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Yesterday afternoon, while sitting watching TV with no other promising activities on the calendar for the weekend, I got a call from my friend Pete who asked me if I wanted to go to Milwaukee on Sunday to try and catch some brown trout. We'd both seen the John Gillespie Waters and Woods Show a couple of weeks ago where he was catching some browns in Milwaukee. Neither of us had ever fished there before but the weather looked promising and the potential for some nice fish was too good to pass up. I met up with Pete and his son Cam in the morning and drove up. We weren't on the water 5 minutes, did not even have any rods strung up, when the Coast Guard pulled us over for an inspection. Pete was needlessly nervous, the officers were professional and helpful and we were on our way in a few minutes. Because neither of us had any experience with this kind of fishing except for info we got from a TV show. We trolled for a while with no hits, saw some fish on the depthfinder, and switched to jigging. I was using a 3/4oz Kastmaster. Turns out that was the best choice. I finished the day with 3, and Pete had 2. It was a long drive for a short day but I had a blast. I doubt we'll have another day this warm before March, I'm glad I was able to get out of the Lazy Boy and have a productive Sunday. This was my best fish of the day, almost 30 inches, I did not weight it.

A balding, white haired man from Malibu walked into a jewelry store this past Friday evening with a beautiful and much younger gal at his side. He told the jeweler he was looking for a special ring for his girlfriend. The jeweler looked through his stock and brought out a $5,000 ring. The man said, 'No no, I'd like to see something more special.' At that statement, the jeweler went to his special stock and brought another ring over. 'Here's a stunning ring at only $40,000’ the jeweler said. The lady's eyes sparkled and her whole body trembled with excitement. The old man seeing this said, 'We'll take it.' The jeweler asked how payment would be made and the man stated, 'by check. I know you need to make sure my check is good, so I'll write it now and you can call the bank Monday to verify the funds and I'll pick the ring up Monday afternoon.' On Monday morning, the jeweler angrily phoned the old man and said 'Sir... There's no money in that account.' 'I know,' said the old man... 'But let me tell you about my weekend.’

You are right...We'll make an exception here. Back to "General". -Kent

My oldest reel is 105 years old. It's a Meisselbach Takapart 480. Manufactured in 1909. Hootie

Had a buddy from Atlanta come down for two days of fishing. Unfortunately for us both we were involved with a major cold front. Temps went down into the low forties each night. Anybody familiar with Florida bass fishing knows or have experienced tough, tough fishing after a cold front hits. Usually the bass shut down for days up to a week. The cold front started on Tuesday & we were fishing Wednesday & Thursday with dampened anticipation for the next two days. Day one really sucked because of water flow problems stirring up silt & plant debris. Day two started out cold & foggy but the water was clearing & still. We started catching fish right away. Long story short we had a really good day. My long time fishing buddy caught a new pb & I did as well. We had about 20 fish between 4-5 lbs. Two fish between 5-6lbs. Three fish between 6-7lbs. Dave's pb bass went 8lbs-8oz and my pb bass went 11lbs-2oz. What a day for a cold front! The magic baits were indigenous swimbaits.

For most casting rod & reel techniques (except swim baits, frogs in the slop and flipping dense cover) 30 lb braid along with a small assortment of mono leaders from 12 - 20 lb test gets the job done. If I had to pick one single line - I guess I'd go with 12 lb Maxima Ultragreen. A-Jay

D what a sweet fish, congrats on your new PB for it is a dream come true....

Ted Williams 400 - 1959: I still take it out about once a year - catch a fish with it on its 60s-vintage solid-glass rod, then put it back on the rack. It still works, catches fish - usually about the same size bass as I caught with it when it was new...

Sorry you guys got cold.

Sunday 12/14/14, 7:00-11:30, Alligator Alley MM39, Sunny and cold, temp 45*-65*, wind NNW 5-10, water temp 68*, water clear, water levels normal. I went out this morning with Dave (Canesfan) to MM39, north side. I have not fished the Alley for months and Dave and I ran east to the dead end. By the end of the run both Dave and I were both freezing. Dave started with a chatterbait and I started with a Spro swimbait. Soon we were both throwing plastics and having slow but steady results. It was obvious early, that with the cold weather, fish were not in the mood to chase baits. You had to fish slow with long pauses to be on the bite. Most bites were in the pads or just at the edge of the drop off. I would dead stick the bait and then crawl it back to the boat with pauses at the drop off. With the bright sun they were moving from the deeper water onto the flats to soak up some rays. Bites were slow but steady. We spent most of the day throwing, stick-o's, flukes, trick worms both Texas rigged and wacky, u-tails, centipedes, and creature baits. The fluke and trick worm were the most productive today. We ended the day catching over 50 fish between the two of us. The big fish was 3 pounds. It was a fun day for both of us, and it sure beats 95* and 100% humidity, and you can keep Ice fishing, that's just plain crazy. It is certainly hard to beat winter in South Florida.

LOL, it was big when Jeff sent me a text and it looks even better blown up on my screen. Congrats man!

WOW! What a fish! CONGRATULATIONS!

nice fishing dwight!

Ordered 51e chronarch this morning...

It might not make any difference. A pound of trout consumed is the same whether it be 2 or 4 except they have to eat twice as often. The trout bucketeers might fish more often or longer to compensate for the reduced size. Lots of variables in that equation. Since they are stocking less weight the obvious conclusion would be that the bass don't reach as heavy a weight as they had under the old program. The good thing is they will still be stocking that high protein food source.

It's an old Pflueger "SilkCast":

I'm not taking anything away from the Bill's defensive performance, but a couple of dropped passes make the statistics a little misleading. Game breakers for sure.

