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Temps moderated a little here in central IN since Thanksgiving. Just for fun I went back to my warm weather tactics by throwing a weightless Senko. Just fished it deeper and slower. Had real good results with three over 2 lb. and this big one. Sorry about the bad lighting.

Caught a mixed bag , including a humpback smallmouth and a crappie with a lamprey on it. We caught largemouth smallmouth spotted bass bluegill white bass and black crappie , all in the middle of the day

It’s been awful slow here, but I finally, FINALLY figured out these cold water bass. On Wednesday I caught the fella pictured here and I was absolutely over the moon. I’ve only been bass fishing for a few months, so to me any fish above two pounds is something to write home about. I couldn’t wait to catch a few more. On Thursday, family obligations and a cold snap both meant I couldn’t hit the water. But Friday I went back out to the lake, VERY excited...aaaaand the lake was frozen over. Heck and darn.

Is something hiding in this picture? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In many ways we make our own " luck". Knowledge, practice, preparation, time on the water, tends to make us more " lucky". But how about the pure luck that some people just seem to have. I've known two people that are just down right lucky when it comes to fishing ( I'm not one of them). The first was a fishing buddy of mine from 30+ years ago. Back then we were heavy into fly fishing for trout. However my buddy had three small children so he didn't have a chance to go nearly as often as I did. On one of the times we did get out together we hit a pond in early spring, trolling flies. It was cold, windy, and we barely managed to keep our canoe under control. Suddenly his fly rod bends over, drag screaming. The wind is pushing us towards shore, I'm paddling like crazy, trying to keep us off the rocks, he's doing everything he can to get the fish in. Finally after I don't know how long, he gets the fish along side the canoe. It's massive. Our trout net wasn't big enough to get the fish in, but on the third try we get the net under the fish and " scoop" it in. Turn out it's a 5+ lb. SM. Didn't even know this pond had smallies in it. Considering the above conditions and the fact he was using a three lb. test tippet on his leader, that was pretty lucky. I'd have thought it was a fluke except a couple of weeks later he took his kids out fishing in a trout pond. All four of them in his canoe, using worms and bobbers. He's helping his kids when one of them says" dad, where's your pole?" Turns out a fish hit, pulled his rod out of the canoe. He looks over, see's his rod in the water, the handle of his reel wedged between the side of the canoe and the anchor line. He gets it in and finds he caught a 5+lb rainbow trout. Up here catching a 5+ lb. anything is rare, two in a couple of weeks, just plain lucky. The second lucky person I know is my wife. She has hand issues, can only use a Zebco and weightless plastics, and can only fish for a few minutes at a time. But she has caught more big ( 4+lb.) bass, doing the oddest things than anyone I know. She'll hook a large bass and say " I wasn't even trying to cast there ( her casting is some what erratic, to say the least). The one we laugh about the most is once when she cast towards shore. Her senko went over a tree branch, down thru a bush, and ended up in the water, inches from shore. She tugged and tugged, but couldn't get it loose. I moved in to try to get her untangled and saw a really nice LM swimming away. I told her " if you hadn't got tangled up we might have caught that one". Turns out she did. As I got her line free it started pulling. Hand over hand I bring in a 4+ LM. How her 8lb test line didn't let go from rubbing on the tree branch, I'll never know. Conversely she has the worst luck when it comes to our pets and their occasional " accidents". I call her a P magnet. If any of our pets poop, pee, or puke on the floor, she'll find it, usually in her bare feet. Most of the time I'll just hear her say "son of a ……." then head to the bathroom to wash her feet. However once I heard her Screech, and call for help. Turns out she speared a cat poop on her toe nail and couldn't get it off. I guess it didn't help when I just started laughing. Another time she was in the shower. I heard her Screech and thought she'd fallen. I come running in only to see her standing there, swearing a blue streak. Turns out when she was in the shower one of our cats peed on her towel, and she didn't realize it until she was trying to dry her face off. I got in trouble for laughing at that one too. So, do you know anybody who is just naturally " lucky" or maybe "unlucky"?

Was planning to fish the home lake today after 1. Forecast was rain. Radar seemed to confirm it , and showed some lightning strikes in it. Waited awhile and it still looked immenent , so I decided to fish the cypress pond down the road so I could leave quickly if needed. First cast got a dink, 2nd cast, one that was about 2 inches longer. Got these off a drain. Caught 5 more 1-2 pound fish, all out of the cypresses. Caught all the fish on 5 inch yum dingers in alabama bug and pumpkin chartruese tail. Nice little back up spot. These fish are broader in the tail half of the fish than the head half. Kind of backwards compared to most of the fish I normally catch. As I write this, is still hasnt rained yet...

