Bankc

From a fishing perspective, not very good. The weather has been alright. A bit hotter than average, but nothing crazy. We've had about an average amount of rainfall. Not enough to officially pull us out of this several year's long drought we've been in, but enough to get close. But for whatever reason, the fish have just not been biting. And the fish that I have caught, have been smaller than usual. Maybe it's just a natural cycle. Maybe it's due to a change in water quality. Maybe it's weather related. Maybe it's years of increasing fishing pressure. I'm going to blame FFS, but mostly just because I can't reasonably afford one. Maybe other lakes around me are doing better, but the ones I frequent near me have just been really tough this year. And have been since around the start of last fall. But otherwise, it's been a pretty good summer. I mean, even a bad day of fishing is still a good day.

Yeah, an off duty police officer drowned at that lake just last month.

I went fishing Sunday and launched before the sun came up. Then, a little before noon, I had had my fill of the heat, so I headed back to the ramp. The temperature reached a high of 104° yesterday, for context. I get back to the ramp and I see the local law enforcement's dive team. There were at least four guys in scuba gear, and ambulance type van backed up on the ramp with the dive team logo on it, a whole bunch of other emergency vehicles parked in the parking lot, four covered awnings with chairs and tables set up, and a bunch of firemen lining the banks and dock. And everybody's staring at the water and talking to each diver as they surface for about a minute, before the diver goes back down. It breaks your heart to see such a thing. You know it happens, but you don't ever think you'll be witness to it. I decide to stay back at least 100 yards to give them room to work. Still, it's already hot and getting hotter. So I'm hoping they can finish up quickly, but it doesn't look like it. Everyone's moving slowly and methodically. I'm trying to figure another way to get my kayak out of the lake. After 45 minutes, a dad and his kid come up to the ramp and launch their kayaks among all of this. Then, the firemen start playing country music really loud on these outdoor speakers. I think I see one of the firemen fishing. Are they pulling out a grill now? So I head over to find out what's going on, and a diver pops up from about 10 feet away from me. I think he's going to say something to me, but he turns to a fireman on the dock holds up a piece of metal and says "I found the Michelob but almost left it because it wasn't a Coors". The fireman replies "Good man!". Yeah, they're doing drills, I think. So I talk to a fireman, and they're doing certification trials for the dive team, and this gets to decide who passes the class and joins the dive team and who doesn't. So the old guys where making it a bit of a party, I guess to relieve some of the stress. Which made me feel better. Still, a little notice would have been nice, so I didn't waste nearly an hour in the heat. Oh well. It's as much my fault for not taking the initiative to ask, I suppose. And, everyone went home, happy and safe, which is not what I initially thought was going to happen.

Most lithium batteries you find in fishing boats are Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. Also know as LiFePo4 or LFP. They tend to have a slightly smaller fire risk than your traditional lead acid or AGM batteries. So while a fire is possible, it's not as high as one would think. It's complicated and confusing because there are at least 12 different kinds of lithium batteries out there on the market, and most are just labeled "lithium ion", which doesn't mean a whole lot by itself. And all of those various types span the spectrum from being highly flammable and dangerous, to some with almost not threat of fire whatsoever (solid state lithium).

If the weather is nice and I don't have to be at work, then that's a pretty good indication that the fish aren't biting.

I spent a good bit of time several years back teaching myself how to skip. Then, armed with my new skill, I hit the water, only to realize that there's no place TO skip a bait around here! We don't have many docks, and they're all floating docks. And with our water levels having been stuck below normal for several years in a row now, there aren't even low hanging branches to skip under. In the dozen or so lakes I fish, there is literally only one spot where I ever skip a lure. So I understand the fundamentals of skipping, but I'm not anywhere near good at it, because I never do it.

That looks like a pretty neat system. Though, if I'm being honest, I rarely use more than 7 baits in a day of fishing. I could get by with less than one 3700 box, easy. And I probably only need 3 rods. But... and here's the catch... I never know which 7 baits and which 3 rods ahead of time.

What reel are you using? I switched to braid on my spinning reels specifically to avoid wind knots. As my mono or fluoro go older, it the line memory would eventually cause wind knots, and that's when I knew it was time to respool. But after switching to braid, I've now gone years between respooling and years without wind knots. But I heard reports that some reels, especially cheaper ones with bad roller bearings on the bail, or none at all, are more prone to wind knots. It also helps to put a swivel on your line from time to time, so that any twist that builds up in the line can be worked out. I had to do that often when I was using straight fluoro.

