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On a tiny little #6 shad rap. I've now caught 30 musky during my time at WVU now and this one beat my previous pb by an inch. This fish was 44" long, pretty fat too! Fun fight on a spinning rod, I was using 10lb braid to a 10lb red label fluorocarbon leader. Can't tell you how many musky I've landed on 10 and 12lb red label!

Canine officers Finn and Lake at the pancakes with Santa party for my work.

The boat is winterized and I'm done til spring . In the mean time my brothers and I are out hunting Big Foots .

OK ~ I guess it's time. I'm selecting 15 April 2019 as my "I hope the ice is gone" date. While this date is a full 2 weeks earlier than 2018, it's a full 2 weeks later than 2017. So I'm splitting the difference and we'll see what happens. As of today, I'm looking at 127 days or 4 months & 6 days or 18 weeks and a day. Either way, it is what it is and I'm hunkering down (although I'm not quite certain what that actually means, I'm doing it). Please feel free to add your comments, support, and yes, even the jabs; as I know they're inevitable & usually quite entertaining. And while you're at it, perhaps even add a few pics of recent catches. All of which may help to pass the time . . . . A-Jay btw- this is what Lake Menderchuck looked like on 21 Apr 2018 - hoping for something a little earlier.

It's beginning to look a lot like . . . . . A-Jay

The dogs will be happy when Christmas is over and my wife quits decorating them. LOL

A follow-up to this post: This finally came true As of January 7th I will be the Graphic Designer for Big Bite Baits.

Creek Chub Weed Bug #2819. 1927-1935

I've consulted the grand ole Almanac and taking into account changes in elevation, latitude and longitude, not to mention atmospheric pressure and cosmic lunar phasing, I believe I can accurately predict the correct day and even hour that ice will break and open water will be seen on your Lake Menderchuck, A-Jay. The good news is it is earlier than you think. March 27th. The bad news is its 2020! Have a nice but cold summer.

My favorite Christmas lights!!!

Words could not possible express just how grateful us poor Northerners are regarding your unbridled generosity & self-sacrifice just for us. What a guy. In return I feel it's only fair that I offer you a small token of my appreciation. Here you go - no more side ways profile pic It's the least I can do. A-Jay

Looks like you're all set -- guy in the middle has all the equipment you need.

You could have this game mastered by then.

Are there any of those ice fishing restaurant / bars with sports on tv in your area? Looks like the hoards of winter schools have arrived early in my area this year. I won’t starve this winter! Hopefully all your Michigan bass are getting super fat on gobies under the ice

Caught these in northern La. Thanksgiving week. Water was 50 degrees and muddy. A double Colorado blade spinner bait did the damage. I ended up with 15 total. I can't imagine total ice out. My heart goes out to you guys up north.

A little R&R at a local hotel and spa. Pregame with some white wine, then dinner and jazz by Gap Mangione.

Hibernation

Most 10 lb bass tend weigh 7 lbs on a scale. Congratulations on a 8 lb in Illinois. Tom

This winter is going to be a tough one for me. As you know I bought a boat so late in the season I couldn't even launch it, I did fire it up and hear her run just before winterizing it. So she is inside hibernating. As you may or may not know we sold our house this fall and we were on the hunt for a house. As if buying at boat just in time to put her to bed for 5 months wasn't bad enough, I doubled down and we are in the process of buying a house on a lake. A private lake at that, with no speed boats or jet skies! I'm very familiar with this lake having briefly lived on it years ago, pretty quiet as far as traffic and fishing goes. Soooooo hopefully the winter goes by quick, which it should considering well be closing on it this week or next, then moving for the second time in two months, then getting settled in to the new house. I'm shooting for the last week in March for ice out here. Fingers crossed!

I don't give my rods names ? That way they don't get confused when I throw a trap on my spinnerbait rod!

Caught on a Chicken McNugget! Wrong lure...right location ?

The Chiefs are still hanging in there. In spite of the Kareem hunt debacle they are still looking better than I ever imagined they would for 2018. Thursday night with the chargers will be interesting. Mahomes has really impressed me this year. He makes the games exciting to watch.

Are these ponds or lakes? I've had very limited success with big baits in ponds. Big pond bass are just so in tune with everything that they seem to be able to tell a fake from the reel thing easier. The exception being large topwaters like big walkers or wake baits like a Slammer or rat. Big pond bass eat lots of terrestrial animals so topwaters are a great way temp them. Tubes, brush hogs, 10" worms, senkos, and big straight tail worms like a YUM mighty worm or Strike King Bull worm are good baits for big pond fish. A spinnerbait or bladed jig probably catches me more big ones from ponds than anything else though.

Water 47 degrees and they were hitting spooks and flukes on top! Wild

Someone isn't to happy about her outfit her mom bought her.

Met a friend yesterday morning at the ramp....I was there a bit early (daylight) and water temps were still in the low 50's!! Air temp...low 30's. Water was so quiet...fish were moving and chasing in spots....awesome. Only saw one other boat all day and they were going into the backs of cove's I believe looking for ducks. Fishing was good....looking for bass and caught everything...even had a double on nice whites. At one time the whites were so thick the A-rig could hardly sink they were pounding it so much....crazy. Now...will see what this storm brings....can't fish as have a couple basketball games to go to...which is cool too. Tight Lines

The setup is fine ? My suggestion would be practice with what ya plan on fishing! The wind resistance of a Texas Rigged worm vs a practice plug aint the same. Going from a practice plug to a lure will again require some getting use to. Skip that step now! 3/8 aint light, with practice you should be able to throw 3/16-1/4 easily!

