TOXIC

I call Teri Cindric a personal friend. She has braved the abuse and stayed with a cottage full of guys on St Clair to fish smallmouth. She was Angler of the Year on the LBAA this year and fishes both bass boats and kayaks.

Good choice. I have 2 Cutco. I have filleted hundreds of fish with mine. I thought I lost my original and liked it so much, I bought another and then found it. 😂

Funny thing is, I never knew what a sunburn was until I was 16 years old. I tanned to a dark brown every year. Never used sunscreen even on trips to Mexico, Florida and the Bahamas and actually used sun accelerator. As I aged I could notice that my sun immunity started to fade. All through my 20’s, 30’s and 40”s, I had no concern for protection. From that time forward though I have “wised” up. I do make regular trips to the dermatologist and I have never had anything negative but I’m not a gambler, so it’s time to hedge my bets.

As the years have piled up in my fishing endeavors, I’d like to think I’ve grown a bit wiser as time has moved on. I was a guide for some odd 20 years and let me give you a rundown on how I dressed for every summer outing. I’m not going to talk about cold weather fishing because I didn’t pick that up until later and it’s a whole different ball of wax. Let’s go from head to toe. Always wore a hat but I started with visors for comfort. Regular off the shelf cheap sunglasses because I was always afraid of losing them. For a shirt, I always wore a short sleeved “fishing” shirt that was vented on the back. A tribute to the saltwater crowd. For pants, it was always cargo shorts and for shoes, normally sandals like Teva. By the end of summer I was very dark tanned. Then one day when I was getting a haircut, my barber commented that there was a spot on the top of my head that she didn’t like. It had been a couple of years since I had been to the dermatologist so I went in. He took that spot and a piece of my cheek to be biopsied. Luckily both were negative but I had a few stitches to heal up. It put me on high alert and I decided it was time to think about sun protection more seriously. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t an overnight change but here is where I’m at today. Still wear a hat but now it’s a full mesh. I’ve upgraded to prescription high quality sun glasses. Add in a buff to cover my neck, ears and face and for a shirt, I now wear moisture wicking, long sleeved specialty fishing shirts, preferably with a hood. As for pants I have transitioned to long legged fishing pants that are just as cool as shorts. My footwear is still a sandal style but rubberized for better traction and water resistance. Where does this all lead you ask? What’s left in my quest to complete my transition from sun damage? It’s summer fingerless fishing gloves. I have never been able to comfortably wear gloves (summer or winter). With GSM’s acquisition of Cuda and their specialized fishing fingerless gloves with a built in cooling patch, I’m finally finishing the final piece.

Great info. The station I was going to start using for my non ethanol (Royal Farms) has it as an option all on the same line from the same pump as the other fuels. The other station I saw that had it, the ethanol free was a separate pump that only had ethanol free in it and it wasn’t even on the island with the other pumps, it was a stand alone pump. Luckily the fill tank on the boat is on the same side as the truck so I could pump a couple gallons in the truck then switch to the boat but I wonder if it really makes a difference if you are pumping 15-20 gallons vs 1. I would assume so.

@Johnbt here’s a little tip. Buy your Plano boxes during the spring and fall classic events at bass pro/Cabela’s they get heavily discounted. Second tip….make a stop at Lowe’s or Home Depot because they carry the exact same Plano boxes. As for long term capital management, I’m not the one to comment. I closed banks for 34 years caused by a lot who thought they were geniuses in financial markets. 😂🤣

2 to 4 for us today. 2 weeks before I’m Florida bound.

That’s really funny. That crankbait is what got me into the cranking game years ago. When I was sponsored by SPRO, I had a large supply of all their cranks but I was a dedicated plastics guy and rarely tossed them. I gave one to a friend on the water one day and watched him catch 4 bass in 4 casts. Made me a believer and I started throwing them. Specifically, I have had the best luck with the originals with the computer chip bill in various colors. I’ve caught hundreds of fish on the cell mate including smallmouth, largemouth, white bass, walleye, pike, musky, snakeheads, brim, crappie and on and on….different colors for some like walleye eat the olive Shad color and snakeheads like the brighter colors. Without knowing your gear, line and retrieve style, I couldn’t explain why we have such a different experience with them. 🙃

To be totally honest, to date the SPRO Little John in Cell Mate has been my #1 crank period. I just received a hefty supply of Bill Lewis cranks and I am going to give them a fair shot. Here they are, side by side.

No electronics used, just verticle jigging SteelShad blade baits in 60ft of water. Regularly use a dropshot in 45ft but normally on marked fish.

