Woody B

I've never really paid much attention. Now I'm going to have to start deciding if I like a certain grip or not, and buy more rods.

Condolences and prayers for the family and friends of the victim as well as the first responders involved. I suppose we all take chances. Luckily most of us don't have any problems. I don't think rules and regulations are the answer. Enforcement officers have enough to do without additional regulations. We all make choices that "could" result in tragedy. Sometimes the lord looks after us and protects us. I'm an automotive technician. ~30 years ago I was changing the outer seals in the front axle on a Jeep Wagoneer. I had it in a flat bay, jacked up. I had jack stands under it, but just had it sitting on the jack. When I got finished I couldn't check the gear oil due to the jack being in the way. I put the jack stands under the springs and let the jack down. I laid down under the vehicle on the discover I had the wrong size wrench to check the oil. When I got back up and reached into my tool box for the right wrench the vehicle basically spit the jack stands out. I hadn't put the front tires on yet, so it was flat on the ground where I had just been. It would have killed or seriously injured me had I been under it. The thing is, I've known forever it takes a 16mm wrench to check the gear oil. Why didn't I get under it with a 19MM? The good lord put the wrong size wrench in my hand so I'd get out of under it before it fell. Be careful, it only takes a few seconds for a bad decision to turn into a disaster.

I'm not near that area, but prayers are being sent.

All gas degrades, and it happens pretty quickly. Winter blends don't degrade as quickly as Summer blands. Ethanol is a double edged sword. It "can" absorb moisture that's in gas. This is good if there's a little bit of moisture in the tank. However, it will absorb moisture from the atmosphere. A half empty tank of ethanol free can't absorb any moisture if the tank sweats. It will end up with some water, that won't mix, and won't burn. This is no different than the nightmare "phase separation" that happens with ethanol fuels. It's best to keep tanks full during storage. Less air space in the tank means less chance to sweat. Fuel that's 10% ethanol can absorb moisture up the the volume of ethanol present. Take 10 gallons of E-10 (that's perfect) and you can "lose" 1 gallon of water in it. Poorly maintained fuel systems, and tanks with E-10 can end up with more moisture than the ethanol can absorb. That's when phase separation happens. This information is from my automotive background and may or may not be applicable to marine applications.

I went for a couple hours this morning. I caught 4 deep water micro bass before I finally connected to a 3.54 pound red lipped Largemouth in 10 feet of water. All I can find in the deep water "community holes" are 10 inch Spots. I think they're mixed in with Crappie but I haven't thrown anything a Crappie would like. For some reason Longnose Gar look like Spots on sonar. I suppose it's the way they school up. I hooked something strong for a few seconds then it came loose. I suspect it was a gar. Unless the weather is really nice Saturday this was my last trip of the year. My Dad's 89th birthday is Sunday. I'll be spending that day with him. I've still got a lingering cough from Covid. I suspect being out in the cold isn't helping it any. I'm taking a couple vacation days the 2nd week of January. I hope to be 100% by then, and back after them.

I only use braid on one combo but had digging problems occasionally. I was spooling like Glenns video but still had problems. I ended up doing 2 things that seem to work. I went to 50 pound braid. It's the same diameter as the 12 pound Mono I use. Also, Tom mentioned too loose on the spool, as well as dry. After I spool a reel with braid I tie a big deep crank on, like a 8XD, let it trail behind the boat until almost all of the line is out, then reel it back in. This puts a bunch of pressure while reeling and also wets the line. I tried several brands of Braid but ended up using Sufix 832. I don't think the 832 is necessarily better. The other braids I tried were 30 pound test. I think my dislike was at least in part to the smaller diameter.

Regarding water temperature. I wonder how close our readings are from transducer to transducer. The temperature reading from my Active Target transducer is always 3 degrees cooler than my 3 in1. I've been using temperature readings from my 3 in 1 since I got my boat so it's the one I go by. (I have it turned off on AT). Both of my readings are very slow to change. Yesterday my 3 in 1 read 36 degrees (the air temp) when I launched my boat. It took a good 20 minutes for it to get up the the "real" surface temperature of 49. I keep an infrared thermometer in my boat. It reads the surface temp the same as my 3 in 1, but only after my 3 in 1 has had time to stabilize. Surface temp yesterday was 49 to 50. I checked 3 of the Bass I caught. They were 48 degrees. I talk to quite a few people while fishing. I need to start asking their temperature readings. My sonar units have a setting for temperature offset, but I've never tried to get it "right". I suspect readings my vary as much as 5 degrees from source to source. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!!

Don gave me permission to post his fuel recommendations word for word. Don is a Mercury Master Tech so this information is for Mercury engines. I'm pretty sure Yamaha says no ethanol.

