Way north bass guy

Nothing better for the soul than that first cruise across the lake in the morning.

Good lord that’s a lot of cool artifacts! Now you’re gonna have to build a nice display case for them ?.

I’m a fourth generation stonemason, been doing it full time for 25 years now. I’ve actually worked on several properties where all four generations of my family have done stonework on over the years. When I was a kid I used to go to my dads jobs ( most are on the lakes around here for cottagers), and fish all day off the dock while he and his crew worked. I’d have lunch with them and then head back to the dock to fish. When I was 13 he told me to put down the rod and pick up a trowel. Worked for him in summer all through high school, then full time once I graduated. He retired about 11 years ago, and I’ve run my own business since then. I work by myself, taking on all kinds of stonework projects, as well as installing/inspecting wood stove/chimneys for insurance companies. It can be tiring work some days, but I love it ( don’t need to go to the gym either ?). I’ve worked for some pretty high profile people over the years, had some work featured in several magazines, and have never had to advertise for more work. The bonus part is that many of my projects are on islands in the summer, so sometimes I get to “sneak away” a touch early to fish my way home at the end of the day.

If you can find them, the Maxscent flat nose minnows are just about as good. I pretty much interchange them both constantly, and catch the heck out of them with either bait.

I used to always attach it to the pfd, but my new one doesn’t have a decent spot to hook up to so now I wrap it around my leg just below my knee and clip it together there. It’s close to the attachment point on the boat, and I can feel it in my leg every time I’m running so I always remember to unhook it before I stand up. I figure if I’m going overboard, there’s a pretty good chance my right leg is coming with me as well ?.

It really depends on the lake I’m on. Some lakes it’s pads, others it’s docks with boats tied along side ( especially pontoons like @FryDog62 mentioned). I have to say though, that I’m a sucker for a big, single laydown that hangs out over varying depths. I’ve lost count of the number of good bass, and huge pike in the spring and fall that I’ve caught off these over the years.

I don’t actively target smallmouth by trolling, but up here as soon as the ice goes out in spring, we do quite a bit of trolling for lake trout ( about the only thing in season for a while in a lot of lakes). We usually troll jerkbaits ( the exact ones I cast for smallmouth), on a fairly long lead behind an in-line planer board. The first week or two after ice out we only get lakers, but after a couple weeks of the sun warming up things, even a very small amount, the shallower areas get flooded with smallmouth. In an average day, we’ll get 10 or more smallies along with the lakers, most of them are over 3lbs. Our bass season doesn’t open till June here, so any bass we get have to be immediately released, and if we get too many in a particular spot we move to a different area as we’re not supposed to target them specifically. If they were in season, I’d do much like @J Francho, and troll around till I found a concentration of them, then go back through with casting gear to pick the area apart further. Trolling can be boring at times, but under the right circumstances it definitely works to help find concentrated fish.

Yup. I grew up on a 120 acre farm. Our dogs always managed to find the most rotten, terrible smelling creatures to roll in. They spent more than a few nights tied up outside rather than inside in their comfy bed.

Yeah, ours are mostly inside hounds. They only go out for shorter periods of time on their own so they can’t get into much “trouble”. Although we are moving to a new place in a few weeks and they’ll have a yard about ten times the size of where we’re are now, so I’m sure they can find some new stuff to get into out there.

That’s one thing I’m thankful for about our two mutts. They don’t ever get stinky. One’s a husky/Shepard mix and the other is a Rotti/lab mix so we have short hair and LOTS of hair, but neither of them ever get a bath and I’m fine with that.

Sure can! Right at the bottom of the lake ?

Getting ready for our big move in exactly a month from now. Today I cleared out a couple storage sheds and moved that and all my small boats up to my work shop, then I’ll move it to the new place in June. Felt like I was moving a whole darn marina today ?.

Pretty much the only thing I’ve used on a drop shot for the last two or three years. I’ve lost count of the number of smallmouth I’ve caught on them, and they work great around docks for largemouth as well.

