Fishing West Point Lake with Ken Bearden

After fishing area lakes in two bass clubs for about 40 years, I often think I know them pretty well. But when I go to a lake with a guide who fishes one lake over 200 days every year, and has been doing that for 15 years, it amazes me how they know ever little detail of what is under the water.

Wednesday I fished West Point Lake with Ken Bearden, getting information for a Georgia Outdoor News January article. After some boat problems first thing that morning we got on the water at about ten. We tried several patterns and caught a few fish on one of them by noon so, for the next six hours, we fished that specific pattern from Yellowjacket Creek to the dam.

That morning while waiting on a friend to bring us a boat to borrow for the day to replace Ken’s disabled one, he explained there are three good patterns at West Point in the winter. One is jigging a spoon in deep water. One is swimming a bucktail through standing timber in deep water. And the third, the one we relied on, was fishing a crankbait on rocky points.

Ken told me you could catch large numbers of fish quickly on the first two patterns, but the third was a matter of run and gun, hitting as many points as possible. He didn’t expect to catch more than one or two bass on each spot, and many would not have any fish, but if you hit enough places you could get a good limit.

It worked. Ken landed six largemouth weighing between two and four pounds each and three spots weighing about 2.5 pounds each. The best five weighed about 14 pounds. I would love to have those fish in any tournament.

We also caught several striped bass and hybrids that morning casting an Alabama rig on roadbeds. They fought hard and the biggest weighed just under ten pounds. He said we could fish roadbeds and catch them like that all day right now.

We put ten places on a map, with GPS coordinates and details on how to fish them. That information will be in the magazine article. You can set up a guide trip with Ken by calling 706-884-0494 to get him to show you how well he knows the lake and how he fishes it.

What Is Ice Fishing Like In the Midwest?

Ice Fishing The Midwest

by Bob Jensen
from The Fishing Wire

There is no question that ice-fishing season has arrived early in the Midwest. For those of us who like to go ice-fishing, that’s a good thing.

I and some of my friends are going about our ice-fishing a little differently this year. It’s going to be even more fun, and even more productive. We’re going to be headquartering out of an “Ice Castle”. Ice Castles ( http://www.icecastlefh.com) are hard-sided ice houses on wheels. They’re heated inside so you don’t need a bunch of warm clothing. You can get them with as many features as you want, or as few as you want. We’re going to be much more comfortable in our ice-fishing this year. That should make our fishing more productive and more fun. But, just because our primary shelter will be in a fixed position, that doesn’t mean we won’t be covering a large area on the ice. We will. Here’s how.

Ice Castle from the outside

We’ll be headquartering in the Ice Castle, but we’ll still be moving around looking for fish that are willing to bite. Before we start fishing, we’ll drill a good number of holes around our headquarters. When the bite in the “Castle” slows down, we’ll get out and move around to those holes. We’ll keep a close eye on the depth-finder watching for fish life below our hole. If we don’t see something within five minutes, it’s off to another hole.

Inside the Ice Castle

In the past few years there has been a lot of clothing developed for the ice-angler. But if you’ve got exposed skin, like your face or hands, you’re still going to get cold, and cold is not much fun. This year, when we start to get cold, we’ll go back to our “headquarters” and warm up. We’ll keep fishing, as the Ice Castle’s have several holes in strategic locations, and they don’t freeze over. We’ll have a coffee or hot chocolate or whatever it is that the group is drinking, and maybe a hamburger or brat, and we’ll tell fish stories or whatever until we warm up again. If we see fish under the holes in the shelter, we’ll probably stay there until we don’t see any more fish. Then we’ll go back outside and move from hole to hole again until we need more warmth. This is a great way to spend time on the ice with family or friends.

Catch fish like this walleye

When you see fish under your hole that won’t bite, this is the time to experiment. The Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon is a time-proven bait for walleyes and perch through the ice and is a good bait to start with anytime, anywhere. But sometimes the fish don’t want the rattles. This is when you go to something quiet or smaller or a different color: A Forage Minnow would be a good choice, but most importantly, just try something different.

