bigbill

I search the net for "antique fishing equipment" or "old fishing lures" or "old fishing equipment values" there are many sites that offer this stuff for sale too so you can get an idea about whats worth what. Fact i'm 60yo now and i still have my tackle from the 60's and 70's and its antique now. I like to fish most of the time, but while on vacation i look at the antique shops for old fishing stuff while the wife looks at old stuff that she likes too. My point is to have fun with it. It doesn't cost much to grab the low priced stuff. I still enjoy looking at them anyway. I purchase older freshwater fishing stuff at flea markets, pawn shops and antique shops when its priced right. I purchase anything wether its a popular hot old item or not. I feel whats not worth anything today at this moment may in the future be sought after. I even have the older steel telescopic rods(fly rods too) and some are casting rods. I even have lures from the 50's and 60's that i never seen before. Some early plastic's that look silly too. I have a big cardboard box that i store everything in. My point is ave your older tackle too for it will be an antique someday. Bill

Fishing city limits with iconelli it does get any better right now with bass fishing show. I also enjoy, The Infisherman guys(great tips), Bill Dance(but watch what he actually does besides listening to him watch his hands how he uses everything), I also like The mad fisherman too even though he puts on an act sometimes but its a show on fishing too. (comical but ok) I like to watch hank parker too besides the spinnerbait guy Jimmy the fish kisserman Houston too. I wish we would have an old fishing show schedule time slot on the older Flying fisherman (gaddabout Gaddis) and mostly Jerry McKinnis too. I loved watching his shows when they first came out and would watch them again over and over if ESPN would run them. I always wondered why most of the fishing shows are on on saturday morning when most of us are out fishing??? I wish we had one night at least minimum of fishing shows at night so we could watch them. We the fisherman seem to get passed up when it comes to fishing shows. BigBill

I was just looking at a Shimano trynos reel with an 8 lever drag and 170yds of 20lb test. At www.fishingtackleoutlet.com it lists for $219.99 and they have it in there new arrivals for just $94.99. I don't know much about reels(cranks) so what is this reel used for. Is it too big for freshwater? Bill

I see the old beds near the shoreline were the springtime water is probably warmer. In the springtime prespawn the bass are at the farthest northern part of the body of water were the lake or pond gets most of the sunlite all day. Again its the warmest part of the body of water. I would think the beds are near the warmer water too but in the more sandy bottom area. I don't like to bother the fish on there beds after all there making the population grow so we don't want to hurt the new population.(baby bass). Lures for fish on the beds? Lizzards because lizzards eat bass eggs so the bass hate lizzards.

I would only trust the reel reviews i read here or the tests i do on my own. I been testing the okuma's with the 10 ball bearings and the Fin-Nor's and both seem to be that i can't wear them out yet. The Fin-Nors are a good quality reel too. They make the larger gold color reels for saltwater fishing and i use there spinning reels for fresh water fishing. One guy here in texas who repairs fishing reels said once here if everyone used fin-nor reels he'd be out of the repair business. I also been using the cheaper spinning reels with less ball bearings on my spinnerbait setups.(Quantums) There is less friction to crank them with less ball bearings. there holding up ok too. Now if i had to pick just one spinning reel it would be the Fin-Nor. But the okuma is equal but a little higher in price. For me personally i'd rate these two tops. Don't sell the spinning reels with lesser ball bearings short too. I also been hammering the viva brand, the Quantums and the other mid priced reels too just to test them. So far nothing has broken do to wear. In my early years of bass fishing the $6 to $10 cheap spinning reels the bass actually wore out in half a season but i hammered them too. If there is a tight budget these will work but if we lube them often the'll last a little longer. I think the lube matters when we grease the reel that counts about the life of the reel. I use a moly lube in all my fishing reels but make sure you don't get any moly in the drag clutches. Moly; Eliminates all wear Reduces friction Prevents galling fights corrosion stays were we put it. www.ts-moly.com I use the ts70 moly. Just a little will do. It may seem tight at first but it will loosen up as you crank it. I take care of my fishing reels by lubing them and i still have my older DAM Quick spinning reels from the 70's that still function today. I recently seen them in an antique shop too. DAM I got old so fast??

