guitarglynn1

i guess it depends on where you are fishing. I pretty much fish from shore all the time, and many of the best fishing lakes around here you have a large % of the body of water surrounded by private property. So you need a boat or you are pretty restricted. Other spots I fish like some ponds I can walk all the way around and hit just about any part of the pond. Like jfrancho said, even just to have a boat to access other parts of the bank would be very beneficial and certainly result in more fish caught from many of the large lakes around me.

One summer a few years ago I was at a park nearby running sprints. it is heavily wooded around the park and i saw what i thought was a dog coming up along the edge of the woods right beyond the clearing and sure enough a very large black bear walks right out and is only about 30ft from me. It froze when it saw me and i froze as well and it had that look that it was going to do one of two things. turn around and go back the way it came to get away from me, or charge me. I did not run, I made some noises at it just to see what its next move was going to be. But if that thing took one more step in my direction I was gonna make a break for it. Luckily for me it turned around. My heart rate was elevated for about an hour after that.lol But I can't blame his son in law for running. If a bear charges me I am not sticking around either!lol I started carrying pepper spray when I did my outdoor exercise in that area.

Good luck bro!

Good question. For me it seems like there is you can fish windy and cold and there is you cannot fish windy and cold. This weekend was the cannot. Everything was blowing right back at me and there was no way around it. There was no over powering that wind or working around it. Trying to cast yesterday was like trying to shoot a basketball into a 7ft hoop with dikembe mutombo camped under it :-/ Today was much better though and the next few days its gonna warm up. I'll make up for the lost weekend over the next few evenings

Because I got a fever! And the only prescription is more fishing

That thing is a freaky beast! Very nice fish..Don't think I have ever seen one of them before?

It was the same here all weekend. It was just blowing everything back in your face and it was impossible to deal with

Awesome! I seem some the monster pike you have caught so I definitely plan on getting one asap

Good stuff to know. I did not get jaw spreaders but I already have some 11" long reach/neck pliers I packed in my tactical bag and I got some fish grabbers. Spooled up some braided line last night and I got some of that knottable wire leader. Also besides some husky I got some swimming shads in 4 and 5". I want to try the bucktails you suggested as well and i will. This is just the start for me.

Awesome! thanks man. I have never used a husky jerk and I was not sure if I was going to try a leader or not? Honestly at first I was leaning towards not. But now I will. Sounds like it will behave kind of like a countdown which I love.

4lb pickerel ain't nothing to sneeze at!

very nice sized pickerel right there! Bet that bad boy put up a nice fight

Smart move. I am not sure what to expect this weekend. the weather on my phone shows rain and cold tomorrow and Sunday it just shows this windy gusty thing. Last time it showed that it was windy as heck. Sunday in NJ in the fall must be national heavy wind day because it never fails. I am going to play it by ear but I'll get out one way or the other.

i don't run thru mine that fast but I do run thru them pretty quick as well and they tend to be the bait I have to re-up on most often

Its all about the fight for me too! I love catching yellow perch and I fish a lake that is loaded with those guys so maybe i'll get to take advantage of this brief YP surge! :-)

They do here as well. But it depends on the spot. My main fishing spot right now has the biggest pickerel of any spot I have ever fished at and they are consistently big there.

I have just started fishing in a spot with pike so I hope to catch a pike as nice as that one :-) Have a taste for yellow perch? I have heard it is among the best tasting fish but I am not a big fish eater and I throw em all back. But I have been catching a lot of yellow perch lately from shore. In fact my first cast on a rapala countdown on monday I had a yellow perch on it within about 3sec of it hitting the water. I was catching them consistently all summer and then things slowed, but the past couple weeks I have caught maybe a dozen of them. They won't leave my 3" senkos alone lately If you catch any nice ones I hope you post up pics so we can check them out

How long did it take you to say to yourself " this aint no crappie "? lol Nice catch man! And on 4lb test must of been one fun fight! The crappie action has been picking up out here. Saturday morning they were all over my 3" senkos. Love catching them on ultralight. And I seen the snow forecast :-( First it showed very windy, then snow, and now rain. My guess is it is just going to be a sucky day. :-/

My brother got knocked out of his. Yup, a whole bunch of people got knocked off from that game

I feel your pain bro

which is about every other fish they hook

Just happened to me yesterday. i honestly had trouble sleeping last night..It was a very big and strong pickerel. Put up a fight to remember and I had it at the shore several times and got a very good look at it and it jumped clear out of the water. I have had some decent fights this year with fish but this one was on a level of its own. This fight had rounds to it. And it took me some time to get this to shore and overall maybe 5min fighting it. It was too strong to try and just power this thing in. I was working slowly and thought I was wearing it down nicely. As I got it too the shore it took off again and it did that again when I got it back. Then the 3rd time it started running under this lip on the bank and I knew that was trouble. I got it out from under there and then it gave a massive burst and got back in there and right then and there I just knew I wouldn't get that fish out of the water. I could really have used 2 more arms to help me. Then as I was working it out from under there it gave one more massive jerk and it was gone. All that was left was a piece of flesh from its mouth on the treble hook of the rapala. It was the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows all wrapped up in one. I never weigh or measure fish. But I caught my biggest pickerel ever last week and this was without question bigger. It would have been the biggest pickerel I have ever caught.

Then the wind i was crying about is probably like a nice day with a slight breeze by your standards.lol I gotta figure things out when it comes to fishing in the wind and I am sure that will help me change my tune a bit.

Lol! Its funny because where I was fishing Sunday a guy came on one of those wind sail board things. As he was gearing up on shore near me I was just thinking to myself that this is not going to go well. He eventually set his sell along the shore way out there and paddled back in. he was just falling of in the water every couple of minutes. I like calm hot days. hate the cold with a passion! But I sure wouldn't mind catching some trout :-)

I broke out the thermals already It is showing heavy wind, maybe snow, and rain for this Sat so I will get a chance to put the power fishing to the test and I will try the fluoro as well soon as I pick some up. Thanks for the info buddy