Arcs&sparks

I’ve noticed too, but realized it’s because the models that had a sale price are now sold out. For whatever reason they haven’t removed the lines from the bargain cave.

Ventured out to Sebago Lake yesterday afternoon for some laker fishing. Got a couple little guys. Someone’s stoked on her first laker ever!; I caught my smallest laker ever;?‍♂️ We are encouraged to to keep the small ones in this lake because of overpopulation.

Dusted off Ol’ Reliable for the ice fishing derby on Sunday. Still runs great! Brand new pop-up shelter and old smashed up vintage Enticer

Ah you skate too? I haven’t been in years. I don’t have much excuse for not playing my drums... I Did hit the mountain for some snowboarding last week though! Forgot how much fun it is.

@soflabasser I understand. Hope you get to do it soon. From reading your posts, I’m sure you’ll find a good lake and guide to go with to pursue your goal. Perhaps in Canada? To make it clear, I wasn’t jabbing bass fisherman. Most ice guys set tip ups and wait for a flag, (yes you can be much more tactical and hands-on) which could easily be compared to worm and bobber, or carp/cat fishing, which it seems a lot of guys on here would rather clean their reels ? and I get it, kinda...I’ll be on the lake anyway.

Wait, people from MA visit the Port? ?? did you find your neighbors there?

@soflabasser I like ice fishing but love open water fishing. It’s more productive and the fish fight harder. Not really sure why anyone would come up from down south just to ice fish? You don’t find many ice fisherman here since it’s bass forum, ‘nough said. ? Theres lakes up here that offer very productive lake trout fishing but it’s because they are overrun and the average size is rather small for the species -5lb. Although most of the real giants are caught through the ice, it’s typically not fast fishing. Unless your targeting panfish.

Some of you inland and southern folks might find this entertaining, very common sight all winter for us in the northeast. Some guys out surfing in February-Kennebunk Beach Maine.

They already think we’re crazy for simply living up here.

As you said, there’s a lot of factors.(snow cover, clear solid ice vs white ice, Dark bottom, wind, current) If you’re getting a ton of rain then perhaps it will open up, especially if there’s a good sized tributary carrying runoff into the small lake. High winds really break it up. If it doesn’t melt, buy an auger ? good luck!

54 degrees on my way to lake this afternoon! Gonna be just as warm tomorrow. Couldn’t resist heading out for last light. Nothin to brag about except the temperature... Call me Brandin Cooks, I couldn’t catch anything. Ok...I guess there was one more thing to brag about ?

Yup

I don’t have any experience with powerbait, So I can’t answer your original question, but was going to ask if you could use more than one rod-which you stated you can and will. My 2 cents; If I know where they are, I pretty much exclusively use Berkeley Gulp minnows 2 1/2” & 3” on a jig head and fish them like a fluke (or just pop and jig em) in rivers and lakes alike for all trout species and salmon, native, wild or stocked (all species love em really.. my biggest smallie, and sucker lol, came on one as a bycatch) As a searchbait in lakes I throw the small Johnson Bladebait, IIRC 2 1/2” 1/4oz (perch color works good on my local lake). Perhaps powerbait is the way to go with the freshly stocked ones, but in my experience using lures matching the local forage has produced a lot of great fish and numbers for me, and has outfished the worm and powerbait fisherman by a long shot-at least the times I’ve been around other guys.

Are your stocked fish given time to adjust to their environment or are they simply dumped in with the expectation that they’ll be fished out quickly and/or not survive? For example, stocked in the fall, and come opening day they’re up for grabs? I see a lot of reply’s on here regarding stocked trout that simply do not apply in all cases.

Been so busy this fall/winter I really haven’t fished. Dumped my ice shack out the other day, and got to use it last night. Slower than I expected, but got this chubby little salmon to cook up. 1st fish of 2019, 11pm right off the bottom in 10’ water. Targeting rainbows and burbot. Very pleasant surprise as these aren’t nearly as common in this lake and I’ve never seen one at night.

My good buddy and I were up north at Moosehead. We were fishing below one of the dams in this big eddy, deep heavy current smacking brookies and salmon left and right. He gets a brookie and was struggling to get the hook out, he dropped the fish on the ground and I told him we should keep that one for dinner. After he gets the hook out it slipped his grip again and flopped back into the water. I immediately sprawled out on my belly on the big smooth rock I was standing on, reached out and almost had a grip on the fish when I started to lose my balance and slip. Uh oh! I’m going in, ever so slowly! As I was slowly sliding into the river, my reaction was to throw my brand new Trout Series GLX/Supreme XT right into the current and caught myself before going completely under. His reaction was to sprawl out on his big rock and catch my rod by the tip, also almost falling into the 40* water as well, right before it was to be swallowed up by the raging white water spilling out of the dam. Luckily I managed to keep my right leg mostly out of the water which had my iPhone in the pocket, and I can’t thank him enough for snagging my rod and not trying to help me!! Almost lost my phone, and my new stick for one 10” trout lol. We hadn’t been drinkin BTW ?

