Woody B

I can't imagine not being able to fish for months. Fishing every week actually helps me keep the bait monkey at bay. I normally do my maintenance during the week after work, and fish on the weekend. This is the first weekend I haven't fished since I got my boat last December. I won't be able to go this Saturday due to a family gathering (my Dad's 88th birthday). I'll be back on a lake somewhere Jan 1. I would have been fishing in the 8 degree heat last weekend but had Christmas gatherings during the warm part of the day both days.

The stay home concept is a good one, but I go when I can. I won't be able to go until Jan 1. Hopefully the bass will be hungry by then. If they're not, a bad day fishing is still a pretty good day.

Mrs B and myself moved ~25 miles to where we're currently at a couple decades ago. We found a kitten a year or 2 before we moved and started feeding it. It stayed outside, but hang around the house. When we'd sit on our patio he'd be in our laps. When we moved I borrowed an 18 wheeler to put all of our stuff in. The last thing I done before pulling out of the driveway was pick the cat up and put him in the cab. I got to our new house and set him down out of the cab. Mrs B put him some food and water on our back patio. The last time we saw him he was walking into the woods behind the house. We didn't see him again................until.....several weeks later I stopped by our old house to check the mail. The cat came running up to my truck and jumped in. I took him back to our new house. He never left again. It amazes me that he made it to, and found our old house over 20 miles away. Cats must have some kind of GPS or something. I stated before that I'm a dog person. He wasn't the typical cat. When it was cold he slept in a dog house, with our beagles.

Stick with the Trilene. I've tried several different lines on my wifes spinning reel but keep going back to the same Trilene XL I use on everything. Shelby native here but, but Shelby NC, not Shelby county Alabama. LOL

I'll be fishing on Jan 1. I've got other stuff I have to do on the 31st.

I usually just go to my secret spot.

I had to google tokyo rig to see what it is. Dang bait monkey. I use a carolina rig is situations where a Tokyo rig might work. I tried a drop shot a couple weeks ago. At the suggestion of a friend I used a nose hooked manns spinner bait trailer for bait. I didn't catch anything but saw several fish hit the WEIGHT on active target. I was kinda bobbing it up and down. I guess the weight looked attractive. Does anyone sell drop shot weights with hooks in them?

I always use pliers for removing hooks. I've got a cut resistant glove that I usually wear on the hand that's not using the pliers especially when dealing with trebles. I'm a guitar player so I try to take care of my hands. Back in June I got finned to the bone in my foot by a 7 pound catfish Mrs B caught on a red eyed shad. Someone had told Mrs B to rub some catfish slime on the wound if you get finned. Rubbing it's tail on the wound instantly relieved the pain. It was sore for weeks afterward though.

When I show my almost 3 year old niece fish pictures she asks "is that fish biting you?"

Dog is mans best friend. If a precious little house cat was big enough it would kill it's human and eat them.

That's true, but they're harder to hold onto when it really cold and really dry.(at least with my hands) I love 'em in the Summer, not so much during the Winter. A few days ago I saw an add of fakebook for what was basically a self inflatable life jacket for your rods. It went on the butt, or maybe replace the but. When underwater part of it would float up to the top with a ribbon still attached to the rod. I'll have to look though my history and see if I can find the link.

I've scanned a few articles about how bass see color but they can't keep my interest to actually "read" them. It's my belief that the best topwater lures aren't seen by the bass. They just "see" the disturbance. Sky colored top water lures are my favorite. Black (at night) blue, silver, gray. I ended up with a bunch of yellow top water lures and have good luck with them too. I've also been told that bass see yellow/chartreuse as white. I've also been told that red appears really bright to a bass. I suspect I don't change colors enough if the bite is slow. I have had good luck with red lures in really muddy water. (I've never used a red top water lure, maybe I should) I go out of my way to buy "basic" colored lures. I suspect most of our bites are reaction bites though. I might actually attract more bass with flashy lures. However, I firmly believe most color patterns are designed to catch fishermen, not fish. I've got an Evergreen top water walking lure that's clear. I've had some luck with it. Disclaimer. I'm not an expert, just sharing my opinion.

