18 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

Isn't that interesting.  The northern tier has their mildest, snowless winter in my lifetime and the southern tier has the coldest in nearly 30 years.

 

Most of our lakes are at least partially frozen over here now.  Some bigger, more open lakes have open water still though.

We’ve only had shallow coves frozen this year and it’s supposed to warm up nicely this weekend, I should be fishing Saturday and Sunday. I’ll get soaked with rain Sunday but that’s par for the course 

We currently have ice in some of the shallow parts of our lakes, but they're mostly open and we have a warm up coming. I'll be out Sun, Mon, Tue.

Cold foggy morning on the river. Post front, pre front, all the fronts conditions.

First fish of the day, 23" didn't get a weight, pulled off the bottom near a flowing pump with a 3/4oz swim jig.

Second and last fish of the day, also swim jig on the bottom.

Mr. Owl did not approve

Rainbow, brown, and landlocked salmon. 

4 hours ago, MassBass said:

Rainbow, brown, and landlocked salmon. 

Nice fish. The bottom looks.like a brown tho.  Tail is too.square for a salmon

10 hours ago, Nelson Delaney said:

Nice fish. The bottom looks.like a brown tho.  Tail is too.square for a salmon

Yes thanks 

Had an hour after work, caught one lost one 

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Had an hour after work, caught one lost one 

Leave it to you to go out for a quick rod bend you son of a ...  

@Jigfishn10, short days are a bummer, gotta get my fix or I’ll start twitching 

 

4 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

@Jigfishn10, short days are a bummer, gotta get my fix or I’ll start twitching 

Hahaha ... Glad you can do that ... I just got notified that my boat will be shrink wrapped tomorrow and I can pick it up at the end of the week ... you and your wife don't mind company after the holidays so I can get my fix in, do you?  

Won the 3rth place in trout war tournament and eat it after back home 😅

 

55 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Hahaha ... Glad you can do that ... I just got notified that my boat will be shrink wrapped tomorrow and I can pick it up at the end of the week ... you and your wife don't mind company after the holidays so I can get my fix in, do you?  

Bring it on down!!! She’s a helluva cook too. We’ve even got a lakehouse you are familiar with 🤣 

25 minutes ago, ATA said:

Won the 3rth place in trout war tournament and eat it after back home 😅

Whoooooaaaa! A beauty for sure! Your wife carried you thru a tourney again, huh ATA? J/K...Congrats!  

 

16 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Bring it on down!!! She’s a helluva cook too. We’ve even got a lakehouse you are familiar with 🤣 

I know about the lake house for at least 4 years and my luck you'll have me finishing all the projects you started and never finished ... NO THANKS TOM TnRiver SAWYER!  

 

PASS!

No fences need whitewashed haha

Going thru some pics from this past year. This guy was a trip to catch. Great fighter for it's size

Talk to me @T-Billy!!! Nothing since December 13th? Is everything ok???

The bite has shut down cold @VolFan. I missed one on the rig last Monday, and had one bite on a dead shad, but it dropped it before I could get to the rod. I'll be out Sun, Mon, Tue, then winter is gonna be here for real and I'll be done for awhile. 

Good luck!!

Well it’s been a while since I posted, first time I got out fishing in the past few months. I caught a small pike, no pictures of it. He did not want to open his mouth to let me get the treble hook out, so it was out of water longer than I like so that is why there is no photo. I was really surprised he didn’t bite through my super thin bfs braid. Bait was a sixth sense 1/8 line through head and a 4 inch pink easy shiner.

This time of year can be fun

Last fish of the year most likely

On 12/27/2024 at 8:25 PM, Jmurphy87 said:

Well it’s been a while since I posted, first time I got out fishing in the past few months. I caught a small pike, no pictures of it. He did not want to open his mouth to let me get the treble hook out, so it was out of water longer than I like so that is why there is no photo. I was really surprised he didn’t bite through my super thin bfs braid. Bait was a sixth sense 1/8 line through head and a 4 inch pink easy shiner.

For pike, you need a jaw spreader, and a steel leader.

Barbless hooks make a huge difference too.

 

21 hours ago, Further North said:

For pike, you need a jaw spreader, and a steel leader.

Barbless hooks make a huge difference too.

 

Very true, I hardly target them most of the time. I have the leaders for when I fish heavy pike waters. This one was incredibly stubborn though for some reason. Definitely need to look at a set of jaw spreaders when I get the money. I am sure the barbless hooks would help immensely also, thanks for the tips.

3 hours ago, Jmurphy87 said:

Definitely need to look at a set of jaw spreaders when I get the money.

Jaw spreaders are cheap:  https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-fish-mouth-spreader

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/tyrant-tackle-jaw-spreader

You can spend more, but those will get you going.  Hooks with crushed barbs make it even easier - I can usually unhook pike, and most muskies, without taking them out of the water.

...for leaders, I just tie tieable wire into my main line.

Fished for a while in the cold wind today, a little wintry mix at one point. First fish was a white bass, then a nice walleye between 21-22”.  I got 4-6 more white bass and a crappie, lost a little smallie boatside. Good start to 2025 fishing