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Crazy fun trip this afternoon. Started out just hoping to get a bite, and it turned into one of the more interesting trips I've had. For one, there was a 20' by 35' sheet of ice on one of the ponds that had been blown into one corner...apparently over one of the better spots on the lake. Throw to the left of the ice mat as close as I could, or to the right of the ice mat into the narrow 5 foot gap between the shore and the ice, and then when I set the hook on a fish, fight him as he runs under the ice mat while I tried to stop him from rubbing my line against the edge and breaking it. Even had one cast that caught a corner of the ice mat and a bass ate Ned while it was hanging in the water. I set the hook, then had to pop him over the ice edge and ski him across the rest of the mat. And as if that wasn't cool enough, I was releasing about a two and a half pound bass back into the water with my knit gloves on. Well, I must have angled it just right, because the glove never got freed from his lips, and the entire glove slid right off my hand as I watched the fish land in the water, glove still stuck to his mouth/teeth as he swam off into the depths. Could just sit there laughing in disbelief Never had that happen before. You'll notice the single glove in most all the pics - lol. Anyway, 14 fish in two hours and I had to leave them biting when I lost the only Ned body I brought with. Fun way to end the year. Under a winter storm watch beginning later tomorrow and extending into Tuesday. Here's a few pics.

43 degrees and spitting rain yesterday...... perfect!!!

My local DSG had sk 8XD marked down under $10+ buy five get five. These came in at just about $5/ crank after the discounts.

Purchased by someone (identity unknown) on BR and sent to me via Fishmas 2019. My score and I like it!

I made it out for a couple hours today. Georgia winter, so I actually had to wear pants and a jacket. It was windy, overcast, and the tail end of a front and that led me to have a good feeling on the way out to my bank busting spot. I really wanted them to be on the jerkbait, but it seems my air temperatures and water temperatures have my bass acting like it's late fall. They seem to be smacking bait. They were certainly smacking the H2O Xpress lipless crank I was throwing in sexy shad. I caught 6 off of it, with four being between 2-3 pounds. Good fish for the pond I'm at. I was having a good day. Then I went down the side of the pond where a creek feeds it and starting tossing a finesse jig, a 5/16oz Boss Finesse Flip with a Boss BlackBrownAmber skirt on it, finesse cut all pretty and such. On the back of it is a 3.25" YUM Craw Chunk in Craw. One side looks like a turd, the other like a pumpkin. Oh well. It caught my PB. It also caught this one. She went 5.7 pounds. My son's was $19.99.

5.7 pounds. .725 if I wanna squeeze what the scale said. She gave my finesse jig a tick and I was able to get in an eye crossing hookset before landing her on the 13 Fate Chrome 7'1" MF with the Daiwa Fuego 7.3:1 strung up with @J Francho's favorite line, Berkley Vanish. That YUM Craw Chunk keeps putting big fish on the end of my line.

Black Friday goodies, ordered a rod too but it had issues so I had to exchange, replacement should be here Wednesday

First I would say don't ignore it, and don't take the first diagnostic. When I was younger I had back problems and just kept going, thinking if you work hard every day that's just part of it. Fast forward to 2014, I lost the use of my right leg while doing night work on a interstate Hyw, after drinking a cup of coffee, I finally got it back. A few days later and after a MRI I found myself in a surgeon's office discussing all my issues. I found out I had broken my back at sometime and I had two herniated disk above it and that I needed surgery. I asked how long I would be off work and he said I would probably never work again. I didn't agree with that thought and seek further advice. I was 48 at the time and had never heard much good come from a fusion. So I continued on, wearing a high dollar brace, eating pills and getting epidural shots every 3 months. It all came crashing down this past February, again working nights out on a Hyw and I had no choice this time. Over the last four years, the surgeon that gave me my shots had told me of a neuro surgeon that he would refer me to if this day ever came. On April 1st 2019, I went into surgery for five hours, they did a fusion, along with two rods, four bolts and two artificial disk. I was released on April 3rd, quit all pain meds by April 7th and took the boat out on April 12th (didn't catch anything) on May 15th on my 54th birthday, I returned to work on a light duty basis. Fast forward now, I feel better than I have in 25 years, I can stand for a hour or so on the front of my boat, I went back hunting this year, not wearing any brace, No Pain pills. God is Good!!! Best decision I ever made. Look at All your options, don't be to quick into letting doctors telling you all you can't do. It's amazing the things they can do to help you these days.

