senile1

I fished these a lot in the 70s and 80s. When I first started concentraing mainly on bass fishing this lure, the original floating rapala, and texas rigged worms were my go to baits. I still keep a few available and fish them on occasion. They are great in the winter as suggested by Chris. They have a tight wobble like the Rapala floaters. I've fished them like jerkbaits, used a method similar to Chris's, and I've let them drop all the way to the bottom and fished them similar to a crankbait, though, with the lip on this bait, you don't want to drag bottom or hit cover. I've caught good solid fish on these. As an additional option, I read somewhere awhile back that the original floater has a slightly better action than the countdown, and that if you add some suspendots to it you can fish it just like the countdown, but with a little better action. I haven't tried this because I always had success with the regular countdowns.

Start of Bass fishing? Let's go way, way, waaaaaayyyyy back. http://www.oldmaster85.com/history_of_fishing.htm

I'll stay away from the religious debate, but, Keithscatch, I agree with you about it being in vogue to criticize our government. I believe in free speech and the right to criticize, but the criticism these days has reached an extremely ugly level. I don't hate George Bush nor do I like everything he has done. I don't especially appreciate the democrats or the republicans as I think both are influenced too much by money. Having said that, I still support our government, no matter who is in office. These are Americans. I can agree to disagree with them. Sometimes, I may be wrong, and sometimes, they may be wrong. This doesn't mean I denigrate everything they do just because I disagree. Just because I disagree with one of our leaders doesn't make them a bad or evil person. These days, if a governmental leader does something that some people disagree with, he or she is ripped to shreds with libelous and slanderous comments. This is not needed. One thing many have forgotten is how to disagree respectfully.

Same here, RW. I don't know how I missed this one. Nice one, Flech.

I'm going out on a limb here. The soldier in the article asked, "How do you fight people who are so prepared to die? I can answer that but most of us, including me, don't like the answer. In WWII, the Japanese were willing to die to the last man. Projections of how many soldiers we would lose in taking the Japanese Islands ran in the millions. Our President, Harry Truman, decided that dropping the atomic bomb and annihilating two cities would save more lives than attacking the islands. I'm not saying we should nuke Iraq. What I am saying is that you can't defeat those who hide among civilians without killing a number of those civilians. In WWII, our soldiers did their best to protect civilians, but they weren't expected to die to protect them. So we destroyed whole cities with numerous bombing raids to weaken our enemies. Now, it almost seems like we expect our soldiers to pick out the one or two insurgents among a group of, say, 20 people and only kill them. If they can't pick them out then they can't shoot and are sitting ducks. It is high time, that Americans stop expecting our soldiers to do the impossible. I'm not saying our casualties reach the level where we need to consider such actions yet. I'm not sure where that point is because I don't have a son or daughter in Iraq. But there is a point in a war, where you have to choose whether the lives of your own sons and daughters are more valuable than civilians in another country. At that point, you do your best to protect civilians, but you don't sacrifice your mission to do so.

Here in Missouri, I will be fishing this winter, though quite a bit less than I did in the warmer months. I usually fish for largemouths because there are no smallie waters in Northwest Missouri. I think I'm going to have to do some traveling because within 150 to 200 miles of here, there are some good smallie streams in Central and Southern Missouri.

George, I have great respect for your abilities as a guide and your advice, but I'm not sure if your cold spells in Florida are much more than a chilly fall day further north. Yes, I am jealous of you guys in the South. My wife and I have plans to retire near a lake when the time arrives, but we haven't decided the location. My mind keeps drifting further south as I think about it. Beautiful fish!

I can understand your frustration, but I wouldn't allow one rude moron to ruin my view of a whole company. Any rod company large enough to sell quite a few rods is going to have a jerk . . . or two . . . or three. It's the human condition. Go over her head. Write a letter as others have suggested. If you are still getting the brush-off treatment, then I would consider not doing business with All Star. From my experience, and from what I have heard from others, this is not a common occurrence.

For those who haven't heard, Lamar Hunt, chief founder of the American Football League and Kansas City Chiefs owner, died last night. As a Chiefs fan and a person familiar with all that this man has accomplished, I am saddened. If you are a sports fan and aren't familiar with the legacy of Lamar Hunt, it would behoove you to read about him today. He is responsible for many of the things we take for granted in the NFL, such as the name of the Super Bowl, the playoff format, the two point conversion, etc. He also helped form World Championship Tennis in 1967 and has been at the forefront of establishing soccer as an American sport. Despite his wealth and the things he has done, those who knew him best say his greatest legacy was his humility and his kindness to others. Here's a link to a story about him. http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/special_packages/lamar_hunt/16234939.htm

This is a good question and a tough one for me. I think it changes with the season. When there are a lot of fish in the shallows, I've caught the most on the Original Floating Rapala. In the summer, I'd say I catch the most with a 5 inch Senko type worm. In the fall I probably catch the most with a Shad Rap or a spinnerbait. In the winter I'd say a jig, though I haven't fished a great deal in the winter over the last few years. In the prespawn period I'd say I've caught the most on a Smithwick Rogue or a crankbait. Overall, I don't know if I can give just one answer.