Big carp on St Clair ate a tube and the smaller one ate a blade bait here in Virginia.

Let’s also not forget there’s no standard for rating rod action and it can vary widely between manufacturers.

I doubt that 3 squirts in the gas would make it through the tank, lines and carburetor to help with an initial start. I’m getting funky about ethanol after seeing what it did to my boat after sitting for a year. I treat my 2 stroke Yamaha with stabil marine, seafoam and Yamaha ring free. I’m switching to all non ethanol going forward.

This^^^. I pay little attention to what a rod is “supposed” to be good for or what it’s labeled for and use it for what works best for my style of fishing. For example, I have a Woo Daves worm rod that works great for vertical jigging blade baits for me. Would it for you? I don’t know. I do have dedicated Ned and dropshot rods that weren’t specifically labeled as such and I do have a couple of crankbait rods that are.

If I’m going to throw a grub, no matter what time of year, it’s going to be a Yamamoto twin tailed hula grub on a 1/4 oz gamakatsu football head jig.

You’ve gotten solid advise on a lot of the setups so without adding more brands to the mix, I will give you my most “versatile” set up even though it’s technically too light for some spinning applications and too heavy for others, I could make it work. Rod: 7ft Medium, fast tip. Reel: 2500 size. Line: 8lb straight mono. Even though that setup is a little heavy for Ned and too light for some weighted plastics, it will work well for weightless Senko style, DShads and dropshots. You could also throw small cranks and top waters. I have dedicated setups for dropshot, Senko, etc, but the above setup is the most versatile if I had to choose just 1.

In a tournament my fishing partner hooked our kicker fish and as I was getting the net out it jumped an arms length away from the boat and I saw his lure come flying out of the fishes mouth. Without hesitation, I threw myself across the deck, slamming my ribs into the gunnel and with my one hand at the very end of the net, I caught the fish in mid air. We took second and I had some pretty bruised ribs to thank.😎

End of this month it’s off to Florida and Headwaters for the second year. Then our regular haunts here in Virginia of the Rappahonock and possibly back to the Potomac. Then it’s off to St Clair in May and I’m considering pulling the boat back up to Wisconsin in August. Since I’m getting my rig back seaworthy I might make some other trips. We usually venture out to the chickahominy river a couple of times but that’s a long hike.

Hmmmmm…..

Maybe so but remember I said the same has happened to me and I’m no rookie when it comes to filleting. I cannot feel the bones with an electric. I’m sure I could if I was willing to sacrifice some meat, staying clear of the bones. The vibration of the electric doesn’t allow me to feel the bones.

I’m torn on this subject. I’ve used both and there’s pros and cons to each. I’ve filleted literally hundreds of fish with my Cutco adjustable blade fillet knife. Maximum blade length is 7 inches I believe and it has the right flex to be a premium class knife. The adjustable blade is a plus and if you want to wear it via the belt loop, it has a line cutting area and knife/hook sharpening stone on the sheath. The sheath also doubles as a fish gripper. The main difference between electric and manual for me is the ability to fillet bone free. With the electric I’m guaranteed to just cut through some bones because I can’t feel them. With my Cutco, I can fillet around rib and other bones very easily. Had a buddy fillet a bunch of walleye in Michigan with an electric and when I prepped them for cooking back home, I had to de-bone every fillet.

I own my boat because a gentleman wanted a kayak in addition to a 21 ft bassboat. He was recently retired from Washington Gas and lived on the Potomac river. Took the kayak out in Mallows bay, turtled and got hung up in the aquatic vegetation and drowned. No pfd. I’ll go one step farther. I not only wear a pfd, I refuse to wear an auto inflate. As a matter of fact, I bought myself a new Mustang full collar solid vest for myself for Christmas. I wear it summer and winter. I have read too many stories of the inflatables not inflating. Even though I water skied back when all that was required was a ski “belt” that was no more than a piece of rubber coated foam you wore with a single strap. I don’t test the odds anymore. 😂

I’m no help. I’ve got the originals with wired stomp switches. 😂

Learned a valuable lesson with the new stove. Wife’s recipe for prime rib included an “oven off” period after bringing to temp. We like our prime on the rare side. The prime came out medium. Same recipe we have used for years. The only thing that changed was the stove. I am assuming the stove held temperature better than our older one and caused the overcook. Mildly disappointing but made for a great beef stroganoff leftover meal.

A toast! Here’s to you, here’s to me and if we ever disagree, here’s to me! 😂 Happy New Year!