Choporoz

Haven't been out in a few days....cold, snow, grandkids.... so about 3PM, the mercury nudged up over 30 and winds were under 10, I figured I had to get out. Only few bites before the iced up guides and level wind got the best of me. Shame, because they were all good ones. Best 2 were 4.8 and 3.5.

Two of my favorites in recent rotation...The Yes Album and Hemispheres if I am not mistaken. Possibly Argus, also.

My ex got ended up with my hundreds and hundreds of LPs, most from Columbia Record Club. I was never a very serious audiophile and streaming Prime Music is more than sufficient for me now.

I spent my first dozen or more fishing years trolling for walleye. I rarely even thought about trolling for bass before talking to my neighbor. Sometimes in a kayak, I would troll something behind while moving to another spot, but never with much thought...or luck. Lost far more lures than number of bass caught. I do most all of my fishing around wood, grass and rock, and all have frustrated my limited trolling experiences.

The weather was already a concern, but now have last minute family coming in, so regretfully not going to make it.

This. A couple windy days fishing alone in a canoe is what tilted the balance for me to kayaks. Now that my boat is tied up outside my back door, the kayaks aren't getting as much use. I will still kayak small waters away from the house, but most of the time now, I'm in a boat.

There came a point in my life when I made a conscious decision: I would no longer care... at all ... about anyone's opinion regarding me if I do not respect them and their opinions. It was, and is, liberating.

Only got out for about 45 minutes yesterday before my guides started icing up. Fortunately got one before I couldn't cast any more

I have an NFC 6'9" LMH, and a newer than NFC 7'3" LMH. The former is far more sensitive. Not sure if it is all because of the blank, or if the 7'3" length makes a lot of the difference. Regardless, they both begin to feel overwhelmed when I load much more than 1/2 oz

3/16 is the sweet spot for the LMH. 1/8 is also very good. 5/8 weight with any med/lg size plastic is slightly on the high end, imo. MHF handles 5/8 well. (I have 2 LMH, and 2 MH, 1 HF Heliums)

Got a few this morning, but no pics. Next year.

Cheaper than Geecrack

I am opposite. I'm ok dragging a jig with braid when there is little slack. But if I am working cover, I feel much more with fluoro.

I do. Every waking minute of every day. There's a constant risk calculus taking place in my head, usually subconscious. Your's, too. It wouldn't be much of a life if safety was always the only consideration.

As @AlabamaSpothunterdescribed, having technique-specific rods doesn't necessarily mean that was the goal. Every rod purchase had an intended or imagined use. Few of those purchases were entirely satisfactory. So a rod might get pigeonholed and another rod may be acquired that I hope will be perfect for a number of things....but it will inevitably be disappointing doing one or more of those things. I have lots of rods that I use for narrow list of techniques. I didn't set out with that intent.

Rage Bug. Everything else added together is a distant second.

Mayo

It is easiest to eliminate water when it is calm. Bait balls over active bass always makes for 'nervous water'. Feeding Crappie can do it, too, but not sustained like bass in my experience.

If you trap them, feel free to bring them a few miles up 49. Duke Power won't let me and my neighbors cut some of our trees and I would welcome a few more beavers. Bonus: More laydowns!

Looks like Barlows is getting out of these, too. Lurepartsonline still has them. Put a pair of Owner trebles and your choice of clip or fast snap and you're tossing these without the fear I feel with MB or Steelshad tied on. I have used higher end blade baits (especially vaults) with some success. But honestly, the slight edge in bites I feel is way offset by fishing them cautiously. Blade baits have to spend a lot of time contacting bottom, rocks, wood, etc. I lose them at a higher rate than any other lure. I won't fish them as well if I'm worried about losing them.

Unfortunately, my source recently cut way back on production. I did get some from Besotted that I have yet to throw, but they look good. Getting bodies from Barlows and putting them together was always fairly economical. If you are fouling a specific size or even specific bait quite a bit, play with the different holes on top. Sometimes a blade will foul continuously on one hole, but be fine with another. 90%+ of the time, I am casting out and short hopping off the bottom all the way back. Once in a great while, I retrieve over sparse remaining grass, and occasionally drop it straight through bait schools...mainly just too impatient to change to propper spoon.

Plans for three days of 20# bags this weekend destroyed by emergency babysitting duty for granddaughter. Turned out to be a good tradeoff. I did get out for 90 minutes in the cold wind Friday. Spent an hour looking for bait schools before I gave up and flipped a couple normally reliable brush piles with only one hammer-handle pickerel to show for it.

I use 12# Suffix Elite for PopRs and never thought it'd be better to go with lighter line, except maybe for casting distance. I'm happy with the action

Packers are in a weird spot. Need one win against Saints, Vikes or Bears. Probably won't be any better if they win all 3. Strange to be shooting for a 5 seed with some incentive to bench starters for last 2 games.