m.t.hands

go to the hardware store and tell'em you need a master key and give a little wink, they'll fix you right up, heres what minelooks like


p.s. just kidin, good luck on a big bite, it's been 10yrs. since i've fished any of the "pits" and man do they get hammered, oh well best of luck

Chuck7

M.T. Hands,
Are you from around my area? They have opened up some of the great pits to the public. However; you must call in a week ahead for a reservation.
Chuck

m.t.hands

not from around there chuck, but have been blessed to be able to bass fish all over the country and mexico, i fished in the bartow, plant city area for 2 weeks with a touring bass pro, we had fished togetherbefore and i helped him out on guntersville, and he invited me to fish,it was feb94 or 95 hard to remember now but we went to several pits, they were all locked btw, he had a key and was very well connected with oxidental? chemical corp.i think that was the name at the gates.i don't know if he knew some owners or what, the private pit wereoutstanding,we fished a few of the open to the public pits and they were getting some serious pressure[:@], and we only had limited success on those, we have stayed in touch and he has mentioned that most of the pits had been turned over to the state, he called out initials of what there now called, but as you mentioned you have to call and make a reservation. i was kinda shocked when i found out that ole bill dance has several private pits in which he films 99% of his shows[:@]. then you take somebody fishin and there wonderin why your not catchin like he does.oh well good luck and you are in an area of big fish, and i believe one day you'll really get your line streched, have a good one....

keith

Chuck7

MT Hands,
I went out to the pits to day. Lake 5 of Tenoroc. If you checked on the Net for Floridas top 10 spots...this is one of them. Sure I out fished every one else in every lake but .....no bass big enough for this here tournyMost caught nothing or a couple small bucks. My biggest was 3.7 on a red shad worm. I caught 4 more as well. Had one scrappy 3 lber break off fooling with her. So the next 3pounder I pushed the botton a few times.I only use 10 pound trilene. When flipping I use 20 lb Fireline. If your eevr in the area stop in. I can put ya on fish.
God bless,
Chuck

m.t.hands

thanks chuck, man thanks for the hospitality,me and the wife have thought of a mid winter trip to your part of the world, we are mainly fishing here close to home, i have laid off the heavy tournament fishing, me and my wife have been on a rampage paying off everthing but the house, i have been doing bro dave ramsey's program called FPU (became tired of the old slave to lender relationship)and i'm mainley fishing the great lake guntersville, however i have had a rather lack-luster year, biggest to date a little over 8, normally me or the wife have caught a 9 +, but i have not been able toput the time in this year[&o],and one of the worst times of year is fast approaching, the fishing will be picking back up and deer season will be starting. last year we went the friday before gun season and caught over 40 fish most in the 3-5# range decided to give the deer one more day, fished opening day gun season and caught 3 peanuts[:-], go figure

btw if you ever in my neck of the woods, let me know, we'll go get our line stretched.( bring you seatbelt)

Hunter06FlKy

chuck., i may've asked you this before but what type of pits are you fishing in??? old lime or phosphate pits?? i'm working on getting a canoe or jon boat with a trolling motor to fish some lime pits i have access to. you can get some pretty big fish in those pits if they have the right nutrients.

RedAllison

Seems like the pits Mr. Dance fishes used to be on what was the old "Beinville Plantation" is that place still there? I know his shows ARE filmed almost entirely there and while I will NOT discount Mr. Dance's prowess (he is one of my brothers neighbor and he and his son have done ALOT of business for my other brothers sporting goods stores in west TN) those places were picked because of the abundance of quality fish. Folks watch the show because of all the quality fish he catches and he fishes there because it is a sure thing certain times of the year with a realistic chance of good weather. When making shows you only have XYZ days to get enough film for production. Time is money and you certainly want to go with the sure thing. Besides who wouldn't want to catch 6#er after 6#er and be paid handsomely to do so!

Show me a pit or other private lake with quality fish and low pressure and I will show you a way to catch them on just about anything you want to throw! My family has a 25acre lake in northern MS that literally was built for trophy bass fishing. I have had more than one occasion when I went down there in March and in less than 1.5 hours I could catch over 20 bass with the smallest being 4#s and several being in the 6+ range. Lastyear I even caught a spawned out 27"er that only pulled the digital scale too 9# 8oz (she would've been in the 11+ range had I caught her a month earlier). In such places it realistically doesn't matter what you throw so much as where you put it. THAT is the beauty of private water and quality fish management. I likewise have carried friends/family during the summertime and caught 30# stringers (5 fish) on crankbaits. Knowing where the fish were was of first importance, what you fished with was of secondary importance. Of course that honestly even applies too ALL fishing now doesn't it?

Friends that have been call it the honey hole, I call it the "practice lake" and use it to learn new baits and presentations that I haven't yet mastered! I also take my kids on occasion because I know they will have a ball while catching fish after fish.
RA

ps
Mr. Dance's personal favorites for public waters are Pickwick for smallies and the various trophy lakes in TX and FLA in the spring for largemouths. He just doesn't get alot of time to go there then and filming there would be to cost prohibitive when relying on weather and "the bite". Rest assured he knows more about Pickwick then MANY "pros" yet doesn't fish competitively simply because he doesn't have to!!!

m.t.hands

beinville has been open to the paying public for years, i understand about filming shows and i also know about how many bites to expect in a hour[:@], sometimes i happy other times i scratch my noggin and wonder what i'm doin while fishin, i didn't intend any disrespest for bill, i just thought it was odd, that he had theses places leased and in the words of my friend "filmed 99%" of his shows there, if you watch his show, which i haven't for years, you'll start to notice its always familiar suroundings, every wonder why, i don't blame him, i'd do the same given the op.

as far as pickwick, there are a few guides over there that could tell you some bill dance stories[:-]one of them is a jam up crappie fisherman, that took bill out 4 days straight, i'm not sure he would tell you the story, but he has told me, and it's interesting to say the least. btw nothing bad just interesting

Chuck7

Hunter06,
Phosphate Pits my friend. When you click on the map look for the office. Then look about 1" to the right of the office .You will see a black line going across the road .I fish these two lakes mostly. The one on the left is Picnic Lake and the bunch of litle islands on the right is Lake 5. The pretty picture is Saddle Creek Park. The picture of me in my signature is at Saddle Creek Park. The picture of Saddle Creek is one of about 20 huge pits that join each other. It is 4 miles from my house. Tenoroc is 6 miles from my house.
Chuck

http://floridafisheries.com/images/tenoroc%20brochure.jpg

s. il. hntr

4:00 a.m. downsized buzzbait with trailer hook