Woody B

The terrible hooks coupled with a 5 1/2 foot rod required a fall out of the boat hookset. I know it's not necessary today with modern equipment but I still swing for the fences most of the time when fishing single hook baits. I also over do the hook set if I get a surprise strike. A few weeks ago a 10 inch spotted bass hit my t rigged worm right next to the boat. I jerked so hard when I felt it I flipped the bass into the boat. It had the worm by the tail, not near the hook. It didn't even pull the hook through the worm. I need to get an action camera. We could all laugh at some of my hook sets. (and other things too)

First freeze warning of the year tonight. Forecasted low is 31. We don't get cold enough for the lakes to get hard, so I can fish all year.

Pillows are a personal thing. I've got a my pillow but it was way to thick to suit me even after crushing it down to "adjust the fill". Mrs. B cut it open, removed some of the filling and sewed it back together. It's perfect now. Also, get an adjustable bed if you don't already have one. (this is for everyone)

Mrs B is easy on vehicles. Her vehicle has ~113,000 miles with the original brakes. It's on it's second set of tires. Most of the people who are hard on brakes, and hard on vehicles in general are the ones who are always in a hurry. They're the people who go flying by you on the interstate and have to slam on brakes to make their exit. Another problem is people who have never been taught ANYTHING about vehicles. Not working on vehicles, but what routine checks and maintenance is needed. All they know to do is put gas in and drive. I'm an auto technician. I see them all the time. "My car is making a noise" and it's been 20,000 miles since their last oil change. Modern vehicles are really tough to be able to stand up to modern drivers.

When I was a kid I had a cousin who....just never told the truth. I heard my Grandfather tell him "if you keep lying you're going to grow up and be a weatherman"

For me fishing isn't a spectator sport. Regardless of fish count I'd like to see ALL tournaments go to catch and release instead of haul around all day then parade around on stage. For the 5 bass limit vs total weight. A coin flip each morning to determine the format would be interesting. I haven't watched any of these tournaments. If they're multiple days how about one day of total weight, then one day of 5 bass limit?

I normally just pick up a few items as needed at a local tackle shore. However, I succumb to peer pressure and ordered an assortment of bladed jigs and various trailers last week. I haven't went down the bladed jig/chatterbait rabbit hole yet. Hopefully I'll see what all the hype is about next week.

Mrs B and myself caught 15 bass Saturday and 10 Sunday None of them were big enough to brag about, so this 12 1/2 inch Crappie got it's picture posted. We weren't crappie fishing. She caught it skipping a 1/4 ounce Red Eyed Shad under a dock.

I guess this is a little freshwater fish I caught on 12 pound mono.

There's going to be variations by region, and even from lake to lake within a region. Squarebill/flatside -anytime of year when the bass are up on the flats feeding. Also great for bouncing off stumps and lay downs anytime the water is above 55 degrees. Crankbait- anytime of year bass are suspended on ledges Lipless- believe it or not, skipping docks, anytime of year Spinnerbait- muddy water. I used to fish a spinnerbait a bunch- now on the lake I fish most EVERYONE is throwing a spinnerbait or buzzbait. You need to be different than the crowd. Blade- Winter Chatterbait- not really my thing. Didn't exist when I fished before- I'll try some someday. Buzzbait- Overfished around here. No offense intended but I consider them to be a lazy mans top water lure. I get better results top water with a Devils horse or a Spook. Unlike a buzzbait you can't simply cast these lures out and reel them in. Swimjig- not really my thing. I use some type of crankbait (flatside, square bill or regular crank) in swimbait situations. There's very little grass in the lakes I fish in. I suspect a swim jig would excel in grass. (?) Around here I see a BUNCH of people fishing spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, and crankbaits. They just thrown them out and steadily reel them in. The people I talk to at the landing rarely catch much of anything. There's also quite a few fishing texas rigs with HUGE weights.

I suspect the modern 2 strokes are better than the 2 strokes in my memories. 2 strokes to me mean fouled spark plugs and leaking carburetors. The newest 2 stroke I've had was from the 70's.

I'm guilty of not changing lures, or even colors enough at times. I normally use 3 rods. Many days I don't change those 3 lures at all.

What brand are the engines? I'm a tin boat fan. I'm also a 4 stroke fan. I'd get the 198, change trolling motors and add live scope. That would be more money than the glass boat, but not more than the glass boat with an engine change. Actually, I'd go with the 198, scraps the 'birds, add Lowrance graphs, with active target and a Ghost trolling motor.

Although I go weeks at a time fishing other stuff if I had to pick one bait only it would be a texas rigged motoroil worm.

