Woody B

Keep the Garmin stuff. Let others work the bugs out of the "latest and greatest".

Mrs B and myself wish you a speedy recovery.

I had an interesting day today. I caught a 16 incher on my 2nd cast. Within 15 minutes I had caught a dink and a 15 incher as well. Rest of the day.........nothing. It's like the bass went to sleep. I could find them on sonar. Most of them just flat out ignored....my entire tackle box. Occasionally 1 would follow my lure but wouldn't offer to bite. I thought I was going to have a super day after the first 3. 1st one at 8:07, 3rd and last one at 8:22. I fished until 12. We've had a bunch of rain, especially up river. There was all kinds of BIG stuff floating. I never got over 15 mph due to all the debris. Added: none of the bass touched my boat. The debris stuck to the first one came from the water.

I can't net a bass by myself. I get out of whack trying to work the net, and the rod. I have a cut resistant glove on my console. I'll use it to lip them if I'm using trebles. I'll also use the glove to grab the line and pull them in, instead of high sticking a rod while boat flipping them. Added: I'm a good netter, Mrs B is a good netter, my Grandsons are good netters. I just can't seem to work a net, and a fish at the same time. I've got a BPS net with a folding handle we use when I'm not fishing alone.

My nephews 2 month old son, as well as a co workers 6 week old daughter were in the hospital for a while with RSV. Myself and Mrs B had what the Dr called a "respiratory virus" last week. My 87 year old Dad had it too. We're all OK now. I don't usually get sick. I had a fever as high as102 and felt like I had been ran over by a truck for a couple days. Hope everyone gets well soon.

You can spend however much you want. I've got a Lowrance HDS Live on my console and a Carbon on the bow. I had a Lowrance Elite TI2 on the console. When I went to the carbon on the bow, with active target I upgraded the Elite so I could network them and shared active target. Lowrance just came out with something new. I suspect there will be a bunch of used units for sale soon, I've got the Elite TI2 (7 inch) with no transducer. If you're interested I'll make you a deal on it. I'm near Chesnee in Grover NC. I'd recommend getting a Carbon or newer though with an ethernet port so when you update your bow unit you can share sonar. I got my (9 inch) Carbon and (7inch) Live as well as my active target from Russel Marine. The live was used, but was like new.

I don't know anything about guide brands. The braid may have had nothing to do with the damage. I'm not naming the brand because I don't want to scare anyone away from the rods. One rod had " Fuji tangle-free K-guides feature tough stainless steel frames and super-hard SiC inserts" One of the inserts fell out on this rod. The other had "Fuji® FaZlite guides". A guide broke off on it. Probably not the rods fault anyway. I had bent the guide putting the rods in and out of the storage on my boat, while on rough water. I've since started putting my rods on the deck at the landing, and putting them back when I get back. FWIW it's not my Lew's rods.

Sticky notes is my password manager. My email is current.

I've considered an aquarium with some locally caught small fish but decided it would be a money pit. However, taking a bass for a walk would be cool.

I appreciate the effort it takes to make a good video. With that said I'm not much of a video watcher. I'd prefer to read informative stuff. I guess I'm old fashioned that way. I don't make fishing videos. I have a camera on a yolotek pole but haven't went beyond just filming when I'm fishing. I'm not a fishing expert, and wouldn't want someone to think I was due to something I had in a video. I have made, and sold videos on guitar making, and finishing. Youtube and others is full of misinformation on stuff that I know about. I won't use it for a source for stuff I want to learn. (I'm a professional automotive technician. Some of the stuff on youtube is scary)

I ordered Mrs B some really nice jewelery.....but they mess up and sent fishing tackle. I hate it when that happens.

I caught my first A-rig bass a couple weeks ago. I'll fish it more this winter. I still kinda laugh when I tie it one. I mean, look at it. @AlabamaSpothunter catches big bass on bladed jigs all the time. I'm determined to catch bass on them but haven't yet. I won't fish something much if I'm catching bass on other lures. I keep 3 rods/reels on my deck rigged with different offerings. I use all of them pretty much equally until I start catching bass on 1. I have a hard time throwing something else after I've caught a few. I may be limiting the size of my catch by not experimenting more. I wonder about the size of bass in the lake I fish most often. I've caught a BUNCH of 3 and 4 pounders but only 10 above 5 pounds this year. Hopefully there's a bunch of 3 and 4 pounders that will continue to grow.

I believe that. I don't catch as many fish on braid but many people catch a BUNCH. FWIW I can see 30 pound braid on active target, but I can't see 12 or 14 pound mono. I've also damaged the guides on 2 rods this year. Both had braid at the time. Both were the same brand also. I've decided not to use braid anymore, and not to buy anymore of that brand rod. (I'm out of braid, and the rods are being repaired under warranty)

Since we've decided that soda is bad for bass I thought I'd mention, soda is bad for people too.