In the words of my fishing hero jerry Mckinnis " the wrong worm in the wrong color fished the right way in the right place will still get plenty of hits"

Who got the pink or chartruese colors? ;D Any camo?? ;D Hey what about the new fishing camo we can wear while were at it?? : Overall i guess its not given much thought and clear line will do anywhere. The smaller untouched places i fish are different than the rest. The fish can be very finiky and sensitive i guess. I think in the virgin untouched places the fish are very aware of new things in there water. Where i fish is totally different and needs a different approach sometimes. Bill On my worm rod with the carolina rig with a wacky rigged senko i use a heavier cajun red line test with a lighter cajun red line leader only because the heavier line affects the movement of the senko as it falls. I know the leader is still a weak link.

Here's the facts upfront what happens in a winterkill during a nasty winter when the ice and snow cover is on for a longtime. I've heard from ice fisherman in the past talking about seeing bigger bass frozen in the ice during a winterkill. http://www.msnbc.com/id/42326147/ns/local_news-hartford_ct/ I think its mother nature taking care of the over population of fish. Well any thoughts????? Sorry for the improper spelling this new key board has lower keys height wise over my other boards.

Please don't get hurt when you fall on the ground laughing i'm not responcible. My son is one of those kids who is so smart he has degrees on degrees of education but they took out the common sense i tell him all the time. He is one heck of an engineer but with the hands on stuff we have to watch him. He'll give you the shirt off his back to help you too. Ok he purchases his buddy's boat. First they all tried to help him tune it. There are two sets of ign points in the engine. He told me they had problems trying to get it running. I went over and tuned it and fired it up. They cut out the middle seat to install a post seat(the previous owner). Then they tried to bolt in a bench seat again. Then i look at the partical board they use for a strengthener when making the fiberglass on this boat and its soft and swollen and the glass is cracked and the plywood is showing in spots. This was in the late fall. Trip number 1 "the first outing of the SS Minnow" Hang on now. We launch the boat on the lake to go pike fishing and luckily the engine won't start. It sat all winter with no stabil in it. This was an intervention from God that day. All of a sudden there is water flowing in the bottom of the boat. My son says there's a crank in the keel of the boat but we have enough time to take it fishing because its a slow leak. I'm thinking my tackle boxes need life preservers too? Since it didn't start we went home. I repaired the 6'' long crack in the keel. The problem was they tried to use cheese cloth were it wasn't needed. I patched it with just fiberglass. Now its running. We launch it and he forgets the drain plug. Again were taking on water much faster now while were moving. The drain plug is at home of course. Thats it for me with the SS Minnow. I notice the boat is very bendable and the fiberglass seems to be weak. We called the non profit org to have them pick up the boat a trailer for free and he donated it. The trailer was like new and the money went to the needy a great cause. I did feel bad because he purchased it to take me fishing. Maybe soon i'll buy him another boat a better one. I just wished he'd ask me to look at it before he bought the last one. Now the SS minnow has sunk for good its scrapped. Bill BTW; The look on my face when we were on the water with the keel leaking had to be priceless.

Ok you young'ins got me the old timer to change from copoloymere to fluorocarbon line so now educate me on line color. Most of my success has been with clear line. Then i went to a heavier test line and some of them are green in color. I take what ever is on clearance if its a copolymere. And now the yo-zuri hybrid i have comming is green too i believe. The places that i fish are a green in color rather than a crystal clear water condition. Does it matter if i go with a clear or green or not?? Is there one that will give me more success over the other? Situation? Bill

I wasn't going to say this but i hear weird stuff going on at night too. I hear the passing by bear hooting for a friend. Its no owl its a multiple of short hoots and long hoots. Very much different than an owl. I can mimic them and call them right into my camp during the night. But thats another story/post. I'm out in the middle of no where and with forests all around me i hear chimes like wind chimes. I've had bears near my car in the bushes. Noises comming from the woods with bright lights flashing. I just freeze in my spot and fish thoughout the whole night till daybreak. I just focus on my fishing and the whole world could fall down around me and i just fish. Bill BTW; I hear body slams at night in the water at 12am like i did a belly flop in the water. I figure its the big bass chowing on the baitfish.

Ditto; There was a yearly contest here on who could catch the biggest bass over the season and the prize was a new corvette. The story has it the guy at the boat dock left his rod hang over the side of the boat with one of these snap beans on when the biggest bass ever seen in these waters hit it. He is enjoying the new vette now. Bill BTW; Hearing about this don't be afraid to drop your sinking baits straight down and hit the bottom and reel it up a tad and get jiggy/twitchey with it. I've done this with success with senko's and sinking jointed rapala's and shad raps. It works.