It surprises me!! Every time I travel I see waaaayyy more accidents than I ever do here. Especially Mass, NY, and FLA. Florida is scary!!! Since it’s based on traffic violations too, I blame Biddeford, theyre known for handing out tickets for anything and everything. ?

When I was first getting into fishing I was casting a crankbait from shore beside a bridge. I hooked on to a decent sized pickerel and since I had no net or pliers, I had to try to get a good grab on it. It’s mouth was pinned shut because it had a hook in both it’s upper and lower jaw. What do I do now?? Hard to hold on to these slimey things... Well, it slipped out of my hands and the other treble hook stuck to my jeans. The fish wasn’t happy and neither was I. Now I have this pickerel stuck to me flopping around like crazy starting to dig the hooks into my skin. All I could do grab my jeans and pull it away from my leg so I didn’t get hooked! Luckily my girlfriend was there and between the two of us, we were able to cut the hook out of my pants with a dull keychain knife, and I don’t remember how we got the bait out of its mouth but I’m not so sure it was a clean release...

@Mjmj what are you using the bus bar for if you used a fuse panel? Multiple fuse panels? The main over-current protection should be as close to the source as practical. Then the main switch. Redmexican, your order is correct. You can also use negative bus bars in locations where there is a lot of wiring, and run a single oversized conductor back to your panel or battery if you please. If your our boat is aluminum do not use chassis ground like a trailer or vehicle-but do bond the chassis off of the (-) battery.

There’s not a lot of info to go by. Since your concern is about weight, I assume you plan to parallel the suggested new battery with the old one? Or are you considering getting a single larger battery? What is the problem with your current setup? How old is the old one? It is best to series or parallel batteries of equal capacity and age, and charge them similtaniously. I personally think the weight of a casting deck is rather insignificant for your boat-And cheaper unless you really go all out. Use aluminum angle for support and you can get away with 1/2” ply no problem. Don’t get pressure treated. Its hard to fully answer your your question without some more info, but the answer will probably be BOTH, you’re going to end up doing it eventually.

Had some negative temps Late last week. Plumber from work saw -19 early morning, I saw -5 where I am, closer to the coast. Anyway, we were expecting close to 2 feet of snow the other day, so I knew I had to get my ice shack out on the lake. Got to the lake and drilled some holes. 16” of solid clear ice. No problem driving my truck out to dump it off. Turns out we got a whopping 5” of snow. Today... 52 degrees and pouring rain. Stopped by the lake after work to see the brook raging and spilling nearly all of its water on top of the ice.... My shack and a handful of others are in a pond now, roughly 5” deep where I am, and appeared to be deeper where some other guys are, directly out in front of it. It was dark when I went, so I couldn’t tell where the water was actually flowing to? Not concerned about it right now, but I’ll be stopping by first thing tomorrow to take another look. I can’t imagine 16” of ice will disappear very quickly, but that brook will probably just get worse overnight, might need to move it already. Some of the other guys might be in for a surprise.. oh the joys of owning an ice shack, never a dull moment ?

When I was first starting out, I stopped by a local bridge to fish for bass. This was a tributary just upstream of a lake where a few big pike have been caught, but they’re rare. As I was fishing I heard a large fish jump upstream and got really excited. Must be one of those big pike! I hurried and grabbed a 7” floating swimbait out of my bag and tied it on. I crouched down and quietly snuck through the woods to where the fish was. I pitched the bait out near some lay-downs and instantly hung up on a submerged tree. As I was trying like heck to get it unstuck, a saw a beaver slowly swimming across the river. As we made eye contact, he turned his butt to me and slapped the water. I won’t be falling for that dirty trick again. Didn’t get my bait back either.

July 3rd ‘17 10:33 AM

@J Francho you must not be suggesting 2lb line class records for trout! Most of those records are double digits even with 20lbs+ fish. Now if your a female angler there’s even vacant Largemouth Bass line class records. (Not that I think Kenneth is a female) Your buddy must hold some respectable ones though for trout/walleye, they’re pretty filled up. Alot of them seem pointless unless you have a real giant. I have the book, there’s a lot of records where, certain species, 4lb class would be something like 30lbs, and the 20lb class would be like 3lb... All tackle record for Chain Pickerel is 24”. How many BR members have thrown back the World Record?

I don’t go any less than 4lb on spinning tackle-Especially flouro, perhaps my knot game isn’t very strong but I have no trust in light FC. snag a twig that’s stuck in the gravel and say goodbye to your lure. I use braid to leader, 4lb mono on the UL and 6lb on the ML for trout/salmon in the rivers and lakes, averaging 10”-18” with occasional 3lb+ fish.