@PhishLI that hurts just looking at the photo. I’m glad you’re alright. I’ve shot myself with a few nail guns in my day

so I kind of feel your pain.

26 minutes ago, Eric 26 said:

I’ve shot myself with a few nail guns in my day

Funny you should mention that. Last night on the way home I was thinking of the time I was hanging crown and had a 2 1/2" 15 gauge nail hit something hard then curl back out and blow through my thumb. I patched it up and kept going. I was thinking that this couldn't be much worse, but yes it was. My last grasp for inspiration came from thinking about civil war soldiers having limbs sawn off without the benefit of anesthesia. Those were real men. I thought of them, called myself the P word, then got it out.

@PhishLI Yeah I did something similar, I just bought an 18 gauge trim nailer loaded it up with 2-1/2 in nails grabbed a scrap piece of trim and proceeded to put the nail clean through the trim and my pointer finger on my left hand. Asked the wife to pull it out for me and her response was “you’re an idiot and I’m on the phone with my mom” ?

@PhishLI: Fingertips are the worst. The. Worst! They're nothing but nerve endings, which they have to be for our hands to be useful. I once slipped a fingertip into an electric hedge trimmer because I was balancing on a ladder on a slope trimming a high hedge. At the ER, as the doctor was stitching it up, I started leaking tears, which is unusual for me, as I tend to take pain well.

 

I apologized to the nurse and she whispered into my ear, "There's nothing worse than a fingertip."

 

That moment where you're hooked and the bass is still hooked is a scary one, isn't it? I've never had it happen to me, but I've talked to guys who were hooked and connected to a musky. I think Satan will use that on the Tenth Circle of Hell if he ever gets around to building it.  

1 hour ago, PhishLI said:

Got on a little roll last night with the Livingston Bullnose working it through high weeds. Had a feeling things were about to really get going but then I caught a treble to the bird during the crazy shake, fully buried through the bend and connected to an angry bass. Too dumb to use my fish grippers, but wise enough to always carry sidecutters, so I didn't end up driving home with a bass riding shotgun mocking me all the way. Had about a 1/16" of the point popping through and was able to cut around it with an Xacto blade, then grab it. I nearly quit a few times but gave myself one final pep talk, bit down, grunted Raaaaa!, then twisted that sucka out. My dog covered her eyes. It's remarkable how much force it took. Very unpleasant. Yeesh. I hope I've finally learned my lesson.

 

42 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

That moment where you're hooked and the bass is still hooked is a scary one, isn't it? I've never had it happen to me, but I've talked to guys who were hooked and connected to a musky.

I’ve had it happen more than once with small northern pike and treble hooked lures. They are very slimy, they often swallow the lure, the wiggle and shake, and there isn’t much to grab. I catch a lot of them too. I have a snag proof glove I’ve been using more to prevent this but sometimes I honestly forget to use it.

 

Never had it happen with a muskie. Could be disastrous if it happens on a larger fish. Usually there is more to grab because they are bigger.

Mostly sunny and 87 degrees this afternoon, but wanted to make a quick pass on a micro lake and test out a #straightbraidbrigade approach in some heavy Chara for comparison sake (to my normal fluoro setup). Was able to swing on 4 decent bass and hooked up on all of them. Hoping to take the setup out again tomorrow on a larger place with even heavier weed growth as a further test. Forecast is for about 10 degrees cooler and a bit more cloud cover, both of which would be appreciated.

 

59 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I’ve had it happen more than once with small northern pike and treble hooked lures. They are very slimy, they often swallow the lure, the wiggle and shake, and there isn’t much to grab. I catch a lot of them too.

 

Small northern pike are the most dangerous fish I've ever boated. They save all their energy for mayhem in the boat. 

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Small northern pike are the most dangerous fish I've ever boated. They save all their energy for mayhem in the boat. 

