Woody B

I heard on the radio while I was on my way to the lake this morning. I don't know, and haven't researched if he had some kind of illness or just passed away. IMHO Buffet was a heckuva entertainer.

My scheduled eye exam this morning got cancelled so I made it out for a few hours before the lake got crowded. I caught 8 cookie cutter spots, all between 13 and 16 inches. I bragged on myself for being good at landing fish a while back and it got me. I bet I lost 15. Most were caught on cranks, and were barely hooked in the edge of this lips in the rear hook. I got a bunch of hits on a bladed jig but couldn't hook any. They were short striking. The ones I lost near the boat (on cranks) were barely hooked. I slowed down, tried rattles and no rattles ect but still go short strikes. I caught a couple on a shaky head and lost a few more in it as well. They weren't short striking it, they were slamming it from behind coming toward the boat. It was hard to keep up to get a good hookset. The lake was crazy crowded by 9am. Picture is the last one I caught, similar to the other cookie cutters. I caught on small blue cat. I shook it off next to the boat to avoid the slime.

Sorry for the hijack.

I mentioned earlier that big fish were hard to photograph with my console/dash mounted phone holder and 10 second timer. I took this catfish picture with the same phone and holder, but just make a video and took a screen shot. There's no way I could get posed with a fish this size in 10 seconds.

It was 40+years ago. It was during the spawn. There's a section of the lake near the Linville River that's called James bottoms. It's a big flat, with huge smallmouth spawning everywhere. I had taken a 12 year old kid with me. I pointed at a big girl on a bed. He made a perfect cast with a t rigged lizard. The water was clear. We could see her pick it up by the tail and move it out of the bed. I grabbed him basically in a bear hug to keep him from setting the hook. He made another perfect cast, same thing, she picked it up by the tail and moved it. His 3rd perfect cast she clobbered it, nearly jerking the rod out of his hands. She put up a heckuva fight, like you'd expect from an 8 pound smallie. He kept it, it's on his wall. It weighed 8 pounds on my old "de liar" scale. It was 8 pounds 3 ounces on a grocery store scale. 30 minutes later I caught one that was 6 pounds on my scale. I released it. The kid that caught the 8 pounder is a heckuva bass fisherman now. He sold his Ranger, and now has a super nice Vexus boat. I call him my "mentor" now. When I'm struggling to catch bass I call him for advice. Sorry for the hi jack everyone. I get excited, and feel like a kid again talking about this.

Pat, have you ever been to Lake James? I caught my PB smallie there when I was 18. (6 lbs) The 12 year old kid I took with me caught on that was 8 lbs 3 ounces. He was hooked on fishing for life after that. Anyway, look on your maps. The Linville side is good for Smallmouth with the Catawba side being good for Largemouth. I haven't been there this year. I went once last year (during January) and caught 3 smallies including a 4 1/2 pounder and 3 largemouth. I didn't catch any spots, but I've heard they're there now. My Grandfather had a cabin on the Linville river just above the lake when I was a kid. I've hunted and killed bear and deer in the mountains above the lake. It's pretty country up there. There's some Walleye's there. I've caught some in the past. I've been told there's a few Northern Pike and Tiger Muskys too.

"Your sister is really hot" ( I didn't actually say that)

Suzuki has pretty much always had the reputation as the most reliable outboards. That's why you see them on so many saltwater boats. My boat came as a backage. I had no choice on engine. If I would have been able to choose the engine it would have been a Suzuki. Some people say Suzuki engines are slower. It appears that they've been addressing this. Regardless I'd trade a couple mph for a long lasting reliable engine.

It will be post frontal blue bird skys here but that doesn't stop me from fishing. I won't be able to go Saturday morning like I usually do. I've got an appointment for an eye exam at 10:30, then later I'm having supper with my Dad and Sister. My plan is to go Saturday night around midnight. The lake I fish will be crazy with wake boats and jet skis during the day this weekend anyway.

