dytmook

I'm honestly still pretty new to fishing beyond being casual so I could be more fancy but a week of fishing some of the Great Lakes and into some of New York's fish factories with my dad being healthy enough to fish and brother would be up there. Flying into remote Canada would be pretty sweet too.

Good video. Past two seasons my biggest smallies came off a 6th Sense lipless and a Strike King spinner bait in white and chanteuse. I'll be trying those styles again this spring for sure.

I fish with at most 3 rods since I'm usually on foot. Anymore because way too cumbersome and last time I did, I lost a set up. I'll only carry 3 when I want to throw a baitcaster on my small water. For baits, I'll have 1 tray of hard baits and I'm trying to reduce that. Soft plastics I'll carry a few seasonal and then my comfort baits of stick worms/flukes etc if things go there. I've done better when I've reduced my options.

I have a kayak that is rarely used due to loading issues. I'm basically 100% bank/wading. Small trips in the evening I do a lot of straight bank fishing. I've got a decent list of bank access spots on the rivers. Do they get more pressure than I would like? Probably, but it is better than being inside.

I'm usually wading. I will pick a part too much at times still. I've gotten better at covering water (what I can cover on foot), but I can still get caught up if I know there's good cover or rocky bottom. I'm probably a 2.5-3 on staying in a spot. I'd like to work it more to a 5 this coming year. I want to fish fast, but not in a hurry if that makes sense.

Flying Lures as a kid. I'd say Whopper Plopper more recently, but I only bought 2 and honestly have never put enough time in them to really consider them a total failure.

Since we use length in my fishing league, I'd rather a healthy long fish. But most the time, the tug makes me happy enough regardless.

Find my 20 inch river smallie... But also: Get my kayak out Make a trip to Erie, St Clair, or somewhere like that Keep getting better on the water in general, I feel like I made good progress this year in reading water, making adjustments, and avoiding total disaster in my derbies.

I'll respool my limited reels. Benefit of wading is you can only carry a few rods efficiently so it keeps the tackle monkey at bay a bit. I will pour some lead jigs. This year I think I'm going to start making my own micro jigs. I did well on them this summer but the color selection is meh. Might be able to sell a few too. Also need to set up the new garage for tinkering.

I was told 52F was when the fish tend to shut off. If I get out when it's cold, I try to fish slower. They're fish. Sometimes they'll eat, sometimes they don't. Can't catch them from the couch is one thing I do know.

Pretty good year overall. I wanted to fish more crankbaits and I did. Not as many as I wanted but I did keep them in rotation. Fished a spinnerbait on our rivers more than I had previously. Caught some big ones early in the year on it. Will go back to it for sure. Got heavily back into flukes, they were just working. Got more into jig fishing as well. Might start making some micro jigs for the river this winter. Fished 2nd in one of my wading derby's, had a better year there overall as well. Lost a lot of time to fish moving in the summer but that's life. Caught my first Northern Pike too. That was neat.

Plain neds. Just weren't getting it done this year and didn't have the patience for them. Tiny craw baits worked well but not stick baits. Made hay this year with lots of flukes and micro jigs.

Ended up on a perch charter on Erie once and the guide did fish some. We were supposed to smallmouth or walleye fish but there was an algae bloom so it had the lake a mess. He wanted us to get fish for sure first. We ended the day fishing for smallies for a bit. Not much luck. I didn't love him getting into the perch fishing, but it wasn't a ton or his main focus.

Good gravy. Cheers to that.

My fish this weekend were getting chunky. Water levels were still low. I fished a bit smaller baits since I only had a short window to fish and I just wanted to catch some. Mix of a micro jig with a craw trailer and a finesse crank did pretty well for me.

Big wade on Sunday. Caught a good number of fish. no real size though. Slowed down big time once the sun got high. Still was fun.

had a buddy struggling on the river this weekend. We were heading different directions but I gave him a couple of my flukes since it's what I was getting them on. Told him how I was catching them too. We were in a low stakes derby, but I want my buddies to have fun.

I got a carp on an underspin once. I thought I had a trophy smallie. Those dreams were soon dashed, but it was still fun, especially for January in Ohio.

I spent a lot of time with the spinner bait this spring. Had the most success I've every had with it. Caught some really nice fish on it. In the past few weeks I have been putting in a lot of work with bitsy bug size jigs (swimming and dragging). It has been fun. Nothing too fancy but newer to me.

I've used and caught on a Baby D Bomb

We had a pretty big hatch in SW Ohio a few years ago. It didn't really effect my river fishing that much. But maybe I'm just not good enough to notice.

Usually a matter of time and mood. If I have time and not feeling worn down from life I'll go exploring. Little time and/or feeling more casual, I'll usually hit up somewhere I know for bit to just relax.

Ned Wacky Drop I don't fish the drop shot because I'm mostly wading and its a pain in the current as well. Lots of times I have a ned and wacky as my two rigs. I'm just looking to catch a few fish. Not looking to break records.

My last few have been hitting boulders I didn't see. Water shoes and better boots are on my wish list though

I fall often. I'm learning to read the river a lot better this year. I've started to love isolated wood cover. I'll eventually get the kayak thing going more for me, even if it is just to get from spot to spot. The river relaxes me...other than when I fall in while wading.