jbmaine

I can't stand anything tight across my face, but I'm mindful of skin cancer so I wear this hat. Looks funny, but it works.

Doesn't southern Maine count??

Truer words were never said. I've been fly fishing off and on 50+ years. Taught myself out of a book. It took me years to break the bad habits I used just cause I didn't know better.

Skipping has never been my strong suit. Skipping docks, under trees, has been hit or miss for me. Today we had a rare warm day, 50 + degrees, and I was bored so I headed to a local pond to practice. Turns out it is easier than I thought. In no time at all I was skipping a jig I'd guess a good 100 yds. or better. It took me a little while to zone in on the secret, but here it is Smooth ice! It seems the smoother the ice the longer the cast, who'd of thunk it. Although in all fairness, after the first two or three skips it is more of a sliding technique. Anyone know how thin the ice has to be for a bass to bust thru and take it? Please forgive me...…… It's been a longgggg winter.

As some of you know medical issues dictated an early retirement for me, so my wife and I came up with a two part set of goals for us. Part one is complete, get a more comfortable boat. We did and couldn't be happier. Part two is our 2019 goal. We fish an area that has four lakes, ponds within five minutes of each other, but are currently an hour away. As we don't have to stay in our current location ( It was close to work) our plan is to sell our current house come spring and buy a place up there. It doesn't hurt that the taxes up there average 1/2 of what we're paying now. So our 2019 goals move to within five or ten minutes of where we like to fish, and then go fishing, again, again, and again.

Picked up a few things on black Friday. Couldn't order an early Spring though.

I have the time, but not the health or $$$ to travel where ever, but if I did. I would fly fish for trout in all the amazing places I've heard about. Spring creeks out west, Alaska, Minipi region in Labrador, Patagonia, New Zealand.

My favorite " the first thing I'll try bait" is a soft paddle tail swim bait. Extremely versatile. From the surface to the bottom, fast, slow, anywhere in between. I've caught bass on them from right on the surface to bouncing them across the bottom 30 ft. down. Really no wrong way to use them and they cover a lot of water

The advise I've received this year has done so much to make me a better SM fisherman. As for this fall-- My plans fell thru. The smallie lake I targeted this year was closed for several weeks right after I posted this, due to the public ramp being rebuilt. I never did get back to full time SM fishing. However, we spent the time fishing another lake, mostly for LM, and it paid off rather well.

In many ways we make our own " luck". Knowledge, practice, preparation, time on the water, tends to make us more " lucky". But how about the pure luck that some people just seem to have. I've known two people that are just down right lucky when it comes to fishing ( I'm not one of them). The first was a fishing buddy of mine from 30+ years ago. Back then we were heavy into fly fishing for trout. However my buddy had three small children so he didn't have a chance to go nearly as often as I did. On one of the times we did get out together we hit a pond in early spring, trolling flies. It was cold, windy, and we barely managed to keep our canoe under control. Suddenly his fly rod bends over, drag screaming. The wind is pushing us towards shore, I'm paddling like crazy, trying to keep us off the rocks, he's doing everything he can to get the fish in. Finally after I don't know how long, he gets the fish along side the canoe. It's massive. Our trout net wasn't big enough to get the fish in, but on the third try we get the net under the fish and " scoop" it in. Turn out it's a 5+ lb. SM. Didn't even know this pond had smallies in it. Considering the above conditions and the fact he was using a three lb. test tippet on his leader, that was pretty lucky. I'd have thought it was a fluke except a couple of weeks later he took his kids out fishing in a trout pond. All four of them in his canoe, using worms and bobbers. He's helping his kids when one of them says" dad, where's your pole?" Turns out a fish hit, pulled his rod out of the canoe. He looks over, see's his rod in the water, the handle of his reel wedged between the side of the canoe and the anchor line. He gets it in and finds he caught a 5+lb rainbow trout. Up here catching a 5+ lb. anything is rare, two in a couple of weeks, just plain lucky. The second lucky person I know is my wife. She has hand issues, can only use a Zebco and weightless plastics, and can only fish for a few minutes at a time. But she has caught more big ( 4+lb.) bass, doing the oddest things than anyone I know. She'll hook a large bass and say " I wasn't even trying to cast there ( her casting is some what erratic, to say the least). The one we laugh about the most is once when she cast towards shore. Her senko went over a tree branch, down thru a bush, and ended up in the water, inches from shore. She tugged and tugged, but couldn't get it loose. I moved in to try to get her untangled and saw a really nice LM swimming away. I told her " if you hadn't got tangled up we might have caught that one". Turns out she did. As I got her line free it started pulling. Hand over hand I bring in a 4+ LM. How her 8lb test line didn't let go from rubbing on the tree branch, I'll never know. Conversely she has the worst luck when it comes to our pets and their occasional " accidents". I call her a P magnet. If any of our pets poop, pee, or puke on the floor, she'll find it, usually in her bare feet. Most of the time I'll just hear her say "son of a ……." then head to the bathroom to wash her feet. However once I heard her Screech, and call for help. Turns out she speared a cat poop on her toe nail and couldn't get it off. I guess it didn't help when I just started laughing. Another time she was in the shower. I heard her Screech and thought she'd fallen. I come running in only to see her standing there, swearing a blue streak. Turns out when she was in the shower one of our cats peed on her towel, and she didn't realize it until she was trying to dry her face off. I got in trouble for laughing at that one too. So, do you know anybody who is just naturally " lucky" or maybe "unlucky"?

