Soup for the Soul...and Trim

Got to the ramp bright and early just past 6, so I could get bait just before sunup.  Damn tilt was frozen again, and I spent over an hour trying to get the motor down.  I wasted all my hot chocolate and chicken noodle soup pouring it on my tilt unit to get it to unthaw, no luck.  Finally some elbow grease loosened it up enough.  Went into a creek for bait and had to break ice.


I set the net about 3 times shallow and had 1 cutter.  I figured with the cold they'd be deeper, so I tied an anchor to the gill net and dropped it in about 15 feet and that was the magic number.  Pulled about 20 cutters.  (Note to self, when really cold, don't look for shad in 5 feet of water.)

The bite was really slow all day for me. I ended up with a 35# and 36#, both of which came just after setting up on a spot. Even the dink bite was almost non-existant. I'll post pics once I get home and can upload them.

36.32# - 38":

35# - 38.5":


The reason these fish get as big as they do, MONSTER appetites!

Gorgeous Sunset...Calm on the water:

Final tallly for the day:  36.32#-38", 35#-38.5", 1#!