Woody B

I suspect muscle cramps, panic, or both. Decades ago myself and a bunch of my friends were at a local lake skiing , swimming ect. My cousin, a very good swimmer jumped out of the boat, then got a muscle cramp, probably due to the cold water. He didn't panic, and yelled for help. We pulled him back into the boat. Added: I meant to include. We were at a lake in the mountains (Lake James) in early April. The water temp was probably low to mid 60's.

For some reason I can't wear flip flops. They won't stay on my feet. I guess my feet are shaped funny. However, Vionic makes flip flops with good arch support. Mrs B wears them all the time.

We get snow but not every winter. We hasn't had any in a while.

Barefoot when weather permits, running shoes and ankle socks when it's not quite barefoot weather, rubber boots and wool socks when it's cold. I tried some boat shoes. My feet sweat quite a bit. My feet and shoes reek if I don't have socks on but they're OK barefoot. I guess the "funk" can get away.

Sounds like me fishing with my Dad when I was a kid. I'll echo what others have said. Run from that guy. Start saving money for your own boat/kayak, canoe or something.

I don't sing while I'm fishing but if I did it would be Robert Earl Keen's "Five Pound Bass".

Pat Brown and Team9nine are the Carolina bass machines. Pat catches huge bass regardless of conditions. Team9nine was catching a bunch of nice bass, then moved into my back yard, and keeps catching a bunch of nice bass, as well as other species. Speaking of sail boats. They had some kind of sail boat meet, race or something today. (I was fishing near a Yacht club) They took off down wind to a pylon, around half of them made a nice turn at the pylon and headed back into the wind. The other half kept going with the wind. If I had a sail boat I'd have a motor on the back. Thankfully there aren't any Orca's in Lake Wylie to sink them.

When the lake is down don't spend all your time fishing. Take a good look at what's usually in the water that isn't as well as contours ect. This was REALLY important before sonar, but can help you understand what you've been seeing on sonar also.

The only combo I have braid on is my "heavy stuff" combo. I launched an Alabama Rig into orbit last year with 12 pound mono. I use mono for everything else. I can't wrap my head around using a leader.......just goes against my "K.I.S.S." mentality. 'I tried a couple different brands of flouro but the "advantages" everyone talks about weren't enough to put up with the stiffness.

I managed to boat 6 today. 5 were between 14" and 18". I didn't measure the smallest one, but I guessed it to be 12". The little one was up a creek, the rest on stumpy main lake points. The little one came on a crank, the other Spots on a Shakey head. The lone Largemouth was on a jig.

I caught 10 today in the cold rain all between 14 and 17 inches. 9 spots and one LM. LM was my last of the day, on my last cast. I had something to do today at noon so I only fished from 7 until a little after 10. The bass were back shallow on flats and shallow points hanging at stumps. Most were on a shakey head. Lake is still down, about the same. Rain is just a drizzle so won't help water levels much. Water temp is 63. I don't remember what it was last week. Hopefully I posted it in this thread.

I put Cooper A/T somethings on my Silverado when the factory tires worn out. They'll be great on your truck. I put a bunch of miles on so I put Michelins on my Titan. They aren't the best performing, or the best off road tire but they last forever. I've got over 65K miles on them. They've still got 6/32" rubber. The Coopers on my Silverado had 5/32" at 50K miles when I sold it. That's good tire wear too in my book. They were really good the couple of times I had them in the snow. We rarely get snow here to that's less important to me than people further North.

I figure when the duck hunters are out it's kinda like being near a skeet/trap range. I might get peppered with shot but they're not close enough for any of the shot to penetrate. If you're fishing around duck hunters be sure and keep a hat and glasses on so you don't end up with a shotgun pellet in your eye. Deer hunters near the lake scare me. If they're using a large caliber rifle a projectile could travel as far as 5 miles across the water, and still have enough energy to injure or kill a human. Right now it's just black powder/archery season here. Hopefully when gun season starts they'll all be using shot guns with buck shot. The energy from buckshot dissipates quickly and it's a serious threat to anyone more than a few hundred yards away. Fear of hunters isn't going to keep my from fishing but accidents/mishaps do happen.

