Woody B

But I rarely backlash. LOL

I didn't have a good day today but it's kinda comical though. I'm on vacation next week. I almost didn't go today. There was a fairy big tournament today. I considered going to another lake, but didn't. So, I get to the landing, get out of my truck, put my coat on and think "boy something smells bad". I figured someone bank fishing had left a bucket of shrimp or something sitting around. I'm all alone except for a guy launching a kayak. When I won't be in anyones way I just tie my boat to the dock with a long rope, back the trailer in and "send it". I did.........it ripped the cleat off the dock. (dock is half rotten). Luckily kayak guy saw it, grabbed the rope and pedaled it to me. I offered to pay but he wouldn't accept anything. I drive away from the landing, but he bad smell doesn't go away. Last Sunday I was fishing in the rain. I just threw my wet coat into the back of my truck. The smell was my coat. I had a lighter coat in my boat, but I was about to freeze with it on, so I put the smelly one back on. I had bought a couple Berkley Frittside cranks. Several people told me they were more durable than the DT6's I like. On my THIRD CAST the eyelet pulled out. This caused a BIG backlash. (I rarely backlash) The line on that reel was due to be changed so I just put that reel away. I tied a DT6 on a different reel and heaved it into the wind. For some reason I had the brakes on zero. I got a pretty bad backlash on that one but was able to pick it out. (did I mention that I rarely backlash? LOL) A few cast with it, then I tried my new $42 swimbait. No luck (or backlashes) with it. It was pretty windy so a lure that runs close to the surface probably wasn't ideal today. I pick up the combo with a T-rig. Somehow during my cast I got the line wrapped around the end of the rod. I spiked the t-rig and...........got a pretty bad backlash. (did I mention that I rarely backlash?) I hate getting skunked but figured someone was trying to tell me to go back home. I decided that I was going to catch one bass, then go home. An hour later (and no more backlashes) I finally caught one. I came home, changed line on the reels that needed it and got our camper ready for Monday. I'm going back tomorrow and expect to have a better day. The camper is ready for Monday morning. I'll leave the boat at the campground tomorrow so I won't have to make 2 trips Monday. When we come home from camping I'll leave the boat again, the go fishing the next day, and bring it home. The bass I caught was a nice fat 15 inch Largemouth. I don't think I've ever worked so hard for a single bass.

My opinion, as a professional automotive technician, and someone who's logged over 1/2 million miles towing race car trailers. The worst thing "they" ever done was put grease fittings on boat trailer axles. A boat trailer's axle(s) get backed into the water. The best protection the bearings have are good grease seals. Over greasing them with a grease gun has the potential to damage these seals, allowing water to damage the bearings. Tapered roller bearings in a trailer need maintenance. A pump of grease isn't much maintenance. They need to be cleaned, inspected, and then packed with fresh clean grease. Seals are important on any trailer axle but IMHO they're more important on a boat trailer than most any other trailer. I disassembled, cleaned and packed the bearings on 1 axle on my race car trailer once a month. (3 axles, so clean and pack every 3 months) I never had a problem on the road. It got a bunch more miles than my boat trailer. I jack up my boat trailer and "feel" the bearings once a month. I clean and pack once a year. The design used for trailer bearings is antiquated. Someday "they'll" finally design trailer axles with sealed ball bearings, like automobiles and light trucks have used for years.

I had a Garmin, along with my Lowrance stuff for a while. The temperature on the Lowrance was 1 degree higher than the Garmin. I never worried about it. I use the same source for temperature on both my HDS lives now. I don't know if the reading is exact but I don't think it's off 8 degrees. I've never bothered to set the temperature offset since I use a single source.

I rig most of my soft plastic stuff(jigs, spinnerbait/buzzbait trailer, shakey heads ect). The texas rig I have tied on stays rigged until it's no longer usable, then I'll rig another. There's a rigged motoroil t-rig worm on my deck right now. I normally only get to fish on weekends. Due to postings by @WRB I normally re tie my stuff on Friday nights before my weekend trips. I've done some knot testing. A knot (in mono) that's been tied a couple weeks seems to be just as strong as a fresh one with a steady pull, increasing in force, but will break quite a bit easier with a quick shock, like a hookset. I've got (gasp) braid on one reel. I never re tie it, unless I change lures, or damage, nick the line. It's @T-Billy's fault I have braid on it. It's @AlabamaSpothunter's fault I've got a new $40 swim bait to tie on it tonight.

It's really nice to be alone on a lake. During the Summer that's pretty much impossible for me. During the day time the lake is full of wake boats and jet skis. At night there's plenty of people catfishing. I enjoy watching (most) people. The jet ski people love me. IF (big if) I'm in an area with jet skis, but it's not crowded I'll slow down some and zig zag as I go down the lake. They LOVE jumping the waves. If anyone here ever goes fishing with me you'll notice a bunch of jet ski people waving at me. I HATE wake boats, but someday I'd like to try wake boarding. I'm real good on a water ski but never tried a wake board, or even surfing at the beach. The wildlife is cool too. Even in the heavily developed areas there's deer everywhere around the lake. A friend of mine who live on the lake has a deer that him and his wife hand feed. I talk to the deer and birds, but so far none have talked back.

