Fitty's Angling Ramble 7.0

[HairyScandinavian]

sup fellers

Congrats, 44! Enjoy your new found love for lack of sleep and strange smells emanating throughout the house all day.

Noa, I finally broke down and hit the grocery store on Sunday (drove extra far to avoid the walmart supercenter) but before that I wouldn't even drive by a store. You're a brave man.

[Nainoa]

She finally gets to eat today and so far she has kept everything down so no more feeding tube. She is also off of o2 and her levels have stayed in the 95+ percentage

So has the O2 levels being low and the feeding issue just been a product of her being a little early?

My wife's family has a habit of delivering early, but of course they won't give me any background info because I'm just an idiot male who doesn't need to know these things, and I'm only 48 pages in on my expecting father book!

Glad to hear she's improving!

[Nainoa]

sup fellers

Congrats, 44! Enjoy your new found love for lack of sleep and strange smells emanating throughout the house all day.

Noa, I finally broke down and hit the grocery store on Sunday (drove extra far to avoid the walmart supercenter) but before that I wouldn't even drive by a store. You're a brave man.

I have to go into town today to cash my last commission check and pick up a loaf of bread...

I feel like some War Corresponded photographer who having seen the horrors of war and made it home alive, is now being asked to go back into the belly of the beast.

BRB hugging my knees.

[HairyScandinavian]

I have to go into town today to cash my last commission check and pick up a loaf of bread...

I feel like some War Corresponded photographer who having seen the horrors of war and made it home alive, is now being asked to go back into the belly of the beast.

BRB hugging my knees.

At least you're going back after the major battles have been fought and everyone's in cleanup mode. Just get a snowplow attachment for your truck to scoop the bodies off the road.

[Nainoa]

Snaring rabbits in snow would be awesome!

I was thinking more along the lines of stalking around out there with a 22.

I mean in a half hour walk we saw 5-6 rabbits that we could have easily gotten a shot on.

It was cool to be out there stalking around seeing fresh tracks and getting dialed in on what's living back in that woods... Other than 9 million rabbits... The Neighbor's jacked up barn cat appears to be making a living in there... And it looks like a large fox is poking around out there from time to time.

Did not see one damn sign of deer!


I think it will be really cool that in a couple of winters I'll be able to take my girl out there and teach her the different kinds of animal tracks. Currently working on plans for where I want to install a sweet ass sledding run (I've got 2 small hills on the property) and even thinking about building a little skating rink.

[Nainoa]

At least you're going back after the major battles have been fought and everyone's in cleanup mode. Just get a snowplow attachment for your truck to scoop the bodies off the road.

Yeah and at least I'm going to Town and not "The City."

I gotta get my head out of my ass on the weight in my box. It's not so much that I have an intelligent plan for adding weight during the winter as it is I just threw a bunch of heavy stuff in the box of my truck and drove off in a blizzard!

[lhprop1]

Snaring rabbits in snow would be awesome!

She finally gets to eat today and so far she has kept everything down so no more feeding tube. She is also off of o2 and her levels have stayed in the 95+ percentage

Congrats on the pup, 44! 40-50 years ago, she could have been in some real trouble, but the whole "western medicine" craze has really made some advances. She'll be running around in no time.

Learn me on snaring wabbits. I've got a bunch of hasenpfeffer running around my back yard and they're driving my dog nuts. I wouldn't mind snaring a few of them for lunch. Only problem is that the neighbor has a couple of rabbit-sized dogs that he lets run off leash.

[Nainoa]

Congrats on the pup, 44! 40-50 years ago, she could have been in some real trouble, but the whole "western medicine" craze has really made some advances. She'll be running around in no time.

Learn me on snaring wabbits. I've got a bunch of hasenpfeffer running around my back yard and they're driving my dog nuts. I wouldn't mind snaring a few of them for lunch. Only problem is that the neighbor has a couple of rabbit-sized dogs that he lets run off leash.

My mom used to raise rabbits and trade the neighbor meat for butchering them for her.

My Uncle used to trap them religously for food and then I think he also tanned the hides and sold them to places that make jackalope mounts or what-have-you.

I don't know a lot, but I can remember going out with him as a little boy after a fresh snow and following the tracks so you could either figure out where their den was and/or see where a good choke point was. Then he'd alter the brush to help coral them where he wanted them to go etc...

He always talked about how if you don't find those spots you're opening yourself up for a "Whole mess of trouble."

[Nainoa]

Well... Ice is up on every body of water I've seen... Including the RIVER

The whole River, for 10 miles, of the drive into town was iced over... The only open spots I could see was where a guy put his sled through and his sledmates Roostered around him tearing up a section of the ice.

