Woody B

I use Nunn also. I've been plagued with muscle cramps most of my life. Nunn helps. Pay attention to your body. Don't get so focused on whatever you're doing that you don't pay attention to how you're feeling. ~35 years ago the shop I worked at was closed for July 4th week. I was going to a big race, but had a job that needed to be finished. It was a transmission I was going to deliver to the race track. I was working in the back of the un air conditioned shop, with the doors closed. I didn't want to be bothered by customers, I also didn't want customers to know I was working, but wouldn't work on their cars that week. I was working like a mad man because when I got finished I was done for the week. I got finished with the transmission and loaded it in my trailer. It was only then that I realized I didn't feel "right". I was dizzy, and starting to have a headache. I think I was between heat exhaustion and heat stroke. I was alone, with no one around. I went in my (air conditioned) motorhome, took a cold shower, then drank a bunch of water. After the shower I decided to take my temperature. It was 100. I suppose I was lucky. I was also a young fit 20 something year old man that worked and played in the heat all the time. Had I not been so focused on finishing the transmission job I would have taken breaks and cooled off occasionally. Like I said, pay attention to your body.

Continued. I moved across the main channel to a point and caught several there including a 4 pound LM. This lake is heavily pressured, but many people don't "pressure" the right places. I should have taking more water/land pictures so you could see better "where" it looked like I was. There's a tapering point that goes out to the intersection of a big tributary channel, and the main river channel. The actual point is a couple hundred yards where the land mass indicates it's at. I should have taken a picture of the sonar. Boat is positioned on the point, in ~8 feet of water. I caught the bass here on a Carolina rigged baby D Bomb. I was casting off the edge of the point into 20 feet of water. It's my belief that the D bomb floats up, then when moved it jerks back down, then pops back up. (if d bombs don't float, don't tell me) Strikes come right after moving it. I caught my last, the smallest one pictured on a point another 1/4 mile down the lake. I took, and included this picture because of a conversation I had with a guy at the landing a couple days ago. We were talking about bass behavior. He said Spots eyes lock into place...... or at least don't move quickly like largemouth eyes. He said to pay attention to the direction of their eyes. If they were looking down they were probably feeding on the bottom. If they were looking up they were attacking prey from below. @AlabamaSpothunter have you heard this about spots?

Y'all are posting pictures of monsters, and I'm posting minnows. I enjoyed catching them, and I enjoy looking at everyone elses pictures. I love it when I'm on vacation. I went fishing for the 6th day in a row today. I caught 12 bass, and a few uncounted white perch. I believe it was @ol'crickety who mentioned posting pictures of where we're casting. I forget most of the time. A 15 inch Spot(pictured) that fought like a Whale was my first. I caught 2 more (smaller ones) from the same tree. The tree is on a channel swing bank, next to a flat. Boat is in ~5 feet of water. It's ~12 feet deep at the end of the tree. The spot pictured came from skipping a bladed jig under the tree. For some reason I'm better at skipping than pitching. I'm going to continue in another post so I can explain the other pictures better.

I have Lowrance Active Target. The pros make everything look easy. They make it look easy to cast a spinnerbait into a coffee cup 50 yards away in the wind. There's a learning curve. I see a BUNCH of anglers with all kinds of sonar equipment, but they're not using it. They're blindly casting to any visible cover, mostly docks. When the internet says they need to fish on points they'll be fishing an area where the land indicates a point. They're not even using their 2D sonar to find where a point really is. I don't "video game fish".....not in the manner many do. I use it to find active fish, then ignore the screen for the most part during my retrieve. When I see a fish following my lure I have a tendency to do stupid stuff that prevents them from striking. I've had mine for ~10 months now. I honestly can't say if I catch more bass or not. However, I can say for sure I make less cast per bass than I did before I had it. I have a small tear in my right labrum, so making less cast per bass is a good thing. I'm on vacation right now. I've fished 6 days in a row so far and caught a bunch of bass. Before live sonar I would have to rested my shoulder for a day by now. I should spend more time messing with my sonar but I can only handle so much time on the water without fishing. I suspect the pros spent days, or even weeks without making a single cast to learn the ins and outs of their equipment.

