Shad_Master

Thanks Rhino - I just copied this to my club's forum as well.

Tell your Mom - you don't go to school to learn what you already know, you go to learn what you don't know.

You don't have to worry about braided line getting kinks in it that will break later on - go ahead and pull on it. One trick that I have learned to cutting down on "professional overruns" with braid is to make sure you lay the line on the spool as tight as you can. This keeps it from getting buried.

Well they just announced the "Pros" that will be appearing at the Council Bluffs, IA store for the Spring Fling - for the third year in a row we are getting a couple of Walleye Fishermen. Wonder why they don't change the name of the store to Wlleye Pro?

There are Cabellas and BPS stores about equal distance from me, but I will go to Cabellas only if I have to. Why? Because I have gotten such bad information from them on more than one occasion - example: I was looking for Power Worms one day when the Fishing Manager told me, "Oh, Berkely has stopped making Power Baits - they are only making GULP! now". There is a Dick's even closer to me, but they have such a limited selection of fishing stuff, it isn't worth the effort.

I just noticed this new article on the front page. Wow, I've been doing this for years - never knew it was a "new technique" - thanks for the article. Wonder what the feedback will be?

I was watching an episode of Bass Pros the other evening where Edwin Evers was setting out brush piles. I though I heard him say that using GPS waypoints was not alway accurate because the government might not be releasing them or something like that. Haven't had time to go back and rewatch this, but wondered if anyone knows what he meant by that.

I had a question about my cell phone and saw this thread. Thought to myself, there might be something here that would help me or I might be able to piggy back on the discussion ---After reading two pages, what I was able to get from it was "wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah..." It must be my age, but none of this made any sense to me at all. Maybe I will rent a 10 year old to help me with my cell phone.

Had trouble with snapping turtles - yes, but not what you think. My son discovered a whole herd of turtles trying to cross the road down near the pond in our housing development. They apparently had just hatched and were headed toward the water. Eight of them. He was afraid that a car would come along and run over them, so he got a container and brought them home. He set up a hapbitat for them and has been tending to them the last few months. They are about the size of a silver dollar. The problem? They stink to high heaven. But still, it will be interesting to watch 'em grow.

Since my club works on the catch-measure-picture-release method, weight is usually not something that I am tuned in to. I always carry a measure board, but usually estimate and think in terms of a "limit of Missouris" vs. a "limit of club fish". (Missouris are fish that are 15" or over).

Standing on the bank flinging a crank bait - felt a bite but he came off right away - casted back - same thing - 3rd cast, let the fish have it for a few seconds before setting the hook - when I got him in, he had 5 of the six hooks in his mouth - couldn't lip him, so I grabbed him around the mid-section - started taking out the hooks - got two out and he flopped and slipped down catching me between the thumb and index finger, burying the hook clear up to the bend. Got the rest of the hooks out of the fish's mouth, cut the line, gathered up my other two rods/reels and tackle box - when I got to the truck I couldn't unlock the door 'cause my keys were in the left front pocket (lure was in my left hand) - had to reach all the way around to finally get the keys - drove to the ER - the admitting nurse almost fainted. The doctor came in a took one look, left and came back with 4 med students to observe how he removed it - left with the lure in a specimen cup. Continued to catch fish with the lure until I snagged it in a brush pile and lost it

There is yet another article on another website (rhymes with C.A.S.S.) that says that they are currently going for $150 on e-bay and knock-offs are running $30 - $40 each. There apparently is a 5 week backorder for the oginals. WOW!

Well, I am glad that Bill Wilcox finally answered that question (see the article on the front page) - now we won't have to wonder about that anymore

I've been married so long I don't even look both ways before crossing the street anymore.

Its good to have a hobby and there is nothing wrong in pointing out obvious, provable mistakes - but let me tell you about something that an old fella once told me. This guy was not a big time celebrity but people knew him whereever he went and would take the time to talk with him. One day I asked him how be got to be so popular. He said: "Never back a person into a corner so far that they can't get out with losing their dinity". This has become words to live by for me.

I devote at least 20 minutes to every fishing day to throwing a buzz bait - once the sun is shining on the water surface, I put it away. The one I primarily use is one that I picked up in a bargain bin at a local tackle store - have no idea who made it or where I can get another one - but it is great. It has two arms with double blades on each one - they counter rotate giving the lure lots of commotion on the surface. Black, btw - but I have also caught 'em on white - always use a trailer hook!!!

Actually there is a post on that other website that always seems to get deleted on here that Ray made his call for a polygraph on 9/8/11. His reasoning is that this would provide credibility to Wllman's position that he intended this as a joke or establish once and for all that he intended to cheat.

I've never been lucky enough to catch a 7#'er, but I have bumped it a few times. In each case, it was on a soft plastic lure (Lake Fork Ring Fry, Senko and Zoom Ultravibe Speedwork). Most of my fishing is done in Nebraska and Iowa where 7#'ers are rare.

Last week while pre-fishing for a club tournament my partner and I found the water to be very muddy on the upper lake and stained all the way down to the dam. He recalled reading an article that said that blue was the last color to fade out in the spectrum and died on a brush hog with some blue in it. He immediately started getting bites. At that point I started searching through my bag for plastics with some blue in 'em and found that they would bite on most anything as long as there was some blue. BTW, the tournament was won on a black/blue jig. Coincidence? Who knows.

Several years ago while I was living in the Kansas City area, I was doing a project at the house that caused me to have to go to the hardware store several times throughout the day. Early in the morning I saw a guy setting up to sell sutffed animals out of his van while in a wheel chair. As the day went on, I saw lots of people stop and even thought about stopping myself to help out this poor guy sitting out in the sun on a hot day doing the best he could do. On my last trip to the hardware store, I was at the stop light and noticed he was packing up his leftover merchandise and was feeling bad that I hadn't stopped, when all of a sudden he stands up, folds up the wheelchair and drives away.

Zoom swinning chuncks

I moved from Kansas City to Omaha when I was 42 years old and lived in an apartment for a time until my wife could join me and we could find a house. The local electic company told me I would have to have a co-signer even though I had a letter of employment from a major business. Needless to say that young lady and I have never exchanged Christmas cards. It ain't like you can go to the electic store across the street, they got you over a barrell and they know it.

They are awsome in the weeds and in off color water - try alternating your retrieve from slow to bunnin it. Also, for "deeper" water (especially in the Spring) try a pump/jig retrieve - pull it and then let it settle down pull it again. PS - don't throw them anywhere close to wood - they are a wood magnet

Okay, thanks guys - I guess my biggest concern was that with the small hook there would be more of a tendency for the bass to swallow the hook - I guess I'll have to try it and see.

I typically use 3/0 and 4/0 hooks for most of my soft plastic fishing (which by the way is my main technique) but I have a hard time getting the smallies to lay flat on the hook - wondered if I downsized if there would be any problems. Thanks.