TOXIC

Some chapters of that book have been written but it’s no where close to being done. I can go back to chapter 1 in my mind, fishing with my grandfather and grandmother in Saskatchewan with a Native American guide and including doing a fly in to a remote location. Shore lunches with 8lb walleyes and my grandmother caught a 25lb pike. My book continues through all the years of guiding, going to lake St Clair (22 years straight), going to different destinations in Florida for the last 5 years, going to the St Lawrence last year all deserve chapters in my fishing life book. It’s far from over and I’ll cherish every trip I make until I put the final period after the final sentence. So many fish, so little time.

I like my glitter sled, aka floating dock, aka tackle box on wheels. 😂

The old days of max distance casts are over. There’s no bait that I want to put at what I would consider my max cast ability. Why? Because my chances of hooking and landing a bass decrease with the longer distance I cast. Even with the no stretch characteristics of braid, firm hooksets can be a challenge and the increased distance I have to fight the fish gives them more opportunity to throw the hook or lure. Also take into consideration the factors you choose to get maximum distance with your rod, change once you hook a fish at the end of that max cast. What helped you get all that airtime now works against you fighting and landing the fish. That’s not to say I don’t make some long casts but it’s very rare and even more rare is me making a “max cast”. My setups now are more tuned to fighting and landing more than distance casting.

Hey, I claim copyright to the fishing in underwear claim although not a robe. 2 years ago in Michigan on lake St Clair, I was rushed by mt partner to get out of the rack and hit the water. In my haste to get ready I threw on my pants and shirt and BPS Pro Qualifier bibs and jacket. About half way through the day it warmed up and we started shedding clothing. Fished the rest of the day when I went to put something in my pants pocket and realized there were no pockets. After careful examination, I discovered I was fishing in my long Johns.

I fish mainly crappie and it’s strictly for tablefare and fun. When I was guiding, it was all live bait but now we devote a number of days past the first frost to fill the freezer with crappie and bluegill fillets. Years ago I used a 2 man Bass Hunter pvc boat with rod holders and an electric trolling motor on the transom to troll the local electric only lakes for crappie. 2 ultralight spinning rods and my daughter in the front seat and we would fill a 2 person limit (50) limit in about 3 hours. She loved it and she was a very picky eater but loved crappie fillets. Of course that meant I spent a lot of time with a fillet knife in my hand. I used 1/16oz size jig heads with 4lb test and 1 inch tubes or curly tail grubs, trolled at whatever speed kept them off the bottom. Nowadays I use the same baits but from a bassboat. I use a slip float and don’t troll but cast around structure, brush piles, docks, bridge pilings, etc. I usually keep a couple of limits a year for the freezer.

As I progressed through the years, I had a deep desire to leave a mark that would last forever beyond me shedding this mortal coil. First responders, police, military, medical professionals, all save lives in their own way. My career path took me down a road where I was able to save the future and financial lives of everyday Americans including those I listed above. You would think that was enough but I always wanted more. Then it happened. I was in charge of an operation in Kentucky where I had around 100 people out in various bank locations. The weather went bad very quickly. I was being shadowed by top banking officials from Germany who were learning our processes. I realized that there was a tornado on the ground and it was heading straight for one of my locations where I had 20 of my employees and 10 bank employees. I got on the phone and instructed them to immediately go into the bank vault, they resisted because they were in the middle of our operation and wanted to finish. I told them absolutely not and to get into the vault, no discussion and to do it now. They complied. When the sirens stopped and they emerged from the vault, there was nothing left of the bank except for the vault. I relay that story not to toot my own horn but to show how my lifelong desire to leave an everlasting mark on this world was accomplished when I was awarded my agency’s highest recognition, the Chairman’s award and my name placed on a very elite display in our headquarters here in Washington, D.C. I was able to retire with the peace of mind that I accomplished one of my lifelong goals. Not to downplay my wife, children and personal relationships but as a personal goal, I am very content. It has given me valuable peace of mind.

Nice Feesh….really nice feesh!

Just a little frosting on the cake. Mark Davis on Harris Chain and his primary bait. Exactly what we threw on Headwaters except a different color. 😉 Article is up on Kumar's Bass Blaster.