I refuse to conform to your 5 rod rule.

When I am fishing out my boat no way I am reducing my 15 rod/reel choices. When fishing out of a partners boat I always ask what the bite is and what he planes to use and select 5 combos suited for what we will be fishing. I nearly always use jigs and T-rigged soft plastics with my custom ALX rods. 6'10" 6 power fast rated for 3/8-1 1/4 oz lures, Tatula 8:1 for my hair jigs. 6'10" 5 power fast rated for 1/4- 1oz oz lures Tatula 8:1 for my T-rigged soft plastics. The next 3 are seasonal or whatever the current bit requires; 8' XH swimbait 3-10 oz lures, Calcutta 250 or 300D winter-pre spawn 7' H Lamiglas 1/2-1 oz lures, Cardiff 300, deep diving crank baits. 6'8" MJ Drop shot and slip shot 1/8-1/2 lures, Shinmano Stratic 2500 finesse soft plastics. 7' MJ , MH 1/8-1/2 oz oz finesse jigs and nail weight finesse worms, Stractic 2500. 7' PR745C, 1/4- 1 oz lures, 1/4-5/8 oz crankbaits, 1/2-1 oz structure spoons, fall. 6'9" MJ Splash-It, medium fast 1/4- 5/8 oz surface lures and jerk baits, original TD Fuego. 7'5" H fast IRG754 frog rod, 1/2- 2 oz lures, Cardiff 300, frogs, medium swimbait and glides. What I use depends on what's going on at that time. Most of these rods I have a back up outfit. You only need the 1 that is catching bass. Tom

A few things I picked up during Black Friday week. Really looking forward to trying the new Picasso Shock Blade Pro. Of course 90% of this stuff I didn't need.

