Seminole Co. Ramblings

Nicodemus

The Recluse
Staff member
Son, ease up into the Ranger Station Slough and notice how nice and clean it is in there. Then come back out and compare it to Coleman Lake, the Cut, and all the coves in Fish Pond Drain. Forty years ago you could go into any of those and catch a mess of bream anytime. Now, you better have an airboat.
 

Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
Son, ease up into the Ranger Station Slough and notice how nice and clean it is in there. Then come back out and compare it to Coleman Lake, the Cut, and all the coves in Fish Pond Drain. Forty years ago you could go into any of those and catch a mess of bream anytime. Now, you better have an airboat.


I agree
 

Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
Seminole is down a bit this morning. Almost back to normal. Better go fishing. The price of catfish has increased more than I would pay. Local distributor Greens Poultry has been made to stop selling to the public. One box of catfish fillets are up to 130 bucks per box. Forget the pounds.
 

Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
Spent half of today fishing for catfish in Seminole. Tried several areas in the main lake and never got a bite. That's very unusual. Didn't see another boat fishing all morning.
 

fishfryer

frying fish driveler
Spent half of today fishing for catfish in Seminole. Tried several areas in the main lake and never got a bite. That's very unusual. Didn't see another boat fishing all morning.
What about Warmouth,Fliers,Bluegill,Crackers,Spotted sunfish,and Trout?
 

Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
What about Warmouth,Fliers,Bluegill,Crackers,Spotted sunfish,and Trout?

I do know of a pond in our hunting woods that has fliers and warmouth. I need catfish for a club gathering. We did see some nice shellcrackers today on some sandy bottom. Haven't checked on the bluegills lately.
 

fishfryer

frying fish driveler
I do know of a pond in our hunting woods that has fliers and warmouth. I need catfish for a club gathering. We did see some nice shellcrackers today on some sandy bottom. Haven't checked on the bluegills lately.
Forgive me a bad pun,you didn’t take the bait on my question about trout. There’s probably several Yankees about to lose it about me asking about trout in Lake Seminole. I’ve fished enough in South Georgia farm ponds to know old timers called bass,trout. I also figured out not to be correcting them if I wanted to come back.
 

Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
Forgive me a bad pun,you didn’t take the bait on my question about trout. There’s probably several Yankees about to lose it about me asking about trout in Lake Seminole. I’ve fished enough in South Georgia farm ponds to know old timers called bass,trout. I also figured out not to be correcting them if I wanted to come back.

Back in my younger years, 1950's for sure, Old timers in Homosassa Fl, called bass, trout. I actually went bass fishing with an old timer, using the old time way they had bass fished prior to the fifties. It was a handline with cut bait. Would throw the cut mullet with a egg sinker towards the bank. Let settle, then pull easy about one foot at a time. I was thinking, this isn't going to work. First throw I caught a bass of about 3 pounds up near Homosassa Springs. And that was in a wooden boat propelled with oars.
 
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fishfryer

frying fish driveler
Back in my younger years, 1950's for sure, Old timers in Homosassa Fl, called bass, trout. I actually went bass fishing with an old timer, using the old time way they had bass fished prior to the fifties. It was a handline with cut bait. Would throw the cut mullet with a egg sinker towards the bank. Let settle, then pull easy about one food at a time. I was thinking, this isn't going to work. First throw I caught a bass of about 3 pounds up near Homosassa Springs. And that was in a wooden boat propelled with oars.
Keep the stories coming. I’ll listen to all of them.
 

Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
At my age, I have so many stories, it would take a campfire that would last many moons. LOL, Old friend who has passed away always said. "Son can tell those stories over and over and not change one word:". He was probably right.
 

fishfryer

frying fish driveler
At my age, I have so many stories, it would take a campfire that would last many moons. LOL, Old friend who has passed away always said. "Son can tell those stories over and over and not change one word:". He was probably right.
Well just shoot me all you can before you get addled.
 
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Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
Youngest daughter has bought me a subscription to Storyworth. She sends a question about my life through Storyworth, they send it to me via email. I type up a story to answer the question, with photo's if possible each week. End of a year, they send me a book with stories and photo's to keep. Daughter gets the stories each week so she can read them weekly. I never knew there was such a thing going on. I'm into the second week.
 

Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
My first story, long read, maybe y'all like such. Not going to do this every week. Just to show what storyworth is about.
The beginning of my memory began at about the age of three. In an old home built of lime rock and terracotta blocks. The lime rocks were brought up from the pasture behind the house. The location was in Hillsborough Co. Florida on the banks of the Hillsborough River, on the northside of Fowler Ave. We had cattle, a horse, chickens, turkeys and pigs. There's now a small park and boat ramp on that property. At the age of 3 to 5, I played in Fowler ave, a dirt road. Rarely ever did we see any vehicle traffic except for our own. A Model A and a 39 Chevy coupe. The Model A belonged to my grandparents, Norman Treman Anderson, and Annie Rebecca Thomas Anderson. The Chevrolet belonged to my father who was in the Navy submarine service as an electrician. Grandma has run an old country store for years and has bought up property and houses closer to Tampa. We moved to 2600 E. Caracas Ave, north of Tampa, but were still in the county. At the Caracus ave home, we eventually got indoor plumbing and a telephone. The home on Fowler ave had neither. There we had to rely on a pitcher pump and an outhouse. The old home place property on Fowler ave was large, it went from the river to a powerline to the east, and to Cowhouse Slough on the north. I believe Grandma had to eventually let the Fowler ave property go due to having to bail Pa and Uncle Earl out of jail for running shine. Yep, I heard many stories about them and their moonshine ventures. The best story I heard more than once was when Pa and Uncle Earl were hauling shine down Skipper Rd when they noticed the law had them blocked from behind, and ahead. They set the gas on the old Model A, and bailed out into the swamp. Took them all day to make it home to Fowler Ave, where the law was waiting on them. Uncle Earl was a carpenter, he built houses using a hammer and handsaw. Wasn't much electricity in those days where most country homes were being built. Uncle Earl couldn't read or figure, so grandma would figure his materials for houses he would build. Grandma could do figures in her head like a calculator. I was always amazed at how fast she could come up with the answer to any figures given her. Today, Fowler ave is 8 to 10 lanes of traffic depending on the location. Constant traffic day and night, I would not even attempt to walk across that road today. The address at 2600 E. Caracus doesn't exist anymore, it's a high school campus named Middleton. As an old Indian once said, "Nothing stays the same, and only the rocks live forever". Anonymous.
Photos of the old Fowler Ave home included.
 

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fishfryer

frying fish driveler
My first story, long read, maybe y'all like such. Not going to do this every week. Just to show what storyworth is about.
The beginning of my memory began at about the age of three. In an old home built of lime rock and terracotta blocks. The lime rocks were brought up from the pasture behind the house. The location was in Hillsborough Co. Florida on the banks of the Hillsborough River, on the northside of Fowler Ave. We had cattle, a horse, chickens, turkeys and pigs. There's now a small park and boat ramp on that property. At the age of 3 to 5, I played in Fowler ave, a dirt road. Rarely ever did we see any vehicle traffic except for our own. A Model A and a 39 Chevy coupe. The Model A belonged to my grandparents, Norman Treman Anderson, and Annie Rebecca Thomas Anderson. The Chevrolet belonged to my father who was in the Navy submarine service as an electrician. Grandma has run an old country store for years and has bought up property and houses closer to Tampa. We moved to 2600 E. Caracas Ave, north of Tampa, but were still in the county. At the Caracus ave home, we eventually got indoor plumbing and a telephone. The home on Fowler ave had neither. There we had to rely on a pitcher pump and an outhouse. The old home place property on Fowler ave was large, it went from the river to a powerline to the east, and to Cowhouse Slough on the north. I believe Grandma had to eventually let the Fowler ave property go due to having to bail Pa and Uncle Earl out of jail for running shine. Yep, I heard many stories about them and their moonshine ventures. The best story I heard more than once was when Pa and Uncle Earl were hauling shine down Skipper Rd when they noticed the law had them blocked from behind, and ahead. They set the gas on the old Model A, and bailed out into the swamp. Took them all day to make it home to Fowler Ave, where the law was waiting on them. Uncle Earl was a carpenter, he built houses using a hammer and handsaw. Wasn't much electricity in those days where most country homes were being built. Uncle Earl couldn't read or figure, so grandma would figure his materials for houses he would build. Grandma could do figures in her head like a calculator. I was always amazed at how fast she could come up with the answer to any figures given her. Today, Fowler ave is 8 to 10 lanes of traffic depending on the location. Constant traffic day and night, I would even attempt to walk across that road today. The address at 2600 E. Caracus doesn't exist anymore, it's a high school campus named Middleton. As an old Indian once said, "Nothing stays the same, and only the rocks live forever". Anonymous.
Photos of the old Fowler Ave home included.
Waiting for next installment,thank you
 

Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
Daughter thought I could do this chore she's given me. Because I've been an outdoors writer since 1975, writing for many journals dealing with archaeology, hunting, fishing etc. And have had an outdoors column in the Donalsonville News since about 1988. I was a member of the Florida outdoor writers association until I moved to Ga. Found one of the old FOWA cards, amazing, may be the last one I had. I moved from Fl in 82, but kept up the membership through 1990. A few photo's. I've been a busy person all my life and hope to keep going at it.
 

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Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
Seeing many pontoon boats on Seminole today. It's a constant parade past the dock so far. Rains appear to be staying south of the lake.
 

Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
The boys and I caught a nice mess of catfish, shellcrackers and bream in Seminole today, but we had to work for them. All good size fish. Fine shellcrackers, my kind of fish to eat.
 

Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
Had planned on fishing for shellcrackers in Seminole today, rained out. All panfish caught yesterday were full of roe. That was some serious rain today, took out part of my driveway. No problem, will fix it with the Kubota when it dries out.
 
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