Fox Squirrels Range Expanding in North Carolina

Great News !!  Yes Fox Squirrels are expanding in North Carolina.   

The Fox Squirrels in Eastern NC are expanding North and west and the Fox Squirrels in our NW Mountains are expanding east.  

They are being seen in places where they have not been seen in years. 

Here is an article from the Appalachin Voice in 2012 where they talk of the populations in the mountains expanding east and the Eastern populations expanding west.   

Read it here - http://appvoices.org/2012/04/18/fox-squirrels-making-a-comeback-in-n-c/

This year (2023) the North Carolina Wildlife resources Commission updated the Fox Squirrel range map which had not been updated since 2011 

I am going to show the 2 old range maps the state has been posting for ~20 years or more

Old Map 1  2011 or earlier

Old Map # 2 2011 or earlier

Here is their Press Release that was released aprox 2pm  on February 26, 2023 courtesy of the NCWRC

Click on the picture to make it bigger

Now , here is the New Fox squirrel range map just released this year(2023) by the NCWRC

New Map updated 2023

If you compare Old Map 2 to the New Map you can see they have added 21 counties to the range map.

This is great and exicting  news for everyone.  

#foxsquirrel

#foxsquirrelhunting

#foxsquirrelrangemap

Gilchrist Blue Springs and Jonathan Springs Near High Falls Florida

 

Location -  Gilchrist Blue Springs and Run, & Jonathan Springs

Date - January 26th and 27th 2023

This trip was a bucket list trip for me as it really accomplished 2 things(or hoped to) which was to catch a Suwannee Bass and the other was to see several Springs in this area.   Both were accomplished. 

This is the area where I fished on the second day but one side adventure of this Trip was canoeing up Gilchrist Blue Springs Run to the Spring which was magnificiant. This spring is located in Ruth B. Kirby Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park and I  was the only person there.  The Spring and run are off limits to fishing.

What an awesome spring but the run(creek) to the river was maybe 1/4 to 1/3 mile long and it was awesome as well.   You can see a Suwannee Bass Swimming with 2 Largemouths if you pay attention.   

I Launched at Rum Island Springs County Park which is a very nice county Park which has Rum Island Spring as a swimming hole. It can be seen right on the river.

We Put in at the ramp  (Blue Circle) paddled down past Rum Spring and entered Gilchrist Blue Springs Run (Red Circle) and then paddled up to Gilchrist Blue Springs.(Green Circle)

Click on the Picture to see all of it

Here is the Video of that short but awesome paddle adventure.

I then went upstream to Jonathan Spring and this little Spring was pretty awesome to be a small one.

Even though Google Maps shows Jonathan Spring as a Blue Balloon that is not where it is at. The red arrow marks the outlet of it and the spring is only like 20 yards up .   The Yellow Circle is where a very small spring bubbles up into the river. 

Click on the Picture to see all of it.

Video on Jonathan Spring 

Video of the 2 days fishing on the Sante Fe River. The 1st day we put in at the High Falls Ramp and the second day we put in at the  Rum Island ramp.  Both fishing days are on this video. 

#suwanneebass

#gilchristbluesprings

#genniesprings

#jonathonspring

Ruth B. Kirby Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park 

#floridasprings

LJ Brasher and His Jitterbug Modification - The Monster Bass Fisherman

 021223

LJ Brasher and his Jitterbug modifications.

LJ Brasher was the first Big Bass Fisherman I read about.   Now I want go into too much detail here about his tactics as you can google him and find it all out but he used big Black musky Jitterbugs at night, 14'' plastic worms by day,   Abu reels , heavy line and fished a 100 mile radius around Madison Florida.   This Opelika Alabama Resident was IMHO the best Big Bass fisherman there ever was.   He caught well over 500 bass over 10 lbs and one summer I think he Caught 80 over 10 lbs and I know for sure he caught 5 over 10 lbs in one night !! and he mounted all of them on a stringer seen below. 

My Brasher would fish sometimes for up to 2 days in his boat without ever getting out.  His tactics along with his persistance is why he caught so many.   Unfortunatly he passed away in the late 90's and my one regret is I never drove down there to meet him. 

Here is a video I did of LJ Brasher's Jitterbug modification.  

Thanks and leave some comments if you knew Mr  LJ Brasher or just really liked his tactics.

#LJBRASHER

#jitterbug

#bigbass

#monsterbass