Tom Bass is right. We make this forum more useful to our fellow fishermen and women by posting locations of where we are fishing, and where we live, if only a general region. Common sense will tell you what personal information to withhold, and this may be different for each of us.

Stratosdadri, Glad to have you on the forum and kudos for the great work with the kids.

KUB, when I zoomed in it is focused on the prison in Leavenworth. Are you sure that's where you lived???

There may be disagreement about what constitutes a professional in the fishing ranks, but I can tell you all one thing. I am an expert at what it takes to be an amateur.

Pork can often hang on your hook barb when you try to remove it from the hook. I still use it and think it is a good trailer.

My bassboat doesn't have brakes. I know you mean the trailer, Cravenfish. 8-)

I think you're on the right track GMAN. I like Bassin' and everything I've seen from In-Fisherman is good. I have not subscribed to In-Fisherman because it is multi-species but I'm leaning more and more toward doing so. I read BassMaster and have enjoyed a few articles here and there, but it does leave much to be desired.

jbomar, Since you are in Valdosta, GA, I would guess your water temperatures are at least in the 50s to 60s. (Just guessing since I'm in Missouri.) If so, you could use a number of lures on Saturday. I'd think crankbaits in shallow water down to 8 feet would be good. Plastics, spinnerbaits, lipless cranks, jigs, and jerkbaits should be productive too. I'm not exactly sure how cold it has to get where you are at for the fish to start moving into a winter pattern. I'm sure there are people from that area on this forum who would know.

Alright, alright. I'll be talking to my wife tonight to see if she wants any gear too, so I'll be ordering in the next 24 hours. I guess we have to support you, Glenn. I wouldn't want you living on the streets.

The canal issue is an interesting one. Keithscatch, from your initial post I assumed you weren't in the middle of the canal, and I agree that one should move to the side to let other boaters through. I also agree that the other boaters should idle through if you are fishing at the side of the canal. But being the sh%# disturber that I am, I like to think of situations where this may not be easy to do. For instance, you're fishing the middle of the canal and you just hung into the Mother of all lunkers. A speeding boat is closing in fast and wants to get by. What do you do? And what does the speeding boater do? Shouldn't the boater see that you are hooked up and back off to let you play the fish? Shouldn't you try to get of the way as well? For safety's sake I'm going to get out of the way, but I'm going to be playing that fish the whole way.

I thought about that when I made the post, Hale. I know that Michael Jordan wouldn't have been able to do commercials if he wasn't a pro basketball player. To me, and it's just my opinion, it doesn't matter. If he is doing both, he is both. It doesn't mattter how he got there. There are a number of examples of people having two occupations. Politicians and laywers, politicians and doctors, politicians and crooks , burger fryers and dishwashers . . . . . . Fred Thompson of Tenessee acted in a number of films while he was a United States Senator, etc, etc, etc. What you are is what you are. The path you took to get there doesn't change what your are.

I by no means was coming after you on that or anyone for that matter. Maybe he was in the wrong I wasnt there. I was jsut pointing out that we are sometimes quick to judge and point out others lack of good judgement when 'we' are making the same mistakes. No offense taken, Hale. I thought you might have been referring to another post, but your post did make me think a little more, and I just wanted to make sure that I didn't offend any of the hunters on this forum.

So here's a wrinkle for all you guys who say that a lawyer who makes most of his income from that pursuit, is not a Pro fisherman if he makes $80,000 a year from it. And a lot of you are hung up on the W2s. When Michael Jordan was a pro basketball player there were years when he made more money in endorsing products (i.e. doing commercials.) Going by the reasoning above, he wouldn't be a pro basketball player since most of his income came from commercials. It's all semantics. Michael Jordan was both a pro basketball player and a company spokesperson. The lawyer is both a lawyer and a pro fisherman. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet." (Shakespeare)

There isn't much I can add to the posts and previous threads. The fishing of Senkos has been covered in detail. I will add that I generally fish my Senkos on a hook at the end of some line attached to a rod and reel combo and I usually fish them in water.

Hale stated: Just to make it clear to all you goose and duck hunters out there, I wasn't necessarily saying the hunter was wrong. This is the quote from my post: I moved out and allowed the hunter his space since he was there first (also stated in my post). I just wondered where the line should be drawn, one way or the other. With regard to my situation, the hunter appeared to be hunting out of season anyway, but I was curious if any of you knew how such a situation should be handled from both sides. I do hunt, but not waterfowl, so this post wasn't meant to bash hunters.