A 51e this way comes...

Sam, check out the Ruger LCR. I've sold a boatload of them in both .38 and .357 without a single customer returning with a complaint. The SP101 is an awesome gun too but the LCR is a lightweight version that is better suited for CCW.

Should I try shallower or deeper? Yes With what lures/baits? All of them

A 2015 Stratos 189VLO with a 150 Pro XS, 80lb Fortex, dual console, power poles, 360 imaging, and a marine radio with an aux port to keep my wife happy when she's on the boat with me. I can find room under the tree for whoever wants to buy it for me

I have an old Pfluegar levelwind that still has the multicolored silk line on it that's mounted on an old steel casting rod. I actually tried to fish with it one day just to see what it was like. Having to pull line off the reel to cast, the whippy rod, and the 1:1 gear ratio makes a Zebco 33 look like a top of the line combo.

Dwight I was only being humorous. You're a very generous man. I'll likely get one or two for the spring and post a review on it. No sense of getting them now as the hard water is here to stay for quite some time and I won't wet a line until May. Until then ill spoil my future fishing buddies with toys and such.

Thanks Brad... been wanting to try MegaStrike for a number of years and never got around to it. The BBZ and Bully Wa Frog will definitely be seeing some action this spring and summer. Thanks again and Merry Christmas!!

Oh yes, sunburn and margaritas while pulling in 10#ers

I hoping for a real Super line ~ One that Actually Combines the strength & no-stretch properties of Braid, with the Cast ability & Handling of Mono along with the density, invisibility & abrasion resistant of Fluorocarbon into a single spool of reasonably affordable fishing line. It would certainly be a Christmas Miracle . . . . A-Jay

None of the above. If it doesn't fit in one of my pockets, I don't need it to catch fish.

Tom's smallmouth hair jigs!

You're right, it must be bigger like 14lb 2oz

I went to La Cygne yesterday 730-1300. No power was being generated and the outlet was a whopping 46. I managed to catch a few bass and crappie all on the northern side. Mainly used a drop shot worm really slow, however I did catch the crappie on a moving crankbait.

Double Duty ~ A-Jay

You got to be joking.

Yeah the only problem when you buy a rod is you then have to buy a reel to go with it. I just picked up a champ 703 and had to buy a reel to go on another rod since I took it and moved it to the champ. Vicous vicous cycle!

i like it when people ask "can you really fish out of that kayak?" the smart** in me wants to say no the depth finder is so i don't run ashore or hit an iceberg and the 6 rods you see are actually masts for the sail..... but of course i say oh yeah and move along....

I read this post on my way home from work and ran over to the local dicks a couple minutes before closing to see if I could score a deal myself. Found a quantum energy pt bait caster, originally stickered at 190, on sale for a 100. Asked the guy in the fishing dept to run the sku for me and he said the price is already clearly marked. Asked him to check it again. The guy just looked at me when he checked the gun and asked..'how the h3ll did you know that?' Walked out with the reel for less than $40.... I may have ran to my car. Thanks guys!!

Have fun with that 6lb fluoro and a drop shot while Don sticks another DD

I'm knot gonna get skunked next year.

Trees yes, my reference was to junk on bottom, rocks, logs, etc. Frogs do seem to snag less. I lov. Top water. My favorite to fish hands down

Fish really slow, then slow down to about a 1/4 of that speed.

Would love to know from where? Pm me if you don't want to disclose it publicly I have one and would love to get another

Things have been pretty good lately actually still bad luck but not like years past. My daughter isn't biologically mine. When me and the wife were split two years ago she got knocked up and the two possible fathers took off on her. We worked things out and I was there towards the end of the pregnancy and basically adopted her. Most people when they see her call it out right away she ain't mine even my oldest boy has picked it out and is asking why she has darker skin and dark hair when him and his brother are fair with blonde hair. But she calls me daddy I've been the only father figure for her for a year now she turns 1 on the 27th.

Then you have to get a LONG ways away from the dock for it to be quiet again. You could always start trolling, then you just have to listen to his snoring

Went to Olathe after work on Thursday to see if I could find the wipers. I found them, but they wouldn't bite. Decided to go lure hunting, that went really well, 18 baits after a lap around the lake. The beavers out there have sure been busy. Towards the end of my lap my battery was dying so I started tossing a jerkbait to get my mind off of how slow I was moving. Got to one good stretch with deeper water near the bank so I forced myself to slow down and fish the bait right. Caught fish on back to back cast and was really wishing I'd have fished for bass a little more. I also had a fish pull off at the north corner of the dam. Curt and I fished La Cygne Friday, fishing was pretty much all we did. I think our finally tally was a white bass, 2 small wipers, and 4 dink bass. I had what felt like a really good fish pull off a jerkbait but never saw it so can't say what it was. Stacks were never going and the outlet was only 45 degrees, 50 was the warmest water we saw all day.

"Those things don't work, those things are just for show. I like to have fun when I fish" LMAO! As he started his motor and took off I said.... " I have fun!" LOL!

"That bait is too big for a bass to eat" Lol...i caught 9 inch bass on 6+ inch baits

As usual. Lol

idk what guatamexicans eat in America I'm guessing shad guts buffalo and pizza but not sure Subtle.

I'm devoting more time to musky now too. I fish the upper Potomac for them so with being river fish, they don't have the girth of lake fish but man, do they have some shoulders on them during a fight!

For leader material, IMHO you can't beat Seaguar Red Label for the money, but for mainline..................IDK, I don't use fluoro as a mainline because it all sucks LOL.