jbmaine

Always keep a few in the tackle box. Fished them 60 years ago. Worked then, worked now.

Hi everyone, As some of you may remember, the wife and I had some tough times this year. We both lost our moms this spring, then my wife ruptured the cornea in her right eye, resulting in emergency surgery, and restrictions keeping us off the water for most of the summer. She finally got the OK to be able to go fishing again, and we got a couple of trips in. However, a couple of weeks ago our road ( private road) needed some work, which got delayed half way thru. ( long story, don't ask) so our boat was house bound for best part of two weeks. Well , the road is passable again and we are looking to get back out. I have to say, this is a strange feeling. With all the starts and stops we've had this year, we don't really feel " Connected" to any fishing pattern. Here in Maine fall is starting. It's been down in the 40's and 50's at night , and we've had a drought this summer, so water levels are very low. ( I've heard the water levels in our favorite Smallie lake are so low, I doubt we could get the boat in) As we've been mostly " out of the loop" for a while, any thoughts or tips on what's working would be greatly appreciated. Well, thanks for listening, Here's hoping we'll be having some good fishing trips to report. Jim

Just saw this thread was still going. Just as an update, third season with the ulterra, couldn't be happier.

Count me in!

Had lobster the other day, fresh off the boat, YUMMMMMM

6# Yo-Zuri Hybrid ultra soft for me. That's all I use, Never had a fish break the line.

Lures tied on, rods in the rod locker in the boat.

I would not be surprised to someday see someone pull up to the boat launch, release a fleet of drones, and have them sonar dip across the lake while he gets his boat ready. By the time he hits the water he will have real time info on where to go for the most, largest, fish.

I've seen fish eat cigarette butts before, so not alot would surprise me.

As big as the universe is, I'm sure we are not the only intelligent race. I would think that any race advanced enough to travel across the galaxy would have better things to do than bother with us, if anything, we would be just a small foot note in their travels. As a side note, many WW2 pilots reported UFO's. They called them " foo fighters"

I tow my 16" Lund Fury XL Sport with a Ford Edge with factory tow package. Does just fine.

100% spinning for me. I admire people who use bait casters, but I just like the idea of no matter the weight or the wind, I just open the bail and cast.

This was this morning, up by were we fish. Glad we weren't out on the water. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/look-plow-cleans-up-hail-that-dented-cars-at-maine-dealership/ar-BB16Je3I?ocid=msedgdhp

As you know from my other post on this, Two and a half weeks ago my wife ruptured the cornea of her eye. She had some medical issues in that eye from when she was a child ( only had 10% sight out of it) and we guess it just let go. They glued a patch over the hole in her eye and the plan was to wait and see if it would heal. However things did not go as planned. My wife had massive headaches no pain reliever would touch, extreme sensitivity to light, we were living in the dark, shades drown, no lights on. It also didn't help that all the cornea specialists we saw, were in Boston , an hour and a half away. Last Monday we were in Boston seeing one of our specialists, he had just told us we had to be patient, these things take time. My wife was crying from the pain, lost in her misery, and something in me snapped. I told the doctor we weren't moving until something was done. A lively discussion ensued, and emergency surgery was scheduled for Tuesday P.M. at Tufts medical center in Boston. I won't go into every last minute thing we had to do to make this happen,but we finally got the surgery done . We got home at the early hours in the AM and went to sleep. Next morning my wife woke up and all the pain was gone! She couldn't believe how good she felt! She looked out the window in broad daylight, no pain. We saw her surgeon yesterday, the eye is healing fine, it should be fully healed in a month. My wife lost what ever vision she had in that eye but it was well worth it. If all goes well, a month from now we will be back out on the water having fun. As before, a massive shout out to great friend and fellow member HAGGARD. He drove us down, waited 10 hours, and drove us back. We couldn't have done it with out him. Jim

To us 2018 was the year of the " swimming squirrel" . We saw several squirrels swimming across lakes and ponds we fished in. Haven't seen that before or since.

We are so sorry for your loss. My wife and I both lost our moms this Spring. It just hurts so bad in so many ways. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Spend as much time with your dad as you can, talk to him about anything and everything you can. Remember everything you talk about. To this day I regret not talking to my folks more when I had the chance.