Blue Cats will do that.  They'll fight like heck for a few seconds then just turn into dead weight.  Once you get them in the boat they come back to life with a vengeance.   I took a fin to the bone in my foot last year dealing with one.   Since then I've started dragging them beside the boat until they "come back to life".  I want them tired when they get in the boat.   

 

Whatever kind of situation you get into, fishing or otherwise.  DON'T PANIC.   Be mentally prepared.  Do the best you can to ignore whatever pain you're in until you have the situation under control.  

46 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Small northern pike are the most dangerous fish I've ever boated. They save all their energy for mayhem in the boat. 

I try not to even BRING them aboard lol

 

Its like trying to grab a toothy snake covered in stinky slime that’s shaking with a treble hook lure attached. #dangerous

The only few times that I have gotten hooked were by a fish while trying to get the trebles out but not past the barb. I have gotten a ewg hook in my ankle before while wading barefoot and fishing lol. The fish was running towards me in the water kicked up a bunch of debris in the water and I knew that it was getting close to me and then I felt it, that was very awkward. Trying to reach down and get the hook out of my ankle and keep my rod out of the water all while the fish was on the hook, good times. Luckily I don’t have much meat on my bones so that made it easier.

Got a couple right when I came home from work. First spinnerbait bass in my pond. Both about 2lbs+. 

 

For me today my best bite was on mean 2lb fish in the primrose mats on a Googan creature bait. My best fish of the day was a 5.4lb that inhaled a senko.

With the wind tonight and clouds all day I thought it would be a spinnerbait bite. I fished one for a good while to stay with nothing but a pickerel to show for it. Started pitching slow and fast baits, some other moving baits, and some frog work. Nothing doing. Went back to my original thought but downsized and went straight white instead of perch/bluegill.  The next hour and a half managed three with the biggest right on 3#. 

Finally got another chance to get out to the lake...been kinda sparse which is weird for me but thankfully I've been getting rewarded when I can go. I went for a brief time Sunday but the crowd was a bit much. Otherwise I haven't fished since last week's 7lber.

 

Started off with the ultralight and got a decent crappie. Another 7lb bass at the same ole same ole...though, this time on a texas rig. Then a little 2.5-3ish guy and the bite stopped...topwater got totally still. Evening done. Great 60 minutes. I do believe the 7lber is the first texas rig bass I've ever landed - I've thrown that plastic elsewhere this year rigged similarly at this lake and had swipes...I was searching furiously for it earlier in the day oddly enough ?‍♂️?‍♂️

48 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

Finally got another chance to get out to the lake...been kinda sparse which is weird for me but thankfully I've been getting rewarded when I can go. I went for a brief time Sunday but the crowd was a bit much. Otherwise I haven't fished since last week's 7lber.

 

Started off with the ultralight and got a decent crappie. Another 7lb bass at the same ole same ole...though, this time on a texas rig. Then a little 2.5-3ish guy and the bite stopped...topwater got totally still. Evening done. Great 60 minutes. I do believe the 7lber is the first texas rig bass I've ever landed - I've thrown that plastic elsewhere this year rigged similarly at this lake and had swipes...I was searching furiously for it earlier in the day oddly enough ?‍♂️?‍♂️

Excellent 

Streak goes on! These count for Thurs 6/22. Some nice night fishing going on. Got 4 tonight, biggest being 3lbs exactly. First one was on a speed worm and the 3 after that were on 3.5" swimbait. 

 

3 hours ago, thediscochef said:

Finally got another chance to get out to the lake...been kinda sparse which is weird for me but thankfully I've been getting rewarded when I can go. I went for a brief time Sunday but the crowd was a bit much. Otherwise I haven't fished since last week's 7lber.

 

Started off with the ultralight and got a decent crappie. Another 7lb bass at the same ole same ole...though, this time on a texas rig. Then a little 2.5-3ish guy and the bite stopped...topwater got totally still. Evening done. Great 60 minutes. I do believe the 7lber is the first texas rig bass I've ever landed - I've thrown that plastic elsewhere this year rigged similarly at this lake and had swipes...I was searching furiously for it earlier in the day oddly enough ?‍♂️?‍♂️

 

Whoa! Two sevens in a row!!!