Recently getting together with my son in laws on Thanksgiving, I heard a pretty good razzing about my fishing line. They have switched to braid/ leader setups for everything. Me, I'm stuck in the dark ages with mono. I like it that way. I like having one knot tied directly to hook or lure. Maybe I'm.sticking my neck out here, but I think many good fish have been lost on a braid/ leader combo from knot failure. I also like the way mono lines handle and cast. The last thing I want to fool with is constant line issues. I want to be casting, not messing with my line. Over the years, the few fish I've lost have been strictly my fault. Not the fault of any mono line. And lastly, I personally think the sensitivity issue is over rated on flouro, braid lines, etc. Good jig and plastics fisherman develop a sense of what's going on with their baits, and it's much more than simply rod, reel, and line. This comes with practice and experience and takes time to learn, regardless of what line your using. I'm not trying to start another line debate here- we've had plenty of those. Do you like, and/or prefer mono lines? They still work good for me

I wish I could put it in this reservoir. Not really. Those fish were caught in the Quabbin Reservoir. If it were open to them, every bass boat in the state would be fishing it. As a senior, I can rent one of these 15 foot aluminum boats with a nine hp Honda for 23 dollars per day. That includes the fuel, life preservers if you don't bring your own. Can fish 'em from sunrise to a half hour before sunset. It also includes parking. It's a two hour drive for me, but I'll fish it once a week. Oh, that special is only good for weekdays, not weekends.

I believe that luck, karma, anomaly and Devine intervention all fall into the same category. You either believe or don't believe......Followed closely by ***** happens. I believe that good and bad luck is usually the derivative of a decision we made somewhere down the line. That said, I think we all have that friend we don't want to be standing next to in a thunder storm and the guy we want to be with in Vegas

Berkley Big Game Mean Green ?

Are we talking only Black Friday, correct? Lol Just like @Bluebasser86I wasn't gonna buy anything, since I wasnt sure what I need and didn't have much time to do some shopping. Woke up early on Friday, prepared to go to work browsed thru some site while having coffee end up at Tackle warehouse and remembered I need Mend-it. With that little time, end up spending $60.58 to save shipping for a bottle of Mend-it?.

I'd go straight fluoro. The knot is just another point of failure. I was crankbait fishing just a few weeks ago gear I borrowed from a buddy, and he used a leader. A few casts later, I did the 400 yard cast with his brand new crankbait. Yup, the knot failed. He acknowledged it was his fault, because he tied the knot. But it's just another reason (among many) that I never use leaders.

Past few seasons I've been using a small piece of white cloth tape and a decent ball point pen. I write the line size & type - F & M to indicate fluorocarbon or mono. (A letter is not needed for braid) On casting reels I place it on the bottom of the reel foot (seat). On spinning reels I put it on the inside of the spool cup. The locations on both reels remain dry for the most part. If there is ever a question as to what's on what reel, it's only a matter of taking the reel off and looking: or in the case of the spinner - check inside the spool. Taking the reel off or looking under the spinning reel spool takes a few seconds but the answer is always there. And there's plenty to keep track of . . . A-Jay

Louisiana craw rebel wee craw. The 1/5 ounce one

I use spot lock to hold the boat in position and marker buoys to mark the edge of the structure and give me a reference point for where to cast.

You tell when it's winter cold weather and cabin fever, the luck thread pops up! How about superstition, it goes along with luck. Tom

It's been my experience that when I do well it's because of my knowledge and ability to apply it. I've also noticed that when my buddies outfish me it's pure luck. LOL

Interesting stories...I definitely think some people have a greater amount of Gods grace than others.....how or why is beyond me. I can recal one instance when I rigged up a Texas rigged Zoom Dead Ringer and walked down the shoreline to fish a productive 30 ft long flat in the late afternoon. I was fishing for at least an hour with zero fish, so I set the rod down and picked up another setup with a different lure. My 14 year old cousin rides his bike down the hill towards the shoreline on his way home from a friends house; he parks his bike at the edge of the road and asks if he can fish with me. I said sure and he picked up the same Texas rigged setup I was using earlier and made one cast and caught a 5lb Largemouth.....he releases the fish and then makes a second cast to the same area and catches a 4lb Largemouth. He made a few more casts and after about five minutes he gets back on his bicycle and rides home : ) He wasn't bragging and he wasn't full of himself, he just had to get home for lunch or to use the bathroom. True honest to God story, and we talk about it to this day and that was 8 or 9 years ago. Timing, chance, luck or Gods grace...I really don't know how to explain it, but this is one of my best and more profound fishing memories over the last 20 years.