(in my best Billy Bob Thorton/Slingblade voice) Coffee makes me nervous when I drink it. mmm I don't drink coffee. I don't like hot beverages. I mostly drink water and unsweet tea. I used to drink a BUNCH of SunDrop. (citrus flavored soft drink) but I haven't had a soft drink in a decade or more. Any SunDrop drinkers here? It's a regional thing I think. The mostly young people I work with worry me pounding these "energy" drinks. I was looking at one of their cans the other day. It had something like 200mg caffeine. I don't believe caffeine is as bad as some think, but 2 or 3 cans a day with 200mg of caffeine can't be good.

It's a secret.

Someone said it earlier, if you've got a cabellas or any other credit card that you could spend $18K on you'll qualify for a boat loan. Have you applied? Bass Pro begged me to finance my Tracker.

A Tracker Classic XL is way out of your budget if you're paying for it with credit cards. Don't do it. Cut the credit cards up. You said your debt to income ratio was too high to qualify for a boat loan. If that's the case your debt to income ratio is too high. Set a monthly budget. Save some money, then buy a boat.

My boat isn't big, but it's a floating tackle box. I do reel maintenance, re spools, pre trip tie ons ect sitting in my boat.

I think it's better for the DNR to kill her than someone put her in a pond, feed her trout, or whatever then catch her again and claim the world record.

It's basically plug and play. I'm not up on the Garmin stuff. Make sure the Ultra 126 is compatible with lifescope. He'll need something to mount the transducer on. Lowrance active target comes with a mount for the trolling motor, or trolling motor shaft. I suspect Garmin does too. I don't usually promote a business but Russell Marine Products helped me a BUNCH. They sell Garmin too. Sometimes they have used stuff. One of my HDS Lives from them was used.

I was sitting around the house today bored. Mrs B was taking a nap. I was torn between going to Academy, or going fishing. (36 degrees and raining) I decided to go fishing. A fishing trip is cheaper than an academy trip. I made it an hour and half. My hands felt like blocks of ice. I can do OK in rain, or cold but the combination got me. Disposable hand warmers don't work when they're wet. I caught 2. One kinda decent, and a nubbin. The first one (16 inches) was on a 3xd on my 2nd cast. The other(nubbin/dink) was on a t-rig on my last cast. (When I'm able I've been stopping right after catching a bass. Catching on on the last cast is kinda magic. (I might as well explain) Last year one day I decided I was going to fish until 1PM. At 1PM I made a cast and told myself "this is my last cast". I caught a 3 pounder, so I decided to fish for 15 more minutes. On my next cast I caught a 53 pound flathead cat. When I finally got it in the boat it was 1:45 and I had to go. All the next week I was excited about catching a giant on my last cast. Most of the time since then I've been leaving after a catch. Instead of saying "I'm leaving at whatever o'clock" I'll decide to leave on the next fish after a certain time. I decided about 15 minutes after the first one today that I was leaving when I caught another....or froze. I saved money. I went fishing instead of feeding the bait monkey.

My condolences to everyone involved. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often the way people run around the lakes wide open.

36 degrees this morning. Water temp is down to 56, but I managed to catch 12 today. I didn't weigh any. Biggest was a 18 inch Spot. So, everyone knows I do things different. I caught 7 on a chatterbait......with a money minnow trailer. 4 on a 3X and 1 on a T-rig. I was rigging my rods last night. I couldn't decide between a chatterbait, or money minnow on my 3rd rod. I decided to do both. They weren't clobbering anything, not even the crank. I probably missed some. On the bladed jig all I would feel was the vibration stop. The wobble would stop on the crank, but not much more. The one I caught on a T-rig was an accident. I cast into the wind, and hit a dock post. I cleared my(opps) backlash. When I got the line tight after that the bass was there. Weather forecast is BAD tomorrow. I'll see how cold, how much rain, and how much of it is frozen before I decide about going.

After 3 days biggest 5 bass total is 17-12. Biggest bass is 6 even. That's about what I expected. I bet most of them are spots.

Slight hi-jack, but modern technology related. Vessel View mobile, Mercury 50 4 stroke.

Devils Horse.

Just another reason I don't watch videos.

Modern automotive technology, as well as other technology has been creeping into boat motors for a while. It's nice to see Suzuki advancing this technology. Just like modern automobiles modern boat engine start quickly, even when cold, deliver massive amounts of power and sip fuel compared to older ones. Also, there's no longer a plume of smoke, or oil trail in the water following these newer engines. Many people (including myself at times) resist newer, better technology. I embrace new clean running, powerful boat motors but I'm not ready for the electric stuff.

I've never really had any nicknames. I don't count Woody as a nick name. My real name is Woodrow. I've got a friend who's 6'4"- 340. Everyone calls him Tiny.

Me too. I've got some guitars, amps and guns that are worth a buck or 2 but they were cheap when I bought them.

I wish I was born rich instead of good looking!!!

I bought my current boat in Dec 2021 after not fishing for ~30 years. Before that I had never fished past October, with the exception of fishing during November racing trips in Florida. I struggled quite a bit right after I got my boat. I had quite a bit more confidence this winter.....however, I still struggled. Due to equipment I had this winter that I didn't last year I was able to find more fish. I still struggled to catch them. I think the combination of slower metabolism, and shad dying due to the cold makes catching bass tougher. I do enjoy the lack of other boats on the lake during winter though.