Ratherbfishing

An Irish jig. Actually, A chigger craw (with or without a skirt) texas-rigged.

The trick is to whisper in your kids ear that they've gotta have this or that then borrow it from them when they aren't using it.

As someone else has noted, it depends on how you define "quality" and "a lot of fish." And if I were guaranteed to catch a few big ones (since when has that ever occurred in fishing?). Around my neck of the woods, If I were "swinging for the fence" on every trip, I'd go home empty-handed an awful lot. I don't particularly care for dinks but if it's them or nothing at all, I'd go with dinks. But then again, if the bass aren't biting, I'll switch to bluegill or crappie readily enough.

It's too bad that the storm was so strong that you couldn't stay out in it (tornadoes and lightning are a tough row to hoe). Some of my best fishing has been in heavy rains. It's usually AFTER the front has moved through when things have calmed down and cooler temperatures and blue skies prevail that things get really tough. Whereas autumn fronts generally don't have as much impact, they can still clamp the fishes mouth shut.

It's perhaps inaccurate or unfair to say bikes are dangerous but it's pretty reasonable to say they are "less-forgiving." No matter how good a rider someone is, it's impossible to account for that deer in the road or being suddently surrounded by tractor-trailers and the semi in front shredding off a tire. After seeing that body lying there...well, it's just a shame.

Have I used them? No but I don't see why they wouldn't work. Those appendages/pincers will probably undulate nicely-though perhaps not QUITE as well as the Chiggercraw. You may have to just try one to find out.

I doubt it's simply because he got in the first cast-although that too does happen. A more likely scenario (IMHO) was that, in addition to first dibs, he was doing something different than you were. If asked (and he was honest), he may not even know WHAT it was that was different. Perhaps the fall rate of his bait was faster or slower than yours. Perhaps he was using a clear leader and you weren't. Perhaps his casts were more precise or he was able to get the bait to fall down straighter (not pendulum swinging away from the cover), perhaps he let it rest longer before he moved the bait (or vice versa), perhaps he said his prayers the night before. Who knows! My friend and I once got into a school of largemouth in Canada where the wind blown current eddied around a point. Despite every effort I made to emulate his bait and technique, he easily caught 6 fish to my one. He (my friend) just about took some impromptu swimming lessons that day). Anyway, you just never know.

Watching a video will really do nothing in and of itself to make fish bite-assuming there are even fish where you cast. There are a LOT of factors involved in choosing where and how you are going to fish and spinnerbaits are just a single tool in one's arsenal. Not every tool is appropriate OR is going to work all the time (I really haven't had that much luck with them myself this year-but when I did, it was phenomenal). You have to fish the way the fish want it and NOT how you want to. You don't have to ever use a spinnerbait if you don't want to (some guys never do) but don't discount them just because you had a bad day (or even a bad season) with them. P.S., On some days you can practically sell your soul to the devil and you it still won't get fish to bite even the very best lure choice.

Being asked to list my favorite lures is somewhat akin to being asked which I like best- blondes, brunettes, or redheads. But if I HAD to choose: My two largest bass (a 7 and 6 lber) were caught on a Rapala Glass (Shad) Rap so I guess that has to be my favorite big fish bait. I can almost always catch something with a floating Rapala if the going gets rough so this would be one of my two "desperation" baits. Same goes with a curly tailed Gulp worm (my other desperation bait). It's almost like fishing live bait. A Texas-rigged Berkley Chigger craw (with or without a skirt) will go places that ordinarily jigs will not (and they're less expensive to lose when you actually do hang up). Dropped vertically down into a flooded tree, it is a killer. With those soft pincers, it is also a pretty good swimming jig. For topwater, my first choice would be a Heddon Tiny Torpedo. Another favorite is the Devils Horse but braided line tends to wrap around the back prop so it takes second place. I like a zara spook but the fish seem less often to be in the mood to hit one of those whereas with a prop bait I can almost always entice something to bite. When the fish are fairly active, a spinnerbait fished in the flats can cover a LOT of water quickly and can be deadly.

I have little faith in mankind and I am disappointed almost on a daily basis with the kind of &^%$* that I witness (which is generally pretty minor compared to what I hear about on the news) but part of the congestion is the fact that there is (in this instance) 4 lanes moving at break neck speeds. Suddently one lane is closed and everyone is trying to get over and, at the same time, everyone slows down. When you have that number of cars being compressed into fewer lanes at slower speeds, it's bound to back up. Personally, I'd rather live in the extreme Northern part of North Dakota than deal with that kind of crap on a daily basis.

Was this a REAL coffee shop or just a movie set? If it WAS the former, I hope someone was outside the shop to explain to fleeing patrons that it was just a prank. Otherwise, I think it's really irresponsible. This is almost PTSD stuff.

Even IF the shark never planned to EAT him, one good bite would ruin that guys whole day. Dumb!

How much wood would a wood chuck chuck?...

One time, after a long drive to get to an out-of-state lake, it was getting late and we wanted to fish for just a few hours. Knowing that we were going to be there several days, we considered just fishing and then, in the next morning, purchasing licenses. But we decided to do the wise, and legal thing and get the licenses immediately. Sure enough, not 3 minutes out of the ramp, a game warden stopped us and asked for our licenses. So, whatever rationale one might use for not getting a license, it's not worth it. Same goes with birth control.

I like turtles

Had to look them up but they are distinctive looking baits with nice paint jobs! Good choice, I think!

Was driving on I-74 east the other day, leaving Champaign. Traffic became backed up but I thought it was from the football game traffic combined with road construction. Turns out it was from a motorcycle accident. Some poor slob was killed when he was merging onto the interestate on his motorcycle. I didn't expect to actually see anything but as we were diverted around the scene, there, plain as day, was his body under a white sheet with his legs and feet sticking out. I was like "OMG!" You guys (or gals) be careful out there!!!!

Whew! Too rich for my blood. But they do look like nice baits! Very pretty. I like the idea of collecting Rat-l-traps because over the years they introduced and discontinued countless colors and I won't run out of options any time soon. And I can readily find them at garage sales and flea markets, etc.

That's a beautiful picture. While I cut my teeth using Rooster tails, I much prefer Panther Martins. Especially once the wire gets bent Rooster tails can be diffcult to coax into spinning properly. Panther Martins can be fished much slower and almost always spin. My only issue with Mepps spinners is the squirrel tail (on the dressed versions) tend to rust out the hooks.

Besides whatever lures the bait monkey can already coax you to buy, do you have any specific lures that you collect? I'm considering beginning a rat-l-trap collection and was curious to see what other collections are out there.

If you like to use a swimming presentation, Yum Mighty Bugs are pretty good. (They are so soft they are difficult to keep on the hook properly but otherwise, I like them)

I WISH Illinois was just known for its corn. Incidentally, most of downstate and western illinois prefers to view Chicago/Cook County as a separate entity over which we have no control or responsibility.

This tickled me.

This is no doubt sexist and perhaps a little racist but I wouldn't be surprised if your neighbor's wife browbeat him into coming over (my girlfriend is Indian so I know a little of which I speak).

Well, I can't speak for swimbaits exactly but the big 1 and 1.5 ounce rat'l'traps worked much better in Canada on smallmouth than smaller ones. So while you may get more "bumps" with the big swimbaits, you may also get more fish (and also bigger ones). (I think it may also depends on what the available food source is).