MyKeyBe

What cart said. <-----I love my Torno.

Thanks for the replies! I really like the idea of an I.D. guide. The rods are bought. Oldest boy (10) gets a brand spanking new Ugly Spin reel and a Shakesphere Excursion 5'6" 2 piece, medium action rod. Should make a good starter combo and only set dad back another $22.00. ;D My youngest (8) will be the proud new owner of Spider Man spincast combo. : Against my better judgement, the wife swears he would be heartbroken if he got anything else. I guess it is a step up from the Taz rod/reel set up. Spinnerbaits and beetle/critter spins are covered. Do you think Little George/Cleo's would be effective from the shore? I always thougt they where more of a deep water, jigged vertically off a boat type bait. Should I buy myself some also? I think poppers will make a great step up at Easter present. "Oww! Hey Dad! Look what the Easter bunny left me! Got any pliers and band-aids?" Ahh, the memories. The live bait ideas seem good but that's the thing. Every time I took the kiddios fishing before the last trip they used live bait and got bored after X amount of time. 15 minutes to an hour and they where all "Forget fishing, let's throw some rocks in the water!" The last time we went fishing I had no live bait so one kid got a rattle trap and one got a grub. We fished for probably 2.5-3 hours and the kids where upset when we had to leave. We didn't catch a thing the whole time. I think the whole cast it out and reel it in kept them from getting bored. Maybe they have A.D.D. and I should buy them downers for Christmas?!.

If you want a bargain you have to be patient and look for sales and/or items on clearance. I have 3 combo's I use. #1 and most expensive: $60.00 Abu Garcia Torno baitcaster mated to a $40.00 Fenwick Venture 6'0 medium action. #2: $60.00 Shimano Curado BU-200 baitcaster mated to another Fenwick that I paid $20.00 for. #3: $22.00 Abu Garcia Cardinal 103 spining reel hung on a $13.00 (full retail price) Shakespeare Excursion 6'6" medium action 2 piece rod. This is my camping/night fishing, if it gets mangled who cares, set up. I'll tell you what though, for $13.00 this rod has really impressed me. If you are on a tight budget, give one a try. You'll swear you should of paid $40.00 for it! ;D All of my rods and reels where bought new. You just have to be patient and look for the middle to end of winter deals.

;D The kids have a Taz and a Tweety rod already, just never used them much. Now that they see dad using a big boy rod, they never want to use them again! On a side note I have used their rods more than once while camping and caught quite a few fish on them. It always made me laugh when I would walk up to a pond with the Tweety rod and all the other people fishing there would give me one of these: :-? :-/ : Then I would catch a decent bass and they would give me one of these: So far the kids will each be getting a tackle box, lots of hooks, bobbers, a spinner bait, a buzz bait, a rattling rap, ball head jigs, curly tail grubs, and critter spins. Not to bad of a start and I only spent around $21.00 so far on each child. $42.00 for the start of a life time of memory's, that's money well spent.

Well my kids have finally come around. We went fishing/4x4ing on the last nice Sunday of the year (11-26) and they have wanted to go again ever since. We had our first snow on Tuesday and when the wife and I picked them up from school the first thing they asked was "Can we go fishing?" Yesss! The kids are finally hyped up about fishing. They want some new spin casts for Christmas and that is no problem. The problem is the bait monkey already has his claws in me and I am wondering what I should buy them for tackle? I am thinking a small tackle box, some hooks, some sinkers, some bobber's and some.... "Ow, Monkey! Get your claws outta me, they are kids and do not need a G-Loomis! " Maybe some grubs and ball head jigs, spinnerbaits, a lipless crankbait, some jerk worms (ie. senko's), a buzz bait, and maybe some horny toads because the local Wal-Mart has the black toads for a buck a bag. What would/did you stock your kids first tackle box with?