Wish I lived closer, I'd help you search. Maybe someone local to you with a good sonar could do some looking. You could try putting an ad in local media, offer a finders fee. It would be easier than buying a sonar and learning to use it just for this one thing.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

I've got the same unit. works great.

I have a Generac XG 8000E. Runs the whole house when the power is out ( which is a lot ) Electric start, low oil shutoff, power is clean enough to watch TV etc. I've run it for three days straight without a hiccup.

Some years ago I was in Northern Maine at a fishing camp. I was on a remote pond, in my canoe, fly fishing for native trout. It was early morning and the mist was thick on the water. I heard a noise in the mist, then saw ripples hitting the side of the canoe. I knew I was the only one on this pond, so I thought it had to be a beaver, or a loon. As I waited and watched, out of the mist came a huge bull moose, swimming right at me. I froze, didn't dare move. As he came closer he changed course, just enough to miss me. I stared into his big eye as he stared into mine. I don't know why I did it, but as he was beside the canoe I held my hand out and felt the end of his antler brush it as he went by. It was a magical moment I still think about from time to time.

We were fishing for smallies a couple of springs ago. I'd hooked a 1 1/2 lb. smallie and almost had it in the boat. A shadow came out from under the boat and started chasing the smallie. Poor thing was going nuts. For about 30 seconds the biggest LM I had ever seen chased the smallie around the boat, trying to eat it. My wife tried to get her line in the water but by the time she did the LM was gone. We had caught a 7+ LM out of this lake, and this one looked much bigger. To this day every time we hit that lake we spend time in that spot, hoping it's still around. I swear it was a Maine state record.

3 1/2 inches total length. I just picked these up yesterday. I won't be able to try them until next year. Too much white stuff on the ground now.

Came across a local company ( to me) that's makes these. Picked up a bag to try. Sorry, no reviews until next year. Anyone else use anything like this?

How about when things aren't going well? Bad cast with a bait caster TANGLED Getting it fixed CASTAWAY Your main motor dies seven miles out, you run back on the TM THE LONGEST DAY On the way back the battery on your TM dies HELP Waiting to get your boat back from the shop during fishing season ENDLESS SUMMER

Got about 4" of snow, then it changed to rain. Was out this A.M. snow blowing slush. Hate these weather patterns!

Been retired over a year, still have anxious dreams about work. It's a big step leaving the work force after all those years.

I was flyfishing a pond that had recently been stocked. I was doing alright but there was an older gentleman that was having great luck. As we were heading out I commented on his luck and asked him what he was using. He showed me a hook with a brown piece of felt wrapped on it. I asked what does that represent? He said ever been to a trout hatchery? I said yes. He said ever feed the trout? I said sure. He smiled and said Doesn't this look just like the pellets they feed them? I also fished a recently stocked stream when it started raining. The trout hit like crazy. The rain drops were just like pellets hitting the water at feeding time.

Temp's tonight are supposed to drop down to 9 degrees with wind gusts up to 25, BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Then tomorrow night thru Friday we're forecast to get up to 9 inches of the white stuff. Today I was on my tractor bagging leaves. Tomorrow I'll be reconfiguring my tractor for snow blowing, then on Fri I'll be trying it out. Wonder if this is an *** of things to come.

All my gear is spinning. Rods--Shimano 6'6" Compre Med fast and Med extra fast Shimano-- 6'8" Crucial Med extra fast. Gloomis--- 7' E6X heavy fast Reels-- Shimano, two 2500 symetre's, one 2500 stradic, and one 3000 nasci line-- I'm a little different than most on this. All my med's are spooled with 6 lb. yozuri hybrid ultra soft. My heavy is spooled with 10lb. McCoy mean green

Our whole fishing experience ( skills or not) can best be described by the movie title THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. Need I say more.