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Sharing is only fair ~ Consider it an early Christmas Gift A little bit of the north woods delivered straight to your door . . and lawn, & roof, & vehicles & driveway & . . . . well I'm sure you get the picture. Enjoy . . . A-Jay

Just a heads up to any of my fellow Virginia peeps who might be interested in learning about Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits and what they offer. I have been asked to spend some time in Hookers Tackle at 7828 Richmond Road Toano, VA on the 23rd of December from 8 till noon. You never know, I might just have free samples of new baits and old favorites. It's nothing formal, just a Q&A and some of my experience with the line of plastics I've been fishing for 20 years. It might just be worth your time to stop in if you are in the area.

Grandkids tried to take on PawPaw in a snow fight... quickly lost...they went small...I went big!

I'll second that. Never had a problem driving in the snow when I lived in Ohio. Down here its crazy because of the hills, curves and drop offs. It it snows down hear it's going to be on a wet road that'll become ice. Up there if there was a 3 foot embankment they put up a guardrail. Here you need a 50 foot drop off before they even consider it. A few years ago while at work it started snowing like crazy and I thought I'd be good because I have a 4X4. I didnt make it, had to retreat back to work and stayed there. They ended up shutting down the main roads and there were hundreds of vehicles left on the side of the road. Another lesson the "locals" had to teach a northern boy

Still snowing ? Actually it's awesome my grandkids have never seen more than flurries! We up to about 3" ? Electricity been out for hour & everyone laughed cause I've got natural gas... who's laughing now!!!!!

Dear Santer.......Please bring an early Spring!

There's a buncha random stuff on clearance on Walmart's website.. lotta strike king things. They have one color of 5" senkos for only $3.50! https://www.walmart.com/ip/Yamamoto-5-Senko-Green-Pumpkin-with-Large-Black-Flakes/17301137 Sexy Frog $3 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Strike-King-Lures-KVD-Sexy-Frog-Soft-Bait-Lure-2-1-2-Body-Length-5-8-oz-Pumpkin-Pearl-Belly-Per-1/31954923 Free shipping on orders over $40 or free ship-to-store. There's some clearance colors of KVD 1.5 & 2.5's also if you dig. I ordered like 7 bags of senkos haha. Already shipped.

Caught this fish and was wondering what you guys thought it would weight, be honest please. It was 20in and I'm around 5'10"-5'11" if that helps.

If your boat has open cleats, then there is a significant probability, especially if fishing with kids and others not tuned in to the potential, that you will have a rod broken by its getting under the open cleat end and simply picked up. Note the pictures. I have such a boat, and could not find retractable cleats that would work on my boat, so I searched for another solution. If you have some of the flexible polyurethane foam, about 1 inch thick, that comes as packing with electronics (I never throw it away-has so many uses), you have a solution. It is light, clean, doesn't flake or quickly degrade, and snaps on and off in a wink. Cut a piece of the foam out that can enclose the cleat and be about two inches longer than the cleat. Then cut out the center to allow it to be placed over the cleat. Leave them off until on the water, storing them in a handy place, then before fishing, cover the cleats. Piece of cake. Note the photos, (note the image, not the title, I screwed up on titles) and if you have questions, please ask. This simple, free, solution can save you a broken rod.l

My snow puppy isn't quite ready yet.

Yup - Best part about that whole deal is that Mr & Mrs Pawz Pack have a perfect excuse to go romp around in the snow like preschoolers . . . . . . . . A-Jay

Fishing a casting size Hula Popper on a steel rod with an ancient casting reel, black braid, and often a short steel leader with a snap swivel. If no leader, I still always had the snap swivel. For us kids, that was how we were taught back in the late 50's. The first "plug" I can remember using was a second, third or fourth hand red and white Bass-O-Reno (it was quite beat up, but still managed a few bass on it despite it being about 4" long). I also had a hand-me-down 4" flatfish, orange with black spots. They were all big lures because that was what you had to have with that old casting reel. Although there are some fond memories with it, I really have no desire to go back to that crappy old rod and reel. The first plug I bought for myself was a hula popper in leopard frog pattern, then one in black for dusk and after sunset (never could figure why a black lure worked better in the dark). I also had a jitterbug. I played around with pre-rigged plastic worms and black leaches... caught a few nice bass on them just wading out about waist deep in front of our cabin and fishing the weed beds parallel to the shore. I remember "borrowing" the bamboo flyrod that hung on the wall of my uncle's cabin when they weren't at the lake and fishing popper flies for rock bass, and sometimes threw a small (about 1½") flatfish. This fall I had to feed my memories and buy a couple of Hula Poppers... not quite what I remembered, and it remains to be seen if I will ever actually catch anything on them, but I did it just for the sake of nostalgia:

Oh the memories.

Well I suggest D Bombs, Sweet Beavers, Rage Bugs and BB Cricket's for punching.. Rage craws, Brush Hogs and Paca Craws for trailers or stand alone... Mr Twister twin or single tail grubs. Mike

In defense of purchasing a Lund, i could sell mine as it sits for just about what i paid for it 5 years ago taking a hit only on the electronics and talon.

