Kirtley Howe

I had the privilege of meeting Doug in the early 70s when I lived in Florida. He was incredibly knowledgeable, and passionate about Bass fishing, and fish in general. He spent about 2 hours of his time talking to me and sharing his knowledge and I was just a dumb "kid" that happened to run into him at a Steak n' Shake. Nice guy,

I agree, and greatly enjoy your videos. I have learned a lot. And I know I may be in a minority here, but I really like videos by Mark Zona. Some people hate him, but I have met him and he is a very nice person and has a child-like wonder and joy when it comes to fishing. And he is very knowledgeable. He also is always willing to show his screw-ups. I like knowing that he can make the same dumb mistakes I can.

Got the rod today. It is, indeed, a Catalyzer. Shipped in a square cardboard box with some paper padding inside. Not the best packing job in the world, but the box arrived in perfect condition, and the rod was unscathed. Quick observations.....Rod appears to be of very good quality. It has EVA padding on the butt which I expected due to the price point. All guides are in perfect alignment. It has what I would consider to be micro guides. The guides are stainless steel (again expected due to the price) so I will be sticking to mono on this rod. Feels a little lighter in action than most brands MH. It definitely is a fast action rod. I was very pleased with the overall weight of the rod....very light so it should reduce fatigue. It weighs about as little as any similar length (7' 3" MHF) $200 rod that I have tested. One thing I noticed is the surface of the rod is "textured". Not rough exactly, but it has a----I don't know how to explain it----corrugated maybe?---feel to it. Every other rod I have owned is smooth to the touch, so I was bemused by this. I doubt it will cause any problems, as I suspect it is just a design choice to set the rods apart from others. Time will tell. The rod balances very well with any of my casting reels, so I am pretty sure I will be very happy with it; especially since I paid less than thirty dollars for it, including tax (free shipping). I will report back when I get a chance to actually fish with it.

Simple Green, Dawn dish detergent, and WD-40. Won't hurt any plastic, metal, or graphite parts. If that does not work, then the reel is most likely beyond repair. Also, the only flammable part is the WD-40, and it is not very volatile. On a side note, if you are working on the kitchen table, it is all very easy to clean up so you will not get in trouble with the wife, and it doesn't stink like acetone or other industrial cleaners.

I have never been without a license, so no problem for me. But one time my buddy Paul and I were up near Pulaski NY for the annual Salmon run. We had anchored in the Salmon River, and a little ways from us was a boat from New Jersey with two "gentlemen" on board. They were doing just about everything illegal that you can imagine. They each had 3 rods (only allowed a max of two) and they were obviously trying to snag fish (also not allowed). We watched them put 8 fish on a stringer. Paul and I thought it could be that they just didn't know the rules, so we thought we should go over and tell them what the rules are. We motored over near them and explained what they were doing wrong and warned them that the DEC officers were known to sit in the lighthouse near where they were fishing, and would watch through binoculars, and then would wait till the offenders went back to the ramp at the end of the day and would then ticket them. The two "gentlemen" told us where we could put out advice, so we just backed off and waited. At the end of the day, we followed them back to the ramp and sure enough, the DEC guys were there. The two fishermen were charged with being a total of 4 fish over the legal limit, snagging fish, not having a valid New York license, and not having life preservers on board the boat. They left in the company of the officers, and their boat and truck were impounded. We did not see them the next day. The day after that, they were back fishing again. One of the guys started snagging again and caught a nice fish. He yelled for his companion to get the net, to which his friend replied. "I ain't touching that fish. It cost me $1500 for what we did the other day, so you can go straight to h@##!" Paul and I just about fell out of our boat because we were laughing so hard.

Use both. You would be amazed at how you can reduce fatigue if you change up from right to left during a long day.

The only way I will ever quit fishing is if Heaven does not have fishing holes....oh, wait, that would be Hell, wouldn't it?

Since I live about 35 miles from the warehouse in Binghamton NY that it is shipping from, I have high hopes it will arrive in one piece. I wish it had been available for in store pickup....but it was not. And it was VERY limited (like 5 available) stock.

Just scored an ARK 7' 3" medium heavy fast action casting rod from Dicks' Sporting Goods. $22.48 plus tax. Free shipping. Anyone have one of these? What are your opinions of this rod? I figure for $22.48 (cheaper than most of those weird brand Chinese rods) that I can't go wrong.