Rods Dobyns Xtasy 723c Dobyns Xtasy 755c Dobyns Champion Extreme HP 702c Dobyns Champion XP Glass 705cb Dobyns Fury 703c Dobyns Champion XP 704sf St.Croix Panfish Series 6'9 UL/F Lew's TP-1 Speed Stick Spinning Rod 6'9 ML/F 13 Fishing Defy Black Crankbait Rod 7'3 H/M Fenwick HMX 7'6 H/F Shimano SLX 7'2 MH/XF Shimano SLX 7'5 H/F Reels Shimano SLX DC Shimano SLX XT Shimano SLX Lew's Tournament MB Speed Spool 13 Fishing Concept Z 13 Fishing Origin FB Daiwa Fuego CT Daiwa Revros 2500 Daiwa QR750 Line 50# Power Pro Braid 300 yds. 12# Trilene Sensation Pro Grade 330 yds. 8# Yozuri Hybrid 600 yds. Rod Sleeves and Reel Covers Casting Rod Sleeves = 7 Spinning Rod Sleeves = 2 Casting Reel Covers = 7 Spinning Reel Covers = 2 Baits and Lures Hard Strike King Pro Crank Firetiger Series Strike King KVD HC Crank Black Back/Chart 2.5 Strike King 5XD Strike King 6XD Rapala DT-4 Live Bluegill Rapala DT-6 Bluegill Rapala Shadow Rap Yellow Perch Lunkerhunt Impact Jerkbait Jumbo 3.5" Lunkerhunt Impact Jerkbait Golden 3.5" Yo-Zuri 3DR Jerkbait Real Perch Bomber Pro Long A Blue Flash JIGS Strike King Bitsy Bug Jig Pumpkin 1/4oz Strike King Pro Jig PB&J 3/8 Strike King Pro Jig Pumpkin Green Flk 1/2 Strike King Tour Grade Swim Jig Bluegill 3/8 Strike King Tour Grade Football Jig 3/8 GrnPump Strike King Tour Grade Football Jig 1/2 PB&J Strike King TG Finesse Football Jig Green Pump Craw 3/8 Terminator Pro Jig Blue Pumpkin 3/8 Terminator Pro Jig Pumpkin Brown Black 3/8 Bass Patrol Football Jig Brown Rubber 3/8 Bass Patrol Football Jig Brown Rubber 1/2 CHATTERBAITS Z-Man Chatterbait Green Pumpkin Purple 3/8 Z-Man Chatterbait Perch 1/2 Z-Man Chatterbait Perch 1/2 SPINNERBAITS Strike King Tour Spin Chart Sexy Shad DBL Willow Painted 1/2 Strike King KVD Spinnerbait 3/8 Blue Fox Flash Spinner Shad 3/16 Coolbaits Underspin Ol' Faith/Slv Blade 3/16oz 1/0 PLASTICS Big Bite Baits Craw Worm Carolina Pumpkin 4" Dry Creek 3.5" Double Dipped Tube Red Hot Craw Z-Man TRD Bugz Green Pumpkin Orange 2.75" Missile Drop Craw Dill Pickle SOFT SWIMBAITS Megabass Dark Sleeper Hanahaze 1/2oz 3" Keitech Swing Impact FAT Smallmouth Magic 3.3" FROGS Lunkerhunt Realistic Frog 1/2 oz Lunkerhunt Realistic Popping Frog 1/2 oz Lunkerhunt Realistic Pocket Frog 1/4 oz MISC Owner Sniper Finesse Neko Hook 2/0 7pk U-40 Cork Seal Yum Wacky Tool

Rapidly dropping temps, rapidly building winds, off and on drizzle, beautiful day on the water Monday ? One other boat at the ramp when I showed up. He told me to go ahead, he was going to wait for a minute. I launched, he waited a few more minutes and then just left? Only other boat I saw the 6+ hours I was on the water. With the wind and clouds, seemed like a moving bait bite would be going, but that wasn't what I found for the most part. I got 2 on a squarebill, 1 on a jerkbait, the rest were on a Ned or shakyhead. The most important fish of the day was on the squarebill though. Built like a brick, barely longer than my 18" board and 5lbs right on the button. Took a while to dial in the slow moving bite, and it was painfully difficult to do in 20+mph winds, but I was really working them over for a while.

OP As I said earlier. When I had my L4-L5 fushion in 2012 I had no other options. The very real possibility of needing another later in life unfortunately has come true for me. So 7 yrs later I’ll be having L-3 fused to the already fused L-4 in January some time. Again....If you have other alternatives, take em. Don’t have surgery unless you’re on the verge of causing other permanent problems that can’t be corrected. Is it scary? d**n right it is! Surgery is always the last resort but it can improve your standard of living if all other options have been tried. Best of luck in your decision. Just BE CERTAIN it’s the best one for you. Mike

Sorry guys/gals......sunny and t-shirt weather in east tenn. Kids are coming over....almost as good as fishing.....:)

Licking line? Heck, I floss with it as I tie! Kill two birds...

Heads up that the gander outdoors in lakeville has a 50% off sale on almost everything in the store. Includes non ice fishing baits, rods and reels. I walked out out of there today w a Daiwa ballistic 2500 for $115, a presidential xt for $35, and an avid x spinning rod medium xf for $110. I believe it will continue until inventory is drawn down. Hear they want to make room for moving some RV’s into the retail space so they need the room. Note that the cashiers are having to manually mark everything down at the register so the checkout line was extremely long. For this discount it was worth the wait.

