51 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@AlabamaSpothunter

 

Alex, I can't help but notice the mega-mansions where you fish. We have some mansions like those on the coast of Maine. Here in Maine, people don't actually live-live in them. They vacay in them, a few weeks each year. I'm pretty certain that some of the mega-mansions owners in Alabama also own coastal mansions here.

 

And Alex, I also can't help but notice your simple boat. We have that in common. My boat is just a hull with a paddle.

 

I also come from simple roots, born in a trailer, three to a bed, and wearing hand-me-downs. For whatever reason, perhaps my ungilded childhood, I've always been tickled by the plainest pleasures. As a kid, it was poking around creeks. Walking through the woods. Building a tree house with wood pinched from a building site. Digging a tunnel. Riding my old, balloon-tired bike. I was moss that could grow merrily on rock.

 

And then I listen to your voice on your videos, Alex, and I hear your excitement and your gratitude. And I wonder if the folks in those mansions are equally thrilled by life. I hope they are. But since they're not on the water, not under evening's golden light, not feeling the breeze and smelling the winter air, and connecting with wild, beautiful bass, I just don't see how they could be. 

 

I don't understand them. They live on the water, but they don't LIVE ON THE WATER. They confuse me.

 

I just love the way your mind works Katie!  We shared a very similar childhood, trucking around in creeks for Crawdads, building forts, climbing trees, just getting lost in the magic that is the woods.

 

It's funny you bring up those big houses, those are the people that use the lake the least.   I see their army of workers more than I see the homeowners.    We had a huge flood last year, and it destroyed many docks, ironically many of the ones not built back are those homes.    

 

One friend I've made on the lake lives in one of those houses, and bought the world's greatest small lake boat for like 25k, poor guy doesn't even have time to use.    

 

 

 

 

 

4 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I see their army of workers more than I see the homeowners. 

 

Exactly! If you live on a lake, but DON'T LIVE ON THE LAKE. If you don't spend your years outside by the water and on the water, that lake lot is wasted on you. Sure, you might use lakeside mansion to impress your family and friends and provoke jealousy, but it's still wasted on you. You, Alex, LIVE on that lake. The rich people should take lessons from you.

 

This GIF celebrates Alex's life lived under the golden Sun:

 

 

P. S. - I loved finding crawdads too. And snakes. And catching bitsy fish in the creeks' pools.

47 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Exactly! If you live on a lake, but DON'T LIVE ON THE LAKE. If you don't spend your years outside by the water and on the water, that lake lot is wasted on you. Sure, you might use lakeside mansion to impress your family and friends and provoke jealousy, but it's still wasted on you. You, Alex, LIVE on that lake. The rich people should take lessons from you.

 

This GIF celebrates Alex's life lived under the golden Sun:

 

 

P. S. - I loved finding crawdads too. And snakes. And catching bitsy fish in the creeks' pools.

We call that "Critter Huntin'"! Spent my whole life walking in creeks, and swamps. Never knew we were "poor". My kids used to go with me with nets and such to catch "critters". There're all grow up now and have families of their own. I still crawl around in the muck catching things and come home filthy. My wife tells me that grown ups aren't supposed to play in the water. Well when I get "grown up" I'll quit! I'll let todays generation stare at televisions and smart phones. I'll play in the swamp!

On 12/19/2022 at 11:48 AM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Excellent news, and here's to a quick and successful surgery!

 

Picked a good time to do it, apparently all the fish are having hand surgeries in our area too ?

So far so good! Right hand coming along better than the left and seeing as how I’m right handed anyway might can get a cast or two in before too long. ?

 

@ScottW

 

Those poor, ol' paws are gonna heal up and soon you'll be back romping with the bass. 

 

25 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

at televisions and smart phones

 

Thank goodness they're staring "at televisions and smart phones." More bass for us!

 

I like hearing about how similar our childhoods were, how growing up in swamps and woods translated to a joyful life on the water and in the woods.

Went back to a pond I haven’t fished in a year. They were all over the june bug UV Speed worm, only if I dead sticked it and let it sit for 20-30 seconds. ..

 

 

Mike, that first bass sure looks like a Maine bass, built like a black-backed bulldog. I love your smile, Mike. You look like you've seized the day.

 

32 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Mike, that first bass sure looks like a Maine bass, built like a black-backed bulldog. I lover your smile, Mike. You look like you've seized the day.

 

Thanks Katie.  The fish in this pond have the same general color as my lake . 

Like we discussed before, the water is somewhat stained but not close to murky. It’s generally clearer in the summer when the abundance of weeds helps.

Yeah, I had to leave the fish biting to meet a friend but I’m thinking about heading back out to the same pond when it thaws out from the deep freeze we’re fixing to get !!

1 hour ago, N Florida Mike said:

Thanks Katie.  The fish in this pond have the same general color as my lake . 

Like we discussed before, the water is somewhat stained but not close to murky. It’s generally clearer in the summer when the abundance of weeds helps.

Yeah, I had to leave the fish biting to meet a friend but I’m thinking about heading back out to the same pond when it thaws out from the deep freeze we’re fixing to get !!

Musta been a hek'ava friend to leave that bite!

Don't know if I have any of those! HA!

20 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Wait ~ Run that by me again . . . 

A-Jay

Dang that made me dizzy.?

Caught a 8-9 inch shiner while bream fishing . Tossed him out… maybe a minute…

BOOM !  

23 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Caught a few on a cold day for Florida… They bit Red shad culprits and pumpkin yum dingers .

 

The pattern on that last one!

 

7 hours ago, ScottW said:

So far so good! Right hand coming along better than the left and seeing as how I’m right handed anyway might can get a cast or two in before too long. ?

 

Man you weren't lying brother, those mitts gonna be good as new in no time.

