3 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Oh I'm not trying to come across as woe is me, it's just incredibly frustrating when you feel you put yourself in the right position, and in this case the fish just won.      

I hear ya. I know all about frustration lately. My last muskie was 12/9. Been skunked the last 5 trips in a row, and 7 of the last 9. All the while, I'm looking at dozens of muskie on side scan and down scan. Lot's of follows, but can't make 'em commit. Today will be my last trip of the year. Temps are fixing to crash later this week.

 Stepping back and looking at the big picture, though this fall has been frustrating, I've had an awesome year. No complaints. I'm currently at 55 muskie over 30", with  13 of those being over 40", including the new PB in my avatar. 49 of those have come since mid August when I started targeting them outside of A-Rig season for the first time.  I also caught a new #3 LM, a new #3 SM, and a new #2 Saugeye this year, and was solid numbers wise. 

 After today, it's time to catch up on the honey-do list, service equipment, make baits, and get organized for the 24 season that'll get underway sometime in March.

 Merry Christmas to Y'all, and I hope y'all have a blessed new year.

Regarding water temperature.  I wonder how close our readings are from transducer to transducer.   The temperature reading from my Active Target transducer is always 3 degrees cooler than my 3 in1.   I've been using temperature readings from my 3 in 1 since I got my boat so it's the one I go by.  (I have it turned off on AT).   Both of my readings are very slow to change.   Yesterday my 3 in 1 read 36 degrees (the air temp) when I launched my boat.  It took a good 20 minutes for it to get up the the "real" surface temperature of 49.   I keep an infrared thermometer in my boat.   It reads the surface temp the same as my 3 in 1, but only after my 3 in 1 has had time to stabilize.   Surface temp yesterday was 49 to 50.  I checked 3 of the Bass I caught.  They were 48 degrees.   

 

I talk to quite a few people while fishing.  I need to start asking their temperature readings.   My sonar units have a setting for temperature offset, but I've never tried to get it "right".   I suspect readings my vary as much as 5 degrees from source to source.  

 

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!!

That's another great year for you, Tim. I love how broad your success is: muskies, saugeye, lmbs, and smallies. However, your musky numbers alone constitute ANOTHER heckuva year. Go, Tim!

 

10 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

should have included my technique in the video, but I just want to bomb cast that thing in 15-25fow on clean structure areas free of hard cover......let it completely hit the bottom, then begin the yo yo retrieve. 

 

The deepest pond I fish reaches 21' at one point. Otherwise, they're all 10' or less at their deepest. So, I want to try my blade baits and your retrieval in that one place with deep water. Thanks for the coaching, Alex, and congrats again on your two five-plus-pounders.

I went for a couple hours this morning.  I caught 4 deep water micro bass before I finally connected to a 3.54 pound red lipped Largemouth in 10 feet of water.   All I can find in the deep water "community holes" are 10 inch Spots.   I think they're mixed in with Crappie but I haven't thrown anything a Crappie would like.   For some reason Longnose Gar look like Spots on sonar.  I suppose it's the way they school up.   I hooked something strong for a few seconds then it came loose.  I suspect it was a gar.   Unless the weather is really nice Saturday this was my last trip of the year.  My Dad's 89th birthday is Sunday.  I'll be spending that day with him.  I've still got a lingering cough from Covid.  I suspect being out in the cold isn't helping it any.   I'm taking a couple vacation days the 2nd week of January.  I hope to be 100% by then, and back after them.   

 

14 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

First time seeing a Coyote on the lake, and man was it mangy looking. 

That thing does look awful. Guessing the pelt isn’t worth much. 😂

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

That thing does look awful. Guessing the pelt isn’t worth much. 😂

😂 Prime pelts aren't worth much these days.

Says the guy who has a wolf hat. 

.We have had drought conditions  this Fall in North Alabama, making creek fishing tough.We had warm rain moving in this morning.I knew the bass would be biting.I begged my wife to let me go for a few hours.2 hours in the rain.19 smallmouth 6 largemouth.I was ecstatic.Biggest was a 21 inch smallmouth.4.4 lbs

 

Few decent largemouth 3.6 3.8

Sorry for the bad pictures.Rain makes it tough.All caught on a small spinnerbait with indiana blade and small grey grub trailer. I would pitch the spinnerbait and allow it to simply flutter down.Keeping the line as tight as I could I would set the hook when it stopped falling.

When the rain stopped so did the bite.I did take time to watch an eagle dry itself before I left.It was definitely  a Christmas I will remember.

@Creek Pirate: Man, you squeezed a day's worth of fishing out of two hours. You must have made Santa's extra-good list!

 

I too struggle with photography on rainy days. I love that eagle shot. 

@ol'crickety: Thanks but you should know my last 2 trips to this place yielded a total of 3 fish from 14 hours of fishing lol.3 months of dry weather and it rains at daylight.It was the perfect storm if you will.I simply took advantage.👍

 

 

1 minute ago, Creek Pirate said:

It was the perfect storm if you will.I simply took advantage.

 

I totally understand. I tell my spouse that I don't decide when I fish: The weather forecast decides. And I love fishing after a long, warm front rainfall and right before a cold front storm. I also love fishing in the rain and in dark, which is why so many of my fish photos are soggy and shadowy. 

