Jar11591

I’m a “coffee at home” and a “coffee while I’m out” person at the same time. I try to keep my coffee at arms’ length. Trying to only make decaf when I make coffee in the afternoon, but the taste is so terrible compared to regular coffee that it doesn’t always happen.

I remember reading a quote about fly fishing that basically said in my paraphrasing: “fly fishing is an inefficient and complicated way to catch relatively few fish”. That quote stuck with me and and made me realize that it’s more about the art-form and culture than it is trying to maximize your fish catching. There are times where fly-fishing can out produce conventional casting, but the majority of the time I don’t believe this is the case. I’m no fly fishing expert, I’m barely even a novice. I have a fly rod that I use to cast dry flies or popping flies to panfish or trout. I do it because it’s great fun. I could do better with a peice of night crawler on an Aberdeen hook if im after pumpkinseeds, but it’s a lot more fun throwing a grasshopper fly to them. But if im fishing for bass, the fly rod stays at home.

Yes, adequate reels for the money and when on sale definitely worth grabbing.

If the spool is full enough to where I won’t cast all the line off in a far cast, I’ll just use a leader knot to splice the line and add more to the reel.

NY. It’s my home state so I may be a little bias but upstate NY from the Great Lakes area, the Finger Lakes region, the Adirondack Mountains, and the St. Lawrence River valley offers so many premium, world renowned fishing opportunities. It’s a sportsman’s paradise.

I use a hollow body frog when there is emergent vegetation, for obvious reasons. When there is no emergent vegetation I’ll throw a treble hook bait, either a walking bait or popper. The walking bait is more seasonal for me. I opt for them more in the spring and fall when the water is in the 50s to low 60s. Otherwise it’s generally a popper that I’m throwing. And if fishing around laydowns or docks, that’s when I may bring out a buzzbait, although walking baits and poppers do well around them as well. Just a little riskier throwing a popper into a laydown.

Rooting for ya, brother! And yeah the competition may be stiff if you have to compete against 11 local hammers, but the competition is even stiffer for them because they all have to compete against Pat Brown!

I’ve seen some posts with Sixto recently. Good to know he’s still guiding. I had heard he moved into a managerial role but looks like he still gets out with clients. He was my guide when I went. Great guide, good dude and he is a riot.

I had open water and was going to go out fishing, but winds were blowing 25 steady and up to 40mph. Small boat, high winds, and frigid water are a bad mix so I opted not to go for safety reasons.

If you’re using it as a leader, you don’t need to worry about factors like suppleness and memory. I suggest Berkley Trilene XT. The XT stands for extra tough and it’s just that. And it’s cheap. And if using it as mainline I suggest the XL version.

There are factors like temperature and time of year and forage etc, that will have a majority of the fish doing something similar or to be in a certain location, but I’ve never found bass to have a herd mentality and find myself junk fishing very often. I do get on hot bites doing something specific but it’s usually related to another recognizable factor like time of year or forage. And sometimes for me recognizing that the pattern is no pattern is the ticket.

Unfortunately for the bait monkey, I found that the same lures that work in my quiet, clear Adirondack lakes also work for giant Mexican bruiser bass in lake Baccarac. Fortunately for the bait monkey though, I consider myself a tackle collector, and there is no world in which I don’t continue to buy lots of tackle I don’t need.

On a roll, man!

Me as well. I have a lot of hobbies and interests, but bass fishing is more than that. It has a hold of me like nothing else ever has.

The water around here is usually pretty stiff from December to April, but I fish right up until that point and start immediately after. This year we have an early ice out. As of Monday, the lake near my house was 30-40% thawed, and I’ll be launching my boat in the 30° air temps tomorrow morning. So this year my start is 3/20. Over 3 weeks before my estimated date.

My favorite is probably a small soft plastic bait on a ball head jig around rocky shoals where smallmouth frequent. Don’t love it but cant deny the effectiveness of a wacky rigged senko.

Looks like someone boated a 13 at the lodge. Certainly seems like the fishing has been hot this year.

I’ve had enough success with the DT line from Rapala that they’re all I’ll throw for cranks. In this case it would be a DT-4. May not be the “best” crankbaits but they’ve been serious fish catchers for me.

@12poundbass At first I thought I was looking at an aerial shot of a bustling harbor, until I looked closer and saw the sad reality.

And they made off with $400 in CBD oil! You know, the stuff that isn’t psychoactive. Criminal masterminds.

For a spinning reel in the conditions you described, I think 15lb is the way to go. I use Sufix 832 and Power Pro and find both to be sufficient. As for color I go black or moss green. Just a preference thing. I stay away from hi-vis lines but they may be right for others.

Rods are tools and I try to have the right tool for the job I’m doing. Can I drive nails by bashing them with a crescent wrench? I suppose. Will you see me doing it? No. Does that mean it won’t work for someone else? Also no. Use whatever gear you want. But if you find you can’t drive your nail all the way with the crescent wrench, you might want to get a hammer.

Oh yeah it’s @T-Billy Muskie season

I got some open water near me. In another day or two the lake will be totally thawed. I’m going fishing this week. Earliest I can remember. Stoked.

This moment is fast approaching for my folks. And I’m dreading it. My parents aren’t ancient by any means - my mother is 68 and my father is 75, but they both have some health issues. My mom has never been a good driver, but the early stages of Parkinson’s have affected that even more. Driving as a passenger with her is…interesting. Mentally she is still very sharp. My father isn’t as sharp, and lately his balance has been bad. He is still a good driver, but not what he once was. Maybe as their son my judgement is a little skewed, since I knew them when they were younger and sharp and healthy. But either way, I’ve been fretting over this thought for some time now. It’s fast approaching. I have a brother, but he isn’t exactly in a state to help with such decisions, so it will be on me and them.