I'll tell a little more about my past, with my disclaimer from earlier that whatever anyone wants to do is fine with me, as long as it doesn't effect me or my family. I smoked weed (and occasionally used other "stuff") pretty much every day from the time I was 15 until I was 25. I decided with quit weed, and everything thing else after getting a random drug test at a NHRA National Event(race). I passed somehow. It's my belief they didn't want anyone to fail. I had money, reputation ect at stake so I decided to quit. A good friend of mine (16 years older than me) was always talking about potheads, and how bad smoking pot was. Fast forward ~15 years I told him I used to smoke pot every day. He said "I know, and I know when you quit". I asked when did I quit and how did he know. He said "you quit in May 1989. I know because you got smarter and sharper soon after that." He said when I was using I always seemed like my mind was in a fog. I started winning more races after I quit, but I never smoked any until after that day's racing was over. I'm sure some people "sometimes" perform better at various activities due to lack of anxiety if they're "lighting up". I promise everyone is better at whatever (except maybe eating doritos) without it, if they can just get over whatever jitters they have when clean and sober.

Yep. Mines fell out of the boat with me. I'm really anal about firearm care. I clean and lube my weapon monthly, or whenever it gets wet. I also empty my magazines monthly (by target shooting with it) and load with fresh ammo. I carry a loaded firearm and 2 spare magazines. Yes, it costs a few dollars to load fresh Gold Dots monthly.

Koz, I'm not going to be in any tournament, but come on up the NC one weekend. I'll take you fishing. You can have the front of my boat including my sonar.

Disclaimer, I don't mind what anyone does as long as it doesn't effect me or my family. It isn't legal here(locally) but it isn't legal anywhere since it's against federal law. I've used cannabis (and other things) in the past but haven't in decades. I'm better at EVERYTHING I do without it or any other mind altering substances. I'm a musician. Many musicians believe they play better "stoned" It simply isn't true. My best example is to watch Stevie Ray Vaughan's Austin City Limits show from 1983, then, after you marvel at his talent, watch the one from 1989 when he was clean and sober.

There's always something to learn.

If I were going as a co angler, non team fishing I'd sit back and learn from the guy on the front of the boat. There's no way I'd cast on top of him, or even toward the front of the boat. He's got skin in the game.

No lightening I'm going. I won't go to a strange lake at night with no moon though. Added: Our lakes don't freeze over. I've launched by boat, and caught bass with the (air) temperature as low as 22 degrees. I've also fished when it was 36 degrees and raining. I caught bass both times. You've just got to have the right clothes and equipment.

I'd make a down payment on a Tater Hog. They're an NC company. Their cheap ones are $200+ and they've got a backlog. (not really, there's no way I could pay that) Regarding losing top water lures. I have the ability to cast them into trees 20 feet high and 5 feet on shore. I can't reach them with my lure retriever pole that far up and out.

I didn't take a picture of my lone bass today. I usually always take a picture of the first one. This one was 10" or less. It came unhooked when I boat flipped it. It was flopping around on the deck, I just took my toes and pushed it back into the water. It was in my first dozen casts or so. I figured I'd catch more. I went to a different lake. (Lake Rhodhiss, Valdese NC) It's an hour North and in the mountains. I figured the water would be cooler. It was a couple degrees cooler. The lake is full of laydowns. The laydowns were full of bass, or at least fish that looked like bass on sonar, but they didn't want to move. The water was quite a bit cooler on the upper end of the lake but the entire upper end was lifeless at least on sonar. I also caught a 9 inch Crappie. I won't be able to go next Saturday morning due to family commitments. I'll probably go back to Lake Wylie Saturday night around 10 or so. @Pat Brown I've always had trouble getting hook ups on buzz baits. Can you use a treble hook where you're getting strikes or are the weeds too thick? Owner makes some treble hooks with a big enough eye to use as a trailer.

Getting a little shaggy there @gimruis Do I see hair overlapping your ears? Is it touching your collar???

