TOXIC

If not my boat, 8. 4 spinning 4 casting. If my boat 10-12 on deck. If I’m traveling out of state, I have gotten 38 in the rod locker.

Buddy just bought a 2022 1/2 ton Silverado with the baby Duramax and he has owned everything from full size diesels in 3/4 tons to a 5.3 in 1/2 tons. So far so good. Throttle response is great and he’s liking the 10 speed transmission. Lots and lots of electronic doo-dads which concern me and a few options not active until chips come in and he hasn’t towed with it yet. We will see.

Only once. Had a guide trip and our policy was that we only cancelled trips at the ramp. I was sitting at the ramp and there were tornado warnings and it was raining sideways. Clients pull up and it’s a lady and her father. She had on peddle pushers and pops had a windbreaker.?. I told them we would reschedule and that they were not prepared for the weather. If they had been hard core with full rain gear I would have considered it but the wind was whipping and the lake was pretty rough. Being the half fool I am, I knew the fish would be biting and since I was an hour from home, I decided to launch and fish anyway. First spot, first cast with a big Hawg Caller buzz bait sitting on a drop, my reel engages mid cast and with the cork handle on my rod thoroughly soaked with water, it flew at high speed right out of my hand. Drug the area with a stringer for an hour and never found it. Just an fyi, Winn Grips actually get stickier when wet and I do like them a lot.

Whew, there’s a lot to unpack with your responses. As a guide I will tell you that communication is key. While 90% of my clients just wanted to catch fish the remaining 10% wanted everything from trophy fish, tournament pre fish, lake learning, technique learning, gear instruction, boat instruction, tablefare or just lake tours. All of the requirements you want, you have to tell me as well as if you are bringing your own gear or using mine. With me, the only live bait fishing I did was minnows for crappie, I was more than happy to teach you how to throw a baitcaster as long as you know that takes away from fishing time. Likewise if you want to learn a technique that is not productive at the time, your catch rate is going to be down. Trophy hunting? That’s an all or nothing proposition and we discuss that upfront. There’s all sorts of things we can do on the water that may or may not result in fish catching. Communication is key.

We have one and use it more as time goes on. My main use is for frozen food and pretty much anything that I can cook without heating up the entire oven for small amounts. Frozen chicken fingers, fries, frozen wings, bagels, English muffins, leftovers and other toaster oven fare are what we use it for. The one we have flips up on the counter for storage which helped convince my wife to give it a try. She hates clutter and especially kitchen gadgets.

Actually, I was very surprised. I glanced at the bill after paying it since I expected it to be more than just the actual service work. It was a little over $200 and for what they did I expected more. Next stop is the dealer for an oil change, tire rotation and a new battery which in rough numbers, I’m sure will be about the same cost. I go to the dealer for routine work because it helps with trade in value if I ever want to step up. Also, I want an AC Delco battery. Nothing wrong with mine now except it is at least 6 years old depending on when it was manufactured vs installed in my truck when it was on the assembly line in 2016. These newer trucks are stupidly sensitive to clean power and good grounds.

I also have a 5 wt Sage but I don’t throw it nearly as much. I would if I fished the small mountain trout streams around me.

I don’t know if my work ethic was born in or developed as a means of survival. I struck out on my own at a very young age and I developed a healthy respect for the harsh lesson that if I didn’t work, I didn’t eat. Likewise if I wanted to make more I had to work harder or be smarter than the next guy. All this runs counter intuitive to the working class of today with their “Quietly Quitting”, remote work and a dozen other ways to not work and to vilify the boss and the corporate culture. I just don’t get it.

Well, I picked up my truck. Front and rear differentials serviced as well as the transfer case. They could not find anything wrong with the 4wd system. Tore it apart and even took measurements….nothing out of line. Now it isn’t even making any noise. I guess I should feel lucky, they could have thrown $1,000 worth of parts on it and I would have been none the wiser. Next stop is to the dealer for oil change, tire rotation and new battery. It’s starting fine but it’s a 2016 battery and with all the electrical doo dads on these trucks, I want to keep it in good clean power. Also went with a buddy and looked at a new Silverado baby diesel 1500. I think he’s buying it. I’d be on the fence with the price of diesel and it being the first model year of that engine but it is impressive.

Everyone have a great Christmas and joyous New Year.

When I fly fished the Shenandoah river for smallies in current, I used a lot of beaded nymphs to get the fly at least to the middle of the water column. I did throw them on an 8wt Scott Brightwater though so I had the backbone to get them out there.

We lucked out here in northern Virginia but not by much. Ice line about 20 miles up towards the mountains from me. Good deal because I have to go get the wife from the airport in about an hour.

I was once told by Bassmaster Classic winner Woo Daves that if Redfish would jump he would never fish for bass again. ?