I like where I live for many reasons. Fishing is decent, I doubt many people move or travel to NC for bass fishing but I'd say the bass fishing is better than average. The state record Largemouth is 15 pounds, the state record Smallmouth is 10, and the state record Spot is 6. I live right on the NC/SC state line and fish both states. Lake Wylie and Lake Norman are both super lakes for bass fishing. I'm less than an hour from each. I usually go to Lake Wylie. So far in 2022 I've caught 10 bass over 5 pounds. I consider 5 pounds and over to be "big", at least around here. The biggest so far was 7 pounds 13 ounces. (in Lake Wylie) My wife has caught 1 that was 5 pounds even. I caught a 4 pound 4 ounce Spot last December in Moss Lake (1500 acre lake 10 miles from my house) I normally only target bass, but don't mind when something else finds my line. I caught a 50+ pound catfish (too heavy for my 50 pound scale) back in April on a squarebill crankbait, and 12 pound test line. I've always lived in the same county and don't intend to move. The bass fishing is good enough for me to be a bass fisherman. @AlabamaSpothunter a few weeks ago the winning boat in a tournament on Lake Wylie had a 24+ pound bag that was all Spots.

Get some waterproofing treatment and spray on what you've got. I've got a spray bottle of stuff. The brand name is "Starbrite" or something like that. I don't remember where I got it. It turned my somewhat leaky light rain clothes into waterproof clothes. I spray them every 3 months.

I need to work on skipping more. I can skip really good....... but not really accurate. A few month ago I was skipping a dock with poles about 3 feet apart. The dock surface was 10 inches or so above the water level. I managed to get the elevation right on every cast, but hit a pole on my first 4 casts. I finally got between the poles on my 5th cast and caught a 4 pounder.

I caught 7 spots, 7 largemouth and 1 small yellow perch today. The bass were all between 13 and 16 inches. No big ones, but at least they weren't tiny. I'm 99% sure I never hooked the perch. I had missed a couple bites on a plastic swim bait. I felt a bite right beside the boat, set the hook, and flipped this little fellow into the boat. I think it just had the tail. The hook was as big or bigger than it's mouth. It just kinda flew into the boat. The bass was a 16 inch largemouth caught on a spinner bait.

Use it. If it weren't for bass resource I wouldn't know who Mike Iaconelli is. I suspect that most fishermen are like me in that respect.

I can't answer that about a PowerDrive but my Terrova came with an additional puck. I don't make, or use routes but I use heading lock, cruise control and anchor mode quite a bit. On a powerdrive with iPilot all you have is the remote. A Terrova has a foot pedal in addition to the remote. I had a Powerdrive with an aftermarket GPS. I had all kinds of trouble with the GPS. I've had no problems with my Terrova. Regarding batteries, the 88 amp hour lead acid battery that came in my boat had lost enough voltage is was useless after 4 or 5 hours in the wind. I got a (overkill) 125 amp hour lithium (ionic). I've fished multiple days in the wind without charging and never ran it below 50%. The group 24 cranking battery that came with my boat was undersized for that too. I now have the lithium for my trolling motor, with the group 24 and group 27 wired in parallel for cranking, electronics, light and pumps. Like stated before you the only way you'll gain speed with a higher thrust trolling motor is if your current one is struggling. Speed is limited by the prop pitch and motor rpm. If the boat isn't so big it's bogging the motor more thrust won't make it go faster. My Tracker Classic XL came with a 45 pound Minn Kota Edge. It would go 3 mph. It also goes 3 mph with a 55 pound PowerDrive and Terrova. Added: @A-Jay I'm not very familiar with Dual Pro chargers but do know there's a software update necessary on some to use with lithium batteries.

Original Stren or Trilene XL are my preferred lines. My local tackle shop was out of each of them and I got a spool of Trilene Big Game. I using it right now, but I prefer the other 2. I fish with 3 rods/reels. I fish 2 to 4 times a week. My routine is I change line on 1 reel every Friday night so I change line every 3 weeks. I like the confidence fresh line gives me so I stay away from expensive lines. I've never tried fluro. I've tried braid and hated most of it. I didn't hate Sufix 832, but still have some of what I consider normal braid problems with it. (I didn't change it every 3 weeks)

How big is a big Musky? I recently found out the SC state record Musky was caught a few miles from my house in a river. I was talking to a guy Tuesday night at a boat landing about local fishing. He was telling me about catching the SC state record years ago. I looked it up when I got home and saw a picture of him holding the fish. It was 22 pounds or something like that. He said it wasn't huge for a Musky.

I've got $500 stashed in my wallet in case I want to buy something. I also keep $100 to $500 in my wallet, not stashed. The only thing I use a card for is gas. If a business doesn't want to accept cash they won't get anything from me. It's against the law to not accept cash but it's not something I'd pursue. The US Dollar is "legal tender for all debts public and private" in the US. Added: We have zero debt. We have an Exxon card, a Lowes card and an Academy card. We get discounts with these but pay them in full every month.

Mono!!! for everything.

I don't think so. I've never heard of a drum being caught in Lake Wylie or any where else around here. How far inland will you find Drum?