Great. but can i get farther casts using a line conditioner on my rod eyes and does it make the line slippery'er?? My trick when fishing from shore is i put on a topwater bait and soak it up with a scent and throw it as far out as i can in the channel/open water along side the weedline as i can. Then i will work all my other lures from that point in figuring i have the fishes attention with the scent. The only thing i don't use a scent on is my very first cast with the carolina rigged senko. If i get a strike and a miss one quick shot of scent is a 100% hookup on the next cast. My only downfall is i see others near me catch fish too when i use scents. Bill

I just ordered a few 600yd spools of the yo-zuri hybrid line to try out. I'm using some rods still with the coploymere and some with the fluorocarbon yo-zuri hybrid line too. I'll see how good it is or not with the first few days of using it. My only question is do i need to use a line lube of not with it? I been using a line lube on my spools and rod eyes for many years like "reel-magic". How does the yo-zuri line work with this line lube. I still swear by the copolymere with the less stretch and quicker hookset over the rubber band mono. The quick hookset is right there with the copolymere line. The yo-zuri hybrid line does feel as tight as the copolymere line and it feels a tad more easier to bend. I'm banking on the yo-zuri hybrid being as good as the coploymere if not better. I don't care if it lasts longer or not just give me the performance i'm looking for. I'm no pro or never claim to be one but i fish as hard as one. I put my time in for sure everyday at 3am after the season starts. With mainly fishing from shore the farther i can cast means everything on somedays when the fish are farther out in the pads working the baitfish over. In fishing everyday i wait months while watching the fish every morning who are farther out. I wait till they get in closer were i can reach them. Oneday i caught a 30'' chain pickerel. I waited about a month for it to work its way in closer. I casted about 10' past it to the right of it not to spook it and worked my topnocker near it and it turned and struck. While it wasn't the trophy bass i expected the fight sure was good. Ok i'm old school but the reel-magic does allow me to cast farther.

I use 5', 5'5'', 6', 6'6'' and 7' rods all the time. My shorter rods are for light line and smaller inline spinners(1/4oz) and small spinnerbaits (1/8oz). My next rods 6' to 6'6'' are for heavier spinnerbaits, cranks and worm/plastics. My 7' rod is for my topwater lures. I fish from shore with no boat but i do cast out there farther than most fisherman. I look silly carrying all the rods when shore fishing but each reel, each rod and lure requires a different line weight and rod action to get the best results. You can't put an ultra light lure on a 6' rod. Bill

I use cheap rods, middle of the stream reels like Okuma, Viva and Fin-nor but i put my money into better line now. I'm getting old at doing this and still learning. I check BPS, Cabela's and fishingtackleoutlet for all my needs. Between these three someone has it and its priced right. With everything costing more and more nowadays its tougher to stay fishing. Shop smart, Frugal Bill BTW; When i find a rod, a reel or a line that i like i stock up on it so i'm way ahead of needing it again if its priced affordable. For a great price on the yo-zuri hybrid line right now go to www.fishingtackleoutlet.net its 600yds for $4.99.

