Michigander

Yeah, and since COVID shut the barbers down in the spring, my wife is getting me to grow my hair out like yours. ? See what I said about sizes? You got a third kind, L/XL. It's just like rod power and how there's no consistency.

I too like boonie caps, beards, and mesh shoulder life jackets, @MN Fisher. When I last went to get a life jacket, I learned that the sizes are meaningless. I wear an XL t-shirt but found a L, an XL, and a 2XL jacket that all fit about the same. If you can't try them on, you have to get out the measuring tape. Each vest will have a chest measurement range. My vest is 42"-50" because my chest in a t-shirt and my chest with my winter gear are between those two ranges. You'll want to get those two measurements of yourself and pick a vest that can accommodate.

My fishing partner and I were in the last tournament of the year about a month ago, and we're running down lake as you do, and we're both giving it the stuff upper lip because it's raining and it kinda hurts. But then it got way worse as the rain turned to hail and we're just getting sandblasted. I keep ski goggles in the back compartment for such occaisions so we can still run safely in weather. You can get a cheap multipack on Amazon and it's totally worth it to have on hand. We would have been stuck out there idling for miles otherwise.

It's not that the bait shape can't be skipped, it's the hook fouling as mentioned earlier. However, I think if you removed the trebles on a squarebill and replaced just the back hook with an inline single, you could probably do it fairly reliably.

Nature is pretty metal, so even if it hurts I don't think the fish care. Dogs eat bees and they don't seem to mind enough to stop eating said bees, and their mouths are softer than a bass.

It's a bit much. The first year of tournaments, I was jerkbaiting with one and I was basically doing yoga as we changed spots to loosen up my back.

Rod building supplies, ordered. A mile of electrical wire and bag of switches and accessories to rewire bass boat, pending.

Yes, an Ugly Stik functionally works great for jerkbaits and treble hooked moving baits. Used one for several years. That being said, they tend to be heavier rods and would hurt my back after a few hours of working the jerkbaits so I was forced to abandon them.

Not sure what your body strength is but I don't think you'll need a motorized one for an inflatable. I can just barely move my 21' Triton up a slight incline by myself without a caddy and that's many thousands of pounds.

Well, you could experiment and see which two are the most likely to be bit, you could hedge your bets. Having four would still have drawing power.

Oh... You capped at two hooks?

When you're ready for next level, try the quad fluke rig. I did rig and try this a few years ago and it does indeed fish fine. PITA to rig up and store though.

Fur trapper hat, polarized ski goggles, and a bit of beard works great for me!

They have those hand trailer caddies that would help you maneuver it in the driveway. Couldn't you put it on top of the SUV in one of those canvas roof pods?

Depends... What's your current sonar setup? What depth do you fish at most of the time? How big of water do you fish? What's the composition of the lakes you fish? For example, Panoptix is cool but in most of my lakes all I would see is weeds, and I already know those are there, LOL. But I would have loved to have Panoptix on Kentucky Lake which is pretty much devoid of vegetation.

I only use mono backing if I'm trying to fill up space on the spool. The electrical tape method is faster (no extra knots) and has worked flawlessly for me for over twenty years.

Mudhole says my supplies should be here Friday. Got the new hobby bench all clear to build my first rod!

That's a shame that the picture didn't survive but the story was great to read nonetheless! I was able to be on the lake until mid-January last year before the ice kicked me out, and they are calling for a fairly mild winter this year too so hopefully I will still have a similar timeline. I have mapped the whole lake with the Garmin in my Triton and have a ton of hours on this lake in warmer weather so I'm pretty familiar with it. My expectation that I've eliminated water is based on the research I've done about winter transitions and large bass behavior. So we'll see if I'm totally off base or not. Safety is very important to me. My kayak is very stable, I have a safety plan to mitigate risk, and appropriate gear. I've got some cold water experience/training under my belt so I'm very cognizant of how powerful cold water is.

No tips? Or just none you're willing to share? ?

I use a layer of electrical tape over the arbor knot to stop slippage, if that's your core issue anyway.

West. It's Jordan Lake in Lake Odessa. There's probably two in there so I can share. ? Looks like a straight shot down 66 for you!

Don't worry too much. With that many kids you'd be hopelessly in debt after a week. ?

From the EPA regarding Fathead Minnows (Pimephales promlas) which I assume are fairly similar in reproduction habits: "Females release an average of 100 – 200 eggs per spawn, with larger females releasing 200 – 400 eggs. Fathead minnows spawn approximately every 4 – 5 days, but can spawn as often as every 2 days."

Yes, I like smallmouth in the fall too but there aren't many really big ones near me as I'm in the middle of the state. I'm doing this as a December/January/February project.

Based on DNR data, there's a lake about 30-40 minutes from me with a few 7lb+ largies in it. I know the lake pretty well as it's on my regular local tournament circuit. My winter plan is to try and catch one of these big girls this winter from the kayak, at least until the ice over stops me. I have a few areas of the lake that are most likely to hold them in winter. Summer they could be anywhere but based on my mapping of the lake there's only a handful of areas that look like potentially food dense wintering spots so I can at least eliminate 98% of the water off the bat if my map analysis is correct. I'm going to pick up an 8" and 6" Little Creeper Trash Fish because those are allegedly soft enough plastic to still have action the very cold water. I just got in to swimbait fishing this year and did mostly hard baits with a mix of success. As the Trash Fish aren't the cheapest lure on the market, anyone have any color recommendations that have worked well in Michigan for this type of bait? Also, any proven winner swimbait recommendations for Michigan winter bass fishing?