Fishlegs

I haven’t checked this thread in a few day, and come back to see these fantastic beasts. Wow! Congrats, guys! @Pat Brown & @AlabamaSpothunter

I bought a pack recently, but haven’t used them yet. Hopefully, I will get to this week. You never really know until you see them in the water, but they seem like they are going to have pretty good action.

Too many lipless? That’s just crazy talk. As long as you don’t take mine you can never have too many. ?

We do not have an office/company owned lake like that, but I am about 10 minutes from a park on the river where I go to fish at lunch every chance I get. Looks like a nice pond you have there. Too bad there's no fish.

I bought a pack of H2O EWG hooks on clearance just to try them. I don't who makes them, but they seem pretty good to me.

Look at all those different lures! Jerkbait, jig, swimbait, and a green worm, but no purple worm? Next thing we know you’ll have a spinnerbait tied on. ?

What a fish! Congrats!

I guess that's technically correct. I'm not greedy. I'd be happy with one of those fish. ?

Do you get kickbacks from the bait monkey @A-Jay? Now I need to get some of those. Wow! ?

I think it'll be between a lipless & TX rig for me. The lipless will jump out to an early lead in the spring, but the TX rig should have a commanding lead by late summer. However, the lipless could pull out a win if I can get on the schools in the fall. Whatever lure comes out on top, it should be a lot of fun.

I've checked the free desktop site several times. It aggregates a lot of info. Water temp is the only thing I am interested in on their site, but that has not proven to be very reliable for my local lakes. I would expect the premium version to be better, but the free version hasn't made me want to pay for it. YMMV I'll be curious to hear if others had better luck with their area lakes.

I use these same Eagle Claws Neko hooks @Bluebasser86 mentioned for weightless wacky rigs. I use the Berkley Fusion 19 weighted wacky hooks if I need to add weight. Both work well for me.

No. It’s a major, six lane bridge that’s a mile long. They haven’t released details on what happened. My guess would be that their motor quit, or that the current just swept them into the bridge. The current can be crazy in that area.

You have. Unfortunately, the same thing is going on now that was going on when you were here then. A man in his 60s and a teenager went fishing about a week ago, hit a bridge piling, and were thrown overboard. The teenager was rescued, but they’re still searching for the older man. Very sad.

My first smallmouth of 2023. 3 lb 2oz on my lunch break today. My first smallmouth of the year is usually a dink so maybe this is a sign of good things to come for this year.

We had a beautiful 65 degree day so I hit the river bank on my lunch break. I was rewarded with a 3 lb 2 oz smallie. My best lunchbreak of 2023 so far. ?

I usually change a craw lure when they lose a claw. I may care if it only has one claw, but I don't think a fish cares. I used to catch crawfish to sell to fishermen on the weekends when I was a kid. We caught thousands and thousands of them. Many only had one claw. I think it's a fairly normal occurrence for a fish to see a one arm crawfish in nature. I believe the fish eat them before they count the arms. ?

A 12 lber is waiting for you! Go get 'em!

I lost my biggest fish of ‘22 fishing grass with a red lipless in the spring. I plan to put that fish in the boat in ‘23. lure prediction = red lipless

Congrats on the boat. I'm sure that first trip will make the anticipation worth the wait.

I-65 (near Ardmore) is about halfway between Wheeler & Guntersville dams. It's an hour or so drive from I-65 to either dam. That beautiful part of the Tennessee River you drive across on 65 goes through the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge, which is the home of north Alabama's gator population. Not a ton of them, but they're there.

Hopefully it won’t be as bad as the forecast says. He’s probably out fishing. ?

I haven't seen them in my local store yet, but the Academy website has H2OX brand senko style baits, trick worm style baits, creature baits, and paddle tails in addition to the hard baits. They don't have all the colors of the major brands, but they cover the basics. I'm sure I'll give them a try after I use up the stuff I got at Christmas.