Kirtley Howe

It has been going on ever since tournaments started. Ray Scott was so upset by this type of action that he would permanently ban a fisherman from competition for that type of thing.

Only way to tell if to get them checked out by a doctor who can refer you to a surgeon. In my case the surgeon wanted to get the one in my groin done ASAP because it can get worse very quickly and due to size and location, it can get strangulated very easily....which would be VERY bad.

About a week ago, I was doing some work around the house that involved lifting some pretty heavy stuff. Everything was going well until the last effort. When lifting a small freezer to move it over to a different spot in the basement, I felt a "pull" in my abdomen, and in my stomach. It wasn't an actual pain, more like a bit of discomfort. I didn't think much about it at the time, and finished up what I was doing. I felt fine for the rest of the day and evening. Went to bed but woke up at about 3:30am with a pretty strong pain in my groin. It eased up when I got up out of bed, and eventually I managed to go back to bed and sleep. The next day things really hurt. Went to the walk-in care center that day to get it checked out. Found out I managed to herniate myself. I have one in my groin, and one in my belly button (who knew you could herniate your belly button???). The doctor "tucked" things back in where they belonged and got me a truss to hold things in place for the time being. I scheduled an appointment with a surgeon ASAP. Got in to see her today. I am scheduled March 25th to get both hernias repaired. In the meantime, I am on no lifting or serious exercising. I guess my chances of early season fishing are pretty much shot now. Surgeon says it will be a 4 to 6 week recovery time. Bummer. Getting old is not for sissies.

A while back I posted a story of a stupid thing I did when fishing for Steelhead in February on the Salmon river that was similar to what you just posted. My only comment would be that standing up in the river with waders full of water isn't that big a problem, as they are neutrally buoyant while you are in the water...but they get REALLY heavy when you try to get out of the water. There is also the problem of almost instant hypothermia from the cold water that now is in your waders. ALWAYS wear a wader belt.

Can someone explain the logic behind the way the Bass tournaments are televised? I tried to watch the Bass Pro tournament last week end and was very frustrated. I had to tune into FS1 at 8am to watch the first couple of hours. Then I had to go to my computer to watch the rest of it. Why would they not just show the whole tournament on one source? Seems dumb to me.

A Kestral is the lowest member in the Falcon family. Falconers usually start with one of them as their first bird.

I use BPS hellgrammite in black. When the river current is slow, or when fishing in a back-flowing eddy current, I use a pretty primitive rig. I hook the bait thru the tail end on a small hook. I put one or two small splitshot about 2 feet up the line from the hook. I then use a small or medium bobber fastened on the line just far enough up so the bait is close to, but not touching the bottom, or at least not touching the bottom all the time. I use a quartering cast upstream, and allow the bobber to drift with the current slowly, and/or curl around into the eddy behind a rock, wingdam, or whatever....

Don't forget that the YouTube guys can go back and edit out any swearing......

Well, I am a northern SMB fisherman, but since you are going in February to what is a pretty cold water lake at that time of year, then these tactics should still work. 1) Jerkbait worked with VERY long pauses. 2) Crankbaits that run at the appropriate depth worked as slowly as possible. 3) Weightless wacky worm.

Spastic with moments of brilliance.

With your fishing skills I think you have an advantage over 99% of men....and when you add in your skill at handling a canoe you are head and heels over most anyone out there.

If you think Junebugs hurt when on a bike, try hitting a Palmetto bug...they will flat out knock you out.

There are no shad in the Susquehanna River (at least where I live)....but Shad colored lures are killers on Smallmouth around here. I would have a really tough time thinning the herd using your suggested method. Your results may vary, of course.

Compared to the true "hammers" on this site, I am, if anything, a tack hammer.

I have used RainX windshield washer fluid on my rod guides. It does two things....it helps the guides shed water, and it helps to prevent the guides from freezing. A small spray bottle filled with RainX makes it easy to reapply as needed. While I have never had a problem using it, it is possible it can damage some rods finishes, so spot test it on an inconspicuous area before using it on the guides. I have not found it to hurt mono or floro lines. I have not used it with braide line. Nowadays I pretty much keep the guides from freezing by just not going fishing in weather that cold. (Sucks to get old)

The last Aluminum boat I owned was a 19' bass style made by Fisher Boat Company out of Wayne Indiana. If anything, it was "overbuilt". I never had a bit of trouble with it, other than some mouse damage to the wiring. For an aluminum boat, it was pretty heavy, but the workmanship on it was first rate. I got it used when it was 6 years old, and I had it for another 10 years after that. It never leaked a drop of water. If there is a dealer in your area, you may want to check them out. I have not looked at their prices or models in the past few years, so I don't know how competitive they are.

Last time I checked, BASS rules said minimum 19" boat with minimum 150hp outboad (with a prop...no jetboats allowed). Maximum hp allowed was 250hp. Most pros are running 20-22ft boats with 250hp engines. Keith Poche uses a Gatortrax custom made 19" boat with a 150hp motor which works very well in shallow water and on smaller bodies of water, but suffers some on the larger bodies of water. He prefers to fish areas that other anglers can't get to, and with his shallower draft boat and its' unique hull, he can access areas the guys with the "big" boats can't. He used to run a 16' boat with a 90hp motor, but that was outlawed and he was, I think, disqualified in one tournament because of that boat. MLF Cup rules say a minimum of 18' boat with a maximum of 250hp. No jet boats, air boats, or tunnel hulls allowed. I cannot find a rule about minimum horsepower, but I am sure there must be one. MLF Cup rules say a minimum of 18' boat with a maximum of 250hp. No jet boats, air boats, or tunnel hulls allowed. I cannot find a rule about minimum horsepower, but I am sure there must be one.

