In between times...

[DitchPanda]

This is the time of year I dread most. We are marching towards ice up then we will warm up several days then get cold again...lather rinse repeat. I wish it would stay warm so I could open water fish or stay cold so I can ice fish........Rant over.

[MGF]

This time of year the weather just starts getting too rough for my wife and I to do much fishing. Cold and windy today with rain later...and really windy tomorrow. Another weekend shot.

 

I have some ice fishing tackle but I really don't have much interest in using it. 

 

I want summer back!

[jimmyjoe]

13 hours ago, DitchPanda said:

This is the time of year I dread most. We are marching towards ice up then we will warm up several days then get cold again...lather rinse repeat. I wish it would stay warm so I could open water fish or stay cold so I can ice fish........Rant over.

 

   I hear what you're saying, but for me, the positive of the fish that I catch this time of year overcomes the negative of the misery I feel out in the cold, in the wind, fingers freezing and line icing up.

   Yes, I'll admit it. I'm crazy.          jj

[lo n slo]

now we rarely, if ever, ice up down here in NC. i’ll do some fishing til around Christmas time and then back her down for a spell. that being said, the dead of winter (Jan-Feb) is when i like to do alot of my outdoor projects. hardly any snow or really long term frigid conditions allows me to do whatever without the heat and humidity to drag me down. plus, i get to finish up right about pre spawn. i’ll also take this time to sink some brush and keep the outboards from sitting idle for long periods. 

[Bankbeater]

This time of year I get more choosy about when I go fishing.  I'll watch the weather more for temp, and rain, than for just the wind. 

[scbassin]

I can fish year round. The only ice I have seen in this lake is the cubes I just dumped in from my sweeeeet tea!!

[GreenPig]

We never freeze here and I prefer the winter cold to summer heat so I actually fish more and longer in the winter. I can control my comfort by removing or adding a layers which would get me arrested in the summer.

[BigAngus752]

15 hours ago, MGF said:

windy today with rain later...and really windy tomorrow

 

This is my biggest problem.  Water temps are dropping again and everything is just perfect to get back out but every single day is windy.  Not just "it's a pain to stay on the TM" windy but "nope, gonna die" windy.  I will burn a vacation day if it just becomes safe for a day. 

[MGF]

On 11/14/2020 at 8:54 AM, jimmyjoe said:

 

   I hear what you're saying, but for me, the positive of the fish that I catch this time of year overcomes the negative of the misery I feel out in the cold, in the wind, fingers freezing and line icing up.

   Yes, I'll admit it. I'm crazy.          jj

I could tolerate a little more weather if we were catching but we're not. I floated several miles of river last Sat without a single bite. Sun., Mon, And Wed I fished the same pond and caught one bass. Yesterday I fished another river from the bank around a dam for a couple of hours and never got a bite.

 

It's like the fish left town when the temps dropped. Today I'm driving down river near the reservoir to check out a boat ramp I just learned of. Maybe the fish moved down there. LOL

[jimmyjoe]

  

42 minutes ago, MGF said:

I could tolerate a little more weather if we were catching but we're not.

 

   All I can tell you is that we have lots of people who fish worms for sunfish and minnows for crappie. If they catch, then I catch. If they don't, then I don't. Same locations.

   This is in the river. I haven't fished lakes in almost a month.          jj

[MGF]

1 minute ago, jimmyjoe said:

  

 

   All I can tell you is that we have lots of people who fish worms for sunfish and minnows for crappie. If they catch, then I catch. If they don't, then I don't. Same locations.

   This is in the river. I haven't fished lakes in almost a month.          jj

The only non-river that I've fished this season has been one little pond near the house. But I think I see what you're saying. The section of river I fish most seems lifeless. I don't see anything moving.

 

I don't know if the weather has things shut down that bad or if the fish really have vacated this section of river.

[Junk Fisherman]

This is the time of year I go hiking in the woods looking for rutting bucks if it is too cold to fish.   Our forest preserves have some massive bucks.  Hoping the weather warms up and I can sneak a day next weekend and then take a 2-day trip over Thanksgiving.  

[DitchPanda]

20 hours ago, GreenPig said:

We never freeze here and I prefer the winter cold to summer heat so I actually fish more and longer in the winter. I can control my comfort by removing or adding a layers which would get me arrested in the summer.

I get where your coming from on this but in my neck of the woods I can't say this. Does it get hot? Sure...not miserable but up around 100 with some high humidity. Does it get cold? Last winter was relatively mild and we still had a week or so of -35 to -40 windchill. Can't really dress for that...its just to cold period.

[Dens228]

Fishing season took me right into hunting season.........I've been hunting for 40 years and for whatever reason my excitement for hunting has diminished the last few years, particularly as I've gotten more into the bass fishing thing.....I used to pretty much hang up the kayak on October 1st for bow season.  The last two years I haven't even taken to the woods yet but am still putting the kayak in to chase bass.  

