I have been fishing my whole life and there’s nothing more frustrating than coming back skunked... seems like there’s a lot of new anglers out there looking for tips from us old guys... I have no problem with sharing information. It’s always the same questions... where they biting, what were you using for bait, how deep were you fishing, what time of day were they biting, etc... my philosophy there’s plenty of fish out there to be caught and I release 99% of what I catch... if I can help someone have a better shot at catching some fish maybe someday they will help me. Tight lines!

Well after a successful trip last week, Otto and I ventured out early yesterday morning on Lake Norman * We were on the ramp at daybreak and the sunrise on the lake was a beautiful way to start the day * Although we were constantly marking fish we couldn’t find any hybrids were feeding (at one point we were dragging 7 baits) we did manage to get into some decent spots that were pretty thick and got a lot of throw backs that were not picture worthy… here’s a couple spots that were pretty decent for spots and typical of the day. The boats going in the shop for some warranty stuff and after texting Dan these pictures, he’s going nuts… and so he’s coming up from Florida to get his boat back in the water… stay tuned! Weather forecast is taking about 80 degrees today, we may hit a record high… looks like spring is here in the Carolinas… this week anyway. * Boys it’s time to get on out there and get on the water! *

Well I haven’t had a fishing rod in my hand since Christmas when we were up at Lake Lure area and got into some nice smallmouth bass and with the forecast of a balmy 70 degree day on beautiful Lake Norman North Carolina my buddy Otto and I were getting cabin fever… we were trolling for Hybrids and got a few small ones early around 8 AM then the spot bass were damn near jumping in the boat… including several double hook ups. We mostly fished the creeks up on the NW side of the lake but then the wind picked up pretty good around noon and going thru some small white caps wasn’t any fun so we lost interest and called it a day.

I have fished LKN for 20+ years, ever since the striper fisherman "illegally" introduced blue back herring that's my go to color for all Bass.. me & Dan haven't fished LKN since November, but if you look at some of my previous posts, I always let everyone know what channel marker / depth / etc... we had the best luck with that day... there's plenty of fish in the damn lake no since being stingy on information... we will be back out end of next month maybe beginning of April... stay tuned... those are from our last trip in November 2022, we were in Dan’s Boat, that’s me in Panther cap. See you on the water!

We rented a cabin up in the mountains for 3 days in Lake Lure North Carolina met up with my wife’s sisters family down from Indiana for X-mas. My wife’s Highlander was jam packed with the 4 of us and the 2 dogs, I squeezed a couple of 2 piece 6’ spinning rods, a few baits and a pair of pliers just in case… so one morning the girls decided to go to a spa and my brother in law and his boys went hiking… so me and Ben got dropped off at the Broad River at 9:30 AM and we were told they would be back at 12:30 to pick us up. No Boat, No Wadders, never put my eyes on that stretch of the Broad River… looks like old school bank fishing for 3 hours. Scouted out a wide deep hole, if they here this is where they we be. First cast a MINI KABOOM, about a 10” Smallie hit my Mepps In Line Spinner… 3 casts later another MINI KABOOM then KABOOM 15” and then KABOOM for Ben for a 17” smallie (lousy pix of Ben’s Fish) Best part of the day was at 12:30 when the girls picked us up… how did you do? “Dad caught the most but I caught the biggest”… I had a flashback to that same conversation many many years ago with many trips with my Dad who got me hooked on fishing.. my Dad passed away a couple years ago… Merry Christmas Dad

Yes, thanks Jeremy

I was at a Christmas Party last night asking around who has an apple tree...

Wow! now that's an old school smoker... there's probably only a few of us that would really appreciate the beauty of what you have right there!

Yeah a buddy of mine got one of those pellet smokers… I can see how that would be convenient. I was talking to a guy yesterday at lunch about smoking turkey and meat, he is really into smoking stuff and he is thinking of getting one of those pellet smokers… the more we talked about it we both came to the same conclusion… old school smoking is just one more reason to be outside minding the smoker and enjoying a few cold ones…

Thanksgiving 2022

The wife and kids got me a small Weber smoker for Father’s Day a couple years ago, I smoked a Turkey for the first time last week for Thanksgiving, it was delicious. I saw some YouTube videos for making beef jerky and been wanting to try it… stay tuned!

Dan moved down here from Detroit in 2004… he was a golfer and was a push button zebco man… now he is a golfer and turning out to be quite the angler

I am pretty sure the little guy was a largemouth and the big ones were spots cause that channel marker 12 seems to hold mostly spots but we have pulled some largemouth hybrids and white bass off that same point. We tried # 6 and # 10 Rappala deep divers and were marking alot of bait fish in 5-15 foot but all those fish came off a 15’ deep diving mann in blue back Herron color

A sunny day in December on Lake Norman North Carolina. The afternoon started off slow for Dan and me… not nothing for 2 hours then about 3:30pm Kaboom Kaboom Kaboom at Channel Marker 12 up in Mooresville * PS the beverages were cold, the chips and pretzels were good and why in the heck is beef jerky got up to $10..

We were fishing in 30-40' water off points using Carolina Rigs with 1 oz egg sinker, 3' leader and live 4" Shiners on #2 Circle Hooks... that day those fish were pretty scattered and the fish we did mark were mostly at 15-20' a few near or at the bottom. We had 3 rods out per side for a total of 6 rods varying from 15' - 20' -25' deep slow trolling at less than 1 mph - Good Luck!

PS We fish for stripers and wipers pretty much the same way but with heavier rods.

No that's some fish right there... nice!