be way ahead of any color of paint.