Lowrance Active Target isn't......good on a split screen regardless of screen size. Part of the screen get's pinched, or cut off on a shared screen. I suspect Live Scope is the same way. I don't us mapping at my bow but I fish the same lake most of the time. I've got a 7" and 9" at the console, and a 12" on the bow.

I was able to slip in a split trip today. I ended up with 2 "real" bass and 5 micro bass. I had Christmas yesterday with my Dad and Sister. My Sister won't come if my Dad's girlfriend is invited. (I think that's disrespectful) Anyway, I took my Dad and his girlfriend to breakfast this morning. I got to the lake around 9:45 with an hour tops to fish before going to my Daughters for Christmas with her and her family. I was meeting Mrs B there. My goal was 1 bass before leaving. I went to a rocky deep channel swing bank. I had gotten my jig caught in some rocks and needed to re tie afte40 fee tr getting it loose. I re tied, and just tossed the jig into the water next to the boat. My reel wasn't locked, so the jig was sinking. I was removing my coat when I noticed this, then I saw my line going sideways. I grabbed my rod, locked the reel set the hook and boated a decent Largemouth. The I was off for Christmas lunch with the Grandkids. I got back to the lake around 2:30. I was at the other end of the lake, different landing. I went down near the dam to a 40 foot deep brush pile I know of. I caught 2 micro spots there, 8 to 10 inches long. That wasn't what I was after so I went to a ~30 foot deep rockpile. 3 more micro spots there. I went back up river a bit to a channel swing that's 40 feet or so from the bank. I caught a decent spot there and decided to call it a day. The lake finally turned over. I had been thinking that I had somehow missed the fall turnover. The water stinks, with all kinds of stuff floating. Surface temp was 49 this morning and 50 this afternoon. I'm not sure about tomorrow. Christmas with Mrs B's siblings ect is tomorrow at 2. I may go in the morning. I've still got a cough left over from Covid. If it's raining I'll probably stay home.

One of my "gifts" is the power of observation. When I see......everyone throwing jerkbaits I'll do something else. A few months ago EVERYONE was burning buzzbaits. I would go right behind them with.......anything else, and catch Bass. Shortly after than I realized I could burn a buzz bait a few times myself, then catch Bass on anything else. I think the Bass were used to seeing the buzz baits, and thought the fishermen were gone with the buzz baits went away. IF this year is like last year they'll all be fishing jerkbaits(way too fast) for the next couple months. I had really good luck last winter fishing a DT6 or 8 like a jerkbait, but slower than the others. I'd put slightly heavier hooks on them and they'd suspend perfectly. I think the bass recognized the long slender jerk baits as....baits, but the fatter (and slower) suspending Dt's would fool them.

No need for a bonfire. Talent like those you mentioned just inspire me to play better. I'll never be able to play like Billy Strings, just like I'll never catch Bass like "insert your favorite professional bass fishermans name here", but I enjoy playing, just like I enjoy fishing. I taught guitar and a couple other instruments at a local music store decades ago. I always got a thrill when my students got better than me. @BC VC basser your sons work looks great!!!

I've caught red lipped bass, and regular lipped bass in the same day. Most of the red lipped ones have came from deeper water, 20 feet or more. I just assumed the red lips had something to do with water pressure, or the change in water pressure when caught and circulation. I've never caught a Summer time red lipped bass though and I've caught deep bass in warmer weather too.

I'm often less is more for trailers. I find myself using Manns Classic Spinnerbait trailers on all kinds of stuff. Zoom split tail is a similar trailer. If I think I need more trailer I'll use a Berkley Boss Grub. IIRC they're available in 3" and 4" length. I use real pork but mostly during the Summer. I'm going to move out of my comfort zone this Winter and try real pork on some heavier jigs. I "think" my tiny cold water trailers are allowing a faster rate of fall. A bigger/heavier jig, with a bigger trailer might fall at the same rate, and trigger more strikes, from bigger fish. I'm not an expert.

Nice to see everyone catching nice Bass, and TnRiver46 catching every species. Alex, it's good to see you catching your Winter hawgs again this year. Pat, Covid it rough isn't it? I mostly got over mine quickly but I'm only slowly getting my "wind" back. For a couple weeks I was getting out of breath when changing channels on the TV with the remote. I won't be able to go today. I might be able to slip out a couple hours tomorrow. I had a thought, since my skunking last week. When the water get's down into the 50's my bladed jig bite dies. The bladed jigs I use "hunt" quite a bit. I'm thinking as the water cools the Bass don't want to chase them. I'm going to ditch my bladed jig for a plain swim jig and see if they'll respond to it.

