Jar11591

@Middlestone in New York State you can target bass out of season provided they are taken on artificial lures and they are released alive.

Those 12 hours were way harder on me than I anticipated

Rage Tail Structure Bug - midsize

I learned the basics from my dad, and anything advanced I learned was from either time on the water, or from here. So I guess my coach is BassResource. A good guide should be able to coach a client on some things as well. Whether intentionally or not.

I had a lucky crankbait as a kid. One day I put it 75’ into a tree, still on an upward trajectory when it hit. Wind was at my back that day.

Yes they are. I remember as a kid being bummed about NY not being able to grow big bass. Now I feel as though I live in one of the top few states in the country for bass. Still hard to wrap my head around the state record LM that was broken last year. The smallmouth record I thought may have been ripe for falling, but a 12.5 pound largemouth in NY just seems surreal.

As far as I know, the current PA state record is the only largemouth the state has ever officially verified being over 10 pounds. So catching a 10 pounder in PA is beyond the catch of a life time!

@MediumMouthBass if you’re catching bass weighing double digits in Pennsylvania, I think I speak for a lot of people on here when I ask if we can see any pictures of these 10 pounders?

I organize my tackle again and again, scout new bodies of water, organize my tackle yet again, stare at my boat, organize my tackle again still… Mostly that, but during the winter I play video games to pass the time.

I’ve heard otters or muskrats can completely decimate the big fish in waters where these mammals make a home. One of the lakes I fish used to be known for so many big bass. My buddy caught his NYS PB of over 7 pounds, plus many 5-6 pounders were frequent. But the last 10 years it’s given up nothing over 4lb, and it’s impossible to not notice all the otters scurry along the bank and swim in the shallows. The only thing I can go off of why the big fish disappeared is the otters.

Siebert Outdoors. His Brush style heads are my favorite jig heads to fish. He has a lot of options for heads though. The brush style just happens to be my favorite and excels in most conditions.

Yeah it was forecasted to get down to -8 to -10. When I started my truck this morning it was still at -10. Gonna get up to 11 today though so we’re making a nice recovery lol

Dropped down to -10 last night in my area. Space heater has been working overtime.

I have no words, but you will be in my thoughts.

Found my numbers from 2023. That year I made “big” bass anything over 19”. In 2023, 1 out of every 6.67 bass were over 19”, and 1 out of 12.1 bass were over 20”. Didn’t keep track for 2024 but it’s probably a little lower than that.

My cut off is the same as yours. 4lb and up are the big bass around here. I thin a similar thread was posted last winter, and for me that season I had a 10:1 big fish to overall fish ratio. Gonna try to find that thread.

@Swamp Girl no ma’am! Not for this born and raised yank.

Got about 6” of snow before the temps plunged to zero degrees. Supposed to get up to double digits for the high today at least.

I fish a couple urban lakes where if I started picking up trash I would never have time to launch my boat. I’ll always pick up fishing line and worm containers when I see them though. Most of my fishing is up in the mountains and when I see trash at the launches at these lakes I pick it up. These mountains are some of the most beautiful scenery in the world and a ton of resources go into protecting them and keeping them pristine, so I like to do my part. Litter saddens me and so do the losers who perpetrate it.

Less than 4 weeks until pitchers and catchers report to spring training!

Siebert Outdoors Morel Heads are my favorite.

Because my boat is under 16’ I pay $22.50 in New York State.

I’ve ordered rods from Amazon, and had some arrive broken, but that isn’t any different than TackleWarehouse. TackleWarehouse has a 60% broken rod rate when shipping to me, and twice they’ve sent me the wrong one. I think Amazon’s record with shipping rods to me is better than TW’s. Won’t stop me from ordering from either place. Any reels I’ve ordered from Amazon have come perfect, and cheaper than where I could find them elsewhere.

Big ones that get away haunt me. I always think “what if that was a new PB”.

Bass Pro Shop being built in my town. Set to be done by summer!