IcatchDinks

That's a plate of steel I purchased from work. (My work place is a fab shop.) But it's free floating. The actual top is 2 layers of 1/2" OSB.

T-rigged soft plastics, and I also love Rebel's Wee crawfish:

Made myself a workbench for my garage out of some left over pallet packaging from work.

But who would want this? Why do people want to be right on the water? I understand wanting lake front property. Heck, I would love lake front property. But I want the home back from the shoreline a good way, and then I can walk up to pristine, beautiful natural shoreline. I don't understand it. In my neck of the woods, nature took it's revenge a few years ago. During covid, the Sanford Dam gave way, which caused a levee to break, and it all lead to major flooding. It drained the lake (which is a tragedy) but flooding destroyed dozens upon dozens of lake front homes. And while, I understand that displaced families is maybe a greater tragedy, I couldn't help but feel a sense of justice upon seeing all of those homes gutted and condemned.

@Jar11591, Sounds like all of us Northerners are fighting the weather. Sure is some beautiful scenery though. I love that mist clinging to the treetops in that photo! Congrats on a nice bass.

Spent an hour at the pond this morning temps started in the high 30s and crept up into the low 40s. It was cold, finger-numbing work, as it has been all week. I've gone out like this three or four times this week and been totally skunked. I'm dying for warm weather. The sunlight contrasted with ominous rain clouds was a pretty cool sight, though: Finally nabbed my only fish of the week. Not big, but I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to have a bass on the line. And he was real pretty, too. And here's my homely mug so you can get an idea of how bundled up I was: Please let it warm up. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

I forgot about Old Lady Angler. Found her not that long ago when one of her short videos made it into my Instagram feed. Been following her YT ever since.

NDYAKangler Engineering Hooksets Richard Gene The Fishing Machine Marling Baits The Engineered Angler (both these last two are lure making channels)

Yep, went fishing this morning before work and it was 49 and raining. It did not warm up at all. Beautiful fish! Glad you found success despite the cold.

This is almost exactly my situation. All my trips feel a little more hurried than I would like, and I usually have to resort to using 1 or 2 confidence baits and presentations without getting to try out other techniques. Gotta say though, the joy of marriage and fatherhood is more than worth it.

How long does your average fishing trip usually last? Ideally, I would consider 3 or 4 hours minimum to be the best. I don't generally get a good feel for the fish until I've spent a couple hours. I would love it if I could spend 3-6 hours on the water. Unfortunately, most of my trips last under 2. Often under 1. I imagine as I get older and as our children grow less dependent on us parents, I'll get more time on the water, and more time on the water with my kids. But that's years in the future. I also find myself torn: when I'm fishing, I'm thinking about being home with my wife and kids. And when I'm home, I'm often thinking about fishing. To take the burden off my wife being home alone with 2 kids under 2 years old, I've taken to getting up at 5 or 6 and fishing for an hour or two in the morning before work. So far, mornings have just been too cold to be really enjoyable. But with such limited time per trip, I feel like I don't really get an opportunity to properly hone my skills. Everything about fishing it seems, boils down to patience. 😄

I used to always carry a pocket knife, but I have a terrible habit of losing them. Last Christmas my dad gave me his old Buck folding knife. It's big and bulky, and has to be carried in a belt pouch, but I've carried that more faithfully and never lost it since. I think having it on my belt is handier than keeping one in my pocket. I carry and use it everyday.

@Bluebasser86, that was a heckuva good read. Thanks for sharing! And I don't care what @gimsays about the Crocs. I believe in them. Imma get me a pair like yours and pretend they help me fish better. 😄 I nabbed a little largie at the pond this afternoon, and earlier, a nice pike out of the river. (Pike pic is in the Other Species Catch Thread.) And because @Swamp Girl likes to snipe fishing spots, I grabbed a picture of where I caught him: just a few feet in front and to the left of this rock covered culvert in about 2 and 1/2 feet of water: Both fish came on a Rapala floating minnow. I've come to lose all trust in Rapala's stock hooks. After the battle with the pike, one of the hooks on the rear treble was broken clean off, and the front treble was bent all out of shape. Lure was brand new out of the package and didn't make it past one fish without damage.

Well, now I feel embarrassed of my evident pride in this picture of my 25" pike I caught today. In the light of @T-Billy's glorious Muskies, all other fish pale.

My only complaint about mono is that line memory causes tangling and birdnesting. That and it gets pretty thick if you want heavier line, which can complicate things. But I use mostly mono. Only one of my rods has braid on it.

I write and record music in my limited free time. As usual, my workspace is a cluttered disaster.

Both of those are absolute units!! Well done! Katie out here stealing fishing locations all the way from Maine.

Jeans and t-shirts and/or buttonups. Not necessarily angler gear, but no one is surprised to find out I fish. Lol

That's a really nice setup. I have a full sized backpack. It holds a TON of gear and I love it, but it does get pretty heavy. I haven't weighed it, but I'd guess 10-15 lbs. Your setup seems a lot more practical. 😄

Lost a massive pike today. Would have been a PB. It was an impromptu trip to the river with an ultra light rig I keep in the back of my car. Hooked into a monster with a crankbait and 6lb test. He pulled drag faster than I could reel it back. Finally got him tire out some, got impatient and tried to hand line him the rest of the way in. He instantly turned and snapped my line. My current PB is 36", and this one was definitely longer than that. Haven't lost a nice fish in a long time. Forgot how much it stings. Anyway: here's the only other catch of the day...

My PB smallie (which is small compared to most people here (16"), so take this with a grain of salt) came on a little 2" crankbait I got from Academy. And my previous PB (less than an inch shorter) came on a 190 whopper plopper, which is a musky bait approximately 7". So, what I learned is that smallies will eat anything.

This beautiful tree sits in front of our new apartment. It's a very pleasant view to come home to, even in the rain.

I took my boy out to the pond. I caught a dink my first cast. Didn't photograph him. And then it was three more dinks in an hour. I helped my boy hold the rod and reel, my hands over his, and this way I helped him reel in two fish of his own. He refused to let go of his dandelion, even when reeling in a live fish. He thought the "dewee" were pretty cool, but found the flopping a bit off-putting. The smallest catch of the day was my own solo work: After an hour it was time to head home as we'd promised his Mama we wouldn't be more than an hour. I ask him if he wanted to go home to see Mama and his baby sister. He said "no." I asked if he wanted to keep fishing. His answer was a big grin and vigorous head nods. The 1.5 year old has the bug. I'm so proud. 😄 We FaceTimed his mom, and she told us she didn't need us back right away, so we nabbed one more tiny bass before heading home for dinner: We weren't winning any competitions, but honestly, the small fish were the perfect size for the small boy. It was a fun time.

I work in steel fabrication. Boots take a beating. Work gives us 100$ every year towards boots, so buy the cheapest option at Meijer, burn through them in a year. Repeat.

I threw up a full report last night in Fishing Reports, but figured I'd drop the biggest bass of the evening here as well. (Gotta farm those likes.) Felt good to finally get into some smallies. I'll spare @gim the rock bass pics. He's suffered enough at the hands of @TnRiver46.