Wow, you guys are totally wrong. Look at this pic. We just had a big rain the other day and these fellas were crawling around on my sidewalk. I admit, the Illinois Albino worms are pretty rare, but the Blue Flake worms are all over my yard. And our trees are chock full of Rage Bugs. d**n things are noisy at night...

Went fishing yesterday and woke up to snow this morning. We don't get this very often is Mississippi.

Why would anyone kill a bowfin? Bowfin are a native species to many of the places they live in and fight harder than a bass of equal size. I actually enjoy fishing for bowfin( my PB bowfin is over 13 pounds) and I have spots where you can catch +50 of them in a day, with several in the +6 pound class. Send them bowfin down here to South Florida if you don't like them, I will gladly fish for them. Well said @UPSmallie. Bowfin are a important part of the environment they live in and I also recommend releasing them. They are a prehistoric species that existed before bass did and will most likely exist longer than many species.

A quick video from Bourbon County Lake, nothing over 2 pounds but the numbers more than made up for it. The warming trend really got the bass fired up. The lake is down almost 10' with the winter draw down, we had to push the boat off the trailer to launch.

Looks like their developer has gotten wise and changed their game up. No hyperlinks tied to those areas of the page, and looking at the code for the page, I'm not finding any hints there. Tried plugging the link to the Day 1 (seaguar) link in and modifying it to Day2, Day 3, etc - but just getting 404 not found errors. Tells me they're manually uploading everything before it goes live (or creating the correct directory structure.)

Did you launch the boat and start it? The pee stream indicates the water pump is working but doesn’t indicate if water is going through the power head after the engine warms up and the thermostat has opened. Your exhaust should have water coming out when the thermostat has opened and the water pump is working. Tom

Some recent catches in the York River, and its creeks.

Don't get too drunk to fish. Don't pick up another man's baitcaster without asking. First cast is guaranteed to be a bird nest and probably put it out of commission for the day. Don't fish with one Southern Baptist, he'll drink all your beer. Take two of them. They won't drink around other Baptists. My dad's old joke. If you're in the expensive bassboat, please idle past other fishermen into the back of the cove and fish out. Don't fish in and come out full blast. This could apply to any boat, but I've seen it most with out-of-state bass fishermen. NC, I'm looking at you. Don't squeeze between a bank fisherman and the bank. I don't care if you're in a tourney and he's in a pontoon boat. Leave him alone. I fish with a guy whose gear is a rung below mine. But he has the nicer boat. He just started using a baitcaster after watching me a couple years. But, man, he has always caught a lot of fish and big ones. We've learned a lot from each other.

Whatever is on sale (preferably at a high discount).

There is No Way I'm falling for this one . . . . . A-Jay

I've been getting out somewhere about once a weekend. Interesting reading about the success some of you have been having with a hair jig. I haven't fished one yet- most of my late season success has been with a curly tailed grub slow rolled around deeper water with remaining weeds. I was catching them on suspending jerks, slow spinnerbaits and paddletail swimbaits but that really seemed to slow once water temps started to approach 50 degrees. Haven't been exactly killing it since but I've gotten a few on grubs and blade baits since the water has dropped into the 40s. Just enough action to keep me interested and getting out there. I also recently installed a Humminbird helix 7 SI on my kayak too so that's been fun to play around with and get used to. Been on a couple successful saltwater voyages recently- went out Tautog fishing thanksgiving morning- me and my two buddies limited out with 18 keepers before 11am- headed back in for the thanksgiving meal- fun day. Saturday we went out for a little tuna hunting... things were pretty slow but around 1:30pm one hit.. and it was a giant.. we had it in the boat about an hour and a half later. 96" and 550lbs. It was no 5lb smallmouth but I guess it put up a decent fight... Here's a bit of go pro video from the fight.. apologies in advance for the language.

Sounds like a good time to go full bore with the Ned Rig.

I'm taking advantage of the few last days we have here in the upper 40's. Not sure what water temp was today but I'd guess around 40. First cast at the first spot I pulled up on caught a 4lb pickerel. Thought it was going to be a toothy day. Caught 8 bass while anchored with a couple 4lbers mixed in. Continued to move along catching bass pretty frequently on cranks and swimbaits. Didn't get to hit too many spots before having to cut the day short. Ended up with 18 bass 4 pickerel. They were still hammering moving baits, didn't have to slow roll too much.

Yes Sir ? It's the split in the duck season though so I'm headed there this weekend or next week after I catch up on work. Can't wait... let it snow let it snow... however that song goes.

Two times this summer I had wasps build a nest in my 'pee hole'. <-- LOL. One time was found when I was on the water already and had to troll all the way back. Now I store it with a golf tee in the hole.

Thank you buddy. That means a lot to me. I'll be saying a prayer that you get that job as well. God Bless you sir! ?

Just yanking you freshwater guys' collective chain. It's been hard for me to adjust to the bass fishing frame of mind having spent 99% of my time fishing saltwater. Just this past summer I landed a ray that had a 4ft 'wingspan' on 30lb braid with a 25lb mono leader. Fought him through, around, and under dock pilings and then across an oyster bar. So, being told that I should be using 65lb braid to catch fish that weigh in the neighborhood of 3-5lbs (Not holding my breath to see something like an 8lb bass locally.) just blows my mind.