Congrats on the new position! My wife was in the hospitality industry for quite a few years before and after we met. She was the Director of Sales for the Westin Crown Center and actually got offered the Director of Tourism position in Kansas City 2 weeks after I was notified I was transferred to Boston. Lot of soul searching between the 2 of us on which one would be job hunting, me or her. Ended up being her. Couldn’t beat my benefit package with my position.

You might want to take a look at the Yamamoto Swimming Senko. It’s a bigger paddle tail swimming worm.

@crypt most definitely. I’ll get lake conditions from you before we come if it’s ok. Was I right about the spawn and the fact the guides were just trying to drum up business?

I feel like I should have an answer for this but I don’t since every plastic in my boat is Yamamoto. 😆

@Swamp Girl one of my joys in life is to fish new water and make trips that I haven’t made in the past. I have been so heavily involved in the fishing industry from sponsorships and product representation, pro staff positions, travel and being a guide for so many years, I almost lost the love of the sport. I was very close to total burnout. Then I dialed it back when I retired, kept 1 sponsor and run a paid for 2005 Ranger Z21, a 2016 Silverado also paid for, and have concentrated on making fishing fun again. My fishing partner has a 2023 Ranger with all of the latest and greatest electronics, powerpoles, edge trolling motor, ffs, 250 4 stroke, lithium batteries and we share the thrill of new places so we use his boat and my truck for our trips. My truck just turned over 100k on our last trip. My boat is a backup with older electronics, gen 1 power poles and a ghost tm. I’m very lucky to be able to afford what I call my adventure fishing excursions throughout the year. Hopefully they will be more frequent as my fishing circle of friends reach retirement age. I am the first. I’m glad you enjoy my reports and will keep them coming as we continue to fish.

Glad the road brought you back this way!

Well, we got slammed again and more on the way tonight and later in the week. Next is rain and sleet. I’d rather still be in Florida, the spawn was just starting when we left.

For those thinking about taking a trip to Headwaters in Florida, I posted my trip. Originally I put it here to get more traction but a mod moved it to the fishing reports page. I don’t have a problem with that but you need to go there to see it.

