Seminole Ramlins
by Jack Wingate

Sitting here reading Governor Sonny Perdue's speech he gave at Silver Lake on how the Silver Lake Property was to be acquired and when, I let my mind wonder back to a time when I was around 10 years old. My father, Paul Wingate in the vicinity of Silver Lake and a little west of it, how easy it was to get the long fat earthworms that was so abundant in that area. He would take a piece of long wiregrass, bout 2 ½ feet long and with the tender end in the worm hole, gently tickle the worm and slowly push the grass as to keep up with the worm. Prity soon old Ber Worm would pop his head up close by and as he cleart the hole, pick him up. 2 or 3 was all you needed for a fishen trip. 2 feet long they were. Now he would always look at the pile of droppings around the hole to see if they were wet. If they were he would wipe the droppings off the hole and insert the wire grass.

He had already taught me to "grunt" up pond worms around wet areas and how to store them in red clay so as to turn them red, it would also toughen them.

Wasp nest was one he used for our fishen trips. The larva in the nest makes a good Bream bait. Meal worms was another goodun, so was oak worms and catalpas. Many a good trip we had together; had he lived til this Christmas, he would have been 108 years old.

Mike Prindle of Recovery and Paul Tyre of Tallahassee, FL, otherwise known as "Team AMP" with their sixth place prize in the Fishermen for the Hungry Tournament on Lake Blackshear

Bass has been iffy again this week, but Mrs. Pam Martin-Wells turned teacher to a pro-fisherman who jist sat and watched her fish. She landed near 2 limits of fishreleasing all of them. Eleven bass was taken in another boat on plastic.

I will tell you this, bream and shellcracker has bit like mad all week long. Why is it shellcrackers are taken crickets this year better than worms?

Calvin Brownhill, a very good fisherman and gentleman, came in early Friday morning. He looked skinny to me; I asked how many pounds had he lost - 140 lbs. He sed, but the GA DOT did this to me. I asked why was that. They put on my driver's license, "Rest of picture on back!"

The Florida Sheriff's Bass Tournament held on Lake Talquin was taken by the team of David Mock and Ira Forehand with a total of 16.8 lbs. of bass.

6-year-old, Ellis Faircloth of Bainbridge with his first bass, a nice one

We keep repeating, the talapia are on beds in the "Creek" area, and they can be caught.

Our own little Jeri Dawn Sloan went to a Georgia State Gymnastics meet in Atlanta and won first place All State in Gymnastics. What a way to go!

Wingate's Fishing Report