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One of the coldest days I have ever fished! Wind was blowing 20 and gusting to at least 40 at times, air temps in the 30s. New PB for the year @7.3lbs, she was only 21.25" long, super chunky fish. Catching a big fish on a big bait is a heck of a time! Hoping to find a couple half her size tomorrow.

After several setbacks over the course of a couple years I finally got to pull the trigger and upgrade boats! Originally the plan was a brand new boat this spring, but kind of counted my chickens before they hatched and didn't get the job that would have allowed me the extra income to get one. I've been searching for a couple months now and didn't find anything I liked or wanted in my price range. I found a Tracker in Kalamazoo at KVD's brother's store. The price was towards the top of my budget, it didn't have any graphs, and no cover, so there would only be money left over for a cover. So I debated for a week and as a Hail Mary I got on CL one last time and expanded my search radius a little further and said "if I don't find anything it's meant to be I get the Tracker". So I hit search scroll through and find the one! A nice G3 Eagle 175, 50 hp Yamaha, Helix 5 DI at the bow, and a Helix 7 SI G2N. The boat is in excellent condition with only a minor 3" tear in the seat. The price was below budget which is always nice, but it was in Indiana. I was able to talk him down $500 and he agreed to drive to the state line. I talked to my brother and he agreed to pick it up since he isn't too far away from the state line. He met the guy, checked the boat and outboard out (thankfully he works at a marina part time so I trust him) all was good. After waiting forever today I hear from him and he's able to meet up with me. It was getting dark so I left it covered for the night, I'll post more pics Sunday. Now begins the long 5 month wait before I can even get it in the water. Oh well, time will go by fast.

Making me proud with a 4 pounder... Plus netting my dad's fish (that definitely didn't need a net ?)

I think I left her tied up to a dock next to a bass boat with a 250 Verado for too long this spring

Defending Liberty & Freedom Veterans Day Honoring All Who Served A-Jay

Show me an adult male without some pain, and I will show you someone who has not lived.

A DNA test might reveal it was one of those good for nothing Tohatsus. ?

One can never be too careful can they ? A-Jay

It's a boy!!!! My Mercury just gave birth to a 6hp baby boy. Mom and child are both doing well and are anxious to get back out on the water

Thank you all for your sacrifices and service.

Veterans Day 2018 is Sunday 11 Nov., take a minute to salute the Flag and remember those who served our country. Did you know Veterans Day was established for WW1 or the Great War veterans and it took 100 years to biuld a Memorial at Wahington DC to honor those veterans. They are long gone, like so many who gave thier lives, please don't forget any of them. Tom

Earlier this summer, myself, my dad, @cadman his wife, and a couple other volunteers taught kids how to cast fishing rods at a Youth Day geared towards introducing kids to the outdoors.

Mid 30s air temp but water still at 58. Caught two, one with @Bluebasser86 s bladed jig

Caught a bunch of fish in the morning, went and tried to freeze to death in a tree in the afternoon. No deer, but watched a bunch of wood ducks fly into my pond 30 yards away, that was pretty cool.

A-Jay

Tough conditions down the cape today for sure. Got a handful of small keepers and one good bite in the afternoon. Hit a spinnerbait up fairly shallow. Water temps were 52-54.5, wind picked up very stiff out of the west mid morning and got worse as the afternoon went on. Just shy of 4.5 lbs at only 18.5”. Healthy fish for sure. there was a tournament pulling out the same time as me. Looked like a tough day for most guys but one team had 3 largemouth over 5lbs including a 7.6 - Pretty impressive haul of largemouth for this time of year no doubt. The guy caught them so deep that he had to fizz them to release em. Would love to know where and what he was doing, keeps me coming back trying to figure it out.

Tonight begins our annual tradition of all night phone chats with Army buddies. We started this 20+ years ago and even though we shed the same tears and share the same laughter, we enjoy it more and more as each year passes. I wish everyone a quiet and safe Veterans Day. 23 years ago, a member of our unit was killed in a terrorist attack, Central Region, Middle East. Sergeant First Class David Warrell, Special Forces Weapons Sergeant from Fayetteville, North Carolina, is remembered on the wall at the Special Operations Memorial, MacDill AFB. You are not forgotten brother.

Paid cash for a 16ft tin boat, new decking, 24v trolling motor, new impeller in outboard, and I wear them out! Im a river rat for sure, but can go anywhere I want, pond, lake, or river, and fish the occasional tourney In it for about 3k so far, no regrets. I could afford payments on a big fancy fiberglass boat, but I do just fine with my tin one. To each his own.

Having a boat is not bad. Having boat payments (or repair bills) that strain your finances is. My policy is: Save money, pay cash, don't go into debt for a hobby. Probably why I'll always fish out of slow, small tin boats...but so be it. I do alright.

My latest caught a couple this size, stopped at a small Creek on my way home from graveyard shift, picked these up with a zoom fluke

Accuracy, eh? You know how many time when I aimed to a log, end up my lure got hang up onto that log right where I aimed it lol. I more of a distance guy, I mostly bank fishing so distance help me to cover water, but also depends on location and type of lures. In smaller pond where fish roaming everywhere especially shallow water, most of the bass I caught was within 5-40 feet. In Canyon Lake about 300 acres sometime you can't find any fish with in 50'. Type of lure, I will cast as far as I can with fast moving lure like chatterbait and Fluke but Senko I don't care much. With all that said, you did prettygood for 30 yds with MH 6'6" rod since that rod is not optimum for distance.

Both directly under the boat on a Jig-n-Craw? The distance is easy, accuracy not so much!