I've got a couple store cards, and a gas card that all get a discount when I make a purchase. I don't have a visa, mastercard of anything like that. I use a prepaid card for online purchases. I'll keep almost nothing on it until I'm ready to make a purchase. So far so good. I also use Paypal for a few things. I have a bank account that I keep a fairly low balance it to use with it. I'll transfer monty when I want to make a purchase.

It's supposed to get down into single digits here. That's pretty rare for us. My Grandfather used to say "everyone complains about the weather, but no one does anything about it."

Speaking of mansions on the lake. My Dad was a building contractor. He built several houses on various lakes. Most of the owners didn't own a boat and none of them fished. My Sister in Law (my wife's sister) and her husband live on the lake I fish most of the time. They have a pontoon boat, and a Boston Whaler. The ' whaler has been sitting on it's trailer for years. The pontoon is on the lake on a boat lift. They take it up the lake to a restaurant a few times a year. I had to repair a bunch of fuel system parts a while back because of dead/stale old gas. Neither of them fish. I see a BUNCH of boats on boat lifts with expired registration decals. I'm not talking about expired a few months. I saw one a couple weeks ago from 2015. A guy I grew up with lives on Moss Lake (Shelby NC). He has a pontoon, but keeps it on his trailer. He goes to Lake Marion (Santee Cooper) a few times a month. He takes his boat sometimes, and get's a guide other times. He's after catfish. He said he rarely fishes the lake he lives on. Earlier this year I caught a 10 pound catfish on a jig, under his dock.

I've got a 7 inch live on the console on my Tracker Classic XL. A 9 inch would be big on the small console. I don't know how much bigger the console in on a 175. I've got a 9 inch on the bow with active target. I've also got a rugged android tablet at the console I use for maps. Not the purpose of this picture but you can see the stuff here.

Keep the boat.

How did you get a picture of my weed guard?

Five is probably a small number around here. I normally take 3.

How much time do you get off for Christmas/New Years? I don't get any. My normal schedule is Monday through Friday. That's when I'll be working this week and next week. I can't even go fishing this Saturday or Sunday due to holiday family stuff.

I believe those tiny hooks are the problem. They aren't big enough to go all the way through a big bass mouth. Especially a toothy spot. They end up just pulling against the barb, instead of going all the way through and pulling on the loop of the hook. I haven't tried, but have often thought about removing the middle hook and replacing the front and rear hooks with bigger ones on baits like that. FWIW I replace the #6 rear hook on a Devils horse with a #4 short ewg. I only sharpen the middle and front ones or replace with the same size when they get bent. Those hooks look even smaller than #6's.

I did once last winter throwing a DT16. My hands were cold. It was my first cast on a 22 degree morning. I was at a location where the creek channel runs right up near the bank. The curve is lined with stumps on the side away from the bank. I had caught several the week before running a deep crank along the stump line channel. I was making a long distance bomb cast and it just got away from me. Luckly the DT 16 just sat there on the surface. The knot securing the line to the reel was strong enough. I just pull all the line back into the boat with my rod/reel. I laughed pretty hard afterwards. I threw a rod in the water after unhooking a bass once also. I unhooked the bass and just kinda threw the texas rig down. I guess the reel was either at the edge, or hanging off. When I tossed the lure it pulled it all into the water. The water was only 4 feet deep. I jumped in and got the rod/reel.

Since we're showing pictures here's a picture of a guitar I built. I'll post some more after work. I'm having to resize them.

I'm not usually serious, but tell St Nick I just want everyone to be healthy and happy.

The NC state record spot is 6 lbs, 5 ounces. I believe a new record swims in Lake Wylie. ( I caught the 4-15 in SC though) I've caught a bunch of 3 pounders this year. I don't know if a DD Largemouth swims in Wylie though. I caught on that was 7 lbs 13 ounces back in March. I haven't heard of or talked to anyone who's caught one bigger this year. A guy I see at the landing occasionally did catch two 6 pound LM's a couple months ago. I'm just bass fishing, not doing anything specific to chase a state record spot, but I would get a kick out of catching a record. SC state record spot is 8 lbs 5 oz. It was caught in Lake Jocassee. I suspect it got fat eating Trout, like the California bass do. My only DD Largemouth was over 30 years ago.