Ratherbfishing

For replacement skirts, my friend (and now I) have taken to using very small zip ties. They aren't perfect but they hold a lot better than most rubber bands and won't soften/melt either.

Chigger Craw or Crazy legs Chigger Craw in Green, Blue or Black (depending on water and sky) gets my vote.

This may be something experienced only by country people but I do so miss those days when, as a kid, I could more or less roam free around the countryside! I stayed away from homes, naturally, but there were plenty of barns and pastures and woods and creeks to keep an adventurous boy relatively content. Perhaps I was naive because I set out to do no harm and was just out to explore but no one seemed to care where I went (at least no one ever shot at me or called the police). As an adult, that privilege seems to be completely gone. Maybe I've acquired the good sense of censoring my own behavior but I do miss it dreadfully. Has anyone else ever enjoyed the pasttime of roaming?

But be careful it's not a tungsten bullet or you might chip your teeth.

There have rarely been any major epiphanies and only the random small ones (which may, by definition, not be epiphanies at all). And sometimes I think I backslide and forget (or ignore) some of the things I have learned. But here are a few things: Bass like cover-even if it's just the tiny little Charlie Brown tree. I've learned that fish are not everywhere and it's better to keep moving and searching until you find some-then take note of WHERE you found them. I've learned that fishing slow with soft baits has increased my catch ratio by at least double-probably triple. I've learned not to expect as much when the wind is out of the North or the East. I've learned that while there are always exceptions to every rule, if you want to catch fish regularly-don't ignore the rules.

Growing up on a farm we had/have a creek which meanders through a cow pasture behind our farmhouse. If we found a snapping turtle, having great respect for those powerful jaws, my brother and I would spend hours trying to capture it. Who needs a computer or smart phone when you have THAT kind of entertainment?! (Incidentally, we would always let the turtles go afterwards). I guess having been exposed to that kind of thing gives me a different perspective. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to cozy up to one in bed or have one over for drinks but I think they are pretty cool. Fly fishing a few summers back I was catching small bluegill (lots of stunted fish) and a big old snapping turtle rose to the surface a few yards out in front of me. I began swinging the fish over to the turtle where he had himself a lovely feast. I know it probably wasn't wise as now sen'ior turtle probably associates people with his (her?) next meal but I couldn't help myself. I rarely, if ever, use live bait so catching turles on a hook and line hasn't happened (yet).

Go one size larger with the hooks-especially the back hook. If you can't do that, bend the hooks out a little.

Once when I was probably...thirteen (a LONG time ago, it seems) I caught a stringer of bullheads from where a creek widened and deepened under a bridge. Not the most glorified fish, I realize, but I planned on cleaning, cooking, and eating them. I had placed them in a large bucket when my cousins suddenly appeared. They had come from Texas and their annual arrival was akin to the circus coming to town. It was a highly anticipated and celebrated event and I promptly forgot about/neglected those fish. Much later on that day I had a bunch of dead bullheads floating belly up in a "stew" of 90 degree water. I was stupid. My priorities were wrong. I wanted to go goof off and wasted some good fish. To make a long story short, I still regret that. But not every kid understands and/or appreciates the error of their ways-which is why every kid should have attentive parents for guidance. Short of that, however, I'm glad you corrected them. What they did was a shame and hopefully they won't repeat it.

Right on, brother! I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I caught fish that often. But no, I don't listen to music when I fish. How could I hear the mourning doves and bluejays and crows and the frogs and the cicadas and the bluegill smacking bugs on the surface and wind in the tree's, etc. if I had headphones on? I like music too but as ecclesiastes says, there's a season for everything and fishing has it's own music besides.

Interesting twist (literally and figuratively) but what's the downside to just shooting bird shot through a "regular" .22? We did it regularly and as long as we kept the barrel clean, it seemed to do no harm.

Who's being petty? I am! The A-10 uses a 30mm cannon. Not a 40. They are fun to watch. A LONG time ago (1982 to be exact), I watched them flying near tree top at, I think, Camp Atterbury in Indiana. I've never had the privilege of seeing/hearing them fire off live rounds, though. That WOULD be something! Maybe the fish stop to watch, too.

It sounds to me like you aren't letting the rod do the work. Assuming you aren't using too heavy a bait, go ahead and load the rod up on the back cast. Let it do the work it's designed to do.

