Off Road Angler

Well just when I thought I’d figured out the bass in south Florida we wind up in Orlando. Leanne and I love it here but the fishing patterns are a bit different than in Fort Lauderdale.

There are fewer canals and more small lakes……..most of which have little structure and resemble big bowls of water. There is lots of grass here though just like down south and as they say “if you find the grass you find the bass”. I’m not so sure that is true when there is grass everywhere.

In any case, the bass here seem pretty aggressive and I’ve had the most success with crankbaits, spinnerbaits and swimbaits…….much different than Texas where dead sticking a fluke usually wins the tournament.

Caught this beauty in our backyard one evening after coming home from work after 6pm…….actually was flipping a black/blue jig around a drain and THUMP……love that feeling.

Well I must say I am so very blessed……forgiveness of my sins by my Lord and Saviour Jesus, marriage to my best friend Leanne, freedom in my country, opportunities to grow, job to do everyday, wheelchair and even a van to use……..fishing in my backyard is just over the top…….why has God blessed me so……..I DON’T KNOW.

What I do know is that I don’t deserve any of this……..none of us do deserve the blessings, grace and mercy God offers us…….but we can show our appreciation of them by accepting and enjoying the gifts He gives and telling others who gave them to us.

We’ll we’ve relocated the Joni and Friends Florida office and our home to Orlando…….got here the end of April. Before we left though we had the opportunity to go to a private horse farm with 5 small lakes on it.

After being treated to an awesome lunch that day, we fished with our friends…….from 3pm to 5pm we caught virtually nothing…….only a few small bass and a bluegill. Then a little after 5pm the fish turned on and we had the best fishing day we’ve ever had in Florida. I caught around 6-7 bass between 3 and 5 pounds and Leanne caught a whopper 8 pounder! I had been catching mine on a soft jefk bait and then top water frog and suggest Leanne change from her deadsticking fluke method to catch more fish……….boy was I wrong just a few minutes later Wham……the 8 pounder.

Moral of the story…….we’ll I’m not sure on the big fish but overall prayer, patience and persistence followed by perserverance really pay off!

Well guys Febuary has been a bit slow. Oh, I’ve fished alot and caught plenty of fish but nothing very big……In fact the picture of this two pounder is the best I can remember since the last post in January.

But hey that’s life there are season God leads us through…..some are exciting while others are a bit slower. Both are good and God teaches us valuable things along the way.

This month I’ve been working a lot getting Joni and Friends Florida ready for our Fishing with Friends Day in Jacksonville, the team boats wraped and Fishing with Friends shirts updated for 2009……not very exciting but fulfilling just the same. You see God wants us to prepare for the exciting “big” things he has in store and knowing that keeps me jazzed in the slow times.

Only God knows what March will bring……maybe my first 10 pound bass!

I fished long and hard today with little success until about an hour before I had to head home. I was fishing a long canal in Boca Raton where I’d caught some decent fish but today despite the good weather, beautiful water and my “expert” techniques…..yeah right……noting was biting. I really had lost most of my confidence that there were fidh there or that I could catch them……cast after cast, bait after bait I kept trying so as not to get skunked.

Finally I caught a few small fish in an adjacent canal and got a “wee” bit of confidence back in my fishing. Then as I was about pack it in and go home, I caught this gal on a NetBait finesse worm wacky style with an Eagle Claw kahle hook……..I worked it like a jerkbait from the grass and saw a flash and swirl…….pretty cool stuff.

You know this reminds me of the “P”s of being disabled……prayer, persistence, perseverance and patience……these have helped me along in life and you never know what God has in story for us if we’ll just hang in there and trust Him.

Well went out to Elizabeth’s canal area early today before my first DR appointment in a few years and looky what I found. I caught it on a NETBAIT junebug trick worm with an EAGLE CLAW 5/0 hook……..no weight.

You know bass feed early in the day…..especially when it starts getting hot. I’ve found that not only do I catch more fish then but it really boosts my day spending time wiith God in the outdoors or in my house before I get into the 9 to 5 stuff.

You know the lake by our boat storage place I mentioned earlier? Well, I forgot to post this beautiful peacock bass I caught last summer there.

I saw a lot of top water/subsurface feeding action so I started throwing a 3/8 ounce Heavy Cover spinnerbait with Eagle Claw hooks. This one had a gold with green and red skirt. I ran it normal several times without a response so I sped it up just under the surface with a blade popping through the top of the water every few feet…….WHAMO…..these fish are great fighters.

It was not my first Peacock bass but as I probably won’t ever make it to the Amazon to fish for the BIG ones, it was a great reminder of how blessed we are to live here in South Florida and how God knows and answers the desires of our heart in a variety of ways.

Another blessing……Crystal lakes RV/Boat storage where we keep our boat has a small lake adjacent to it. The owners are a neat Christian family and let Leanne and I fish there when we come by to charge or clean our boat as well as just for the heck of it. It does not get a lot of fishing pressure and even has some good peacock bass in it.

In any case, this guy hit my weightless Netbait swimbait on a 5/0 Eagle Claw wide gap hook while I was giving it slow, short jerks…….BLEWY!

BLESSING.

Leanne and I made a new friend recently who works in our building for Prison Fellowship Ministries named Elizabeth. Great gal and invited me to come to her condo neighborhood to fish the ponds and canals nearby anytime.

Well you know me. You don’t have to ask twice abput fishing and on one of my first visits there, I caught this feller on a drop shot. It was on the outer edge of a grass line in one of the canals. I was using an 1/8 ounce lead free Eagle Claw weight with size 1 Eagle Claw wide gap hook and a Net Bait watermelon candy finesse worm

One of the best blessings God gives us is good friends and I’m definately thankful for Elizabeth.

Well here it is my 1st fishing entry!

I caught this 4 pound largemouth a while back while visiting our good friends Lynn and Gloria Jarvis on 5/19/2008 in Bradenton, FL. Lynn has a small pond on his property and had seen this gal swimming around a lot on one end.

FIRST CAST with a junebug colored weightless trick worm on a 3/0 Eagle Claw hook and WHAM! We were all a bit surpised but hey gotta love Florida.

It was my first big fish on my TENNESSEE ORANGE custom rod a friend of mine, Kevin Nugent built…..GO VOLS!

Guys, God is good and blesses us daily with good things and he loves to see us enjoy them……I know I miss or overlook them everyday but this is one I caught!