Yeah, I can’t stand pike? Notice the terrible angry grimace on my face in the pics, you can tell I don’t fish for them ever.

My rig is pretty well loaded up with gear, and I run my Goodyear Endurance tires to 65lbs. It came with lighter grade Carlisle tires that maxed out at 50lbs. Trailer runs so much smoother and tracks way better with the Goodyear’s, and there’s almost no sidewall bulge compared to the Carlisles.

Berkley Maxscent Creature Hawg is darn near the only bait I use on a t-rig any more, other than a stickbait sometimes. Creature baits work excellent around docks, laydowns, weeds, and even open water areas/rock bottoms.

I used the rage swimmers for a few years, and have switched to the Berkley power swimmers for the last couple years. Very similar action, but they seem to hold up much better. I’ve caught multiple large pike on one bait before it gets ripped up much.

I’ve never cooked pizza in an outdoor oven, but I’ve built a few for customers over the years and they all absolutely love them. One guy uses his year round, even shovelling 2’ of snow off it in the winter to cook pizza, roast chicken and do steaks on the wood fired side grill.

Yes, plenty of room indeed ?

To say it’s been a hectic few weeks is an understatement. My wife and I have lived in our home for 16 years. I grew up on a 120 acre farm, and our small 1/3 acre place, even though it’s not in town has always felt a bit cramped. We've occasionally “lightly hunted” around online at properties the last few years, with no real serious notions of moving, and with the price of real estate nowadays we always thought it’d be insane to try to sell/buy/move etc. Two weeks ago a property popped up online, about 15 min from our current home, and about 5 miles away from where I grew up. I actually know the previous owners, played baseball with him and been to parties etc over the years. We went and took a look, fell in love and had our realtor come by our place to have a look. When she said what we could get for our place, I almost had to go change my drawers! Our offer on the new place was miraculously accepted, with the condition they we sold our place by this coming Monday. Talk about stress! Well after several viewings the last week, we were able to sign the papers to a buyer that fell in love with our place. As of June, we take possession of 25 acres, five bedroom home in fantastic condition with a nice sized barn/workshop and a beautiful river that runs right through our property. And to top it all off, the boat launch to one of my absolute favourite lakes of all time ( and where the river runs from), is about 30 seconds away from the driveway. Needless to say, I’m glad I’m done with the stressful part, and now I have a TON of stuff to start packing. The boat might not get much use for the next few months, but it’s sure gonna be worth it.

Even though I have top of the line gps units on my boat nowadays, I’ll still often kick an orange buoy or two over the side when I’m on a certain large piece of structure, especially way offshore. I can and do use the gps all the time, but if you know what the structure your on looks like, and you can drop a couple buoys at certain points on it, I find it’s quicker, and easier on the neck to just have a quick look at them to figure out exactly where your sitting rather than constantly staring down at the screen. One big offshore hump that I used to ice fish for lake trout, we used to triangulate with two specific boathouses and an island to find. It was about 2 acres in diameter, and those boathouses would put you right smack in the middle of it every time.

Probably just got his talons stuck too deep in the mud and now he can’t get them to retract. Shoulda just used spot lock on the troller instead I guess.

Kind of a crappy, over zoomed pic, but we had a pair of swans at the lake by the house this afternoon. I’ve never seen a pair around here in the summer, but I’ve seen several over the years when they’re migrating further north, usually around this time of year. They sure do make the geese look small.

At least he’s got the good sense to keep his life jacket on. I can only imagine the amount of rocks just under the surface that if you hit em right with the trolling motor, you’d be in for a swim right quick!

I use this soap for washing the hull and outboard, only a couple times a year if I’m on a particularly dirt/weedy lake. CMX spray goes on in the spring, or in the fall before I put it away for the winter, one coat a year is all it takes to make the water and dirt bead right off. Puts a pretty decent shine on the rig too. In between washes I’ll sometimes give it a quick wipe down with a cloth and some water, but it usually stays pretty clean with the CMX. As for the carpet, I just vacuum as necessary and every now and again go over it with our carpet cleaner and a mild soap solution, maybe do that every other year or so.