edwin

I'll grab some orange tape before I head out today. You guys passed me a few times yesterday in the Gambler...I was fishing solo in a red / silver Bass Cat. I had some great luck with the grub, 20' of water, retrieving just slow enough to keep it off the bottom. I caught all varities of black bass, a few whites, and even a cat..all on the grub. Best spot went about 3lbs, smallmouth that went 3.6lbs, and the cat was, well, a cat. I catch a handful up shallow after dinner, but nearly all fish were in the 20' range.

Ya got me on exactly what the conditions need to be, but I'd have to bet it has to do with multiple factors that add up. I recall a summer probaby 30-33 yrs ago where we had moss / algae growing on the surface between the dock (20 stall dock that ran parallel to the shore) and the shore. It was at least 2-3" thick and just nastly stuff. No idea we had it that year and never seen it since. If I had to guess, I'd say the cold winter has something to do with it.

Not much of a cat fisherman, but the best cat I've caught was last Oct...in Aunts Creek, an on a jigging spoon nontheless! I'll see if I can get the pic uploaded. pic added

Great fish...fantastic looking BCB too!!!!

This was about a week ago, but I needed the grub about 20' to get bit up on the James.

Thanks folks...will check em both out!

I picked up a new boat in mid October and the kids (10 and 6 y/o)have been going crazy to get out and do some fishing. The cold winter and nasty weather has cancelled 3 family trips down to TR. It's an understatement to say they were jazzed to finally get down to the lake this past weekend. We were there over last weekend and into middle part of this week. We put together a pretty decent short fish bite tossing single tail grubs around the cedars up the James. To get bit, it was tough getting them to wait to let the bait sink. I think I'm personally going to keep the Yamamoto, Chompers, and Whisker jig head folks in business a bit longer...they got hung up a lot!!! We ended up having some great days on the water even with the not so perfect conditions. As the kids get a bit older and more proficient, I have almost as much fun 'guiding' for them as I do going fishing myself. My oldest won the first fish competition Youngest followed up with a lunker of her own Followed by their first double

I'm headed to Georgia and Alabama this week for a work trip, gonna take a detour on Tuesday to do some fishing at Callaway Gardens with a co-worker. Delta wants $175 fee per direction to check my fishing rods...ouch! Rather than waste the cash on that, I'm gonna pick up a new rod while I'm down there and ship it home on the brown trucks. I read some great reports on the Falcon rods. I'm thinking of adding a good, all around 6'6" MH to the arsenal. I'm thinking of picking up the Cara T7 CC-5-166MH at the moment. I'm open to / would appreciate suggestions of other models to consider. Thanks in advance! edwin

I recently picked up a couple Daiwa Fuego's that were on sale at Tackle Warehouse. I've been a long time Chronarch user, here's my thoughts on how they compare. The Daiwa seems more 'mechanical' and definitely not as smooth or polished feeling. Also, the reel is kinda clunky on the first turn of the handle after a cast. The Daiwa drag system seems very smooth and plenty strong for any of my needs. I do like the smaller size of the Fuego reel...fits in your hand nicely when tossing a jerkbait. It appears to be a well built reel, good fit and finish. All things considered, it's a nice reel esp for the price (was $130 on sale, free shipping).

any chance the silent one you picked up is a suspending model? I have some of the older Warts, all the suspenders don't rattle.

I've had 2 trips with Capt Don, and 2 with Eric Prey...wouldn't hesitate to use either one again. Well worth the money!

Only thing I'd add to the above mentioned list is a couple packages of 1/4 oz and 3/8oz tube jig heads, along with a couple packs of green pumpkin or watermelon red tubes. I like the Chompers tubes but they all seem to catch fish. Oh, can't forget a handful of Blakemore Roadrunners for when you take beginners along...especially importants as you can't fish them wrong as long as you fish em slow

Fantastic! Last year's recorded session on the winter to spring transition was outstanding. I bet I've listened to that 20 times. Thank you for the effort...it's truly appreciated.

One additional huge benefit of the most recent upgrade is the addition of the Lowrance-like color option on the sonar. With all the new down imaging pics that I've seen on this site and around the web, nearly every single one that included the sonar view was using the new colors. Personally for me, I couldn't hardly see the original HB color scheme w/o taking off my polarized shades. Fantastic improvement IMO.

My LCX 37 on the bow will pick up the signal of another unit that's a couple hundred yards away. The 60 yds you're mentioning, you'll definitely get interferenc from one another.

all of the older ones I have "Wiggle Wart" on under the lip. The newer units say "Storm" on the underside

Thanks Don. I can't wait to try it out tomorrow!

I haven't seen TR frozen in any way since I was a young kid. My bro and I played on the ice close to shore in the back of the cove. Even though it was plenty thick to support us, my dad still beat our @ss'. Great life lesson as I never went on questionable ice again.

Just rolled into town this evening, looking fwd to getting out there tomorrow. I'm planning on the McStick, spoon if it's sunny, and drop shotting for the deep fish. Weds is supposed to be windy, might be a better day for the jerk bait and possibly the wiggle wart. Looking fwd to it!!!

Thanks for the info Gents!!!!

Supposedly the orginals don't run as true as the new ones, giving them a more eradic action. I've got some of the originals and new one...don't really notice much of a difference. For me, either the conditions are good for a WW or they're not good for a WW.

I saw the post by Forsythian showing some of the Kings river arm being frozen. Anyone else had issues gaining access to the lake? Was planning on heading down today for the week, will be launching in the Aunts Creek area. Thanks! edwin

Just not a lot of folks that can afford (or justify) a $70k boat. I happened into a deal on my Bass Cat last October. 2008 Cougar FTD, Merc 250 ProXS, high end electronics, 46 hrs on it, 3.5 yrs of warranty left on the Merc,showroom condition. I did have to drive to GA to pick it up but I paid just over half of what the original owner paid 18 months prior. With a deal like that, no way on earth I could justify a brand new rig.

NO pic ---> http://www.diguniverse.com/images/medium/wintronmedium/LOW11986.jpg

My LCX 37c uses this cable to connect the GPS puck to the display unit. If you're not going to network units, this cable should be all you need. http://www.threeriversmarine.net/catalog/item/2521345/3751265.htm