KSanford33

This really surprises me. Almost every fisherman I know swears by a jig. You're obviously excellent at catching fish, but like you said, if they don't hit it, it's not worth tying on. I'm also surprised at the number of people who mentioned frogs. I've always got one tied on. Just find the nastiest stuff you can find and throw one in there. Yes, the hookups aren't great, but if you miss one, throw a weightless plastic hooked weedless and you'll get 'em.

There can't be drag if the boat itself isn't in the water!

I did something like this as well, except it was an ice bath instead of a frozen lake. It's not pleasant, but it does make your other problems feel smaller. I was in the pool!!! I was in the pool!!! ?

Far be it from me to criticize the people who run these, but I can't imagine another sport having different rules depending on who's running it. But hey, I'm just happy there's a lot of tournaments to choose from.

Thanks for posting this. I'm always surprised by the different rules that different tours have. So in this one, it's an official weigh-in, but you're allowed to use a net. I know B.A.S.S. doesn't allow nets, and I saw one on YouTube recently that was catch-weigh-release, and they got a two minute penalty if the bass touched the boat.

This may not catch me the most, but it has saved many a trip for me.

Unfortunately I've done this for years. I say unfortunately because even after all this time, it's not pleasant; it's only slightly more bearable than when I first started. In all seriousness, I swear by it. It keeps inflammation down and just overall helps me feel better. The first 30 seconds is the toughest. After that, hypothermia sets in and you lose whatever cognitive function you had. ?

Probably one of @Siebert Outdoors swim jigs. I love them to cover water, then once I'm on something, I can slow down with it. Now that I've learned the versatility of a jig, it's always tied on.

In the words of Rusty Ryan, “Hotels man…” My thoughts are with you @Koz

It’s never worked for me for bass either, but it’s killer on catfish.

It's probably a shorter list of what tactics I use. I've realized there's probably a handful of tactics that will work at any given time, and with any luck it's one of the ones I use.

I ended up buying a St. Croix Avid off of a local guy. No clue if it's good, bad, or indifferent, but the price was right.

Since this one is already taken, I’m going to say an A-Rig with Keitech swimbaits on it. And I’m calling it right now, I’m in upstate NY and my biggest will be 8+lbs.

It's the old doctor advice: You tell your doctor that it hurts when you do a specific thing and the doctor tells you not to do the thing then. I have an electrician coming tomorrow and he said the exact same thing regarding the space heater. They draw so much current and don't produce much heat to begin with.

I wish mine were so simple. The majority of the outlets in my house are so old they don't have the third prong for the ground, let along a GFCI.

My house is about 120 years old, but the electrical system is only a few years old. Saturday morning when it the wind chill was still in the-20’s, I plugged in a space heater. It caused the outlet to lose power, so I figured I popped a breaker. I went into the basement and the breakers are fine. Now I’ve randomly got 2-3 other outlets not working as well as 3-4 light switches. I’ve tried resetting all of the breakers (including the main house breaker) and it didn’t help. So what did I do, and -more importantly- how do I fix it? Thanks everyone.

Thank you sir. I'm the same way; I'll help with goods anytime I can, but I won't give money anymore.

What part of upstate are you in? I live in Schenectady.

It's amazing how dependent we are upon utility workers at times like these as well. I'm sitting here in my living room comfy, but if the power went out (which can happen very easily in these cold and windy conditions), there'd be a lot of people in trouble. I lived in Chicoutimi, QC a while back and we'd hit temperatures like this occasionally. I walked outside once while I was chewing gum, went to blow a bubble, and it froze and shattered. I can't wait until my wife has to remind me to bring extra water with me on the boat because it's going to be hot.

The title is said in my best John Facenda impression. Tonight it's supposed to hit -10 with wind chills of -50 (that's not a typo). I can't imagine how animals survive in this.

I've been an athlete all of my life and can tell you foam rollers work wonders, but there's something even better: lacrosse balls. You should probably start with a tennis ball, because going right to it with a lacrosse ball can be uncomfortable. But whichever ball you use can get into areas that foam rollers can't. They can also focus on a specific area much better than foam rollers. I'm 43 and still play hockey with college kids and I credit two things for my longevity: lacrosse balls and ice baths. Both are somewhat unpleasant when you begin using them, but they pay big dividends later on.

This is the inherent tragedy of having pets. You're likely to outlive your pets, so you experience this sadness over and over again. I think I'm going to go pet the fur off of one of mine...

If you go to a really expensive restaurant, they usually only have 3-4 dinner options. They know that when there's too many choices people freeze up. When Boris Yeltsin visited the US in the early 90's ('90 or '91, I can't remember), he thought the grocery store he went to was a fake and built for propaganda, so he demanded to go to another one unscheduled. He was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices we have for toothpaste. Now let me bring this back to us. How many times have you thrown a lure, didn't get a bite, then look in one of your many tackleboxes and think, what in the world do I throw now? Whereas if you only throw baits you have confidence in -say 3-4 of them- then it's just a matter of elimination.

My brother in law is the same way with Afghanistan. I'll spare you the details, but he's a very different person now too.

We have had a few like that as well. Dressed kind of ratty with a sign that said, 'God bless'. Evidently one of them started out with a sign that said something about being a vet and someone called him out about it and he got in a bit of trouble. Like others have said, I only offer food. If they take it, there's a good chance they need it. If they ask for cash, I roll.