TOXIC

There are a few weather events I pay attention to. Wind speed and direction, pre-post front relating to barometric pressure and moon phase. Wind speed is the only thing that will keep me off the water. Safety is always first.

There’s a reason they call it “Walleye Chop”.??

Will be going to Rolands on Okeechobee sometime in February again. If I only had 3 rods which, by the way happened last year due to getting caught out in the middle of the lake and when a storm blew in, I lost 5 combos out of the boat when a strap broke, I was delegated to a DShad, a weightless Senko that shared the same rod, a spinning rod with braid that I rigged a punching Senko on and a casting rod that I threw a swimbait and chatterbait on. I caught a lot of fish on those 3 setups.

Totally depends on whether I’m going in my boat or someone else’s. If it’s mine, since I was sponsored by SPRO, I have 1 box each for original Little John’s, 1 for medium depth and 1 for deep and extra deep divers. I have 2 boxes for Aruku Shad lipless, 1 for the smaller size (65) and 1 for the larger size (75). If I’m going in someone else’s boat, I cherry pick from all of these into 1 3700 that also includes jerkbaits.

I have a 21 foot floating tackle box. If I’m not going in my boat, I have a soft sided tackle bag that holds everything I need. I can usually adjust it to cover the body of water I am going to by my past experience but here’s what I carry. All of my baits/lures are in 3700 size boxes except for my Senko box which is double sided. In addition to the Senko box I have a terminal tackle box that holds all weights and hooks, a crankbait box with all depths of cranks and jerkbaits, a plastics box that has all other plastics for dropshot, shakeyhead, Ned, etc. and a box dedicated to DShads (fluke style baits). Bag fits neatly in a rear compartment and if I really had to I could carry it bank fishing but it is heavy.

All of mine are to make it more fun. When I was working, there were a bunch of us that worked for different government agencies that would have a tournament that we called the “Use or Lose” tournament referring to annual leave that we would not be able to carry over to the next year. When I lived in Florida, I fished a small trail where a bunch of us had a running bet that if any of us won, we would have to buy late lunch at Golden Corral. Due to the heat in Florida summers, our tournaments started at first light and ended at 2pm. On our annual trip to Michigan and lake St Clair we have a daily competition. There’s 7 of us and we usually take a case of homemade moonshine for the week. We pass around a jar per day amongst the group and whoever caught the biggest fish of the day has to eat the fruit in the bottom of the jar.??

Totally agree in regards to panfish. I fillet pretty much the same way. Bigger saltwater fish with bigger bones I will cook whole. I spend many an hour in my garage with a folding table, 2 five gallon buckets, a Cutco fillet knife and usually 2 limits of crappie (50 fish). Normally takes about an hour.

With a 25 per person limit, you better have a big belly.??

It’s just about that time of year to fill the freezer with crappie. I don’t like to keep any until after the first hard frost or the water cools to between 50-55 degrees. IMHO it firms up the meat. We start out now by targeting them and following them into their cold water spots as the weather cools. Aquia Creek on the Potomac river has a large population of crappie so it’s our primary harvest spot. We found them still pretty scattered but a couple of guys we know that were out there the same time as we were filled 2 limits. They were fishing docks and we target mostly open water spots because it has been our experience that the bigger fish move in there to winter. I will be off the water for a while and my fishing partner is going overseas for a while so the next trip may actually be for keepers.

Good catch. I think you are underestimating.?

Well, it’s a wait and see situation. I’ve got news for ya. Yamamoto has changed the formula for their plastics, mainly the Senko, a couple of times since I’ve been there. I’ve never been privileged enough to know the reasons why but I did not see any drop in quality. Believe me, I’ll be the first one to spout off if there’s any major change that does affect the quality. In my prior life as a Federal Agent who closed banks for a living, I’ve seen hundreds of sales of financial institutions. There’s always a purchase and assumption agreement and it identifies the options of the acquirer. With banks, there was always an inherent value in employees since they deal with the public and are normally from the community where the banks branches are located. The amount of “run off” from a bank acquisition can be major if not handled correctly. In some cases the acquirer has branches close by and they will clean house of employees. That’s normally because they have a tendency to get bad attitudes after an acquisition. Mega mergers have no loyalty to anyone. It’s totally a bean counting process. Employees close to retirement are prime targets.