 

Heal up soon, and milk all the TLC you can from the wife, and new doggie ?

38 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

Caught a 8-9 inch shiner while bream fishing . Tossed him out… maybe a minute…

BOOM !  

Dang Mike, killing it.

 

I just discovered I have at least some populations of wild Golden Shiners in my lake, caught an 8" one last week.     I so wanted to use it as bait, but haven't really looked into how best to fish them.   Not wanting to kill a big fish, I need to learn how to use circle hooks with them.  

 

They look like the absolute perfect big Bass bait now that I've seen a big one in person.  

34 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Man you weren't lying brother, those mitts gonna be good as new in no time.

 

Heal up soon, and milk all the TLC you can from the wife, and new doggie ?

Dang Mike, killing it.

 

I just discovered I have at least some populations of wild Golden Shiners in my lake, caught an 8" one last week.     I so wanted to use it as bait, but haven't really looked into how best to fish them.   Not wanting to kill a big fish, I need to learn how to use circle hooks with them.  

 

They look like the absolute perfect big Bass bait now that I've seen a big one in person.  

Circle hooks work fine. I use eagle claw size 1 plain shank hooks sometimes also.They are small, but I don’t want to ruin the action of the bait fish, which often are small bream. You could upsize a couple notches for bigger shiners…and in dark waters…

I have used all kinds of hooks and am relatively sure Ive never killed a big bass by gut hooking it…I caught this one using a cork with about 3 feet of line under it… hooked him right in the corner of the mouth…

Speaking of mansions on the lake.  My Dad was a building contractor.  He built several houses on various lakes.   Most of the owners didn't own a boat and none of them fished.   

 

My Sister in Law (my wife's sister) and her husband live on the lake I fish most of the time.  They have a pontoon boat, and a Boston Whaler.  The ' whaler has been sitting on it's trailer for years.  The pontoon is on the lake on a boat lift.  They take it up the lake to a restaurant a few times a year.  I had to repair a bunch of fuel system parts a while back because of dead/stale old gas.   Neither of them fish.    I see a BUNCH of boats on boat lifts with expired registration decals.  I'm not talking about expired a few months.  I saw one a couple weeks ago  from 2015.   

 

A guy I grew up with lives on Moss Lake (Shelby NC).  He has a pontoon, but keeps it on his trailer.  He goes to Lake Marion (Santee Cooper) a few times a month.  He takes his boat sometimes, and get's a guide other times.  He's after catfish.   He said he rarely fishes the lake he lives on.  Earlier this year I caught a 10 pound catfish on a jig, under his dock.   

Y’all know me , I’m about to go set some catfish bait out of our dock with an impending ice storm. (I’m not too far from a clothes dryer after all)

 

47 degrees right now, supposedly 7 at sunrise 

 

edit: pic added. Walked down there in sandals 

 

31 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Y’all know me , I’m about to go set some catfish bait out of our dock with an impending ice storm.

Bear in mind here that this is the “latest catch pics thread.” Posting photos of your setup, chairs, or sandals are not permitted unless there’s a fish photo of a bass. You’re setting a poor example, moderator Russ. Move along!

21 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Bear in mind here that this is the “latest catch pics thread.” Posting photos of your setup, chairs, or sandals are not permitted unless there’s a fish photo of a bass. You’re setting a poor example, moderator Russ. Move along!

Somebody photo shop me a big bass in there…….

Bass come in many shapes and colors. Some might see a chair, but I see a DD PB.

Had a lot of fun and fished for almost 6 hours with the incoming huge drop in temps.  Figure it will be at least 3-4 days before the fish recover.     

 

Ended with a magnificent sunset, but the majority of the afternoon it was drizzling, windy, and in the high 40s, low 50s.   

 

Caught 16 Bass, and 5 big Crappie.    The biggest fish was a LGM that was close to 3lbs, and a Spot that was a chunky 2lb.       Lots of just fat little fish, but no big fish.    MB 110Jr +1 and the Flashback Mini did almost all the damage.   The big LGM came off a 7" Roboworm T-Rigged.   

 

First two fish are from yesterday, rest of the action is from today.  Not to exciting, but it's not a video full of ice and snow ?

 

 

Well it's the time of year us northerners get to live vicariously through all of you lucky son of a guns! Love seeing all the pics, keep 'em coming! 

@AlabamaSpothunter, in his latest video, said, "You talk about fun!"

 

Okay, let's talk about fun.

 

Fun is watching an Alex video in winter. As @NorthernBasser said, we "northerners get to live vicariously through all of you lucky son of a guns."

 

Alex, I know we're just cyber-pals and it's presumptuous of me to request a Christmas gift, but all I want for Christmas is to hear you say, "Guys and gal...." just one time on one of your videos. 

 

33 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@AlabamaSpothunter, in his latest video, said, "You talk about fun!"

 

Okay, let's talk about fun.

 

Fun is watching an Alex video in winter. As @NorthernBasser said, we "northerners get to live vicariously through all of you lucky son of a guns."

 

Alex, I know we're just cyber-pals and it's presumptuous of me to request a Christmas gift, but all I want for Christmas is to hear you say, "Guys and gal...." just one time on one of your videos. 

 

Hahaha.....you wish is my command

 

12 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Had a lot of fun and fished for almost 6 hours with the incoming huge drop in temps.  Figure it will be at least 3-4 days before the fish recover.     

 

It was near 40 degrees at midnight. It was -5 with wind chills around -30 by 7am. Might take more than a few days for the fish to start biting here in OH!!! Keep the vids/reports coming. It'll be March before I get to wet a line again. On the upside, once the ice lid comes off, I should be able to pick up right where I left off with the A-Rig and the Esox.