Leaderboard

Took my cousin Dax bank fishing today. He caught more fish than I did, using a Texas rigged worm. The best part was watching him set the hook like a pro!

Got out on the river from about 8:30-noon this morning. The air was really cold, my face nearly froze off so I drove slowly from spot to spot. Only got one largemouth but he made the trip worth it! Water temp was 47-49, current was quite swift. I took the boat home and got word that Christmas festivities were slightly delayed so I bank fished on the way to mom's house and got two bluegill. Merry Christmas!

Got out for a couple hours yesterday evening and caught a few COLD river bass. Water temps are in the upper 30s but it's not that hard to catch them when you know where they live and are willing to go sllllowwwww. They were hitting the bait when it had been stationary for 5-10 seconds. One on a finesse football jig and 4 on a tiny little tube. I think this makes 4 years in a row now that I've bank fished that river on Christmas day and caught bass, somewhat of a tradition now!

Weather has been trash lately. Plus I work retail and during crazy season it’s been keeping me from doing what I love. But it I did get on my inlaws’ farm pond for an hour or so today for some Christmas Eve bass. I hope everyone has Merry Christmas!

Final trip of the year on Christmas Day. An inch of snow the day before, then 20 degrees Monday with 15+ mph North winds. Was curious to see if I could catch one under those conditions. Wound up with 6 Wind died overnight and our high today was 11 deg., so everything locked up on us.

I fish from a smaller boat and am often sitting rather than standing, so rods in the 6' to 6'-6" range feel the most comfortable. As for specialty rods, I do more skipping than long range bombing of lures, so most of those rods are shorter, not longer. A rod that I can keep pointed straight down as opposed to some kind of angle yields longer & more accurate skips for me. I even have a heavy 5-6" spinning rod that I put 20 lb braid on that I use as a small frog rod (frogs that are really too light to use on casting gear). The heavy rod & braid work well in the not-overly-thick weeds that show up in our lake in the summer and and the shortness of the rod allows me to fire the small frogs way back under docks on sunny, summer days.

Hand controlled bow mount

I don't know that I would remove the center seat without adding some kind of bracing or maybe a floor to replace the structural support that seat gives. As far as controlling the boat in the wind, you might consider using an anchor. Face the boat into the wind, and drop the anchor off the bow. They are a pain to keep lifting and dropping, but if you use a winch, it might be an inexpensive option. Oars are another option to help position the boat to use in addition to the trolling motor. Oars and anchors were how boats were controlled before trolling motors were used. Certainly not as easy, but a cheap way to get the job done

I had the same problem when I fished out of a 12' aluminum flat boat. I would use a drift sock to control my speed when going with the wind. If I had a cross wind, it tended to push the bow around. The one thing I did, that helped was I put more weight up front. I extended the cables on my trolling motor and put my battery as close to the bow as possible. I would also put most of my tackle, ice chest and anchor up front. This helped keep more of the bow in the water, which made it blow around less. Being a light hull, there is only so much you can do, but moving more weight up front will help.

There's a lot of similarities between bass fishing & deer hunting! Both can be harvested in one of three ways 1. Find their homes; usually located on prime structure & in prime cover, both are setup on structure & in cover that allows them to see all directions at once. Maybe not 360 but it'll be as close as they feel comfortable. 2. Find their feeding areas; multiple areas that have sufficient food to last the present season. 3. Find the trails to & from those areas; both travel structure in a way that allows them to see while remaining unseen. I probably pay less attention to water temperatures than most anglers, I promise ya pre-spawn will start long before your thermometer says so!

I did that to two of my Carbonlites. Basically took off three inches of the open split grip away. Both rods are now 6'3" with short butt ends that are perfect for kayak fishing. However...I need a better way of cleaning out the cut section inside the cap. Probably could have ordered new butt caps at mudhole, but wanted to keep the look.

Good analogy but you forgot one Adam. Deer will also move when they are in rut, when its time to breed. Bass will do the same.

