MGF

Nothing that I could really say was paranormal or supernatural but I remember how (when I was young) the woods and waterways that I wandered often seemed to have unearthly or "spooky" feel. I think that added to the excitement of many of the extraordinary, but natural, things I saw.

I wouldn't have been so surprised if it hadn't been the middle of the day. DNR guessed that the racoon probably had distemper or something but your story reminds me of another. I was fly fishing from the bank of the Fox river in down town St. Charles, Il. I had quite a bit of line out when a beaver came swimming up river. I tried to mend my line out of his way but it ended up laying over his back. I didn't really know what to do so I just held the rod tip up and hoped the line and lure would slip free as he swam under. As he swam the line moved across his back with the lure getting closer. When the popper got into his fur he, very calmly, turned and swam toward me. He paralleled the bank almost right at my feet. As he swam by I jiggled the lure out of his fur and he went on his way. It was like he understood exactly what was happening.

After more than half a century of fishing I guess I have a few but the one I think gets the most interest from folks is the time I was hunted...actually stalked by a racoon. I'll try to keep it short without leaving out the important parts. A friend and I were carp fishing on the bank of a river right next to a bridge...in the middle of a hot summer day. As we fished we watched a racoon acting goofy on the other side of the river. He'd climb the tree and bounce around then climb down and splash around in the water and so on. He was there for a long time. My partner, who lived close by had to leave and I stayed to fish. The racoon came up over the bridge. When he got just above me he hung over the side and hissed. He came down off the bridge on the path just behind me and continued on. I didn't trust him so I stepped out onto the path to watch him leave. He looked back over his shoulder and on seeing me he turned and, on seeing me, turned and ran at me. I ran for the car. But I fell. I rolled over just in time to push him back with my feet as he jumped at me. Somehow I got to me feet and made it up to the road and the car. My gear was still down by the river. I waited for a while and didn't see anymore of the animal so I carefully snuck back down to my equipment. Not seeing the racoon anywhere I decided to sit back down and fish when...I heard a hiss behind me. That son of a gun was in the bush right behind me. I was between him and the river. Somehow I got around him and up the bridge back to the car. My gear is still down by the river. I found a stick to use for a club. I put that in one hand, my fillet knife in the other and stood in the middle of the 2 lane road by the double yellow looking around for the racoon. That's when he ran out from under my car and go hold of my ankles. At this point I'm enraged and I want him dead. I busted my club over his head. He backed up and he stood up on his hind legs like a bear. I dove at him swinging the knife and he turned and ran. That was the last I saw of him. Other than some road rash from my dive on the road and maybe a scrape or two from my fall on the path I didn't have a scratch on me. I didn't fish that spot again for a very long time.

I'm in northern Indiana and I never see any bait or bass near the bank in winter. The shoreline has been lifeless for at least several weeks now. Last week I caught bass in 8 - 10 ft and was seeing bait balls suspended. the Lowrance reported 47 F. I didn't fish today but couldn't stay away from the lake. The guys who did fish told me they couldn't find fish. Everybody I talked to had a lousy day. They reported a water temp of 41 F. But I did see some small fish (bluegills or minnows?) moving in protected bays but away from the bank. I'm not sure what that means.

My experience with guides is pretty limited but the guys I've fished with shared a fair amount of information. Naturally most of it relates to current conditions. GPS wouldn't have been needed to get back to the same spots or employ the same methods. Personally I'm more interested in learning to find fish on my own than just learning somebody else's spots. On another note, the guides I've used had equipment and/or skills that were a big help in catching fish. No secret spots but it would still be difficult to do as well without the guide...under those conditions.

I have a 1436 and it's plenty stable...I don't know what I'd have to do to get it to go over. The thing about a flat bottom boat is that it's pretty specialized. I like it on the river (where I do most of my fishing) but it doesn't take much chop to beat you half to death. My old v hull worked ok on the river and it was MUCH better on bigger water. If I did it over I'd buy something different.

