$#%£¥ !!! ... this time of year

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DaleH

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The Fall colors sure are pretty, but :( I just HATE it when I have to pull the boat out for the upcoming Winter season. Docks are coming out of the river this upcoming weekend, as too much ice flows to leave them in, and it takes a lot for saltwater tidal rivers to freeze.

... maybe I should just move south ...
 

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I imagine it's purty up there right now. It's different down here, a lot of days in the winter are in the 50s and 60s but the summers are too hot to fish for tenderfoots like me.
 
water bouy said:
I imagine it's purty up there right now. It's different down here, a lot of days in the winter are in the 50s and 60s but the summers are too hot to fish for tenderfoots like me.
Same here. Summers here can be miserable. In the winter, it is usually in the 60s and 70s during the day. It has only snowed twice in the 16 years we've been here, and it disappeared immediately. Since they have been keeping records, it has never hit 0 degrees here.That is much better than our former life in Chicagoland.

Last year, my wife and I kayaked into the Okefenokee Swamp on Christmas Eve, and spent the night at a remote campsite in the swamp. Mid-80s and sunny, with nighttime temperatures in the 60s. It just doesn't get any better than that!

In a week and a half, we'll be camping and kayaking at George L. Smith State Park. It's going to be great!

We're really looking forward to it cooling off, though. The big fish didn't arrive last year in the creeks we fish until the last week of November.
 
Middle TN can be about the same as Georgia in Summer... I spend most of July and August inside watching TV... but the rest of the year is absolutely beautiful. September October November.... March April May... Those 6 months of usually perfect 70 degree weather more than makes up for Chicago style misery... lived there for 20 years... You should come south Dale...
 
I just spent a 16 day vacation that included a cruise from Quebec City down the coast to New Jersey. Weather in coastal towns in Maine & Rhode Island was pretty nice for us. Saw a lot of your fall colors. But I have to say the most colorful we saw was up in Newfoundland. Anyway, it was beautiful when we were there last week, but I realize things are going to get just a tad colder real soon.

I'm back in Northern California now. My son and I are heading out to the lake tomorrow and expecting a sunny 80 deg's. I was kind of hoping to see some rain but looks like we won't see any in my locale until November.
 
Seems like there are a number of we former Chicagoians on this site. I spent the first 40 years in the Northwest Suburbs. Then, I found out that there were other places to make a living, and it didn't snow there.

Tennessee is proving to be a puzzle to me now that we spend Summers there. The darn fish don't want to bite when it is "warm". All that I hear is "wait until the Fall" (which is after we return to Houston). Bah Humbug, Tennessee water temperatures considered "warm" would be a cold day in Texas. We are lucky, in that we are on the Cumberland Plateau, and our air temperatures are 7 to 8 degrees cooler than Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The lakes that I often fish are down in the valley near Chattanooga.

Dale, having spent a long time in the Frozen North, there is no way I'd waste the first 40 years if I was a bit smarter when I was younger. Now, if you like Ice Fishing and Hunting, and you just love four seasons, then living up North can be fine. I know I got a lot of quality woodworking and other inside things done in the Winters.

I really wouldn't recommend Houston due to its excessive humidity. There are other places that are more comfortable in the Summer that do not have nasty Winters as Chicago did.
 
It's funny that you guys mention the south, and fishing.

I've been in the South since 1989. For a while. I fished for a few years, like everyone else, spring and fall. Occasionally winter, but I found out quick that the hot summers do something to your body, or at least mine. In the winter after fishing for an hour or so, my fingers stop working. One occasion I stayed out too long, air temp in the 30's, wind about 10 kts out of the North, right around Christmas time. Got back to the ramp, couple other boats waiting for me to load. I got in the truck, sat on my hands for a minute and then went to turn the key. I couldn't. My fingers had no strength to do so. Guys were out behind the ramp wonder what I was doing for sure. I had to tell the one guy to get his stuff loaded because I'd be a while. Embarassing.

Honestly, I gave it up for a number of years while I was big time drag racing. I can't have two hobbies. One only took half of a day, just depends on which 12 hours of it you wanted to use. I used the evenings/nights which with a full time career left me with no time for anything else. Well long story short, a guy I work with invited me to ride along with him at the local lake, crappie fishing in the middle of summer. I was like ain't no way we'll catch anything but I guess I'll go. We got there and limited out before dark, about 4 hours we had 80 fish in the basket and cooler. They were right about 19 foot deep over a brush pile in about 25 foot water depth. So deep.