Fish in comfort

Ice-fishing is fun and it can be a great way to put fresh fish on the table. But ice-fishing also has a social flavor to it. Boys and girls of all ages really enjoy just getting out together. They have fun trying to get a fish to bite, but they also enjoy hanging out with each other in an environment other than a living room. Ice-fishing is a bit of an adventure to some. Headquartering out of a warm shelter while ice-fishing isn’t a new concept, but it is gaining in popularity in a big way. There are a good number of places across the Midwest where you can rent an Ice Castle for a day or a weekend to experience this style of ice-fishing. I’m guessing that if you try it once, you’ll want to do it again.

To see the newest episodes of Fishing the Midwest television go to fishingthemidwest.com. Visit us at Facebook.com/fishingthemidwest

Should I Join A Bass Club?

Yesterday (Saturday, December 6, 2014) the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished their last tournament of the year at Jackson. Today the Spalding County Sportsman Club and the Flint River Bass Club are fishing a two club tournament at Jackson to end the year in both those clubs. The point standing winners for the year in all three clubs will be decided at this tournament.

I love bass club fishing. In 1974 I joined the Sportsman Club and four years later joined the Flint River club. I have missed very few club tournaments in the 40 years since I first joined a club. It is strange, I never was competitive in anything. I never played sports, don’t like games much and just don’t compete.

But after fishing my first bass tournament in April 1974 I was hooked. There is something that attracts me to competing in a sport that is supposed to be reflective and calming. I like that I am not really competing with others, I am competing with the fish. It really does not matter how others do, it depends on how I do.

All three clubs will start new years with January, 2015 tournaments That would be a good time to join a club and see how you like it. Dues range from $60 a year which affiliates you with BASS to $75 to be in the FLW federation. If you join the BASS federation you also have to pay dues to BASS. The FLW dues include annual membership in it.

Consider joining a bass club next year.

Gun Control Buzzards Never Change

Written back in 2000 this shows gun control fanatics never change.

I lived on a chicken farm while growing up. We had 11,000 laying hens, so I got an early education about gathering eggs, washing and grading them and other jobs that went with having that many chickens.

One of the jobs I hated most was hauling off the dead chickens. Several died each day, and for years we carried them to the corner of a field several hundred yards from the house and dumped them under a big pine tree. Putting up to ten dead chickens in a feed sack and dragging it that far was no fun.

I did learn a lot about buzzards from that chore. They would light in the big pine every morning just after sunrise and wait on a free lunch. They went somewhere else to roost at night, and I can still see the group of them leaving late in the afternoon, circling as they rose higher and higher, then heading out to their night time roost. The next morning they would reverse the process, flying in high and then circling as they dropped down to land in the tree.

That area stunk, and for years I thought it was the smell of dead chickens. I only killed one buzzard in my life, one I happened upon in the woods while hunting. It was at the base of a tree and obviously sick, so I shot it. Looking at it close up, I found out buzzards are very ugly – and they stink! I guess it is the carrion they associate with.

Those buzzards in the pine tree were very lazy. All they had to do was sit in the tree all day, waiting on us to bring them chickens. They did not have to hunt for food, it was delivered. And they were safe since we left them alone.

Each time a gun is misused and a child is killed, Clinton and his cronies remind me of those buzzards. They seem to sit there waiting until there is a tragedy and then gleefully proclaim the need for gun control that tragedy shows.

The last incident of a six year old shooting another six year old at school is used by Clinton to call for safety locks, waiting periods at gun shows and other assorted laws on the gun banners wish list.

I do not understand how anyone could say those laws would have had any effect. The kid that did the shooting lived in a crack house where drugs were used and sold openly. He lived with a 19 year old uncle and was so well taken care of he slept on the floor anyplace he could find room.. His father is in jail and his mother admitted on TV that it was her fault she never saw him or took any time with him.

The gun he used was stolen, as was another gun in the house. I guess Clinton and his flock believe a crack dealer would steal a gun and leave a child safety lock on it. What they really believe is all guns are bad and should be banned. If not, they would enforce the laws already on the books!

There are a wide variety of numbers used to promote gun control. Clinton saying 12 children die each day from gunfire is not the same kind of lie as looking into a camera and telling a bald face lie to the American people, and it is not the same as lying under oath in court as he did, but it is not truthful.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 10 of those 12 “children” Clinton perches over were 15 to 19 years old. I do not consider a 19 year old drug dealing gang member that is shot while trying to sell drugs a child! And I do not think any law passed will have any effect on those kinds of deaths.

