DitchPanda

Honestly the last few years I've spent less time chasing bass...especially last year. I spend considerable time going after bluegills, crappies and channel cats. Also spend time in the fall going for walleyes and saugers in the local river.

First time I saw my niece wearing pre ripped jeans I gave her crap about it. She says oh yeah like you've never worn ripped jeans...I said of course I have, with rips and tears I've earned not paid for. Brian, I'm gonna be honest with you, that smells like pure gasoline.

#2 without a doubt. Btw @A-Jay I've seen your picture lots of times and although you don't look like him after reading #4 im not so sure your not Randy Blaukat!

Never went to college. Got my first "real" job at 16 and was working full time by 17 while going thru my senior year of high school. After graduation I moved to Iowa and started working at a small town grocery store. Started out as a stock boy and ended up as meat department\ assistant store manager. At 30 I was tired of not making any money so I went looking and found a job at a local bio-processing (ethanol) company as an operator 1 on nights. 10 years later I am lead plant technician 3 and water chemistry manager on days.

I've lost interest in certain types of fishing over the years, but not in fishing all together. For instance I don't ice fish near as much as I used to, its just alot of work for not much payoff in my opinion. Also, and this may be blasphemous to say here but last year I lost alot of interest in bass fishing. The main reasons we're it was awful locally and I got back into cat fishing big time in 2022 so I did that alot instead. Instead of driving 5 minutes to a local pond and maybe catching 1 bass I could drive that same distance and catch half a dozen nice cats--easy choice when you just wanna pull on some fish. I never really tire of walleye or panfishing.

That's kinda what I heard...its a $20-$25 whiskey for $40...ill steer clear and stick to knob creek.

Opinions on the traveller? My local gas station has them. As for the eagle rare it lives up to its name around here. I haven't seen a bottle in over a year of looking. I've got a buddy that has hookups around here for all kinds of allocated stuff but I refuse to pay $80-$100 for a $40 bottle. I recently picked up an OF 1910 on sale for $45---no way eagle rare is better than 2 bottles of 1910.

I'm a long ways from Des Moines ....I'm half way between Sioux city and Sioux falls SD...gonna be 66 here today and 60 tomorrow. Heading back to that pond today with a buddy. May try somewhere in town tomorrow.

Think I ended up with your weather here in Iowa and you got mine. It was 60 and sunny today...strong South wind. March 1st is now officially the earliest I've fished open water in a pond or lake. Hit up a pond about 45 minutes east of my house...one I've fished at ice out for years. There's a shallow bay on the north east end that warms fast and draws panfish and it didn't disappoint. Caught 15 bluegills that were just about, almost, maybe keepers but I pitched them.back...if I was starving they would have worked. Also caught 4 small bass...lots of fun on an ultralight. Highlight of the day I ended up with 6 nice crappies between 9.5 and 12in.

Same dumb s#$% here...buy in person? $2 surcharge for inconvenience. Buy online? $2-$3charge for convenience.

Sorry to hear this...losing a pet is awful

Last night I had a few new pours...the bottle buying streak continues!! Honestly the collection is getting very respectable... Need to make an effort to lay off buying for a while. Its getting a little crazy! First up was Rebel 100...normal price around me is $23-$25 but I found a bottle on sale for $18. Honestly it didn't do much for me, in fact it had more wheat funk than I expected but it will be a serviceable mixer. Doubt ill ever pick up another bottle as there are tons of options in that price range that I'd much prefer. Next up was Cedar Ridge the Quintessential. Pretty excited for this one as it is an American single malt, I've heard it described as a hybrid of a highland and Speyside scotch. Plus its made in Iowa so that's pretty cool being an Iowa boy myself. From what I understand they blend in a barrel of peated for every 50 barrels of unpeated single malt so there is a slight smoky note. Well this did not disappoint- the nose and palate matched perfectly tobacco, slight peaty smoky note, light honey and a vibrant peach\ white grape juice. This one was even better than anticipated for me--it drank above its 92 proof but not in an ethanol punch way but just in the depth of flavor and length of finish. Honestly to match this in a scotch I'd expect to pay at least $75-$100---this however was $55. I've heard there is a lot of batch variance, this one however I'm very pleased with. Last but definitely not least was the star of the show and the find of the day, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof A 124 the newest ECBP release. This was my first time seeing an ECBP locally and my favorite little shop had exactly 1 bottle on the shelf, and they had it around MSRP at $75.99. I'd read a few reviews about this one and everybody is b@#$%&$g because this one is "only" 119 proof and 10 years 9 months. Kinda crazy people complain about that but will pay over $100 for a Bookers that's 7 years and basically the same proof point. Well I have no comparison because as I've said this is my first ECBP ever, but I'm comfortable saying this is an amazing bourbon for the price considering how pricy whiskey is these days. I've had more expensive bourbon that this would easily stomp.