If you haven't tried to fish when the pressure changes / weather fronts approach when the bass turn on your missing out on the best bass fishing trip you will ever have. Me and my son were fishing in a swamp with livebait(worms). We were two hours away from an approaching front with rain comming. It was early evening approaching dusk. I was reeling in my baited hook when a fish attacked it. I said to myself they want something moving. I never really used lures with success yet but i had some new mepps #3 inline spinners(assortment package). I put on the mepps #3 silver/gray tail and started catching bass after bass on every cast. My son hollers over and says do you have another one of those lures? I threw him a mepps #3 red/white with brown tail and he also started catching bass after bass too. It was a bass feeding frenzy for the both of us. We had doubles after doubles till it got dark. We were better than the guys on TV. After this we were bitten by the bass fishing bug for sure. Our second shot at this feeding frenzy was in the early evening too just before dusk too. Again with a front comming in with the pressure change happening. I'm catching 2lb to 5lb bass fish after fish non stop again. We must have caught over 50lbs of fish on this trip. This was in the low light using a rebel BIG Claw crawfish lure that dives to 10' in firetiger. My third shot at looking for this feeding frenzy to happen again is we had a few days of light rain and it let up for a few hours. Standing in one spot from shore i caught 19 bass while fan casting the whole place. On the way home i gave another place a quick shot to see if they were turned on there too. I caught three, 3lb smallies right away. All on joesfly's 1/4oz bass size in fire tiger apache. This tells me with cloud cover in a low light situation go with the fire tiger colors or brighter colors. Seeing this color thing happening over and over made me want more knowledge about lure colors in bass fishing. One of my thoughts was why do the bass turn off when it gets darker. I was fishing with a joesfly in blackgnat thats a silver blade with a black tail in the early evening. The bite was on and i'm catching a few bass. As it got to be dusk the bite dropped off. I put on the joesfly in firetiger apache and caught a few more bass before it got dark. Now back to this pressure thing. I'm trying to figure it out for many years now so i know exactly when to go fishing during the pressure changes and the incomming fronts so i can time it right. No positive results yet over many years of looking for an answer. I go before the rain, during the rain and after the rain and i can't nail down the time when this frenzy will happen for it happens at anytime. My only results so far is its happening before the front hits. And during the light rain sometimes they will turn on. My older brother told me about this frenzy happening and he always said to keep going they will turn on sooner or later. He always fished during the pressure changes and the incomming fronts. Bill BTW; I picked up an older Combo-C-Lector that Dr Loren Hill developed at the university of OK. I have tried it were i could test it and found out it does work. I tested it for a few days and found out on one day only a red colored crank would work when no other color would, on another day only a brown colored crank would work when no other color would, on another day in the same exact spot green worked when no other color worked. On each day the combo c lector chose the color that worked. I did have days were any color worked too. But on the tough day the combo c lector picked the right color to catch fish. Again i fished the exact same spot and time during this test of the combo c lector. This was with the older color selector and now i want to get the new one so i can test it too. There are so many things that can influence the lure color too. Bill Dance said the bass can't see all the colors all of the time. If they did there wouldn't be a minnow left in the place think about it. I'm hooked on this color thing too. The water conditions can guide us wether we use a natural color or a bright color or a smaller size or a larger size lure. There's a lot more to think about than just chucking a lure. Now withy the pressure changes and the front approaching choosing the right lure color and size matters too. Then its having a vibration, a rattle and if we use a scent can also mean success too. My point is everything works together for success. Its not luck in fishing its skill. 8-)

When i first started bass fishing i was using a smaller trout setup with a cheap reel. The rod acts like a guitar and any noises from the reel can go thru the rod and the noise can intensify into the line to your baits. How do i know this?? I was fishing a spring fed place with very clear water. I noticed a few bluegills gathering were my line enters the water. They were hearing my mistake reel noises up my rod down my line into the water. I was using the cheapest reels i could buy for trout. The bass actually tore them up. I have upgraded to better reels but not the top shelf stuff. And nothing has wornout or failed me yet. I have noticed with the 10 ball bearing spinning reels there harder to crank when there new. I use these on my worm rods first to break them in. I use the reels with lesser ball bearings so there easier to crank on my crankbaits and topwater baits. I cast non stop even from shore and i do get tired when the reels are new and harder to crank. Just some food for thought. Bill

I have the yum swimbaits and i have only use them topwater reeling them slow enough so there tail paddles and looks real. I have had many strikes that way but not many hookups for some reason. Bill

I have never seen the ice cover last so long as it did this year. I'm chomping at the bit to go fishing too. I can't wait to wet my line for the first time. I have to get my license this week and wait for a warm night to go fishing. I just want to throw some lures out there and break in my new line and get ready for the action. Bill

When i was a kid we used the zebco 202 spincast for flounder (saltwater) and with a 1oz weight we could cast all the line on the spool out. We used a very stiff 5ft rod. We also used the same setup for fresh water too. We fished so much we would burn up one reel a year. Each year we would replace the 202 spincast. Right now i still have a zebco setup on my telescopic rod setup that i kept under the seat on my motorcycle with a bag of lures. I also have two ultra-lite setups with the zebco ultra lite spincasts on two ultra light spin cast rods. I like to use these with livebait for panfishing. Now i'm 60yo and still enjoy using the zebco spincast reels. I also have a buddy who catches big bass all the time using a zebco spincast too. We grew up using this stuff when there wasn't much else out there. Were talking the early 60's now. Bill

My older brother took me fishing for the first time when i was 6yo, he was my mentor, my fishing and hunting partner for all of my life till he passed away. He could press 175lb barbell set with one arm. Here's my story we were fishing the housatonic river and i was down stream just at the edge of a backwash. The backwash was 40' long and 6' wide to shore. There was a gravel rock shallows in the backwash off the rapid rivers flow. All of a sudden a larger trout jumped out of the water infront of me. I screamed did you see that? He said its on my line. Now my brother fights the fish up to his feet and ready to pick it up and his line breaks. Now here's my older brother, my mentor on his hands and knees trying to grab the fish on the slippery gravel. He got it and it was a 21" rainbow and i forget the lbs. My sides hurt from laughing all the way home that day.