I recommend this type of job. I was not a lineman but a cable splicer. A lineman works on overhead lines, a cablesplicer work underground lines. I was there for 41 years, only job I ever had. Starting pay is good and they have great benefits. I was able to keep all my medical insurance, dental vision, when I retired. I also had 5 weeks vacation when I had 25 years. Along with my retirement, Social security (which you may never see) and my 401k I make it along fairly well. You can nearly make as much as you want if you don't mind working overtime. I knew a lineman that worked OT all the time, made about $140,000 a year. You will never get rich but you can make a good living.

Buy tungsten and feel your heart in your stomache when youve flung your entire pack into the lake!

Sorry to hear about all of your problems. If it were me I use the portable until I could get at least the 3x10. 6 amps will charge your batteries but after a hard day's use it will take a very long time.

Dooood...you're makin' me choke on my Scotch...knock it the hell off... ...if you wanna wake up screaming in the middle of the night...think about tying that stuff (Cranks, Jerkbaits, topwater...anything with a t-t-t-treble hook on it...) into a Perfection Loop. Stephen King can't touch it... PS: the secret is to use a Mustad Fastach swivel through the knot....Just sayin'....

It’s actually turns out that I made out like a bandit today. I recieved a total of $220 worth of gift cards and cash. Looks like I’ll bee looking for a nice set of bibs and jacket.

I got a $50 BPS card for christmas, and I'm going to buy 3 Evergreen Jackhammer chatterbaits because I could never pay the price for them out of pocket, it would hurt too much lol.

Restock my roboworms and dropshot hooks. Replenish my ball head jigs and some GY grubs and that puts me at about 50.

Fishdrop Shisamo. 18bb reel Greased from the spit of Zeus and lubed with the tears of a unicorn.

Holy smokes... Deak went nuts with the loot and when I opened it and saw inside I felt like I should have done one of those unboxing videos! Awesome job with so many cool things I can't wait to try. Thank you and I hope all of you have a Merry Christmas!!

First baitcaster. Booyah! Can't wait for spring. Three months to go if we're lucky.

I’m turning 65 in 2 months. Will continue Club tournaments until I retire when I’ll have time for PRE-fishing and practice. I hope to fish team events with my son, but he’s a CPA so spring and fall are his busy times.

I fished tournaments for 2 years in the 80s and haven't since. I wouldn't mind fishing a few a year now as a co-angler . Strangely enough ,as a lifelong fisherman in my area, I have lost touch with friends and acquaintances that tournament fish. Just doesn't seem to be as big around here as it once was.

Christmas present from mom and dad. Custom hand carved filet knife and sheath. My mothers comment was "I bought it for you because I know how much you like cleaning fish" It's really too nice to even use.

Put the boat up for what is likely the end of the 2017 fishing season. This is the little corner of the boat where all the cut off baits that never made it back into their boxes ended piled up. A nice eclectic mix. Doesn't every boat end up having such a nook or cranny of similar leftover baits? LOL

I fully appreciate the benefits of longer rods and their necessity in certain apps but personally prefer rods under 6'6". Lightness, accuracy, and maneuverability in tight places are key to me.

Thought I'd start this for anyone wanting to follow along. I'm not at all a professional repairman, not even very good at it, but I'm going to attempt to fix up the boat and trailer I recently stumbled across. I only gave $300 for it and all appears to be in pretty good shape, just needs a little TLC and it could be something pretty nice for the little lakes I often fish. This is what I'm starting with. Could be used as is, so I don't think it's in that poor of condition, but I want to make it a bit nicer and have something that will last a long time hopefully. It's a 16' MonArk semi-V johnboat. It has obviously been sitting for quite some time and had a ton of leaves and debris in the bottom, that's all been removed as well as all the old foam and anything not welded to the boat to make things easier and so I don't damage anything that might be salvageable. It's a nice wide boat and pretty deep so I'll be able to take my boys out in it once it's fixed up. Not the 14' it was listed as being. I've removed the boat from the trailer and hosed the interior of it out to get all the debris out and let it dry really well before I start working on it. The trailer clearly has a lot of surface rust and the old paint looks bad so I'm planning on grinding the surface layer to remove it all. Going to be a lot of work, but I plan to break it down into hour or two blocks of grinding to make it more tolerable. I tried to start it yesterday but my grinder lasted about 5 minutes before it quit working. With a new one in hand, I got about an hours worth of work in on it this morning. I decided I wasn't going to deal with switching my hitch every time I wanted to use it, so the 1 7/8" coupler had to go. I got both sides and top of the tongue cleaned off and called it a morning. Probably won't get much of a chance to work on it the next few days at least with Christmas, but hopefully a couple mornings next week.