I'm sure with cold temps and low wind the small bays on the lakes north of me will be solid enough to fish by this weekend.

[lhprop1]

Well... Ice is up on every body of water I've seen... Including the RIVER

The whole River, for 10 miles, of the drive into town was iced over... The only open spots I could see was where a guy put his sled through and his sledmates Roostered around him tearing up a section of the ice.

I'm sure with cold temps and low wind the small bays on the lakes north of me will be solid enough to fish by this weekend.

The river is iced over, huh? That sounds like a place a guy could hide two bodies. Better than, say, in your basement.

[Nainoa]

The river is iced over, huh? That sounds like a place a guy could hide two bodies. Better than, say, in your basement.

Nah... Spring just brings the thaw... April Showers bring May's downstream corpse piles!


My buddy and I are going to tentatively plan a trip to Alexander on the 7th or 8th figure the bays will have 6-9 inches by then... The temps up here for the next 10 are all in the upper 20's... The only time it gets above freezing is forecasted highs around 34-36 degrees on Saturday through Monday...

But a couple of hours above freezing isn't going to do anything to an ice sheet that's sealed up.

There is a chance of some Flurries called for on Saturday... But as long as it isn't a big snow event we'll be okay.

Just gotta hope we don't see some stupid 10 inch snowfall BS like we had 2 years ago right at ice up, which slowed the ice down for weeks!

[lhprop1]

Yeah, I have a buddy who lives on a city lake here and he said they've already got 1/2" out there. I fished it a bunch last winter with just tip ups and every time we went out, the flags were flying left and right. Lots of action, nothing over 35', though.

On that thought, this is what I was doing last week.

[HairyScandinavian]

You caught a little Jack, nice fight eh?

Where's all that at? Looks friggin beautiful.

[lhprop1]

You caught a little Jack, nice fight eh?

Where's all that at? Looks friggin beautiful.

It was a hell of a fight on spinning gear. It was in Belize, off Caye Caulker.

We were going for tarpon and/or permit, but we didn't see a single roll all day and only and handful of loner permits cruising around that were gone before we could get our line in the water.

About 30 min before we packed up, a school of them came right under the boat. Right after I got this one, the dolphins came in and chased the rest of the school off.

[Nainoa]

Yeah, I have a buddy who lives on a city lake here and he said they've already got 1/2" out there. I fished it a bunch last winter with just tip ups and every time we went out, the flags were flying left and right. Lots of action, nothing over 35', though.

On that thought, this is what I was doing last week.

]

Nice...

Yeah I couldn't believe the river froze over already... That's pretty rare this early.

It was open on Thursday... Then the snow froze everything down.. And Friday night it was solid.

[44hunter]

So has the O2 levels being low and the feeding issue just been a product of her being a little early?

My wife's family has a habit of delivering early, but of course they won't give me any background info because I'm just an idiot male who doesn't need to know these things, and I'm only 48 pages in on my expecting father book!

Glad to hear she's improving!

She was full term so no issue with that. The docs used the vacuum and forceps and that roughed her up pretty good, on top of Momma pushing for an Hr.

C section is the way to go imo. Easier on both in the end

[44hunter]

Congrats on the pup, 44! 40-50 years ago, she could have been in some real trouble, but the whole "western medicine" craze has really made some advances. She'll be running around in no time.

Learn me on snaring wabbits. I've got a bunch of hasenpfeffer running around my back yard and they're driving my dog nuts. I wouldn't mind snaring a few of them for lunch. Only problem is that the neighbor has a couple of rabbit-sized dogs that he lets run off leash.

Thanks man!

Just watch where the rabbits come into the yard and where they go when spooked. They are very habitual. If you find a trail look for a natural funnel (fence,tall grass) and make it so they have to use your snare path with obvious guiding. You'll have to look up snare size for rabbits and that should weed out the small dogs. Look up the vids of using steel leaders as snares.

[jimmybimmy]

Thanks man!

Just watch where the rabbits come into the yard and where they go when spooked. They are very habitual. If you find a trail look for a natural funnel (fence,tall grass) and make it so they have to use your snare path with obvious guiding. You'll have to look up snare size for rabbits and that should weed out the small dogs. Look up the vids of using steel leaders as snares.

This, we watch where they walk through are yard. After about a week we know their patterns and wait with a .22 or shotgun.

[HairyScandinavian]

Looks like the friendly neighborhood front porch rattlesnakes are back.

[storm1507]

^^^^^Tasty!^^^^


I'll be working close to the Lake this week and will get (have) to fish tomorrow and Thurs. mornings. Brrrr, it will be in the mid 20's.

[HairyScandinavian]

Not much meat on that critter.

