Difference of opinion

[Norm M]

This last Saturday the conditions were such that maybe 3 casts out of 25 would stay in the zone long enough to be fishable , the rest got swept away by ice floes . I fished in those conditions for a little over 3 hours and got a few fish .

 

The debate on going on the home front is :

 

Persistant and patient

 

Stubborn and hardheaded

 

Leads one to doubt your sanity .

 

Whacha y'all think ?

[Gary L]

Well I have know you for a good number of years and I vote for, "Persistent and patient", over anything else. You go out fishing to be with nature and to catch some fish and your knowledge tells you that, "Persistence and patience", will pay off with fish being caught. Then again your wife is a great cook so maybe Stubborn and Hardheaded isn't so bad a choice either.

[Jim Kast]

I don't see a box for ADDICTED, unless that would be covered under the mental health variance. Not many people would go out for a few hours under the conditions we had yesterday just to feel the tug of a few fish. Granted, if it weren't for the cast on my hand, I would have much rather been out there with you than sitting here staring at a freeking monitor all day.

[Norm M]

Gary ,

 

Looking for some fried chicken and chocolate cookies like that time she brought it out to Area 7 ? Better go with questioning my sanity . Whenever Phil calls , she just says it's the other nut on the line .

 

Of course your first answer shows you to be a man of great insight and perception .

 

Jim ,

 

Better to be on the DL now than in May or June . I've only got 4 more sessions of cardiac rehab left .

 

Addiction would be covered under the insanity clause .

[Bterrill]

I don't know Norm, the greatest minds to ever walk the planet were probably similarily addicted to their passions. It's what made them great, the obsessiveness, the painstaking detail, turning over new leaves, experiment, ask questions that not all would ask...

 

Maybe your genius is just finding answers about River Smallmouth, but this IS a Smallmouth site!

[Rick D.]

Norm,

If you didn't have the love, convict and stalwart participation for angling you wounldn't have been there in the first place.

 

Difficulties and challenges are a normal obstacle in your sport of choice. When you've had enough is when your fix is meet of waders spring a leak.

 

I had the same questions after years of steelhead fishing in frigid streams thur the winter and early spring months.

 

It was a partial fix till the smallmouth season was viable.

 

I've since learned that smallmoth bass season is ANY day ending in "Y".

 

If the water isn't hard and the guides won't freeze. GO FISH!

[Norm M]

Same type of ice conditions on the flow today , just add sub zero windchills . Got a couple to hand , missed a few more than I should have .

 

I do like to push the envelope as much as possible to see where it leads . Swimjigs haven't produced in these conditions while a bottom bouncing jig has . I think it may have more to do with the speed the jig is moving more than anything else . I can't fish even the heaviest swim jig as slow as the bottom bouncing variety . The heavier current just pulls it along faster than I would prefer and evidently faster than the fish do also . Then again maybe it's not only the slower speed but the directional change that the bottom bouncing presentation allows . If the river is not froze over by tomorrow I'm going to try checking the line like you do while fishing a float to induce speed/directional changes in the swim jig .

 

This ice flow is messing with my topwater experiment , makes it hard to present a bait . I also wonder it the topwater vibes would get lost in the "noise" of the ice floes negating thier ability to attract fish .

 

BT , I haven't messed with the chatterbait under these conditions , maybe I should give it a try as well .