Jar11591

My drive to work this morning was like driving through a frozen wasteland. Negative temperatures, not a soul on the roads, cars spun out and abandoned. and the only sound is the wind whipping through the frozen snow banks.

Because it's winter.

Popper. If we’re being brand specific, Chug Bug or Pop Max.

Its looking like Saturday won't even break 0° here in upstate NY. Forecast for the next couple days calls for a few inches of snow, 40+ MPH gusts, and temperatures somehow even colder than what it's been. Saturday is calling for a high of -2° and a low of -19° with 15-25 MPH winds gusting up to 40 MPH. Getting real for us northerners.

It’s not the cold weather that keeps me from fishing, it’s the hard water. I get my fix in the winter by organizing tackle, purchasing tackle, watching fishing videos on YouTube, and planning some fishing trips.

@12poundbass I love the sign above him. Looks like Hank has found his one thing.

My 8 year old rescue girl. Hard to believe its already been 7 years since I brought her home. Best choice I have ever made.

-3 on my way in to work this morning.

Line.

Nothing like scraping ice off your truck windows at 5am in single digit temperatures.

State parks are perfect for this. Most are on fishable water, have low nightly cost and are secure.

Great report and pictures! Looks like you had an amazing time, but it’s hard not to at Baccarac! Like you, I also fell just short of the double-digit mark with a 9-13. That place is so addicting. I’m working on another trip sometime next year. Way to go on the Baccarac bass!

Rods: Fenwick, St. Croix Reels: Pflueger Line: Power Pro (braid) Berkley (mono) Leader: Yo-Zuri Hooks: Gamakatsu Soft Plastics: Strike King, NetBait, Zoom, Culprit and Yamamoto. No way I could pick one. Jigs: Siebert Hardbaits: Rapala, Megabass Frogs: Booyah, LiveTarget Spinnerbaits: Strike King

Ling and Bowfin are actually a different species. Ling or lingcod is another name for a burbot which is actually like a freshwater codfish. They do look somewhat similar.

Born and raised in a city of about 75,000 people, and still live there. Even though I live in a very urban area, I’m only a short drive south of the Adirondack mountains which is where I do a lot of my fishing. I’m lucky enough to have a lot of urban fishing areas as well.

If the fish is small enough to be skied, I’ll ski him. If it’s a larger fish, I want it in the boat as quick as possible so I can admire it, photo it and release it. Most of my fish are caught around heavy cover, so I’ll try not to let them turn their head and bury in the weeds. When fishing smallmouth, I don’t have to try to take my time fighting them, they usually do that themselves. Most of them that are decent sized put up a good fight on standard bass tackle and big ones can make really test an angler with some strong runs and acrobatics.

A 6'6" M/F for a dedicated top-water setup.

I had been looking forward to this report. Great fish and pictures! I can’t wait to sit down and watch the video. Baccarac really is unbelievable.

In my opinion, the seats to avoid are the ones behind either basket. A horrible angle to watch a basketball game. Higher level seats about even with center court aren’t bad at all. The Pacers host the Cavs on January 12th. You’d get to see the best player in today’s game LeBron James, as long as he doesn’t sit out for “rest” which he’s been known to do.

One Rage bait that will always be a mainstay in my soft plastic lineup is the Menace. It makes a great jig trailer when you're looking for a compact profile, and works great on a T-rig, punch rig or rigged weightless. For a finesse jig trailer, bite 3/4 of the body off. The Menace is a fish catcher no doubt.

Net Bait Paca Craws and Chunks

I’ve caught pike big and small on straight braid, but I’ve also had them saw through 50lb braid before I can even get a hookset. I’ve even had 15” pickerel bite through heavy braid. If you’re actually targeting pike, straight braid isn’t something I would recommend.

Nice work on the boat. Sure doesn’t seem like you “have no idea what” you are doing! Lol and some nice fish to break her in. Awesome.

I use several other Pflueger casting reels as well, and they are all quality, great-performing reels. I have all Pflueger spinning reels as well, and their casting stuff performs just as flawless.

In that price range, I strongly reccomend a Pflueger President XT. It is a great little reel. I prefer it over any over my other reels I paid a lot more money for. This reel isn’t even in the same conversation as a Black Max in my opinion. I’ve used all the reels in the Abu Max series and none of them can touch the President XT when it comes to performance. If $80 is your budget, definitely give the Pflueger President XT a try.