Ratherbfishing

Country. Farm, specifically. Grew cash crops (corn, soybeans, wheat) and raised cattle.

Oh yes, I hadn't mentioned the Johnson Silver minnow or the Jitterbug. Had those too. I have a Thin Fin now (my friend did well on them so, of course, I HAD to buy one). Will have to put forth a concerted effort to use it. I've seen those (in that length) in a shallow diver but never the in a deep diver. Do they still sell them? Would LOVE to collect old plugs but the prices are getting too rich for my blood. Will have to check it out, thanks!

The older I get, the more nostalgic I am for certain lures (or "fake bait" as I called them back in the day). Some of them didn't necessarily produce that well (for me) but they were present at the beginning of my lifelong obsession with fishing and will always have a special place for me. What are some lures you have a nostalgic affection for? At the small town grocery/hardware store where the bulk of my early purchases were made (BPS, Cabela's, etc, didn't exist then-like I could have gone there anyway) there was one major requirement for a lure to be sold. It HAD to be able to hang from a rack. Little, if any, shelf space was dedicated to selling tackle. Mepps Spinners-like little jewels in their own plastic jewelry box, most of those remaining in my collection lack at least one hook (from rust) and tarnish has stolen much of their luster but when they were new,...oh! Cards and cards of Manns Jelly Worms and ring worms. Sniffing the aroma of a jelly worm was almost as good as fishing it. The ubiquitous Johnson Beetle Spin. Few starter tackle boxes didn't have at least a few of these. They were cheap and effective. When I was starting out, original floating Rapalas came in about 2 colors: silver foil and gold foil. Yep, had them both (still do-and more). The Creme worm with the old harness and propellor rig. My very first "game fish" was caught on one of these so it holds the highest prominence in my heart.

Dishes are done here, too. For soft water, anyway. We have weather moving in tonight and colder temps tomorrow and until the indefinite future.

While I'm never in a huge hurry, I don't drag the fight out much longer than it needs to be. The gear and line, size of the fish, and snaggable cover will largely dictate this. That said, I've probably lost more fish by horsing them than by playing them out. Fish which are poorly hooked or skin hooked will most likely come unbuttoned if you horse them. Tiny dinks? I don't care if they come unhooked. They're the ones which are most likely to bury a hook into my finger anyway.

That's a sweet ride. It looks very well kept and doesn't have that "old refrigerator" look to it. Finding parts might be a pain but if it was free.... Couldn't tell you a thing about it. Just wanted to say it's sharp.

About fishing. I resemble that remark.

Not Mann. Rapala. ; ) Tying direct using 6 lb Yo-Zuri Hybrid line. Don't know the length/size of the baits for certain. There is only one size for Shadow Shad Raps, though. About 3.5 inches. In ghost green color. Hard jerks to get the bait down deep(er) and then long pauses between jerks. The fish bit best while the sun was still high and bright.

Fish are funny. I'm half convinced they hold a town meeting every morning to decide what baits they prefer and, sometimes, what color they want them in. I fish two ponds which are right next to one another. Well, one is about a hundred yards away. So not far. They are not, by most accounts, much different than one another. Anyway, one is an excellent buzzbait pond and the other-only so so-at best. Who knows WHY fish do what they do?

What you've described is what makes fishing so fun and, sometimes, so aggravating. My guess (strictly a guess) is that the fish have moved (up or down in the water column or to new locations altogether) but you haven't. You MIGHT be fishing too much from memory (successes back in May). I don't think there is anything wrong at all with fishing from memory so long as it continues to work Tournament bass fishermen who establish a good pattern during practice days don't suddenly change tactics once the tournament begins-UNLESS it stops working. Then their knowledge of what the next logical steps should be kicks in and they adjust accordingly (until, hopefully, they find a new pattern). The most versatile fishermen will try to find SEVERAL workable patterns. It is rather unlikely that the fish you found in May will be in those same exact spots in July, September, or now. It's less about the lure and more about the location (most of the time).

Bass do not have a checklist they use to decide if something meets all their criteria. They are opportunistic and have a widely varied diet. It IS true that sometimes they can be locked into a pattern of feeding ONLY on a dominant or specific food source but that's not always the case. SO, if all you have are crawdad imitators, don't stay home because of it. But on the other hand, it seems more logical to me to fish baits which closely resemble the dominant food source of the area AND which appear to be injured. Give the fish some incentive to bite. In ALL cases, let the bass tell you what they want.

My number one choice would be a jerkbait fished with extended pauses between jerks (let the fish tell you how long). This bait/technique works exceptionally well in late fall and early spring. Next would be a spinnerbait fished very slowly. If you want it to go deep, use a willow leaf blade. Shallower? use a Colorado blade. Slow is key. One reason I suggest these two baits/techniques is that you can still cover a fair amount of water with them and find the actively feeding fish. Slow moving soft plastics will work, too, IF you can find the fish. Otherwise, you don't cover enough water.

Just like color, scent doesn't matter-UNTIL it does. Then it matters a lot. I can't say how often that is. Each situation is different. My experience with scent has been, I think, less about ATTRACTING the fish as it is about getting them to hang on long enough to sense the strike and get a good hook set. (Most of my experience has been with Berkley Gulp and powerbait). Glad to hear you found a solution. Don't you love it when a plan comes together?!

Second time in a row that I've caught fish using a suspending jerk bait (Shadow Rap) in November. The first day I wasn't too surprised as the water hadn't gotten THAT cold yet but by Saturday, the water temps had dropped a lot (some pretty cold nights). Didn't matter-caught fish anyway. I'm convinced the bass still want to feed but simply don't want to chase. With one exception, the bass were all caught on the jerk (i.e., the bass hit on the pause) and I felt only one actually hit. It's gotten to where I don't need to bring anything else. (First day I caught 14 bass. On Saturday, caught 11 or 12 (and one big crappie))

Too funny! I have a friend who also admits to operating for hours with his fish finder in "demo" mode. He did think it odd that the depth, bottom structure, etc. was changing a lot despite his not having moved much.

I say no but my pack mule begs to differ.

If the first floor had this, many (read as "most") men would stop there. (I didn't say we were smart)

Do they have opossums too? No roadkill game would be complete without them.

Glad to have you back (in the midwest).

Rats! But thanks for looking!

Bueller? ...... Bueller?...... (sound of crickets)

Can you find a schematic for your particular reel? That might give some clues. Does the washer have a rectangular shaped "spring" holding it in place. I'm sure you would have noticed this but just asking.

TECHNICALLY, you are under the spell of the tackle monkey (a kissing cousin to the bait monkey) but the symptoms and the prognosis are the same. Joining a 12-step group is your only hope however, likely as not, your sponsor will fall off the wagon and take you down with him/her.

They are a little heavy but for general crankbait use, a medium or medium heavy action ugly stick works just fine. Same with general purpose trolling. They are excellent for newbies and kids who can't seem to keep their rod tips up when walking, etc.

Can I change the font COLOR (specifically for depth) on the Humminbird Helix 7?