Folks,
We have a big news announcement to make on behalf of “The FWC” known as Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission”.
The FWC has decided that we are not fishin’ for largemouth bass here in Florida any more. Florida largemouth bass are now called “Florida Bass”. There have been genetics studies confirmed what many anglers and biologists have believed for a long time, Florida Bass are special!! According to a recent research publication by Yale University, it has been determined our bass to be “Florida Bass” and it is to be its own species.
All the years that I have been fishin’, folks have always talked about Florida Strain Bass. Our bass are different than other bass throughout the United States. You have always seen where different bodies of water have introduced Florida Strained Bass into their lakes and rivers. So, I guess there is something special about our bass. Now, when you are fishin’ here in Florida, you need to tell folks that you caught a “Florida Bass” while you were fishin’ today.
They also changed the scientific names of our bass. The Florida Bass will now be called the Micropterus salmoides, and the largemouth bass will be called the Micropterus nigricans. If you want more information about the name change, you can log into MyFWC.com and read all about the name change, and read all about how they came up with the new names.
Kyle at Bitter’s Bait & Tackle reports that most folks are fishin’ for bass early in the mornin’ or late in the day. It’s been kinda slow, but some of our lakes are showin’ up. The Central Florida Millers Marine Bass Anglers held their monthly tournament on Lake Apopka over the weekend. Yes, I said Lake Apopka. Over the past few years, Lake Apopka has been returnin’ to itself. There has been a lot of hard work to get this lake back in shape. Due to the hard work of a lot of folks involved in its return, it’s been fishable for quite some time.
The winnin’ team of Barry Thomas and Rodney Marks hit the scales with 5 bass that weighed in at 24.14 pounds. They also had big bass for the day, too. Their big bass hit the scales at 8.34 pounds. Congrats guys on a job well done. By the way it has been so hot, this tournament started at 6:05 a.m. and ended at 12 noon. So, to be able to catch 24 pounds of fish in just six hours is pretty doggone good.
I would like to take a moment before I conclude this article to offer my condolences to the Ricketson family. Last week we lost a friend, fishin buddy, dad, grandfather, uncle, brother, and husband. We lost a great community leader in the loss of John Ricketson. I have been honored to write this column for more than 40 years. When John ask me about writin’ a fishin’ article, I said are you crazy. I had never written a fishin’ article in my life. John told me there is nothin’ to it, so I agreed to give it a try. John and his wife Eileen coached me along and they told me to write my article just like I was talkin’ to you, or tellin’ you a fishin’ story. Well, here we are and I could not be more proud when I was given this opportunity by JR and Ms. Eileen.
JR will be missed by me and a ton of folks who knew him. I know in my heart JR is with “ The Lord” and he is in Heaven fishin’ with all the disciples who used to be fishermen. God Bless Ms. Eileen and all the family durin’ this time.
I hope ya’ll have a great week, and I’ll see ya next week.
Tip of the week: Go Fishin’.
Save a few and good luck!