Deepest I ever caught a fish? 60+ in Erie trolling for walleye's. Deepest I ever caught a bass? 10-15 feet. I really need a boat. :'(

I am no craftsman and have very little experience with wood working but I do know that it takes some time for wood to dry. I would cut it into 4-5 foot sections with a chain saw and let it set in the back of the garage for a while. If wood is cut right away into planks it will warp. It has to dry first. Since I am not a craftsman I will relay this story to you. When I was in High School wood shop, this was about 15 years ago so maybe wood drying has advanced since then , I wanted a nice piece of wood to make my mom some Christmas ornaments on the lathe. Well my woodshop teacher was also my track coach and knew my mom because she was the bartender at the bar the school held their Christmas party at. Needless to say the teacher liked me. He told me he had the perfect piece of wood in the back of the shop. After some digging around he found it. Told me it should be perfect, it had been sitting there for about ten years and should be dried to perfection! Will you have to wait ten years for your project? No. Will you be making your project this spring? Maybe if you have a nice heated garage to keep it in, if you have to keep it outside it may end up being next winter's project. Hope this helps!

Hey, Raul. Yet me try that Abu, I'll show you a birds nest that would make Big Bird proud. Then again, like Ron White's dog Sluggo, "I ain't got no thumbs!" ;D I am slightly more partial to well placed, externally adjustable, magnetic brakes. I like that I can turn the brake all the way down and walk up to a dock and pitch a lure along the dock and then walk onto the dock while I turn the brake up and wing the lure along the shore from the dock without pulling a side plate off. Honestly though it is probably all in my head because I can set 3 pins in, 3 pins out on my Curado and pitch and cast just as far without ever taking the side plate off.

Congrat's JT!!!! You just "made" a life long fishing partner! ;D

That which does not kill me only makes me stronger. ;D

Congrats, Russ. Sounds like big things are coming in the future for LBH.

Sleep. You can dream about catching the world record! Sleep is under rated!

I hope you guys have a great event! Catch em up Russ and kids!

From what I have read smallie's can live in a small (acre or so) pond as long as they don't have a lot of competition for food. Put ten smallies and ten LM's in a small pond and the smallies will be gone in a few years. Again this is from what I have read and I personally have no idea.

And I thought I had a good story. Here it is anyway. Just yesterday I'm fishing a small creek by my house and I see a fish "flash(?)" on my spinner bait. Feel weight and set the hook. The fish is only about two feet off shore so no problem. Yeah right! The fish starts running and drags my line across a rock. "Oh no! He's three feet from me, and he is gonna be gone." Well I get him in and I am just about to grab him and the line snaps. The fish knows he is free and swims straight forward into about 3 inches of water and gets stuck between 2 rocks. So I reach down and grab my spinner bait and the bass and as I bring my other hand over to lip him, the fish gets mad and thrashes himself off the hook, into the water never to be seen again. I'm not real sure if that qualifies as landing the fish but I was sure glad to have my lure back! ;D Oh, and this one time at band camp... Well maybe it was just a regular old campground but I was fishing with a crank bait and had a snag. Broke it off and choked it up as another lure lost to the snag god. Next morning I'm getting a fire ready for breakfast and some hot coffee. The wife decides to take the kids for a morning walk around the pond and sure enough when she gets back "Hey, babe. Look what I found on the other side of the lake. Bet you don't have one like this." : Um, well, no I don't but I had one just like it yesterday! ;D

Hey now! That old BUICK is the best place to fish in my lake. ;D The bass love that old BUICK more than Grandad did!

Chumming for bass, huh? I have never done it but does anyone else that has been here awhile remember the fellow that was in a wheelchair that used roadkill for chum? ;D This was back when I was started posting almost 2 years ago. Anyone else remember? For the newer guys, Supposedly this guy was bound to a wheel chair and on his way to the lake he would pick up roadkill. When he got to the lake he would put the roadkill in a bucket that had holes drilled in it and hang the bucket from a tree. Eventually the maggots from the roadkill would work their way out of the holes in the bucket and "chum" the water. He claimed it worked pretty good. :-? Maybe you can try that! ;D

I have never kept a bass but... :-? If I caught a record, state or world, that bass may never see the water again. :-? Lake record would go back unless it was the state or world record. State record would be kind of hard. It's only the state record but still, it's the state record. State is a 50/50 for me. I'm not real sure what I would do. World record fish? It's coming home with me. Sorry. It's only one, on it's last fin, old, might have 6 months to live, WORLD RECORD BASS! That bass would go directly to the closest tackle shop, post office, meat market, grocery store and anywhere else I could think of that might possibly have a certified scale. ;D I'm from Ohio. If I can catch a 23 pound bass that can be certified and beat Perry's record (Yeah, I know :), that fish is coming home with me.