I feel that co-poly exists solely for marketing reasons. Manufacturers realized that some people couldn't decide between mono or fluoro, so they invented something to bridge the gap between the two. Not that co-poly is a bad choice. I've used several different brands, and I thought they were alright. But I also can't think of a single situation where co-poly would be the best choice. And really, in most situations, the kind of fishing line you use doesn't actually matter. There's only a handful of instances where one kind of fishing line has a real-world advantage over any of the others. And even in those rare instances, you can usually make do with any of the other fishing lines. So yeah. Don't sweat it. Ultimately, what makes the biggest difference between all of the fishing lines isn't the properties of those fishing line, but how you feel about using them. In other words, it's all personal preference.

They're about the same to me. Diawa's tend to be a little cheaper, and I prefer their braking system to Shimano's, but not by much on either account. Shimano's tend to last a bit longer, but either will last long enough with good maintenance habits that I'll be replacing either long before they've worn out or broke, just due to advances in technology. I have and gladly will continue to use both.

I've done it a good bit. Mostly because I didn't have an appropriately sized split ring available and needed one. It works pretty well. I've heard some people say that it's supposed to help keep the bass from gaining leverage and throwing the bait. I don't know if it does anything like that. But it works well enough that when I have done it, and later bought more split rings, I didn't replace them. So it's not my preferred method, but it is one I trust.

It's one of those things where sometimes the fish prefer one, and sometimes the fish prefer the other one. And sometimes the fish like both, and sometimes the fish don't like either.

Yeah I do! But I don't like the idea of driving that far or buying a plane ticket, just to go fishing. And I rarely go fishing on vacation. That's my time to focus on my wife, so I prefer to do things we both enjoy. Besides, I'm okay with being around people. If nothing else, it's nice to know if you have a problem out on the water, there's someone nearby to lend assistance. And if I truly want to get away, there are places to do that. There's a national forest out east that you can hike around for days without running into another person. I'm pretty chill, so I don't mind sharing the lake. Even with wakeboarders and jet skiis. I'll run into a jerk out there ever once in a while who tests my patience, but for the most part, I try to focus my energy on relaxing and having fun, rather than focusing on who's done me wrong.

I've fished a lot of lakes where I was the only person there. These were public lakes that were usually kind of crowded, but due to the weather, no one else decided to go. I don't mind the extreme heat or cold as much as most people. And on a few occasions, I've had the opportunity to fish a pond on private land by myself. But generally speaking, that kind of stuff is rare. We don't have many ponds and small lakes that are open to the public, so unless you know the owner, you can't fish them. And the small public lakes and ponds we do have almost always have people on them. If not people enjoying the lake for recreational purposes, then there are homeless camps or prostitutes and drug dealers. There are no forgotten waters here. Either everyone knows to go there for fun, or everyone know not to go there because of the other people already there. And you don't dare enter private land without permission around here. You will get shot. And if you don't actually know the owner of that land, going up to them an asking for permission is likely to get a gun pulled on you. The people who live out in those rural areas these days will be friendly at a diner or hardware store, but if you show up to their door when they're not expecting, they're going to get very angry. It's crazy how much the world has changed in the last 30 years. People don't assume the good in people anymore.

I found a lot of good stuff in dumpsters at the lake. Lots of rods and reels. A few lures. I think there's a certain percentage of the population that if they don't catch anything, they get so mad, they throw out their gear. It's usually not nice gear. But it's often working gear, or gear that just needs a tiny amount of work to repair. And it's good for giving away to friends or that annual trade in at BPS. And it's always nice to have a few extra Zebco 33's in case you decide to take someone fishing who's never been before. I'll usually give the dumpster a quick glance when I pass by. To date, my best find was a Fenwick Eagle rod with a Penn Warfare reel. The spool release lever was bent and wouldn't flip, but a pair of pliers fixed that. It's more of a catfish/saltwater setup, so I never really use it, other than to flip braided fishing line around (using three reels, two of which are empty). Well, actually that was my second greatest find. I did find a bass boat once (beside the dumpster). But it didn't have a trailer or motor (did have an old trolling motor though). It sat there for a month before it finally disappeared. The previous owner of that boat must have had some SERIOUS anger management issues!

At 6'5" and 330lbs, you're going to need a really big kayak. Doubly so with balance issues. Honestly, I'm not certain a kayak would be a good choice for you. And a kayak that size is probably going to weight close to what your bass buster weighs. What I would do in your situation is find a local dealer, or make a drive out to one. Find a place that specializes in kayaks and has models they will let you demo. You might find that no kayak out there works for you, as is. But you might be able to do something like add outriggers to one to make it work. Even the biggest fishing kayaks usually have a maximum seat weight of around 350lbs. And being 6'5" puts your center of gravity a lot higher than what most kayaks are designed for. So you're going to have a pretty narrow range of options even before accounting for the balance issues. My advice would be to not gamble on this and make sure whatever you buy will work before you buy it. Which means I wouldn't buy anything without testing it out first.

