DogBone_384

It’s 54 degrees around Boston, but no open water (OK, the ocean...). I hope some of you get out today, especially south, towards Cape Cod! Merry Christmas and a personal best to all for ‘21!

Nissan, Honda, Toyota for the ‘tuners’ in the crowd...

I don't remember for sure what kind of fish my first catch was, but it had to come from Eaton's Pond, in Braintree, MA, 1974-75'ish, on a worm & bobber. We got worms from my parent's garden.

What’s history shown us?

I hardly catch fish over 2 pounds, never mind 3, so everything I throw counts... ?

I use two Milwaukee M12 XC batteries in a Pelican box.

No worries... the new year is less than two weeks away. I'm just south of Boston so our weather patterns are similar. Twelve to sixteen weeks is all we have left until the season starts again. In '17, '18, and '20 I caught fish in open water EVERY month of the year. I missed January in '19. Merry Christmas!

I get this every time I fish with Fishing Rhino and Saltysmalljaws. Brian Latimer would be my choice to spend a day with a Pro.

She’s an accountant and loves it.

We're in the same age group. I have 10 years (or less) until I retire and wifey plans on working until she's 70.

Even though size was way off this year, and the big water learning curve is bigger than I anticipated, the only thing I would have done differently this year is buy Lowrance Hook Reveal fish finders for my new Ranger instead of Elite Ti2's. All in all it was a pretty good year.

Glad to hear you got back to shore OK. You’re right in keeping a change of clothes when fishing in cold weather and ALWAYS wear a PFD. I put my truck keys in a zippered pocket on my PFD and spare glasses in my truck. I’ve had cold water rescues, luckily, all with good results. Even with proper rescue gear, they’re not fun.

I do this, using BatteryTender disconnects and velcro the box inside the hull. I used 3M Super77 spray adhesive to help the velcro stick to the plastic hull. I remove the box and plug it into the BatteryTender to charge.

I didn't order from TW. There's two of us.

This. I know my Lowrances have demo modes.

Mine is pretty simple. I was telling a coworker the story of being bitten by a German Shepherd when I was 10. Firehouse humor, being what it is, my coworker nicknamed me Dog-Bone. The 384 is my FD badge number.

I can't say yes or no, but this is Lucky Craft's catalog: http://www.luckycraft.com/luckycrafthome/default.htm#Products You might email them and ask if they ever made a silent one version.

Welcome to the forum. You’ll find it a great group of people!

I'll give it a go this year...

Everything's still open up here in E/SE Massachusetts, including Cape Cod. Cape Cod didn't freeze over last year, so I have no horse in this race, yet. IF it freezes over this year, we'll be fishing open water again by March 15th.

Canton Res was it for me. Family duties kept me off the water yesterday.

This... drive them all if you can, and go with your gut.

I left the Firehouse this morning and finished my side job around 1:30. It was too nice to stay home so I packed a kayak and took off for Lake Massapoag in Sharon. The ramp was engulfed with 1-2" waves, so I turned back and headed for my 'home' pond: Ponkapog. On the way to Ponkie I realized I was about to pass Canton Reservoir. I stopped here because it's an easier launch and has decent protection from winds coming from the south. About 45 minutes in I grabbed a 3.06 and 1.32 LMB with a threadfin shad Jackall Rerange 110 on consecutive casts. I stayed until just about dark. Water temps were 46.x and the air pressure was 30. If this is my last trip in 2020, not a bad way to finish up.

I have older Veritas in spinning and casting versions of what you’re looking at, plus a couple more. Until I bought my first Kistler, I used my winches for crankbaits and a 6’6” M/F casting model for topwater. The 6’6” works great when fishing from my kayak. My wife uses a spinning winch for her favorite lipless crankbait. I find the winch’s moderate action too soft for topwaters, especially walking baits, but that’s my preference. The Veritas’ are great $100 rods. They’d still be my go-to had I not discovered Kistler.

On the recommendation of Professor SaltySmallJaws, I dropped in Smalls pond for a little bit before getting off Cape for the season (!?!?!?!). Under his tutelage I grabbed two big yellow perch and one short and F A T LMB, and lost something similarly sized. My Damiki DC100 hooked onto 3, and a T-rigged 5" Fluke got whacked by one of the bigger perch. Water temps were high 49.x and winds were 15 mph upon arrival and 20+ by lunch when I left. Air pressure was 29.9.