A-Jay

Yup ~ Most all of the working group roll like that. Quick to learn, are intelligent, strong, watchful, and alert. They make wonderful companions but because some are large, and naturally protective, prospective owners need to know how to properly train and socialize. Some in the Working Group may not be the best choice for the first-time dog owners. But you too, already knew that. btw - Aries could certainly benefit from some of your wife's handy work. His coat is hurting. A-Jay

This is Aries ~ a 4 year old male who was surrendered to the the local animal shelter a couple of months ago. While we do have some knowledge about his earlier years, not much of it was very good. He's somewhat undersized vs the breed standard, which might not be a bad thing when it comes to re-homing him. Been working with him since Monday and like always, it took a couple of days for us to get acquainted. Bit of a wild child on & off lead and really had no reason to 'trust' people. Who up to this point have all let him down. Either way, we're moving on. He's opening up a little more each day and already seems to be semi-willing to engage in whatever we want to throw his way. Doesn't always happen that way. He's a very pretty dog but is currently blowing his under coat, so he's looking a little ratty; especially in the rain today. We've been brushing out what he'll tolerate so early on, but the prognosis is good. This breed can be a handful in the hands of an inexperienced handler and we are certainly minding our P's & Q's. So far so good. There's certainly no hurry and it's all in good time. Expect some video maybe tomorrow. More to follow. A-Jay

As a mature man, I have my own standards that have nothing to do with anyone else. I expect the best out of me, on my own terms and in accordance to my own ethics. IMO, all of that begins and ends with respect for myself. When I say I am going to do it, I do. When I start something, I finish it. I rarely impress myself. YMMV A-Jay

Thanks ~ While my manual dexterity may not be what it used to be, I am fortune in that I don't have sausage sized fingers and can still manipulate the bands on & off as needed. A-Jay

I work on myself. I work with my own & foster dogs. I work on my tackle as needed. None of it's really work. A-Jay

Just to finish my thoughts on this. I band baits mostly to keep them from being a big tangled mess when trying to remove one bait. However my new replacement treble hooks are stored in a small plano box. Funny thing is, I'll routinely have more trouble getting out one or two trebles than any banded baits. btw- those red trebles are just for show . . . . A-Jay

Back around to Total Body 1 this morning. Showing the last working set of each movement performed. Went well. Almost time for that new years resolution. #borninfiftynine A-Jay

Thanks ~ I think we all fish a little differently. Bassheads do what they do. Some fish stock stuff until it falls off the bait, Some prefer new(er) after market hardware on everything. Some might be somewhere in the middle. And all of that's totally cool. Personally, I commit quite a bit if time, $$ & effort fishing for the top 2 or 3 percent of the brown bass population. Strikes are always a crap shoot and I don't usually get many chances at them. So missing a fish like that because I didn't do everything I could to put the odds in my favor, is not how I roll. YMMV Fish Hard A-Jay

Risk can be a tricky deal ~ A-Jay

Originally posted this one in June 2019 ~ Still do it as it's SOP for me now . Couple of winters ago I decided to band together all the treble hooks in my arsenal using small rubber bands. I initially got the idea from an ice fishing video where the angler needed a compact way to store lippless baits. He banded the trebles and stored about 30 Baits in a peanut butter jar. Worked so well, he was able to just dump them into his hand and pick out the one he wanted - no tangled mess. After seeing that, I'd contemplated it before a few times, I just never took the leap. I wasn’t certain first, that if it would even work on every treble hook bait and second, and perhaps more importantly, that I’d be willing to take the time while I was fishing to remove and then replace them as needed. Picked up a couple of bags of white & multi-colored rubber bands from the hobby section at the local Wal-Mart and got down to business. Initially it took some time to apply the bands to all the baits, and I needed to come up with a repeatable, effective & most time efficient technique, if you will, of removing & replace the bands while I fished. I did so in short order, not exactly rocket science; just wrap them around a couple of times. Bands are on topwater baits, all square, crank, rattle & jerk baits. As well as Spy baits, and even blade baits. So, after going on two seasons of doing it, this is what I can tell you. Once done, it virtually eliminates, the tangled mess I used to get when attempting to pull out one, lipless or jerkbait for example, out of a compartment containing several; I get one and NOT NINE ! Banding reduces each baits foot print a little, which enabled me to store more baits in each box. This effectively did two things; reduced the number of 3700 boxes needed for the same number of baits AND freed up space for more boxes & baits – Win Win ! Not exactly a game changer in my rig, it has plenty of storage, but when I’m fishing from the Old Town Canoe – it’s a help for sure. And if I were a shore angler, this could be a valuable deal as well. Additionally, and as sort of minor but still beneficial factors, there is some reduction of rattle/sound from the lure boxes, as well as perhaps reduce long term hook rash as the trebles are no longer loose & free to rattle & bang around in the boxes as I rocket across the lake. Once I made this my ‘routine’ it has become second nature and takes seemingly no extra time at all. I’ll never not use them again. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. A-Jay https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/217157-hard-bait-treble-hook-banding-~/