IIRC the manual says press the ! button for something like 3 seconds for manual over ride. It seems more like 15 to 20 seconds when I use that.

Blue Cats will do that. They'll fight like heck for a few seconds then just turn into dead weight. Once you get them in the boat they come back to life with a vengeance. I took a fin to the bone in my foot last year dealing with one. Since then I've started dragging them beside the boat until they "come back to life". I want them tired when they get in the boat. Whatever kind of situation you get into, fishing or otherwise. DON'T PANIC. Be mentally prepared. Do the best you can to ignore whatever pain you're in until you have the situation under control.

I've moved to create boat waves on calm days. Also, last year (by mistake) during the mayfly I air mailed a lure into a tree overhanging the lake. It shook a bunch of mayflies out and created a bluegill feeding frenzy, which created a bass feeding frenzy. I caught several before I retrieved my lure. Since then I've done that on purpose a few times. Also, somewhat related I suppose. If you see someone mowing near the lake go fish right there, right then. Mowing stirs up bugs, that stir up small fish, that stir up big fish.

No one makes me go fishing. If I'm not motivated I'm not going. If you don't want to go in the rain stay home. It isn't a crime. However, I enjoy fishing in the rain.

It's a good day with no injuries, no illness and nothing expensive to repair.

We cut our camping trip a day short due to weather. We did get some good fishing in and managed to grill out one night. My bilge pump earned it's keep on this trip. 17 Bass Monday, 21 Bass and 1 Crappie Tuesday and 6 Bass this morning. Mrs B only fished a couple hours between rain showers but managed to catch 5 of the total number, including a nice 3.5 pounder pictured. My biggest was a 5.2 pound skinny, 22 inch long Largemouth, in the pouring rain(pictures). I also caught a really fat Largemouth that appeared to be pre spawn(pictured). I texted Mrs B a picture of it, and said that's a fat one. She texted back and said "the fish looks healthy too" LOL

I'm pretty sure they share a common fuse. My boat is at my Sister in Law's tonight so I can't go look.

The little screw in fuse holders on the dash next to the switch are bad about vibrating loose.

Last year during the mayfly hatch I air mailed a lure into a tree. When I shook the tree it dislodged a bunch of mayflies, and started a feeding frenzy. I propped the rod up, picked up another and caught a couple before I retrieved my lure. I done that on purpose a few times since.

It's been decades since I caught a Striper, but I agree with @Dwight Hottle. Boat positioning is key when fighting a big fish.....and you're in a boat. I've caught a BUNCH of catfish over 10 pounds, and as big as 53 pounds on bass tackle, bass fishing. Cats love to dive under the boat. I get on the trolling motor and get the boat away from them before they can get under it. Regarding drag settings. I only use baitcasting reels. I keep my drags fairly loose, but I have a habit of thumbing the reel during hooksets.

Heat doesn't bother me that much. (but it's not 110 here). I fish at night and early in the morning because of wake boats and general heavy recreational use of the lake I fish most. When the waves get bad I position my boat so the bow it pointed into them. I've had waves break over my bow.

I went this morning. I was going to leave my boat at the landing (at the campground) but when I left it was full. The Park (Ebenezer Park, York SC) was at capacity. They were only letting people in as people left. I've never been there on a Summer weekend. I left my boat at my Sister in laws house a few miles away so I don't have to drive there with the camper, then come all the way back home to get the boat. I caught 8. 7 Largemouth and 1 Spot. 1 on a T-rig, the others on a bladed jig. All of the largemouth were between 13 and 15 inches. This will make Alex mad, but I think I hate spots. I caught all 7 LM's before the spot. As I said earlier all between 13 and 15 inches long. When I hooked the spot I thought I had a bigger one. It was by far the smallest fish I caught today. (pictured) If it's going to fight like an 18 incher it should be 18 inches long. (LOL) I guessed it at 12 inches but I didn't even compare it to the inch marks on my boat. ( I have marks at 14, 18 and 22 inches) I'm still working on the phone/camera positioning.

The people I'm talking about are usually teenagers with no handicap placard.