Never, Ever will I use a leader for anything. Mike

I have a close friend & lifetime fishing buddy (lucky Dave) that has always said "he would rather be lucky than good." Over the years his statement has borne fruit many times. Let me start out by making the statement over our fishing lifetimes I & most of my buddies have been competitive about who has the biggest fish of each species we chase after. I have always prided myself as being a student of the game. I watch & learn from others & on my own. I study other peoples success, read as much as I can, practice and prepare so when the moment comes I'll be as ready as possible. I'm always checking my knots, respooling fresh line, sharpening hooks, replacing hooks & hardware as needed. I'm always looking for that one special bait or that special technique that will give me an edge over my fishing buddies. We grew up living the mantra "in your face" with each other. That enough background the stage has been set. Lucky Dave just shows up. Smallmouth fishing. Lucky Dave almost always catches fewer fish but learned early on to catch the biggest. He has the record in my boat for catching the biggest smallie of the day as his first fish. During one lucky week in May prespawn fishing for smallies his first fish of the day for two consecutive days went 6 lbs-12 ounces. He has caught three 6-12's as the first fish of the day for him. His personal pb is 6-12. He had the biggest smallie overall for several years running. Salmon fishing. We used to fish the Niagara river in the fall during the spawning run. Lucky Dave had the biggest male overall (27-28 lbs with a well developed kype) and either the biggest female or second biggest female (32-33 lbs). Musky fishing. Lucky Dave caught the first musky & had the pb lead for a few years running until the rest of us caught up & exceeded his efforts. Pike fishing. This is where lucky Dave really excelled. Dave excelled as a spoon fisherman for pike. He mastered the retrieve that would get a following pike to eat. He was really good at it. He has the camp record for 8 pike over 20lbs caught in one day. His 25.5 lb pike caught that same day held the PB record for a few years. Later on he caught the 2nd largest pike caught by our group at 29lbs, a real trophy. Largemouth bass. Lucky Dave had the early lead with a 8lb bass for many years. Later on he improved to a healthy 8.5lbs. Lucky Dave also was the first to hook a DD bass. He hooked it on a wacky senko near the d**n on a large farm pond in Georgia. The big girl jumped clearing the water & both Dave & another friend saw how big she was. They both guessed her to be 12-13 lbs. Lucky Dave hooked her again on another trip at the d**n. She jumped twice before the hook pulled. The same two guys swore she had to be the same fish same size. Lake trout. Lucky Dave was the first to break the 30lb barrier & held the pb lead for several years before he was finally surpassed by two others.

Each spring around my area, some inexperienced or novice fisherman will catch a big bass. Usually random casting a spinnerbait or some hard bait. To me, this is luck. Once hot weather comes in, these fisherman catch very few bass, as they are harder to locate and fish for. I agree that we make our own luck to an extent, by being prepared, knowing what baits will work, and most importantly, learning about the location of the fish.

I fish a lot of tiny creeks and a good search bait for muddy water is a weedless inline spinner. Take an 1/8oz inline and snip the treble off. Using a tiny split ring, add a #1 EWG hook or something like that. Then take a litttle trout worm or other super thin plastic and rig it on the hook. This gives you a loud and flashy presentation that you can fish close up to cover and the flooded bank without many snags. The hook up ratio isnt great but it will let you know if there are fish in the creek and you can cover a lot of water with it. Now for “normal” conditions, my favorite “are there catchable fish in here?” lure is a GP or Black 3” stick bait, t-rigged on a 1/0 EWG hook. You can throw it anywhere and stand a good chance of getting it back and you can dead-stick it or work it like a tiny jerkbait. If I start getting hits I will switch it up but for reconnoitering a new creek I have found nothing better.

This is one of those things that happens between our ears. Of course there are some folks to which statistically more good things happen to than bad and vise versa. Think how astronomically unlikely it would be for everyone to have the same proportion of both, assuming one could even define or measure such a thing.

Done. Peanut butter gets em every time.

My 1960 Reynolds Pop-Pom tree, complete with color wheel....

Free shipping. I laugh every time I hear it on the tv or radio. Did anyone else see this years version of BattleBots? One of the bots was called "Free Shipping". It was a miniature fork lift, outfitted with a flame thrower.

With nearly everyone leaving B.A.S.S. we just might be able to qualify Tom

I almost made it without spending any money, but I couldn't pass up War Eagles for $2.99 apiece. Kept it reasonable and only spend $40 though.

I took my son fishing today and it was so nice out that I wore my Jitterbug T-shirt. We stopped at the gas station to get a drink and a snack and an older gentleman stopped me and wanted to talk fishing and how much just the picture of that lure on my shirt brought back so many fond memories for him. I told him it was one of the first lures I remember fishing too so it brings back a lot of good memories for me. So not only is it a cool looking shirt, but it was a nice conversation starter today

Not “baits” but tackle. Dyckett is running a weekend special, 2 Terex rods for $100. I got a 7-0 Heavy and a 6-8 Medium Heavy.

1/8 oz spinnerbait is what I use in really brown water.

Here are a couple of my worm rods.

