Smokinal

You're close!!

It's been a long, cold winter in Maine this season. Long cold stretch had me thinking we would have late ice-out but we're turning the corner now with a warm spell coming up for the next 10 days anyway. I'm banking on ice-out in 3 weeks around my home lake area....fingers crossed

Hopefully in ~3 weeks we'll have some open water!!

Oh no.....I just saw Lucky Craft 155....MS Crack Blue Must have!!

Have you seen Moon Juice?? Another one I have to buy if I see it

And I'm not talking about what colors you have good luck with catching fish on, but what colors do you just have to buy? We all know some baits and colors are definitely produced and marketed to catch us. For me, it's that "crack" pattern like Lucky Craft puts out...the 150 MS Crack; Bandit makes one similar. My other one is Citrus Shad...any brand. I don't know why I'm so drawn to these colors. I just have to buy them. It's like the Devil's Tower in Close Encounters of the 3rd kind. I'd sleep with these color crankbaits under my pillow if I thought my wife wouldn't find them. But, both do catch fish for me too, so there's that. So, what colors do you bite?

Wow, when I read the title I thought this won't be too hard. But as I read through the names...man, I honestly can't narrow it down. So many awesome, fun, knowledgeable guys I'd like to spend boat time with.

First, let's get something out of the way...I'm no artist! ?? Now that we've established that, here goes You're going to get a few different opinions of terminology on some of these structures. And to start, to me, structure is the natural contour of the bottom. Cover is an object on that structure. Structure: Ridge, ledge, hump, ditch Cover: Tree, brush, rocks on ridge I drew a side view of what I call a ridge. I consider a ridge a structure as drawn; sharp top, coming up off the bottom, and running however long. I was on a roll, so I thought I'd throw in some ledges as well. Basically, steep "steps" on a sloping bank or point. And finally, a hump. I wanted to point out the difference, again imo, between a hump and a ridge. To me, the ridge has a sharp top; whereas a hump flattens off on top, usually more round in shape, usually a little larger area on top as well; almost like a plateau. That all said, I think it's great that you're trying to get a grasp on underwater features. I think this is quite possibly the most important, most underlooked thing we can do. I really like to try to visualize the structure/cover I'm fishing, and picture my bait coming across/over/down it. You can impart more lifelike action to your bait doing this. Of course, good electronics will help in this. When I'm done fishing a spot I have found, I like to side image it from all angles to really get a good mental picture of how it lays out, the cover on it etc... It's a whole other world down there. I'd love to be able to empty some of my favorite lakes and take a wheeler around the bottom.

Welcome!

? Caught me! Wait....how did you know???

I don't mind the $15, it's finding some for sale.

Any out there you guys don't throw anymore?

^^^Thank you Tom; I'll pass this on

My buddy is headed to the Fl Keys in a week and wanting to catch these. He doesn't know where or how. Any tips on this? Spots? Baits?

One of my techs has one of these and loves it https://shop.snapon.com/product/supplemental/Heated-Jacket%2C-Large/HCJKTPMBKL

I was so frustrated with BPS and Cabel sites a while back until I figured it out. I couldn't search, couldn't add items...nothing worked as it should. Are you using Firefox? I was; still am for every other site and they all work fine except theirs. I discovered their sites are configured to work best with Chrome. Try Chrome and report back.

In for answers as well. Thinking of adding mega360 as I already have 2 mega graphs now and don't want to add another platform.

Welcome!

I know at first thought it seems like it would be nice if there were less people on the water. But what happens when the state tries to take away some access to waters; tries to put absurd limits and more regulations on fishing; rich land owners file to put absurd restrictions on fishing. When you arrive in court with 37 names on your petition, they will laugh you out of the room. Now, you show up with 137,000 names, now you have a voice. Not to mention, let's just go ahead and put another PS5 controller in another kid's hand. I'd rather see a fishing rod....

A sample of one in 37' and one in 8' today. Boy was I wrong about the expected temps though! Very happy about it, but way off. Air was 30 when we got there at 6am but the sun came up and it got pretty darn nice for Nov 20th in Maine. We boated around 25 bass and around 20 crappie. With those water temps, we should be able to fish for around 3 more weeks. The crappie

I can't speak for the reast of the country, but in Maine, where this whole "bass go deep in the winter" thing should ring true, it just isn't the case. I catch bass in 34* water in the same locations/depth as I do in 74* water. I'm going out for one of the last times this weekend and I expect to catch fish in 5-8' and 25-40' and I'm guessing water will be ~39* There's always shallow fish and there's always deep fish; fish where your confidence/experience is.

This is so sad to hear. About 1.5 weeks ago, I buried a best friend of 39 years due to cancer. My thoughts and prayers are with Aaron and his family.

I'm tellin ya, a betta fertilized some eggs there. Wait....wouldn't that make him alpha?? ?