FishTax

I have an aging old town 106 pdl and the under seat design is terrible. They put these rod holder things in there that essentially block your storage options, very frustrating. I'd love to be able to just put 2 3700s under the seat and take off but poor design prevents it. I'm going to check out some of these products you all have mentioned and see if any of them solve my storage issues.. Also need to reconfigure battery as it's contributing to my issues with where I rigged it behind the seat.

Just fyi the water at high Rock yesterday was 60 even though air temp was 30. I've heard many people say it's the water temp that matters most, which certainly makes sense. I've never been to Belews but have always wanted to try it. Please post a report after your trip! My theory this time of year is that smaller lakes are easier because you have less area to search when looking for the bait. I'm in your back yard basically, and I always seem to have success around points and pockets in our local lakes. Shaky head or jig on points will almost always pull at least 1 decent bass on mackintosh. On a hot water lake like Belews, I have no idea what may work. Good luck!

I've been interested in visiting there for a while, maybe I'll make it in 2024. I hit High Rock yesterday on a frigid morning by NC standards. Never got a great bite going but did catch a few. I plan to go back in spring, the yadkin chain definitely has some bigs in it and I plan to get one in 24!

I have one box, and just pile them in. I like to live life on the edge. I try to stack them by type, like brush jigs separate from swim, but that's about it.

I use the app or shop online. Go to fishing section, don't be too specific on filters because they generally mark things incorrectly on a regular basis and you'll miss good deals. Mark the box for available in store, whatever that's called, and then start scrolling. I will often times find things for great prices. If it ends up not available in store (curbside, who wants to walk in?), usually it'll offer to ship for free. Great way to get soft plastics cheap, and a few other things.

When this happens to me, I'll go out with a minimal setup (2 rods, no electronics) on kayak and focus on enjoying being outside more than fishing. No pressure, no expectation to catch anything. Maybe only throw a worm that day. That seems to help me, but everyone is different. Nothing wrong with taking a break either, will probably help the budget if you do, especially as we approach black friday. I've already got a list of stuff I don't need that I'm going to get

Shaky head June bug Jig black and blue Ned with half senko

I may be able to swing a trip with a Jon boat rental as well if schedules align. I have trolling motor we can use on it, you're also welcome to borrow the motor while you're in the area as I rarely use it now that I kayak most of the time. Shoot me a pm about dates you'll be here, etc. Tons of places in the area that rent Jon boats, probably 8 within 30 min of my house. You'll have to bring your own spinner baits, I don't have many 😎 . If it works out maybe you can show me what I've been missing on the spinner baits, I'm more of a jig guy especially in winter.

Caught this 5 pounder on 12/30/22 in NC. One side of the lake had thin ice on top so I had to go the other way, but it was closer to sixty degrees and sunny when I caught it off a lay down in direct sun, mid afternoon. I love winter fishing in NC on those warm days we always get intermittently.

Sorry to hear that, It's a tough lake with a lot of pressure, and has definitely forced me to be a better angler. I get skunked there regularly and am sure with it being your first trip it was tough. I like to throw shaky head on points, jig on lay downs, and rage swimmer in water deeper then 10'. There so much I'm not confident in like cranks and Carolina rig that would probably do better than what I throw, which is what keeps me coming back and learning and developing my skills further.

Bring life jacket. They provide seat cushion.

I'm having issues today with it being slow and not loading any images on the site. Anyone else?

Finally got back out now that the last tax deadline of the year has passed. Caught this 2.5# on a shaky head off the backside of a point that was protected from the wind. Pretty much the only thing I have year round confidence in is shaky head on a point. Otherwise a tough day with blue skies and minimal breeze, but a beautiful day and I'm so happy I got to be out there and relax after a tough few weeks for me so I'd honestly be content if I got skunked but I'm happy I didn't 😎

As usual Pat knows better than me, wish I read that before I went out 😎 With bluebird skies I usually struggle. I caught one good one on a point on a shaky head today, which is pretty reliable year round in this area for me. All the bait I mapped mid day was deep, more than 20', which is an area in working to improve my skills on. Mackintosh gets a decent amount of pressure, there were 7 bass boats at alamance Marina when I went today (Wednesday) around noon, which for this time of year and day I thought was a lot. If you fish Monday, you'll need to do Guilford because alamance Marina is closed on M/Tuesday. Keep us posted!

