padlin

You didn’t give us much to go on, where you are, what you are using, and where are you fishing from, I.e. boat or shore, depth of the pond, etc. Don’t fish the bottom, use Texas rigged plastics. When I get somewhere I don’t know I go to a Mepps, seems everything will grab one depending on the size of the lure. I just have it move fast enough to NOT catch the crap on the bottom. It’ll let you know if there is anything in the water. Even a worm on a bobber works.

I think we just did this but roughly $300 or $400, not counting gas for the truck.

I do mine yearly but started sending a couple at a year to DVT, peace of mind if nothing else. For the ones I do there are videos online that walk you through it, but I have no idea if this is comparable to what DVT does. Still, ending up with an extra washer or searching the floor for a small something or other is not unheard of.

Thanks folks, looks like there will be a couple decent evenings late this week, if you put stock in the weather forcast.

This time of year the nights get down into the 40’s and the day up to the 70’s. Where I fish the water is say 5-8’, when I go out early, like daybreak thru noon, the fishing is lackluster. I’m not an evening fisher as the wind kicks up in the afternoon blowing around the canoe so I have zero experience that time of day. Question is would the late day bite be better under these conditions?

I have no where near the experience of most here so take this accordingly. I use lo vis green braid, flouro leader when fishing around toothy fish, pickerel in particular, and early spring when the water is crystal. Straight braid works fine other times although I don’t remove a leader if there is one is already in place. I tried hy vis yellow last year, I didn’t care for it, but that could be a confidence thing. our water is clear compared to water I’ve seen in the south.

My new ones are bronze with blue mirroring, previous were Lao bronze but not mirrored. I lost some of the color enhancing of the straight bronze but have better glare reduction. Both in polarized. So for fishing, the mirrored re nicer, for everyday wear the straight bronze, I could wear the bronze indoors without issue.

Until recently we camped a lot, backpacking, canoe camping, and a 5th wheel. Also hiking has always been a passion, have camped and hiked in most states. Age is catching up so camping has gone the way of the Dodo, but we still hike 2 or 3 times a week, just shorter. Besides fishing these days my hobbies are woodworking, gardening, watching the 2 yo grandson 2 days a week, watching whatever sports matches/games the rest of the grandkids are involved in. That in itself sucks up 1 or 2 weekend afternoons, and at least another weekday afternoon. If you have a bunch of grandkids that you re involved with, there isn’t a lot of time for hobbies. Once a week we take the 2 year old to soccer practice 🤪

I can’t say I agree with number 5, but thanks for posting, just in case I run into the Coast Guard patrol boat on any of the ponds i fish. I’m one that didn’t know there were rules for paddlers.

If you’ve not had progressives before, you might want to hold off shelling out $$$ till you know if you can. Maybe go with Cocoons till your used to the clear everyday glasses, if that’s what you re getting.

My progressives are WileyX Omega’s in bronze with blue mirroring. I’m on my 3rd pair in something like 12 years. I like the wrap around design with curved lenses so they block the side light, which they do. Well worth it or I wouldn’t be on my 3rd pair, the down side is the price. You can get them online but I went thru a more or less local optometrist, progressives can be tricky to get right. When I bought my 1st pair, WileyX was the only company I could find that did progressives in wrap around. There may be other options now. One of my favorite points to them is I’ve never gotten a scratch on them, don’t know what they do but it works. I did have a different optician quote me. Lower price, but they put their own lenses in the in Wiley’s frames, which I didn’t trust.

I’ve tried a few and keep coming back to Rage’s, full size and babies in white and pumpkin. The others are backups if I run out of the Rage’s.

I thought of that after my previous post, other then you might have to carry the motor and power to the boat and you have to watch where you are going, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be worth trying. Look for a cheap used boat as you’re leaving it unattended. I imagine you could hire someone to put in a small dock and carry the boat to it from the driveway. A small electric motor might suck more power then a trolling motor, batteries are fairly heavy to carry.