I agree that using lighter line can improve lure action, and for the most part bass don't seem to care much about seeing line. The only real exception to this that I have noted is fishing for inactive or neutral smallmouth bass in extremely clear water. Under those conditions I find that using the lightest line possible increases the bite. With largemouth I have never observed the fish being turned off by visible line. Of course, your results may vary.

In my stipulations, I did not rule out preparation. The pro could use maps, ask locals, check weather and water conditions, etc. . But they could only use the tackle I have and can only fish in ways I can. If I don't have a boat, they cannot use boat. If I have a boat but no sonar, then they can use the same boat, but cannot add any equipment to it,,,,and so on. As said, I am pretty sure any pro would still out fish me, but I would learn a lot about how to get better with the equipment I have.

Seeing blood, broken and/or protruding bones, and other gore does not bother me....AT THE TIME. I will deal with it and do what I can. LATER, I may fall apart, but at the time I just deal with it.

I would not think of that comparison. Dental Floss is pretty tough stuff. In fact, I carry a spool of it in my survival kit. I have used it as emergency tent tie down cord, fishing line, rope wraps, and much more. I also keep a spool in my first aid kit; On one occasion we used it to suture a nasty cut when we were out in the boondocks. Not necessarily the best for that, but it worked in an emergency. In case you are wondering, one of the people with us managed to sink an ax into his thigh. Short of putting a tourniquet on it (not always a good idea as it can kill all the circulation causing major tissue damage.), there was no other way to close the wound up. We left ASAP, and the doc in the emergency room we got to 4 hours later said that he would most likely have bleed to death if we had not closed it up. Nasty scar, but no other lasting damage. Very durable and handy stuff. 10 lb braid, as you noted, is not very strong or durable. Can be great for finesse fishing applications on spinning reels, but I would never go that light on a bait caster. My usual braid is #30 lbs, and I use that to fish heavy weeds.

I don't go fishing for suckers, but I am a sucker for fishing.

Braid in weeds. Floro in rocky/open areas. Mono in woody areas. I am really not a fan of braid, but it cuts through weeds much better than either floro or mono. I like floro in in the rocky/open areas because it is harder for the fish to see. I use mono in woody areas because it has more stretch which I find makes it easier to "snap" to get unsnagged from tree branches and stumps.

I have one that I bought for riding in cold weather on my motorcycle. I don't remember the brand name--Gerbing, maybe..., but it works great. I bought it on line. I did try them out for size in a local motorcycle store, and that was a good thing. If I had bought based on the sizes stated in their ads, the vest never would have fit. I ended up with a 2xl. I wear an xl in most shirts and jackets. Don't waste your money on a cheap one.

At 73 years old, I have learned a few things about fishing. I will list some of them, in no particular order. 1) Forget about all the various tables about when to go fishing. Go fishing when you can, as often as you can. 2) There is no such thing as a "magic" lure or technique. Fish with what makes sense for the conditions and what you have confidence in. 3) Don't be afraid to go against conventional wisdom. Sure, try doing what is supposed to work, but if that doesn't work, don't just keep doing it. Do something else even if it seems like it should not work. What have you got to lose? 4) Unless you are a tournament fisherman, the only person you are really competing with is yourself. Just try to get better each time you go out and don't get too concerned about how others are doing. 5) We all have bad days. Getting skunked does not mean the trip was unsuccessful. At the very least you learned what did NOT work. 6) While searching and scoping can be good for getting ideas, don't forget the idea is to go fishing. As the great Bill Dance says: "Wet lines catch more fish". 7) Unless you are in a tournament, or are in another persons' boat, or are taking someone else fishing and they really want to keep fishing, if you are not having fun, just quit for today. There always another day. Don't sour yourself on fishing by forcing yourself to have a crappy time. ? Maintain awareness of your surroundings and the weather. Don't put yourself at risk by being unobservant. 9) Be kind and considerate of others and respect others property. Trespassing or being rude will only make others less amenable to letting fisherman have access. 10) Always leave an area cleaner than you found it. Remember that the water is not a garbage can. 11) Always be willing to help a child or inexperienced angle. Grow the sport. I usually carry an extra inexpensive but serviceable rod and reel (Walmart sets up you can get for under $25.00, or one of my old but still working rigs) which I will loan to a young person if they don't have a working rod and reel. I don't give a set up away all that often, but I will loan one out just about every time I am around youngsters. 12) Always do the right thing, even when no one else is around. Respect the rules and regulations.

For me it is a solid NO. I only care about beating my own records, so I would have no interest in filing for a state or national record of any kind. Therefor I would not have to worry about giving away a honey hole.

