DogBone_384

Sorry for your pain. I’m lucky, as long as it’s a RED Jeep Wrangler Unlimited with an automatic transmission, heated seats, heated steering wheel, and CarPlay, all is good with my ‘boss’. ... do you know anyone at a body shop that can paint it white for you?

San Fransisco Bay's Fog Chaser, black....

Coffee

I have a FeelFree Lure 11.5 with Overdrive. It's got a great seat and is stand up stable. An excellent SOT fishing kayak. I layer up with a good thermal base, heavy T-shirt, fleece/sweatshirt, and some type of wind proof jacket. Heavy thermal bottoms and fleece lined jeans below, with neoprene boots. I stick to smaller ponds and keep a change of clothes in my truck in case I get wet. I always wear a PFD and let the family know where I'm at and when to expect me home.

I beat the rain at Hedges for a couple hours late this morning. I was smart enough to bring my good rain gear for the second half of my trip. I got two SMB, both right in at 1 3/4 pounds, to the kayak, and lost one. Everyone was caught on a blade bait off the bottom in 15-18’. Water temps were 39.x, wind was light/moderate from the south. Air pressure was 30.2. 2020’s gonna be G O O D!

Well said A-Jay. My city has 27 miles of coastline and because of that all FD personnel have to be able to swim 250 yds in less than 7 minutes. During our academy we swim for an hour, M-F, for 10 weeks. Your data accurately represents most of our classes. After 17 years, I still swim a mile two or three nights a week to ensure I can swim when needed.

I own two Kistler LMH’s. I see them as a MH with a soft tip: very sensitive with a lot of backbone. They’re both mod-fast actions. I use them for soft swim-baits and med/large crankbaits.

My PB smallie was caught on a 4" senko under a floating dive platform on Great Herring pond, Plymouth, and my best LMB chomped a black/blue chigger-craw, texas-rigged at Ponkapog pond in Canton, MA.

I watch him daily....

I dropped into my local DSG in Hanover, MA. The fishing department is now three isles and pricier rods are where rifles used to be. I pressed the HELP button on the counter and the clerk that arrived told me this location is eliminating fishing/firearms due to lack of sales. Hopefully Dedham, Plymouth, and Brockton keep SOME of their fishing gear. Bass Pro isn't one of my favorites, is over priced, and is 45 minutes from home. The same goes for my nearest Cabelas (which to me is a Bass Pro in a different color jacket) that's just over an hour away.

Welcome to the forum ... Yankees or Mets?

With a great forecast, I got home from work, packed up, and headed to my SMB go-to: Hedges. It was in the low/mid 40's, a light breeze from the west (mostly), and an air pressure of 30.2. Water temps settled in the high 40.x. It was also a nice, calm, day after a couple of rainy days ... the smallies & perch were on vacation. I stuck with my plan of blade baits, jerk & crank baits, and a Jackall Deracoup tail spinner the Bait Monkey made me buy. Try as I might, I got skunked for the first time in '20.

It was a 2.0. I agree that Abu rods run 'heavy', but that's what I like about them. That ML was not quite a M, but had a little extra in it to pull fish out while not giving up the ability to toss light/finesse baits. I use bait casters most of the time too. My spinning gear is for light baits and winter fishing because my thumbs get cold/numb and controlling spools becomes difficult.

I'll be in Dennis Port during the week of March 9 - 16. If you don't have a kayak to fish from, I have two and would be more than happy to meet you for some SMB hunting.

I drove by Blue Hills Reservoir after lunch and found it wide open. I tied on a gold, 1/4 oz Binsky, and a few casts along the stone bank on the street side, landed a cute yellow perch. February's in the books. It was very windy, and sans gloves, I didn't stay long.

I use a BPS folding net. It’s $19.95, fits under my seat and deploys with a ‘flick’. Treble hooks don’t often get tangled in it. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-gold-series-folding-landing-net

I’ve thought of it. Problem is, I ride a BMW sport bike. It’d slow me down too much... ?

I second Lowrance products. I’ve run Hook5’s on both of my kayaks since 2016 and have had no issues with them. I’m in Massachusetts and like LadiMopar, fish smaller waters. I find them very intuitive, with well laid out menus and controls. I use a scupper mount for the transducer and FeelFree’s Unimount for the control head. They’re both powered by 9AH batteries in Pelican boxes stored in the hatch. I get two full days of fishing from one charge. I like the 5” screen. It shows just enough information and is out of the way of my pedal drive unit and rod holders. I believe I paid less than $200 for them when I bought them. I’m hunting SMB tomorrow and will take some photos of how I installed everything. Good luck with your search.

I'm very familiar with KTP. Love the place. Problem is it's about $30 in gas, round trip, for me, without heavy traffic. I can ride my M/C if I'm looking for small items I can fit in my bags.

YEAH RIGHT .... ?

All the waters (fresh) near the Boston area are locked up and unsafe. Plymouth and Cape Cod are open. So far there's been no countdown this winter. I'll be out Tuesday looking for my February fish.

I have my dream job. I'm a Firefighter.

I don't know what a HBS case is, but when Walmart expanded into Canada they bought the F.W. Woolworth Co. They closed all the union stores and kept the non-union stores open. They've also been convicted of not paying employees proper overtime and keeping them locked in stores after hours until their work is done. Just personal preference.

I responded to the call linked below. This woman was roughly 600 - 1000 yards off shore. Myself and another Firefighter were going to swim out to her in Mustang suits but the State police boat was close by and got her with the aid of another Trooper in a kayak. She was only breathing a few times a minute and her core temp was in the low 80's when we got her off the SP boat and into the ambulance. My point is that PFD's are a MUST, and the average person w/o proper gear isn't likely to be able to swim a long distance in cold water. My prayers go out to the families involved.

I did a case study on Walmart for my MBA. I don't shop there under any circumstances. It'd be interesting to see if a small M&P tackle shop could make it in MA. Best of luck with it.