DaubsNU1

Last year I moved the boat from garage down to my shop for winter storage. Changed engine oil+filter, spark plugs, bottom end lubricant, and shot some grease in the bearing buddies. Full tank of ethanol free, alcohol free gasoline, and called it good. Shop is unheated...left the batteries in the boat and the charger plugged in all winter. Worked just fine (contactect charger manufacturer and they said leave it plugged in all winter). This winter I'm keeping the boat in the garage, and plan to work on the Chevy K-20 restoration in the shop. I will likely pull the bearing buddies and repack the bearings on the boat trailer, and do all the required maintenance on the Lund here in the next few weeks.

I'm still fishing the Cabela's branded rods and Shimano Curado and Citca's purchased in the early 1990's. My Dad still has two "d**n Quick" reels from the 1960's, although they do not work well.

Chasing fowl this weekend. Ranger got some work in...

Duck hunting this weekend...supposed to rain, high's in the mid 50's, lows in the upper 40's. Still keeping the boat ready...I hope to get a few more days on the water before freeze.

As a kid, we grabbed out pillow cases and ran the neighborhood stocking up on candy. What fun!!! My daughters are 26 and 24, wife's boys are 22 and 20...none of them live with us...and now that we moved to the acreage...we get exactly ZERO trick-o-treat'ers at our house. Sadness : ( When we lived in the city, and our kids were younger...groups of Dads would meet up with our kiddos, a wagon, and a cooler of adult beverages. The Dad's would walk kids around to houses...and the wives would hand out candy and sit in driveways. At the end of the night we would all gather at one house, get a driveway fire pit going, finish the adult beverages...and the kiddos would swap candy. Glorious times!

Chasing waterfowl this weekend. Probably keeping the boat in the garage this winter...need room in the shop for old truck project. Christmas list includes a sand-blast cabinet, and a bed / cab hoist (you can see where my mind is...)

This is a business decision. I have never seen a business "restructure" things with the end result of making less money. Nope....it's always about making more money.

Wife and her son do meal prep on Sunday's. Some weeks I throw meat on the smoker...this week it was Greek buda-bowls. Five bowls each...15 total for the week. Dang good! Aldi's chicken breast Home made street corn Home made dressing Cabbage, vegetables and a little brown rice underneath

Great year @gimruis!! @Tennessee Boy, I am offended(!) 🤣 I should say Indiana Bones McClane and Ranger Ellis Boyd Redding are offended : )

Good luck with your search! You can gain some inches here and there by angling boat in...My Adventure 1775 fits in the third bay that is 19'5" long front to back. I don't even have to use the swing tongue. It's a tight fit, but it works. DD.

@gimruis....Yes. I. Did! I've had to swim once : ) And I do use a rope...unless there are other boats at the ramp...who might be able to assist if things go south. Otherwise, yes, I use a rope.

Nice catch!! Last November, decided to fish just one more time...air temps in the 40's, light wind. I jumped off boat on to the dock...and used the Ulterra remote to spot-lock the boat about 10 yards off the dock. Walked up to the truck...hopped in and drove around towards the ramp...and noticed my boat driving away from me across the lake(!) I drove down the ramp, got her in park, set the parking brake...and scrambled down the dock, remote in hand, hoping and praying I was still in range.... Thankfully I was able to gain control and turn the boat back towards the dock. WHEW!

Much respect to @FishTank and the Hoosiers. They completely thrashed my alma mater. I am not looking forward to facing Ohio State this week...especially after they lost to Oregon two weeks ago...and had a bye week to prepare (and get more ticked off). Ugh.

Yea @Drew03cmc, fishing open water confounds me! I have caught a few fish working off-shore brush-piles this summer...but in general, I'm in the same boat as you. I am going to spend some time researching and thinking about fishing open water. Another plan for this winter is to really dig in to this project....It's a 1972 K-20 I picked up almost 20 years ago.

One of my favorite spinning rods was once a 7' medium light...now it's a 6'8" medium : ) Yea, I kept the rod...might throw a new tip on and see what it does...

