A-Jay

What do you charge for Big Dogs ? Kodi has been my son Ryan's (pictured below) best bud for years and will always be just a Puppy at heart . . . . . . A-Jay

It was a truely gorgeous warm, flat calm, moon light night and the bugs must have been snoozing- which was nice . . . . . . . Around 3-ish an extremely dense fog rolled in. The moon went bye-bye and so did ALL visibility - I thought it was very cool but my fishing partner called it "Very Spooky" The talley for the night was not quite what we had hoped for but not a wash out either. Before day break we had netted 3 fish with one in the 4 lb. class - all on a black spinnerbait - after daybreak and with sunrise the fog burned off we had a slow steady pick of 1-2 pounders until we split @ 1000. This outing will be repeated again soon after a brief recovery period A-Jay

Heading out for some Night Operations - calm clear night - Big MOON ! Looks Very Promising - A-Jay

Dissappointing . . . . . This weekend was a total Blow-Out ! The wind was Crank'in all day and night - which is a bummer - sometimes I'll get out if it lays out at night - but it seems that it's been windy quite a bit this month - at least on the days I plan to get out - - - - I really hope it lays down at least a little - I REALLY NEED A FIX - And what makes it worse is that on Friday (my last day on the water ) I think I came across a little something that produced some surprise fish - And I haven't been able to get back to it since ! ! ! It's killing me - - - - - Help . . . . . me . . . . . I'm . . . . getting . . . .weaker . . . .need . . . . to . . . . go . . . .fishing . . . . . sorry - I'm a little better now - looks like I'll be able to get out later this afternoon ~ I'm sure I'll be casting into Coffee colored water at best - but sometimes - that's not a bad thing . . Rant over. A-Jay

Something about this just rubs me the wrong way. If this is "The Future of fishing" - I'm thinking we are heading off course. This website presents a list of 10 different "Professors" who came together to "invent" this very "advanced" lure. . . . . Call me old school, but I bet the below list of men and their contributions to the sport of fishing will prove to be a bit better . . . . time will tell. I probably will not pony up the $$ for this one. Lauri Rapala The Finnish inventor of the hand-carved balsa wood minnow that serves as the archetype for all jerkbaits to come. Nick Creme The Texan who invented the plastic worm and revolutionized bass fishing for all time. It is fair to say that all of the radical innovations in modern soft plastic baits ultimately owe their lineage to Creme. Andre Meulnart The French engineer who invented the Mepps Aglia spinner. There are all kinds of great in-line spinners including Blue Fox, Roostertails and the Panther Martin Fred Arbogast The Akron, Ohio inventor of the ubiquitous Jitterbug, as well as the Hula Popper and numerous other classic plugs manufactured under the Arbogast banner. James Heddon Along with sons James and William, this Michigan entrepreneur was likely America's first tackle tycoon. The Zara Spook and Torpedo remain must-have lures for modern fishermen. Fred Young This Tennessee whittler created a bass fishing secret weapon with his hand-carved Big O the grand daddy of all bass crankbaits. Scarce and expensive, early bass pros protected their investment by transporting their Big O's in egg cartons. Stan Sloan There seems to be a lot of uncertainty as to who invented the first safety pin spinnerbait. All of the sudden, spinnerbaits were everywhere. But this Tennessee tackle maker gets credit for his Zorro Aggravator ~ The lure that launched a thousand imitators. A-Jay

You know I have a couple of Rattlin Rapala's - and I haven't give them a fair chance to produce - probably because during the limited time they are wet - there're not taken many fish - but it sounds like the xr-50 might be a bait I'll check out. Thanks A-Jay

I picked up some of these a few of weeks ago. I've been a Rat-L Trap fan for many years. But I've been fishing several baits from XCaliber this season and I'm liking the quality and the catches. And the One Knocker has really surprised me. It's been producing some very decent fish. A couple of times I fished it behind a Rat-L-Trap and it took fish. Is anyone else having success with it ? A-Jay

Thanks - a Strikeking Spinnerbait that is now Very close to retirement ! A-Jay

Check this out - Some of the waters named here should be a good place to start ~ and the fall is always Prime time A-Jay http://www.michigansportsmanmag.com/fishing/bass-fishing/mi_aa072503a/ http://www.michigansportsmanmag.com/fishing/bass-fishing/mi_aa062504a/ http://www.michigansportsmanmag.com/fishing/bass-fishing/MI_0605_01/

OK, I'll see your two pike and raise you two more nice pike We caught several nice bass but these were two bonus fish that somehow didn't cut me off. You know where we went ~ but we'll keep that to ourselves. . . . A-Jay

misfit1III8 "Thats all I threw out there last night" I hear ya- -what did you end up putting on the back of that buzzbait to replace the twintail grub ? A-Jay

Has anyone happened to see my pants??????? Anyone???? Wow - this is weird - looks like this missing pants thing is a real problem in several places . . . . . A-Jay

Cool - you got out on a Monday night - nice. . . . . . Bummer you lost a possible PB - I know the feeling too well. We'll be getting out the next two mornings - thinking about switchoing it up a bit and fishing a buzzbait all day - A-Jay

Just got back. Lack of rain didn't help the fishing. The bite was totally shut off from yesterday. Managed a handful of dinks and a nice pike. Tomorrow is another day. Retirement is pretty good. A-Jay

Heading out again today - got out yesterday - wind and rain - pretty crappy day as far as the weather goes - but the fish were in a chewing mood and my better half and I put a hurting on them ! ! ! Including her personal best LMB . . . . . Headed out again this morning - looks like it might not be as windy but the same raw rainy deal as yesterday - ah - summer in Northern Michigan - it's so lovely and 43 degrees . . .nice . . . . .. . . . . . A-Jay

Check your e-mail . . . I been throwing the Deps Frog (see Link) it's by far the BEST frog bait I've ever seen - - It has a great action that is very different than everything else out there !!! It's a little high $$$$ for a stupid little hunk of plastic but it's a really sweet bait - I was throwing it in both vegatation and open water and bass were hammering it - I think the pike might like it too which might not be too good . . . . . . . http://www.***.com/descpageDEPBAIT-DBF.html# A-Jay

Got out today for the mid-day bite - The frog was see'in some action - A-Jay

SSSSSShhhhhhh . . . . . . . . . A-Jay

I FINALLY have water temps that are reaching the 60's - it's been a slow warm-up for sure - - but the SMB seem to like it . . . . . A-Jay

For those who recently bought a Tour Edition reel for $240 to see them going for $130 has got to be like a punch in the head A-Jay

Cool I was looking for some Hawg gills myself - I think your right - it won't be long though - A-Jay

Last night didn't pan out as I had hoped - so I got right back in the saddle today with a SMB FEST ! A change in scenery made a major difference. I has one of those days that makes Winter in northern Michigan Almost with it . . . . A-Jay

Funny you should ask - I'm hoping to stir up a few more SMB right before dark. Then after twilight, My "plan" is to connect with Ol' Marble eyes - I picked up a new cooler today at Jay's and would like to fill it up - I mean break it in - with in legal limits of course. . . . . . I'll be sleeping in but will post a report right before I head out again tomorrow afternoon to hook it up again . . . . . A-Jay

Heading out for my first "night operations" of the year - conditions are looking favorable - Oh Boy . . . . A-Jay

Very Nice ! Really enjoyed sharing the trip - some very sweet shots of the hotel too. And of couse there were several great big bass smiles. A-Jay