Topwaterspook

Been there, done that, got the T shirt to prove it............lol. Hey man , check out Wheeling ,WV.'s book. Last time I spoke with them they had 400 travelers working. Things up here in Pittsburgh are still slow but that shale oil has been putting people to work. Good luck . Stitch

For those of you interested, my wife has set up a page to keep everyone informed of our progress. It is on a site called "caring bridge". If you go there and type in ........stitchlanier..........( no spaces ) our page should come up. This will make things much easier for her than trying to keep our whole family and everyone individually updated................Be aware that that site asks for donations, please disreguard that on my account..........Thanks once again for all your support and thoughtful wishes........if you care to be alerted by email of new posts there, PM us your address..............Kit can add it to her list. ....................Have great day, all. May God bless. Stitch

I've never used "Mend It" but have used plain old generic super glue. It worked for me . Oh here's a small but important tip. After gluing the bait back together DON'T hold it between you lips while screwing the cap back onto the super glue tube...............This can prove to be both , terribly embarassing and painful afterward.

To answer your initial question, Black Knight : .........YES DEFINITELY !.......Don't be discouraged with it, we've all been there. Once you learn how, You will be amazed at how well they work. These newer reels are so much esasier to use than the ones I tried as a young fella. These days I seldom use a spinning reel for anything other than dropshotting or Sluggo type baits. Good luck .

This morning at 8:30 will be our first meeting with the surgeon. My whole entorauge will be with me. I hardly slept at all, maybe an hour and a half. I woke bathed in sweat. This is going to be a long day. Once again , I truly appreciate the support of folks who really don't even know me. Thank you , thank you. Stitch

I went down and fished early this morning. It was colder and windier than here at the house. I fished for 1 1/2 hours, getting more and more chilly. I had a single bite on an Excaliber lipless crank. It felt much better than the normal bass I catch there. Turned out to be two bass. This is only the third time it's ever happened for me. Just had to share with y'all.

I finally got my boat out of storage and took it to the dealer to have the engine checked out. Hopefully I'll get some use out of it really soon. ( Dang, I should be on the lake now but there are so many other pressing things to do ). That in itself took all morning. While I was out, the surgeon returned my phone call. My first meeting with him is Wednesday morning. As Traveler suggested, I'm taking advocates.........my wife and.........All MY KIDS !..........they insisted on coming along. They have even started folders and loose-leafed binders with more information than I even care to know about. Once again , I want to sincerly thank all of you who are helping me through this. You folks just don't know how much you all have lifted my spirits. God Bless you all.

Joe, on your first baitcaster, I'd spool it with 10-12# Berkley XL. Simply because I think you'll have fewer backlashes and it will suit your fishing needs. It is going to be a learning curve when you first start. Good luck with the new rig.

I bought a one pound spool of #12 Big Game. It was on clearance for $1.99. I HAD to buy it....lol. I have yet to have any issues with it other than it seems to attract and hold a lot of water scum on it's surface. I'm constantly reeling the business end of it through a clean rag. I've been spraying it with KVD line conditioner. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it. It appears to be a bit stiffer than I'd use on a spinning reel though.

You could check out....".Vic's Sports" online. They're right near Kent , Ohio. They occasionally run reports on local lakes and tournaments. I know that they fish Berlin Lake and take boats there for test runs. Vic is a pro on tour and a really good guy. He has never failed to answer questions for me.

Had my CT scan yesterday results show it to be contained and operable. This is the best scenario we were hoping and praying for. Thanks to all of you for all your prayers and good thoughts. Please continue them for myself and my family. May God bless you all.

The results came yesterday. It is cancer. I have a CT scan today at 1:30. I've been awake most of the night again.

I tried fishing for a couple hours this afternoon. I managed to catch one on my first cast. I lost two others. I find it terribly difficult to keep focused. There are so many things running through my mind that I became distracted quite often.

Thanks to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. It brought tears to my eyes reading all your good wishes. To be totally truthful not too much scares me but this does. My wife and children are a wreck. My grandchildren don't know. More results are due Tuesday.

We've had sucess on them, way down south, with 7 inch Bass Pro Shop Stick-o s. We'd throw them against bluff walls and allow them to sink as we counted then slowly retrieve them back.

In the past few years I have learned to trust my "gut instinct". I'm not sure if my mind is just subconsciously feeding learned data to my brain or not. I just sometimes seem to get into a "zone".

Apparently, Big "C". Thanks everyone. This has not turned out as I'd planned things.

I could use your prayers. Just back from procedure, not good news. Thanks

Great post. Creatively narrated. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Thanks for the effort.

I still fall back on my old favorites. The 3/8 -5/8 oz. Cotton Cordell Big O, in various colors depending on water clarity. A newer one I'm building a lot of confidence in is 6th Sense squarebills.

I caught over a dozen today. They were whacking a small spinnerbait with an oversized Colorado, painted blade. I'm still using the MegaStrike and liking it. Water conditions here are like cold watered down chocolate milk. The scent has had to help.

I had DVT do one for me. I'm very satisfied. Any more work will be done by him.

Ya gotta love seeing the tradition passed on. My girls were into sports, fishing and hunting when they were young. When they discovered boys that mostly ended. Now I'm in the process of trying to keep my grandaughters "tomboys" as long as possible.

The fishing here is slowly picking up after all the torrential rain. The day before yesterday the bass wanted an in-line white spinner. Today I picked up seven on a small single blade spinnerbait. The color of preference was a white head and skirt with a fluorescent red Colorado blade for thump. You just have to keep experimenting. You'll soon crack the code.

I thought this may be of interest to those of you that like the high end 1911s. I considered buying one just as an investment. They have a website if anyone wants to check them out. Type in " cabot arms ", I believe that's how I found it.