I fish a few lakes with private docks. Always try to be respectful and give them room. Heck, I can fish hundreds of acres of lake...they are concentrated on a few feet. It's a no-brainer in my book. Few weeks back I was working the bank on a public lake...didn't notice a guy bank fishing with his line out. When I did see him, immediately reeled in, set TM back and away from him, and apologized. He thanked me.

I am a big fan of my old Cabela's branded rods, owning four casting rods and six spinning rods all purchased in the 1990's. I have long resisted purchasing new rods, knowing full well that once I start down that path...well...it ain't going to end well with my bank account. I don't even pick up Loomis rods when I'm at BP, Cabela's, or Scheels...I know what will happen : ) Whelp, my old Cabela's Classic IM6 two piece spinning rod (that I keep in the trunk of my car), finally met it's match. Boooooooo!! I have picked up a few Scheels and Fenwick rods locally in the past year, inexpensive rods in the $55-79 price range. I have been impressed by all, and they are serving me well. But could not find a two piece spinning rod to replace the one broken above. So my first rod purchase from Tacklewarehouse was a Fenwick Eagle XFS-2 medium action | extra-fast | 6-12lb | 1/8-3/8 spinning rod. And I kind of like it(!) And now, the bait-monkey (er, Rod-monkey), is knocking on my door(!)

Yep, @gimruis, this lake is just 225 acres...and last Saturday, 45 minutes before sunup, there were five boats in front of me at the ramp.... It's good to be sneaky....

I have found a good area on my home lake that has produced some really good bass over the past month. Four over 4 lbs, one over 5 lbs. Water is 3-4' deep with lay-downs and trees, adjacent to a creek channel that is 12-16' deep. I've had good luck by first tossing a spinnerbait or square-bill. If that doesn't yield any bites, I move to t-rigged plastics or a Senko. I generally make one slow pass of this area, spot-locking a few times to make just a few extra casts. And then I move on to other parts of the lake. I do not want to over-fish the area, run bass off, or educate fish. And I don't fish this area when others are around, or within eye-shot (made that mistake on another area of this lake earlier this summer....I see boats fishing that spot hard....and I have not landed a fish on that spot since). When you find a good spot, do you pick it apart? Or get in and get out, saving it for another day?

Sadness. I loved my true cable steer, old-school Minn Kota All Terrain 40lb trolling motor.

I am told Honda ATV's/UTV's are super reliable and darn near bullet proof. Sad that your engine is shot. If it were me, I would take it to your local Honda dealer and get pricing for an engine re-build. Then shop around on FB marketplace or Craigslist...might be able to find a used engine that you could swap in for less $$. First step is getting it checked out by Honda dealer. Wife's ex-hubby had Yamaha ATV's...that he loaned to us to take their boys to Colorado years back. They ran great and served him well for years. We decided to get ATV's shortly thereafter...looked at Honda, Yamaha, Polaris and Can Am. Went with used Polaris 550 ATV's...found some good deals used. Polaris are pretty popular with Ranchers / Famers in Nebraska...lots of dealers around. Buddy of mine had a John Deere Gator UTV for many years...he really loved it. So much that he dropped $35k on a new XUV Premium Cab with heat and AC. I'm told it is pretty sweet ride. Good luck!

Got to the lake and they were already five boats at the boat ramp.. this was 40 minutes before sunrise. Managed 14 bass, this was the largest at 20 in long. 4 lb 11 oz. Water temps between 63 and 65. Light North Wind at 8 Miles an hour. It was a good day.

Straight braid on all my casting rods. Landed 5lb LMB last week on straight 20lb braid with a Terminator spinnerbait. Fish hammered the SB, good hookset...easy peasy.

Not really one word, or one piece of advice...but one person. Growing up in Nebraska, our family shared a "cabin" on the Platte River with Grandparents, Aunt and Uncle and their family. I spent many days fishing for crappie and bluegill from shore. I moved to Missouri after finishing college and met a co-worker that would become a great friend. He was originally from Alabama, and grew up in Texas, and loved to fish for Bass. We spent many days fishing from his canoe, talking about life, work, and most of all bass-fishing. The lake we fished the most was stocked with Musky, and had a good population of LMB's. I learned so much from my friend...lessons that still impact my fishing to this day!