Woody B

My Dad is still without power, but that's minor compared to what's happening just to the West. Shelby NC (county seat, where I live) is a hot bed of activity. They're the closest mostly back open area to the damage. All of the hotels are full. There's also a bunch of people coming here for gas, water, and other needed supplies. A friend of mine has a helicopter and has been flying supplies up to the mountains every day. One of the biggest problems is the amount of rain, combined with the terrain. The mountains just funnel the water down into the valleys. Why weren't people prepared? A few reasons. You can't prepare to be 10 feet under water. Also, mountain people have never had to prepare for a hurricane. The government, nor anyone else has a magic wand to make this go away.

I don't throw an A-rig often, but it's certainly something I'm not going to give up. It's really cool to watch an A-rig, and Bass on live sonar. 5 hooks are legal here. I've caught as many as 4 on one cast. They didn't all 4 hot at once though. Next time any of you are using an A-rig when you hook the first, don't immediately bring it in. Other will hit the other hooks. I've had the best luck with 4 various swim baits, and a Johnson Silver Minnow on the rearmost position. Regardless of number of hooks, I look at an A-rig as an oversized spinnerbait.

Our electricity came back on last night around 9. My Dad is still without power. What we've got here is minor compared to the damage to the West. A co workers sister lives in Asheville. He hasn't heard from her.

Still no electricity here. Power is restored for some of my county, and area. I haven't talked to my Dad yet today. I don't know if his is still off or not. I saw on social media that a friend who lives a mile or so from my Dad has his power restored. Not having power is minor compared to what some people are going through. My Daughters power is back on, as well as my Grandsons. If we don't get power we're going down there for a hot shower.

First, myself and my family are doing good. We all live on hill tops, so no threat of flooding. We've got no electricity but have generators going. It's a mess around here. Power is off EVERYWHERE. The Lake Lure dam is failing, or has failed. This morning, before I even heard of the dam problems the Broad river at Gaffney SC was within 10 feet or so of the I-85 bridge. There's several small dams down the Broad river. I hope none of them fail. At 99 Island reservoir the Broad river is 10 feet above full pool. There's trees down everywhere around here. I'm still not good due to my kidney stone, but I saw some kids with chain saws clearing trees. I was able to sit comfortably in my truck and pull some trees out of the road with my tow strap. It was nice to see young people out working for the "greater good". The truck stops along I85 are packed with travelers out of gas. There's one exit with power on. The line from the Interstate to the truck stop was at least 1/2 mile long. I suspect they'll be out of gas and diesel soon. Lake James (the first lake on the Catawba river chain) is a little over 10 feet above full pond. Rhodhiss (next lake) is 7 1/2 feet over. Lake Hickory (next) is at full pond. Lookout Shoals (next) is 8 1/2 feel over. Lake Norman is basically full. Mountain Island is 4 1/2 feet over. Lake Wylie is full but not over. The power company had been pulling the lakes down for several days. Lake Wylie was 6 feet lower a couple days ago. As I said earlier, myself and my family are doing good. Everyone impacted by this storm will be in our prayers. Internet is out. I have limited cellular data so I won't be posting much.

Just some observations. They're aren't many beavers where I fish. I catch an occasional Bass around a beaver hut. I've never caught a Bass when a beaver is swimming around/active. It's my belief that when the beaver are active the Bass move away. Perhaps this isn't true in areas where there's more beaver. I've caught Bass around swimming/active muskrat.

I enjoy fishing alone. I can stay as long as I want to, or come home as soon as I want. I enjoy it when my Grandsons go with me. They're busy hard working young men. I normally go fishing early. They don't like to get up early if they aren't working. My boat is crowded with 3 people but I still enjoy fishing with them, They're both spur of the moment pond fishermen. My youngest Grandson (now 18) was a ......wreckless caster. On one trip, with just him and myself I worked with him on his casting. He could cast a mile, but not accurate, and sounded like a brick going into the water. A couple weeks after my casting lessons he caught a 6 pound Bass in a pond where he never caught anything. He credited accurate, quite casting for the catch. We send each other fishing pictures all the time. Last year my oldest Grandson sent me a picture of me.......on Lake Wylie fishing when I was supposed to be working. He's in construction, and was working on a house on the Lake.

Doctor said kidney stone. I got an injection and a prescription. When I've had stones before the pain would come and go, but movement or what position I was in had no effect. I can wiggle around and get pain free, but when I start moving it's really bad. I'm a little better this afternoon. They're missing me at work. I'm sure when I get back I've have some problem vehicles to fix.

2 day report. I struggled yesterday to get 5. All spots, all between 14 and 16 inches. Things started really good today. I caught 3 in the first 20 minutes, but couldn't shake the sharp pain in my right side, so I headed back home. The pain started last night, but I was able to get comfortable and sleep good. I thought I could fish through it today. It feels like a kidney stone, but with no other kidney stone symptoms. I think it's trapped gas. When I pass gas the pain goes away for a few minutes. Biggest from each day pictured.

I've got a Motorguide Tour Pro on my Tracker but it doesn't have built in sonar.

IMHO there's a BUNCH of good comments in this thread. Most of the time I only get to fish on weekends, and the lake is crowded. I get a kick out of watching people fish. Sometimes I learn stuff...sometimes I laugh. I think at least in some cases the Bass know when the people fishing leave. This Spring I was fishing a row of lay downs. A couple tournament "anglers" came flying up in their 70mph boat to the lay down right above where I was fishing. (~50 yards away) Both of them made 2 or 3 casts each, burning buzz baits around the lay down, then they sped off. I eased up right after they left and caught a fat 6 pound Bass on my first cast on a spinnerbait, into the lay down. It's my belief that they "woke" the Bass up, and it was aware when they left. I ease up there, made a precise cast, and the Bass thought it was breakfast time. I really hate they didn't see me catch it, since they cut right in front of me. They're casts simply weren't accurate enough to catch a big Bass. I made a super accurate cast into the cover, but I'll always wonder if the Bass hearing them leave helped me slip in and catch it. In pressured water I believe the strike zone is tiny. I also believe the strike zone is usually bigger in non pressured water. I believe stealth is important in both pressured and non pressured water. Perhaps it's more important in un fished water, where humans usually aren't around. I catch Bass behind other "anglers" all the time. What I see them doing helps me determine if I go in right behind them or come back later. I believe lure selection is way more important in pressured waters. I also believe the latest greatest newest lure isn't always the ticket. I like going back to lures and techniques that worked decades ago that everyone has move on from.

2 day report. Water has cooled into the upper 70's and the Bass are active. Saturday I fished the lower end of the Lake. I caught 13 Bass, all Spots and a couple Blue Cats. All of the Spots were between 14 and 18 inches. I fished the upper end of the lake today. I caught 17 Bass. 10 Largemouth, and 7 Spots. Smallest was 13 inches. The rest were all over 14". Biggest was 20 1/8" long and weighed 4.57 pounds. Biggest Bass from each day is pictured.

While I'm not speaking specifically of Stevia I believe many artificial sweeteners are just as bad as sugar. "They" design them so the brain recognizes them as sugar.....therefore they taste sweet. Eat or drink something with an artificial sweetener, your brain tells your body "here comes some sugar". Your pancreous releases some insulin to take care of the sugar, but there's no sugar there. This causes your blood glucose level to drop. After repeated times your insulin loses effectiveness, and your body starts to ignore insulin. I believe use, or over use of artificial sweeteners can lead to type 2 diabetes. Both of my Parents, and 3 of my Grandparents had type 2. I'm 60, and luckily I don't.

I had a cousin passed away from Covid 4 months after getting vaccinated.