Way north bass guy

Take this time to enjoy the “lack” of words. If they’re anything like my son, once they learn to talk, they never, ever, EVER stop.

I do hope you realize I was joking. Obviously this is an abnormal occurance. Trust me, I know all about cold water, so much so that you can drive a dump truck on it ?.

And they say the bite slows down when the water gets cold ?.

Yup, sounds like a bobcat for sure. We had one around our place a couple years ago in the summer, it’d sit at the end of our driveway and scream like that. As soon a you shone the flashlight on it, it’d run away but then come back the next night and do it again. Did that for about 4 horrible nights before it finally went away.

So after reading this earlier today, I then went outside to bring firewood into the garage. Guess “I’ve been working on the railroad” is a great song for piling wood as well, thanks for the ear worm A-Jay ?.

Another option would be a hydrofoil. I have a Chris Bailey foil on my boat and it works great for keeping the bow down, quicker holeshot and you can stay up on plane at much slower speeds ( helps up here on Georgian Bay where there’s lots of narrow channels and rocks to watch out for without having to idle everywhere). Chris is in Louisiana and he makes some awesome stuff, you can get them stainless or colour matched to your boat with writing of your choice cut into the sides of the foil. Also works as a bit of an extra safety measure in case you ever slung a blade, it’ll stop it from flying up into the boat.

I can’t seem to find if they have em in other diameters, my Smokercraft has larger posts and I’d love the same setup for my front deck. I suppose I could just jam some play dough in there ??.

Maybe find a sacrifice like they do on Vikings, then they’re ready to dig up the good stuff!

I’m amazed at the number of people that have said something like a frog or buzzbait. I honestly can’t think of a lure style I’ve not caught many fish on, not that I use every type all the time, I do definitely have more confidence in some baits over others though. Saying that, I guess for me, for quite a few years it was a crankbait. I caught the fire out of em on a lipless, or jerkbaits, but never could get much on a crankbait, until one year I decided enough was enough and threw them WAY more than I used to. Once I started connecting with fish, they just became another tool in the rotation. I have found in the past when I really want to learn a new technique, is to leave all the other rods in the locker and really concentrate on using the new rig until I get the feel of how it works and get a few fish on it, then the confidence builds and I feel much better about using it in the future.

That has been my braid of choice for some time now, and it has been fantastic for me.

When I was a kid, the J-11 in bright orange was “the” lure of choice locally for casting and trolling for big walleye. Also caught a ton of smallies on them, they work great slowly waked across the surface on a slick calm evening.

Over the years I’ve used quite a few different brands, and still have specific models of certain brands used for a very specific type of fishing, but my absolute favourite and the one I use probably about 95% of he time is Berkley powerbait. Maybe it’s just a confidence thing but I’ve caught so many fish on so many different Berkley baits over the years, they’re always the first soft plastic bait I pick up and usually don’t put back down.

Ditto ?. Unless someone wants to come and drill holes for me, then I’m all ready to go ??

Woohoo! Thanks for helping me hit a grand lo n slo ?

? ‘‘tis the way of winter threads!

Parry Sound, Ontario. We’ve had a milder winter here so far ( fine by me), it’s really been up and down with the temps. Often it’s -10 to -20C one day then up to a couple degrees above freezing with rain/sleet then right back down. It’s been above freezing the last couple days but now it’s supposed to drop for at least a week or so with nighttime lows dropping below -20C and some pretty nasty wind chill. Got more snow in November than the last month, which is odd for here as we normally get dumped on big time in December from our snow factory, Georgian Bay. Definitely not a great winter around here for snowmobilers and ice fisherman, I do enjoy both of those pastimes but I would much rather launch the boat, so I’m good with a less than “ideal” winter wonderland, especially after last years never ending winter.

Get yourself a ninja grass blade. I have one on my Terrova and it works fantastic. The thickest weeds I can find aren’t much of an issue at all anymore. It’ll cut most of the stuff right off the motor, I hardly ever have to reach down and clear it anymore.

Ain’t that the truth! Not much beats the crushing hit of a northern smallie that is on the plus side of 5lbs. I swear sometimes it feels like they’re gonna rip the rod out of my hands.

Most of my rods are some sort of black or dark coloured, I have a couple white rods though and like em just fine. For me, I don’t care, the best colour rod is bent!

I’m just looking forward to ice out, we’ll take it from there I guess.

Here’s my small lake boat. 12’ deep-V with a carpeted front deck and a bow mount 50lb minnkota. My 9 year old and I can fish out of it perfectly, I can throw it in the back of my truck by myself and it is very stable in small waters. With the bow mount, I can lay 4-6 rods on the sides of my deck and the kid sits at the back and there’s lots of room. Boat was dirt cheap and it sure is fun to use on some small back lakes that I can’t get the big boat into. I’ve not ever fished in a jonboat so I can’t speak to the stability of them, but for where we fish, this deep-V is perfect for us.

Zing! ?

Ouch though! Hope your getting better, and stay away from those d**n Fords!

Muddler minnow has been good for me, as well as any bunny fur/leech imitation. I’ve probably got more smallies on a mouse or popper of some sort than any other fly though.

Cool.