It's gotten cold here in SW MO, which should mean the fish are biting. It's definitely been a better week than it was thru any of the weeks of November, but nothing to jump up and down about.
Sunday - I went out late morning. Fished from about 9:30am to around 1pm. I was in the same spot where I've been fishing previously - tributary to the main lake off a feeder creek - for about an hour. Then I got concerned about some questionable people in the area, so I left. I went to some ledges off a bend in the main lake. It was cold. It was dreary. And nothing was biting. Not that I didn't give it the ol' college try. I went from fishing in deep water off ledges to down by some standing trunks in the deeper water, back to the ledges, then down the gently sloping 'beach'.
Monday - I wanted to go afternoon fishing, but I got a later start than I planned. I fished from about 4pm to 5pm (sunset). Cold and cloudy with a bit of wind. I froze my buns off and caught one 5" bluegill.
Tuesday - Hubs wanted to go afternoon fishing. We got out a little earlier and fished from 3-5pm. We both froze our buns off. Hubs caught one 10.25" crappie. I caught a 5-6" bluegill who swallowed the hook. I read somewhere the best way to handle that is to cut the line as close as you can and let the fish go. Supposedly the hook will dissolve or degrade or disintegrate on its own. Not sure if that's true, but I do know it definitely would've died if I tried to pull it out. We brought the crappie home and I filleted Roscoe. (Yes, I name the fish I catch. Unless there's a lot of them. The walleye was Rex.)
Wednesday & Thursday - it was too freakin' cold for me to stand on the shore drowning worms. Not that I didn't think about it Thursday afternoon. It looked so perfect outside, but man, that wind'll get ya.
Friday - I wanted to go, but life intervened and by the time all that was attended to, I was too tired to fish.
Tip: When fishing in 'freeze your nose off' weather, there are these things called 'Hot Hands'. They're little pouches filled with what feels like sand that, when shaken, cause a chemical reaction and warm up. Keep one in your pocket and warm up whatever hand you're not holding your rod with. I think I paid under $2 for a pack of four at Wal-mart. Worth the investment. Although, they don't last 10 hrs like they think they do.
Also, sometime this past week, Hubs and I did some online shopping for each other's xmas gifts. We researched fishing stuff and then ordered a variety pack of Yamamoto Shenko baits. 6 colors, two sizes of what are supposed to be the best artificial worm thingies on the market. We also ordered hooks, sinkers, o-rings*, etc. So we're outfitted for some major bass fishing when the time comes.
*The o-ring things are to hold the bait on the hook when you're rigged 'wacky worm' style. I now know what that is. Perhaps soon I won't be able to bill myself as a 'less than competent angler' anymore.
As always, have an awesome week and go drown some worms. But dress warm. Baby, it's cold out there.
It is cold, but warming up a bit. Hot Hands(tm) has saved my hands and feet at many a frozen fire scene. I've used them to warm batteries in my camera too. They are stocking stuffer staples in this house. LOL
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