bigbill

I was buying up reels and rods for my new boat in the early 90's when I had two knee operations that's another story. I just found five new crankbait rod setups with new reels covered in dust. I think I used one or two of them very little. There over a decade old but the reels weren't that cheap at that time. I found a MITCHELL ACCUPRO bait caster reel with 5 ball bearings, a flipping switch and a magnetic braking system. This reel is very smooth. It's a pro600 made in Korea. My other reel is a QUANTUM HEAT HT 400 with a magnetic brake adjustment too. My other three baitcasters are round body reels I remember one of them being around $80 years ago. Look like I have some good old new reels I had already. Now I'll clean them up and change the rods to better ones with more backbone for bass fishing. Reline them and I'm good to go. One rod I found is a Pinnacle bait casting rod. I remember getting it discounted when a local Wal-Mart was moving to another building. Ever forget about what you bought that you used a few times or never used that just collected dust for years? I just saved some $$$ but I'd still would like a new bait caster with the brakes. Someday. I'm thinking instead of buying a new car in the spring I may go for a boat......I been hinting the misses.....bigbill

Nice evaluation and write up JT. Well I just placed seven orders for jigs with "Mike the Jig Man". Looks like another order for those bloody things too. Next month for sure. They look great. Great info on an awesome looking product. Remember it's "Mike the Jig Man" bigbill

I have a Mitchell spinning reel with the round body, another 306 Mitchell spinning reel on a Garcia colon two star rod. I have a DAM QUICK 110 spinning reel on a Garcia colon 5 star ultra rod. I used these for many years. The 5star rod has caught many trout. All my older stuff is in antique shops now. I hope they have a spot for me there with good good...... Bb

Which color of brushogs do you prefer? Size?

I'm going to add a rattle and a trailer.

I catch bigger pickerel on spooks walked the same way for bass. They like the inline spinners too. I caught catfish using a yellow with black dotted panther Martin spin fly with a shot of bass scent as it got dark the cats came up the drop off. I had a big salmon hit a Mann's crankbait. If we ever needed food we wouldn't eat the same fish two nights in a row.

Me and my son's share info on new hot spots. The hot spots I have really helped me learn how to fish for bass using lures. Which I brought both my son's there to learn too. I do hold the biggest bass and chain pickerel for both places. And the biggest salmon at one of these spots too. Places #1 10lb bass 32" chain pickerel Snapping turtle the size of my 15" jeep tire I landed him twice in one night. Place #2 6lb 1oz bass 30" chain pickerel 5lb silver salmon Snapping turtle about 4' in diameter with a human sized head. My son laughed and said I snagged a log but when it's head turned and looked at us when I mentioned my line I cut the line. There was yellow braid all over the ground too so it wasn't this giant turtles first rodeo. My point is if the bass are healthy everything else is too. Some guys make hats from the turtle shells, the 4' diameter turtle would make a umbrella. I'd like to see the turtle man grab this one by its tail. I hate this kindle fire HD spell check it changes my words.

Exactly I know a place that's hidden in the woods with big bass in it. I know nothing.

I told one buddy who told another buddy who told ten more buddies now there is no fish left in one local used to be hot spot. I seen one buddy who took a 5lb bass to have mounted. It's a dink when compared to what I have caught there. This same guy brought me a fish to find out what it was. He caught a big Brown trout. Stupid me for trusting a so called buddy. But I didn't tell them the bigger bass are hiding on the other side of the island. There not fishing the right area. Never show anyone your exact honey hole location. Iron Will movie quote; Who do I trust? Trust the dogs.

I fish between hunting. One year I fished till November just before thanksgiving while it was snowing a month before the ice is on. I was using a yum money maker swimbait. I lost another big bass. It bent my rod in half like I never seen it before. Then it spit it. I was sitting home itchen to go fishing so I went out in the snow. It was still too warm for the snow to stick. But this trip told me to fish till the ice is on. I bear hunt in October so fishing is still possible after I hunt bear and before and after deer season.

A few years back here I heard there was a winter kill. The ice was full of bass. There wasn't enough oxygen in the water to support all the bass. It's nature's way of thinning the numbers of bass. We just had a slot limit put on us here. So no big bass will be removed. The big baby makers will remain. Our government did a survey on how to eat fish and still keep the population numbers up. They said to eat the smaller fish so the bigger ones can keep up the population numbers. Sound familiar? At one time we had bass hatchery's here too they been shut down for many years. I guess they think the bass population will manage itself numbers wise. Our local DEP does have a boat with the electrical shocker so they can check the number of bass in that area but it's only good for the shallows. They haven't seen any big bass. I don't think this way of counting the numbers is legit. But one lake has a weed chopper and it killed 12lb bass in the process of chopping the over grown weeds. This should of been a wake up call that we have big bass but no one caught on. Just some facts to think about for bass. Bigbill I take two or three smaller bass per year to feed my abandon kittens that I find and adopt.

