Dogface

Times have changed and most of us think like you now. I posted in another thread below this one about my son keeping two big SM to enter into a contest. That was maybe 40 years ago. At the time on the waters I fished most killed a big fish so they could show it off. Early on I began to realize this was not good! What really opened my eyes and turned me off to tournament fishing was watching guys run a tournament on a lake I fished often. They submitted and weighed in dead fish. Fish I'd never get to catch. Thankfully all that has changed and we are all benefiting and so will our kids and grandkids.

I use small Countdown Rapala's. You can control the depth and they are a great jerk bait.

They just had 832 on sale but all the colors/pound weights I wanted were out of stock except for one. I ordered the one spool of 832 on Monday and it was delivered yesterday, Friday.

I just purchased some Jackhammers from them a week ago but they were out of the Mini Max. (And still are) There are a few lures I'm looking for that they do not stock. Hopefully, things will get better but overall I'm happy with them. I made 6 or 8 purchases in the last two months and everything was shipped in a day and arrived quickly. Not so with my other favorite tackle warehouse. BTW they did just move to a bigger warehouse.

The St. Lawrence is the only place I fish where the water is sometimes clear enough to see fish. All of the other places I fish for SM usually have limited visibility.

Owner Mosquito, size 1 or 2.

For the past few years, a Texas-rigged finesse worm was right behind a wacky rig and a Ned rig for me.

I could not tell you how big my biggest SM was but I can tell you about two SM my son caught because they were both weighed. I belong to a gun club in SE PA. Many years ago they ran a fishing contest each year for members. The biggest fish of each species won. My sons would enter as juniors. Any fish entered had to be measured and weighed at the club or a Brinkman's Tackle shop in Philly. We were wading the upper Delaware on day and I spied a good-looking boulder. I told my son who was about 12 then to cast his nightcrawler to the far side of the boulder and work it around the back and down stream. He did and hooked a big SM. He landed the SM. I told him to try it again thinking there was more than one. He did and landed a second monster. It was a monster considering that a 2 lb fish from that stretch of river in those days was "big". He weighed both fish into the club contest. One in the junior contest and one in the adult contest. One was 5 lb, 1 oz and the second was 5lb, 2oz. He won both contests. Those two SM were the biggest SM I have ever seen come out of the upper Delaware.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Josh Jones start out using FFS to win Crappy Tournaments in OK and didn't those wins elevate him from a mediocre crappy fisherman to his current fame. For sure he would not have the recognition he has today if he did not use FFS.

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Well, this thread accomplished one thing. It got me to watch another Randy Blowhard video. I promised myself I would not watch him again....but I caved. ?

I have a 40HP 4 stroke that is 23 years old. It just keeps running. I recently bought a Suzuki 20HP. The water pump stopped working. I shut it down and took it to the dealer. Since it is new I was keeping track of the hours for brake-in period. My notes showed I had slightly less than 4 hours on it. The dealer ran it and the water pump worked but they replaced it. What surprised me was that a 20HP motor has a computer. The computer recorded an "overheat" warning and recorded the total time the motor had been run. According to the computer I had run the engine for 3 hours and 50 minutes which jived with my notes.

I agree. I'm more likely to reach for a jerkbait if I'm fishing SM water rather than LM.

Could that be an adapter to give you more terminal posts for mounting accessories?

Maybe 40 years ago the PA Fish Commission stocked walleye in the tidal Delaware. I was there when they did it. It seems they just vanished. I did catch some during the winter in Tullytown Cove which is in the tidal portion but again that was a long time ago. There is good walleye and musky fishing from Scudders Falls north. For those that don't know the tide line is at the Trenton Falls which is just below Scudders Falls.

How many times do we catch a fish right at the boat or the shore? I never kept track but it happens often, especially with toothy critters!

If I'm fishing a hard bait or jig I fish it right back to the boat. I always suspect a fish is following it and getting ready to pounce and it often is. If you watch underwater videos it shows fish often follow lures a distance.

Ollies a few months ago. They only had one.

I agree about Ollies. I get some great deals but sometimes the prices are at or over retail.

This an interesting question and I have to agree, the shape does not seem to be important on most days. A few years ago I was fishing a small pond using a TRD on a BFS setup and catching a lot of fish. I had some Z-Man crawfish and some Nikko hellgrammites. Both are very realistic-looking baits. I decided to use them. I could not get a hit on either but started catching fish again when I went back to the TRD. Why? Who knows but the fish.

I have a War Eagle 1754. It is very similar to the Grizzly. I do not have a problem with vibration in a light chop or worse. The War Eagle is welded. Is the Grizzly welded or riveted? Can you trim out the vibration?

This is a little off topic but I converted a 12' duck boat trailer to a 14' john boat trailer by adding two feet to the tongue and adjusting the bunks. Prior to adding the two-foot extension to the tongue I had a two-foot overhang also. My concern was having the boat and motor hanging unsupported off the back of the trailer. The total cost was less than a hundred bucks and it resulted in a much more stable trailer. In response to the OP, I just replaced similar tie-downs. My new ones were coming loose also but I think my problem was that the new straps were stretching. Now they seem to be holding tight after a few uses.

WOW! If you have that sale let us know. It may be worth a drive west. ?

Stop scratching before you go bald. ? It ain't gonna happen. I know nothing about these carp and the problems they cause but if the bass start to feed on the smaller carp like they do goby's in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence there may be some big bass to harvest in a few years. Does anyone know if bass feed on this particular carp?