Fishlegs

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I had a family gathering on Thanksgiving day where the family lives on the water, so I took a couple of rods in case I had an opportunity to fish. I'm glad I did. Once we had eaten all we could stand, played some games, watched some football, and most folks were ready to take the obligatory nap I decided to head down to the water. It was just after dark, but my ears told me that there was a lot of activity. I heard splashing all around. I guess the fish were feasting too. I had a spinnerbait tied on one rod so I threw it in the direction that my ears told me to. I couldn't see much so I mainly threw to deeper water. No luck on the spinnerbait so I grabbed a black & blue jig. I was just throwing randomly into the deeper water until I heard a large splash behind me in the shallow area. I threw the jig in the direction of the splash, let it settle. I felt a thump, but I thought it was just the jig hitting the rocky bottom so I didn't react. After letting it sit for a second I started to reel, but I felt the line move so I set the hook. It pulled hard so I knew it was a decent fish, but it was so dark that I couldn't see it until I pulled it up onto the dock. Happy Thanksgiving indeed! This was a picture worthy fish so I ran to the house, turned on the porch light, and got a quick measurement, and photo. It was 21 inches, and quite healthy so I'd say around 5.25 lbs. After that I ran back down to the water (as fast as I could in the dark), put her back in the water, and she swam away. Nice way to end a great Thanksgiving day.

To my eye, the bigger difference is the location of the weight rather than how the blade attaches. The weight being at the front vs the middle could make the bait swim (or fall) differently.

Gorgeous fish, but I'm with @TnRiver46 for the opening remark. ?

Georgia was impressive. They had a great game plan, and executed it flawlessly.

Well written article. Thanks for sharing.

Here's a fiery red sunrise from a fishing trip last week. Here's one showing the fall color later in the day.

This kind of game is what makes college football great. UGA is certainly good enough to end their run, but these Vols are starting to develop that "team of destiny" feel. Should be a fun game.

Nice job @Bluebasser86. My favorite part was when you gave the catfish the Mushu dishonor line. HaHa!

I asked someone at my local academy about this recently. He said that they were just rebranding like someone mentioned earlier in the thread. He told me that they were already starting to get some of the new H2O stuff. That made me very happy. ?

I imagine that there will be plenty of online sales. There's a thread about sales on the tackle forum that has cost many of us more money than we'd like to admit. lol Latest Tackle Sale Thread

Since it's late October I would recommend waiting until black friday and try to find a rod on a good sale. You could get a better rod and still stay in your price range.

Sounds like you should be posting a lot more fish taco pictures. ? ?

That kind of fishing really stinks! I'm sorry. I'll let myself out. ?

It’s the hat! ?

How does one go about convincing their wife of this? ? All of them. Final answer. My collection is nothing like what @A-Jay has though.

Wow! I'm hungry now. I've always thought that it'd be fun to fish with y'all, but it looks like eating with you would be just as fun. I'm impressed!

I stopped by my local academy yesterday, and the aisle where the H2O Xpress baits are supposed to be was filled with gaiters. It made me think the lure brand might not be coming back, and that makes me sad. I hope I’m wrong.

My lost fish story for 2022 involves three fish on the same day. I was fishing with @roadwarrior. The morning had a very good start. It only took us about 5 minutes to catch the first fish. We caught several at the first spot, but nothing big so we changed spots. The second spot we tried seemed promising as well. I was yanking a lipless crank through the grass, and got a big hit. She jumped so we got a good look at it...a 5 lb largemouth. This is what we were looking for. She came up again, gave the lure a shake, and was gone. Tough luck, but I still had hope for the day after a promising start. roadwarrior offered some technical advice to help me with the next one, and we moved on. A little later I hooked another big one. About 4 lbs or so this time. I'm trying hard to do what roadwarrior suggested, but it throws the lure again. I'm kicking myself, but it's still early so I'm still hopeful that I'd have a shot to redeem myself. This was on a Monday. I caught a 5+ pounder just three days before so I knew I was capable of landing one, but doubt is creeping in. The third big one that I hooked that day was the real heartbreaker. It was crazy from the start. I cast to a spot, and before my lure hit the surface a huge fish came out of the water to get it. I started to reel as soon as I thought she had it, but I wasn't able to get a great hookset. I felt the weight of the fish on my line so I thought I'd be OK. I knew it was a good fish. She jumped again...big one. PB level fish. Since I'm telling this story here, you already know she got away. I asked roadwarrior what I did wrong. He simply said, "Sometimes the fish wins. That's how they get big." Looking back, I think my primary mistake was using a new rod that I had never used. That's what I tell myself anyway. If I had landed those three fish my "best five" would've been around 22-24 lbs that day. What a day. I was so close, yet so far off. It's a fine line between the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat. There will be another day though.

Sorry to hear that. Try to use your desire to fish again as part of your motivation during the recovery process. You’ll be back at it before you know it. Good luck!

I have some. I still use them after I respool to dial my reel in.

Good luck in the tournament!

That’s what friends are for.

He's an excellent fisherman, and an even better person. I'm thankful for every opportunity I have to fish with him. I could go on, but he'll probably delete the post if I do. lol

We have no idea how many eyes are on the cows or chickens we eat. We should peobably be thankful for that. ? I doubt if it's a big deal to the fish. I'd say try it with both sets of eyes, and if you don't get results you think you should take one set of eyes off. Having two sets of eyes could also make the fish think there is more than one fish there. You never know.