  

👍

My motto is

Never work in the rain.Always fish in the rain.

 

A Christmas miracle came to this Scrooge today!!!!

 

I’ve had eerily similar success to @Creek Pirate lately on previous days, catching a few but it takes hours. Makes sense as N Alabama is part of the same watershed. Got skunked Christmas Eve on a 3 hour tour. Today in the rain after all the festivities around 4 pm I walked between my dock and the neighbors dock in the mud (very thick mud, check the last picture ) where the lake has receded for winter pool. I was texting my brother about the upcoming eagles game and I thought I felt a bite. Hmmm. I’m tossing a Bobby garland baby shad on 1/16 oz jig with my 4’10” ultra light rod, just hoping for a bluegill to post in the other species thread 😂 

I toss back there and hook what I thought was a log that began to swim. I’m thinking carp in the tail. Then a big SMB jumps and my line is slack. I reel in and still have a clinch knot tied, the eye of the jighead wasn’t completely closed and the line slipped thru. Heartbreak beings to set in, finally got a Christmas bite and I jacked it up…….. although I was expecting bluegill 😂 

 

I only had a few baits in my pocket so I put a 2” paddle tail on a 1/16 oz minnow head (better jighead with the eye closed) and start casting . BAM! Hard strike and drag is peeling. I loosen it even more the fish is clear off to narnia and I’m running to my right in the thick wet clay trying to get out from under the tree above my head. Not my style but somehow I forgot to click to backreel! I heard the drag screaming so I just loosened it further as a reaction . The fish gets close to the bank jumping like wild, I don’t think it was as big as the first one I lost but it was certainly faster. I landed a 2.5 maybe 3 lb smallie I’m guessing , probably 18-19 inches. What a blast on the panfish setup, a true Christmas miracle in the rain

 

That was an exciting story to read, @TnRiver46! Well told.

Merry Christmas to all the filthy stinking animals, glad to see everyone's catches who was lucky enough to get a visit by Saint Bass.  

 

@Creek Pirate   Great job brother!    

 

@TnRiver46   Awesome fish on such a tiny setup, I guess you know how I felt yesterday lol.   Glad the day didn't end on the lost fish!   

 

If we adopt TNRiver46 as an Alabamian there's a trend here.   Had a huge warm rain last night, fished for about 4.5hrs this afternoon in drizzle.    Caught 20-25......15+ came in about 20 mins all in a 10ft x 10ft area, all b/t 1-3lbs.....winter fishing is just wild, then caught a pair on the new KGB 7" TSG in Threadfin.    

 

Oddly enough there was another angler and his wife out there, he asked me....."you throwing live bait?"   Even KGB fools humans 😂

As cool of a color line as I've ever seen.

@AlabamaSpothunter, I actually thought about just that haha. I’m striving to catch one single bluegill and Alex is sorting through 30  bass looking for one as big as a coffee table 😂 

 

that mud line looks like where the rio ***** flows into the Amazon 

You can see a similar, but much larger mud line where the Missouri meets the Mississippi and it lasts for several miles, where the muddy water of the Missouri flows along the clear Mississippi for a couple miles before they meld. Here it is with the Missouri on the left:

 

9 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Oddly enough there was another angler and his wife out there, he asked me....."you throwing live bait?" 

 

With the kind of fishing you enjoy in the winter, there should be lots of other anglers out there. 20-25 one-to-three-pound bass would sure get me out of bed!

Last trip of the year was a little slower than the last, but still pretty good. Biggest fish was on an A-rig. 

 

Fantastic season @Bluebasser86!!

 

I have Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday to fish Badin. Few more trips to ol muddy as well. Weather is lining up that there might just be a good spinnerbait bite 

A nearly identical line of water clarity exists when the St Croix meets the Mississippi River along the MN-WI border too.  The St Croix is significantly clearer, cleaner water.

You're right. I'd forgotten that. I've paddled the Namekagon to the St. Croix down to the Mississippi. The St. Croix gets rush hour busy near the Twin Cities. 

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

The St. Croix gets rush hour busy near the Twin Cities. 

Extremely busy in the summer time south of about Hudson, WI.  Further north it is too shallow and rocky for larger boats.

Yeah, it's whitewater up north and wakewater down south. 

Most years dec 26 is one of my favorite days of the year to fish, Christmas is finally in the rear view. Started fishing around 11am and couldn’t make anything happen on the offshore magic. Hit some docks for crappie and still nothing. Riding a 4 hour skunk I fished some vertical rock cliffs. I still wasn’t having any luck and the water started rolling pretty swiftly. I’m right next to dry land sitting in 30 feet of water and it’s 80 feet deep right behind me so I think it was a significant amount of water moving thru . I finally hooked one on a tube on 8 lb seaguar basix, decent SMB. 


 

couldn’t get any more bites there so I skipped over to a spot about 40 feet deep with swift current. I caught two in a row over there and one of them was fat, then I kept getting stuck and breaking off in the rain, took it back to the ramp. I think it was a classic TVA day when the current increased so did the bite 
 

Happy Boxing Day 🥊