bilgerat

Zero. Zip. Nada. It's not a state park, the area is under state jurisdiction. Which basically means as long as you follow all posted rules - the usual about alcohol, motor vehicles, atv's, etc. you can pretty much do as you please.

Prime lake about a 15 min. drive from home. Was an old quarry years ago. Very deep, sand and gravel bottom, reeds, lots of structure. Not many like it in these parts. Best part - Big _ss Bass !! 7 #ers not uncommon, a nice fish for Jersey. Was off limits for years, the only way to get on was if you knew someone. My 'someone' owned property that backed up to it. Unfortunately, he and his family moved 10 years ago. The state has taken over and it's legal to fish now. I can't wait. 8-) My PB will come from this lake. I can feel it.

The Lady Mary went down off the coast of Cape May, New Jersey on Tuesday. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jk76JQvQKRILJxu71hQU2zRZXd6QD9757VNG1 Only one survivor. Take a moment to remember the ones that didn't make it back. One hell of a way to make a living. Those guys truly earn every dollar they make. May the ones lost at sea rest in peace. :'(

Facin' the fish

No surprise there. Recreational boating is in a nosedive. Right here in New Jersey two of the premier yacht builders in the US - Viking Yacht and Ocean Yacht - are virtually shut down. Pleasurecraft has been hurting here for a few years now. High diesel prices last year and the economy this year have all but killed it. If anything, the trend will be towards smaller craft for years to come.

Remember that 80's flick "The Great Outdoors" with John Candy and Dan Ackroyd, when Ackroyd's character talked Candy into eating the 'Ol 96er', a 96 ounce steak ? ;D The deal was if he finished it all, the entire party ate free.

On the same theme - anyone ever catch this on PBS ? I've probably seen it three times, it never gets old for me: http://www.dickproenneke.com/

Topwater - Rapala floaters, Rebel Pop R's, Spro or Snagproof frogs. Midwater - 1/8 to 1/4 oz ball jigheads, rig with Mr. Twister curly tail grubs. Inline spinners in silver, gold and black. Midwater to bottom - Senko worms, jigs with matching trailers. All of the above affordable, proven baits. No need to break the bank now , will be plenty of time for that later......

I'll participate partially with the precipitate as soon as I procure my dangling participle.

I did the Plano fishing fanny pack for a couple of years. It was OK, but this year I got this from Cabela's http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/standard-pod.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/pod-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20166-cat20327_TGP&rid=&indexId=cat20327&navAction=push&masterpathid=&navCount=1&parentType=index&parentId=cat20327&id=0042540 I got it for $25 on a blowout deal. I like it a lot. Very well made. You might want to consider a fishing vest also. It will hold way more stuff than a fanny pack. My problem with the fanny pack was you could only pack so much stuff. I always ended up wishing I had brought something I had left at home.

Similar to golf as in you need a ridiculous amount of time on the water to reach that next level, much as top golfers will hit 1000 balls a day in practice. Most guys here on this site would dramatically improve if they could fish 30 - 40 hours a week. I know I could.

A tragedy indeed. :'( Now the jackass parade begins with politicians beating the gun control drum yet again.

I have a Wal Mart cheapie that clips onto the bill of your cap. The LED'S are purple. Here's the weird thing: Trilene mono glows fluorescent green, it shows up great. Sufix mono does not show up at all. Any suggestions for a decent cap light ? Should I get one with the green LED'S ?

About a henway.....

South Jersey pretty much ice free for a few weeks now, starting to get some fish.

What, no cheese?.........

Yeah, that dead silence can be awesome. One fish that haunts me to this day likely would have been a PB for me. July, about 1am, still hot as hell out. Air not moving at all. Threw a black Jitterbug, got about 3 or 4 cranks on the reel and he hit hard. Got him to within 10' of the shore. Had his head out of the water and caught a glimpse of it. I swear you could have fit a softball down there and probably still had room to spare. A head shake later that J - bug came whizzing by my ear at 100 mph. Learned a tough lesson about keeping hooks sharp. My fault 100%, as it was an old lure with less than perfect hooks.

I've been at it a long time. It started out as a necessity because I worked the night shift for many years. I discovered early on how awesome it can be. To this day 90% of my fishing is done at night. The only disadvantage is not being able to see line tics, unless there's a full moon. That's where a sensitive rod really shines. Anyone else like fishing the 'dark side' ?! 8-) What baits/ techniques work for you ?

Out here, I've had pic's nail just about every bait you can think of. The Mepp's inline spinners previously mentioned are probably one of the top producers. Up there with them would be a 1/8 to 1/4 oz ball jig with a good old reliable Mr. Twister curly tail grub. I guess the pattern here is "reaction" baits. Pic's are like torpedoes when they're actively feeding. They seem to strike at anything that swims by. I wouldn't be as concerned with color as I would be with action. Just my two cents - Multiple treble hook baits can be quite frustrating to get extracted from one of these fish. They tend to roll quite a bit on hookup and trying to unhook multiple hooks from a difficult to handle fish can be a chore. I've often had to cut hooks away in order to get the fish back in the water in a reasonable amount of time. They actually are a somewhat delicate fish that can easily be injured. As far as handling them, I've always used a thick towel that I used in the hand I was holding the fish with while removing the hook with pliers. Trying to hold them bare handed is tricky because they are so slimy.

I've been out weekends for about the last four weeks. A lot of dinks, a few crappie and a foul hooked 8# carp that had me thinking PB until I saw what it was. BTW, the biggest bass for me so far (about 2.5 #) came on a wacky rigged 2" senko. Go figure

Post a pic of your two color turd when you're done the first bag... :

I got two good legs and arms. I'm healthy and I still love to fish. I got all I need. Ok, maybe just a few more things.........

I remember seeing them in the tackle stores. http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/adventures/1277791.html

Sa - Weeeeeeeeeet !!! Nice toad. Congrats !

Rapala originals, straight and jointed Another vote for the 'lowly' Pop R : I had found a Pop R at the lake that someone had lost. All of the color had been bleached away by the elements, leaving it an off white color that resembles ivory. Replaced the hooks and split rings, now it's an absolute killer. I just may stock up on a few and hang them on the fence for the summer so I will always have one.