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Today was an awesome day! We caught 7 bass and 1 giant crappie. My friend caught his new PB at 5.5 pounds on a jerkbait! We caught all the other fish on clipless crankbaits. 8 fish in 5 hours isn't bad for December.

A 3 man limit of salmon from a few years back

I'm sure a day is coming when it's number will get called, but it's been fun getting this bait scarred up the last couple years.

Fun day poking around the farm for a pheasant or two with Bob and the dogs.

Contribute to our "Palomar Knot break or Knot slip - Seaguar Blue Line Flouro Leader" discussion. It might go on all winter

That is what most people do. As for other alternatives, you could write a book, sleep, practice the waltz, organize the coins in your pocket according to size and denomination, play a rousing game of mumbley peg, part your hair differently, yawn a lot, and my personal favorite, play "Guess That Smell".

Drink

Tried out this creek today near the house .Had one on a senko but lost it.

A-Jay

Bluegill - bass aren't colonial nesters, and neither are catfish...and shad/shiners are broadcast spawners (no beds).

Clark got a puck that went over the glass.

Got another good one! Just over 21”, we had a few 18” mixed in as well

I'm glad I saw Rickey Green mentioned! I went to a seminar of his in Little Rock back in 1981. It was informative and he stayed around afterwards and shot the bull with everyone. He was a great guy and sat there for two hours answering questions and telling stories well after the seminar was over.

I could, but all those activities require effort.

Work on your Hook Set. A-Jay

Ordered these Thursday, and they arrived today: Yes...that's 51 baits for a total of $75.48 shipped to my door!

Today I Only caught one from 1-5:30 or so but got 3 right before dark.

Got out again today for a few hours . Decided to take my worm boxes only. I wanted to fish the east side of the lake and tried but it was too windy. Did get a fish off a tree in the water. Got down south to some calmer water and picked up another fish. Both fish on the red shad culprit. Lost a nice fish and they quit for an hour or so. Changed to the watermelon red / chartruese tail trick worm. Finally picked up 2 nice fish on consecutive casts. The one pictured is the smaller of the two - That pic was even blurrier than this one. Not a banner day, but better than yesterdays attempt at jerkbait fishing.

The lake near my house is being drained. All of the fish are at the back of the dam trying to get back into the lake. I took advantage and caught a few of them. We had about a week of temps greater than 40 degrees to thaw the water so I am thankful to get a break in what would normally be a long brutal cold and barren winter. This was the nicest one at 5.29. Caught several just under 5.

Before and after. The tired, old wheelhouse above and the improvement after some tender, loving care.

Got a new vaccuum sealer for Christmas , hoping to try it out with a bunch of white bass that I threw on ice yesterday. Those pesky smallies kept getting in the way too...........

You may "waste" your time but I highly doubt you'll waste their time!

Impressive exchange between you guys and I am glad you put it out here for all of us to see...Especially as I am a newer bass angler and live close to 12lbr we probably fish some of the same lakes..

Had to shorten my day a lot Friday due to a sick kid, but got some good ones while I was out. 4 fish, 3 were keepers for a little over 14 pounds, biggest was 6.41.

1/2oz #5 at the smallest, prefer a 3/4 or 1oz with a #6 or #7 but they're hard to find without making a custom order, especially with the hammered copper or gold blades that I like.

Call your local game warden for an explanation would be the best advice. I know that we have to keep the fish whole until we're done fishing. Once the boat is on the trailer or all your gear is put up the fish can be filleted but the fillets have to be kept whole (not chunked up or cut into strips), so that the number of fish kept can still be determined. You just can't fillet them while you're still fishing.

Go with what the manufacture recommends and you can't go wrong.

One brake with newer Shimanos? I use one brake with the old E series and I series curados but always seem to backlash using one brake with the new meet curado k series

Sometimes I get tired just getting out of bed in the morning.

20 for $3.00 https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Mister_Twister_Phenom_Curly_Tail_Worm_20pk/descpage-MTPWR.html

I enjoy hiking in the snow . Looking at animal tracks . take pictures , make a fire , smoke cigars , sip whiskey ... its all good .

Once fish were showing up on sonar at the mouth of a cove . I spent several hours trolling Sassy Shads back and forth and caught a bass or crappie on every pass .

One day I’ll be back on Toledo, but Rayburn is fishing so good right now it’s hard to not go there. We caught 94 bass Thursday and about 20 whites. It is one fire!

Got to go for a few hours yesterday with my oldest son. We kept 12 of the smaller ones for a fish fry Friday to celebrate my baby boys birthday. Biggest fish is 7 pounds even and next is 5 pounds even. Now we got flash flood, tornado, and severe weather watches for the next 24-48 hours. Glad we got to go yesterday!

First Christmas!

I have been to several seminars where Hank Parker, Jimmy Huston, KVD and Rick Clunn were guest speakers. Rick Clunn always talks about spinnerbaits, the others are pushing their latest sponsors tackle and may or may not include spinnerbaits. I don't believe Clunn has a canned presentation they are all different and when he is at the podium speaking the other pro's are there listening instead of standing in the back visiting. The last time Clunn was speaking he discussed blades and how he selects them for specific conditions and baitfish. We think of a willow blade for example only by size and color, Clunn selects willow blades based on how fast they spin, how much water they push, how they lift, how they match the baitfish, flash, hammered vs polished, cup, wedge shapes etc, etc. He spent 30 minutes non stop on just willow blades. Details matter. Tom

Lonnie Stanley ?

28 degrees today, but the river was still open thanks to relatively warm weather recently. I had a great day... Casting and losing some TRDs. The river was flooded, dirty, cold, and not a bite to be had. 2 hours of freezing. Found out with my new HMG that I can probably cast into a tea cup. Oh well. It was nice to throw a line around. Got hung up a couple times and reel set hoping it was a fish. It was never a fish. However, even seeing my rod bow felt pretty good at this stage of winter. 3 more months. I can do it (crying).

I just sit and pray for open water

Welp, E6X are all gone now. Figured they would be. Need to learn patience. Got money burning a hole in my pocket haha. Need to hold out at least a few weeks to be able to hold an ALX. In other news, I ordered the Tat SV last night!

The Wera Kraftform 7pc set (345271) was a great investment. It comes with all the right sizes and I bought 2 separate matching Wera hex drivers for Hedgehog parts like frame screws, ect. I think I have $40 in all of them. Use the 10-15% ebay coupons.

I just restocked my supply of sassy shads. Those little swimbaits will catch anything.

........it's Winter ?

I finally start doing things around the house that don't get done. December should have been a productive month in that department but open water and about 120 bass said otherwise.

I don’t know anything about the Alx rods but I do fish with 2 avid-x. One is mine a 7’ medium spinning and the other is the exact one your looking at. My dad owns the 7’ medium-heavy fast casting rod paired with tatula sv and lord does he love it. That rod bombs any bait he puts on it, light and sensitive yet loads of power to horse a fish out of the depths and slop! He loves it and the few times I fished it I was very impressed. I love my avidx spinning rod

With a 1000 size reel I'm thinking m/l with m being the top.

If You are dead set on using fluoro, I say medium heavy either moderate or moderate fast whichever the rod is rated. If using braid (which I love for cranks because you get better feel and more depth) I say medium.