They built a new stack that follows the strict EPA laws and is much more efficient. I'm guessing that has something to do with it but there's only a small sample size of winters since they built it. We still managed to catch fish all last winter and there was at least 3 10 pound fish caught last year.

They're probably there, if that's what you mean. I mean every fish I ever cut open to see what was in the stomach had fish of some kind in it-no crawfish. And they didn't regurgitate anything but fish. I fished a local lake my entire life up until about 40 years old. We had a house on it. I never saw a crawfish there. I even told someone there weren't any there and he said he bet there were. Then I caught a bass with a claw coming out. I helped the poor fellow out. I swam in that water and trapped and seined minnows as a kid and never saw a crawfish. But as mentioned before, bass will bite a worm though you don't see them in the water. I suspect bass would bite the craw even if there were none in their waters.

Best of luck to you Michael. I hope it all works out for the best.

Change the Impeller, it is cheap and two guys can do it with two sockets and a screwdriver. Why risk it.

Could be clogged...mine did that on the water this fall and I ran some thick mono up it because that's all I had and it actually worked.

Good luck to you buddy. Your positivity and enthusiasm can alway be felt through our screens. That's a big plus in the work place, employers love that. Add in the faith you have and like @A-Jay "you've got this"! I too just apllied for a job that would be life changing if I got it. Maybe in a couple weeks we'll both be settling into a new job!

Guys and Gals, Just a reminder: With the influx of on line shopping and Christmas Shopping, thieves are on the prowl. Deliveries left on your porch or front step are at the highest risk of the year. If you shop at shopping centers or malls, place ALL valuables in the trunk or out of sight and park in highly lit areas. Vehicle prowls are at the highest numbers from now through Christmas. Remind your wives, gentleman to NEVER EVER leave their purse unattended, even for one second or when a foot away. Check your bank statements for debit and on line purchases often. If you travel, alert your bank or credit union of your destination and the period you will be gone. Be aware of your surroundings when shopping and travelling. The best defense is, " don't be there." Only carry those charge cards or debit card you will actually be using. Leave the rest at home in the safe. Have a safe and crime free holiday season. A retired cop.

The best of luck to you Pal! I sincerely hope you get the job and build a long lasting career. Mike

Good luck, make them recognize that you're an enthusiast and willing to help customers and even teach them a thing or two. Any 18 year old kid can be trained to swipe a UPC scanner on an item and swipe a credit card, but building trust and relationships with customers is what keeps bringing them back in the door, and that's what you want to convey.

Good find! Gamakatsu 6pk EWG 2/0 worm hooks are $2.97 too! perfect combo!

Don't get me wrong, I root for the little guy too. I spend my hard earned money at a small tackle shop 90% of the time. I worked for the largest company in the field I'm in and it was an unpleasant experience. The company I'm at now in the same field only started 9 or so years ago with less than 15 people. We've now grown to over 500 in 4-5 states. We the owner of my company and JM and so many others have done is what makes this country great and it's what this country was built on. One of my all time favorite TV series is "The men who built America". It's about the industrial revolution and famous names and how they got where they did. My point is JM started with nothing and look at what he has now. The companies he buys are selling voluntarily so what's wrong with that? Does he need more money? Of course not but what he's doing with all this money isn't all that bad either. Some could call him a modern day Teddy Rosevelt. Again I support small businesses the majority of the time. I also tip my hat and admire JM and so many others who started out as a small business and build it from the ground up. Who wouldn't?

If you dont use leaders filling the spool completely with braid will save the most line/money. As line gets used back with cheap mono.

I WISH I just fell in love with one particular rod lineup or company.. but there's just too many great products out there these days. Just too fun to dabble in budget sticks, midrage sticks, expensive sticks.. I have a mix of stuff myself and I like playing around with different brands. I find myself selling rods in the off season that I didn't love or didn't use very much.. then taking the $$ and grabbing stuff from all the off season sales or splurging on something I've had my eye on. Rinse and repeat every year. I started bass fishing back when I was 15 (37 now) and the rods & reels really sucked. The gear nowadays is SO much better that I find myself getting giddy over how much of a joy it is to use the latest and greatest gear.

That sounds awesome...I have to say, every time I find myself wondering if I need to get a couple Jackhammers, I just think about how many Siebert Fogys I could get for the same price...

My swimbait rods are 7'10", 7'11" and 8' long, finesse spinning rods 6'10", deep diving crank bait rods 7' & 7'5". My casting jig & worm rods are 6'10" because I prefer that length. Rods should fit your needs, not anyone else's. Tom

A couple things I will tell you from fishing in the $200 combo range. Don’t be afraid to buy used gear, some of the best deals can be found used.

I would add: Don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff.

I'm undergoing a similar search....wife wants 4 seasons....I hate winter. Taxes is a big consideration for me that you didn't mention. We drew circles on maps and made some weekend trips....one visit to Eastern TN and we were both sold. Still a few years off, but I don't think we'll change our minds.