Koz

I understand that some people have reservations about drones, especially because there are a bunch of people who fly them irresponsibly. But they are a great tool for aerial video and photography. The photo below (reduced in size and quality) is one I took that is actually comprised of 12 aerial shots that I stitched together. I will say that I've had some white knuckle flights as well. Flying $3,000 worth of equipment over the ocean or salt marshes and having a battery or equipment failure. Using a drone like the one above that is waterproof greatly lessens that anxiety. In the situations you describe, drones aren't the issue - it's the drone operators. And as for the noise, with the ones I have used you really don't hear them until they are right on top of you.

That's my great fear in life - catching a double digit bass and no one around to record it (/sarcasm). I guess I've been lucky enough to be fishing with someone or someone is passing by and is willing to take a photo. I guess that if the situation arises I'll try and take a selfie, but I imagine that trying to take a selfie holding a 7+ pound bass is a pain in the rump.

Remind them to look before they cast!

?? In reality I'm too cheap to spend money like that. Once the free period of the app is over I'm done with it. Besides, none of it's good days or bad days have panned out for me. I spend my money on foolish things like food, shelter, retirement savings, and my son's desire to further his baseball career.

It does cost about $150 to get certified to fly now. It did need to be done because there were way too many idiots out there doing stupid things with their drones. You'll also find that many towns now ban the use of drones in public areas. I did some commercial drone flying a few years ago taking pictures and video, but it ended up being too much of a hassle and we dropped those services. Still, I know one small lake where I fish where the big bass tend to hang in deeper water feasting on the shad out there and it's too far to cast. Maybe a long range RC boat with a servo would do the trick.

If you're a bank fisherman like me there are times that I bet you wish you could cast out to deeper water or an inaccessible area. Well, now you can. Get yourself a great big reel with a ton of line on it and try out the Splash Drone 3+. It's a waterproof drone with a servo attachment that allows you to carry payload - like a lure - and drop it wherever you want. That's right - this drone is waterproof. You can even set it in the water and use the drone's camera and the live view on your controller to see what is under the water (provided the water is clear and there are no gators trying to eat the drone). Be sure to spool your reel with braid for more solid hooksets and no stretch when you drop that lure 300 feet out. But seriously, this is a pretty cool idea although for $2k for what you need you may just want to buy a kayak instead.

I bank fish and for me that usually means using moving baits so I can cover a lot of water. My PB is just under 7 pounds and I've caught a good amount of 6 pounders and lost a few that probably would have been a new PB. What I have noticed is that when a bass over 6 hits a moving bait the bait usually just stops. There's no head shake or running off until I set the hook. If it's a good hookset the fish will shake and break. If it's a weak hookset the fish invariably breaches the surfaces, spits out the bait and mocks me as I'm left cursing about what could have been.

Some anglers will spend money on tons of baits, multiple rods and reels for every presentation and special holiday dates, tackle bags, bait storage at home, specialized apparel for fishing, boats, trailers, and new vehicles to tow them with but they won't spend $30-$60 for a scale. SMH

I don't know. Eagles have an 8 foot wing span and baby lambs are not that big. I've seen some big birds carry off some big rabbits.

I once had a Red Tailed Hawk swoop down and pick up my Whopper Plopper. That seems tame compared to this. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/09/remarkable-photograph-eagle-carrying-helpless-lamb-sparks-fear/

About 14 years ago when my now ex-wife was pregnant I gained weight along with her. It didn't make it any easier when I took a job coding and sitting at a desk all day plus running my own SEO firm in the evening. About 7 years ago I got more active coaching baseball and doing things with my son but it wasn't enough and I was not eating as healthy as I should have been. What can I say - I love pasta, bread, pizza, and potatoes. Almost 3 weeks ago I was disgusted with the way I looked and made a change. No more breads, pasta, potatoes, sugar, or processed foods. It was actually easier than I thought it would be to give those things up. I've lost about 10 pounds but more importantly I feel a lot better. I can go bank fishing for hours and cover a ton of ground walking and I'm no longer tired and achy when I get home. Other than walking I haven't started working out yet but I'm ready to give it a go. I'm in my 50's now and I realize it will be much harder to bounce back but I'm determined to make it happen. The surprising part is that I'm not missing or craving any of the stuff I used to eat. There are still snacks and "bad foods" in the house for my growing teenage son but I'm not tempted by them. That surprised me. I'm not even tempted when I go grocery shopping. I figure now that I made it 3 weeks it should be pretty easy to stick with my new meal plan. I set a goal from now through August and I'm looking forward to those results.

Back when I was in the tech field coding apps and developing web platforms for a publishing company the company decided to add aerial photography to its services and since I was the I got to fly the drone and shoot photos and video. It was fun to an extent, but it was also a pain because people were always complaining about spying. Even with the proper FAA credentials the town clamped down on use of drones and it basically shut down our aerial services. The photo below is of Shelter Cover Harbor on Hilton Head Island, SC. But what's cool about this photos is that it's actually 12 separate photos that I took with the drone and stitched together to make this one picture. This photo is greatly reduced in size and quality from the original.