I hope this is the right forum..... Anyway, could someone tell me why Boyde hates the Bassmasters? I know he left them and co-founded MLF, but I have never really understood why he hates them so much and is so determined (to the point of doing damage to his own organization) to try to destroy them.

I use cash whenever logical to do so, especially in "mom and pop" stores. The fees they get charged to handle debit or credit cards can really eat into their profits. Companys like Wallyworld can deal with the cost of handling credit cards without suffering. But small business owners are having a rough go of it, so I try to make it easier on them. I also dislike using credit or debit cards because it is easy to forget how much you are really spending. If I have to pull cash out of my wallet, I am extremely aware of exactly how much I am spending. Paying cash often stops me from making those impulse purchases of things I really do not need. Plus at mentioned above, if a natural disaster happens and the power goes out, you debit/credit card is useless, and you can't get money out of a machine. I keep a chunk of money at my house (in a very secure safe) "just in case". Also, I do not have a smart phone, so I cannot download any apps. I have a very basic flip phone type cell phone that is used for emergencies when I am away from home. Cell phones do not ever work out in the boonies where I live, so I still have a land line for a home phone.

Very impressive. I don't think I have had a day with that many bass in at least 8 years. And the ones you caught were really nice ones too.

Main motor is a 60 horse BigFoot. Primary trolling motor is 55lbs thrust Great White bow mount. Back up/maneuvering trolling motor is a MotorGuide 25lbs thrust transom mount. Between those 3 it would be very unlikely I would get stranded, especially on the waters I normally fish. I absolutely cannot imagine me paddling my 15FT Boston Whaler Super Sport any kind of distance even on a windless, calm day.

My buddy Paul and I went bank fishing on the Susquehanna River yesterday. Air temps were between 40F at 10am and 51F at 3:30pm, then started cooling off again. At 4pm the wind really started kicking up, and by 4:30pm we could not even cast accurately because of it and called it a day. The water temp was 51F. Paul caught two dinks (8" and 10") and had a few more bites but no hookups. He was alternating between jerkbaits, and 1/4oz ballhead jig with either a grub tail or minnow shaped trailer. I only caught 2 fish all day, but they were pretty good. A 3lb 4oz Smallmouth, and a personal best (for me the Suskey) Walleye of 6lb 2oz. Both caught on a 1/2oz generic lipless crankbait that was silver with a black back and a touch of orange on the belly. I was casting quartering upstream and letting it drift downstream with the current while doing a yoyo retrieve. The bass put up a good fight, especially when it got into the current. Several strong runs, and a few jumps. Pretty much normal fight for a river Smallmouth of that size. The Walleye felt like I had snagged up when I first set the hook.....it really felt like I had hooked a tree stump. It did not move at all. Then it took off downstream and almost spooled me........only running 8lb test Excell mono and didn't have a lot of line on the reel. Then it turned and blasted back upstream to right in front of me, then just stopped. I got it over to shore and Paul got it out of the water for me. I have never had a Walleye run like that before. Very odd.....but fun.

I have a number of baitcasting reels. Some (the ones I first bought) are mostly plastic, and they are OK for lightweight use, but not very good overall. I have several that are graphite, and two that are aluminum framed. From a durability and functionality standpoint, I cannot tell the difference,. The graphite reels are a little lighter than the same sized aluminum reels, but not enough to make a difference to me. As to where they are made....I would prefer that anything I buy was American made, but the reality is that almost all reels are made in Asia these days, and they are often excellent quality. Of course you get what you pay for. A $30.00 reel is not going to perform as well as a $70.00 reel, and a $70.00 reel is not going to perform as well as a $150.00 reel...or at least the cheaper reels are not going to have all the features of an expensive reel. For my needs, almost any reel in the $50.00 to $70.00 range works fine for me, but I am not a tournament fisherman. I am sure a pro would find my equipment laughable, but it works for my needs. I doubt if I could tell the difference in function between a graphite frame reel and an aluminum frame reel of equal quality.

I despise anyone who hurts a woman or child, or any other person who cannot defend themselves. That said, do you really know ALL the details? For instance, was the offender a drug user at the time of the attack? Drugs can alter the behavior of any person who takes them. If he was a drug user then, is he clean now? It is possible he has cleaned up his life, and is now straight, and is no longer a threat to others. That does not excuse his previous acts, and he has to live with what he did for the rest of his life, but if he indeed has changed, does he not deserve the chance to lead a normal life now? Judging someone else for a previous act is a slippery slope. You do not have to like, or even approve of this person, but you should act professionally at work....do your job, answer his questions, and teach him how to do the job. You do not have to socialize with him if you don't want to.

I have access to both an air and a battery powered impact wrench. My brother who owns a machine shop has an industrial air compressor that can make 350 lbs. of air pressure. The only drawback to that one is that you have to make sure you have the wrench well braced...you can snap a wrist if you are not careful. The battery powered wrench is a 40v. Both are 1/2 inch drive. I use an industrial penetrating oil to loosen up rust (it makes WD40 seem like glue) The only time I have been unable to remove a bolt or nut is because it is totally rounded off, or it is inaccessible. If it is rounded off, I have access to an oxy acetylene torch. I don't ask a bolt to come loose...I TELL it to come loose. And I am not kidding around. A buddy of mine had a Toyota Tundra and could not get the wheel bearing nuts loose....it took 3 broken impact sockets (lifetime warrantee so no cost replacement) , but they DID come off. The nuts had to be replaced, as they were a "little bit" distorted. One trick I have learned is that if the bolt will not loosen up, try tightening it up, then loosening it up...repeat as necessary. Sometimes that works. I have also used and air chisel to cut through a nut if all else fails. I would love to just take things to the shop and let them do it, but I am cheap and unless absolutely necessary I will not pay others to do what I can do.