I'm going out this afternoon, will try to follow up when I get home. Last time I was out was about a month ago so I'm sure things have changed, but it seems like they are doing typical fall stuff, moving with the weather and just all over the place so you can sort of junk fish. I'm far from a pro though, so I'll tag @Pat Brown who is another local angler who is a significantly better fisherman than I am to see if he has any thoughts. Regarding where to launch, there are 2 options, I think either are fine and both have electric only to the right and anything and everything the left out of the marinas. If you are renting a jon boat, do you have a trolling motor to put on it? They don't rent those, so it could be a long day if you are trying to row and I wouldn't really advise that.

@The Baron I'd be curious to hear what changed to give you confidence? I've got zero luck or confidence on chatterbait currently, I'm sure partly because I rarely throw it.

Silence, peeling drag, and gentle waves kissing the kayak.

I think it's all about the bait. If you have shad, you can probably see them on the surface. Just follow them. I'm seeing the bass push the shad into shallow areas already in my area, I think water temps may be around 80 but didn't check them last time out so I may be off. I think it varies a little between fisheries so wouldn't commit to a hard rule, except that we know they gotta eat so find what they eat and imitate it.

I got tore up pretty good on Monday on only 3. One of them almost drew blood with his upper lip while I was removing the lure. I have no idea what causes it but it definitely seems like it fluctuates during the year at my home lake.

I use a sling backpack fishing bag thing that holds 2 3600 boxes + a big pocket for plastics and 2 rods for bank fishing. For banks, I'm usually not fishing trebles because there is a lot of wood and dead grass mats pretty much everywhere I bank fish (ponds). I'm carrying a good assortment of plastics, a couple of frogs, and a variety of terminal tackle. I'm thinking of only fishing soft plastics for a month to reduce my tackle load and refine my fishing with those approaches. So many things you do with just plastics. TR, Wacky, Swimming worms, toads, craws, keitec, neds, etc. and many of those can be done weedless which is certainly my preference.

Yesterday I lost 2 to head shakes and one wrapped up on timber and broke the line (17 lb mono). I'm now leaning more towards horsing them in. It's just hard to get a photo when they're going crazy in the boat but I think I'm going to get a donkey leash to help with that.

I can't figure out how to shrink photos enough to put more than one, so enjoy this one ? Great day for me today. Beautiful weather, fall like for NC. Found the bass roaming shallow coves and flats. Caught them on shaky head, jigs, but mostly on a large paddle tail worm from z man on a jig head which was new to me. They'd only hit it if I burned as fast as possible. I had several get off, realized I need a larger hook than what I was using but am excited to try again with some tweaks soon. Finally the bait monkey paid off, I bought these from Seibert on a sale along with some jigs I'm quickly burning through. If losing jigs in timber were a sport I'd get a gold medal. So far fake fall in NC is treating me way better than the entire summer did. Fits my fishing strengths way better! Thanks again for all the great info on here, I learn so much reading everyone's comments and have definitely improved from participating on this forum!

Great report @Woody B, especially thankful for you sharing your observations like the buzz bait tip. I may try that out tomorrow and see if I can fire them up.

I was at a pond with a grass issue recently, the owner was apologizing bc they were struggling to control it. Best frog day I've ever had, using a white micro walking frog and full size green popping frog. I love unpressured ponds to test out lures I don't use often.

I try to keep them moving towards the boat, but don't go too fast because I don't want them to jump and throw it. I'm in a kayak and don't use a net, so I need them to be calm enough to land without getting free or sending a hook into me. If it's a little guy of course he's coming straight in and back to the water as fast as possible so I can go find his mama!