T-Billy

ABSOLUTELY!!! I've taken many a walk into the woods in lieu of entering one of those things in summer. It's a sweet gig as far as truck'n jobs go, all but a handful of days a year. It's ALWAYS my call whether I go or not. Company doesn't get a vote.

Roger that. Double chains on the tractor, singles on the trailer, a quick prayer, put it in first and idle outta there at 3mph with the seat cover locked twixt the cheeks. Our ice is pretty well gone here. I was down around Marietta today. The OH river is up several feet, but I didn't see any ice. Local lakes just have some bergs floating around. They'll be melted away in a day or two. Might get a little muskie fishing in next week.

I had to visit the blue room on a well pad last week when it was 5 degrees. I was kinda nervous about sticking to the seat!!! 🤣 Then I got to descend an icy 15% grade with two switchbacks, with 8000 gallons of stuff that makes gasoline seem tame behind me. #CRUDEHAULERLIFE #MAJORPUCKERFACTOR!!!

Ice and logs.

I don't try to emulate anyone. I just do my thing.

Impressive!!! The last one I had like that was when an unnoticed overhead limb stopped my spinnerbait dead just 10' or so off the rod tip. It was similarly epic.

Similar deal here. They had me start the evening before. 4 pills, then drinks. More drinks early the next morning, then nothing for like 5hrs before the procedure. The prep was no fun for sure, but wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Worst part was starving all day. I'll make sure to get a morning appointment next time.

You'll want to fish more vertical once the weeds are up. Some days they'll be in the pockets, some days they'll be buried under the canopy. Fishing vertical doesn't necessarily mean straight down. Just think in terms of short pitches to where your line is at a 45 degree angle or less. That gets your bait in and out of cover cleaner, and makes it easier to move the fish up out of it. You'll have more control over those beasts of the bog this way. They can pull that light canoe of yours around horizontally on a longer cast, but they ain't gonna pull you under when you're over top of them. You have the leverage advantage in close. Lol. Never take a knife to a gunfight.

You'll be armed with some heavier artillery this year. Lock that drag down on your H stick and don't give em an inch.

I'd call it a coal/diesel hybrid given the amount of diesel burned mining the lithium and shipping it to China, where it's processed at a coal powered plant.

Glad you're all clear. Prayers for your brother.

5# LM, 4# SM, and hopefully a muskie big enough to eat either of them.

Tough to beat in it's price range. Same can be said for all the Ark series.

Agree with this 100%.

Those boat prices make me feel blessed to live around small waters. I bought my 20HP Suzuki in 20. Picked up my 16' Polar Kraft Jon in 21, built an all aluminum deck and floor in it, and I'm all in at 11K. It works very well for what I do.

I bought my house last year for only a couple grand more than that Bass Cat. I put a steel roof on it, and still came in about 9k under the price of that Ranger. I can't imagine spending that kind of money on a boat.

This is how my day started. Those are my fresh tracks. Access road to a well pad. Roughly a 15% grade. Producer was slacking and hadn't touched the road. I was a mile back into the woods, and backing out wasn't an option, so I chained up and gave it a go. I spun out, then slid backward until my trailer slid over onto the shoulder and gave me enough traction to get stopped. Fortunately there was enough shoulder there for me to back down to the bottom without it getting away from me. I backed out to a wider spot, made a call, then spent 5 boring hours waiting on a plow truck to arrive and plow and cinder the way into the pad for me. Amazing how scared you can be at 3mph. I was puckered up so tight you couldn't have hammered a needle up my butt with a sledgehammer!!! Lol. #Crudehaulerlife

Seems to work pretty darn well for ya.

Grinder. I have a handful of confidence baits, and I'll most generally grind all day with one or two baits that I have confidence in for the given conditions. Most days I can be found pitching the gnarliest cover I can find with a flippin rig, and chucking a moving bait of some sort in between prime pieces of cover. The past few years, a flippin rig and a chatterbait have put more bass in the boat than everything else put together.

Say what!!!??? Hey buddy, this here's a family friendly forum!!! 🤣

He's pried at least $4k from my wallet since last August for muskie gear. He can afford all the bananas he wants. DANG!!! That escalated quickly.

I found a heck of a deal on lefty 7 speed Daiwa Lexa 400 HD's a couple weeks ago. $200 a pop on Amazon. I picked up a pair. They're $329 everywhere else. Got a couple 8'6" MH Prorex rods a couple days ago. I really like the pair of 9'5" XH's I picked up in Dec. They're a lot of muskie rod for the $. Daiwa's X45 blank construction, Fuji palming seat, and o-ring guides with a tungsten tip top. Dropped almost $400 on bucktail components and a wire twisting tool this morning at LPO. The bait monkey is small Bananas. The Muskie Monkey is a full grown silverback.

I'll second that. I thought I had broken one of my Lexa 300's last Dec. I had been battling ice all morning, and the level wind quit working altogether. A couple hours thawing out in my bibs pocket remedied it though.

Phenix Feather 7'1" ML and L. Curado BFS on both. 6# XT.

Fins, XS Big Game, really impressed me this past fall. Very smooth, strong, color fast, priced right, MADE IN AMERICA. Nothing about it I don't like. It'll be my braid for muskie and chuck n wind bass baits going forward. I think it'll be a very good braid for flip'n too, but I've got a large stockpile of 832 for that. Mono/Copoly, I've really become a YZH fan, but I've been very happy with XT and Siege as well.