According to the National Safety Council, there were 4100 accidental drownings in 1998, compared to 900 accidental firearm deaths. Where is Clinton on this issue? There were 41,200 deaths related to motor vehicles. Does Clinton not care about the thousands of children dying from those causes?

My car has a bumper sticker that says “My President is Charlton Heston.” Maybe after the next election I will not be ashamed of the president of the United States.

By the way – why didn’t Gore mention gun control laws when he was fund-raising in Georgia along side a democratic Governor who opposes almost all kinds of gun control laws? In my opinion, it is all politics!

Can Idaho Sockeye Salmon Be Restored?

Once nearly extinct, endangered Idaho sockeye regaining fitness advantage

Sockeye salmon

Contributed by Michael Milstein, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA
from The Fishing Wire

Endangered Snake River sockeye salmon are regaining the fitness of their wild ancestors, with naturally spawned juvenile sockeye migrating to the ocean and returning as adults at a much higher rate than others released from hatcheries, according to a newly published analysis. The analysis indicates that the program to save the species has succeeded and is now increasingly shifting to rebuilding populations in the wild. Biologists believe the increased return rate of sockeye spawned naturally by hatchery-produced parents is high enough for the species to eventually sustain itself in the wild again.

“This is a real American endangered species success story,” said Will Stelle, Administrator of NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region. “With only a handful of remaining fish, biologists brought the best genetic science to bear and the region lent its lasting support. Now there is real potential that this species will be self-sustaining again. The sockeye didn’t give up hope and neither did we.”

Biologists Paul Kline of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and Thomas Flagg of NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center report the promising results in the November issue of Fisheries, the magazine of the American Fisheries Society.

These findings demonstrate that the program to save Snake River sockeye can indeed reverse the so-called “extinction vortex,” where too few individuals remain for the species to sustain itself. Some thought that Snake River sockeye had entered that vortex in the 1990s, highlighted in 1992 when the sole returning male Redfish Lake sockeye, known as “Lonesome Larry” captured national attention.

NOAA Fisheries earlier this year released a proposed recovery plan for Snake River sockeye, which calls for an average of 1,000 naturally spawned sockeye returning to Redfish Lake each year, with similar targets for other lakes in Idaho’s Sawtooth Valley. About 460 naturally spawned sockeye returned to Redfish Lake this year – the most since the program began – out of an overall record return of about 1,600.

The article in Fisheries recounts the 20-year history of the scientific program to save the Snake River sockeye. The program began with 16 remaining adult sockeye – 11 males and five females – taken into captivity from 1991 to 1998. Through advanced aquaculture techniques, the program has retained about 95 percent of the species’ remaining genetic variability, while boosting surviving offspring about 2,000 percent beyond what could be expected in the wild.

Without such advances, the scientists write, “extinction would have been all but certain.”

Spawning salmon colors

The program funded by the Bonneville Power Administration has released more than 3.8 million sockeye eggs and fish into lakes and streams in the Sawtooth Valley, and tracks the fish that return from the ocean. Hatchery fish returning as adults have also begun spawning again in Redfish Lake, increasingly producing naturally spawned offspring that are now also returning.

A new analysis of those returns shows that the naturally spawned sockeye are returning at rates up to three times higher than those released from hatcheries as smolts, and more than 10 times greater than those released as even younger pre-smolts.

The higher returns indicate the naturally spawned fish are regaining the fitness the species needs to better survive their 900-mile migration to the ocean, their years at sea, and the return trip to Redfish Lake. A salmon population must produce at least one returning offspring per adult to sustain itself. Naturally spawned sockeye have returned at more than twice that rate in some recent years, indicating that under the right conditions they can not only sustain the species but add to it.