Reminds me of the old saying: The early bird may get the worm…..but the second mouse gets the cheese. ?

While that may be very true, the Peacock “Bass” isn’t really a bass, it’s a cichlid the same as an Oscar which is also in your waters. IMHO water temp and size aside, smallmouth do fight harder than a northern strain largemouth in my experience. Smallmouth will turn and shoulder down multiple times regardless of size and as soon as you turn them you can almost be guaranteed they will then go airborne. Largemouths will give you a couple hard runs and then pretty much give up the fight.

I was a native son Nebraska boy born and raised. Dead end job after dead end job I got the opportunity to go to work for the government in a contract position in 1985. Worked 2 years and got offered a career position that was a $40,000.00 cut in pay. I made up my mind right then and there that if I took the appointment, it would be my last job and I was all in. I moved multiple times, which I never thought I would do, and turned down many job offers at much more pay outside the government. 34 years later I retired from the executive branch of the government at the SES level so I guess my risk paid off. There was a lot of very hard times during that career but I am comfortably retired with great benefits and at peace with myself knowing I made a difference for a lot of people. Only you can make the decision if the risk is worth the reward.

We are being predicted my favorite….ice. Tomorrow. Just so happens I have to go pick the wife up from the airport. That’s a 60 mile + round trip. ?

One of my own quirks but I don’t nose hook dropshot baits. I use a #1 Gamakatsu EWG and Texas rig. I suppose I could nose hook with the same hook but I have always preferred the Texas rig. I feel it gives the bait better action and is more snag proof as well as less line twist.

Great news! I’m sure the Akita will test your patience if it is anything like the ones my friends own. Different temperament than most other breeds. Good luck!

No call from them today so I assume they are still looking at it. As per usual my inquiries on the internet have diagnosed every possible part in the front end as suspect. That’s why I took it to a professional. ?

Dropped my 2016 Silverado off at the shop yesterday. Like you, I don’t have the desire to wrench on my vehicles anymore. Normally, I take it to the dealership I bought it from to keep all of the records in one place and I get the reward points to apply to purchases and service but this time I went private shop. I know my truck inside and out and I also know to drop it into 4wd at least every other month on wet pavement or gravel. Well, I did that the other day and heard a strange “grinding” out of the front. Took it to a speciality shop and had a service done to the transfer case and rear differential since it was time and had them look at the 4wd. Called me back and said the service was done but that they couldn’t find anything wrong with the 4wd. Told them to DRIVE it in 4wd not just engage it. They called back and said they heard it and it was going to take some time because everything looks ok and they are going to have to dig deeper to diagnose it.

But what do you do when the neighbor is your fishing buddy? My neighbor and I used to fish all the time. We helped each other with home projects and I drank my fair share of beers sitting in his garage and him in mine. He bought the house next to us with his mother. They had 2 dogs Rusty and JoJo. Rusty was a Chow mix and both dogs were as sweet as could be. The problem was my neighbors mother would get up for work at 3am and let the dogs out. I normally got up between 4:30-5. Rusty would sit in their backyard and nonstop bark until she brought him in. It would wake me up with not enough time to really go back to sleep and after a while it got unbearable. So, what did I do? Well, I was working a sponsor gig at an outdoor show and there was a guy there selling duck/turkey/game calls. He had a crow call that you blew in and it was really loud and obnoxious. I bought it and for 2 weeks straight after his mom would bring the dogs in and leave for work, I would go over and stand under his bedroom window and wail on the crow call for about 5 minutes, then go to work. One weekend we were having a beer in his garage and he warned me that one of these mornings I was going to hear a shotgun blast because he was going to take out a crow who had been waking him up every morning. I told him to hold on and walked back to my house, put the crow call in my pocket and came back over. I asked him to tell me again what was waking him up and he said…I told you it was a @od #amn crow to which I then pulled the crow call out of my pocket and said…does it sound like this? And I blew a loud call on it and he just looked at me with a blank stare and I told him that same crow was gonna be under his window every day his mother let Rusty out to bark at 3am. We both laughed to tears. I hope your situation remedies itself peacefully.

Another tireless year of planning and installing the Christmas lights. Good thing I’m not afraid of heights.

If taking my boat it’s a 21ft tackle box and rod carrier. If we are taking my buddies boat, I can lay them corner to corner in the bed of the truck. They are never in the cab. 2016 Silverado High Country 5.3, 75,000 miles. I get 18-23mpg not towing depending on season, terrain, etc. Towing I get 13-16mpg.

So, am I reading this right….some of you yo-yo a lipless like a blade bait or spoon? I have only ripped it through grass or burned it in open water. I feel like I might be missing a productive technique.