What better to do when you are on Babysitting duty than going thru old pics to share with the Straight Up Family, These all have a special memory about them.

Good day on the water even with only 1 fish, Blue Cypress is a beautiful lake, The Gators were thick and active today, at one point I had 7 all over 8 ft within casting distance, May explain the lack of fish. Alex Sterling would have had a time for sure. Play a little I spy

I am a long time user of Yo-Zuri braid. Went to BPS this morning to get a Z-man Elite EVO Chatterbait that matches my Confidence Color of Toho. Z-Man calls it Bruised Green Pumpkin. It is an almost perfect match and I like my trailers to match my baits. Walking along the line isle I saw Yo-Zuri had a new braid out, 9 strand, So I grabbed one. Got home and let me tell you that is some smooth braid and thin, Spooled up my shaky head rod with it, 15lb braid and a 14lb Fluro leader. Tying the leader I was shocked at how well my FG turned out. Going hunting a twin to the big that I messed up with the picture on tomorrow so will report back.

She was a fatty for sure

Sharing my feel good story,
I am a captain for the local High school Fishing club, Osceola Anglers, This was my first year, I was assigned a team and 3 weeks later my wife fell and broke her ankle and was immobile for 3 months so I had to step back and was put in as a back up captain, Only captained  in 3 tournaments, Yesterday was a Student Angler event 1 club member and 1 middle school student. We had a good day and Brayden was my club member. I went to todays tournament and my services were not needed so I went fishing for a few hours (Caught that 10.2) went home, ate some lunch and headed to the club weigh in. While there Braydens dad came up to me and started a conversation, He told me how much Brayden enjoyed fishing with me, We talked a few other topics then he said, i am just going to be straight, Brayden wants you to Captain for him next year, That right there is telling me I must be doing something right. Brayden and I talked a lot about fishing, Confidence baits and tactics, so i think it is a good fit, but it sure brightened my day just being asked that by his father.

Todays tournament was 730 blast off, 1130 weigh in. I was paird with a High school club angler and a Middle school kid who had very little fishing experience. I rigged up a rod for him with a Wacky rig because if you cannot catch them on a wacky, you should give up fishing, at least here in Florida.
730 to 930 we were a solid top 5, then the gator came in and killed our spot, only picked up a few after that, fell to 14th. Winning bag was 41 pounds, Captain for them has been fishing this lake for years and had knowledge that I did not.
We ended the morning with 14 fish, biggest was a 3.78, caught by our middle schooler, Made my day, and his parents were so thankful, made me a winner for the day.
And now the crazy, my club member caught a 5 foot gator and I caught, Get ready for this one Brian Latimer, almost 1 3/4 Crappie, On a SMH with a 6 inch stick bait in 4 ft of water. Shaky head for the win for sure.

This is the man who introduced me to Bass Fishing, Coach Joseph was my middle school PE teacher and invited me to go with him and my addiction was born. I fished with him on the boat in the picture, and I can say with 100% certainty that he caught all of those on a black 3/4 oz Johnson Spoon with a Yellow skirt, On Big Grassy in Lake Toho. Back when Toho was really good. When I say Toho is nothing like it was back when they did a low pool draw down every 4 years to control vegetation I mean it, The draw downs were so much better for the lake than all the spraying they are doing.

Went to a new lake today, It is close in size and structure to the one I will be fishing this weekend so sort of a Pre Fish. Lake Blue Cypress is likely the prettiest lake in Florida. Fished for about 4 hours, found a lot that did not work, They would not touch a shaky head or Carolina rig. Went to an old standby, EZ Swimmer (Actually a Bitters Naked Swimmer, but same idea), rigged Texas weightless and retrieve so it stays on the surface and also letting it drop in openings in the grass. Ended with 3 scorable bass, total weight 7.63. I am sure Mack would feel right at home on this lake, Surrounded by Cypress trees, and Gators big enough to eat his Kayak.