Always an interesting debate ~ Never caught a spotted bass so I can't comment there. While there is little doubt that 'trophy sized' brown & green bass don't usually come to the net easily, my general feeling on this has three basic aspects to it. First revolves around the rule of gross tonnage. The second has to do with tackle used. And third involves water temperature. So big bass, regardless of color, fight hard IMO. And big in my mind is a smallie over 6lbs and a LMB over 10 lbs. Just basic physics, big powerful tails, taller & wider bodies can create greater force than smaller models. And IME big bass are Not lazy and DO most certainly jump, really high sometimes too. Now tackle, if I used the same gear I used for big green bass to land big brown bass, the 'fight' might not be all that exciting. Conversely if I used the same gear I usually fish for brown bass with, to target big green bass, I'd probably never land one. Finally water temp; cooler means less active in ALL regards. Warmer water temp can & often does mean super charged. So I'm going to say this has to be considered as part of this discussion. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Let me know if you want to see some video to support any of this. I can do that. A-Jay

I wasted 4 years 'studying' that dead mess in high school. Agricola magnum caput est That's all I remember. A-Jay

When written prescriptions were more common, (most are digital now), I've never been able to decipher any of them, ever. Even when I knew what it was suppose to say. I always just thought that illegible mess was some how deliberate and something Dr's were perhaps taught in medical school. #secretcode A-Jay

I've been through quite a few makes, models and even more sizes past few seasons - I've settled on these. Reasons are - they match my baits, they match the tackle I'm fishing them with, and most importantly, they HOOK & HOLD the Bass I'm Looking to Catch ! Both the Brown & Green models. Supplemental info - over the past say, three or four years, much of my drop shot fishing, especially mid-late season, has migrated to using 'bigger baits'; relative term. Where in previous deals I was using, the standard skinny 4 & 6 inch Sculpins, Robo worms & Dream Shots - and they catch bass for sure, I started drop shotting a baby rage craw, and then a full-size craw and then 4 & 5 inch Fluke and started getting bites from more bigger fish. But along with that, I was losing a few fish, because the hooks & manner I was using them was apparently inefficient. First off, in some instances, my hook selection was too small. Secondly, while I like nose hooking, seems it's not the best way when I'm targeting bigger smallies - which is ALL The TIME pretty much. Nose hooking also picks up eel grass when it's there and the little hooks have a tendency to skin hook a lot leading them to come unpinned too much for my liking. I do Tex-pose my drop shot plastic when needed but all things being equal, I prefer not to if I can. **Note *** regarding the Hooks Pictured - I use SEVERAL DIFFERENT sizes - I offered these to allow for the name, brand, type, and model number identification purposes. So we've ventured into using a little bigger, longer shanked hook. So if you look at the Picture provided, the bottom row - those are all GREAT DROP SHOT OPTIONS and ones I still use a ton; mostly for nose hooking. That whole top row of hooks are what I go to for bigger baits and when I want to 'top hook' a bait; meaning inserting the hook like you would put say a swimbait on a jighead. Where the hook goes in the front/nose of the bait, is threaded into & down the body of the bait BUT comes out the top. Still a drop shot, but when a fluke or a caffeine shad is rigged like this, the hook up to land ratio goes way up. Brownies are generally impaled in the top or the roof of the mouth and they generally Do NOT come off. I definitely use a little 'beefier gear', like M instead of ML and 8-10 lb fluorocarbon leader instead of 4-6 lb. The bigger Hook size demands a bit more pressure to sink it successfully, but after that, it's just a matter to playing that brown tank into the net. This works GREAT for Green bass too. Think Rage Craw ~ A-Jay

