J-Doc

Speaking of big ones, anyone else notice the topwater has been lax lately?

Having big ones creates fear and nightmares for some folks. Either they have super efficient digestive systems or they don't eat much because I've yet to find one with more than one minnow or at the biggest, one gizard shad in their gullet and stomach contents. Opening stomach contents is not something I enjoy and the smell is pretty rank. I always check to see if there's anything in there that doesn't belong there. Shad & minnows only so far.

Cool deal. A 30-40+ is on my bucket list. Sadly, there are not that many big ones remaining. I read it takes like 30yrs to get them that big and bigger. Way too many guides keeping fish these days.

Just for that, I'm not telling you where they are. Hold that....

I did last year. Said I wasn't going back. Not as good as it used to be. And of a small lake, boat etiquette is even worse there.

You found the pattern.

Since moving here in 2002, I've traveled twice every Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday. Not this year!! I will actually stay home. So I promised to spend some time with the wife on BF. I hope to get a new reel or some "man stuff" on BF. Plus it earns me bonus points for spending some of the day with her. If you turn your phone off, how will I know I they are biting? Lol

No idea. Many are saying same thing. I chalk it up to really odd weather this year.

I hear ya. Blackened in a cast iron skillet is my favorite.

Heavens no.........have you eat there before? I wouldn't waste good meat in meal batter.

First rumor I've heard of it. I know a lot of the major contractors in the area. That would have been talked about if it were a real project. I don't see the need since acquisition.

Hope that didn't go straight to Long John Silvers....

Stump, how many times do I have to share my secret bait with you? Chartreuse dynamite with a feathered treble hook stinger on the tail end. Doesn't always work but with the right fuse length, your chances are pretty good.

Just don't do what everyone else seems to do. See someone with downlines and then pull up near them on plane, make a bunch of noise and start fishing the same general area the other fella is doing. Or following the guide boats around. I heard the fish are a bit scattered due to a frontal condition? I was out Sunday but as anyone knows, Beaver changes daily and it's a "conditions lake". So you have to find a pattern that works for that day which makes it uber-tough. You have not been on the water in a while, don't know where to start or what to look for and you only have 4-8hrs to make the trip worth getting out of bed. I roamed around for a little while trying to graph fish and put something together for the first half hour last Sunday. Then went to my originally planned area and started looking for bait or signs of life. Then dropped lines (following original plan) and finally saw some things on the graph and got lucky and got one. Sometimes, it just takes luck and being in the right place at the right time. Currently, I have no idea where that place is. I do know what my instincts tell me and that's what I go with. Don't fish the history, fish the conditions.

I've not heard of this before. I think I have seen it once or twice though. I'm sure it's on a physicist level to explain the phenomena but since I took Physics in college........i'll step up and take a guess. Electricity at it's core stems around magnetic attraction of particles within the atomic structure and the atom itself. Negative and positive charges and electron fields, electron conduction which in itself is electricity. Having a concentrated load of electrical current running overhead could create some sort of magnetized or electrical field on a molecular level that we as humans cannot feel or sense. Bait or algae could be attracted or it could be the water itself stems to an environment that attracts a food source which in turn attracts gamefish. That's my guess. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back and "sit in my spot" (Sheldon joke).

I thought I was the resident Lowrance Nerd....I'll gladly pass the torch!

What do you mean......"AGAIN"? Does that limit to today only or yesterday?

I dont. I was getting "graph envy" and wanting to know why my sonar does not look as clear on my HDS10. :-( Jealous? Heck yes.

Guide boat has neon green noodles zip tied to console I'm guessing?

Don't that just burn your behind.....?

And that's Beaver. She laugh at me when I say fish on this lake become "target locked". They lock in on a certain bait and that bait has to act / behave a certain way for the fish to bite. They are like cats I tell ya. Watch how a cat behaves when it's watching prey or a toy. That should help you figure them out.

Photoshoped fish.... Lol!!! ;-)

Doesn't always workout with visiting family catching fish on a random trip. So that makes it sweeter.

That's what I lost overboard when I flipped a rod overboard trying to net a fish. Hadn't caught anything on it yet but had not fished it that much either. And no.........I'm not bitter about losing my rod either. (ha)

I was out Saturday morning and most folks (like me) stopped before noon. Wind was just too much for what I was fishing for. Totally shut off anything I was catching. I too never get choice days. Part of why I get frustrated with crowds. Saturday morning wasn't bad except for the dudes in $70-80k bass rigs with power poles on back running through the middle of my topwater activity. They never saw it and drove right into it on plane. Total shutdown. I just kept fishing and waited for it to kick back up and pushed away from them. By 11:30, the parking lot was thinning out.