wnybassman

Green Toxic Swimmer

On the deck I am comfortable with 4 out at a time, 6 I get a little cramped and I hate when 8 are out. When out by myself 8 or 10 combo's can be out as I utilize the bench seat to rest the rods on. As far as what is in the boat, this is typically what I carry all season in the one rod locker..........................

Sounds like the OP is catching just fine, just wondering why they are there, and I would say it's because that is where the food is. Don't forget your fizzing needle.

Caught a nice combo just this past week. Buff it out a little and it will be as good as new.

Ditto. We call that last sentence "getting all the unpaid vacation time we want" though lol

Moth balls here too. I go overboard and use two boxes. I fill up six or eight cottage cheese type containers (with the lid off) and put one in every compartment that a mouse could get in, one right under the console area and the biggest one back in that battery compartment. At the end of the storage season I pour them all back into a sealable container and use them year after year. Only takes a few weeks in the early spring for the smell to fully clear out, which is good, I get the boat out early enough where mice are probably still looking to get in somewhere and the lingering smell still keeps them out.

When tracking USPS packages being delivered to me, I have never seen one labelled as "delivered" unless it was already here at my house. Sometimes that happens in as little as 15 minutes from the time the package is dropped off in my mailbox.

I was thinking thermocline, too. I just never have seen one laying right on the bottom like that. All of the ones I have seen were 2/3rds of the way down or so. Makes sense though, it's the time of year one would set up around here.

I had a very similar experience this year with my Humminbird 798. It was only on one lake, and it was only in depths of 35 feet or deeper. Every time I got to this depth, the bottom looked like it was loaded with bait. I didn't know what to think of it. Wasn't interference with the other graph, because it happened when the trolling motor was out of the water. Fall turnover wasn't an issue, because it was mid September. Mine looked much like the third picture you posted. It is a lake I don't visit much, so I'm not sure when I'll get to experience it again.

I've had a lot of crazy stuff happen over the years. A couple memorables......... Bought a CD once on Ebay, new in package. Got here and all I got was the CD in a sleeve. Not in the same packaging the seller said he sent it in, and he said the CD was not the one he sent. It was the same album, however. In this case I was suspicious that there never was a new CD. Sold a large lot of Power Worms on Ebay. Buyer in Florida received the package, in my packaging, but the box was loaded with high end skin care products. He sent me a picture of the box, with my writing on the label. I refunded his money, had him send the skin care products back and I sold them for three times what I originally sold the Power Worms for. I felt kinda bad for the original person expecting a box of skin care products and got a box of Power Worms instead. lol Hope she fished!

http://www.oringsandmore.com/servlet/the-463/Bulk--Rubber-Orings/Detail

Only fortunate enough to pass one, about four or five years ago now. It was on the eve of a prefishing day for a two day tournament. I thought I was dying, spent the rest of the evening and morning in the ER. Missed prefishing, but did end up fishing the two day tournament. Passed the stone about a week later. They told me it was likely an overdose of Tang and raspberries. It was late June and very hot, was drinking Tang like mad at work, over a gallon a day. Plus it was raspberry season and I was eating a quart at a time out in the garden. Too much of a good thing I guess.

I think a short burst of activity "could" have taken place during the quake. I have fished a river many times where train tracks ran parallel to the river for a stretch. Every time a train would pass the smallies would go nuts for a few minutes then stop. My theory was the vibrations from the train would get crayfish and other foods moving and active, and in turn the bass would have a hay day for a short time. Either that, or it was all in my head and coincidental. lol In any event, I think the quake bite is long over.

I have been fishing Erie for nearly 20 years and have been out in water I probably shouldn't have been out in more times than I care to mention. Riding the bow high is a necessity. In those conditions I run my 19' Ranger with the trim all the way up. Many times I am looking at the sky over the bow, and am looking to see where I am going by looking over the side of the boat as I turn the boat to the left a touch. Those who do this know what I am talking about. This will provide the softest and driest ride too. I also run a 4 blade prop to grip the water better, and know guys who run 5 blades for the same reason. I rarely have the prop blow out. When the swells get big enough you can get on plane while running across them. Just try to stay in the trough and be careful going up and over the tops. This will get difficult in those large swells when they start breaking on the tops. I have had a couple times where the waves were so big, I didn't dare go up and over the top of them while going with them. I would try to hit that perfect speed where you kinda surf on top, but the instant you feel like you're going to go over the top and back down, slow up and let the wave catch up and get ahead of you again. That's when they get in the 6 to 8 foot range. I have never been out in anything bigger than that though. I actually enjoy fishing in these conditions on Erie when I am just repeating drifts over and over, but getting from point A to point B is a bummer. Oh yeah, a second bilge pump is also a must.

Big, Brown & Beautiful

I thought it followed the old inland trout season, which used to close on Sept. 30.

This was a memorable day. Mid December, water temp around 35º and air temp in the teens. No wind. We start seeing something weird on the surface in a little shallower than we were fishing, and we were in 30 fow or so. Didn't take long to realize what it was. Ice was starting to form around us, even out in 30+ feet of water. This is a tube jig sitting on the ice. It was amazing how fast ice actually forms. It built thickness fast enough where the trolling motor was having a tougher time pulling the boat through it. 45 minutes later a breeze picked up and the ice was gone as fast as it formed. I now joke that not only do smallmouth bite up until ice-up, but also during ice-up We caught several fish that day, and for the next couple weeks.