Seeing as how all the better lakes are at least an hour and a half drive away, I have to to get up waaaay before the arse crack of dawn if I expect to be on the water around sunrise. And never having been a huge fan of getting up anyway (though it seems to be getting easier), I definitely vote for evening.

My friend and I were on a trolling motor only lake. We were in an area where there was only one submerged tree strump (visible, anyway). It was breezy and somehow, while I was distracted, the front motor got wedged in the roots. With the wind and waves, the boat shook back and forth and, unable to pull the motor up, RIIIIPPPPPP!!!!, the trolling motor ripped out of the deck. Unhappily, I lay the motor down in the boat and we continued to fish with the back trolling motor. We got into some thick slop and my friend was trying to run the fouled motor until all of a sudden, the wires on the motor began to melt and burn. I had enough presence of mind to grab some plyers and yank the wires off the battery but afterwards I, myself, almost had a melt down. It was my fault for not having a circuit breaker or fuse wired in place so I can't point the finger at anyone other than myself but THAT was a pretty crappy day. The only good thing was that we were pretty close to the ramp when the second motor went out so I was able to paddle us back without too much difficulty.

I have a (ahem) friend who claimed that on one fishing trip he and his dad caught over 100 bass apiece with at least 50% of them being 3 or 4 lbs. I did the math and that meant that for just ONE of them, it would have meant that, assuming the 3 to 4 lbers were just 3 lbs each, it would have been approximately 150 lbs of bass. For both, it would have been at least 300 lbs of bass-excluding the other 50% of smaller fish. Not impossible, I suppose, but extremely improbable -particularly since this is the same fellow who once recounted a story where a friend of his wife once alledgedly said about him "I knew he was big but I didn't know he was THAT big!" This is a guy who couldn't possibly weigh more than 130 lbs soaking wet. Anyway, to make a long story short, did I feel it necessary to call him out on his fish? No. I wanted to but supposing I was wrong and they actually had caught that many. Then I'd be an arse. And even if they hadn't, what good would it have done? He is who he is. I'll admit that when he told the "that big" story about himself, I nearly hurt myself trying not to laugh, but really, a liar will eventually call himself out. Early on in my relationship with this person, I believed some of his stories but now, I take them with a grain of salt. Sometimes I think he actually believes some of the things he says-which is, in itself, kind of pitiful.

Nice! A buddy is leaving for Mille Lacs tomorrow. Last year they had a tough time with walleye but hopefully he'll do as well as you did. Any words of advice you'd be wiling to impart?

Charlie Brown had his kite eating tree. We have our lure eating trees.

I should stop reading these. It gets my blood pressure up without even having to experience it myself.

I wouldn't trade now for the times when opportunities and funds were very limited but yes, I wax nostalgic for those early days. There were no super stores back then and what was available in my small farm community was smaller still. The sporting good section of the 3 aisle grocery store was comprised of a rack or two with cards of lures on them such as jelly worms, mister twisters, and mepps spinners. A Zebco 33 was as sophisticated as it was going to get (for me anyway). There were only a few shows on then- Virgil Ward was the first I remember and bass masters was still in its infancy. Transportation back then was an old purple one-speed bicycle. My first "wild" game fish (one that wasn't caught out of a pay lake) was a small grass pike caught on a creme worm. My first 15 inch bass was cause for great celebration (it still is, really).

Winner winner chicken dinner. A prize (and experiences) I'm sure you'd prefer to pass on. Did they guy who was thrown from his boat survive?

Oh, I thought perhaps it's what you call Canada Geese there.

As the expression goes, "Close but no cigar". If the fish are interested, which it seems they are, change your presentation just a little. Speed up or slow down. Maybe use a Lure that dives shallow and then will stay there if paused (honestly, I don't know of that many shallow diving suspending baits). Or, as suggested before, a floating Rapala may seduce them. Fish will often clobber it when it rises to the surface. A Mann's 1-minus is also a pretty good option. I'm sure there are others.

What in the heck is a flying groundhog?

SSP cars. They were hard on floors but very cool! I had a chrome purple car and my brother had lime green one. Being lighter, his was faster but in a game of chicken, I always won.

The Panther martin-dressed or undressed. Mepps are good but the brass ones tarnish and the (wet) squirrel tail will eventually rust out the hooks. Mepps has (or had, anyway) an Xtra Deep spinner which I've used for good effect on suspended crappie. Don't care much for Rooster tails as they are flimsy and hard to get spinning.