Then in 2011 another friend invited me to go trout fishing in June on a local river. Never been, always heard you had to have expensive fly rods, boats, etc. We took his little flat bottom and 2 ultra light cheap rigs from Wal-Mart. Get there, water temp is about 55 degrees. Actual air temp at the top of the ramp was about 90, but on the water it was maybe 80-ish, and fogged over. Was the neatest thing I'd done in a long time, and we caught fish-all kinds of them and many. It is a federally stocked river and a special place, so I try to go about once a month if I can.

Now that drag racing is a secondary hobby, I have learned to fish for crappie in the summer, learned to fish for trout in the hottest parts of the summer, but in the spring/fall/sometimes winter, it's crappie on a different (shallow tree-filled) lake or saugers at the Arkansas river, and that don't happen often because of the timing-usually February is the best time, which coincides to cold, windy, blustery, cloudy, rainy, nastiest weather to fish in-but that's when they seem to be biting the best. And they're good eating, about like Walleye but they don't get very big. I'm blessed with the trout streams we have here, and blessed to live not an hour from either one of them, and about 15 minutes to one of the cleanest and deepest lakes in the region where crappie are targeted year round, but mostly in the fall and spring when they're shallow. I just happened to do better from May through about October between lake turn overs.

It's funny, I'll pull up to the ramp, throw the minners in the cooler and I'll be the only boat on the water. Come back with 30 crappie in the cooler and if anyone's around, they always ask if anything's biting. Too hot, I'm going home. I been around some good anglers and nary a one ever told the whole truth. Had to figure it out on my own.

I will admit, though, that the older I get the less I want to spend hours out in the heat. That cold water stream is enticing in those hot months. A tiny bit of breeze feels like you're standing in front of an a/c duct. Really relaxing.

Rich, if there are any deeper reservoirs in your area, you might check them out in the summer months for crappie. Deep, over brush, usually near deeper water seems to be the place, at least here anyway on a couple different lakes.
 
Turbo....you are 100% correct.

For the first 3 or 4 Summers in TN. I was fishing our tiny local lakes.

I belong to a "Bass Club" here. I have NEVER done any "tournament" fishing before. I really don't like it very much. I like the guys and the camaraderie, but the lakes are not very "fertile" according to our Lakes Consultant.

Bottom line is, 14/16 boats fish in a weekend tournament. These tournaments go one every other weekend all Summer. Because the lakes are so small, 2 or 3 boats fish one of two lakes on Friday; Saturday; and Monday. Of the 15 or so boats, the top five places, after all results are in... usually weigh in about 7 or 8 lbs. Think about it. Two fishermen, Five hours on the water (each); and five fish weighing 8 lbs. That means our average weight is 1 1/3 lbs or so! Two guys fishing five hours is ten hours of fishing, for 5.... 1 1/3 lb. bass!

I'm thinking your Crappie solution would weigh in better.

Anyhow, next Summer, I will be fishing some real lakes (Chickamauga; Melton Hill; Watts) with the potential to catch FISH. I am going to fish for Stripers; Panfish; and both LM and SM bass.

I am also blessed to have the Caney Fork River just one hour away. I can wade on, or even float the lower end (near the Cumberland River) and catch trout and a number of other species. Bottom line is...I have to change my ways!

Thanks for the prodding. I needed it. The Bass Club guys are a wonderful bunch of gentlemen, but the fishing/catching just isn't there.
 
Thanks, guys for letting me know how much I'm missing :).
I was born and raised in Chicago and lived most
of my life there. Strangely enough, I didn't mind the winters much.
Then after loosing my job in 2003, a new job brought me
to Minnesota. I need to have my head examined. :(

Fortunately, my dad moved back to his home town in Tennessee.
For 1 week in the Spring (still winter in MN) we get together and fish for stripes and catfish on the
Tn river. The weather is a little unpredictable that time of year. Thunder storms can
be wicked and we've almost had complete washouts, but I usually have a great time
just spending time with my dad, son and brothers anyway.

Well, looking forward to next year. They're predicting snow today just west of the twin cities.

jasper
 
water bouy said:
What's the bracket on the transom bottom right, dale?
That is a piece of starboard (affixed ABOVE the waterline) to which a safety 'easy step' by Vance Mfg is attached. That way I had no holes in the hull below the waterline.

For $25 shipped, it was a bargain and 1/2 X 10 ... for safety on a small tin boat. Sadly, it is no longer in production.
 

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I pulled my boat of out the river this past Sunday and took the dock apart. Scrubbed the boat down on Monday and it's already in the garage. I'm glad I did it all while the weather was comfortable. I pulled the carbs off the motor yesterday to start to rebuild them so I will probably want to run it at least one more time to know it's all working correctly for next season. Looks like a rough storm for this weekend so I'm really glad I did it last weekend. The boat is still dripping out water since I pulled and washed it so that tells me the foam is most likely absorbing rain water.
 