I bought the H2O bibs and jacket at Academy. Caught em on sale a year or so back and actually got both pieces for $100. I dunno how it compares to the higher dollar stuff but it’s nicest raincoat I’ve owned. I got a $100 bill burning a hole in my pocket after Christmas and not sure what I’m going to do either.

Glad you like them. Hope they produce some monster fish, whether they are fiction or non-fiction i'm not one to judge. Would like to give a big shout out and thank you to Alan Reed. Put together a heck of a present and is much appreciated! I honestly have never broke into the rage baits, and after buying some for my secret santa i had the itch to get some! So worked out great. I've heard nothing but good about keitech swimbaits, so im extremely excited to try them out. You're the man! P.S. I've had this for a solid week just opted to wait til christmas to open!

That would have been really going out on a limb. You think Golden State has a chance in the NBA?

Braid line, terminal tackle, lures I either want more of or want to try for the first time. Or maybe I scour the sites looking for closeout rods and reels. Or I sock it away and add to it later to get the matching spare wheel/tire for my Jeep.

The ONLY thing I'll EVER even consider passing through the "Devil's Palomar Loop" is a single hook; maybe a jig or a spinnerbait but that's about it. Cranks, Jerkbaits, topwater - just about anything with trebles turns into a tangled jack wagon about half way into it - so that's pretty much out for me too. A-Jay

Y'all need to close the north door... Y'all letting that stuff out!!!!

Catt I like the way you think especially the chocolate milk and a big ole honey bun.

Each length rod would serve their own purpose and work best in some situations but not others. I'd rather have more rods than reels so I can pick the rod that work best. I don't limit the rod length that suit me but rather on what type of fishing I would mainly do with said rod. My all purpose rods would be 6'10 but I use 6' all the way to 7'9 depend on what type of techniques.

I have rods from 6' 2" to 7' 11" that are main bass rods. I prefer the longer rods but the shorter ones serve a purpose too.

Spool of Tatsu Mike

From the wife for Xmas!

Very nice fish - congrats!

I was looking at those too I like the bagley also,im still waiting on the order from adam's customs to get here.

I'm not 100% on who it was but thank you. You definitely did your research. These are all the baits that have consumed my fishing this season.

On the road to Cabela's yesterday. Yup, that's right, this is the first 5 miles on the best route to my nearest Cabela's in Sidney, Nebraska.

I will be 42 when tournament season rolls around in 2018. I have had enough. For 10+ years I have fished just about every open team tournament that has been on my home lake. And quite a few on other area lakes as well. Have won a lot, cashed a lot more. I have nothing to prove, and I just don't enjoy the grind of it anymore. I have given up running team opens, and evening tournaments. Someone else's turn. From now on, I will only be running my "single angler" opens. These are cheap, low stress, and low turnout. Usually it's an 8-12 boat field with my close friends and guys I know/trust well. Most of whom are all great anglers so the comp. level is still challenging. It's kinda like club fishing. I hold one or two a month, bouncing between Silver and Conesus, and I hold them on weekdays, or on weekends later in the season when boat traffic is gone. I will pick and choose my spots for any and all future team opens I fish from now on. And I will only do so as the non-boater. My boat is getting long in the tooth, and I just don't enjoy having to be there if I don't want to any more.

Absolutely not.

I gave up tournament fishing at about 41. I was very successful bit after a few years got bored with it. I missed having the time to fish for other species, and do things like wading small streams for Smallmouth, IMHO the most enjoyable form of bass fishing. Might get back into it when I retire.

Live Target

I bought the boat and trailer for $550.00 today. I knew I wanted it when I first saw it. It is an old Landau jon boat. The previous owners took good care of it. It is made of heavy duty aluminum-solid boat. It will do just fine with a 9.9 Mercury. It came with a nice Lowrance Fish Finder. I am excited!

Ah to be young and healthy. I have a hard time standing long enough to pee... Don’t get me started about how long THAT takes these days.