herder

I finally got out today on my local river, I got nuttin. I must say lottabass lives up to his name 😃

Access is a pain on the river, especially for a boat. We launched at the Essex County Environmental Center in Roseland. It has a gravel launch but really no place for parking a trailer. Right now the water is high, but during normal flows it's pretty low, and plenty of downed trees. There's a boat launch listed at Camp lane in Fairfield, but I checked it out and it's posted as for emergency use only, plus the area is real sketchy. The only real boat launch is on the Pompton River in Lincoln Park at Aqueduct Park that I'm aware of. I've seen duck hunters on the river but I have no idea where they launch.

Well my self-fulfilling prophecy came true, got out for a couple of hrs and I caught nothing. Though everything worked, new dry pants and boots worked great, feet and everything was dry, depth finder was working, and no issues paddling. My buddy did get one pike. Beautiful day here, plenty of turtles were out sunning themselves, hawks, great blue herons, various woodpeckers, deer were out.

I'm heading out to the local river in a couple of minutes, not expecting anything. Pretty much my shakedown trip, making sure everything works.

No mesh for me, what hair is left is short. Head sunburn sucks, also when it's hot out I'm always dipping my hat in the water to cool off.

March is the Sybil of months weather wise 😛

You guys would love Kimchi 🤮

Here in New Jersey ; Regular age 16-64 $22.50 Trout Stamp $10.50 Regular age 65-69 $12.50 Trout Stamp $10.50 70 + No charge, Free Non-Resident $34.0 Non-Resident Trout Stamp $20.0 So I don't pay for my NJ license, but I do buy a non-resident NY one for $50.0

I've pretty much have just settled in on using 832, been using it for years with no issues, from 6lb to 40lb. Was contemplating getting Daiwa X8 as I've heard a lot of good things about it, that it's YGK rebranded. But I just brought a couple of spools of 832 on the BPS sale, so that didn't happen.

I was just going to say the same thing, your one bass is more than I have this year. Crap, I haven't even been out this year,,,,,,,,,,,yet.

As usual A-Jay nails it. I have over 20 years of paddling experience, before paddling over 30 years of boating. Confidence is great, over confidence is not so great, a man's (or woman) gotta know his limitations. I've had to make some concessions to age, so things I would go out in 10 years ago, I don't now, and it's not that I can't handle it, it's just not fun for me. Live to fight another day.

Depends where I'm fishing but around 15mph is the limit. Sustained winds are one thing but gusts sometimes add another dimension. I'm in a paddle kayak, so that is limiting too. In the salt with tides running makes a big difference. I've been out in much higher winds, the really hard part is loading the kayak back onto the roof of my Forester.

I usually dim the lights, light a couple of candles, few glasses of wine, and Barry White on the stereo Ha!!, you posted that up while I was writing mine

Wind is howling here today, oh well it will happen soon here.

Being 73 my training is slow and deliberate. I'm very conscious of making every movement carefully. Mine is directed towards being able to kayak and fish, a lot on the aspect of paddling. Spend around 20 minutes doing various stretching, balance exercises and broom stick exercises, then on to weight training or resistance bands. The last section is sitting on my bench with a back padded pole to simulate sitting in a kayak, then paddle with a 7 lb black pipe using proper technique for 3 sets of 100 or more strokes. Again I can't stress enough to be careful and deliberate, screwing up at this age the recovery time ain't what it use to be. Best wishes to all who take the time to keep active, sometimes it's not easy to get motivated but it's crucial to keep at it.

After reading A-Jays posts I can't really fret about our weather here, but I will 🙃 75 degrees here yesterday, now 36 degrees with snow flurries.

I just use Tatsu 6lb as leaders for dropshotting and Ned rigs in clear reservoirs here. Alberto knot for braid to leader, loop knot for the drop shot hook, improved clinch knot for Neds, so far no issues in years of doing this. I'm too "frugal" to fill my reels with Tatsu, or use fluoro of any kind.

BPS sale got me, Suffix 832 for 19.98$ for 300 yd, picked up a couple of spools for that price. Also got Suffix Elite Mono for 7.78 for a 330 yd spool, use that for leaders.h

Even further back..........

I really don't remember ever having an actual "fishing funk", though fishing has had to be put on the back burner at times. Family, work and medical issues have taken precedent at times.

I don't think I've brought anything over 12$, thankfully I never got into tuna fishing 😃

I usually do 6 hrs on the kayak.

I was told there be no math here, can I get a refund 😛

That's so true, being a little up there in age driving home is a real thing. In my younger years I get what you say, sunrise to sunset fishing then driving home, the head starts bobbin' and the eyes close for a second, ya can't fight it, many times I've pulled over and took a quick nap or stopped at a rest area and washed my face.

Local river is about a mile, usual spots are around 80 to a 120 round trip. Week long trip to the Adirondacks is 620 round trip. Other camping/fishing trips are 240 to 500 round trips.