Hi all, As some of you know, we've taken a few hits this year. I lost my mom the first part of April, My wife lost hers a month later. It took us a while to get back on an even keel and start to enjoy fishing. We've been out three times and doing well, but that's all come to a halt. The other morning my wife woke up in terrible pain. She said her eye felt like it was on fire. I looked at it and it was all red, swollen, and looked like it had a hole in it. We rushed in to our eye doctor, who sent us to a specialist in the next state over, who sent us to the Mass. eye and ear in Boston . Turns out she has a ruptured cornea. They put a patch over the hole, and we are now waiting to see if the patch holds and the cornea heals itself. If not she will need a cornea transplant. With all the restrictions she has, no fishing for us for , well, I'm guessing months. Please keep us in your thoughts and catch a few for us. Thanks. Before I sign off I have to give an amazing thanks and shout out to great friend and fellow member HAGGARD. When we were told we had to get to Boston ASAP I panicked. I have medical issues with my foot and simply cannot drive that far. I called HAGGARD, he dropped what he was doing and drove us to Boston. Then did it again the next day for a follow up, and is going to drive us again next week. He's the kind of friend you're lucky to get once in a life time.

Some years ago I was up in northern Maine flyfishing for trout. I was on a remote pond in my canoe early in the morning. The mist was heavy coming off the water, and in the distance I heard a splash, and ripples in the water came my way. I waited, expecting a beaver to come swimming by, but out of the mist comes a bull moose, swimming right at my. I just sat there frozen and when he was about fifteen feet away he changed course just enough to miss me. I don't know why I did it but as he swam by I shifted my hand just enough so I could touch his antler. I remember just like it was yesterday, his big eyeball staring at me as he went by.

Hi everyone, As some of you know, this Spring has hit us kind of hard. My wife and I both lost our moms a month apart, and for some time fishing was the last thing on our minds. However, life has started to even out for us, and this last Wednesday we got some fishing in. We hit one of our favorite lakes and were surprised and pleased to have just about a perfect morning. We expected it to be crowded so close to Memorial day, but it was deserted, just us and one other boat on a 1000 acre lake. The wind has been crazy this Spring, but the lake was a mirror, not a ripple. Air temp was perfect at 65 degrees Water temp was 55 degrees and the smallie spawn was just starting. Water visability was 10 + ft. and we saw fish everywhere. All and all this was just what we needed , some time on the water, to get us moving forward. We even caught some fish! Here's a few pics. What a perfect morning. A couple of nice smallies 2.5 and 3 lb. even Thanks for looking Jim

Thanks again everyone for all the kind thoughts and prayers, we truly appreciate it. Jim

Thankyou everyone so much for all the kind thoughts, we really appreciate it.

Hi all, Losing your parents is something that will ( or has) happened to all of us. But no matter how you think about it, or prepare for it, when it happens, it's devastating. My wife and I both lost our dads some years ago, but had both our moms. We called my mom the phoenix. She had Alzheimer's and dementia, and was living in a facility an hour from us. She was under hospice care for almost a year now. They thought she was going to go many times, but she always came back. She had just turned 93. My wife's mom was a real nice lady, always laughing at my jokes ( a rare person). She was 86 and fighting cancer, but we all thought she had months or a year left. At the end of march we got a call, my mom fell and broke her hip. Because of the virus we couldn't visit her. Two days later on April 2 we got a call, she had passed. Because of the virus I couldn't see her. The funeral home was closed to visitors and asked me to send them pics. to make sure they had the right body. I am still having nightmares about not seeing my mom. A couple of days after we got my moms ashes back ( in the mail no less, couldn't pick them up in person because of the virus) we got a call, my wife's mom took a turn for the worse and she went into hospice. As she was in Florida and we in Maine we couldn't visit in person ( my wife has medical conditions that keep her from traveling any distance), but two of my wife's sisters were there. We kept in constant contact over the last weeks until yesterday, May 3, she passed. My wife and I are still numb, not quite sure when things will get back to normal, or what normal is right now. But I guess it helps to write this. Thanks for listening. Jim

I'm retired and live in southern Maine. ( not on a lake), But there are several ponds, lakes, from 5 minutes to an hour from the house, and I can be on the salt water within 10 minutes. I live in the Kittery area.

solid YO ZURI Hybrid ultra soft user for many years. Love the line, will never change.

On this day in 1963 we lost the Thresher with 129 brave souls on board. Please never forget.