Way north bass guy

Probably made of unicorn horn ( or is it antler?, not sure if unicorns lose their headgear every year like a whitetail).

Same here. Not saying it hasn’t happened, cause it certainly has, but not in a long time that I can remember. Now I’ve had days where I didn’t get too many at all, or it was a grind to catch one good one, but it’s been quite a while since a truly stinky day.

That’s a pretty cool story Tom, I love hearing stories like this about truly huge catches, especially when they’re a true story that’s been confirmed like yours are! Please add more to this, especially for us poor fellas up here where there’s a foot of ice and we’ll never, ever see a bass that big without at least going for a plane ride ?.

Like a lot of you guys on the other side of the Great Lakes, we’re also getting another couple day round of chilly weather. Supposed to hit -30 here tonight. I spent an hour this afternoon breaking some trails with my sled, so they’ll be froze up for tomorrow morning, and after a big breakfast, I’m gonna spend a few hours and cut down and split a few dead standing trees to add to the firewood pile. Nothing like a good tree felling and chopping excursion on a cold clear day to open up the lungs a bit!

Man that’s a real “hard” problem to have to deal with. I was checking out the river in my back yard this afternoon, and I can say that with absolute certainty, I do not have a problem with them getting a mouth full of weeds in my current state. On a serious note, when summer comes and I do actually throw a frog, sometimes it just happens that way if your in real thick stuff. Like others have mentioned, I try to stop it in any openings and holes, thinking that it may create a better ambush spot for them where maybe all they get is a frog and not a bowl of salad with it.

Yup, happened to me a bit too. Hasn’t seemed to do it in the last little while, but of course now that I’ve said that it’ll do it the next time I log on ?

We usually grow about 6-8 different varieties of tomatoes every year. Pretty much all heirloom varieties, and we change it up every year just to try new ones. My absolute favourite has been Black Krim. They grow pretty good sized, and are packed with flavour. We also grow a lot of beans every year. Our favourite lately has been Rattlesnake climbing beans. They’re a purple/green coloured bean that grows like a weed and puts out beans until a hard freeze comes. My wife pickles tons of them and they are fantastic all winter long.

I can only imagine that’s what a big cup of puréed gobies looks like.

We grow just about everything in the summer here, except for watermelons ( pretty short season here so they wouldn’t get too big). At our last house I build a great little greenhouse that we used year round. We’d start all our summer plants in it from seed around the first of March or so, and then in the fall we’d plant a bunch of salad greens and harvest them all winter long. Nothing better in the dead of winter with 3’ of snow on the ground then to go into the greenhouse where it was about 80 deg inside and pick a big bowl of lettuce for a salad! If you closed your eyes, you could smell the dirt and feel the heat and “pretend” it was summer ?. Last summer we moved to a new place with 25 acres of big sunny fields, so as soon as the snow melts we’re building a huge raised garden and before fall I’ll have a new greenhouse built and ready for winter lettuce. There’s also been talk of a small chicken coop, so I guess we’ll have fresh eggs too. I grew up on a 120 acre hobby farm, so it’s nice to get back to being able to use our land to feed ourselves again.

I just like getting out and being on the water. Probably the most satisfying thing for me most days would be if conditions aren’t as I originally planned, but I manage to figure something else out and by the end of the day I’m back into them, that makes the day feel more like I’ve accomplished something. This time of year though, just being able to even launch the boat would be a tremendous win for me.

Well, for the first time since pretty much Christmas Day, it got up above freezing here. It’s still a LONG way from open water, but it sure did feel nice to lean against the side of the barn and soak up some actual warmth from the sun this afternoon.

Holy smokes, would ya look at all that open water!

When I was in high school we used to bring our shotguns to school during mid term exams in Oct. Put the guns ( in their cases of course) in our lockers in the morning, write the exam, then take off at noon to hit some mallard ponds. I couldn’t even imagine the ridiculous amount of trouble you’d get into if you tried that nowadays.

