3 Hours of Fishing and...

[Big Skyz]

Three hours of fishing Saturday evening and all I had to show for it was one gold-eye shiner (trash fish), one stupid #@$%@!!! snake, and this little bronzeback. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. The weather is supposed to be cold and miserable this week, but as soon as it warms back up I'll be right back after these smallies. I have to say I do love the variety of fish I can catch around here. Within 2 hours (most within 45 minutes) of my home I can catch over a dozen different species of game fish. Pretty easy to like that.

[quercus alba]

lets see, gar, grinnel, mud cat, channel cat, blue cat, spotted cat, jackfish, crappie, largemouth, small mouth, kentucky spotted, sand bass, rock bass (goggleye) bluegill, redear bream (shell crackers to floridians) sunperch, redbream, carp, drum (gasper goo) branch goggleye, buffalo, couple of species of trout, sturgeon, shovelbill (paddle fish) warmouth......didn't realize there was so many. Only problem is access and opportunity

[Big Skyz]

Guess that's the difference between here and there QA, access isn't a big problem.

[Thumper]

3 hours??? Only takes me a few minutes! I haven't counted all the species available, but there are quite a few.

[LJ3]

That's a nice smallie my man!

[Thumper]

Seems weird to say that's a big smallie .... kinda like jumbo shrimp. Like I'm a skinny fat guy.

[BarryBobPosthole]

That a nice bronzeback, Troy! My favorite stubborn little mules.

We have quite a bit of good public access to waters here too, but most of it is on reservoirs. We do have some good rivers too, but you have to work at access. And that's despite all the stuff about navigable rivers being open to the public. But I actually sympathize with land owners along rivers. People here can't seem to touch things without leaving their marks. Graffiti, trash, ruts in fields, you name it.

Anyway, that's another topic. The Tulsa Chamber of Commerce once advertised that Tulsa has more shoreline miles with 100 miles of the city than the whole state of Minnesota. My Minnesota friends scoff at that. Having spent a LOT of time in almost all parts of that state I'd have to agree with them. But who knows?

BKB

[Thumper]

I guess I'm lucky here ... it's a fisherman's paradise in a way. You'll find a lake about every 100 yards or so and you'd have to search really hard to find one that's not open to fishing (maybe in a city park or something). If the lakes and rivers aren't enough, the length of our coastline is second only to Alaska.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I agree its a fisherman's paradise. I fished a lot of natural lakes there when I was in the service. Here I was in my early twenties and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. My favorite was a little lake in north Ocala National Forest called Oklawaha. I have a photo somewhere of a very skinny me sitting in a canoe holding a giant bass. Unless my ex ended up with it. I need to look. What an awesome lake that was!

BKB

[Big Skyz]

Thumper it's just too bad you have to share it with 20,271,272 other people. I can't function with that many people around, it would suffocate me. That's quite a difference from the 1 million that live in Montana.

[Thumper]

Ha! Yeah, I hear ya' B/S! I'd never in a bazillion years try to compare Florida with Montana, but finding secluded fishing areas is no real problem here. For those 20,271,272 fishermen you mentioned above, we have 20,271,272 lakes, so they can each have their own! I live on a 500 acre spring-fed lake myself ... and even though we have our own private boat ramp, I've never fished it in the 27 years I've lived here! There is a small public ramp across the lake, but on a nice Saturday, you "might" see only one or two boats launched. There is a small church in the neighborhood that has started having an annual fishing tournament for the younger members, but once they spread out, it's still not very crowded.

[Big Skyz]

Oh I'm sure I'd love visiting Florida and really enjoy the fishing opportunities. I just can't see me ever living there though.