I agree with Susky's post above. If you have a diesel it's even more important to buy from a busy location. For automotive and light truck use I recommend using top tier gas. https://www.toptiergas.com/ Many automotive manufacturers recommend using top tier gas. It has additives to combat most automotive problems. Don Weed, a well respected Mercury Engine Master Tech who's shop is an hour or so from here recommends using Top Tier gas for marine applications. He also has a list of additives he recommends. He says up to 10% ethanol is OK. He recommends stabilizing fuel that isn't going to be consumed and replaced with fresh within 15 days. I'll reach out to Don for permission to repost his fuel information word for word here. Added @GRiver mentioned humidity. That's a good point. I ran my race car on methanol. (way more caustic that ethanol, and still hygroscopic) When I traveled to Florida or other areas to race with very high humidity I had to take additional steps to protect my fuel system.

I've got both. Both IMHO are great reels. I simply don't like the "T-wing system". I have a habit of keeping my index finger in contact with the line from below. This lifts the line out of the slot and results in uneven spooling. When I remember to make myself "feel" the line from above instead of below (pressing it down, instead of lifting it up) the reel is great.

I fish year round and run "regular" up to 10% ethanol in my boat. Ethanol is BAD for something that sits unused for long periods. Ethanol is also bad for most 2 strokes and pretty much anything with a carburetor. What I'm saying is, in some applications ethanol won't hurt anything. If you have any doubts, or have something that sits quite a bit use ethanol free. FWIW the "E10" around here usually has only 2% to 4% ethanol. I'm an automotive technician. (but not a boat technician)

My "skipping" rod is a Cashion ICON Worm and Jig rod that's 6'9" MH-F. My other rods are all 7' and longer. I can't skip good with any of them. I'm 5'9". I'm thinking length for skipping is probably more important than action. I'd like to try a shorter rod, 6'6" or so with a little bit lighter action, but what I've got works good for me. I skip weightless wackys, light pegged t-rigs, shaky heads and lipless cranks with this rod. I can't cast light stuff very far with this rod, but I can skip pretty much anything....skippable 50 feet or so. Added: I use a Shimano SLX XT reel for skipping.

Dolly likes to lick most fish. She stays away from Catfish. I wonder if her instincts tells her to stay away from catfish fins/spines. She loves watching birds, especially swimming birds like ducks and geese.

Verlon Thompson (other player in that video) is AWESOME too.

I work too much. I was thinking a couple weeks ago when I had Covid.......in 2023 so far there's been 8 days that I didn't either work or fish. On a few occasions I worked and fished on the same day but not much. Days I didn't work or fish. 1. July 4. I was scheduled to work, but ended up getting the day off. I was TIRED so I stayed home. 2.3.4.- When Mrs B had a heart attack. I worked 1/2 day on the day I took her to the Emergency Room, but didn't work or fish for the next 3 days. 5.6.7.- When I had Covid. I considered going to a local lake the last day I was out of work but decided not to push it. 8. Day before yesterday. It was 40's windy and raining. I won't be able to go this weekend due to family stuff. If all goes well I'll be back on the lake Jan 30 and 31. That will bring my total didn't work, didn't fish days in 2023 to 11. (8 already, then this Sat-Sun-Mon) Edit/Added: Between working and fishing it's hard for me to find time to get a hair cut. LOL

I had forgot about that Ray Wylie Hubbard song. Guy Clarks "Black Diamond Strings" is what I was quoting. Music just flowed out of Tony Rice. I saw him play live once years ago at Merlefest.

"Black Diamond strings are like white flour and grits. You play Black Diamond strings cause it's all you can get." I played plenty of Black Diamonds when I was a kid. The local drug store had them. When I'd break one my Mom would take me there to get another one. Once a year, at Christmas I'd get a "whole set of strings" from the music store in "town". (Town was Shelby NC, 10 miles away) IIRC my yearly set of strings were Darco's.

As I stated earlier I've got a BUNCH of guitars. My workhorse for years was a 70's Tele with a B-bender. I've still got it, but never play it anymore. Amp wise I've got an old Fender Twin, as well as a Deluxe. I rarely touch an electric anymore. My "prize" acoustic is a 1955 Martin D18. My brother in law calls it "the organ". I've never played a guitar that "feels" like it does when played. I've also got a 1964 Gibson J-45. I bought it to have a decent acoustic made the same year I was. I'll have to dig through my files to find a picture. This recording is a Sitka Spruce/Black Walnut Slope Shoulder Dread I built for a guy in Canada. I love those big bodied short scale acoustics. Sitka-Black Walnut Slope D