Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

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BloodyChamp
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Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by BloodyChamp »

With that said, when I hang my first fish after not going for a few months I get all jacked up lol! Winter fishing also has 1 other little thing going for it - no matter how well you know where you're fishing, you never know what will be on the end of your line. Speckled Perch (which are here but not as thick as in other places), Pike, a BIG catfish not the Butter Cats that bite worms all summer etc.

I have my busiest week of the year starting tonight and going until Sunday night. When I'm done with this nonsense I am so going fishing for the first time since August, no matter what. In spite of what I just said about the Specks, I do have a few places where I can always catch a few on the Aucilla River. There is 1 place I can get to that wouldn't involve dragging the boat over a billion logs (and that hurricane...ugh) and through slop, but even it isn't for the weak of heart. I'd have to walk a good 50 yards and dodge any troublemakers who might see my truck and want to start crap. It's on a tiny strip on the management area, surrounded by private hunting property and the hunters are just wound way to tight. Anyway last year I did this and caught a bucket full. I could have caught a hundred. Once that sun started to lower, it was every throw on the sinking Rapala. 1 other fun fact is before the fun that day I slipped and fell in :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Last edited by BloodyChamp on Thu Oct 20, 2016 9:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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WannaDoDat
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by WannaDoDat »

Haha. Fun stuff! Hope you get to go fishing soon!
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by cotton »

Hope u get out. Ed & I did well this weekend with the big specks. I kept too many and am still having them for breakfast. 1 more day till there gone. It don't take many when there 13"+

Fyi- corn syrup and cold fried fish is pretty good.
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BloodyChamp
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by BloodyChamp »

Cold fish that's big enough is pretty good, like say a big Speck. But gnawing on cold fish meat trying to get it off a bream or a small backbone of another fish isn't for me.
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by BloodyChamp »

Bored...the work week I spoke of went longer than I thought now in between responsibilities at home I won't get to go until Saturday, and I'm a little nervous because I just realized what I might be dealing with posthurricane. There might not be any fishing happening on the upper Aucilla until it floods again and either rots or dislodges the fallen trees. Sawing them this time of year is out because I don't need to get wet this time of year then fool around and get sick. Slop is possible to, and yeah...no...not in the fall or winter lol! I'll wet me a hook somewhere though.
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by WannaDoDat »

Go get 'em!
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by BloodyChamp »

I made it down there for an hour last night and came home pretty freaking mad. This story will sound made up but...here goes. There was trash everywhere and further evidence that I can't really explain of hundreds of fish being caught. There's a guy around here who sells them illegally. He's Ewell's from To Kill a Mockingbird level trash. I grew up with him. I used to dummy lock the cable on the SRWMD just because of him. He must have figured it out. Because of the conditions right now, I would go as far as to say that he caught every Speck out of the 75 yard stretch of deep water there.
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by BloodyChamp »

I went somewhere else today in the boat that I've only been to once before for Specks in the winter. I did very well that 1 time and I go there alot in the summer for regular fishing but it's not wise doing this by yourself in the winter, so as you can see I still continue to make such good decisions lol!

Log after log after log...got my feet wet, had to walk the boat through all kind of other obstacles etc. I should have just turned around. If I wake up in the morning sick I'm going to be mad. But anyway I didn't turn around. After going so far, I had to at least get there and see what the deep water looked like. I finally got there and it looked like Speckled Perch heaven. With everything else so dried up you could probably catch anything else if you applied yourself. A few Blackfish flopped, I fished with the sinking Rapala for a few minutes and had no choice but to turn around just to make it back to the truck by dark.

The good news is that the river was really only in the shape it was in because of the lack of rain. Those logs will be history as soon as it rains. I was glad to see that the hurricane didn't lay down 40 more.
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by BloodyChamp »

My friend cheated a little on the Wacissa and used live crawfish in the deepest holes to catch 15 massive bass. He told me there were mullet everywhere so off I went to Goose Pasture farther down from him. I didn't see a single mullet so I put on a sinking Rapala and caught 3 bass in a row out of similar deep water just down the river. I didn't have the motor so I had no choice but to turn around before I got in over my head. I then went to Mandalay and pulled a nice bass out of there but that was it. Obviously some live bait or the ability to fish a little more economically without it would have probably caught all the bass you wanted.
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by capncrunch »

Did you catch your mullet yet? I fish the upper section of the Wacissa from two different locations and both have plenty mullet whoppers.
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by BloodyChamp »

No :71 :71 :71

I haven't been since 1 additional trip to Lake Talquin that I was treated to. In other words, I haven't took myself fishing since the above story. As soon as it's full blown spring time though I go 3 times a week. Can't wait.
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by capncrunch »

Saw plenty of mullet in the St. Marks just below Natural Bridge last week.
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BloodyChamp
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by BloodyChamp »

capncrunch wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2017 6:47 am Saw plenty of mullet in the St. Marks just below Natural Bridge last week.
You must mean upriver pretty far from the 98 bridge. I'm not familiar with that part of the river but it's on my list of things to check out mullet fishing or not. Old folks have told me they caught mullet on the St Marks though.
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by BloodyChamp »

Has anybody here ever been all the way up to the springs that are up river from Malloy's Landing on the Wacissa? The landing nas been closed for years but it's up that first channel to the left if you put in at The Head. The channel is also called Little River (not the same Little River as the more famous sinkhole). I'm going to go up that thing looking for mullet soon. I know it seems far fetched that they would swim up that far instead of settling in 1 of the other springs but believe it or not I seen them huddled in Big Blue Spring years ago before that became a party spot.
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Re: Nothing in here...it just ain't the same this time a year is it guys

Post by WannaDoDat »

Yes, I’ve paddled up to the top there, BC. Caught mudfish and small LMB. Was fairly shallow most of the way up. Springs at the top we’re very pretty. Didn’t see big schools of mullet then but you never know. Go for it!

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