TOXIC

In that water temp here, we find bait balls and schools with electronics in deep water and drop blade baits on them there’s always a few up shallow with Ned’s as well.

Exactly. I traded in a 2004 3/4 ton Silverado for my 2016 High Country and I feel like my truck has just enough bells and whistles (heated/cooled seats, Android Auto for WAZE, Sirius XM, Bluetooth for phone, lane assist, park assist and a few more) but not so many to be problematic. Now if the motor and transmission will hold up, I’m golden. I’m a maintenance junky so fingers crossed. I’m at 108k now and getting ready for a winter drive from Virginia to Kansas City for Christmas.

We have settled into a yearly routine. That kind of blurs the good/bad aspects. Out of town trips are always fun no matter the outcome. Florida in February, St Clair in May, Rappahonock River all summer, and the hotside of Lake Anna during the winter (now), keeps us on fish pretty much all year. I did notice we didn’t catch as many smallmouth on the Rappahonock this year as usual but overall a good year. I’ve found myself getting a little “burned out” this winter, so I’ve scaled back some to catch my breath and rejuvenate.

Your motor can have the hours pulled as long as its an efi motor and not carbed . The efi’s have the readable ecm. My 2005 Yamaha HPDI 250 has 490 hours.

Funny, in my 2016 High Country, the “automatic high beams” are called adaptive headlights and I have to turn it on with the column stalk. I’d trade all of the gadgets for a reliable engine/transmission. Seems like all of them have a planned expiration date.

That one would have been my first replica fish for sure!

I was just telling my wife this morning that the auto makers are getting close to ditching Android Auto and Car Play and going with in-house, maker specific operating systems. Everything will then be on a subscription based service. It makes me chuckle when my buddy has a newer 3.0 Silverado and I have functions on my 2016 High Country that he can’t get without a sub to OnStar. I’ve read that some makers like BMW have required a subscription to use the heated seats and other functions. I don’t like too many functions, that equals more mal-functions but it won’t be long before you will be paying extra for everything.

I’m not normally an “awards” type of guy but when I was guiding, it was nice to have the Master Angler certification for bass and size citations for the species you fish for. I had 5 bass citations in one year and I had some crappie citations as well with clients. Most recently I got a citation for catching 3 species of bass in one season except I caught them all in 1 day. 😂

I threw an 8wt on the Chesapeake Bay for Stripers and learned very quickly not to Palm the reel. 😂

When I owned my own pest control company and lived in Iowa, I was in the elements year round. It got to the point that I could operate outside in top and bottom long Johns, jeans, shirt and down vest. When I first went to Florida from Virginia, I was staying with a friend while looking for a house and it happened to be Halloween. He had to run an errand and asked me to hand out candy if any kids came by. The doorbell rang and I went to the door in my gym shorts and tshirt. Standing on the front step were some kids with their parents in the background in full winter gear, gloves, hats, North Face coats and boots. I found it extremely funny. Then I moved back to Virginia after 2 years in Florida with a 3 month stay in Puerto Rico and in the first winter back, I thought I was going to freeze to death. 😝

I’ll be honest, my hooks bind up in a ball so tight they can’t jump the dividers. It makes no difference which hook I grab for, every single one in that compartment is coming out as one and then I’ll poke myself 15 times until 1 falls free. 🤣

Not to derail this thread but when I was guiding I had the attitude it was better to acclimate to the colder weather than to try and fight it. Now, that’s within reason, I’m not advocating going out in a tshirt in freezing weather but I do feel we have a tendency to overdo it with hand warmers, electric vests, socks and 20 layers of cold weather clothing. I was working in Grand Forks North Dakota in the dead of winter and it was 25 degrees below zero. The guy that managed our location there came into the office in a windbreaker and when I questioned him about it, he replied that it was not even cold yet. 😂 I know that’s extreme and no one should risk frostbite but there is some truth to the position that it’s easier to get used to the cold than to fight to keep warm.