Rather Outdoors Report Rather Outdoors has announced that it has acquired Zebco Brands (“Zebco”), the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based manufacturer of fishing rods, reels and accessories. Quantum rods and reels were included in the sale. Zebco is a preeminent marketer of fishing tackle and outdoor gear. Operational since 1949, it is now one of the oldest companies in the Rather Outdoors portfolio of brands. Rather also owns Lew’s, Strike King Lures, Salmo and Fox fishing companies. This was February of 2021. I guess I just paid more attention since I rep for Quantum/Zebco. I know some high up people at Lew’s and their issues are on going. I have been with Gator Guards for 15 years and Yamamoto for 20. I repped Live Target through a rep group I am associated with. Maybe I’m the bad luck piece. ??. FYI I would hope their is no change in quality since all of Yamamoto baits are manufactured, packaged and shipped out of Page, Arizona. I have never agreed with cheapening the price. The Yamamoto line of baits are what I consider premium quality and it’s always the consumers choice to buy a cheaper brand. Those who fish Yamamoto regularly all agree the price is worth it.

I haven't inquired yet as to the ramifications. I’ll keep everyone posted. It’s been a crazy year for buyouts. Mustad buys Live Target, TH Marine buys Gator Guards, then gets bought themselves, Lews buys Quantum/Zebco then gets bought themselves as well. There’s a LOT of movement right now. Crazy.

We finally kicked on the heat in the house with the nights getting down into the low 50’s. I switched the heat pump in our addition over to heat as well. I pulled the hoodies and sweatpants out from the back of the closet and moved them to the front. I tried wearing the sweat pants and it just wasn’t right so I went back to my time living in New England and put on a hoodie with short pants.??. Perfect.

I can tell you this…my brother in law opened a bag of Chompers garlic scented craws in my boat and I thought I was fishing inside an Italian restaurant the rest of the day. Strongest scent I have ever smelled.

Not totally unknown but definitely underused.

Getting ready for a crappie trip Sunday. Found that some of my jars of crappie nibbles were dry so I squirted some mega strike in the jars and shook them up. We’ll see if they get soft or dissolve?. That being said, I also never leave home without a jar of Shad scented smelly jelly. I don’t fish any plastic other than Yamamoto for bass and although it’s unscented, I do not add anything additional.

It would really help to know what reel and size you are using.

As a little break from the black bass, brown bass and every other river species, we are going to go out on a creek off the Potomac Sunday and get a handle where the crappie are staged. I won’t be keeping any until after the first hard frost but it’s good to keep tabs on where they are positioning.

From what I have read they are pretty resilient to salt as well. They have been caught in some very salty rivers and even some from the lower bay. ?. Their one redeeming factor is that they don’t seem to be affecting the local species and they are delicious to eat no matter the size.

Better devote that 1 spinning rod to a dropshot and get good at it. ?

54 degrees today and pretty gusty winds. I’m biding my time waiting for the first frost so I can load the freezer with crappie.

It’s a huge population. They are pretty common and they are getting big. Another species are the Blue Cats. They are also pretty thick although we didn’t catch any that day. Make no mistake the 5 bass I caught minus the one pictured, wouldn’t weigh in a tournament? We went to the Potomac on the next day and it was even tougher.

And exactly why there is such a common sentiment for not allowing this type of electronics in tournaments. Personally, I don’t have an opinion one way or the other but the cost of these units and what many feel is an unfair advantage is creating quite a stir in the smaller circuits.

100% agree. Not that I am anything great but I’ll use myself as an example. First off, I don’t tournament fish other than the occasional benefit tournament or events like Wounded Warriors. Early on in my fishing career, I did fish some local tournaments but the “dock talk” about a guide fishing against weekend anglers made me back out of them. I did fish some tournaments when I lived in Florida but they were more fun than anything. Let’s be real, the majority of fishing products are purchased by consumers who are not keyed in which pros are sponsored by which retailers. With the growth of social media, the pros have a new way to reach out and make sales to a segment of the population who has never seen them walk across the weigh in stage. It also opened the door to non pros who are better at marketing and entertaining. As a guide, I put my sponsors products in peoples hands instead of telling them how good they are. The product impression I make is much stronger than watching a video but I reach far fewer users. When I do seminars in Bass Pro or Cabelas, I reach a bigger number and talk one on one after and can answer questions directly. That’s why pros normally have a number of in-person engagements written into their contracts. I used to go to the fishing manager at both of these stores before a seminar and ask them what product they wanted to move. I would then do a seminar about that product and would clear the shelves. At Bass Pro I would do my seminars from the tank and we used to call it “the magic of the tank”. The problem with the pros is simple. If they are a full time touring pro, they do not have the time required to devote to what it takes to be a social media superstar. Especially if they are doing more than 1 trail. That’s fine. There’s multiple avenues to sell product and that’s what it’s all about. Sponsors are always re-evaluating how best to spend their marketing dollars. As many avenues you can touch, the better.