bilgerat

My wife's (via her mother's recipe) Thanksgiving stuffing, which, among other things, contains liberal amounts of bacon AND the bacon grease !! It's a cardiologist's worst nightmare, but once a year aint gonna kill me, is it ? :

The bass are nice for sure, but that pike is a BEAST !! That's always fun getting a bait out of their mouth ;D

Light line is a must. 4# mono will do. They will eat minnows, but they will have to be smaller ones. I catch a lot of crappie on 1/16 oz jigheads with small plastic baits. Yum makes some awesome 1.5" to 2" grubs and tubes that are deadly. Another technique is a jig under a float. Rig a jig like described above under a float. This works good on slightly windy days when there is a chop on the surface. You may have to adjust the depth several times until you get dialed in. Crappie feed from the bottom up, in other words they usually attack their prey from below.

Don't sweat the finish. A lot of people (me included) swear by beat up looking baits. Try it out as is, you may be suprised.

I stocked up on a few jigs at the beginning of the season but never really put much effort into them. The little pond I got them in last night is very weed choked, so I had to clean it off after every retrieve. Tonight we're heading out in the boat to a sand quarry that's not choked out with weeds. I expect to do well with it. And man, those Paca Chunks got some stink to 'em !! Now I see what all of the fuss has been about. My strikes were all aggresive, I figure it was the chunk they were after.

Right on !! We have some world class pickerel here in Jersey. They are like torpedoes. Like you said, they absolutely destroy anything they get a hold of. How anyone considers them a trash fish is beyond me.

Our sand pits here have similar structure; "shelves" and sandbars with extreme dropoffs to deep water. Our strategy at times is to park over the deep and cast into the structure. Retrieve slowly to follow the contour of the structure. As Finatic said, sometimes working parallel to the structure is required and there are times going against the grain will work. Two questions - Is the water you are fishing gin clear ? If so, fish are extra spooky in clear water. Approach as quiet as possible and keep your distance. Second - I noticed you mentioned working a worm. Is that the only bait you were using ? Spinnerbaits would be a better choice, especially in choppy water. Crankbaits and perhaps jigs come to mind also.

Finally caught my first jig fish last night. Got two. One dink and one decent one, plus a bunch of hits and misses. Had a black 1/8 oz Strike King Bitsy Bug with a Paca Chunk trailer tied on. The first (dink) nailed it as soon as it hit the water, the second ran with it a bit until I set the hook. I know it's no big deal but I like it when a bait I've never caught fish with produces for me. Not a bad night for goofing around on the bank. We'll see what happens tonight on the boat....

To all of the new members. Best fishing site on the net. Please read the articles and FAQ'S and no one get's hurt

Is that all you have to do ? Well then, church is in session. *Ahem* Brother Bilgerat's Church of the Bent Rod would like to welcome you. Please send me money (cash please) so you may continue to have fishing success.

X2.....My best producing bait has been the tube this year.Looks like I'll be throwing the Gitzit tube Saturday and delicate a smallmouth in his honor as well. You too, huh ?! I don't know why, probably because no one around here thinks to use tubes for largemouth, but they have been "gittin' r done" for me this season.

Another overlooked but good jerkbait is Yo - Zuri's Pin's minnow. Gold with black back always produced for me.

Same here in Jersey. Was at two different Dick's and they both had the same thing going on. The Rapala display also had some red tagged clearance baits, but they were pretty much wiped out.

I'll remember that tomorrow night when I'm throwing tubes at the sand quarry. Next tube fish is dedicated to him.

So that's where "Sleep with the fishies" originated, huh ?

If you like Rotties, consider a Doberman. We had one years ago (had to put him down in 2003 at 10 years old :'() He was the best dog we ever had. Extremely loyal and intelligent. He was also fabulous with our daughters. By the way, take Raul's advice no matter what you choose.

Smaller reel = less fatigue. IF it balances out nicely on the rod.

Well, that's just great. I haven't fished at all in August between vacation with the family and being away for work. Screw it, I'm going this weekend no matter what.

No wonder. Look how big our supermarkets have gotten. Take the cookie aisle for example. Do we need 39 varieties to choose from ? :-?

If you don't want to send it back, the fix is easy: Unscrew the reel nut all of the way down. Get some teflon tape and wrap the threads tightly in a clockwise direction (if you wrap counter clockwise, the tape will unravel when you screw the nut back up) The tape takes up the clearance between the threads and the nut (knob). As teflon tape has no adhesive, it can be removed whenever you want and won't leave any residue. By the way, the reel seat components are made by Fuji, not St. Croix.

> I hate thieves >

Sounds like it would work well on a slightly windy day with a little chop on the surface. Then it would have a nice wiggle action if wacky rigged.

I didn't want to hijack Paul's thread about the Lazy Ike, so when I saw the picture it reminded me of a lure I've had for years. It's called a Beno. It's about 2 1/2" long, made of plastic. It's a very dark gray, almost black with a silver scale pattern on top. It's got the circular cups where the hook hangers screw into the body. I've never fished it and I can't remember when I got it but it's been a long time. I searched a little online and as far as I can tell it's made by Luhr Jensen. The only thing similar they have now is called a Kwikfish. Anybody know any history on these ? Any info appreciated

Ziplock bag out of the light. It will last so long it will be a family heirloom

I'm a diesel mechanic with no outboard experience, but I have a suggestion. Sometimes when we suspect a fuel problem we will run the engine out of a remote fuel can. We use a five gallon can. If you can SAFELY secure a separate fuel can to your boat long enough for test purposes you may find your problem. This is a good test to determine if you have a bad tank of fuel. If the fuel is crap, no amount of additive will make it better. I've seen fuel hoses go bad internally also. These can be difficult to diagnose as they look fine from the outside but have swelled on the inside, which restricts fuel flow. Also, especially on the suction (or supply) side of the fuel system, tiny cracks in the fuel hose or leaks at hose clamps will allow air to enter. Both of these conditions will allow an engine to run at idle but cause problems under load. These are things you can try on your own at little or no cost. At the very least, if you have to take it to a mechanic, you can tell him what you did and help him with his diagnosis.