Some people will do anything to not let a biggun' get away. I would have been sitting on the deck upset with myself and my choice of line selection https://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/fisherman-dives-line-breaks-catches-bass-bare-hands

Kind of like The Silence (you need to be a Doctor Who fan to understand that reference).

FWIW, in my area I rarely catch anything on a chatterbait in clear water conditions. But in just about any degree of stained water it has been my top producing bait.

It could be low oxygen or toxicity issues. If you call fish and game and report the fish kill they may come and check it out.

Today the gators were a complete nuisance at almost every lagoon I fished. They weren't interested in my bait - they were interested in me. I spooked one gator a I was rounding a narrow point and he went into the water and wouldn't leave the area. Sometimes if I smack my rod in the water they'll go away. Not this time - he came right at me. I was cornered with dense woods behind me and had to sprint down the shoreline. At other lagoons they just came and hugged the shoreline wherever I was fishing today. It's getting to be mating season here and that's when the gators tend to get aggressive. But in a few months I'm moving 200 miles north and won't have to worry about them on the water anymore. I might even by a kayak now. I just hope the fishing is good up there.

The lagoon behind my father's house is only 1/3 of an acre and the biggest bass I've pulled out of there was 5.5 pounds. I've caught a couple of 4's in there as well.

I record most shows that I watch to my DVR so I can fast forward through the commercials. Frankly, I'm tired of being inundated with advertising at every turn. The internet is the worst. Firefox did recently add a feature to stop autoplay videos so that's great. I hate when I go to read an article that an autoplay video starts and ten scrolls down the page. But last night a major bug hit Firefox that disabled all addons so until they get it foxed my *** feature is not working.

There's nothing like grinding on dinks all week long. It makes all but the last 10 minutes of each round boring as anglers try to make the cut.

I haven't seen fish blow up on anything exciting, but I've seen gators blow up on birds and fish.

Never - I bank fish with no electronics ? I managed to head out for an hour today with only one bite and landed a decent one about 3 pounds, plus had one completely miss a buzzbait.

Truthfully, I just fish whenever I can and something like that app wouldn't sway me from fishing. I was hoping that since I'm moving from this great fishing area in a few months there would be some correlation and I'd have a good day out there. OK - I just checked the app and it says tomorrow is an EPIC fishing day with a rating of 10 out of 10 with the best time being between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm. I may take an extended lunch tomorrow and check it out. Fingers crossed...

The other day Glenn mentioned the Bass Forecast app and he stated that he tracked some tournament results versus what the app was forecasting and he seemed to think it did a decent job of forecasting the fishing conditions. Since it has a 60 day free trial (with limited options) I thought I'd give it a try. The app rates the daily forecast on a scale of 0-10 and for the first 4 days that I checked it and fished the forecast was between 5.2 and 5.6. I bank fished 2-3 hours each of those days and caught between 2 and 6 fish each time. Today's forecast was 8.7 and as luck would have it I didn't have to work today. The app indicated the best fishing time during the day would be between 9:20 a.m. and 11:20 a.m. so I hit my most productive lagoons for that period of time. The result? Not one bite. I fished the baits and locations the app suggested and zip. Zilch. I fished the baits and locations that have been the most productive for me this spring and still nothing. I covered even more water and nothing. Frankly, I was excited when I saw the forecast, hoping it would be a great day fishing but the day ended in disappointment. Has anyone else tried this app? What were your results? After today I felt like someone sold me some snake oil. I'll keep checking it and see if this was an anomaly or if it pans out. Tomorrow is rated as an 8.6, but it's back to work and I won't get a chance to fish.

The wind was relentless down here this past weekend. It was blowing 15-25mph with occasional bigger gusts. That can make bank fishing a pain because based upon access you can't always optimally position yourself to cast. Invariably I'd make a cast during what I thought was a lull in the wind, only to have a big gust come and the occasional backlash that goes with that situation. The wind was enough that it howled in your ears and there were actual small waves on the lagoons, but it was still sunny and mild outside so of course I spent some time fishing. None of the usual baits were working, even the chatterbaits that have been killing it lately. So on a whim I tossed a buzzbait - without a trailer - and that did the trick. Nothing big, a few 4 pounders and 3 or 4 around two pounds and that kept me happy. It was the same thing the next day. I tried a handful of other baits and still the only thing they wanted to hit was the buzzbait. Well, that's not quite true. I was tossing a spinnerbait and got one of those wind gust backlashes and while I was picking it out a catfish grabbed the lure. Maybe he grabbed it just as I cleared the line because he didn't run with it. But once I pulled in the slack there was that telltale feel of a catfish on the line. Anyway, the buzzbait was a champ in the high winds. It doesn't get hung like a kite in the wind and the bass found it through the choppy waters. I kind of hope the wind picks up early this evening when I go fishing again