The results also suggest that hatchery-produced sockeye may regain the fitness advantages they need to sustain their species in the wild much faster than had been previously estimated, the scientists reported. Biologists caution that the current results span only three years so far, but indicate that fitness – and, in turn, survival – can improve in as little as only one generation in the wild. “We hoped we could get returns equivalent to what you’d expect to see from a hatchery,” said Flagg, manager of the NOAA Fisheries Northwest Fisheries’ Science Center’s Manchester Research Station. “We’ve seen the population respond even better than that, which bodes well for the idea that the lakes can produce the juveniles you’d want to see to get to recovery.”

More information on Northwest Fisheries Science Center/Salmon captive broodstock programs is available at: http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/research/divisions/efs/hatchery/salmon_captive/index.cfm

Dreaming of Early Spring Fishing

Early spring fishing can be crazy

If it wasn’t for bad luck with the weather, I wouldn’t have any luck at all. Two weeks ago it was uncomfortably cold the whole day during the Flint River Bass club tournament. By the middle of the next week it had warmed up and fishing would have been great – if I had not been stuck at work.

By the time I got a chance to go fishing last Sunday, it was cold, cloudy and foggy. After a nice day Saturday I was really looking forward to a trip to Oconee for a Georgia Outdoor News article, but the weather did not cooperate. Going fishing was more fun than sitting at home, but much less comfortable!

On Saturday, I fished with Bobby Ferris from Jackson and he really made me feel bad talking about the 17 bass he caught the day before at Jackson Lake. The fish were on the shallow water pattern we would fish at Oconee, moving up into the warming water in the backs of coves.

Without the sun on Sunday there was no warming water and the bass stayed hidden. Bobby caught one nice keeper the first place we stopped that morning, but that was it. We fished until 3:30 without hooking another bass.

The places we fished will be good in March, especially after a few warm days like we had last week. I wish I could have gone back to them on Wednesday or Thursday, but I was back at work. I bet the bass would have almost jumped in the boat those two days!

Spalding County Sportsman Club members are fishing today at Jackson for our February tournament. If my luck holds, it will be cold and windy, and probably raining. Maybe the fish will bite, though. Catching fish always makes the bad weather much more tolerable!

And the tournament on Sunday:

I found out last week how much fishing with a good bass fisherman can help. Bobby Ferris had taken me to Oconee Sunday before last to show me some patterns for a March Georgia Outdoor News article. I met him through my bass club partner, Carson Browning. Bobby and Carson’s mother work together and Carson had been telling me what a good fisherman Bobby was.

Bobby took Carson to Jackson Saturday morning to practice for our tournament the following day. Either they hit it just right on the warm, cloudy morning, or Bobby’s knowledge put them on fish. When I picked Carson up Sunday morning he was so excited he could not wait to get to the lake.

Fishing for just a few hours Saturday morning they had caught a lot of big bass, including a 7 pounder and several more over 4 pounds. Carson said their best five, a tournament limit, would have weighed 25 pounds. That is the kind of bass you see caught on the TV shows!

Carson and I headed to the first spot Bobby had shown him, and we were a little disappointed to see the water temperature had dropped 10 degrees overnight. The cold night and wind had cooled the surface temperature from 60 on Saturday morning to 50 Sunday morning. That is not good for bass fishing this time of year!

I did manage to catch two keepers in that cove but they were small one-pound fish. We headed to the next spot, and I soon caught a 1 3/4 pound fish, my best of the day. Since it was still early morning, I was sure I would get a five fish limit before weigh-in at 4:00! I felt a little sorry for Carson since he had not caught a fish, but not too much!

Soon after I caught my third bass Carson set the hook and started saying he had a huge fish on. He fought it to the boat and I put the net in the water, but could not see the fish because the water was so muddy. When it came close enough, I was able to net it and it was big – 9 or 10 pounds!

I was picking at Carson, holding his huge fish over the water in the net, when it gave a mighty flip and jumped back out of the net! Carson’s plug had tangled the net and the hooks were keeping it closed, so the fish was not down in it like it was supposed to be. When the fish flipped out of the net back into the water, the plug stayed tangled in the net. Carson lost his huge fish.

We both would have been real sick, and I would have never been playing with the net like that, but Carson’s big fish was a bowfin. It was the first mudfish I have ever seen at Jackson, and it was a big one! I really did not want it in the boat, anyway!

