TOXIC

Well, we are going to a “new” body,of water for us at the end of the month. We go to Florida every year on a fishing trip. We have done Kissimmee, and Okeechobee a couple of times so at the end of this month we are heading to Headwaters for a week. Always fun to fish new areas. In May it will be our 20th year going to Lake St Clair, renting a cottage on Harsens Island and spending a week in smallmouth heaven. The rest of the year is just a bonus. ?

To be honest, I’m not much of a jig fisherman in general. If I do it’s no heavier than half oz and I use Yamamoto Zako paddle tails.

This post got me thinking about how noise affects our sleeping. I grew up not far from an interstate and beyond that railroad tracks that would shake the pictures on the wall. Tracks were probably 1/2 mile away. I slept right through the Jake brakes of the big rigs on the highway and the heavy coal cars on the railroad. When I got older I moved to a farm out in the country where it was dead quiet and after that, any noise would wake me up. When I moved to Kansas City and before I bought my house, I lived in some high dollar apartments and didn’t find out that they were not far from railroad tracks and worse yet close to a crossing so the trains blew their horns every time they came by that crossing. I never wore earplugs until about 5 years ago and now I can’t sleep without them.

Unless I get lucky on the Rappahonock this spring, my first smallie will more than likely come in May on Lake St Clair.?

Nothin to crow about but we got out and caught fish all day. This jus happened to be the first.??. Leaving for Florida and Headwaters Lake at the end of the month and hope to catch some ditch melons.

Yes, new technology is a leg up on information and opens doors that were inaccessible with current sonar. We can now see offshore suspended fish but more importantly we can see other information. Yesterday my fishing partner and I were in 45ft of water and with me on the beck deck, I had viewing access to a 12 inch graph split to downscan and sidescan and a 12 inch in 2D sonar that went to gps mapping when we were running. My partner on the front deck had 3 graphs one 16 inch for sidescan/downscan, one 12 inch for 2D sonar and one 9 inch for Active Target or whatever lowrances front facing sonar is called. In addition to seeing the suspended fish, he could see in real time how the fish were reacting to our baits. Sometimes they would follow and veer off, sometimes they would ignore, sometimes they would nose down on the baits, sometimes they would scatter and sometimes they would strike. Since his transducer is mounted to the trolling motor shaft he rarely could see my bait and I relied mainly on the downscan/sidescan screens. Occasionally I could see my dropshot or blade bait bouncing on the bottom and could see always see the the fish but had no idea how they were reacting to my baits. If we consistently got all the activity and no takers, we knew that the fish were not actively feeding even though they were there. We then moved on until we found a school that would feed. Happened multiple times. If relying on sidescan/downscan we would have spent a lot of wasted time trying to catch fish that weren’t feeding.

When we go upriver, the farthest we go is Little Falls. We have launched there and at City Docks in Fredericksburg in the past. Our smallmouth fishing is centered on specific spots. We travel so far it would not be possible in a canoe or yak. The biggest factor is not current, it’s the tide. When we figure out the right tide we will run from Port Royal to Little Falls following it.

We probably spent 95% of our fishing on the Rapp and we launch at Hopyard. It’s really 2 different rivers from that launch. We normally go upriver and have a lot of luck with largemouth, snakehead and sometimes smallmouth. More of the smallmouth action is waaay upriver. There’s some big largemouth both upriver and down river. Up river I throw a lot of Ned rigs with a Yamamoto 4” Senko. The farther you go down river they like swim jigs. Upriver for smallmouth and some largemouth, I throw a lot of cranks and a dropshot. Few are caught on a chatterbait. I am a finesse fisherman and the upriver current has never been a problem. Find Eddys current breaks and a weightless 5” Senko will work all over.

I used to be the electric only lake fanatic. I was always on the waters around me with a 2 man Bass Hunter. I’m close to northern Virginia so there is a lot of lakes that direction that are electric only or hp restricted here is a short list off the top of my head….. Motts Run, electric Occoquan Reservoir, 9.9 limit Lake Mooney, electric Beaverdam Reservoir, electric Lake Brittle, electric Mountain Run Reservoir, electric Lake Pelham, electric Crockett Park, electric Lake Curtis, electric Lake Orange, electric Most of these I have fished. Depends on the body of water whether or not you can put a boat with a big motor in. Some allow it with the motor tilted up, some require the prop removed and some don’t allow it at all. There are many more I fished but can’t remember them off the top of my head. I got a publication from the VDGIF of all the lakes in the state they managed and I was going to hit every electric only one but I got bit by the big rig bug and started guiding. There are some pretty impressive electric bass boats out there and they even have a tournament trail.

I have caught both snakehead and bowfin and honestly IMHO pound for pound they don’t rank with a smallmouth. I shudder to think what a smallmouth the size of these snakeheads would fight like but I just may be surprised. Sometimes when they get over a certain size they lose some of that fight. My biggest smallmouth has been in the high 5’s and it was an epic fight. The biggest snakehead in these pics was over 14lbs. They are fighters no doubt but just not the same as a smallmouth.

Saw the new Top Gun in the theater and liked it. IMHO the reason it is so popular is that it isn’t what we’ve been subjected to for the last few years in filmmaking with all of the “woke” themes. Top Gun Maverick had enough action for the action crowd, some tear jerking for the sensitive crowd, patriotic win for that crowd and was just a good old fashioned feel good movie. We need more of them.