I have a hard time squaring the new super sized glide baits and swim baits with any shift to super small baitcasters. I am a finesse guy from the get go but I can throw a baitcaster with minimal effort. For me it’s not the lack of ability it’s my 50 years experience and the feel of a spinning rod in my hand, how it sits, how it feels, where my hand meets the blank and how it is different from a baitcaster. I can’t blend those 2 pieces of equipment.

At first I thought it might be due to the fact that I occasionally like my J&C strength the hue of light iced tea but after my first sip it was obvious the coke was as flat as a junkyard 56 Buick tire. 😂

It somewhat depends on where you will be fishing and what the average size of the fish will be. Seeing you are in Maryland, I assume you are looking at the Susquehanna river and surrounding areas for smallmouth. I fly fished the Shenandoah for years with an 8 weight Scott Brightwater and a Sage reel. With the size of smallmouth I was normally catching, I was good with that weight. I also have a 5 weight but I didn’t want to have to finesse play the size smallies I was catching that much. If no one here is versed in your location, I would call a local fly shop for pointers. Good luck.

I’ll throw a little twist in the answer. Here on tidal rivers, the tide dramatically affects bites. Your options are to run the tide meaning you follow the tidal flow in or out for the best bite or you sit on a good spot and wait for the tide to be right. It throws a lot of fishermen off if they have never fished tidal waters. I have never seen fish shut down the way they do in tidal waters when the tide is not right.

After a hard day of fishing plus the fact I haven’t treated myself to a drink in a couple of weeks, I poured a very stiff Jack&Coke and when I took my first sip, I discovered the coke was flat right out of the single serve plastic bottle. 😡 I refused to waste that much Jack and muscled through it. 🤢

A report is only a report if it reports, get my drift? 😂 I am not ashamed to give the full report no matter the outcome. Those that only post big fish or big numbers days aren’t giving a report. Also a report should contain conditions and gear used. After all, that’s how we learn. You want to brag on a stellar day? Great! Just don’t call it a “report”.

I have but found because they are not weighted the fall is very erratic and foul the line in the hook much more. The original Steel Shad with the belly weight doesn’t foul too bad and it vibrates a lot harder than the nose weighted version. I will say I was bouncing it through some big deep rock piles and it never snagged but beat the heck out of the nose of the bait.

That’s the million dollar question.😂. I’m sure others that are local can give more info but we always go the middle of May when the big girls come in to spawn. It’s very weather dependent but we have always caught a lot of fish.

I have no problem saying it publicly, it’s Marcell Venstra and Marcells guide service. He and his guides are the best.

Returned to the area where I was getting good results on a nose weighted Senko on the grass edges and found the fish had vamoosed. Conditions told me it finally got cold enough they moved out deep. We regularly vertical jig blade baits in the cold months on this body of water. It’s common to catch bass, striper, catfish, white perch, gills, and crappie. My fishing partner likes Damiki blades and I am a hardcore Steel Shad guy due to the multitudes of weights and colors. Steel Shad came out with a new type of blade called the Bottom Bouncer. A single treble and all weight on the nose. Common problem with all vertical fished blades is that they foul the line in the hooks. My hope was that this new style would eliminate that. It helped but didn’t cure it. Likewise, it lacked the vibration of the Damiki and took a while to feel when it fouled. Fishing 35 ft of waster dulls the action a little. Nonetheless, fished side by side I can’t say one out fished the other, both produced well. I caught bass, white perch, and catfish. Good day overall.

Reach out if you do. I know the best guide on the lake bar none.

The last couple of years I’ve been wearing fishing gloves. I’ve grown to like them much to my surprise. I ran across some fingerless fleece ORVIS gloves my wife bought me back when I was doing more flyfishing. Common wisdom always was that if you cover your palms and the top of your hands, your fingers would stay warm. I’m going to test that theory this winter. I’ve always winter fished bare handed.

It can humble you but it is a magical place. Let me know if you ever plan to go and I’ll share what I know.