Rods cast lures reels hold line as Catt has noted many times. Long distance casting is something I normally do, 7/16 oz jig 40 to 50 yards and 3/4 oz crabkbaits about the same distance for over 40 years with all types of reels using 10 to 12 mono line. Everyone is putting way too much focus on brakes in lieu of casting skill. Tom

Bizz Baits Black Friday for the win!!! Killer Kraws, Baby Bizz Bugs and a couple packs of Dizzy Diamonds and Sassy Sticks to try for the first time next season. The Baby Bizz Bugs made a bit of a comeback for me last year. I've used them heavily as jig trailers for years now, but I had some insane action rigging them alone on a Cadman's Smallie Crawlin jig in high river water. I do really well with the Killer Kraws, but they were hitting a jig or Kraw 1:2 compared to the Baby Bizz. Needless to say, I burned through my stores and needed this stick up bad! With this order I'm pretty well stocked up on plastic, Siebert jigs, Cadman's Smallie Crawlin jigs, hard baits.... Any extra gear bought would be purely Bait Monkey fodder at this point ????

For those who know, you know.

Back in the early days when I lived in Oregon I would go to Luhr Jensen in Hood River and talk to Tom Seward. Very creative individual who did their lure designing and a fishaholick. Lived in a camper by Luhr Jensen and fished probably everyday in the Columbia River. Created the Klawdaddy, Speed Trap, Brush Baby to name a few. Was also interesting to watch them do all their painting by hand.....ohhhhhh the good ol days.

I didn't want a horse head in my bed so I picked this up tonight for that " offer you can't refuse." Too cheap to post the price.

I was searching the facebook marketplace and ran into this lot. Bit on it for 125 bucks.

I'm gonna be nervous tossing it, but I'm excited to try this thing out.

Scheels has free shipping with no minimum and fishing (ice at least) stuff 20% off.

Considering that Chapstick® contains a couple types of wax, lanolin and mineral oil - it's definitely more suited for lubrication that stays around. I'd be concerned that it'd stay around long enough for the knot to slip. In order Spit KVD L&L conditioner Water Those are what I'd use.

$139 Lews tournament pro from sportsmans outfitters is your best bet IMHO.

Your local football field has measured yard lines. I take a hula hoop and lay on the grass for a target and hit nearly every cast at 50 yards. You always walk off a measured distance and mark your line using a Sharpie. Tom

Just a heads up......completely turn down the magnetic brake before adjusting the bait specific tensioner knob.....then turn back up your brakes for optimal casting.

5500C is closer to 400 Cardiff, both have wide spools. The level wind on 5500C doesn't disengage and slows down the line comming off the spool because it must travel back and forth on the worm gear. 200 size Cardiff has a smaller spool and should cast a little better with lighter lures then a 300 Cardiff. Tom

I had a 200 Cardiff on my old Dobyns 806 swimbait rig, I had no issues casting it up to about 50 yards. As Tom said, it's the rod and the person doing the casting.

@Glenn, same argument being applied here in the People’s Democratic Republic of California. Except it’s to help Big Ag justify increasing water exports from the Delta for almond orchards in the San Joaquin valley. Those “Wonderful” growers plan to have Metropolitan Water District ratepayers pay for the infrastructure to do it. Sorry got sidetracked, black and striped bass are easy targets for the West Coast salmonid declines...

My “ugly” Christmas sweater that arrived 010519, in plenty of time for this year’s Christmas and Fishmas 2019. * I order it Dec 1, 2019 ?

The Fuego is more user friendly and more forgiving to novice baitcast anglers. Awhile back I had a spare rod sitting around without a reel. I was trying to decide between the SLX and the Speed Spool. Ultimately I went with the Speed Spool because the SLX is tiny; it doesn't hold as much line and it has a much lower IPT by gear ratio compared to the Speed Spool. I only used it once due to certain circumstances, but it was smooth and very palmable. I like the Speed Spool better than the Fuego because 1. I can use any baitcaster due to experience and 2. It fits in my hand a lot better; the Fuego is a big tank. If you have small hands like me and you're not afraid of the learning curve, I'd consider the Speed Spool.

