Champ188

Doesn't sound weird at all. I do the same thing when sight fishing. Of course, it helps that your reflexes start slowing down when you hit 50.

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Wish I could offer some more options but gitnby absolutely nailed it as far as what Donna and I have found lately. Just gotta move around as best you can while being careful not to fish too fast in this cold water. Once you catch one, you're liable to catch several in a small area. Good luck and have fun out there. I'll be fishing this weekend in the cold and the rain.

The newer Rangers are faster than the old hulls. My 2013 Z119 with a 225 Pro XS and 25p Tempest Plus prop will run 71 (on GPS) with two people and gear. It, too, will drop about 3 mph in the heat of summer. Props bite better in cold water. Hole shot is great no matter the water temp. The factory did a really good job of setting this boat up.

I took your initial comment as skepticism, too. Obviously it wasn't. I will sometimes bend my hooks slightly open or closed. As for how tightly a fish has its mouth closed --- no, I do not understand that.

Great post, abk. The part about the tackle. LOL

Good stuff, QB. Thanks much.

LOL, Vernon. That was the Roberts guy. OK, for my tackle recommendations ... 1. You just can't go wrong 9 months out of the year (water temp 50 or above) with a good ol' 3/16-ounce shaky head and a Zoom Finesse Worm in watermelon candy or green pumpkin. Others may differ on the water temp, but I tend to notice a significant dropoff in finesse worm bites below 50. 2. A good-quality 5/16-oz finesse jig. I personally like the Bass-X or Jewel brands in PBJ/smoke or some variety of green/purple or green/orange. We use a Zoom Lil Critter Craw in green pumpkin on all of our finesse jigs. A half-ounce War Eagle or Jewel fb jig in the same colors is another favorite of ours. We typically use a Yamamoto green pumpkin twin tail (5-inch) on these. 3. War Eagle spinnerbaits in 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 ounce. I use the heavier bait only in early spring when I'm slow rolling. The 3/8 is for shallow water on windy days and the 1/4 is for calmer conditions or when the fish are finicky. 4. I sent you a PM about topwaters. Can't let the guests feed free on everything.

And patronizing spongers at that.

Not this power fisherman, but I always have 3-4 spinning rods with me.

Happy to say I bypassed that experimentation phase. Getting older has its advantages, like accepting that you don't have to come up with your own answer for everything. Dave knows the Ned Rig, therefore I am perfectly happy to use his jighead. In fact, I'm honored to use it.

Alright, now you've brought this little debate down south of the state line. Mike Anderson is about as morally corrupt as Billy Graham. Far as I can tell, the only thing he's guilty of is not being able to win on the road.

My first thought is that Russ obviously has a lot of time on his hands, not to mention some very advanced research equipment to ascertain all of that detail. My next thought would be that he subscribes to the popular theory that if you can't dazzle em with brilliance, baffle em with bullsh**.

Happy birthday, from one old goat to another.

Thanks, QB. So do you think the water temp is coming up a bit?

By gosh, gitnby, I believe you've got the makings of a jersey! :XD:

They are sold.

45 sounds about right, gitnby. Thanks

Good day and thanks for the report. Would you mind sharing the water temp, please sir? Thanks.

Good job of guiding, QB. Glad you managed to quit drinking last night in time to sober up and go fishing. Seriously, glad you guys had a good trip and that's a darn fine bass. I'm just anxious to hear what it was REALLY caught on coz we all know the Ned won't catch big ones.

Nice brownie, indeed. Donna and I are headed up tomorrow. Got new Ned heads in the mail today and am ready to get busy.

Pretty sure I've read that in the ancient Orient, domestic cats would jump from ships and swim to shore once they got in close enough.

Welcome indeed, Rob. Table Rock has a lot of fish and for 9-10 months out of the year, you can find them a lot of places. We are in that other 2-3 months right now when literally 90% of the bass are in 10% of the lake, and even those numbers might be a little bit generous. Dave (dtrs5kprs) is on the money with his post above. Just don't expect it to happen on the first place or two you stop, no matter how closely they resemble what he's describing. Donna and I are finding most of our fish right now on 45-degree banks with a mixture of softball-to-basketball-sized chunk rock, maybe with some big slab (flat) rock mixed in. Ledge rock (even bigger flat rock) doesn't hurt either, and neither does some standing timber. With the water temp in the lower to mid 40s, I wouldn't bother throwing anything but a jerk bait, Ned rig or A-rig (if you're so inclined). But that's just me. Good luck out there and keep your chin up. Don't sit in one place too long if nothing is happening for you.

Henry is an absolute piece of work. Does absolutely the same thing about laying ON me. We have a bedtime ritual of me putting 2 (not 1 or 3, mind you) fuzzy mice at the living room end of the hall. Donna then brings him a drink of water in a plastic cup, which he drinks from (and washes his feet in) on the nightstand on my side of the bed. The minute I turn the light out, he jumps down and heads down the hall for one of those mice. Once he has one in his mouth, he begins this insanely loud howling while carrying it to the bedroom, then jumping up on the bed to come drop it beside my head and get his resulting petting and praising. At that point, he may go get the other one but usually lays down between us and goes to sleep. When we wake up the next morning, both mice will be in the bed but he doesn't do all of the howling with the second one. On weekends, I might as well just set my alarm like a regular workday because if I'm not up by 6:30 a.m., he's jumping up and down on me until I get up.

I don't think I've ever been quite that mad at a groundhog.