I guess that changed Carson’s luck. He caught five bass before I landed another keeper! He ended up winning the tournament with five weighing 5-1, smaller fish than the day before but enough to win. My four weighed 4-9 for second. Kwong Yu had two at 3-8 for third and Billy Roberts’ two at 2-11 placed 4th.

Sixteen members of the club fished for 8 hours for a total of 23 keeper bass, so Carson’s guide really helped us, even thought the big bass never showed up on Sunday. I hope he can show Carson where to fish in all our tournaments this year!

Are the St Croix Triumph X Rod Cool Rods?

Just Call it the “Cool Tool”

Triumph X backs its sporty, confident looks with the performance you expect from St. Croix
from Traditions Media

St. Croix’s new Triumph X rod series

Park Falls, WI (November 24, 2014) – Even in fishing, style sells. In a sport where product performance should be the ultimate measure – even the deciding factor in sealing the deal at the cash register – looks do matter. Regrettably, some rod makers prey on this premise by putting “lipstick on the pig.”

Fortunately, there are proud, legacy manufacturers like St. Croix Rod who embrace the coolness factor while never succumbing to cheapness.

While visually alluring, even radical in appearance, St. Croix’s new Triumph X rod series owns its price-range in quality and performance. But long before the vibrant, airbrushed colors visually distinguish Triumph X from surrounding rods on the rack, technology and decades of advanced St. Croix engineering underpin its stature.

Beneath the striking burnt-orange and purplish-black façade is an SCII graphite blank that begs to accompany a more expensive rod. But at a hundred bucks, Triumph X is a triumph in blank construction at a reasonable price.

Component wise, the Triumph X features an EVA split-grip handle – again, a feat for the dollars. Split-grip practitioners embrace the progressive design’s balanced casting, comfort and lessened overall weight. Triumph X users will appreciate said benefits, which were once reserved for more expensive rods.

Fuji® DPS or ECS reel seat with black hood(s) complement the blank cosmetics while providing all-day casting comfort. Hard aluminum-oxide guides set in distinctive black frames support casting distance while holding up to the rigors of the sport. And this while precision-wound thread-wraps are safely situated beneath two coats of Flex Coat slow-cure finish.

All 12 spinning and casting rods in the Triumph X series are cultured for outstanding strength, sensitivity and hook-setting power. And amongst those dozen members are select rods for targeting bass, walleyes, pike, panfish and whatever else swims across your path.

Backed by a 5-year warranty and St. Croix’s celebrated Superstar Service, your affordably priced Triumph X rod doubles as a capital investment.

The Triumph X series is designed and engineered in Park Falls, Wisconsin, and handcrafted in St. Croix’s advanced facility in Fresnillo, Mexico. They retail for $90 to $100.

About St. Croix Rod

St. Croix Rod is a family-owned and managed manufacturer of high-performance fishing rods headquartered in Park Falls, Wisconsin with a 65-year heritage of USA manufacturing. Utilizing proprietary technologies, St. Croix controls every step of the rod-making process, from conception and design to manufacturing and inspection, in two company-owned facilities. The company offers a complete line of premium, American-made fly, spinning and casting rods under their Legend Elite®, Legend® Xtreme, Legend Tournament®, Avid Series®, Premier®, Wild River®, Tidemaster®, Imperial® and other trademarks through a global distribution network of full-service fishing tackle dealers. The company’s mid-priced Triumph®, Mojo Bass/Musky/Inshore/Surf, Eyecon® and Rio Santo series rods are designed and engineered in Park Falls, Wisconsin and built in a new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Fresnillo, Mexico. Founded in 1948 to manufacture jointed bamboo fishing poles for a Minneapolis hardware store chain, St. Croix has grown to become the largest manufacturer of fishing rods in North America.

Winning A Club Tournament At Lake Lanier With Spotted Bass

All three bass clubs in Griffin are wrapping up their tournament years in the next couple of weeks. Both the Flint River Bass Club and the Spalding County Sportsman Club have one tournament in December, a two club tournament at Jackson Decemher 7th, and the Potato Creek Bass Masters have their last one at Jackson on December 14th.

