Time to crank it up!

[Red Childress]

Basketball, Coast Guard testing and most of the super cold weather are over. As the days get longer, the fish will begin to move. This upcoming weekend will (officially) kick off my 2018 season. I did fish several hours back in mid-February (in shorts nontheless) with 1 solid Esox hooked and then lost.


Be careful out there and good luck!!

[ttabaleulb]

Good luck this season Red. We had open water around here toward the end of February. I am just hoping this cooler weather doesn't start to put another layer of ice on the lakes. I am defintely ready to get things rolling. My initial plan was to take the boat to the shop late next week and also get on the water for a bit after things are taken care of. However, the long term weather forecast has changed quite a bit over the last few days. I'll call it a win as long as I can hit the water before March is out.

Any new gear, baits or techniques that you are looking forward to try this year Red? I don't have much. Gonna teach myself a couple new Fly patterns to tie and I started messing with some solar panels that I take with me in the boat to help extend battery life. Other than that, I'm just ready to get back into it.


Jay

[Red Childress]

Thanks, Jay. Regarding new gear, I picked up a couple big Lexa’s and a Tranx 500 to play around with this year. I am going to focus (exclusively) on increasing speed with baits other than double-bladed tails....been curious for a couple of years so decided to commit to it as soon as the water gets out of the 40’s. Other than the reels, I will be picking up a new 10’ Croix as soon as I figure out how to get it back to PA. The 10’ rods are 1 piece and can only be purchased with an in-store pick-up.....no shipping from factory.

Good luck and may the ice stay clear of you!

[ttabaleulb]

Thats cool. I'll be curious to hear how the new reels work out for ya. I've read a lot of good things about those rigs. Speaking of burning baits, I'll never forget a few years back when it seemed that burning bucktails was the only way to get fish to hit on one trip. My brother was throwing blades, so I decided to switch things up a bit and started burning a bulldawg over a shallow weed flat. Holy crap, the action was intense. I ended up missing quite a few fish, but it was pretty awesome seeing them fly up out of the weeds and try to smoke that thing. Definitely one of those trips that will be burned into the memory bank.

Thanks, good luck with getting the 10'er to ya. Pretty soon, they are gonna have to use logging trucks to transport some of these rods. LOL