Buoys are essential when fishing grass flat! After I catch one I'll throw a buoy & fish the area 360° in a widening circle. Bass will bunch up on grass flats but the sweet spot might as big as your living room. If I catch 3-4 I might drop a waypoint ?

Marker buoys are in no way obsolete as they are instant to deploy, they accurately mark the spot, and are a piece of cake to navigate back to. You instantly and accurately know exactly how far you are from it, unlike GPS. I also will place a way point, but use it only for finding the buoy in case I've drifted off it quite a ways (as on Lake St Clair, Sag Bay, other big waters when I am out in the middle of nowhere) or navigating back to it some other time. Spot lock works very well in holding the boat where you set it. I find the bright orange the easiest to see, all other colors don't work nearly as well. The H shaped ones, due to their shape, stop playing out line when the sinker hits bottom. I think the round ones are unbalanced to accomplish the same thing.

I spent $1000 on Tackle Warehouse's Black Friday sale. I replaced all of my lost lures from last season and bought new lures to try for next season, three new rods and one new reel. A solid $250 of savings, so I'm happy!

@Burke, From the 2019 SK catalog: Sexy Blue Back Herring and Sexy Lavender Shad do not have red eyes.

slonezp I use the "bungee thing" regularly. It is called a "Z-Launch and I love it for launching alone. It is much more beefed up than you would think. I do not sling shot my boat quite as radically as you see in their videos though. I am a little more gentle than that, but it works great for me.

Use an FG knot for the leader. If that fails use mono.

After the cast try stopping the line with your index finger as the lure lands. Then always close the bail by hand. Then start reeling. Should solve the problem.

I'll try it too.

Most of it was cranks with different wobbles and some lipless and some square bills and spinnerbaits of different sizes and with different blades. I also have to kids so try to keep a few extras in case they're fishing what I want to be fishing at any given time and it's nice to have backups especially on my goto lures. I don't worry about my selection as much with most other lures. I find certain wobbles or blades work exceptionally well in some lakes and at certain times of the year, etc. It could be worse, I could be spending all my money on drugs ?

Hey man I’m all for getting tackle .. I always look at them online. My mind goes as follows “ well I already have 5 walking baits that all catch fish but this walking bait also looks good and will catch fish so I better get it “ then I end up with 10 walking baits bc hey ya never know right ? That 10 pounder might want this special walking bait instead of the other 9 haha

Sorry, Tackle Warehouse. Never owned one. Done hours of research, however. I tend to think it will work, obviously, since I just dropped 4 big ones on it. But, as with all things, it'll have it's time and place. I've seen too many videos proving it's validity to ignore it anymore. And over a 100 of the Elite Series anglers use one while only a select few are actually sponsored by T-H Marine, the creator of the Hydrowave. That says something as well. So, I bit the bullet and hooked one up. Can't wait to try it out. Especially next spring. I kinda laughed at your question of people thinking it's cheating.. Doesn't that alone attest to it's validity and provide virtual proof that it's legit? Otherwise, who would care if it really didn't work..

Yeah, what I meant to say was I don't use a snap with topwater. I used to use the no-slip mono knot a lot, which is a loop knot. I'm not so sure if I like it with a popr, but I can see why some folks like that. I've seen some jerkbaits and crankbaits run sideways if they don't have enough weight on the front. A heavier front hook can compensate for it.

Ozark Trail marker buoys on Amazon, set of 2 for $14. I have a set for 45 years now and still use them on occasion. Your GPS has instant way point markers for lake maps, but not visible without looking at the screen. Physical buoys are easy to keep track of at times, still a good idea to way point the spots to get back to them in the future. The H shaped markers come with 50' of cord and a lead weight, just straighten out the weight and toss the marker over where you want it, it plays out the line and stops when the weight hit bottom. I keep a buoy in a cup holder next to my feet when driving my boat at idling speed when marking a spot and toss it over the back of my stern, driver side, about 20'. Everything on your sonar screen is behind you so the marker lands close and to one side of the target out of the way of your fishing the spot. Tom

A bit of a bump, eh Glen? Ha! A truck bed cap IS a very useful tool when needed.

In case anybody cares: The KVD Hydrowave H2 at TW retails for $454. I got it for $363.20.

Put a new PB in the boat today!!! My buddy’s been working hard for this fish for a long time! 8.5lbs, 24” I had to play net man on this one, and we were both pumped to bring in a Giant first fish of the day! Rest of the day was an absolute grind. Only three fish total between us. Can’t complain too much for the first fish out of a new lake! We were also the only boat on the water from sunrise to 3pm. One other boat put in, and then a few brave kayakers hit the water just as the wind picked up to 15-20mph and chopped the place up big time. 43° water and less than 3 foot visibility. They were on the bottom, and we could find an occasional school, but just could not get them to eat. Except the important one!

Been a month or two since I last fished. Caught 6 little guys and this not-so-little one today.