starcraft1

John Perle, contact Clear lake outdoors. NO LIVE BAIT! March is either jigs, swim baits, or the "A: - rig.

Got mine last week from a place I use to live, go figure! I'll be sending him some jigs for a thanks.

I'm surprised nobody has posted this yet? I got the news today that Ranger, Stratos, & Triton boat cos. have been bought by Johnny Morris and the Bass pro shops group. A friend of mine who writes for Western outdoors news sent me the news via a e-mail this afternoon. Mod Note: Your thread has been merged with this previously posted thread.

2 to 3 nights prior on maps and this box finding out all I can about new water. I don't listen to "dock talk" B.S.

you also said your preparing for a no-boater seat. 4 rods should be enough, 5 is ideal, 6 to much - they get in the way. Most boaters will let you use one of their rods if you fine a need for it. Reminder, most draw tourney's are a shared weight type, and all team tourney;s are. I've fished a lot of pro-ams on both sides of the boat and the keep you own fish idea has been gone for a while (mid 80's) combined weight is more common so you shouldn't have a problem borrowing a rod to help out the bag size.

I've caught plenty of bass on 30 braid with a 15 mono leader, also just 30 braid for frogs in open water areas. 50 lb. should be fine for short casts (25 to 35 ft.) If you find 50 is to much, try 40 or 30 for longer casts. Your talking docks so your cast should be more a flip or pitch instead of a cast.

I would think your in the ball park, 15 to 20 f.c. - 6'. If theirs a lot of rocks and rough poles I'd go with a mono instead of f.c. Mono can take more and with a 6' leader you won't notice the diff.

That's a good safe start, kinda pricey thou. Check out your nearest scrap yard. They should have some sheet lead for sale. !/8th & 1/4" is what you'd want. Melt it down outside or WELL VENTILATED area in a pot big enough to put on a turkey burner (hope you got the idea on that), Coleman type camp stove. Any dirt or grime will either float to the top to be scraped off or fall to the bottom. Go to your local thrift store and get some cup cake tins to pour the melted lead into also pick up a steel gravy ladle. Steel is best but alum. will do. Let them cool and the disk are the right size to put into your lee pot (either the 10# or 20#) I'm not sure about your scrap prices, but I'll bet you it's a lot less than E-bay and no shipping cost. You'll be surprised how far 20 lbs. of lead will go.

Thanks for the info on Harbor freight. I'll do some checking today. I'm heading down the hill for a new train calender and other odds & ends across the street from them. Thanks again

I use to do the same until I had a drip problem and drained the pot and found a half an inch of sand type grit in the bottom. This didn't do the pour spout any good. I have a much larger unit now and we buy lead in much larger amounts( 1 ton + at a time). We still melt the lead and clean it prior to final pour. You'd be surprized of the amount of crap that comes out of it. I think if your buying small amounts in 1 lb. ingots you should be fine for quite awhile.

Pro-tech has all you'll need. To get a mat finish don't use as much heat and you'll have a power finish instead of the glass type finish. Then put in the oven at 200 degrees instead of 245. Play around with it and you'll get it the way you want.

leave it in the pot allow to cool. WARNING!!! Do Not put cold lead into a hot pot, it could cause a blow-up. This is the last thing you want. The cold lead will cool the pot to fast and lead will go every where. Add your lead when the pot is just starting to heat up. With a Lee pot it's not a good idea to fill the pot completely full, leave it at least 2" down from the top. To full will cause the pour spout to drip. Also clean your pot every 3rd or 4th filling. Use either bee's wax or other cleaners on the market. Bee's wax will smoke, so do it out side. Try to use pure lead and stay away from to much wheel weights have alloys and a ton of dirt and road grime in them and will dirty your pot much faster.

For now all I have is a 800 # so where abouts is still unknown. I'll have more info next week. Sorry, I wish I had more for you right now.

Look like one of my people found an outlet here in the states but the amounts are to high for your average guy. Min. order is 2500 heads at a time. We'll be looking into it deeper after bird day.

I'm lucky enough to have Bass tackle depot just down the hill (25 mi. away) and they have everything you can think of for bass fishing. Just like some of the other guys are saying, the local shop has salmon and trout gear and lack as far as bass, but if you want to hear about "you better get your guns now before they out law them" B.S. You'd be in the right place. I've been hearing that for the last 40 yrs.

