T-Billy

The Dance hat strikes again!!! There's something about that big orange T that fish just love!!! Congrats. Nice smalljaws.

Thanks, I feel like I do pretty well. Better than most, not fit to tie the knots of a few. Lol. There was a tournament on Tappan Lake last spring that took 26# and change to win. Winner had an 8+ and two 5's in the bag I was told. That's just crazy for around here. Typically you need to be in the high teens to have a chance around here during pre spawn. 10# will win a lot of derby's in the summer. Night is best for big summer bass. Then late fall is another window for big's.

I've been close a few times, but haven't cracked 20# yet. The windows where it's a legit possibility are few and far between in the waters I fish.

41... Epic day for most of us, ol'crickety says, meh... it was ok. ? Just funnin ya Katie. Congrats on a great day on the water.

Crack a tube on top of those points next spring when the water hits mid 50's.?

I'll use a mono leader when fishing a jig or trig in deep rock just to make breaking off easier. Otherwise, straight 40# or 50# 832.

I don't have to say his name. He just comes looking for me. I thought it was bad when he was making me buy bass gear... The recent muskie gear attack has been a rough one, to the tune of around 2K in about six weeks.

The more vertical you fish, the easier it is to pull them up and out of the thick stuff. You have more pulling power, especially in that light canoe. It will work best in the bogs with a light wind. Just position yourself upwind to drift over the cover you want to fish and make short pitches. Isolated clumps off the deep edge are high percentage targets and often hold the biggest fish.

You certainly can Katie. I don't fish pads much. I do FAR better in hydrilla, milfoil and coontail. Might be why pads aren't that productive for me, the bass have so many other choices in my lakes. Even when there's tons of bluegill popping in the pads I can't get much going.

As is @ol'crickety, and they both catch WAY more big bass than me... Hmmm... Might be something to this...

Try fishing that thick grass vertically, or close to it Katie. Use your heaviest rod and straight braid, 30# minimum. Grass jig or Trig. I've caught lots of good ones dropping vertically into grass clumps as shallow as 4' from a boat. Your canoe is even stealthier. Watch your landing percentage go way up. ?

This is how I go about it as well. I happily share bait and pattern info, but you can count the number of people I'll share spot info with on one hand and have a couple fingers leftover. @WRB is right, secret spots are rare indeed, but how to successfully approach and fish those spots is a different story. I don't mind fishing behind most people, but now and then I'll watch someone on a spot I'd like to fish and know, that guy's got it figgered out, I'll hit something else.

A big part of my recent muskie addiction is the learning aspect of it. My bass game is pretty dialed in after decades of chasing them, but the muskie game has me really learning again rather than just fine tuning things, or picking up a new technique once in awhile. Bass fishing carries over well into muskie. They can be very much cover oriented like largemouth at times, and nomadic/palagic like smallies as well. It's all about what they're eating. In my lakes it's shad during the cold water periods, and whatever they can fit in that big toothy yap in the warmer months. It's exciting to have found success at it early on, but I feel like I've barely scratched the surface, and have so much yet to learn. That gets me really excited to get out there after 'em.

Hey, thanks for recommending that stuff. It's works great on the tendinitis in my elbows. Fast, pretty long lasting relief.

Beats the heck out of a 10-12 hour skunking in a 40 or 50 something degree rain. Been there done that several times.

Works the same way under a bright moon.

Managed three small ski's today, and the wife and I each lost a mid 30's. 36" below. Didn't bother with pics of the two smaller fish. They were both MAYBE 30", I just unhooked 'em boatside and sent 'em on their way. Pic below of why I hate fishing weekends. These vultures watched me catch two, and as soon as I drifted a little over a cast length off the spot, they swooped in. They didn't catch squat. They saw exactly what I was doing, but are too dumb to immitate it. Lol.

Finally made it down to lake #2 this morning. Launched at about 01:00. Figgered I better go catch some bass to maintain my membership here. ? The muskie addiction has been getting the better of me lately. The plan was to chatterbait some weedbeds that have been good to me over the years. That changed in a hurry. They NUKED that place. I haven't been there since June. Whole lake is baren of weeds except for pads in the upper end, and a little patch of pondweed here and there. So I decided plan B would be chasing the shadows cast by that big blue moon overhead. I ran down to mid lake and got on some dark chunk rock banks. It was on from the git-go. I had a pair of 2.5# chunks within ten minutes, one LM one SM, and so it went until daylight. Chatterbait the whole time. I caught a pile of em, and there were quality fish up on that shallow rock. Average was around 2#, and my best five would go right about 17#. Mixed bag, about 3/4 SM. Best two pictured below. I also lost a really good smalljaws boatside. Heck of a fun night. 3.69# My kicker. 21 1/4" and 5.67#. My new all time #3 SM, and this fish will bump my all time best 5 smallies up over the 28# mark to 28.24#. Tomorrow's dinner bit a little after daylight. Picked up a few more LM after daylight, pitching cattails, biggest was just shy of 3#. Called it quits on the bass and went chasing muskie for a few hours to finish out the trip. Zero luck with that. Back to lake #1 chasing muskie with the wife in the morning. I'd rather go back down chasing those big smallies in the wee hours, but I think she might have the muskie bug worse than me, so that's what we'll do. Lol.

Y'all who think fluoro is less visible ever compare it to mono side by side? The difference is negligible. Fish see them both. The density difference and it's effect on bait action can certainly be a factor in some conditions though for sure.

I'll go ahead and mark this as the solution. ??

Agree 100% Agree with this also. If you're going to eat them right away, the cold water fillets will be firmer, but no difference in taste.

On my belt. Getting a Glock wet won't hurt it a bit. Pretty tuff to make one rust. You can buy carry/duty ammo with sealed primers and case mouths.

Happy birthday @ol'crickety!!!

Lightning, 20mph+ wind and ice are the only things that keep me off the water.