El Cheapo

Glad you got your lure back! This is gonna sound crazy, but it happened. To set the scene, occasionally the local fish hatcheries stock what we call "breeder" fish. These fish have been used by the hatchery for years in the production process, and at some point the decision is made to let them go out the door, onto the stocking truck, and into your local stream. Dad and I used to fish quite a bit for trout. Early in the year we used spinners and floater/diver minnow imitations, and later on we would switch over to flies. This particular day Dad was using a #2 Mepps, and he hooked into what turned out to be a very large trout. After 30 seconds or so, the fish broke his 4 pound line. Undaunted, Dad tied on another spinner and kept fishing. After a few casts he felt what he described as "dead weight" on his line. He started pulling, and the "weight" started pulling back! This time, being as careful as he could, he managed to tire the fish out and land him. When he looked at the fish he was shocked to see his original #2 Mepps in the rainbow's mouth! Somehow, miraculously, his lure got entangled in the couple feet of old line hanging out of the fish's mouth. Then it somehow held tightly enough over the course of the next couple minutes it took to land the fish! Nobody had a camera at the time, but that fish was 24 inches long! A crazy huge fish for such a small creek, and the story of how it was caught was even crazier! If it would have been anybody else telling the story I wouldn't have believed him!

Dad's wrist has been bothering him lately, but I know we'll get out fishing together again soon. As far as famous folks I'd have to go with Hank Parker. Seems like a down to earth straight shooter to me. I'd be like a sponge around him and I'm sure I could learn a ton and have lot of fun doing it.

Thank you Sir! I got way more out of my time in the military than what I gave, I can tell you that!

USN 88-94. Desert Storm is where I did my growin' up.

I grew up fishing small trout streams with ultralight spinning gear, but it only took a couple bass fishing trips with my cousin in local ponds to convince me to expand my fishing horizons. I would need bass gear though, and everyone I talked to said I would need a baitcasting outfit. I was a kid without much money, but I took what I got from mowing lawns and doing odd jobs and tried to put something together. I ended up with something cheap and crappy, and I don't even remember the name of the reel. I do remember that it was mostly plastic and I didn't have much success with it. Fast forward a few years and after serving in Desert Storm I had done a lot of growing up, but I hadn't outgrown my love of fishing. I got out of the service, came home and took stock of my fishing tackle. It was time for an upgrade! I ended up trading 3 or 4 cheap rods and reels to a local guy for a Garcia Ambassadeur S3600C and a rod which I have since let go. This fellow is a bit of a horse trader, and I'm sure he felt he got the better of me at the time (late 90's) because the reel didn't work right. It felt like something inside wasn't engaging correctly. Sometimes it would cast and reel, and sometimes it wouldn't. I didn't know what was wrong with it or how to fix it, but Abu Garcia had a good reputation at the time so I sent it back to them with a note explaining the problems I was having. After a while they sent the reel back to me, along with a laundry list of parts they had replaced. I glanced at the bottom of the paper and the repair bill for what they had done to my reel was zero! They fixed it without charging me a dime! I don't know if they considered this a warranty repair or what, but I definitely wasn't the original owner! Anyway, after catching hundreds of fish I am still using that reel today, along with the 4600CL3, the HPSS 5600C (Hank Parker model) and the 6500C3 I later bought. I don't know the state of the company today, but I will always be a fan of Abu Garcia! My three smaller reels are all mounted on excellent Abu Garcia Conolon rods (6' M, 6 1/2' MH, and 7' MH). I just used my 4600CL3 the other night to catch a five pound largemouth. These rods and reels have never let me down and I expect they never will. I'm sure everyone here knows about Ambassadeur reels, but I just felt like sharing my story. Cheers!

Caught my personal best fish on a buzzbait tonight! I was fishing a small local private pond and noticed the fish feeding on top. Went with a white buzzer and caught a few. Then I missed a couple and switched to a spook. Nothing. Went back to the buzzbait and within a few casts had a fish on. He didn't really nail it, just sort of sucked it under but I felt the weight and set the hook. The smaller fish are usually pulled toward me when I do this. This fish didn't move. He made a couple beautiful jumps and ran around a bit, but eventually he tired and I was able to land him. Nice, thick fish 20 inches long and I'm gonna say 5 pounds. Could easily put my whole fist in his mouth. Quite a hog for the little pond! Main hook was in the jaw and the trailer was in the gills. I was real careful getting the hooks out, but still there was some blood. Not too bad though. I carefully revived him and after a few seconds he took off. Fished for another 45 minutes and no sign of him so I think we're good. Just bummed I didn't have my phone with me so no pic. Gotta start carrying my scale too!

Thanks! I'm gonna try and get out tonight and do a little more wading around. Hopefully the storms we're expecting will move on through the area. I'm thinking I'll start out with one of my small spinnerbaits. I like crankbaits, but I release everything and the treble hooks can hard to remove. I've thought about pinching down the barbs a little, but don't know if the fish will throw the hooks too easy. Anybody give this a try?

Greetings from south central Pa! I've been dealing with some issues lately, and honestly needed something to get my mind off things. Why not go fishing? I got my license today for the first time in about 10 years and proceeded to my local creek. Started out using a #2 inline spinner and caught three little smallies. Then switched to a 2 1/2 inch Rapala floater/diver minnow and caught a 12" fallfish. Then I threw the minnow into a deeper run beside a big log and BAM! This was a nice fish! He was running up and down the creek stripping drag and jumping for a while before I got control of him with my 4 pound line. What fun! Turned out to be a 15 inch smallie of about 1 1/2 or 2 lbs. Fight was definitely better than that of a similar sized largemouth. What a beautiful little fish! I think I'm hooked!