15 hours ago, PhishLI said:

Funny you should mention that. Last night on the way home I was thinking of the time I was hanging crown and had a 2 1/2" 15 gauge nail hit something hard then curl back out and blow through my thumb. I patched it up and kept going. I was thinking that this couldn't be much worse, but yes it was. My last grasp for inspiration came from thinking about civil war soldiers having limbs sawn off without the benefit of anesthesia. Those were real men. I thought of them, called myself the P word, then got it out.

You can hold it together way more than me, man.  A couple Thanksgivings ago I was drilling into some brick.  Drill bit snapped as I had all my body weight behind it and I put the bit smack dab through the middle of my hand.  Only thing that kept me from passing out was the fact that I had the presence of mind to grab the sink as I was about to hit the floor and that kept me awake.  Luckily I somehow missed all the important stuff in that area of my hand.  I blame it all on having kids.  Ever since my wife got pregnant with the first I'm way more sensitive about anything like that.  Before kids I would have been trying to examine what makes up the inside of my hand and trying to complete the drill job without heading to the doc lol.

 

Congrats on all the fish and staying calm and collected

If I had a youtube channel, Russ gave me a title for the newest video drop.

 

NEW PB takes yellow fishing STRING here there and EVERYWHERE

 

Yesterday a lot of things lined up just right and I got to get on the water with @TnRiver46 and our homeslice Bobby. I found myself without adult supervision, as SWMBO was out with a girlfriend that had passed through town. Russ and Bobby were nominated as my babysitters.

 

We had a good break in the rain, and a whole bunch of dirty brown water with nobody else on it. Couldn't ask for better.

 

Things started normally enough. I tried a few things playing with different presentations, but I wasn't really feeling what I had going on. So I decided to quit playing and tie on my problem solver. 

 

 

Caught a skipjack and a few little smallmouth…

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then things got weird. Felt a bump and had the least drum-like fight I've ever had out of a drum. It gave us the business.

 

 

And that's a fun-packed day of fishing with my boys. 

 

Then I felt another bump. We didn't know what it was for a while, but we knew it was not happy with us.

 

I didn't track how long it took to get this last fish in on a 6lb leader and a #4 hook, but I can tell you that it took all three of us to close the deal. It wrapped me up in the trolling motor, and Russ got that loose. Then it dragged me under the boat. Then it shot off the other direction. Then it wrapped me up in the transducer, and Bobby had to get that loose.

 

If we weren't all three laughing fit to bust, it may've been over a little faster, but…finally, the fight was over.

 

 

 

 

A 35" blue cat, on a ned rig, attached to 6lb line, on a medium-light spinning rod. It slimed me, but it was worth it.

 

 

I'm still laughing. What a day.

 

5 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Whoa! Two sevens in a row!!!

Shocked me for sure lol 

I'm having a good month ?

4 minutes ago, galyonj said:

 

A 35" blue cat, on a ned rig, attached to 6lb line, on a medium-light spinning rod. It slimed me, but it was worth it.

 

THAT is a feat of skill and teamwork...may not be the intended species but that's a monster for 6# line, regardless

4 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

THAT is a feat of skill and teamwork...may not be the intended species but that's a monster for 6# line, regardless

 

Bro I could not have got it in without them. Not a chance. All I could do was let the drag do its job, keep pressure on the fish, and kind of make gentle directional suggestions until the tantrum was over.

 

It was absolutely hilarious.

@galyonj’s catfish footage. The video didn’t start until after the fish had already wrapped the line all around the trolling motor and the transducer.

 

I ought to put that little jighead in a shadowbox. It's earned it. lol

47 minutes ago, galyonj said:

I ought to put that little jighead in a shadowbox. It's earned it. lol

The 1/8oz micro chatterbait I used for a similar sized blue cat sits on my desk lol