Functional

Did my first sits opening morning/evening and the following day. Not a single deer but realized how many possums are in the area. Had something run up fast and hard in the trail behind me but couldn't see what it was. Hoofed around for a few minutes than walked off.

I havent used any yet but my buddy swears by them. Just about all he throws now T rigged in purple. Just recently won a tournament fishing mainly that.

Going to go a different direction here then gear. From your list it looks like you have stuff that should work. Have you tried changing up your retrieve speed? I've never had a hookup problem with vibrating jigs but with spinners when I'd get what you are describing a change of speed (either faster or slower) usually got them to bite better.

Welcome from Eastern NC. If you just moved and have caught a musky I'm going to assume you are from more north? Waters down here took me a while to adjust too, definitely a bit different.

MH/F with either 15lb big game or 12lb yo-zuri hybrid. To me it sounds like you have a hook penetration issue and need something a little stiffer. I'd go to a MH/F rod but keep mono on it to give it that little bit of shock absorption. Little fish have thinner lips to sink into vs a larger fish needing a bit more punch to break through. Also I seem to be in the minority but I have far more success with the mini max size vs full size.

@Swamp Girl Might be something for you.

the sky condition is just ONE factor. It contributes to where and how I decide I'm going to fish but so do; time of year, water temp, pre/post weather, water clarity, where the bait is, fishing pressure etc. As AJ said, on a cloudy day it may influence me to fish shallower or less covered spaces. If the water is chocolate milk the only thing cloud/sun will influence is what I throw. I've not noticed a difference in catches for better or worse in either condition if I match the rest of it and fish where they are and give them what they want. Both of my biggest bass were on opposite days. One cloudy day and the other crystal clear sky.

Few things better than braciole cooked on low in a pot of fresh sauce all day. My grandfather was from Naples and my grandmother from the northern Calabria region. Her father was actually killed on a train during WW2. I forget the details but the British bombed a civilian train he was on because they suspected they were concealing supplies.

I dont think there is much public land to shore fish from gaston. If you drive down a bit closer to raleigh you can hit Falls Lake that has a ton of state land with roads to a lot of shore line.

I lost some nice spots this year and havent been feeling as hopeful as past years. Like you I'm a little over a week away and havent even pulled out my bow yet. I already dont want to go and not looking forward to 4am or earlier wake ups but I typically drag myself out and am really happy once I am sitting in a tree. I do this with a few hobbies though, rifle competitions I hate loading and prepping for days before but once I'm bangin steel at 8am you cant drag me away. 🤷‍♂️ I'd say go do some sits with a bow and if its not too expensive renew the license. Your luck this year youll go sit for peace without anything and a big wide 5yr old 12pt will stroll through and stop broadside 20 yrds from you.

One of my regrets in life is never getting my grandmothers recipes before she passed. There a few things I've managed to recreate but there is one I'm still struggling with. It's a onion base sauce and typically cooked with a meat. My grandmother particularly made braciole, pan seared it and cooked it in the onion sauce for a couple hours if not half the day+ and you would eat it separate or cut it up into the pasta if you wanted. Here is roughly what it looked like when you removed the meat and just had the sauce on the pasta. I can do the braciole just fine but I havent gotten down the onion sauce yet. Does anyone have family that used to make this that can give me or point me to a recipe? Been very hard for me to find much. Edit: for anyone wondering it is NOT a strong onion flavor. It's actually very sweet with some onion flavor. Your kitchen and clothes however...will stink for days...but its awesome.

This is an excellent post and ties in along with my mindset. My though process is "will this event be worth my family having me in jail for many years if not forever". I view it as if I lost the likely court case and investigation that will come after it regardless of how legal and justified it is. With how things are in the world common sense isn't there and I cant guarantee a fully justified reason will be enough to walk away innocent. I need to be able to live with that choice and what it means for my family. The hope is everything is justified and I'm released, but I need to accept the other possibility completely or it isn't worth using it. Saving my family's life or harm coming to them? Yes Saving myself if they aren't around and no other options? Yes Saving someone else if/after my family is safe? 50/50, dependent on the scenario. I may have a hard time living knowing I could have saved someone's life and chose not to just to make my life simpler. Lot of variables for things that fall into this category.

from what I've seen of some tournaments I would both be a little concerned and not concerned if someone showed up like that. Either you are just doing it for fun and see what its like, or you know WAY more than everyone else and are going to start digging graves for everyone you are about to bury.