The problem with a tripod is the water I fish, and my boat. I'm usually getting rocked by wake boat waves. The tripod, and my phone would probably end up in the lake. I've got a phone holder on my console that my phones in. I've got another holder, just need to decided where to mount it for good pictures.

Back to being serious. I saw something today at the landing that irritates me, not just at boat landings but everywhere. People who aren't handicapped using handicap parking. It makes me want to knee cap them with a tire iron.

I used to "escape" from School to have Godfathers pizza for lunch. There was also a Godfathers near the landing I used to use at Lake Norman. Are there any left? I haven't seen one in years.

The good news, I figured out how to set the timer on my phone/camera and take pictures the way @T-Billy told me to. Someone (I don't remember who) said I looked stoned in my selfies. I'm probably still look stoned but I'm not, and haven't been in over 4 decades. LOL The bad news, dinks only. I only fished a couple hours today. I managed to get 8 in the boat but only one was 14 inches long. I think the smallest one pictured is the smallest bass I've ever caught. It looks really small, even long arming it. (IMHO you're not a true fisherman if you don't long arm fish in photos) I caught the little guy in 30 feet of water on a C-rigged 10 inch worm. Most came on a bladed jig 10 to 30 feet deep. The bass seem to be scattered. The catfish spawn is going on right now. I suspect the cats have ran off everything near their beds. I didn't catch any cats today. That's good though. I'm not much for cleaning my boat, but I shampooed the catfish slime out of my carpet last week. The only thing I caught shallow was a small white perch. I'm no vacation next week. Mrs B and myself are taking the camper to the lake. The wifi at the campground is spotty. I'll post pictures, (or skunk reports) when we get back.

Most Friday nights Mrs B and myself have "real" Pizza at a real Pizza restaurant(Greek owned). It's great. However I love pizza. For me bad pizza is still pretty good.

Ethanol is not the devil many people think it is. There's several reasons for it's reputation. When ethanol was first put in gasoline many vehicles, boat motors, and small engines had fuel system components that weren't compatible with ethanol. Also some of the older 2 stroke oils weren't compatible either. Modern engine, and modern 2 stroke oils are now compatible. The other problem with ethanol. It's hygroscopic. It readily absorbs moisture. If a boat, vehicle, or small engine sits a bunch I recommend using fuel stabilizer as well as ethanol free gasoline. If you're going to burn the contents of the tank is a month or so don't worry about it. Regardless of fuel type used it's best to keep the tank full. IE, if you've got a 30 gallon tank, and you normally use 30 gallons a month I recommend filling it every week or 2 instead of just once a month. Air space in the tank is one place moisture comes from. So, the magic part about ethanol. It absorbs moisture. Gas and water don't mix. Let's say you have a 30 gallon tank. It's 1/2 full, and sits for a few weeks in a humid area. It's very likely the tank will sweat. Condensation will form inside the tank. Water is heavier than gas. It will go to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel pickup is. This will cause some problems. However, IF the 1/2 full tank that sits and forms condensation has 10% ethanol it can absorb moisture with no ill effects. The ethanol separation only happens if the volume of water is too much for the ethanol to absorb. Take 15 gallons of ethanol free gas and pour a gallon of water in it. You're going to have problems. Take 15 gallons of E10, pour a gallon of water in it, and you'll never know. (don't actually try this, there's probably already some moisture in it) I only use 87 octane "regular" gas in my 4 stroke. I checked the ethanol content a couple weeks ago and it was only 4%. E10 "can" have "up to" 10% ethanol, but it isn't required to have any. (I have access to a meter to check ethanol content) The only thing I own that I use ethanol free gas in is my generator. It sits, sometimes for years. I use ethanol free gas, and stabil. I start it once a month, but only for a few minutes. I'm not a marine technician. I'm an ASE Certified Master Automotive technician, and a General Motors World Class tech with 41 years experience. I've also burned thousands of gallons of methanol (kinda like ethanol X10) in race cars.

Just so you know, iced tea is really painful when you laugh so hard it comes out of your nose.

Howdy from Grover NC. I'd guesstimate I'm 2 hours away from Elgin.