I was about 2 when I first caught fish with my dad ( sunfish and rockbass). We fished for just about everything as kids, but mainly bass and trolling for lake trout. I used to go to my dads construction jobs ( that were mainly cottages on the Muskoka lakes here in Ontario), and would fish off the shore or dock all day while my dad and his employees worked, go have lunch with them, then right back to fishing until time to go home. Got serious about it when I got a decent bike around 12 or so and could travel on my own to different lakes and rivers. Got my first bass boat at 17, fished tournaments all summer for about 8 years or so, did some guiding for a few years ( even filmed an episode of a fishing show out of my boat one time), then got out of guiding about 15 years ago and now just do my own thing either solo or with my son or a friend or two. I’m 42 now so I guess it’s been 40 years of wetting a line, and been chasing bass on and off for pretty much all of them.

I know all about iguanas, my brother had two of them when we were younger. They were strong buggers that’s for sure!

I’ve never fished as a co angler, but used to fish team tournaments a lot. Whenever we got on a dock bite, we always tried to mix it up as much as we could. If one guy was pitching jigs or soft plastics, the other guy was often running a spinnerbait or buzz bait along the sides, or a crankbait or even a jerkbait. If the guy up front is moving pretty quick, you’d have to be careful with your casts so you don’t hang up a crankbait etc., but I’d you can make it work, showing the fish something completely different can pay big time in your favour.

The one thing about this boat that didn’t work well for me was the rod tubes. Like you said, can’t get many in there and especially not any spinning rods with larger eyes. With the removal of a few screws, and lining it with some 2’x2’ interlocking carpet squares, I can now easily hold 20 rods ( in rod socks), without any trouble at all.

I’ve owned a few different bass boats over the years, and for the type of fishing I do and the lakes I’m on the current boat works perfectly for me. I can take it anywhere, it’ll handle the big water of Georgian Bay, but is light enough to get into smaller lakes with not so great of a ramp. After a few small mods, I can easily carry 20+ rods up to 8’, and all the tackle I need for whatever trip I’m on. I’d say with todays prices, you’d be better to stick with what you already have. Of course I might be a little bit biased ?

I’d almost rather have the snow you guys are getting instead of the temps we currently are “enjoying”. It’s crazy to think of a falling iguana warning in Florida, when our local critters are out enjoying their breakfast in -36 temps!

We’re like most people on here, pretty much 50/50. There’s a few things she doesn’t really care to deal with ( snow blowing, vehicle work etc.), but is more than willing to help out with if needed, and it’s the same for me. Our son was doing his own laundry at about 8 yrs old, and helps out with as much stuff as he can around the house, both inside and out. He may not be the best at it ( especially the keeping things tidy part, but what 12 year old is), but he sure is gonna at least know how to do all the house stuff on his own.

I’d take a falling iguana alert any day over the snow squall warning, and added cold weather warning we’re getting here tonight. It’s like mosquitos and blackflys here in the spring. I’ll take them any day over snow, at least I don’t have to shovel them!

I’ve always been a fan of rods in the 7’ range for most of my finesse stuff. A lot of my fishing is for Georgian Bay smallmouth ( aka tanks), in big open water, and I feel like I can handle them better with a longer rod. A couple years ago I got a Cabela’s walleye prodigy series rod that I absolutely love for a drop shot rod. It’s 7’6”, fairly light, but still casts well and has a great backbone in the bottom half for fighting big smallies. Doesn’t hurt that it didn’t cost three boat payments for the rod either?. If I come across any more of these, I’m gonna have to scoop em up cause I’m really liking the extra length.

I’ve trailered mine now for about 4 years ( it’s a 12’er), in the upright position and have never had any issues structurally as far as the transom goes, and it’s always rock solid on the mount, but I can see where some boats it may be an issue if they don’t have a real beefy transom. As far as holding, I use mine often to hold the boat, I’d say it works fairly well down to at least 10’ on most bottoms, and a pretty close to the full 12’ if there’s not too much wind. Often I’m fishing solo, but I do have my father with me sometimes, and he’s not a real serious fisherman, but still does very well off the back of the boat and the talon doesn’t seem to get in his way, even with his wild, sidearm casts he does sometimes ?.

At least average strength he says ?. We’ve all seen your workout videos, your not fooling anyone with that statement! Also to add, I have a very similar net to @A-Jay, and it works quite well one handed. I also almost never extend the handle, unless I’m downrigging for salmon or trout, then the extra reach is handy.

My wife turned me on to those guys years ago. Got to be some of the funniest movies and sketches ever made.