Ben, Before you decide on a place to buy your molds check with both Lure-Craft (poor boys baits) and Barlow's. Both buy a lot of do-it molds and pass the savings to us.I know Barlow's has what your looking for for much less that Do-it themselves. On the shakey head you can use a wire of the same thickness instead of the screw lock just make sure you bend the wire inside the mold so it won't pull out. A pair of needle nose pliers is all you'll need for that job. Don't forget safety, gloves, mask, and a well ventilated area away from any water (rain if outdoors). Water will cause your melted lead to splatter everywhere.

I have a few people out here that swear by the worm/mushroom head for our mt. lakes. Both smallies and spots. 2/0 & 3/0 sickle or round bend seem to be the best hooks. The sickle hook in those sizes also works well in a tube jig head. Do-it"s tapered tube " "TC" 90 degree mold needs no mods. for either size. I've found that if you don't say anything about who makes the hook there's no complaints. With some the only hooks are the higher priced China made stuff. I like to keep my $$$ in my own country. E.C. has moved forward more than any hook maker in recent years and is still moving forward. I do a lot of buss. with Shorty;s (Capt. hook for smaller amounts) and was told they have made a deal with E.C. for these hooks in the "needle pt." style. I'd like to see them make it in a 60 degree style for the "TX" molds in a in-line or flat eye type line tie. With the 60 degree the eye and knot slip back into the tube so only the line it self is showing. This type works well in our mt. res. and shale rocks along with the cobble stone plus the hook "hugs" the tube body well enough to flip it into heavy grass or wood without getting hung up. Shorty's just sent me some samples in both red and B.N. 2/0 & 3/0 a few 1,000ths thicker wire, sharper pt. and I'm sure the quality control is much better. Price, about the same. Colors are green, gold, along with the red & B.N.

Thanks Sarcazmo, I hate to admit it about my P.C. use, very limited at this point. Alibaba sent me a e-mail, not sure how they got my address? Looked at some F.B. heads and didn't like the "keepers" on them. Plus all seem to be made in China. I was told there is a factory in the U.S., Texas I believe was what I was told.

Thanks guys, but I'm looking for wholesale prices.

I know this has been talked about before, but I can't find the thread. Anyone ever find out if you can order them or find a site to do so? Thanks in advance.

Made it by a hole 7! I'm in By the way, you misspelled Christmas.

Butt is another small mouth lake 4 mis. up a graded gravel rd. The ramp is for camp tennets only, nice camp ground with a lot of bears and coons at night. If your bringing a alum. boat the secondary ramp will be ok. All camp grounds have drop totilets and spicket water and no showers. Walker was drained 5 or 6 yrs. back, but the N.strain should go to 5 lbs. Your right about Antlope, it's a trip of it's own, but not to be missed.

Your welcome, when I said cold, I mean night time down to the low 40's or mid 30's, dress for it. Also the lake will have fog on it in the early morning but you'll be able to see over it. The problem is if you don't know the lake you'll want to stay off shore for most of lake, banks come out very-very shallow with lava rock bottom. Great for smallies, not so much for a glass boat! If you come in via hwy 89 over the dam go to the 2nd camp ground. The 1st is mostly for the party bunch. I believe it's still $14 a night and is PGE owned but ran by state park rangers. The 2nd campground has it's own ramp that's only a few yrs. old and very easy to launch from. Most if not all your fellow campers will be fisherman so wake up call is early. I'm not sure of the name of the 2nd CG but the 1st is Rocky pt. = NO!

It's mostly small mouth there and the time your going should be pre-spawn. If you could wait another couple weeks say 2nd week of May till early june you'll get tired of catching them. April will still be cold up there. Another lake you should take a look at is Antlope off hwy 89 - Taylorsville rd. N. large mouth there up in the double digits. Also Butt lake and Walker are also in the area. Good fishin'!

I needed a break from work so I took a trip to Ore. for some Rouge river steel heading. After a 4 hr. trip up I-5 and all the road work I set my sites on Merlin, Ore. and the Rouge. Day 1: Indian Mary park and the frist of my 20+ 1/2 pounders (10" to 3 1/2 lbs.). All on a bass swim jig (char. gizzard shad pattern) with a 3/0 hook! Water was off colored because of rain the night before. Day 2: Ran park launch, still off colored water and a bright red finesse jig cut down to look like a salmon egg. Another good day with fish around 15" to 20". This time I kept 2 for dinner. GOOD EATIN'! Day 3: Tomorrow Graves creek (the start of the wild river area).I went to this area this afternoon and it stinks of great fishin'! I'll stay with both patterns and I'm taking an old friend with me. i'm lucky enough to have friends in the area so the cost of room and board are at a mim. Also I'll have a person who knows a lot more about this dang mach. and should be able to take and post some pics. Don't get to P.O.ed at me, this is the frist vac. I've had in a long time (5 yrs. +).