FWIW a friend of mine who's an avid catfisherman says flatheads hibernate when the water get's below 50 degrees.

Maybe it's water color but I see changes by season. Winter bass (LM) tend to be very pale. Once the waters warm they get more vibrant markings. Spotted bass keep more of their color, but the ones I catch still tend to be more bland in cooler water. I've done a small amount of fishing in Florida, but all the bass I've caught there were almost black. The bass fishing I've done in Florida was in November and December. I don't do a bunch of Smallmouth fishing but have noticed a Chameleon effect with them.

Mrs B doesn't like to reel with her left hand so her spinning reels are set up with the handle on the right. She casts with her right, then switches hands, just like I do with baitcasters. I guess it's just habit for me. I CAN'T reel a spinning reel with my right hand. I borrowed a left handed baitcaster from a friend, and I can't reel a baitcaster with my left hand. I'd cast (right handed) switch hands, then have to switch back. Before you get a BUNCH of left handed casting reels try one. (don't be mad monkey)

Never caught without my license but I was with a friend once who didn't have his, and got caught. Myself and a few friends were trout fishing in the NC mountians. The game warden came down the creek, on the other bank from where we were. He told everyone to hold up their license. One guy didn't have his. He said he was coming across the creek to write a ticket. We offered to cross over to his side, he said wait where we were.......... He slipped and fell in the creek. His hat went floating. I ran down the creek and got his hat. His ticket book was wet so he had us follow him to his car. My buddy, the one who didn't have his license asked "do you think that wet gun will still shoot?". The warden stopped walking, and said "do you want to find out?" The warden was pretty cool about it. He wrote the ticket, thanked me for getting his hat and commented how funny it probably looked when he fell in the creek.

I'm not TNReb. I wonder if his answer will be the same as mine. I don't "hate" my Tatula SV. I hate the brake adjuster. My palm rubs in and changes the setting occasionally. I'm getting better, but occasionally I'll cast, it will go a short distance, I'll look down and the brakes will be on 16 or something. I also don't like the "wing" especially for bottom contact lures. I pick up on the line with my index finger for extra "feel". This picks the line up out of the slot into the wing section causing uneven winding. I've been trying to push down on the line, instead of picking up when I want extra feel.

I should have put in my first post. There's 2 things that can help you get back into a boat. 1. Climb onto the motor foot and use the power trim to pull you up out of the water. I have some step tread tape on the foot of my motor to help if needed. 2. When it's cold I keep a rope with a little slack tied from a bow cleat to a stern cleat. Pull the slack into the water and use the rope like a step. I can get into mine pretty good in warm water. I'm fat, but I've got mechanic upper body strength. I just grab he gunwale and pull myself up. I'm sure it would be difficult in cold water.

Not related to the OP's problem but losing a lure (temporarily) while casting. Thursday there were some bass hugging the bottom a little over 20 feet deep. I tied a Strike King 8XD on my heavy rod. The reel I had on the rod at the time was a Daiwa with SV spool. I muscled up and threw the 1.4 ounce lure. I spooled the reel and broke the knot holding the line on the spool. LOL. I had put that reel on for flipping jigs around docks. I suppose it was a little low on line too. I gathered up the lure and line, then put a full capacity Lews reel on that rod. I've got it on video, but the camera was to my back. I bet the look on my face was priceless.

You catch a BUNCH more bass than I do. I fish all kinds of baits. I look around at what other people are doing, and usually try to do something different. Lately I've seen a BUNCH of people throwing jerkbaits on points, but right at the bank. It's always interesting to see pretty much everyone doing the same thing. Is there a book or something they're all going by? Many people say bass fishing is on a down cycle at Lake Wylie. Most of the people I talk to at the landing aren't catching any, or many. I caught 7 today. I told a couple people at the landing. They said they hadn't caught 7 all year. I showed them pictures. The fat one was 14 inches long and weighed 2 pounds 5 ounces. The other one pictured was 18" and weighed 3 pounds 6 ounces. I caught 4 today on a 1/4 ounce Red Eyed Shad, 3 on a Bandit 300 and 1 one a Strike King 8XD.

Lews MACH. Item number MAPC. It's $89 at Academy. 7 foot medium action, medium taper. I don't use many rods but this is my most used one. I've cast everything from a weightless worm to a 3/4 ounce spinnerbait with it.

I've been busy so I'm late posting. Family get together for Thanksgiving was at my Sister in Law's that lives on the lake..........so I took the boat. Before and after the feast I managed to catch 10, all spots including 2 that were 18 inches. I only saw a couple other boats on the lake. Water temp is down to 57. They were out on points where the water was 20 to 25 feet deep. They were suspended early, and hugging the bottom later.

I worked 9 hours today.