bobby b.

snagged, where are you fishing to see those nasty snakes? Thx Bob

Hardly ever hang up and if so pops out pretty easily when I get behind it.

Was out for a couple of hours this morning. WT 76 deg. caught a number of fish mostly small, all short - LM and Spots. Pics representative of better fish. Spots were fat. All caught on a Trd hula on 1/4 head in about 10 fow on large chuck rock. Great morning to be out there - cloudy, cool temps, low humidity. Bob

I went out this morning because it was pretty comfortable as I have not been since it got hot. Knowing catching has been tough I got some night crawlers and hit some points around Indian Point. Caught a few in 25 fow on flat points. It was nice in that the cooler weather kept the wakeboards, skiers, etc in for a bit. As big and open as the dam area is I had one guy that just had to ski around me and show off until he fell off 50 yards from me. I had to laugh. 🤑. Bobby

Was it classified as a tornado or straight winds?

It's been awhile since I gave a report or even got on the forum to check out other's reports. This time of year I generally have the boat on the trailer and go to my favorite spots on the James or way up by 3M. This year I decided to keep the boat in my slip in the Indian Point area. I have been fishing at least 4 days per week but only for a couple hours each time - generally in the early morning or late evening. The boat being in the slip is nice in that I can fish just short periods of time. In general I have been fishing in the larger creeks. Water temperature varies from day to day depending on the night time temps - surface temperature sometimes as low as 55 and somtimes as high as 65. I been using a 3/16 oz TRD head and 4 inch TRD or a 1/4oz swim bait. My catch has been 99% keeper LM generally on chuck rock banks in about 10 fow. There is no indication that the fish are on beds or have been but it's got to be close. My neighbor has seen a few beds but I have not. My best time has been just at dark - a couple evenings I caught 8 keep LM and lost that many in less than an hour and then the next night maybe 1 or 2 or zero. I note that there have been fewer reports lately. I'm thinking Bill B. has either taken up golf or is on a worldwide tour. As you know I love duck hunting and spend Dec - Jan doing that as opposed to fishing. Duck hunting is never this easy. (see pic) Bobby

This is my favorite time of year as the deep bite is normally really good in the dam area. I've only been out twice as the duck hunting season has just ended. So far I am not finding the concentrations in the places that I am use to. The main channel is full or bait deep and the loons are hard at it. Catching a few but not as nearly good at Dock.

It is important to keep an eye on that cable because if it breaks while the motor is deployed it is tough and maybe impossible to get it back up while on the water - mine broken at the handle so I could still pull the cable to get it up. If it breaks at the other end or in the middle, the two sets of releases are not exposed. Garmin told me that you could get a screwdriver behind the releases - not true. I think that if you can get the side plate off then at least one side of the releases might be exposed. I inspect the cable often and carry a torx driver to match the fasteners on the side plates. The harder the pull, the more strain on the cable. Are you still in warranty? - thus the free parts.

I loved the commercial for the Ulterra when it first came out whereby the guy launches his boat with nobody in it, deploys the troller, hits spot lock, parks the trailer, and directs the boat to the courtesy dock and gets in. I wonder if people actually did that trusting that it would always work. Maybe if there was another boater around just in case things did not work.

You mean Ultrex?, Ulterra goes in and out automatically. How do you hurt your rib?

Where you at the James as usual?

Useful to those that troll.

Trolling motor needs to match the graphs if you want to get all the functionality out of the system. I had issues with the Garmin when updating the software even though I did it with the Garmin tech on the phone with me. After the third replacement I learned to not update the software and like Bill I have had no issues. The easy of use of the Garmin stuff is fantastic. I see new installs and boats with Ultrex (because some think they are bullet proof) and then using Garmin or Lowrance graphs. Loss of capability doing that. Yesterday I saw a brand new $130,000 Vexis set up like that. Bobby

I use the cheapest can dog food I can buy, poking lots of holes in it with an ice pick. I put the trap in my slip which is 18 fow. I can fill a large trap in 2 hours with huge dads. For reasons I cannot explain the smaller traps sold at Walmart.do not work. I bought a large trap years ago locally.

Bill told the story of the day well. I was telling Bill that my oldest daughter writes books and is a New York Times Best seller. After reading Bill’s account of the day, I think he may have a second career opportunity in retirement – nonfiction. I did enjoy the day with Bill and sharing our family stories and learned allot from the Master. Bobby