 

I will be out in the woods for firearm season though........this coming weekend. 

[MGF]

I didn't hunt this year. I used to enjoy it when I could spend some time in the National forest wandering the big woods but local hunting where I only have room to sit and wait just bores me to tears. I have a couple of stands on my own (small) property and I never sat in them. I just kept fishing.

 

It may pay off though. I took a ride down river today and found where the brown bass are this time of year. Now if we can just get some decent weather before winter comes full on.

[MAN]

Down here in Texas we are still swimming in our backyard pools...praying for cooler weather. 

[MN Fisher]

Meanwhile in MN

Got several inches of snow the other day - but this Thursday they're predicting 51.

[DitchPanda]

8 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Meanwhile in MN

Got several inches of snow the other day - but this Thursday they're predicting 51.

Yup...last Tuesday high of 23 and 8 inches of snow. This Wednesday...61.

[TcRoc]

This time of year I buy more than rest of season . I guess so I can use a few times than stare at it all winter and torture myself . Thru the winter It’s amazing how many times I reorganize a box I just reorganized . We all reorganize thru the year but winter it’s ridiculous what I do.

[MN Fisher]

2 minutes ago, TcRoc said:

This time of year I buy more than rest of season . I guess so I can use a few times than stare at it all winter and torture myself . Thru the winter It’s amazing how many times I reorganize a box I just reorganized . We all reorganize thru the year but winter it’s ridiculous what I do.

I hear you there, pal. I think I re-organized my boxes/bags half a dozen times last winter. Probably be the same this winter as I determine the optimum scheme for my lures/plastics this winter with all the additions I've made/will be making.

[gim]

On 11/13/2020 at 6:41 PM, DitchPanda said:

I wish it would stay warm so I could open water fish or stay cold so I can ice fish........Rant over.

 

I hear ya.  Two solutions:

 

You could move further south and suffer through potential hurricanes twice a month combined with sweltering heat and humidity all summer but have all season to fish...

 

Or...you could just accept the fact that there is an off season in the north.  I like to bass fish just as much as the other guy but there are lots of other things to do this time of year and in the winter that can keep a guy busy until fishing season returns.  Right now hunting season is in full swing.

 

Actually I realized there is a third solution too: be a snow bird and move south for the winter and head north for the summer!

[Spankey]

I was out Sunday for one hour. Wind got the best of me. Not really temperature issues. The wind is not my friend and I don’t know how to make it my friend. I fish to light. Some of you guys deal with the wind constantly. 
 

Needless to say it was a nothing day. Could not make a thing happen. Sort of heartbroken really. Had just gotten two new Rage Craw colors that I was hot on. 
 

I think I’m gonna shoot for Sunday again. I believe I’m gonna pull the plug after that. I gave my best shot for the 6+ pounder. But maybe I didn’t if I relive some things in my head. I’ll have all winter to think about her. 

 

I’m not planning on much different next season. Gonna stick with what has been working. I got a bit later start this year because of this CORONA Virus BS. State Ramps were closed. 

[TnRiver46]

6 hours ago, gimruis said:

 

 

Actually I realized there is a third solution too: be a snow bird and move south for the winter and head north for the summer!

Better keep that a secret or folks from the Midwest and northeast will overrun Florida! Oh wait........

6 hours ago, Spankey said:

I was out Sunday for one hour. Wind got the best of me. Not really temperature issues. The wind is not my friend and I don’t know how to make it my friend. I fish to light. Some of you guys deal with the wind constantly. 
 

Needless to say it was a nothing day. Could not make a thing happen. Sort of heartbroken really. Had just gotten two new Rage Craw colors that I was hot on. 
 

I think I’m gonna shoot for Sunday again. I believe I’m gonna pull the plug after that. I gave my best shot for the 6+ pounder. But maybe I didn’t if I relive some things in my head. I’ll have all winter to think about her. 

 

I’m not planning on much different next season. Gonna stick with what has been working. I got a bit later start this year because of this CORONA Virus BS. State Ramps were closed. 

I see a winter trip to East TN in your future......

[Spankey]

5 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Better keep that a secret or folks from the Midwest and northeast will overrun Florida! Oh wait........

I see a winter trip to East TN in your future......

Maybe I can make that happen. I have a short list of a few guys on here I’d like to fish with if time ever presented itself. You are one of the short listers. I should muster up the guts and reach out to the handful I have in mind and just go on tour. Take a leave from work for a month or 5 weeks and go with it.  

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, Spankey said:

Maybe I can make that happen. I have a short list of a few guys on here I’d like to fish with if time ever presented itself. You are one of the short listers. I should muster up the guts and reach out to the handful I have in mind and just go on tour. Take a leave from work for a month or 5 weeks and go with it.  

Let’s do it! My brother lives in Philly by the way