Potato Creek fished at West Point two weeks ago. They had nine fishermen competing and they caught 29 keepers weighing 48 pounds. Pete Peterson won with five bass weighing 13.47 pounds and had big bass with a 5.65 pounder. James Beasley was second with five at 9.67, Bobby Ferris placed third with five at 7.49 and Raymond English was fourth with four bass weighing 4.54 pounds.

Last Sunday ten members and guests of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished at Lanier. We landed 24 bass weighing about 51 pounds. There were two five-fish limits and two people didn’t land a 14 inch keeper. All of the fish caught were spotted bass.

I won with five weighing 10.72 pounds, Kwong Yu was second with five at 9.57, Niles Murray came in third with three weighing 7.42 and had big fish with a 3.83 pounder and Russell Prevatt was fourth with three at 6.51. We had five spots weighing over three pounds each.

For some reason Lanier usually kicks me down. I have a hard time catching keepers. Lanier is so different from the other lakes we fish, with clear water and deep water patterns, they I just can’t figure it out. But I did ok at two November tournaments by fishing fairly shallow. Niles Murray fished with me two weeks ago in the Flint River tournament and caught the first two bass in about eight feet of water, showing me they could be caught shallow.

Sunday was rainy, cloudy, rainy, windy, rainy, cold, rainy and we had thunder and lightning. Did I mention it rained? I found out at noon my water proof boots weren’t, and by 1:00 I was squishing in them. That made the last two hours of the tournament uncomfortable. I actually came in thirty minutes before the tournament ended, a first for me. I usually cast up to the last second!

I started on a rocky point where Niles and I had started and where I had caught two throwbackw two weeks ago. On the corner of a dock that came within 20 feet of the point I hooked and landed a solid 15 inch keeper on a spinner bait at 7:20. At least I wouldn’t zero this Lanier tournament.

After that I went to a nearby hump where Niles and I had caught four keepers but never got a bite, even though I tried four different baits on four passes around it. On the next point I caught a barely 14 inch long keeper on a jig head worm at 9:40 and felt even better.

Then I went back to the first point I fished and landed my biggest bass, a 3.08 pound spot, on the jig head worm at 11:30. I had got hung up on the rocks right on the bank and got my bait free by going to the bank in the boat. Then I caught the big one by pitching the worm to the end of the dock right where the first bass had hit. The bait never hit the bottom but started swimming out. I thought I was too close to it in the clear water, but I guess not.

Jigging a spoon is usually good this time of year so I went to another hump with brush on it that Ryan Coleman had shown to me a few years ago. There were fish on it, I could see them on my depth finder and caught two ten inch spots, not good since fish in a school are usually about the same size. I tried the bridge pilings on Browns Bridge, usually another good pattern, but never got a bite.

Thunder started rumbling and I could see flashes from lightning, something I really am scared of on the lake. I ran back to the point near the first hump I had fished and was able to stay near the bank and cast out on it, thinking the trees within a few feet of me would attract the lightening from my lightening rod graphite rod in my hands. The very first cast I caught a three pound spot so I fished the next two points the same way, very slowly, .

At 2:15 I went back to the first point, pitched to the end of the dock caught a solid keeper. That gave me my limit and I my cold feet really started bothering me. I worked around the point then back to the dock and caught another keeper in the exact same spot, culling the second fish I had caught.

I could not believe I caught four of my six keepers from a spot about a foot wide. On one cast I felt something like a small limb hung up on the bottom in that spot in about six feet of water. I guess that is what attracted the bass.

After culling my smallest bass it was 3:00 and although I had 30 minutes left to fish I decided to go in and get some dry shoes. Everyone else had already come in except Raymond and Niles so most of us were ready to get dry!

What Is Special About Late November and December Fishing?

Fishing in late November and December can be special. But it can be very variable, too. One day you can fish in a short sleeve shirt, a couple of days later you need a snowmobile suit. But fish often bite and big bass seem to feed more this time of year.

Some folks say you are crazy to fish in the winter, that it is too cold. But it is never too cold for some of us. And if you dress right you can be comfortable even on the most miserable days.

There is something special about sitting in a bass boat, watching your breath steam as you wait for a tournament blast off. Then you pull down your face mask and take off, so you don’t even feel the bite of the cold air while running down the lake at 50 plus mph. Encased from head top to toe tip, you are warm.

