Topwaterspook

The situation has finally ended. He turned himself in to authorities this morning. I guess he figured it was better being under arrest than being shot out here in the boonies.

This guy is 59, 5'6" 260 lb. with only one kidney and in poor health. I can't imagine how he's managed to elude all the police action in this area. I personally think he has traveled on by this time. We are still seeing swat team folks periodically. I wish all this was over and done with.

Both, depending on my mood. I really enjoy taking someone new out and watching their excitement when we do well. I especially like passing on my fishing addiction to my grandchildren.

Choppers overhead again today. Talk in the neighborhood is that he's trapped between here and the church. Wife was working at the parish office this morning and the swat team wouldn't allow her to leave until they had scoured the property thoroughly. This is getting tiresome.

Welcome to the site from an old retired electrician. It's good that you've decided to join in the posts. Good luck.

WTG, Hootie. Ya gotta love figuring them out when it's tough fishing. Congratulations.

Apparently local and state police were involved in an attempted murder and subsequent interaction and chase that ended up 1/2 mile from here. Guy ditched his car in a trailer park and is on the loose on foot. Hundreds of folks, news teams, swat teams, state police, local police are all staged at the local elementary school. Helicopters have been in the air for a couple hours scanning the woods around us. Wife and I are out on our back deck watching the baseball game. We ARE LOCKED AND LOADED. Son-in-law went out to check trail cams to retrieve photos. Hope they get this guy soon.

Thanks for the input, guys. I really haven't had a whole lot of experience with muskies and was curious about an average weight. She looked to be about 4 inches or so wide from a top view. It also was a cool shade of tan with darker vertical bars and rather reddish, speckled fins. All in all a beautiful fish.

It was an impressive sight for sure. She was definitely the biggest I've ever been close to. Ironically, he hooked her right next to the boat as he was retrieving his cast. This is only about 30-40 yards away from the spot where I watched the PFC unload a musky net a few years ago. That was an eye opening treat. They weighed and tagged over a dozen as I looked on. They told me that there were some big ones around. Do muskys prowl a circuit or was it just coincidence we were that close ?

Today I took my next door neighbor out in the boat. This is the first time we had fished together. Toward the end of the day, he hooked a musky on 6 pound mono. She was way too big for my net. Her body length was 2 1/2 times the diameter of a 21" net. Which works out to 53". Anyone have any idea what it might have weighed ?...............watching his technique while fighting that fish was inspiring. He back reeled and kept tension the whole time. It was like watching a master. Had it been me, I would have probably have broken her off during the first or second run. After what seemed like an eternity, I got her head in the net but there was just too much of her. She flopped out leaving the small bass bait hung in the netting. We didn't even get a picture.

I had my first experience with a commercial climbing treestand this afternoon. Naturally, I did it when my wife was away on vacation. SSSSHHHH....... .........don't let her or my doctors know...........I was at my daughter's home. She'll probably squeal on me..............Dwight, I have a doe permit coming as well. They just look like walking rings of bologna to me.

Welcome. As stated above......lots to be learned from some pretty good folks here. Good luck to you.

After a lot of gas line construction last year, maybe things have started to return to a more normal state. I've seen three bucks in the last two days. This morning I asked permission to bow hunt property that has been sealed off with posters for thirty years. The owner is considering my request. I surely hope this pans out for me.

I have a Bow Tech, Diamond, Black Ice. I really like it. It is capable of more than I am, honestly. It wasn't too terribly expensive.

Welcome to the forum. There're lots of good folks and information to be derived from those here. I'll second the local bass clubs. Most folks there will be glad to lend advice and guidance to anyone starting on their quest. I agree with the minimalistic approach. Keep an open mind. I guarantee that you can learn some new tactic or a twist on an old one from anybody. Prime example is a young neighbor who I got into bass fishing when he was 9 years old. He's now twenty and I am learning from him ! Good luck and tight lines.

Nice video. I was paying attention to your technique with spinning equipment. I don't believe that I'd have been able to work the frog as well as you've done without using a casting set-up. Very entertaining. Congratulations.

Great job, Jeff. An awesome trip for you folks. Congratulations !!

Welcome. Enjoy the site.

Congratulations..............great fish.

Dwight, he showed Pat a photo on his phone. Pat said it was definitely a nice fish...............but he doubted that it was an 11.

Since I am computer illiterate, one of the kids will have to post the photos. There really aren't too many but my biggest one is a very pretty fish. It's kind of dark backed with a yellowish belly.

We got back into town this morning at around 1:20 AM. I promised a report, so here goes. Arrived late Saturday the 11th at the lake. Hurried to get rigged and fishing. I don't have our daily numbers in front of me right now. We caught maybe a dozen fish that evening. Throughout the week we caught 272 bass. Still no DD. My best was 8-13. We caught one 7, three 6s, and several 5s. We caught more dinks this year than ever before. There were 3 fish that would barely make a pound. Our most successful numbers bait was a Zoom 8 in. watermelon / red lizard. A close second was the same in pumpkinseed with a chartreuse tail. 10 in. bk /bl powerworms worked well one afternoon. Topwater in the mornings went from sub par to great. 120 Sammy blue / silver and a bone Yellow Magic were both good. A bomber Long A jerkbait in perch color worked after the topwater bite faded. My best success came on big football head jigs trailed by Rage Lobsters in watermelon / red, dropped down steep bluff walls ( thanks to A-Jay for those jigs ). There was a fella there, fishing by himself that claimed phenominal success topped off with one that he said was 11- 4. Another day he had three 10s. One day his five biggest weighed just under 45 #. No one else reported anything even close to those results. Others did say that they had caught a total of four 9s through the week. All in all, not what we had hoped for but the drinks were Ice cold and plentiful. The meals were amazing. We had lobster and shrimp two nights. The steaks were done perfectly. I guess we did well enough to return at a later date. ........ By the way we never ran into " Chapo " anywhere.............

I hope to get some good photos. With some help, I may even be able to post some...................My daughter posted the ones of the grandkids' recent trip.................................Hope to be catchin' some tomorrow about this time.

My wife, my youngest daughter and myself took eight of our grandchildren fishing this afternoon. The kids caught twenty one bass, all on plastic artificials of varying types. My oldest grandson was a huge help with getting the younger ones set up and fishing. My second youngest grandson caught one on a frog that was 4 1/4 #. I was running ragged trying tend to all the kids. My wife was laughing so hard the tears were running. She said it reminded her of when we used to take our kids when they were the same age. It was a ton of effort but entirely worth it. Hopefully it will be one of those memories the kids will remember for a long time.