20's in Kentucky? For some reason I hadn't envisions Kentucky as a "cold" state. It was 48 here this morning when I hopped in the truck, almost grabbed the sweater but decided against it because the seat was nice and warm.

[Procta]

I hate snakes especially the rattle kind.

I had a nest of rattlers under my wheelbarrow this past spring. Yeah Im not the type of person who lets them walk free especially with a kid and dog at the house.

[Nainoa]

Not much meat on that critter.

20's in Kentucky? For some reason I hadn't envisions Kentucky as a "cold" state. It was 48 here this morning when I hopped in the truck, almost grabbed the sweater but decided against it because the seat was nice and warm.

Depends on what you quantify as a Cold State.

As in a state that gets winter?

In my experience for the states East of the Rockies there are basically three zone.

The Upper midwest are the cold states, because you can actually ice fish them for a significant portion of the winter. And it's basically Draw a lattitude line at Chicago... Everything North of there is a "Cold State"

Between Chicago and the Northern Border of Georgia are like "Modest Winter" states. IMO these states are actually more dangerous to live in during the winter than up here, just because of all the ice storms.
(In one week traveling through KY and TN I had one storm come through that iced up everything for a couple hundred miles... 6 days later I was driving away as fast as I could to try to escape a massive tornado that destroyed the town of Murpheesboro TN)

South of that Georgia border is basically the Sun Belt, where Winter down there is basically the bad punchline of a joke to people up here.


Out west... From what I've seen it's all about elevation.

[HairyScandinavian]

I figure mid-20's during November is pretty cold, for a Texas boy anyway. I've camped in West Texas where the lows have been in the teens but that would have been January, maybe late December. I guess when I say "cold state" it really should have more to do than just air temp, maybe keeping snow on the ground without melting and iced up lakes would be a better definition.

[storm1507]

We had 7" of snow here at the house back in Oct. In 87' (right before I moved here) we had over 30" of snow in.............April. No telling what we get here in the SE KY mtns. My house is at 1,600', the mtn I live at the base of goes to about 2,500 and the mtn just south goes to about 4,000. It makes for some interesting weather.

[Nainoa]

I figure mid-20's during November is pretty cold, for a Texas boy anyway. I've camped in West Texas where the lows have been in the teens but that would have been January, maybe late December. I guess when I say "cold state" it really should have more to do than just air temp, maybe keeping snow on the ground without melting and iced up lakes would be a better definition.

I figure if you can't ice fish, then what's the F-ing point of having a winter?

I guess there's an arguement for people who ski... But like if I lived in a plains state that didn't get enough cold to ice fish, I would DETEST winter!

[storm1507]

I figure if you can't ice fish, then what's the F-ing point of having a winter?

I guess there's an arguement for people who ski... But like if I lived in a plains state that didn't get enough cold to ice fish, I would DETEST winter!

I use to love nasty, winter weather.......when I duck hunted. Now, no thanks.

[Nainoa]

I use to love nasty, winter weather.......when I duck hunted. Now, no thanks.

My big thing is having a relatively dry December... Snow right at Ice up can really screw up an ice fishing season.

So far we've had an ideal ice up... There was a snow event when the lakes were still open... And the dump of cold locked them up just as the winds died down... So that helps grab the last of the living weeds and keep them standing up, producing oxygen and adding structure for forage fish.

Which is HUGE for going after pike and pan fish like I will be doing all winter long.

Then the longer we go without snow pack the thicker the ice gets faster and the longer those Oxygen producing plants keep standing.


If this holds up it might be a really great pan fishing season this year.

But with the warm spring we had you'd have to put my nuts in a vice to convince me to go after Walleye this winter.

[HairyScandinavian]

I use to love nasty, winter weather.......when I duck hunted. Now, no thanks.

We cross Espiritu Santo Bay down here and camp on a barrier island for duck hunting and fishing in the winter. I swear it never fails we'll have setup camp and the wind will shift coming in from the North, next thing you know it's blowing 30+ all weekend and cold as hell + humid cold which is worse than the dry cold up North. Then we get to cross 3'-4' seas and get soaked on the way back to the boat ramp and fight with hypothermia. Ducks are the freakin' devil's bait, get you in to all sorts of hell I swear.

[lhprop1]

I figure mid-20's during November is pretty cold, for a Texas boy anyway. I've camped in West Texas where the lows have been in the teens but that would have been January, maybe late December. I guess when I say "cold state" it really should have more to do than just air temp, maybe keeping snow on the ground without melting and iced up lakes would be a better definition.

I'll take a dry -10 over a humid 40-45 degrees any day of the week. That humid cold cuts to the bone.