Mars viewing 17 days past opposition

I was viewing mars in a 6" APO, 1000mm,  17 days after opposition (Oct 30).   Much too bright without some filtering for me.   I was viewing at 250X (4mm televue radian) on a night of good seeing.     I tried yellow filters to no benefit, it just did not cut down on the brightness enough.   Mars is still at -2.2 mags.  A 23A did the trick for me.   With the 23A, after adjusting for the very large decrease in brightness, I could make out most major details including the polar cap, albeit very small at this point.   Most features I was seeing in an imaging setup were viewable as I studied the image.