I hired a guide once ~35 years ago. I was down in Florida racing. I hired a guide to take me fishing on Okeechobee. The guide was great. I caught a bunch of big bass, but it wasn't my kind of fishing. I was fishing with live shiners using basically deep sea equipment. The guide was super nice, very helpful and full of knowledge. I don't remember what it cost. I do remember giving him a $50 tip. I hope that was a good tip, back in 1980 something. If you're considering hiring a guide, go for it. You'll never know until you try.

I know very little about the waters I fish. I know nothing about brackish water. We all fish different waters. As I said earlier last Winter I was faced with cold muddy water, combined with higher than normal lake levels. I "thought" I needed to go up the creeks, and up one river to find "better" water. I didn't find bass there, but found the few I found in deeper water on the main lake. When people talk I try to be a sponge, and learn all I can. A conversation I had months after the muddy, high water made sense to me. OK, more information about the body of water I'm talking about. Lake Wylie, in NC/SC. It's fed by the Catawba river, out of Mountain Island Lake. It's also fed by several creeks and the South Fork River. I've read that 1/3 of the water coming into Wylie comes from the South Fork. Wylie is ~13000 acres, and close to 30 miles long. I have read that on average it takes "water" 30 days to get from the Mountain Island dam to the Lake Wylie dam. OK, back to the conversation I had with a retired BassMaster pro several months after struggling with the muddy high water. I told him I had zero luck up the creeks and up the South Fork river. He said when the creeks and river flooded they took in a bunch of trash, and even stagnated water from pools/puddles near them. He said this would drop oxygen levels causing the fish to flee. (or trigger a fish kill if bad enough). I didn't see fish floating so I don't think there was a major fish kill. I thought the newly flooded areas, and the areas near them would be rich with "new" nutrients.........instead of deprived of Oxygen. Right now it doesn't look like I'll be fishing flooded waters anytime soon. The power company usually keeps lake levels within a foot of so. Right now the lake is down a good 4 feet. That's not much compared to many lakes, but I suspect it's a shock for bass here. This time of year, with water temps in the low 60's I'd expect to find a bunch of bass, and baitfish up the creeks. I'm only seeing a few baitfish, a few Gar, some Carp and some small (10 inch) Spotted bass. 2 months ago I was catching decent LM's and Spots up the creeks and catching 10 inch Spots on the main lake. Maybe I'm giving the Bass too much credit, but I believe the mature Bass recognized the lowering water levels and went to deeper water in the main channel. (that's where I'm catching them) There's way more bait fish in the main lake also. I also suspect the juvenile bass are following their instincts and going up the creeks because the days have gotten shorter. I can't find any hint of a thermocline, but the lake it too clear (and too warm IMHO) to be experiencing a normal turnover. So now I've brought clearer than normal water into a muddy water thread. In warmer muddy water I have really good luck in the mouths of the creeks using flashy lures right up in the middle of heavy cover.

I think pretty much every lake, and every situation is different. The coldest water I've seen (according to "my" transducer*) since I got my boat in 2021 is 45 degrees. I've had decent success with Largemouth and really good success with Spots (including my PB) is relatively clear water under 50 degrees. Now for the muddy water. Last Winter we had a BUNCH of rain. The lake was full of floating debris and was so muddy it looked like you should be able to walk on it. I struggled. The only bass shallow were 10 inch spots, and they were scattered. (on of the curses of live sonar). The "real" bass were 15 to 30 feet deep hugging the bottom. I'd have to mess with my sonar settings to pick them up on the bottom. They were basically non responsive or ran from my lures. I've got a plan to try, it the high muddy water happens this year. An online friend of mine named Pat Brown suggested in another thread, not a cold water thread that perhaps the lakes I fish sometimes have a stained, murky or muddy layer near the surface, but the water may be clearer deeper. I didn't try anything finesse in the muddy cold water last year.