The biggest problem is when you stop and try to fish. There is really no good way to fish and keep your hands warm. I have never found any gloves I could wear that both kept my hands warm and allowed me to cast or feel my rod. Switching from a spinning reel to a bait casting reel every 20 casts or so seems to help, and hand warmers in your pockets allow you to warm your hands, or one at a time while holding the rod with the other.

You need to fish slowly in cold water anyway, so you can cast out a jig, put one hand in a pocket while it sinks, and move it with the rod tip while still keeping that hand in your pocket. And you can even move your jig by moving the boat slowly with the trolling motor without ever taking your hand out in the cold.

Everything on the water seems to be more intense this time of year. The smell of a fire on the bank is so nice it seems to warm you a little and invite you to get closer. Without all the pleasure boaters around the sounds you miss in the summer are noticeable. The splash of a loon diving. The lap of small waves against your boat. The scurrying of a squirrel on the bank. All are enhanced.

I will never forget one cold December tournament at Jackson. Soon after daylight it was a little foggy, making the water almost surreal. I was in a cove in Tussahaw Creek and could smell pine straw burning on the bank. Then, from a cabin, came the haunting melody of a blues song. I have tried for years to find out what the song was so I could get it, but it probably would not sound so sweet under other circumstances.

Even the birds on the bank and over or on the water seem more colorful. A cardinal hopping from shoreline bush to bush is the brightest thing in sight. A mallard drake with his bold green head is stark contrast to the steel gray color of the water. And a seagull’s white body stands out against the sky and water, and you watch it carefully to see if it dives and points the way to feeding fish.

Until the winter rains muddy the water fish are much more colorful, too. A spotted bass hooked in clear water shows sharp contrast in its green markings and black belly spots. Even a largemouth seems to have more defined markings.

Bass fight hard until the water gets extremely cold, too. A spot hitting a crankbait will make you swear it weighs five pounds until it comes into sight and proves to be a two pounder. I think spots hit at full speed, almost always going away from you, and that intensifies the jolt.

Hybrids and stripers feed much better in cold water. Hook a six pound hybrid or a 12 pound striper and you will wonder if your tackle can hold it. And it won’t if you don’t have your drag set right to let line strip off your reel against their hard runs.

Crappie feed and you can catch a lot of them on minnows or jigs. They don’t fight as hard as some fish, but no fish tastes better than a crappie caught in cold water, cleaned quickly and cooked within hours of being swimming in the lake.

You are aware of the dangers though. Your heavy boots and insulated clothes will pull you under fast if you fall in. In addition, the heavy clothes and boots make it more likely you will stumble or trip in the boat and fall in. And the ice water will cause your muscles to stop working very soon after falling in, even if you can somehow stay on top. That is why I always wear some kind of life jacket in the winter.

Even with the problems and dangers fishing in the winter is well worth it. I will be on the water while other folks watch football by the fire. I would have it no other way.

Internet Routers and Other Computer and Phone Hardware and Software

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I have had a Linksis 2.4 GH router for many years. Recently I got a Windows 8 computer and everything worked fine with my old computer on Windows Vista. WHen my wife got a new computer, a Dell like mine with Windows 9, every time she turned it on it crashed our router. We are ordering the router below to see if that solves the problem – Dell says it can’t be the computer! We will see.

Update – I ordered the router below and received it in two days. It works! I have two Dell Windows 8 computers, an old Dell with Windows Vistas, a Dell laptop with Windows Vistas, a Samsung netbook computer with Wiondows XP and a Lexmark printer all running through it and it is handling them all fine. And it seems faster!

Lexmark printer ink I use.

I dropped my IPhone 4s and broke it so I upgraded to an IPhone 5. Of course the power cords from the 4s don’t work so I had to order new cords. I had plenty of the USB plugs for outlets and cigarette lighters so all I needed were the cords and they are not too expensive.

I also put my new phone in an Otter waterproof case. It costs $90 at the Verizon store – should have waited to get it from Amazon! I am on the water a lot so waterproof is important. Of course, if I drop it in 30 feet of water the phone wills still work but I could not get it back but if I fall in with it in my pocket, or get soaked in a downpour, the case should protect the phone.

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