Jar11591

Had another hour to kill at sunrise so I walked the bank in the rain. One decent Larry before I had to get out and go to work. They’re definitely biting. I think the heat wave really sped up the fish right into prespawn, bypassing the typical ice-out lull.

It’s now on my list to try. I love a strong dark roast. Heard a lot of good things about Peet’s. If it’s better than Starbucks then it’s a must-try. Starbucks has always been near the top for me.

Nice report, nice video, and hawg smallmouth!

As far as I know pumping your own gas is still illegal in NJ. Pain in the aft whenever I have to drive through it.

@NYWayfarer nice looking trout. I gotta get up to the Schroon River soon to go after some trout and smallmouth.

Braves still rolling. Hopefully the pitching settles in, because the offense is on fire!

Oh wow so you guys got the heat wave that we did. Next week is back to more spring like weather but nothing cold enough for snow.

Haha yeah every time I check out the fishing section at Walmart I’m always like “why did I even bother?”. The ones around here carry nothing but regularly priced junk.

Dang really?! Seems like we skipped spring and went right to temps in the 80s while you guys are still in winter. What weird weather.

Had an hour or so at sunrise this morning so I walked the bank at a lake close to me that I haven’t fished. Yeah I’ll definitely be returning with my boat very soon. Caught a nice fat 4-7 and a few other decent bass and a large crappie. Looking forward to picking this lake apart from my boat.

Sounds like a slice of heaven on earth.

Not enough time to take the boat out today, too much stuff on my honey-do list. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t walk the bank for an hour before she wakes up! Ive never fished this lake before despite living 15 minutes from it. It gave me a warm welcome when I stuck a very fat 4-7 right off the bat. Got a couple more decent bass and the first accidental crappie in a long time. Man I wish I could take the boat out today because I have a feeling I’d be slaying them. But oh well, at least I got a couple good ones. The itch has been scratched! Until tomorrow at least.

When it flattens out.

My favorites are Megabass 110 Jrs and Rapala X-Raps.

Couple hawgs!

Man those Hellgrammites look like smallie candy.

I should probably do this. I have a few travel rods for Mexico, but they’ve only been used once. One of them is a Fenwick Methods that is a really sweet rod. I should put it to use this year

My water temps jumped from low to mid 40s with some frozen spots on Monday to 64° in the shallows yesterday so similar to what you’re experiencing. The fish were definitely goofed up. They were in the shallows warming up but extremely skiddish and had no interest in biting. The couple I caught came from deep in downed timber with a Rage Bug. I can’t remember such a rapid temperature rise directly after ice out, and the fishing has definitely been weird because of it.

One place I fish on occasion has some standing timber. I’ve had good luck throwing a weightless wacky rig next to the trees and letting it fall. Also a popper has worked well in fields of standing timber. A popping style weedless frog may be better for getting right up in the tree.

Spinnerbaits consistently catch the biggest bass for me.

Last episode was ?

I’m assuming you’re using braid and it’s just slipping on the spool. Unspool all your line, and place a small piece of tape to stick the line to the spool, and then respool the line. Or use some thick nylon as backing. 99% of the time when casting reels have drag that won’t work, it’s actually just the line slipping on the spool.

Siebert Outdoors Brush Jig with a NetBait Baby Paca Chunk!

Spot the big spawning esox?

Yeah this weather is crazy. Next week is getting back to spring temps (days in the 50s and nights in the 30s-40s), and hopefully that’ll get the fishing get on a more normal ice out/ prespawn pattern. And I look forward to it because today was one of the weirder days of fishing I’ve had. And a total grind! At least it makes the 14”ers more rewarding.