Just got back from our 4th year of going to the Disneyland of bass fishing, Headwaters in Fellsmere Florida. It was an epic trip once again and keeps us coming back for more. We leave from Virginia and drive straight to Palm Bay, Florida for out first night. We get up early the next day and head to the lake which is about 20 miles away. We rig up in the open field or overflow parking area on the opposite side of the access road to the ramp. Speaking of the infamous access road, which in the past was littered with boat trailer parts due to the sad state of the road consisting of massive washboard rough sections and baby powder dust that infiltrates every nook and cranny of both boat and truck, it has now been hard packed with a crush and run and tar mixture that is 500% better. We were actually able to tow in and out with electronics mounted and boat cover off. Ramp area is busy as usual but courtesy is still high and is no problem. There has been spraying both by boat and helicopter to open the canals and launch area from excessive vegetation and continues to be a hot topic amongst users of the lake. This was our first time staying at a farm that was 5 miles from the ramp and you could actually see the access road from the back of the property. Prior to this trip we either stayed in Palm Bay or in set of rooms located on the water of Blue Cypress lake. There were pluses and minuses to our lodgings this trip. The room we stayed at is the only room available on the farm and is somewhat like a studio apartment. It is located in a commercial size shop building. The pluses far outweigh the drawbacks and topping the list is security. The farm is at the very end of an electronic gated road and is very isolated. It was very nice not having to remove electronics and stow gear every night as well as covered parking. The distance to the ramp was another plus. If you want additional information on this location, feel free to contact me. We reserved it for the same dates next year. Now for the fishing! I’ll combine all 7 days to try and keep this from being a novel. The lake was in transition. Florida had an unusual cold snap where water temperatures dropped to the mid to high 50’s. We arrived on the first real warming trend and found the water warming as the week progressed. By the end of the week, we found 70+ degree water. This year was a numbers more than size trend. I estimate over the span of the week, I personally caught 250-280 fish. Broken down by size it was 60% 1-2lb range, 30% 3lb fish and 10% 4lbs and up. Big fish was an 8.15 and I caught a 6 and 7. All of the guides posting on social media were saying that the bass were on the beds but we personally looked at 30 to 40 beds that were not tilapia and only found 4 that had bucks on them. Our pattern was the same every day. First off because of the temperature swings, we had dense fog every morning that delayed us so the earliest we could blast off was 7:30-8:00. We tried earlier one morning and it was treacherous to say the least. I started with a Yamamoto DShad in green pumpkin/black fleck (297) on shorelines tight and out 5 feet from the bank. Weightless on a 4.0 Gamakatsu EWG hook. I stayed on this pattern until the fog burned off or around 10:00am when the bite slowed. I then switched over to a weighted 5” Senko in various colors including green pumpkin/black fleck and numerous others with a combination of green and red. Unbelievably nothing in purple/blue combinations worked as well for me. I used a Bullet screw in nose weight in 1/16th or 1/8th. This combo caught 95% of my fish. I did catch some on a Fat Senko, 6” Senko and a 6.75 Kut Tail. I caught some peanuts cruising weedlines using a Ned and 2.5 inch Scope Shad. The dink bite was too strong with that bait. There were 2 patterns that emerged after the early morning bank bite died off and where we caught our quality fish. Reeds and wood. More specifically isolated reeds and wood. The lake has areas of standing wood that normally produce. There is a submerged old orange grove where I caught my big fish last year but this year it was overrun with cormorants and did not produce. We did find other wood and it yielded some good fish. Far and away the best pattern was reeds and for me the more isolated the better. If I found a reed clump with 3 to 5 single stalks, I threw at it every time. Both my bigger fish came off this pattern and it held up all week. My partners big fish came off a reed bed no bigger than the boat and last in line were the reed islands. Other baits that caught a few fish were chatterbaits, swim jigs and spinnerbaits. My partners big fish came off the 5” weighted Senko but uses a “hitchhiker willow leaf blade” screwed into the tail. Well, there you have it, our latest trip to Headwaters and I’m currently back in Virginia waiting on a predicted 6 to 8” snowfall freezing my tail feathers off with a blaze roaring in the fireplace counting down the days to next year’s trip.

Yeah, I’ll put one together.

We are under another winter storm warning. 6 to 8 inches tomorrow and Wednesday. I just got back from 7 days of 82degree weather fishing in Florida. Had to drive through some treated roads getting back to Virginia from another storm so I’m off the get the undercarriage of the truck cleaned off and all the sand and grime from Florida. Being retired, I’ll put the cover on the truck and wait for the melt. 🤣

I’ll check…..

I always use a #1 Gamakatsu EWG and Texas rig my baits. Weight is important and I mostly use a 1/4 oz QuickDrop dropshot weight. As for gear it totally depends on how I am going to be fishing the rig. Verticle jigging, casting, bed fishing or dragging all are better suited to different gear. The only common thread is that it’s all spinning with mono. Pic with baits shows a cheap BPS cylinder dropshot weight but the QuickDrop is my preferred weight.

As @casts_by_fly mentioned, I use DShads because they have a unique sink rate unweighted and are heavier than most other fluke style baits. I fish them in open water and on top of grass. On St Clair I can drag them on the bottom in 10ft of water easily. Packing a load to take with me to Florida next week.

Sounds like a great time. Smart move with the guide. Narrows your odds on getting on fish and having a good day. Heading to Headwaters in Fellsmere, FL on Friday hoping to start my year out with a double digit ditch pickle!

Good luck. Forget the trophy, cash a big check!😂. Leaving Friday for a week on headwaters, no tournament just trophy hunting. I’m trying to cut back on gear so this is my full arsenal.

I remember the leather bound catalogs that used to go out to VIP members. I always got one being on pro staff. I got the newest and put it in my truck to take to the farm studio apartment we are staying in and will leave it for those that come after us. I pretty much know the layout by heart with only the pricing changes. Working events in the store had me escorting a lot of people to isles for products out of the catalog.