Your post and picture got me thinking....do we (sportsman) have screws loose? Thinks about it, we sit in trees to the extent of almost certain death from freezing to death HOPING a deer walks by. Then in the summer we sit in a boat on the middle of the lake and slowly cook ourselves HOPING a fish that we're going to let go bites.

Just imagining a lake with 300' of water is insane to me. A lot of our lakes don't have 30' of water

I'll probably keep at it for a bit Snowed 3" Thursday while I was out, put 47 fish in the boat.

Siebert order came in:

Not sure but I heard the Honda down the road was sniffing around. ?

Doesn't that web address say Sam Rayburn on it? That is a pretty big pond...

This is our second year doing this, and my wife and I enjoyed it tremendously. It just gives us a great feeling to teach young children how to cast a fishing rod. Many kids never even held a rod in their hands. After maybe a dozen practice casts, the kids usually figure it out and they start casting really well. I urge anyone that fishes to get involved and teach kids how to cast and catch fish. My wife and I will do this again next year.

Because bass fishing is all about accuracy, I've never cared about how far I can cast.....ever.

SEMPER FI

I've had to take a seat this year because of back pain . I still stand when its a must like pitching or casting at under water targets . I crushed a heel 40 years ago and have significant arthritis in that foot and ankle . I started wearing an orthotic brace this past year . It had gotten so bad that once I got off my feet after fishing I would have an extremely painful time trying to walk . The brace has worked wonders . I have arthritis in my right wrist and its starting to effect me . I have battled tendonitis on and off for years . I'm going to fish until I can no longer drive , thats a fact .

Broke my skunk streak tonight. With three dinks and this one. Good solid fight the hole way. Inhaled a vile bug with some liquid Mayhem from a mtb rubbed on it. Honestly I thought it was gonna be a little heavier.

I had cataract surgery earlier this year and now, I can see sounds! BTW, should this be in "Everything Else?"

Where it's stored makes a huge difference, in a garage, under a shelter, or outdoors. Even outdoors, is it where the sun will shine on it or shaded. If outdoors and especially in the morning sun, they really need to be fogged. On a cool/cold morning, after the sun has been on it for about a 1/2 hour or so, open the cowl and it will look like someone sprayed it with a water hose from such a heavy condensation. I've seen numbers of two stroke motors ruined over the years where the condensation rusted the cranks and sleeves. If you are one the disconnects the fuel line and let it run out of gas that makes it even worse because that also pulls the residual fuel and oil out of the crankcase so there is little to no oil film left in the crankcase. Even on four stroke, the sleeves and parts can rust. Also, if stored where it's exposed to freezing temps, the live wells and drain systems need all the water blown out of them or possibly some antifreeze poured in them. Two other things that are often destroyed people don't think about is the water pressure gauge and speed ohmmeter if you have them. The line needs to be disconnected from the backs of them and blown out, and the inputs to the meters. Water can freeze in them, creating enough pressure to destroy of make the very inaccurate. There is a bunch of other stuff that should be done to the boat and the trailer no mater where it's stored. There's plenty of info already written on those.

Yes. I can take a little pain much easier when fishing, instead of running saws, nailguns etc.

Yeah, I'm going to do it until I can't do it anymore. It's really no different from the other exercise I do. Kinda like having a killer case of "bass thumb". When you feel it you smile a little inside.

Sort of like the scene in the original Jaws motion picture: the two guys comparing injuries! All of us leading active lives and old enough will have our collection of these, I think, for sure. The greatest palliative? Without a single doubt in my mind, it would be to buy a light barbell set, do a simple one single set of around a 10 to 12 reps of around a dozen exercises . . . pretty much without putting the bar down. No, not to exhaustion on any of the lifts, just to work the muscles lightly, work on range of motion, blood flow, increase the heart rate. 3X a week, what, 5 or 10 minutes each time? To this, just long walks work great, don't beat the legs up like jogging. This is a common MMA training circuit. Randy Couture used to follow it as do many others. You can find what I am talking about on YouTube. You don't need to go heavy, this is an example of where "just going through the motions" is actually very beneficial. Brad

I did all of that and it did help some. I found a couple of guy who say that it is not a foot problem but a leg problem. Check out these this video. @Bluebasser86 Here is another. http://sock-doc.com/plantar-fasciitis-treatment/

Give me that "different" feeling of being 48. You can have my "64" feeling. It's obvious that most of us have some physical issue(s), but as my wife says "you do what you want to do". It's easier to hurt while fishing than (in my case) hurt while painting.

Not me current temp @9:15pm is 55°, planning on a trip Tuesday after work to a local deep Clearwater pond!! My condolences to you folks who have to wait till spring 2019...

Snow here for the last two days and and more expected everyday until mid week. I'm done fishing but it appears the dog sled season may be starting early this year. So I've got that going for me . . You're right, it's not the same. But it's something. Guess I'll try to remember the good times. A-Jay

When fishing deep water (20-30') structure ya need long cast to stay in contact with the bottom.

First snow of the season last night. It snowed before I could get the last of the leaves up. I was stuck at work. Made the drive home real fun with no salt on the roads. DOT was fooled by our local forecast which predicted rain only. Wind advisory today and tomorrow. Fun times in the northern capital region of NY.

We got our first taste of snow in the form of flurries today so even if I hadn't called it a season a month ago, I would now. So long 2018 fishing season and good riddance. You were full of rain and wind and high, muddy water and you won't be missed by me. Hope 2019 is better.

Your in New Jersey, resist the urge. Plenty of time before the big frog bite is on.

Even if it were New Tires Lunch Plates, I'm not ordering one...lol! ?

Color for November, Macoupin Craw. Thanks @Siebert Outdoors.