the reel ess

My family thought I had lost my mind last week when I went to the hotel gym while on vacation. This room had it all. I told them they could get me all that stuff next birthday. LOL.

My balance has a head start on being bad

Yeah, cardio machines feel like walking or biking to nowhere. I don't have a good enough imagination to just mentally check out until it's over.

Likewise. I started drinking my coffee black while I was trying intermittent fasting (which works, BTW) and never changed. It's water the rest of the day. Cakes, deserts, baked goods, etc. are off the menu except on very rare occasions like high holidays or vacation. When I do have something like a desert in a restaurant it literally gives me a buzz. I limit bread to whole grain and one slice a day and try to get my carbs from fruits and veggies. Low carb is not a great idea if you have to work out. But there are good and bad carbs. Limiting empty calories is the goal.

I'm not without my aches. Shoulder issues are most common with the middle aged people I talk to at the gym. Hip and knee issues come later. Why do you say walking is good but treadmills aren't? Concrete hurts my feet, knees and hips more than the treadmill does. We're doing a boot camp style class 3X a week and I try to do weight lifting twice so I've mostly stopped walking for exercise. Walking is great. I've put many miles on my sneakers, but it does very little for strength anywhere except the legs. It does nothing for arms or core.

I'm almost 53. The wife and I joined a gym about 2 months ago and I'm getting in my best shape maybe ever. The wife does Weight Watchers and I just eat what she cooks. I was able to get off my BP med and lower my statin dose. My goal is to eventually get off that one. The only downer is gym time is taking up my free fishing time. I'm curious what others are doing in their middle age to stay or get in better health.

Is there a seafood restaurant dumpster outside?

Hey Bill! Welcome from Kershaw, SC. My aunt lives in Elgin. Those clemson extension bass lakes are near you. Just a thought.

I caught my PB on a black/blue Yum Dinger.

You mean another brand? Zoom's website only shows bubble gum for Trick Worms and flukes, both of which work quite well. https://zoombait.com/colors/bubble-gum/

Bubble gum, lime. I catch a lot of fish on Trick Worms in these colors, more than I do in more traditional colors. But they don't exist in Zoom's smaller 4" Finesse Worm.

It's a fishing rod, not a piece of furniture. It never even occurred to me to leave plastic on.

Stick my feet or fingers in. If it's not uncomfortably cold it's warm.

My dad was a crappie fisherman when I was small. In the days before people and the DNR put out fish attractors, there were only stumps in the lake to concentrate crappie. Many of the best ones had a stake driven into them to tie up to. This was cane pole and minnow territory with a lot of down time. Later, I turned it into a chunk and wind pursuit using my trusty Zebco and curly tail grubs. I made him a believer in artificial baits.

It gives you free hands and time for a beer. Not bad for dock fishing. That's an area where, if the fish aren't there, an artificial won't get bitten. But a live bait might draw one in. When you fish the creeks around here you get a lot of creek chubs. I've often thought about keeping some for use in my local reservoir. It's creek fed so they probably would not be invasive to the lake.

Gold/black is THE hardbait color where I usually fish, though it works well elsewhere. These are my 2 favs: Cordell Super Spot and the H2O Xpress store brand. Both are under $5. I have a box chock full of Traps that I don't use because these two outproduce it 2:1, at least where I fish. A lighter color gold may work well in places with shad as the primary forage.

I saw a boat so fast it turned a sharp corner and ran into itself. (A variation on a Ty Cobb joke)

Does the lake level rise when that many boats launch?

I fished for peacocks for a day with a guide. He had me using a Super Spook with 3 trebles. I caught a good one and had it beside the boat. He had no net and didn't want me to boat flip them. He says to me "Handle your fish." I said "I'm not paying you $400 to get a hand full of trebles attached to a peacock flopping around the boat." My hands were like hamburger. They were throbbing. I didn't even have lotion at the hotel. The wife suggested I try Chapstick. It did the trick overnight.

If you averaged out a whole year, maybe close to once a week. More when it's warm. Less in winter. So my wife has been goin to Weight Watchers for more than a year and has nearly lost 100 lbs. I've just been eating her cooking and also lost weight. But she hit a plateau and wanted to join a gym. That's a money commitment, so we go when we can. I do it to encourage her, but I also love the health benefits and how it's making me look in the mirror. That has taken a few fishing days away from me this spring. But honestly, weather and other obligations took April away from me...again.

Yum Dinger. And you can get 100 for $28. I bought a hundred pack of black/blue flake. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=yum+dinger+100+pack&crid=WFV6UCOURLRK&sprefix=yum+dinger+%2Caps%2C94&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_3_11

I use the same rod for pitching/flipping that I use for worming and often pitch a worm. Thus I do peg it all the time. A certain pro fisherman had a YT video saying he never, ever pegged a worm weight because, in his opinion, it caused fish to be lost. Later I saw another of his videos where he was pitching laydowns and had one pegged and he didn't even mention it. As stated above, in open water, there's no need to peg it and might get your hook in a few more fish.

Kayak starting to really hurt my lower back after an hour. Just gets worse unless I get out and stretch. I live in town and barely have room for my cars, so a boat is out of the question for now. I really would like to give a jon boat the electric bass boat treatment.

I went to Florida. But generally, if I'm going to be fishing from a local person's boat, I'd do 2 hours. If I'm doing everything I try to stay on an hour radius. There are still plenty of places I haven't fished on that circle.

Whatever the wife has. But usually only put it on my legs. Face and head are covered.