Wilderness Recon 120 you might want to look at. Super stable and I really like the rod storage on it. Not sure how many you bring but I could have 7 comfortably and no rods sticking up, you could probably carry 9 if you were motivated before you put any vertical storage for rods. Also available with or without peddle drive that you can add later if you wanted. Huge bilge access and the rear storage is also a good size

Im a little torn on this. I don't have the brain power to sort this all out right now but I can be hammered on a frog and switch to a bluegill type lure and fish it in the same area and near surface and catch nothing but a tired arm. similar if I switched to a wake bait that's just sub surface. Im thinking more along the lines of survival and oppounistic tendencies with a splash of learned very primitive "favorites". I hunt and eat dear but don't eat coyote or squirrels or mice but you throw me in the wilderness with nothing and anything that comes my way that looks like I can eat it wuthout taking damage is ending up in my stomach. If I eat a mouse or small bird and find it was less worth the effort than other game I'd steer away from it if I was given more favorable options, but would absolutely eat them if my other sources became slim in the moment. On the fish side we say a lake populated with shad will usually be the favored table fare over bluegill. My fishing experience mirrors this as I've caught maybe a handful of fish with bluegill colors vs the many many fish with shad colors. If bass eat what is an opportunity than why do we see the above preference? Shouldn't they be eaten comparatively? I belive they are opportunistic with a bit of preference when they aren't starved enough to strike anything that moves. I believe it's a mix of matching what they prefer and what WE can present the best to them. This is why @TnRiver46 can only catch weeds on a spinnerbait but some of us is our favors lure and why most of you can hammer them on jigs but all I catch are rocks.

came across a flat just like you in about 10fow and saw a bunch of markings just off bottom. Sidescan looked like someone threw rice on both sides of the screen. Turned out to be a big school of catfish. Had the longest freshwater fish battle of my life with a 25-30lb cat I caught on my jerkbait rod. wouldnt even fit in my net.

unless I see a frenzy I dont go out of my way. If its castable I'll throw whatever its way if I can get it there quick. If not I continue on my business. Success rate is low and I've never pulled something out of that I'd even bother taking a picture of.

Mild report. I like the line, very supple, holds knots really well, casts/reels quietly. I like the multicolor more than I thought, gives me an idea how much more line I have to retrieve before I expect my lure to start coming up. I've learned Pink is the easiest color to see across a lot of lighting conditions. I'd buy again and it may take the place of my PPv2.

Just my experience on Gaston but I catch tons of spots on rock and flats with wood and more so in "open" water like drop offs. The only time I pull LMB is in weeds against shore or weeds out deeper in 10-15ft. The defining feature for LMB is definitely the need for weeds though. No idea if that translates to Kerr but I'm not sure you will find a lake comparison closer than Gaston.

It's only been a hour...give it time.

As someone who uses AI a lot for work it can be a great tool or a crutch. It all depends on how you intend to use it and your actions after using it. I notice younger people at my job using it to basically do their job for them. They ask it to do a task and then they put it out of their mind. A lot of the more seasoned folks, including myself, use it as a learning tool. If we get stumped on something or try to get something (data, word doc, etc.) to be organized or written better we analyze it after its spit out of AI. We use it as a tool to help us look at things in different ways and use that experience to apply next time we have to perform that task or have that situation rather than just plug it in AI again. I was meaning to plug fishing into AI the next time I hit a lake worth using it but just havent done it yet. I can see it as a great learning and supplemental tool if its fairly accurate, especially as pre prep. For myself I'd like to think as its predictions play out true (hopefully) I can rely on it less and less and I learn to see those patterns myself. Nothing I couldnt learn on my own, just cutting the curve a lot quicker. The problem with AI is it takes data it finds from the internet anywhere it finds key words and phrases. It's like a popularity contest, the most of something written is what it will spit out even if it isnt completely correct. I've had to challenge AI on a few things I've known to be incorrect that it gave me. The good part is it's always come back with the correct answer after being challenged. Great tool, but not the end all be all.

I have a KVD baitcaster but I dont feel it offers anything over the regular old SpeedSpool LFS in use. You can (or were able to) get the LFS for $80 if you shop around.

This alone makes it more interesting to me not so much for the bass' reaction but the prey. Good clues on how to mimic your retrieve and how you work some baits. Dropping some crawfish and minnows in there would be interesting to watch them and see what promotes a strike and how they moved when they are prey.

I dont know much about the VA system, but would getting a Lawyer to better make the case for/with you potentially help the process? Probably not the cheapest but could pay off significantly in other ways if it gets you approved. Overall, really glad to hear everything has been stable. Loved to see you were able to get her out again with you also.

Going to sound like a fish story....but I hooked a good bass pushing over 6 this past week. When I lifted him up to show my daughter right before I put him on the scale he flopped and slipped out of my hand and over the side of the boat he went. I unfortunately didn't even get picture but have a dozen witnesses. It was on a frog at 7pm @Pat Brown