The best thing you can do is to not let them jump in the first place. I've tried keeping the rod tip down low. I think this only works if the fish is right next to the boat. It's not an effective strategy in my opinion. But what does work, is getting them into the boat quicker. If you can reel them in fast enough, they can't get control to make the jump. Keep them going your direction instead of the direction they want to go. Don't let them point their body in another direction, other than towards you. That's often easier said than done, but it's something I try to do, especially if I feel like I didn't get a good hookset to start off with. Second, is I try to keep my rod somewhat pointed at the fish. I like a little bend, but not too much. What this does is it gives me somewhere to go when the fish tries to jump. When it starts to break the surface, pull back quickly but smoothly on your rod to keep it from gaining leverage. The bass can only effectively throw the bait when it's head is above water and it's tail is still below water. So you want to pull the whole fish out of the water, fast, to break their leverage. And reel like mad, because at this point you're going to try to ski the fish across the top of the water back to the boat. Don't jerk the rod back like a hookset when they jump. You want constant, even pressure on the fish. But you've got to be fast, so it's not like lifting a jig either. The timing of when to start pulling the rod back is the hardest part. I try to start just before it breaks. It's hard to get it right and I often mess it up, usually reacting too late. But, when I nail the timing, I can almost always land that fish. And then sometimes you do everything right, and they still get away. It happens.

Interesting. But I'm not willing to spend money on a tool just to tie a knot. Though I hope someone else is, because that kid needs a new pair of jeans!

In my opinion, if bass were smart enough to look for the line, they'd be smart enough to look for the hooks. Plus, whales and dolphins are always getting caught up in fishing nets, and those animals are like 100x smarter than bass and the nets have to be at least 1000x more visible. So I'm betting it doesn't matter. But... it also doesn't hurt to try.

Single 5" screen, and it's off to the side. And I have terrible eyesight. Though, my eyesight is pretty good with my glasses, so I don't guess that actually counts as bad eyesight. I honestly don't know how you all fish around those big screens. Especially center mounted ones. It seems like it would always be in the way. Between casting, standing and unhooking fish, I'm always occupying that space. Even my tiny side mounted screen and transducer gets in my way occasionally. But I guess we all develop different workflows, because I see a lot of people doing it, so it must be workable.

I've spent a good bit more than $200 on a fancy meal at a fancy restaurant that I didn't even get to keep. The wife and I got food poisoning that night. It might have been worth it if I got a St. Croix rod to go with it. Though I don't think my wife would agree. So yeah, you did good!

Mental health? Yes, definitely. It's like a form of meditation. On particularly stressful days at work I like to go fishing on my lunch break. I can easily feel the calming effects that just 15 minutes of fishing can have on my mind. Financial health? Eh... I've had worse hobbies.

But it's made from natural wood! So the materials cost alone will make it much more expensiver than a similar bait made from an inferior product, like balsa. 😜

That rod is too heavy for that lure. So you're not getting good casting distance, which is causing you to cast too hard, which is generating the over runs. Yeah, I know the rod is rated to go down to 3/8 oz. But a rod that's rated from 3/8 to 1-1/2 oz. tells me that the rod's rating is overly generous. I've owned a few rods that have said they could do that. But none of them actually could. At least not well. It's probably more like a 1/2 to 5/8 oz. minimum and a 1 to 1-1/4 oz. maximum. I've found overly generous rods to be better at the top end than the bottom. That being said, you can compensate for the issue by making some other adjustments. It'll cost you distance, but that's the price you pay. If you have the brakes already set pretty high, then spool tension is the next obvious thing to try. And obviously, getting good with your thumb is always a possibility. If you're good with your thumb, you won't need any brakes or spool tension. You become the brakes. But, you'll have to learn to control the spool with your thumb throughout the whole cast, not just at the end like we typically do with modern reels. I have a few older reels that I have to cast like this because they lack brakes. So when I cast, I release my thumb from the spool and then immediately and lightly place it back on the spool, modulating pressure to keep the spool's speed in check the whole distance. You have to find that balance where you're not slowing down the lure too much, but also not letting the reel run faster than the lure. And that balance point is constantly changing. Then, you slowly back off the pressure until your thumb is completely off the spool near the end, and then reapply full thumb pressure just before it hits the water to stop it. It takes a lot of experience and skill to get good at, and I'm not great at it. But, having that skill allows you to cast virtually anything in any condition. And it comes in especially handy today when you're using a rod that's not built for your lure, having to deal with predictable wind gusts, or any other situation where the circumstances are less than ideal.

If a game warden says anything. Just tell them you were noodling, which is now legal in Texas. And tell them you threw them back, because they were the wrong species, because you were targeting catfish. Not that a game warden would be likely to say anything, but that's a loophole you can access if you need it.