Are you doing it right ? Who decides ? Easy to find out how Merriam~Webster defines 'right'. Not certain the bass have read it though. I'm going to guess that for everyone of the infinite number of 'rights' there are in bass fishing, there's at least an equal and also infinite number of 'wrongs'. I'm still working through quite a few of both of them myself. Fish Hard A-Jay

I was taught cursive in 3rd grade I think. (circa 1967) Mrs. McKinnon, big woman with a nasty attitude and a short temper. I was not very good at it in the beginning and she would loom over me during class work. Almost pooped my pants every time. Between that and the multiplication tables, 3rd grade was a bear for me. But I love her for it because I use both those deals every day. #goodteachersrule btw - my Mom & grandmother's hand writing was like art work. Lynn's got that stuff down as well. A-Jay

Right off, I am a big fan of Mr. Perry's writings and make no claims to being even remotely at that level. However, I've been known to chase brown bass now & then. And while smallies are real roamers and go all over the lake, I'm not as interested in how they do it as I am where then end up & when. How all that happens in the water you fish in West Virginia might be different from what I'm seeing in Northern Michigan. But I bet there are as many similarities are there are differences. btw - I would NOT count out vibration when fishing for brown bass. Either way, I jotted down some stuff a while back, might help. A-Jay

Total Body 3 this morning. Showing two working sets of 7 movements. Felt Good. #borninfiftynine A-Jay

Back in what now seems like another life, I was seriously addicted to the striper fishing on the south jersey shore for over 15 years. Spent more time chasing tides, rock hopping and had a head lamp pretty much glued to my nugget. Even worked part time in a tackle shop down there for several years. Learned a lot. I used casting gear mostly, however the gold standard and just about the only truly waterproof (and bullet proof) surf spinning reel out there, is the Van Staal line. https://www.purefishing.com/van-staal https://saltwateredge.com/blogs/saltwater-edge/how-to-choose-a-van-staal-reel You'll pay for it though. Good Luck and oh how I miss the smell of the salt air ! A-Jay

Me too The NHL Network and ESPN + are my friends. A-Jay

Thanks Derek ~ I appreciate it. It was truly/easily The Best week of LMB fishing of my life (so far). Jeff & I were so fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. He is such a great guy and a wildly good stick, it just made the trip that much more special. And I am SO GLAD, we ran the GoPro's. We can tell folks about that week, but being able to see it, does it the justice. A-Jay

Why not right ? A-Jay

There's always at least 1 'Pull' type movement in each of my total body workouts. Today that was chin ups. I prefer an under hand grip. #borninfiftynine A-Jay

https://www.amazon.com/Seaguar-Smackdown-Tested-007-Diameter-Stealth/dp/B07JZ49YP2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=COA6CJ10X8T3&keywords=Seaguar%2C+Smackdown+Lo+Vis+Fishing+Line%2C+150Yds%2C+20+Lbs+Line&qid=1670705445&sprefix=seaguar%2C+smackdown+lo+vis+fishing+line%2C+150yds%2C+20+lbs+line%2Caps%2C105&sr=8-1 A-Jay

Thanks ~ Breed 'reputation' may be why he's been at the shelter since September and precisely why we've chosen to work with him. While each animal is different, I've already done a preliminary meet & greet, and Aries is a totally love bug. High expectations going in. A-Jay