A-Jay

Yes and no, though it's most likely due to you only having been using a baitcaster for a year and a half. If the rod/reel/bait are fairly well matched up, then you simply need to practice more. Nylon mono has more mass and is stiffer than braid, so it will act differently on the spool until you get more time with it. Once you've got it licked, then you can graduate to fluoro. Same type of increase in difficulty until you get better still.

One thing ya need to remember about us "old-timers" is we've been there...done that... didn't even get a tee-shirt! Rods, reels, lines, hooks, or lures, we've seen all the "Johnny Come Lately". I've fished braided Cotton, Dacron, Micron, Suture Material (Silk), Micro Dyneema®, Kevlar, & Spectra. Various types of monofilament, copolymer, fluorocarbon, Hybrid; you name I've tried it. Am I gonna stop trying different rods, reels, lines, or lures? Absolutely not! That's part of the fun of this sport ?

A friend of mine had an old swimming pool out back and when he'd catch fish in the creek he would sometimes let them go in there. Whenever they wanted some fish quick, he'd go recatch them. Was always suprised the gators didnt clean em out. They were doing a pretty good job on his goats that roamed down below his house in the swamp.

On advise of counsel, I would like to invoke the rights granted to me by the Constitution....

Wishing you all a safe winter on the ice....wow....just can't imagine and ..... no it's not on my bucket list.

Historically our ice out date is April 15th in southern Maine. Early to mid May in the western mountains and sometimes even later than that. Last year was the 18th here, the year before, MARCH 13th! And we were open water fishing in January! Wierd year. The only ice shacks out were pulled in at night, and the guy who left his out...well it fell in. We had the beach community that year.

Real. Family tradition and the scent it adds to the house kickstarts the season.

I had a somewhat similar experience a while ago. I was fishing a spinnerbait and latched on to a solid fish. Couple of pounds.. As I was fighting it back to the boat it was boiling along on the surface. 6 ft. from the boat and a 5-6 pounder nailed it! Needless to say, I was so shocked I quit reeling for a split second. This bigger fish was determined to eat the smaller one! It would not give up! When I boated the fish I had hooked the big fish boiled the water and was gone. I fished there another 15 minutes and never got it to hit again. I firmly believe if I had been fishing a bait with multiple trebles I could've landed both fish. At one point my fish was firmly in the other fishes mouth. But, my bait only having one hook prevented my landing them both. It was amazing.

Nothing but respect for you guys. We get a solid 4 seasons out here with plenty of snow in my neck of the woods and higher, but fortunately our winters are tied into elevation and the water temps in the lower elevation foothill lakes rarely dip below 50*. Those 2 weeks post-ice out do sound pretty amazing though.

Curado e7 and Chronarch MGL... still a big fan of both of those and they were bumped to other rods. After all the bumping was done a couple BPS PQ's were demoted to backup duty.

Since no one mentioned it.....DA BEARS

@Alec McMillan ~ American Legacy Fishing Company's Xpress Rod Trade-In Program allows you to upgrade your old rods or reels, and turn your unused gear into store credit you can use for anything on site or in store. I have not used it but here's more info: https://www.americanlegacyfishing.com/trade-in-program A-Jay

I would make my selection based on where you live, types of water you fish, types of cover, & structure (deep or shallow). With that information I would select two quality rods, one for bottom contact techniques & one for either topwater or mid-depth techniques depending on which is more productive on your water.

Some people like to stick with one brand figuring that it gives them the benefit of knowing what to expect for power and action at a given listing. I am like you. I have rods from many companies based on reviews and feedback from members here and other forums. Personally I like trying different gear. Which is why my reels also have different names on them.

Kyle S, there are so many good rods out there now, it's hard to pick. I like Shimano rods, which no one seems to really like that much. I also have Lews and one St Croix, and they are all good. They'll all catch bass

Had one heck of a weekend! Started Friday going back to the same river as last weekend chasing smallmouth, but this time took some trout gear. Well the smalls were uncooperative, and so were the trout to some extent. I think they’ve seen every lure out there, so I did some digging around in my little tackle box and came up with a creation that I was hoping would get the smallies to eat. They still wouldn’t! Turned out the trout loved it! Caught a half dozen stock size rainbow and brook trout on it, and then I found some big girls! 18” brook trout. New PB! Caught another small rainbow and then not even 30 minutes later... 19” Brook trout! New PB round 2! I was stoked on the first one and was almost too excited to fish anymore after the second! Beautiful mountain scenery, small stream and awesome views with super clear blue water, capped off with some big trout that I was not expecting or even trying to target. Saturday we were out again chasing big bass on Briery. Cloudy day, 46° water, storm front coming in, we were expecting good fishing... Did not turn out that way. Spent the first few hours of the day just looking for a bite. Finally found a fish in the 10-15 foot depth range. Nice 2.5 lber. Spent another hour almost in that area and couldn’t find another bite, so moved on and kept trying some key areas, but kept coming up short. Finally around 3:00 I managed to hook into another 2.5lber with a crankbait. And about 5 casts later got my big of the day on the same crankbait. 21”, 5lbs on the nose. Just above the freezing mark and cloudy all day, made the struggle bus that much worse. But a solid fish capped off the day again!

Cold but sunny Saturday afternoon along the Susquehanna river.

Sunday morning, waiting for my breakfast.

Took over a month and a half to edit and countless hours spent on the smallest of details, but I feel it was all worth it. Don't Let Your Dreams Be Dreams

The hair ball I get to clean out of my boat carpet once or twice a month thanks to my 2 furry fishing buddies.