A quick search tell me the inflation rate from 2020 until now is ~18%. That would make the $68K boat be priced at ~$80K. It makes sense to me that "luxury items" like boats would have a higher inflation rate than some other stuff. Also, the 2020 price may have been lower than the 2018 or 2019 price due to covid. I'm going to try to stay inside the lines here. It's my belief that the current inflation is by design. It's a redistribution of wealth. It works multiple ways. The money I've saved all my life (accumulation of wealth?) isn't worth as much as it was in 2020. I can't buy as many bass boats and new trucks with my savings as I could 3 years ago. I'm a well paid experienced professional. I'm not using 2020 for an example due to covid. In 2022 I made ~4% more than I did in 2019. The average worker at an entry level job made as much as 50% more in 2022 compared to 2019. I still work just as hard, and have the same in demand skill set I had in 2019, but my pay isn't keeping up with entry level pay. If this trend keeps up I'm going to quit my current job and get a job flipping burgers.

I've never been to a baby shower. There's nothing wrong with doing something to please the Misses though. A good marriage isn't 50/50. It's 100/100. Ok, back to being the class clown. Wives/girlfriends do things to try to embarrass us men sometimes. When myself and Mrs B were dating she dragged me into a lingerie store trying to embarrass me. She didn't know I was a "diesel fitter". I put a pair of panties on my head and ran around saying "diesel fitter, diesel fitter".

Modern sonar has changed things for me. I'm usually making targeted casts to what I believe are Bass on my screen. If they don't respond I'll change speed, colors, depths (above, below or the same depth I see the fish at) and lures. If it get's really tough I'll turn the sonar off and just beat the water to a froth with a variety of lures. After seeing all the monsters @T-Billy catches I've considered bringing several hats to change if I'm not getting bites. FWIW I don't do sadness or sobbing. I got skunked last Sunday but I still had a good time. Being able to go fish is enough to make me happy. If I catch fish that's an added bonus.

I cast my Devils Horse over the submerged end of a lay down. After the first twitch the bass came bolting up through the limbs.

Since I started back fishing a couple years ago I've only targeted Bass. I've caught a bunch of other species though, including some fairly big Cats. I can't claim to be a good Catfisher since I catch them by accident but I still think it's an accomplishment to get a big cat in the boat with bass tackle. My first "other species" today was a smallish Crappie. I was getting nibbles on the trailer on my bladed jig. I removed the trailer and stuck a #6 treble on it for a trailer hook. I wanted to find out what was nibbling. After the Crappie I removed the trailer hook and went with a bigger trailer. (Armor Shad, instead of Manns Classic spinnerbait trailer) I caught the big cat, as well as 6 of my 7 Bass on the Seibert bladed jig with the armor shad trailer. The Cat was a Flathead, 41 1/2 inches long weighing 37.03 pounds. Big blue cats fight like heck for a minute or so then give up. Flatheads, at least the ones I've caught don't give up. I hooked it in ~15 feet of water under the powerline in the last picture. I took the picture with no zoom from my spot locked position where I finally got it in the boat. I'm guessing I followed/chased it 1/2 mile. Both the cat and myself were tired with I finally got it in the boat. I've got a friend who targets Cats. His biggest this year is 11 pounds. His PB is 17 pounds. I told him he needs to start bass fishing.

I went this morning fairly early. At first I was getting short hits on a bladed jig. I took the trailer off(Manns classic spinnerbait trailer) and put a #6 treble on it for a trailer hook to see what was nibbling. I caught a smallish crappie the next cast. (Picture in other species thread after I post it). I took the trailer hook off and went with a armor shad trailer hoping to keep the smaller fish from nipping. I ended up catching 7 bass, 3 largemouth and 4 spots between 6am and 7am. Pictured are the first and last. None were big. 6 were on the bladed jig, one was on a texas rig. I bragged on myself a while back for landing most of the fish I hook, so I lost two that were probably 4 poundish.....or the same fish twice. First loss was on a devils horse. I have a problem at times setting the hook too soon with topwater bites. I saw this one coming on live sonar. I tried to wait until I felt it but think I was early and barely had it in the edge of the mouth. First jump and it was gone. I followed up with a wacky rig to the same spot. The fish grabbed it and ran right toward the boat. I lost it on the second jump. I don't think I got caught up enough for a good hookset. That was around 7:15, and my last Bass action. A little after 9 I caught a 41 1/2 inch long 37.03 pound Flathead Catfish. (Picture in the other species thread).