From the fishing reel manufacturer, to the fishing rod manufacturer, to the fishing line manufacturer, to the fishing hook manufacturer do you think there are rewards for breaking the state record for catching the biggest large mouth bass? I believe that mustad hooks offers one million dollars to anyone who breaks the world record for any fish category. I was just wondering if there is any rewards for breaking a state record? I think if I received cash or fishing equipment I'd like to start a take a kid fishing program. Where no kid is left out from going fishing there is no better way to keep a kid out of trouble than take him fishing.

RW That explanation is awesome that clears it up for me. Thanks again guys

Thanks for the info. I just never understood it till now.

I use a wide variety of different brands of rods so it's hard to pick just one. My rod brands are; Quantum Finor Browning Shakespeare Zebco Fenwick old Berkley cherrywood Johnson country mile It's hard to pick one. Probably my Finor's are my best rod picks.

Why aren't the jigs not offered in brighter colors. It's s different presentation over spinnerbaits. It stays on the bottom longer and hops. In murky, dark stained, muddy water can the fish tell the difference between a crawfish and a baitfish. All they see is the shadow and movement that somethings there to eat. In topwater conditions and from daylite to twilite to dusk conditions when I switch from natural colored lures to brighter colored lures the bite continues. As the satellite goes away the bite slows down with natural colors. Example, in the early evening I'm throwing a Joe's fly 1/4oz bass size in a silver blade with a black fly thus blackgnat. As it gets darker the bite stops. Most will think it ended but it hasn't. The fish can't see the blackgnat in the low light. They feel the vibration from the blade but can't see the lure. When I switch to the Joe's fly 1/4oz bass size in the brighter firetiger apache I catch a few more bass before it goes totally dark. I learned this one night as a kid when I put on a uncle Josh pork trailer on a hook with a bobber at dusk when the bite stopped. While playing with the bobber jerking it I was using the first swim jig in the 60's. I could see the white pork being pulled every which way by the bass. I did land a few. Of course till it got darker.

We use firetiger colors in crankbaits in darker water conditions. My feeling is the brighter color jigs will work too. The smallies like chartreuse. There have been tornies an with smallies lately too. I can wait to try the chartreuse jigs at one of my hot spots on an overcast cloudy day. I'll try them in a few different hot spots. One day won't be fair but we'll see. My hottest crawfish lure is the rebel BIG CLAW crawfish crankbait that dives 10' feet. But it also floats too. It's in chartreuse color too. I figure the chartruese jig will stay on the bottom longer. We can hop it. I'm up for change, what ever is different that works. Bb

I just received some new rods. They ratings are medium/heavy action. What does this rating mean? I notice the lower section has a lot of backbone while the upper section has way less. How do they rate these rods? Does the M/H rating mean the lower section is a heavy action while the upper section is a medium action? I just don't understand these ratings.

I often wonder why I don't see the same brighter colors in jigs as I do in spinnerbaits? Wouldn't it be more beneficial in darker overcast days and in fishing in the darker water conditions? If we are fishing in the deeper depths there is a lower light condition too. Mike Siebert is making some jigs in brighter colors for me. He does offer them if you ask for them. I'm thinking the chartreuse will be very productive in certain situations. So far the blue glimmer and chartreuse spinnerbaits have been very productive here. The blue glimmer I toss on sunny days and the chartreuse color I toss on dark overcast days. I do try the spinnerbaits above and below the sight line too. I think the brighter color jigs will work out very well. But we do need all the different colors. Bigbill

The monkey got my credit card too. I feel like a little kid at Christmas time when the boxes show up.

I purchased 4 new bait casting rods with lots of jigs so far, I think I purchased over 50 New jigs. I may go for some new spinning rods next. I need to evaluate my tackle stash next.

When I purchased my 338wm in a bolt action I was younger and the recoil is a tad more than my 30-06 was so it didn't bother me. A few years ago when I fired it I asked myself why didn't I purchase this in a Browning semi auto rifle. Now that I'm older I wished I did. So when your thinking about a more powerful rifle think semi auto. BB In the very beginning of the 50caliber rifles there was a guy in Wisconsin making and selling the receivers and barrels. My co worker had his ffl license plus his license for automatic weapons. He told me I could build a bolt action 50 cal for $1,500 at the time. I should of jumped on it decades ago. These had similar steel receivers to the anti tank rifles.

I caught a big crawfish in a rag I had but by the time I got it to my hook it jumped off the low bridge into the water. These draws are red with darker backs.

I looked at all the ballastics back in'94 and looking at the 300win mag compared to my 30-06 I went one bigger to the 338mg. It's not the most powerful of the 338's of today's New calibers but she'll still do the job on African thin skinned game. Plus no problem with the game in the rest of the world too. I did put a scope on it that has a BDC on the vertical turret( bullet drop compisation) it adjusts from 150yds to 500yds with no error. You use your range finder and dope the scope. If the one trophy bear of a lifetime sticks out his tounge at me at 400yds I have a surprise for him.

I just mail ordered 4 New casting rods and today they arrived. For the first time I was whipping each one. They felt like two different rods. The lower section had lots of backbone while the upper section had none. The upper section felt a tad stiffer than an ultralight. The rating on the rod is medium action. To me the tip is too flexible. My point is what has changed in these newer rods over the older rods. They feel like too different actions. Just my thoughts. Bb