I find tou can eliminate 99% of line twist by tieing a very small high quality barrel swivel onto your line aways above the lure...how far up the line is up to you, but I generally tie it about 8" up from the lure. By using a very small barrel swivel it does not adversely affect the lure action and adds almost no weight. This is not applicable in all instances, but it works in most cases when using a lure that will cause line twist. I don't find it necessary with crankbaits, jerk baits, jigs over 1/4 oz, or most stickbaits.

If I am in an area I don't know I will often tie on a bare hook and either tie a bass weight on my line, or put split shot on the line, and cast that out and reel it back a few times. The amount of weight is determined by the current and depth of the water. That allows me to determine the bottom composition and find out if there are a lot of snags without losing lures. It does not seem to disturb the fish. What can I say, I am cheap.

On a cold overcast day, I would fish the deepest, slowest current hole I could get to by drifting a weightless worm or by dragging a tube jig . If it is bright and sunny, look for large rocks or rip-rap in shallow water near a deeper channel or hole. Smallmouth don't mind sunshine (may even prefer it to cloudy skies), and the sun will warm up the water and the rocks several degrees higher than the deep pools, and the Smallies will move up near them to feed. I find small minnow baits, jerkbaits (fished with LONG pauses), and weightless worms (4"), or small jig heads with grub tails work best for me. Of course a small beaver or other plastic that imitates a crayfish is also a good bet. Sometimes, a bucktail or feather jig is the absolute best bait. I will sometimes add a small grub tail or small minnow shaped plastic to them. Small tube jigs also are productive at times. Just move them very slowly.

I often use deep diving crankbaits that dive to 20-22ft in rivers that may only be 10-15Ft deep. It works only if there is a rocky bottom, or sand/mud. If there are a lot of wood snags, it is a great way to lose a lot of lures. The reason for using lures that can dive much deeper than the water depth is that that type of lure has a large bill which will bang off rocks better than ones that are rated for the "proper" depth, and actually...at least in my experience...hang up in the rocks less. In a sand or mud bottom, the deeper running crankbaits will churn up a lot of mud or silt, and I think they appear to be a crayfish trying to escape. That triggers a lot of strikes for me. Your experience may well vary, especially if you fish in heavy weed area or places with a lot of wood snags. I usually use 8-10 lb test mono as a main line but use a much heavier leader, often in the 15-20lb range as the lighter mono will get abraded to pieces pretty quickly. I check/change the leader often.

Shore fishing...Air temp I quit at about 15F. Water temp....if the river isn't frozen over, I will give it a try. I don't fish lakes (from a boat) after the temps drop down into the high 30F range, because around here (southern central NY state) the winds can pick up very quickly and it can get very dangerous...that temperature with that wind just HURTS my body. Hey--I'm 73 years old, cut me some slack <G>. Nice thing about fishing the Susquehanna River near Owego NY is that I can park near where I fish and just go warm up in the truck if I get cold. I find that the quantity of fish I catch in cold conditions goes down, but the quality (size) often goes up. Of course the days when I get skunked also increases.

Vicious Fluorocarbon, usually 8lb test, sometimes 6lb in super clear water, and maybe 10lb in heavy weed/small stick-ups. To me it is very sensitive, and surprisingly abrasion resistant. Retie OFTEN. I have tried braid and mono, but the fluorocarbon works best for me. Use quality hooks and check the point often, especially if fishing around rocks. You can get away with light line because using the good, sharp hooks you don't have to cross their eyes on the hook-set. Just reel up slack and apply firm pressure and you will usually get good hooksets and will not break the fish off. At least that is my experience. Oh....keep a close watch on your line, and often the bites are subtle. Any little "jump" of the line, or your line moving in almost any unnatural way can be a bite. In many cases I have found that I have a fish on when I go to pick up slack....no indication at all that the fish was there until I felt the resistance when moving the sinko.

I did not try to imply that my lack of resources has led to a lack of success...most times I do just fine (at least in my opinion), and even on my worst days, I consider it a success just to be fishing and learning and being outdoors. As Catt pointed out time spent fishing is the most important thing to getting better. But as I said, if I could fish with a pro who had to use nothing but my equipment I think I would learn more about how to maximize my success rate than if I fished with a pro who could use all his equipment. Yes, I would no doubt learn a lot from the pro no matter what resources he had at his disposal...but since it is very unlikely I will ever have access to his resources, some of what he could teach me would have little or no bearing on how I could actually fish. And I still think it would be a ton of fun to see how the pro would do with just my stuff and in the bodies of water I usually fish.