Your story's and report were interesting to read. Thanks for sharing the experience with us. I really enjoy reading stuff on the forums.

Sounds like you had a good time and caught lots of nice small mouths.

But what really interested me the most was the story about the ice on the ramp. I can relate to that somewhat. The part about sliding into the water with the truck and trailer. Only it happened to me in the summer time. The cause was slick algae growing on the ramp. I guess people taking out of the water helps the algae grow on the part of the ramp that's near the water's edge but out of the water. All I know is that I know carry a tow webbing in my truck at all times.

Sounds like I should throw in a big bag of Calcium Chloride for my winter fishing trips. That may help melt any ice on the ramp.

I think you got me thinking about how to pull out of the water slow and not bring up loads of water onto the launch ramp. Most launch ramps have grooves cut across the concrete to give you better traction but not all launch ramps have that feature. Patoka Lake has this and the Corp launch ramps on the Ohio River at Dog town and Angle Mounds have those grooves in the concrete which really helps.

You are lucky you have a four wheeled vehicle and was able to throw it into four wheel drive to stop the skid into the water.

I had a leak in my boat for a while and figured out it was a broken pipe in my live wells drain system. Every time I used the live well there was water collecting in the bottom of the boat below the flooring. I hated having any water in my boat. I searched for the leak for a few months before I finally got the live well torn apart and found the leaking PVC pipe fitting. I glue the pipes back together and stopped the leak. Most leaks I can find by filling the boat with water with a garden hose. I do this in the hot summer months and on my concrete driveway with the boat sitting on the trailer as level as I can get it. Any leaking rivets of cracked welds will soon have drops of water coming form them. I circle the leaking join or rivet with a grease pencil and then drain all the water out of the boat and let things dry out for a few days. Then I get the JB weld out or take the boat to a welder to have him weld the seams back up. JB weld works great for rivet heads that have popped of on the outside of the boat. The hole is only about 1/4" in diameter and is easily welded shut or JB welded shut. I only used JB weld one about 15 years ago when I was taking a trip to Barkley Lake and found a hole in the boat right before we left. My neighbor introduced me to JB weld that day and it saved the trip. That hole is still holding water tight after all those years. We water skied a lot during that trip so the boat was taking a pounding and the JB weld held up to the test.

Again thanks for the great fishing report. Sounds like the fish were hitting the flies at around 10 to 12 ft deep. That was the one question I kept asking myself as I read all the stories of each days fishing. Then finally at the end you answered the question on the depth.

I fished today for about 4 hours and found lots of fish at around 20 to 22 ft deep. I even got some bites on fish that were suspended at 20ft deep over 40ft of water. Those may have been crappie but I don't know for sure. I did catch one nice bass right down on the bottom in deep water. He didn't jump but sure pulled hard. I thought that I had a catfish after a while. I first thought it was just a big crappie as that was what I had been catching in this area. But it fought too hard for a crappie and was still pulling hard after a few minutes. But it surprised me when it got to the surface and was still fighting but not jumping. I guess the cold water slows them down. Did your smallie jump out of the water on this winter trip? I would not be surprised to hear of smallies jumping even in this cold water.

As for the winter gear. Surely someone makes an XXXXLarge cover all that has thinsulate insulation and Goretex coating.

I went out today and ended up sweating. All I had on was my Morton's long johns. These long johns are made with two layers. The inner layer is made from 100% Polypropylene Fibers while the outer layer is made up of 70% polyester fibers and 30% wool fibers. Even if you sweat they keep you pretty warm. The inner layer is hydrophobic and repels water or sweat and the outer layers pull the sweat toward them. The trick is to keep the outer wear open so if you exert yourself too much and start sweating the perspiration can escape and not build up inside the outerwear. My outerwear is thinsulate fibers and hydroproof outer fabric. But I am not sure what the inside of my Field & Stream's Bib and parka is made out of. I do know that it collects sweat and gets wet if you don't let it air out and do too much work even in cold weather. I also wear a socking hat made out of thinsulate and have thinsulate mittens as well. And it helps to carry a dry towel with you to dry your hands. I took out my propane catalytic heater with me today for the first time. I didn't really need it but wanted to test it out and see where in the boat it would best be placed. I used it one time to dry out one of my cotton work gloves that I wore today. It only took a few minutes to make the glove toasty warm and dry. This heater puts out 15,000 BTU/hr. They make some with two burners so that doubles the BTU/hr output to 30,000 BTU's/hr. These attach to the valve on the 20 lb propane tanks that are used on gas grills. And the burner sits on top of the propane tank. If it's windy the thing don't really heat the boat up but they will warm your hands up real good even in the wind. If my hand, feet and head stay warm then I can stay warm. My outerwear is composed of a Field&Steam Parka and Matching camo bibs. I got these at ####'s Sporting Goods Store for about 180 bucks for the set. I used thin silk like socks under some heavy polypropylene socks and then wore regular Tennis shoes. I have some nice thinsulate/goretex boots that I can wear when it's really cold outside. But I like the tennis shoes as they allow me more mobility in the boat. I don't need to fall out of the boat after tripping one something in bulky boots. But it was nearly 50 deg F this afternoon. Winds were pretty brisk. NOA Said the winds were 10 mph out of the south but they felt more like 20 mph. I only fished the sheltered areas near the ramp as it's an electric trolling motor only lake. I ended up with 5 nice fat White Crappie for the day. Started off catching them left and right and then they stopped. I used minnows for bait. Just tight line the minnows down on the bottom. It's good to feel the thumb once more before the lakes freeze over.

One guy drove up to the ramp as I got there and parked right on the ramp. He had been wanting to go crappie fishing but the lakes he fished were all frozen over solid. So he went to this pit to release the minnows. He ended up giving two dozen minnows to me. I can always use more minnows. I just purchased a new minnow bucket and 1/4 lb of chubs for the day. I'll take the ones that I don't use home with me and put them in my aquarium. I have two live crappie in another larger aquarium and I feed them minnows year round. They are my fishing barometer. If they are eager to eat then I figure the fish in the lake will be also. LOL. I go fishing no matter what though. But I do enjoy seeing if they can predict how well I will do. I do know that most of the days and times I catch limits of fish are times that the solunar table says will be good or excellent times to fish. Maybe it's a coincidence but man it sure does work out a lot of the time.

Regards,

Moose1am