FishTax

yup! how'd you know

I hooked myself pretty good yesterday with a lipless, just trying to cast from the bank. That's what I get for trying this crazy cast under a tree that I saw on facebook reels... my lure never even got wet, just stuck in my finger instead. Best hookset this year so far, unfortunately.

Incredible! I'm fairly confident I would have fallen in as I'd have lost control of my body functions holding that fish!

@Mdd71 send you a private message with more details on Mackintosh, etc.

Welcome from ... Lake Mackintosh Step 1- something I never thought I'd have to say, wait for soft water! There are good fish in that lake, but they certainly aren't easy to catch and the skunk gets me pretty regularly. I agree with what Pat said. Tons of knowledge on here, don't be afraid to ask questions and please participate in the forums! Which Marina do you launch from? Do you have a boat or rent one? I primarily kayak from Guilford marina but occasionally will rent a Jon boat and take my kids or friends out on it.

I've fished it briefly a few times. It's known for striper I believe. It's pretty deep and clear water. I did see some green growth back in some coves. If the water is warm enough, the party people are out heavy on the lake so watch out for jet skis and wake boats. I was in my kayak, so was pretty limited to protected coves so I didn't get smashed by a wakeboat when I visited. Not may favorite spot to fish as I don't love ski lakes, but the fish are definitely in there. Please keep us updated on your progress, my buddy has a house there and I get to fish a few times a year so I'm very interested to learn more or see other's success.

I'm also in the southern crowd slowly losing their sanity. The lake behind my house still has snow on top of it, which basically never happens. I have a minisplit on my shop where I work and have home gym, but it can't handle this. I am getting a quote to add a wood stove, by the time I get it the winter will be over I'm sure though. Really need some sunshine though, we aren't wired for this down here

I'd also be happy to contribute. There's no way I could write any words that would help, or act like I can even understand what you are going through, but I'm with everyone else in that I care, will be praying for you to conquer this, and would love to contribute to a fishing trip for you if it even gives you a brief respite from thinking about this diagnosis.

I agree that a mentor, coach, friend, buddy, dad, uncle, or local alcoholic who's a great fisherman 🙃 are all solid options to learn. Personally, I learned the basics at a young age such as how to tie a knot, bass eat worms, spawn in spring, etc. Now that I'm an adult, I tend to learn from friends who are better than me and nice enough to let me tag along @Pat Brown, or people like my uncle who are older hammers and absolute beast with a couple of techniques (shaky head) and love teaching while catching. I do view a guide as a coach, in the same sense as a golf coach, meaning you can learn on your own the slow way, or you can pay a bunch of money and shave time off that process (maybe). If I had to learn a new body of water fast, I'd immediately hire a guide. But for fun fishing and relaxation, much more fun to go with friends/family just having a good time and picking up tips along the way from someone who is kind enough to drop tips or demonstrate techniques. Even though I don't throw a frog much, I've spent hours watching Pat do it and have learned more than a book could ever show you. Also he taught me literally hands on how to walk a finesse jig through a bed and get bit. Incredible. So I guess what I'm saying is, public thank you to Pat for being a great friend and mentor and very generous with his time and knowledge! A great coach as well, which is why Jake is an up and coming hammer for sure!

I think the challenge is exactly that, many of the great books are difficult to find. Maybe what we should do is buy the rights to them and then convert them to digital so they can be accessible to everyone. I've ready many books that weren't on kindle/etc and have wondered why the publisher hadn't done that. I assume it's a math reason or else they would. Interesting idea though. No idea if it'd be possible or the cost it may be. Sorry to go slightly off the initial intent of this, but so much great knowledge is in those old hard to find books and magazines it frustrates me that they aren't more accessible.

I've used Zenni for prescription polarized cheap sunglasses. I view them as disposable. Don't compare them to costa, look at price difference and set expectations accordingly. Again... disposable. I tried the kastking ones, they are way too narrow for my big head and caused headaches. They'll probably crack in half or an arm fall off soon as tight sunglasses tend to do. I'd love some good polarized ones but I feel confident as soon as I spend the money they'll go swimming, so unless they make them to float I can't buy them.

I went for a walk yesterday afternoon along my property bordering the lake. The amount of stuff I found was discouraging, but most of it was pretty old. Like very rusted can, glass bottles and jars with the labels washed off, etc. I didn't have a way to load it up, but it's on my land so next time down I'm going to bring a contractor bag on the 4wheeler so I can pack it out. Also going to make my kids pick it up and teach them life lessons in the process. Every time we get rain here, a bunch of stuff washes into the lake from the feeder creeks that go along the roadways, and then stuff dislodges and washes further down, etc. So pretty much every time a big trash clean up is needed. With that said, our lake is generally very clean compared to many others I've visited, so I'm thankful for that. Owning property that border the lake will give you a slightly different perspective on this sort of thing though. I definitely have similar feelings to @A-Jay, especially when there are liquor bottles washing up on my land. The occasional water bottle doesn't bother me as I just assume it accidently fell of the boat or something, but big liquor bottles and also just general household waste stuff really fires me up.