I launched my boat once without take on the the tie downs off the transom. I was wondering why one side of my trailer was floating. Probably the funniest thing I've seen someone else do at a ramp. A man with a shiny new Ram 2500 truck was "trying" to back a shiny new HUGE pontoon down the ramp. He kept trying, getting crooked, pulling up then trying again. Finally......the lady sitting in the passenger seat got out, went to the drivers side and backed it straight down the ramp. I was loading my boat in the next ramp. The man started the engine (a 300 Merc) trimmed all the way up. It was beeping. I yelled, trim it down, you don't have any water pressure. He trimmed it down. About that time the Lady had walked back to the ramp after parking the trailer. She said "Thanks". I know a BUNCH of Women (including Mrs B ) that can back a trailer. However you won't usually see them with a man that can't.

I've never got up the nerve to trust my remote while I'm not in the boat. I don't have an Ulterra so mine doesn't deploy on it's own. Earlier this year I took a guy 1/2 mile across the lake to retrieve his boat when his Ghost decided to go somewhere instead of coming back to the dock. When it's not crowded I just tie my rope to a cleat, back the trailer in the water and "send it". One time the cleat broke off the dock. A guy in a kayak near by saw it happen, and came pedaling up with my rope in his hand. I would have been swimming if he wasn't there.

I haven't done that. I did forget to remove one of the tie downs on the transom once. It took me a minute to figure out why one side of my trailer was floating. When I was a kid none of the boats I fished out of had a bilge pump. If there was water in the boat you'd remove the plug while on plane, and the water would drain out. I was 10 or so, the man that took me fishing back then had done that, hit a wave, and dropped the plug into the lake. (tiller steer) He went by a marina where he knew the owner and circled as slow as he could without sinking while yelling "I need a plug". The guy that ran the marina came out and threw him a plug as we passed the dock. He put the plug in, went a paid for it, and got a spare. I've got a spare duct taped inside my transom even though I never take mine out while on the lake.

Duck hunters were on the water Saturday.

Go to work to make money, not to make friends, or enemies. I've got a nephew who's a convicted sex offender. His official record show a conviction of sex with a minor/statutory rape. I'm not excusing his behavior, but will tell what the "official record" doesn't. He had a drunken threesome with his girlfriend, and her 15 year old daughter. 6 months later when he broke up with the girlfriend she reported the "rape" to the police. Again, I'm not excusing his actions, but he's not a person who goes around having sex with underage girls.

I lost count of dinks today. I went up the creeks chasing bait, but all the bass were 10 inch spots. I went back out onto the main lake and caught 8 "real" bass between 14" and 18". The "real" bass were on points, humps and at the ends of deep docks in 15 to 25 feet of water. I caught my 1st Alabama rig bass of the season today. It was a 14" spot on a 20 foot deep hump. Most were on a shakey head and and Bizz Baits Dizzy Diamond cut down to ~4". I had some entertainment. I was fishing some docks that had over 20 feet of water at the ends. 2 boats come up to a state "planted" fake Christmas tree across a small channel from where I was(maybe 50 yards away). They start cussing each other yelling "I was here first" along with all kinds of "F" bombs and taking the Lords name in vain. I caught the 17" Largemouth. I held it up where they could see and yelled "Y'all need to quit all that cussing and either fight or fish". They both stormed off without making a single cast. I started to go over there and fish but I've never caught anything at the fake trees. They're marked by the state, so everyone knows where they're at. They're not like the cane piles or other brushpiles you have to actually find yourself. Pictured are a 17" Largemouth, a 17" Spot and an 18" spot.

Nevermind

I hate tournaments for various reasons. With that said, I don't think there's long term effects on a fishery.......unless there's way too many tournaments. I'm against government regulations but common sense should be used when scheduling tournaments. Some of the clubs around here have tournaments when it's simply too hot for bass to survive in a live well. They have rules about releasing bass so they "release" their dead bass after weigh in. I think most lakes have up and down stages.......possibly without any influence from fishing pressure, tournaments, pollution, or any other man made problem. Water levels are low around here, but it's due to lack of rain, not stuff the power companies are doing. Most of the farm ponds and streams are low too. I may be too trusting, but I believe the various pollution problems are better now than they've been in decades.

Check the voltage at the Sonar unit with a quality digital multi meter. I don't know about the 'bird stuff but Lowrance has a history of incorrect voltage readings. I'm assuming the motor starts fine, even when the voltage reads low.