So the autopsy came back inconclusive but they said it wasn't natural causes- now we wait on the toxicology report but that will likely take weeks.. Because of the time that has passed we couldn't do open casket so we chose cremation instead. The visitation is Monday night and the funeral is Tuesday. It has been a very rough week, my girlfriend has been a wreck. Thank you all so much for the prayers and kindness.

So sorry for your loss man...dealing with a tragedy in my household as well. You are not alone. Prayers to you and your friends family.

Thank you all for the prayers, needed and much appreciated

My girlfriend has an extremely close family...brother, sister, mom , 1 niece and her kids all live in the same town as us. Her oldest niece lives in a bigger town just 45 miles north. They hadn't heard from her for a few days so they went up to check on her, and her mother found her dead on her apartment living room floor. She's only a few years younger than my girlfriend so I think she was 30 or 31. She's always been close with her older brother Steve and this is his daughter so they grew up like sisters. What a horrible night, as you can imagine my girlfriend is devastated. The benefit of having a very close family is you always have people who love you to lean on. We will get thru this, its just gonna be a rough road the next several days.

I've got a bottle, think its 128.6 proof...tasty stuff

Well I held off for a while on bourbon shopping, then the bug bit me and I went on a buying spree. First I picked up a replacement bottle of rare breed...its been crazy spendy around here the past 6 months or so, like $60-$70 but I found some in a small shop I like and they had it for $45.99 so it was under $50 out the door. Next store I picked up a Russels reserve single barrel and an old forester 1910...first time with either ....I like the Russels but think I prefer rare breed, the 1910 however surprised me and I think I prefer it over Woodford double oaked. Also got a cheap bottle of Old forester 86 for a buddy whose getting into bourbon and he really liked it. Lastly I picked up a bottle of Ben Holladay soft red wheat after hearing several good reviews and was very happy with it as well. I thought it was maybe being overhyped but was very surprised by it.

This is the craziest winter I've seen in the 22 years I've lived here. Had a week or so of super cold weather otherwise its been very warm. Also we've had like 30ish inches of snow but almost 25 of it came in a 9 day period. I haven't set foot on the ice yet this winter, and with the weather forecast we have I likely won't. Had a buddy who ice fishes religiously tell me he got on the ice the 1st time this winter on January 9th and it was still sketchy...he was out yesterday and it's sketchy again. If the weather holds I may be fishing the river next week for walleye. Gonna be 55 so I'm heading to a buddies this evening for grilled ribeyes and baked potatoes.

Yikes man, thats scary. Last week I was helping my neighbor push his wife's car out of a drift in our street. Walked over, squatted down to push then bang right on my @#$. Luckily I just bruised my hip, coulda been much worse.

Oh meteorologists ....what a ridiculous job. The only job where you an be wrong 100% of the time and that's perfectly acceptable. Ok we are gonna get 4-6, oh we already have over 6 ok well then it'll be 6-12....oh now its over 12.....well lets say up to 18......oh it stopped at 15, see I said it would be less than 18. What a joke. That's like betting on a football game after its been played....you can't change your predictions after it happens and say your right.

I remember when I was in 8th grade we were living outside of Houston and we had ice followed by a few inches of snow and below freezing temps for several days. They cancelled school for an entire week because there was no equipment to clear the roads and the bus drivers weren't experienced driving in those conditions. Of course as a 13yo boy I was ecstatic to miss school and play video games all day. My mom was stay at home at the time and she grew up in Iowa so we went all over the place.....movies, out to eat, my buddies house.

We have had close to 20in of snow since last Monday and now we have serious north winds creating hellacious drifting. Wind chill overnight is supposed to get down to -42.

My local Bomgaars already has snowblowers and shovels marked down. Don't normally see that til late February \early March.

So sorry for your losses. Been a real tough go for you man. Hang in there buddy, stay strong.