Here's my old Starcraft yesterday (11/3). Lake Allatoona, Georgia.
Gonna be 80 on Monday.
One of our local launch ramps stays open all year.
There's a few of us diehards that bundle up in Jan/Feb.

Vlr1ztS.jpg
 
First word of post “fall” I thought you were going to complain about raking leafs.

Yea Winter isn’t fun but it takes about 95 percent of people off the lakes.
 
I lived my first years in Nebraska. At the time, it wasn't uncommon for the lakes to freeze up during the winters. Y'all in the "north" know what I'm talking about. They'd freeze up so thick that the circle track racers would put studded tires on the cars and they'd have various events on the lakes. When there wasn't anything going on, dad would take myself and my grandpa ice fishing. It's kinda cool. Built yourself a little enclosure, doesn't have to be fancy, build a fire and fish through a hole in the ice. Ice fishing can produce just as well as fishing from a boat during the summer if you know where to find them. We would wear out the walleye and perch over a deeply submerged pile of trees that were dumped there by the fish and wildlife service years prior, but grandpa knew were they were at and we'd go back year after year.

I will say this. Walleye are THE absolute best fish I've ever eaten. Not including saltwater fish of course. I certainly miss catching them, and the irony is that I live not 15 minutes from a great walleye fishery here but I've not figured out how to catch them. I got one earlier this summer while crappie fishing but lost it while trying to net it but that was IT.

Guys I work with are always going crappie fishing or bass fishing or trout fishing. I used to do the same, but found out that I enjoy it more if I just go fishing for whatever'll eat a minner, or worm, or whatever I have to offer them at the time. Sometimes caterpillars or grubs or maggots.

I was not trying to rub anything into anyone's face, but I've lived in 2 totally different climates and have found ways to adapt to both as far as fishing goes. Another popular lake over in Western Nebraska that we'd frequent was also loaded with perch, walleye, crappie, and bluegills, bass (LM & SM). Basically all popular species of game fish. We'd hit that one a couple times a year. One of the last times we went which was right around November, I recall it being nice & cold, grandpa wanted to catch crappie, so we bought some minners and got after it. I casted out a ways and about 5 min later I got a good bite, pulled in a nice catfish. Grandpa said we weren't fishing for cats so I had to throw it back. Little bit later, my mom reeled in a really nice walleye. Threw it back. I got another catfish. Threw it back. Seems like we fished off and on for about 12 hours and never caught a single crappie. Grandpa was upset. What I'd give to have a day like that again, throwing walleye back? Gotta be crazy...I keep every one of them that's legal now. Excellent table fare!

So about the bluegills....we have them here, by the billions. And we have hybrids too, and redears. Redears get pretty big and they are fierce fighters. This past summer I was at the local sporting goods store and seen they had a Martin fly rig on sale for $18, came with the rod, reel, line, leader, and a box of flies. Why not right? Took a while to learn to tie a barrel knot and then it took about 20 minutes to get the hang of casting it. That evening I headed over to my brother's house to fish his pond. It's stocked with catfish and obviously bream of all sorts (bluegills, redears, hybrids, etc). I knew they'd eat top water anything because you can throw a piece of dog food out onto the surface and they attack it like they were mad at it or something. So I grabbed the fly rig and cast out over the pond, which ain't 100' across. Soon as the fly hits the water, I hung a nice bream. I thought it was a whale! What an absolute blast, bream fishin' with a fly rod. If you guys haven't tried it, you should. Just a cheapo fly rod from wal mart works just fine. To pick a fly, look at your conditions and surroundings. Right now the asian beetles are everywhere so anything that kinda halfway looks like a ladybug will get eaten quick. About a month ago, grasshoppers. So on and so forth.

I think too many folks limit themselves to a certain species, and I find myself doing it too, but I also find myself getting discouraged if a particular species I'm after isn't biting. Normally I'll change tactics to broaden what'll eat. Local lake is on fire right now with Crappie, and they're real shallow, eating minnows and jigs. But there's days when they won't eat, so I'll run over under my favorite bridge and drop a minner to the bottom. Normally get a few catfish. Sometimes LM bass . It don't matter to me. It's supposed to be fun and even I need to remind myself of that sometimes.
 
I'd absolutely LOVE to fish saltwater someday. Fished the pier at Pensacola Beach back in the spring and had some catfish biting but I'm told they're not worth catching. It'd be even better if my dad would go, but he won't.
 

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