No it wasn’t directed at anyone in particular but I will tell you that the “meat” fishermen I have seen take everything they catch as food. Doesn’t matter the species. Those who target walleye, perch etc., are not the meat fishermen I am referring to. I’ve seen many, many limits of smallmouth and largemouth harvested regardless of size. I’m not criticizing the fact they catch and eat the fish we consider sport. There are thousands that do. As long as it’s within the regulations for size and number, they are good to go. My point is that we all have that option when we purchase our licenses so zeroing in on tournaments is fairly myopic.

The many fishing trips I have taken with my buddies, cabins, cottages, hotel rooms, etc., have taught me the importance of earplugs. Our annual lake st Clair trip is 6 guys, 3 single bedrooms and one bunk room with 3 single beds. One of the guys is such a loud snorer he waits until everyone else is in bed before he goes to sleep. My grandparents slept in separate beds in the same room because my grandfather had violent dreams. My wife is a light snorer and cover stealer but my earplugs work just as well at home. ??

I can’t complain. Currently 8 degrees with a “feels like” temp of -3. We have a gas furnace that can take good care of the house and we have an addition that is built on stilts and has its own fairly new heat pump and heatalator fireplace. No wood stockpiled for this winter since our last 2 winters have been mild and it’s a royal pain to stack wood. Heat pump has only been able to get the addition up to 65 so I pulled out the emergency heat to give it a hand. ?. Everyone stay warm and for those without power get to a warming station or find someone who does.

If I only took one bait, it would be a 3in curl tail grub in smoke color on a 1/32 oz jighead. Spinning gear with 6lb test. I have fished the exact area you are talking about and have caught hundreds of smallmouth. Second would be a Ned rig but I have never fished one there. I can’t imagine it wouldn’t work. I’m partial to Yamamoto plastics but there are a lot of options.

A trusted mechanic is like a trusted doctor anymore. Funny aside, with the popularity of the Chevrolet 3.0 baby Duramax (my buddy just bought one) there are a lot of new diesel owners. He always invites me to join the Facebook pages he is on in case he misses something to do with his trucks. We are on a Chevy 3.0 diesel forum and there are a thousand posts regarding fuel gelling.?

1. My 2016 truck has “Adaptive Headlights” that I can turn on and off. It controls the high beams via sensors. 2. Lobster forks are for sissy’s. Oyster shucking knives are a necessity. I moderate a few forums and I am a member of probably 20. I get a kick out of the Silverado forum I am in because you would think it’s a site set up to gripe about every little thing you can find wrong on your truck. 99% of the problems are self inflicted. I have a rule that I don’t post anything on any form that I wouldn’t say to someone’s face.

I’ve been hacked a couple times. Once while traveling and when the gas pump asked me to enter my zip it got denied. Wife and I were traveling back from Florida so she called the cc company as we drove. Whoever got my info actually went in and changed the mailing address so we would not get any bill and the scam could go longer. If I hadn’t gotten gas which required my zip I wouldn’t have known for a while, possibly a couple months. Daughter just got hacked in a short time frame for the second time. When she asked for direction from the issuing bank, she was told not to attach her apple wallet or Apple Pay to her card, that seems to be where a lot of scammers are hitting. I don’t have an Apple phone and have -0- tied to it.

I can’t give you any perspective. A Yak has never fit my style or places I fish. I did have a 2 man pvc Bass Hunter I used on the electric only small lakes around me but with my main fishing switching to big bodies of water, rivers and really big lakes there’s really no option for a Yak. I still can launch and retrieve my 21ft bass boat easily and if it ever gets to the point I can’t, then my fishing days are going to be limited to being a coangler.

It even had your school locker combination written on the bill.?

It’s just getting broken in! My wife read an article about cleaning hats by putting them in the dishwasher. I let her do it to a few but kept the really lucky ones out because I was afraid she would wash all of the mojo out.?

Looks like here in my area we are in for a good soaking and then deep freeze. Today is the last day of reasonable weather for a while and I was scheduled to go fishing and wouldn’t you know it, the wife comes down with Covid. Now I get to be quarantined and take care of her.

Keep your spirits up and keep pushing ahead. Things will turn around. Always a kind ear here, never hesitate to contact if you need to talk or vent.

Had to pull the rods out of my old boat in Florida because of a big storm and found out my garage wasn’t much better. I also stuck them here in Virginia in the garage in between trips since the boat lives outside. I have my “still in the plastic sleeves” rods in the house waiting on their turn to enter the rotation. Those number about 40. Problem is that I’m not hard on my gear so the rotation is very very slow so most of them are new old stock now?

Gear can make a difference but a couple of things regarding my answer. First, I am catching both on the exact same gear and baits and second, it’s not unusual to catch both a largemouth and a smallmouth back to back in St Clair. Sizes can be close or different but it’s very easy to tell when you set the hook whether you have a goggle eye, a largie, drum, musky, walleye or a smallmouth. Ones that will fool you are white bass and sunnies. Crazy thing is any of the species I listed can be caught in the same area at the same time. That’s one of the reasons we enjoy St Clair soooo much.