Don't forget that cable length also affects voltage drop. This is borrowed directly from Powermaster's website: Recommended Cable Gauge Size: AMPS Up to 4' 4'-7' 7'-10' 10'-13' 13'-16' 16'-19' 19'-22' 22'-28' 35-50 12ga. 12ga. 10ga. 10ga. 10ga. 8ga. 8ga. 8ga. 50-65 10ga. 8ga. 8ga. 6ga. 6ga. 6ga. 6ga. 4ga. 65-85 10ga. 8ga. 8ga. 6ga. 6ga. 4ga. 4ga. 4ga. 85-105 8ga. 8ga. 6ga. 4ga. 4ga. 4ga. 4ga. 2ga. 105-125 6ga. 6ga. 4ga. 4ga. 2ga. 2ga. 2ga. 0ga. 125-150 6ga. 6ga. 4ga. 2ga. 2ga. 2ga. 2ga. 0ga. 150-175 4ga. 4ga. 4ga. 2ga. 2ga. 0ga. 0ga. 0ga. 175-200 4ga. 4ga. 2ga. 2ga. 0ga. 0ga. 0ga. 00ga. Keep in mind that you cannot go to large but you can go to small and to use quality oxgen free cable.

I ain't sayin nuthin. Nice boat, chevy.

Along the same lines a bad ground will do the same thing as will any bad connections. Any acid/gunk on top of the battery will slowly allow the battery to short itself out and create heat. Also too small a cable will create heat. It all comes down to resistance. You want the power to flow as freely as possible. Bad/loose connections, corrosion, too small a wire, air gaps, etc. all create resistance and heat.

What??? :-? Someone asked so they must care. : From what I have read someone just caught the fishing bug and is worried about what they will do this winter when the ice is 2 foot thick on their home lake? Did I read that right? I know I don't like to freeze my /\zz off fishing in the freezing cold winter. I practice pitching to my sun room, drives the cat's nuts (remember to remove your hooks). I play a lot of Mark Davis Pro Fishing on the PS2. I also spend a lot more time here, as do others. I hope for ice out everyday and I load up on all the fishing stuff that is on winter mark down. I dream about the day ice out happens and I can use my discounted stuff to catch a lunker like I did on the PS2! :-? Yep, winter sucks.

N.E. Oh Hi, Oh, are you new here? ;D You can always add your location to your signature and then everyone will know where you are from. \/ \/ \/

I fish a pool in a small creek with very good results, but here is the catch. The pool I fish is about 150 yards above a small dammed lake. This creek never goes below 1.5 feet deep and the pool is at least 3-4 deep (maybe 5-6 in some places?) all year round. If I showed you this spot you would tell me there is no way any bass are in there. While some of the time you may be right, try it at 7:00 pm in the fall when the bass are coming up into the shallows to feed. Nonstop action and some decent fish, too. This pool is filled with rocks/boulders and the bass engorge themselves on crayfish. Oddly enough though, I have never caught one on a craw type lure. Maybe it has something to do with all the rocks and snags, I cannot drag any lure across the bottom without getting hung up. ;D Good thing that when the bass are in a feeding frenzy and cruising for food, anything that moves in the water will catch them. My best two spots in the pool are an underwater tree branch and under a pine tree that hangs out over the water but I have caught them in the middle of the pool too. I have no idea what is in the middle of the pool, though. Maybe a big rock, another tree branch, maybe a lot of smaller rocks, maybe nothing. I don't know.