Clean it and apply a single drop of TSI 321.

I used Abu Ambassadors, Daiwa and Shimano baitcasting reels for decades. Once you get a reel dialed in with brake setting and daily changes are done with spool tension knob. You should be able to pick up any bait casting reel that you have set and cast it regardless of the brand or braking system. Example my jig and worm rods are currently Daiwa reels, my crankbait and swimbait rods have Shimano reels and cast them throughout the day randomly without giving the braking any thought. I may adjust the spool tension knob a tiny amount depending on wind or type lure. The problem isn't the braking system, it's how the braking system is adjusted to meet your needs. Tom Use a 2500C. The reel size should be compatible to the lure weight and aerodymics ( wind resistance). Abu legacy reels used a 2 pin centrifical braking system. Tom

Not counting a spinning rod for all things that need spinning . My five baits casters are and I'm limited to 7 foot to fit in my truck bed . 7'0" MH Deep diving crankbait rod with a 5 to 1 gear ratio reel . 7'0' MH multi purpose rod 7'0" M spinnerbaitt/buzzbait rod 6'8" MH worm/jig rod 6'6" M multi purpose rod .

This bait has 5.5” body, 11” with the tail and weighs right under 3 ounces

Here. Two bucks. Last ya a lifetime .... if you're as old as I am. ? https://www.hobbylobby.com/Beads-Jewelry/Tools-Adhesive/Jewelry-Glue/Bees-Wax/p/99405 jj

Unless you feel that jigs will be the main presentation for the duration of the tournament, you can get by with a dozen or so skirted jigs using different size and action trailers to adjust the fall rate. I would pack a large assortment of lure types and choose what to bring on board after talking with the boater and finding out how he plans to fish. Non boaters have a tendency to bring as much gear as they can, the reason being they don't want to be without something that may be a good producer. There is that possibility, but there is a greater probability that most of what you bring will never see use.

Got into a little tossle with the bait monkey when those Curado 70XG’s went on sale at TW. I held him off pretty good until they went out of stock. He bit me pretty good. I hope it doesn’t get infected.

Monkey got me for a couple of poppers during the TW 20% off sale.

I wear my Mustang Survival Elite HIT when going solo. It's not cheap but it is comfortable to wear.

Just part of what the Bait Monkey said I needed to have sent my way. Some from a familiar, trusted source, some from another. I was intrigued after a @Bluebasser86 post of the Provoke, a couple of mine are on back ordered from TW, and how they compare the Visions...

Black Friday stuff came in! Super excited to throw my first jackhammers. More coming at Christmas...

That #3 size is for ice fishing crappie, thats why its so small. Theres a #4 or #5 that maybe would cast a little better if you find out thats an issue.

Spectacular looking fish. Scale perfect and beautifully marked.

This little bait started life as pilchard bait for the salt, but has quickly become an awesome bass bait. It’s right at 6” and it weighs 2.25ounces

Well, I made my second crankbait. I posted the first and it came out pretty good but I messed up on the epoxy mix and it never dried and probably never will. So, I decided to remake it. this time measuring the epoxy correctly. Yes it hardened and yes I took a couple of casts and it wobbles and tracks really nicely in the water. It's cold here now though. I will have to wait till spring to fish with it. Now that I have all the stuff needed to make them, I'm ready to make more. This second one took about two 3 hr sessions to make from pine board to finish, not counting the epoxy drying time. The airbrush is tricky but this was my second time using one and it felt a lot more comfortable this time around. For anyone wanting to gear up to making one of these for the first time, I spent a ton of time researching this and have links in the video below to my first build that is six parts with way to much detail and with a web site of materials. I was a teacher all my life. Teacher mode never leaves you unfortunately. Someone asked what the silver specs are in the finish. It's glitter added to the epoxy top coat. It would make a great Christmas tree ornament ?. Here's a link to my youtube channel that shows this and other builds.

My favorite so far. Allen