31F tonight and high near 50F tomorrow. I'm going to give it a shot.

I fished a few tournaments 30+ years ago. I enjoyed it but my fishing is different today. First of all 99% of my fishing is with my wife and she would never fish that way. Second, it's a game that I just can't afford to play.

I bought a bag to use for crappies but I don't fish for crappies very often. I was out on a local river a couple weeks ago and looking for something to put on a drop shot. I tried that baby shad and caught a couple of brown bass. That is the the complete history of my experience with the bait but I'm sure I'll use them again.

My father and I along with an uncle and a cousin used to sometimes rabbit/pheasant hunt Thanksgiving morning then head to the grandparents house for dinner.

A small plastic on a jig head isn't new but we used to use a twister tail or some thing like that. I could be wrong but I think the newest thing about the "ned" is the lack of action. I say lack of action but that's not always what it is. All of my ned rig fish have been caught in a river and that flat nose (mushroom) jig with the floaty tail really wobbles around in the current. It's completely different than what we get with a lead head and a grub...though they both catch fish. I also don't get hung up nearly as much with the ned. I try to pick a weight such that it bounces down river just barely ticking the bottom...with the hook pointed up much of the time.

Weekends afternoons are harder for me to commit to but changing things up to give more people a chance seems like a good idea. Send me the invitation and I'll join in if I can.

I have many times seen isolated pools of otherwise dried up creeks with fish in them. I've seen the same creeks completely dry for long periods and then they flood again...and the fish are back. I'm specifically talking about the National Forest of Sothern Indiana. All I can say is that those creeks must have connections to larger water when the water is high and flowing...the fish swim up the creek, it dries up and you again have isolated pools full with fish. I saw isolated pools of dried up creeks that had trout in them when I hunted the Tennessee mountains but I don't know what went on the rest of the year.

My season may be about done too. My wife and I got out Sat and though the high temp was supposed to be near 50 F it seemed pretty cold on the lake and she didn't last long. I caught one 14" brown bass. I was going to try to fish as long as we have open water but I'm afraid I'll have to go it alone. LOL This wasn't a bad year for size but I think the numbers were down and things shut down early this fall in my section of river. I think the extremely low water has something to do with it. Something I want to do differently next year is we have a reservoir about an hour from me that I almost never fish. I want fish it some. The only thing that stops me is that within minutes of home I have a bunch of launch ramps on the river...so we always fish the river. We have a lot of lakes close by but most are lined with houses and bars. The river is MUCH nicer to look at and listen to. The reservoir I want to fish more is surrounded by state forest so it's nice to look at too.

On the positive side, we're not confused anymore. LOL

It does. My e-mail says 8pm - 10 pm. I'm on EST.

The post in this thread says 8 pm EST. That's 7 pm Central.

I think I've got it...we'll know at 8.

I've only used zoom once before. I don't remember what I put in there.

Silly question maybe but...do we enter our bass resource handle for a name?

My wife and I do quite a bit especially on hot summer days when we're too lazy to load up the boat or canoe.

I recently asked about clubs here but in my own research I found that most seem centered around tournaments. I see the potential value in networking but I don't have any interest in tournaments.

Just a quick follow up to what I've been pondering regarding bass migration in small rivers. I finally made it down to the lower river just where it starts to widen into the reservoir. I went with two week old information. Last week the folks at the bait shop told me SMB were being caught on shallow flats in a certain section of lake/river. They also told me that info was a week old...two weeks from yesterday. Anyway I didn't find them there The water was 46 F and I found them a tad further down lake and a little bit deeper. There were also a TON of bass boats out there chasing those bass.

There might be a couple other reasons for my preference for shorter rods. Aside from not being very tall my boat doesn't have a deck. When I stand in my boat my feet are below the surface of the water. A lof of people making recommendations are fishing out of a bass boat. Heck, yesterday was a BUSY day on the water. Ramp parking was about full. I was the only non-bass boat there. I do own some longer rods but they don't get much use because they're more trouble than they're worth.