jhoffman

I dont check on many forums any more because like the rest of social media its getting to be rehashed stuff over and over. Maybe others feel the same. Forums were the first true conversation outlet for any hobby. Now theyve lost steam but there might come a revival. Social media in its current form with FB, TikTok and others feels boring to me personally but thats where most of the conversation these days happens. Theres a FB group for everything under the sun. Back years ago, someone had to stand up a forum on a hosting provider to get it going. Now if you have an account you can create the same situation on FB and millions have. Reddit is chalked full too as is Discord. Too many outlets to have the conversations.

my best winter baits for smallmouths in rivers are by far keitechs literally almost dead drifted, usually they hit it on the swing and jerkbaits

I quarter everything where it drops, too hard to pick one up into my tailgate alone. Plus I found it was less physical effort just getting out. Years ago it was a big no no in PA. I actually used my connections in the outdoor space to push it up through the board of directors and have it approved years before CWD was a thing here. Now they actively recommend quartering right where they die, funny how that came full circle. I spend a lot less time in a stand these days. Cover tons of ground to find good sign from the rut last year and then spot check it to open up again. Once the scrapes get going and theyre rubbing not just from removing velvet I lay into them. My favorite two weeks of the season is the last week of October and the first week of November. If I had to take just one it would be October. Went to Illinois last year on public, had a good time but its just as busy as home. I probably will drive that far one more time to waste points I have in Iowa but my self imposed limit is now 4 hours. The deer itself isnt that important to me as long as its decently mature.

Habitat and the game commission wants to hold the population low due to CWD

Deer population by me is lower than I have ever remembered. You dont even see deer driving at night most times. This is of course big woods and on top of the low population there is a food explosion this year. Im once again looking for last years rut sign, checking previous known good spots and waiting till that last week of October to lay into it. Tomorrow I have to go trim a stand. I started archery hunting at 16, Im 42. This is the first year ever I didnt get an antlerless license of any type. Im not joking when I say 2-3 deer per square mile! Its rough to pattern them like this so I have to make only the best of calculated moves to not destroy the spots before they get good or burn myself out from going. Working on a video, hopefully I have one to release as I will not be releasing a buckless hunting video.

I dont mind it being dry but its so dry that my grass is already dead in north central pa at 2100' of elevation. We have already put out one brush fire while riding atv's.

I dip my clothes for hunting/fishing/hiking in permethrin and it tends to keep the bugs down, especially ticks. Its the same thing they use in the bug clothing but they typically sew the fibers of the plant in. Bonus is I use it around my house too.

@gimruis I used to fish a river like that as a kid with my grandparents. Zero chance you could run a boat in it and it was prior to cheap kayaks. My grandmother fell out of it one day boy do I miss them. Those hidden gems are the best.

Ive got a jet thankfully but its sketchy in spots. The drifting is when I start to hit. Mine isnt a tunnel either so I need a good 6" to run. The susquehanna im sure in spots I can run fine but this upper end of the Juniata is crazy low. I also have garmin side image transducer on the back that although well protected I am definitely mindful I could rip it off. Why I thought I needed side imaging on a river boat is beyond me but its there now

I skipped my last trip and went to Sayers which btw I have never seen so many small juvenile largemouth there ever until this week. Took my buddy to the river and no one was there, couldnt understand why. Came home and checked the river gauge and was shocked how low it actually was. I use Rivercast on my phone but I just assumed I was good. When I looked to go fishing the other day it had dropped that foot since a week ago. If I go to the river anytime soon Ill probably take a Kayak. Might just creek/lake fish till it rains. Its like theres no happy medium. Either too much rain or none.

We need rain and we need it BAD. My grass on top of the mountain here looks like its August. The local river is over a foot lower than last year at this time. These water levels are too low for it to only be the first of June.

That sounds like someone blowing sunshine up my dress. You mean to tell me this fish was born in 1966? ?

As a guy whos owned multiple boats and still owns a kayak there are certain places and certain times I wouldnt DREAM of taking a kayak. Common sense these days is far from common and getting worse. You gotta run a kayak or small boat like a motorcycle with the mentality that everyone and everything is trying to kill you.

Fished the other night after work. Could not get the stock fish to touch a nymph but cranked them up on top with caddis. Im pretty sure they pulled the stock truck alongside a single hole and dumped 200 of them. It was ridiculous how many I could see at a given time. Trying to get away from the road there wasnt a fish. I've all but given up most stock trout fishing. If I am going USUALLY I will go to a catch and release stream. I grew up on spring creek, guided, fished so much I killed my love for it. Starting to get to a point where I dont even wanna fly fish with nymphs. Take me to the middle of a big hatch and let me catch them on top. Otherwise I have better places to fish.

You shouldve said "hoooooooooooooyeah"

On Chautauqua I heard a home owner berate the boat in front of me for a solid 20 mins. I wasn't even fishing his dock but I spoke up and left him know his option was to let the dude alone or I was coming on his dock to give him something to call the cops about. He chose to go back in his 20 million dollar home and shut his mouth.

Pass

Ive found this to be true across lots of species. A local trout stream you can POUND them in winter on streamers but its about 1/4th as productive once the hatches start.

Regardless, genetics are 1:1 just like a big buck breeding a doe doesnt mean youll get a big buck. Thats why in captivity they control both sides of the genetics and line breed to get what they want. Blind mothers have children who can see. Its all a crapshoot unless controlled.

I dont have lithium's in my current boat but I hand built racing drones for a few years. The last thing you want is that dropping out of the sky at 70mph. The voltage in a lithium can bounce. Once second the alarm will go off and if you let up it will turn the alarm back off. Gives people who arent used to managing lithium's a false sense of security. Let off the pedal on a trolling motor and a few mins later its like the alarm never went off. When a lithium voltage alarm sounds, its time to take action immediately. Not only that you do not want to run a lithium below its voltage, thats highly discouraged against when it comes to capacity and longevity. Youre correct, If you put them in something like a trail camera that wasnt built for a lithium the camera will read 99% full until it quits working.

2 weeks ago it was in the 60s. Temp dropped back 20 and punted. Its been snowing, raining, 1000mph winds. I got 5" of new snow two days ago. Starting to swing towards warmer but will it hold? Already watched the first thaw flowers come up and theyre likely gone. I knew that was gonna happen. Actually stopped buying anything that blooms before May. Not just the fishing is right.... the frogs, gobblers, zero turn mower(yes I like my grass), landscaping, cooking on the blackstone, finding mushrooms. Im so over the winter its not even funny. If my wife and kid werent so set on staying id be out. My career allows me to work anywhere in the world but they dont wanna leave the friends so here we remain.

Lithiums are awesome but you really gotta watch them especially when you have a bunch of stuff running. If you dont size properly you are out thousands to find out you had a problem in something like a 36v system. Lithiums dont gradually die, thats their benefit and a weakness at the same time. The voltage remains much more stable based on capacity. However when they drop, theyre DONE. If you have something like an ultrex you will go from is this slowing down to now youre stuck in minutes. Saw it happen in my buddies boat in a tournament twice last year. Run lithiums but size right and for goodness sakes turn on the alarms. If you dont have a voltage alarm in your trolling motor bank buy one. Theyre cheap.

Yeah im not gonna beta test your trolling motor at 5g

That means Treasure X here ... right?