Smokinal

First, let's get something out of the way...I'm no artist! ?? Now that we've established that, here goes You're going to get a few different opinions of terminology on some of these structures. And to start, to me, structure is the natural contour of the bottom. Cover is an object on that structure. Structure: Ridge, ledge, hump, ditch Cover: Tree, brush, rocks on ridge I drew a side view of what I call a ridge. I consider a ridge a structure as drawn; sharp top, coming up off the bottom, and running however long. I was on a roll, so I thought I'd throw in some ledges as well. Basically, steep "steps" on a sloping bank or point. And finally, a hump. I wanted to point out the difference, again imo, between a hump and a ridge. To me, the ridge has a sharp top; whereas a hump flattens off on top, usually more round in shape, usually a little larger area on top as well; almost like a plateau. That all said, I think it's great that you're trying to get a grasp on underwater features. I think this is quite possibly the most important, most underlooked thing we can do. I really like to try to visualize the structure/cover I'm fishing, and picture my bait coming across/over/down it. You can impart more lifelike action to your bait doing this. Of course, good electronics will help in this. When I'm done fishing a spot I have found, I like to side image it from all angles to really get a good mental picture of how it lays out, the cover on it etc... It's a whole other world down there. I'd love to be able to empty some of my favorite lakes and take a wheeler around the bottom.

Welcome!

^^^Thank you Tom; I'll pass this on

My buddy is headed to the Fl Keys in a week and wanting to catch these. He doesn't know where or how. Any tips on this? Spots? Baits?

One of my techs has one of these and loves it https://shop.snapon.com/product/supplemental/Heated-Jacket%2C-Large/HCJKTPMBKL

I was so frustrated with BPS and Cabel sites a while back until I figured it out. I couldn't search, couldn't add items...nothing worked as it should. Are you using Firefox? I was; still am for every other site and they all work fine except theirs. I discovered their sites are configured to work best with Chrome. Try Chrome and report back.

In for answers as well. Thinking of adding mega360 as I already have 2 mega graphs now and don't want to add another platform.

Welcome!

I know at first thought it seems like it would be nice if there were less people on the water. But what happens when the state tries to take away some access to waters; tries to put absurd limits and more regulations on fishing; rich land owners file to put absurd restrictions on fishing. When you arrive in court with 37 names on your petition, they will laugh you out of the room. Now, you show up with 137,000 names, now you have a voice. Not to mention, let's just go ahead and put another PS5 controller in another kid's hand. I'd rather see a fishing rod....

A sample of one in 37' and one in 8' today. Boy was I wrong about the expected temps though! Very happy about it, but way off. Air was 30 when we got there at 6am but the sun came up and it got pretty darn nice for Nov 20th in Maine. We boated around 25 bass and around 20 crappie. With those water temps, we should be able to fish for around 3 more weeks. The crappie

I can't speak for the reast of the country, but in Maine, where this whole "bass go deep in the winter" thing should ring true, it just isn't the case. I catch bass in 34* water in the same locations/depth as I do in 74* water. I'm going out for one of the last times this weekend and I expect to catch fish in 5-8' and 25-40' and I'm guessing water will be ~39* There's always shallow fish and there's always deep fish; fish where your confidence/experience is.

This is so sad to hear. About 1.5 weeks ago, I buried a best friend of 39 years due to cancer. My thoughts and prayers are with Aaron and his family.

I'm tellin ya, a betta fertilized some eggs there. Wait....wouldn't that make him alpha?? ?

That's what happens when people flush their bettas down the toilet.....

I just went through all of this when I upgraded boats. My new boat is much heavier than my old and my 2000 Lexus RX300 was struggling up hills with it and at the ramp. I did tons of homework and found the best bang for the buck, with a decent tow capacity is the Jeep Grand Cherokee. I like an SUV for the enclosed space and most of these, even with a 6 cyl, have a 5000 capacity. My son already has one and I've used it a few times and it tows great. You can find a nice clean used one in the $8-10k area. I ended up not having to worry about it as I got a promotion at work which included a new 1500 Silverado 4x4 but that's neither here nor there ?

This happened to me too. We were going down a bank, both throwing white soft jerks and my buddy broke off on one. Jokingly, I said, "Don't worry, I'll get him" and threw at the same stump. I caught that fish with my buddy's hook and bait still stuck to his face Didn't we laugh!

I'd definitely have a green pumpkin senko rigged and just wait for a blowup, then fire at it. And this^^^

First off, some days chickens; some days feathers. 2 Sundays ago, I tore em up on a Pad Crasher. Went back the following Sunday, threw the crasher for an hour, couldn't buy a bite. Picked up a buzzbait and couldn't keep em off of it. I kept trying the frog; I'd throw it for 3-4 casts, nothing. I'd pick up the buzzbait and wear em out. It only took about 3 of those scenarios to not touch the frog rod again. Second, I've seen what you're describing and they are jumping at dragon flies (at least in my case they were). What my buddy figured out that day was he would wait, with senko rod in hand, for one to jump. Then he'd fire to that spot and catch em every time.

The guy in the weighted down john boat, was his name Scott Peterson??

It does not need to be an actual trail cam so this is a great idea! Thank you; I'll look into both of those brands

I have a few deer come through my yard at different hours of the day. I wanted to get a trail cam to capture some pics and have them sent to my phone but as I looked into this, I'm discovering there are monthly fees to do this?? For real? You have to pay someone to have the pics sent from one item to another these days? Any trail cams that don't have fees out there?

Yes, the shadows are key. As far as the no bite, they're either finicky bass, non active bass or not bass.

They sure look like fish to me. I like to have sonar running side by side with the Si; or go back over the area in sonar only. If there's clear arches, then it assures me they're fish. What kind of fish can be hard to tell

Wow, this bring me back a ton of years. My Grandparents had a home in Cotuit and we used to fish Middle, Mystic and Hamblin quite often when I was a whippersnapper. We always seined up live minnows and I don't know how these lakes are now so I won't be much help.