I bought a plastic Bass Raider 2 years ago, mainly to take out the grandkids but also for my own use as I get older, some age as you. I took it out once by myself last year, and not at all this year. Where I like to go there are just to many weeds for a motor, and the darn thing blows around as much as the canoe. For me an anchor is a must for both. My list: Pro’s. More stable, I can stand and stretch so I can fish longer. The motor means I can go farther and faster. The seats are much more comfortable. Cons. Registering it, and the trailer if you use such. Have to lug the battery and motor A lot heavier then the canoe to load if you don’t have a decent ramp. I just don’t enjoy it like I do the canoe. It’s a hassle when it drifts into the weeds. I’d suggest you get a boat but keep the canoe, when you find you don’t need one, sell it. I use an indoor outdoor carpet runner, 28” I think, by 8’ in the canoe to soak up the water and quiet things down. Just roll it up when you are done and dry it out at home for the next day.

I’ve been using a mono backer to save a couple $ on braid, I’m under the impression that we’re supposed to fill the reel. I don’t have any shallow spools.

Do you use a leader?

I use braid cause I’m lousy with mono, I get bird nests with both baitcasters and falls off spinning, and for me I can cast braid a heck of a lot better. If you can use it, by all means do, you’ll have a lot of company here. FWIW, I use a FC leader mainly cause I fish where pickerel are common and sometimes in spring when the water is crystal clear. Don’t know if one is needed for mono.

Good advice, I’ll have to see if I can think of it in the moment I need to.

When I start losing fish for no reason I start setting the hook harder. If the knot is coming undone I start being more careful when tying and tightening. These things seem to happen early in the season. If I’m getting bit off I go to a 15 or 20 lb leader, I’m a braid fisherman. If I can’t control the fish I go to a MH, don’t have an H. And sometimes I just need to use an anchor, a canoe moves a lot. I do tighten up the drag if they are pulling it out and getting into the weeds. For jumpers, sometime I win, sometimes they do. What’s the reason for the leader? I’m taking it you are in a boat of sorts.

You didn’t say if you’ve been to your dr, if arthritis hasn’t been diagnosed i’d suggest that. For my issues the doc sent me to physical therapy, shoulder pain while trying to sleep, and another time for neck pain also while trying to sleep. One was a pinched ligament or some such, the other was a pinched nerve., both cleared with therapy. I needed to get a referral, hence the trip to the dr., not that I knew what the issues were. p.s., I have arthritis in my feet, not much I can do short of surgery to fuse the toe joints. A neighbor suggested THC laced salve you can get at a medical pot shop. As far fetched as it sounds it did seem to work, got to apply it 3 times a day, which isn’t easy to do. The pain went away after a month or 2. I stopped using it and the pain comes back and I start using it again. no idea if all the salves you can get are just a bunch of crap. I was skeptical before I tried it and still am. I’ve tried a few and this one may have actually done something. Of course maybe it was just staying off my feet.

How about this baby. https://altorlocks.com/products/icon-trailer-lock?srsltid=AfmBOorA89ZO2gTjS2J6c4tNW-QW2K9Jx_OrQP5NtTK1njRH6d8OB-w1 Just don’t look at the price.

To me (growing up with salt water) a cottage is on or very near water, a cabin is in the trees. I have noticed that Mainers call lake cottages cabins, so it’s whatever you want to call it.

Ditto,I’ve not caught when dragging on weeds, I do however get hits as soon as the lure comes off the weeds and sinks a little is an opening of some sort. I might drag the 1st 3’ as long as there are open edges to drag to. i use MH with 20 or 30 lb but would like to pick up a heavy, once they get wrapped around the weeds I can’t do much with a MH, especially in a canoe. the only hits I’ve had on a frog are in open water early am, I give up on them pretty quick.

Decent in the spring, then too many hot days and the weeds went wild shrinking considerably the amount of openish water. Had to have Carpal Tunnel surgery a month ago so that ended it for the summer, hoping to get out later this week. Can you get carpal tunnel from fishing too much? Overall, the usual amount of fish but as yet nothing big, all under 3 lbs, maybe 20 a day, daybreak to 10am or so. I am getting better with a baitcaster, I can now hit the water if I aim at it. Getting older and the 60 lb canoe is starting to feel like 100.

I used to enjoy fires, camping and in the fireplace. Once I came down with COPD that ended, I even have to close up the house when the neighbors light up their pits, what a bummer. We camped exclusively in the fall once the kids grew up and we didn’t need to think about school. Nothing like cool fall nights around the fire, at least till the back is frozen and the front is smoldering.