Welcome to the forum @JohnnyG! We have a good representation of NC guys on here, would love to have you stick around as the more the merrier In NC, winter is variable. Last year it lasted 1 week and I'm not sure we even had any ice on water at any point. I really don't think water temps got much below 45 last year but am not totally sure on that. This year, water temps are currently in the mid/high thirties (and dropping the next 3 days ). I say all that as a preface because that 10 degree change in water temps makes a huge difference to our bass. My advice with water temps under 45 is to go small and slow. With water temps under 40, good luck. I think our fish are in shock and we are having a fish kill of crappie and shad out this way in some bodies of water, which means a buffet for bass so in my mind why would they hit a fake lure when they can just gorge on dying baitfish with minimal effort? Anyway, I'm bitter about the cold. But for lures, I'd recommend soaking a worm, however you like it. I'd go small, like 5" or less. Finesse worm, roboworm, etc. I like shaky head. With it being a pond, if the bottom is a mess of slop you may do better with a dropshot so you aren't constantly covered in gunk. I'd also look at a finesse jig if there isn't too much gunk. For each of those, let it sit on bottom. Drink some coffee. Barely work it. Keep a hand in your pocket. Etc. Very slow. Boring. If you want to do something, try a blade bait. Let it touch bottom, then slowly lift it until you feel vibration. I caught my only winter fish this year from a pond which has crappie and sunfish as primary forage on a chartreuse blade bait that was small size and I think a 3/8 oz weight. Several guys on here are masters of the blade bait and do very well. I'm still learning it, but have enjoyed it so far. Try using the search function to see how other guys are using it. Hopefully it'll warm up fast in February and we'll get some warm rain. We pretty much haven't had prespawn and usually that's in full swing right now I think. Will be interesting to see how all of this plays out going into the spring. I'm hoping for some very fat fish from the buffet they are currently being provided. Also follow @Pat Brown, he is local and fishes more than half the time from the bank and he is a hammer so you can learn a ton from him. He's way smarter and better fisherman than me.

Yeah I'm trying hard to not carry mine on the water at all. I have a Gerber I use but prefer to just use my fishing pliers with built in line cutters which are tethered to the boat.

I'll just pile on from Pat's post. We feel like we're in Canada and we are gaining respect for all of you up north. I couldn't do it. Every day I get up and just see how much ice there is and feel sad. Last time out I watched a bald eagle for a while so that was neat. The good thing down here is we aren't used to these temps and neither are the fish. There is a fish kill happening as Pat mentioned, which we are guessing will create a huge buffet for the bass and in about a month we hope to be making PRs with pot bellies. Maybe not, but we have to have hope to survive our month of cold. We are missing our hundred degree summer days right now. At least falling out of the boat won't kill you on those days. Anyway, here's to huge future fish on future soft water, and kudos to the yanks for your fortitude in surviving the winters!

Caught my first blade bait fish this year at the pond with @Pat Brown. I was inspired by @AlabamaSpothunter and @Team9nine to try it. I'm far from dialed in but looking forward to throwing it more. I do find I lose them quickly though. Pretty sure I found since crappie Fisherman brush piles they thought were well hidden 😎

Good one, really enjoyed it. He's great!

That is crazy impressive. I can't believe you landed it on a kayak. That entire catch from hookset to release was pure skill, I don't know how you got it on the kayak but I think I'd have been scared to try. Incredible!

I was hoping to, and discussed it with @Pat Brown, but they're calling for rough weather up our way so definitely no on tomorrow and probably no on Saturday as well unfortunately. We will see what actually happens and how the roads are. Down your way I'm guessing it'll be fine on Saturday, I live right on the line of potential mess and am not really interested in dealing with it or other drivers. So a 23% chance I'd say

That I need fancy rods and lures. The bait monkey is the gimmick. All I ever needed was the ugly stick and a senko...

Agree, I recently got one this length and have found it to be perfect for bank fishing around trees and such.

Throw 15 lb big game line on it and take it fishing. That is versatile rod that will work with many things. Mary not be perfect but you can catch make fish on different techniques with it. Don't over think it!

@Cdn Angler very interesting on the white poop bait. I've been trying to figure out how to catch on those, they seem like they should work but I've been unsuccessful throwing weightless. Thanks for sharing.

Ok the year finally ended so I can post. The Siebert swim jig and mini swim jig in 3/8 with various skirts but all some shad looking whitish with accents was definitely my #1 producer and became a great confidence bait for me this year. I'm not sure what second place would be as it was all over the place based on season, but probably a shaky head with a junebug trick worm as that is always in my top 3 along with other jig varieties (brush, football, finesse, black and blue, green pumpkin, etc). I also had good luck with a rage swimmer on an open hook vmc head in I think 1/8 oz but it may have been 3/16. This one in gizzard shad looking colors specifically.

I'd be happy to accept the challenge of spending that gift card without big ticket items. If someone sends me one I'll be happy to document the journey and see where we land. 😎