I been using the copolymere ever since i had problems with my mono breaking(cheap rivermist line) the dollar stuff whe3n i first started bass fishing. The lighter test silver thread copolymere has been awesome for so many years now i been using the 4lb, the 6lb and 8lb test at first. But i slowly switched to Cabelas brand copolymere which seemed as good as the more expensive silver thread. Then i went up to the 10lb and 12lb test and now i'm up to 14lb and 17lb. I lost a big hog that struck like a torpedo on my bps topnocker only to dive into the deeper weeds and i lost it with the lighter line. She was my record breaker from what i seen of her. I found the yo zuri line on clearance for $4.99 for 600yds. I hate putting too expensive line on my setups but now its time to change. I'm losing the bigger bass, the porkers. I'm shore fishing and i have as many rod setups as you do from a boat. My buddy's make fun of me but each different weight lure and lure action requires a different line weight and rod for the lure action to be correct. I bank my shore fishing success in the past to doing this. The topwater and my carolina rig setup doesn't matter as to where my crankbaits/inline spinners and spinnerbaits do. But the larger diameter line surely bit me you know where. Bill BTW; I went from trout only fishing many years ago to bass fishing using the light trout tackle. After a few wornout reels from catching the heavier bass i got into better reels. I also went from the cheap 99 cent fishing line which worked well for trout didn't work too well for bass, so i went with excaliber silver thread and my line problems were solved. Then i tried the cabelas copolymere and found it to be just as good as the silver thread only cheaper in price. Then using the larger diameter line with the heavier weights hurt me. My next move is to the fluorocarbon line. My point is i/we can make any reel and rod work no matter what it is but our fishing line is the weak link. No matter what brands of rods/reels we use we need a good quality line.

A few seasons back i experienced a few lost really big bass. I been using silver thread copolymere 8lb test on most of my rods for crankbaits and topwater baits. Due to lost fish and lures I upsized my line size to larger sizes/weights. I been using 14lb test on my topwater rod and 12lb on my crankbait rod. Now my fishing has been way off the past two seasons and i can't figure it out till now. I think its my line size because the fish can see it much easier. With line so expensive its hard to change my ways but i'm going to try. I just picked up some Yo-Zuri Hybrid fluorocarbon polymere alloy line to try out. It was very affordable and on clearance. It arrived and feels very plyable and tough. I hope i made the right choice? This is a big change to me. Bill I'm hoping this is why my numbers have been off lately.

I had to switch to evening fishing to night / early morning fishing to get away from the crowds in the evenings. I'm fishing from shore. I have noticed there are more fish in the evening when they turn on at dusk but there smaller in size. I just can't get passed the 3lb to 4lb bass in the evenings. Lightly stained water conditions. Were talking borderline colors between natural colors to brighter colors. I like to try the 2" baits with normal colors first. If nothing happens I switch to a bright color next. The trick is finding the correct presentation(speed) for the mood and the water conditions next. I fish from night to early dawn. Now i normally go out at 3:30am or try to be there while its still dark. One thing about fishing at this time is to be very quiet, more stealthy because the bigger gals are right against the shoreline ambushing the bait fish. I find them as close as 2' from shore in 2' of water. Do not coff or clear your throat too because this will spook them too. I've done it and watch a big gal swim away right after. I'm very quiet when i handle my rods and put my tackle boxes down too. Do not step on any rocks while your walking too. The little rocks sticking up on top of the ground sends shock waves into the water letting the fish know your there. Its there natural radar. At this time i use a bps topnocker on topwater in the total darkness or i go with a Rebel BIG claw crawfish crankbait that dives 10' at the time the sky just starts to light up, first light. The channel i fish in is 10' deep along side a weedline on both sides with two rocky points on both sides of the low bridge that i fish from. I have it all with no boat. With the rocky points i can fan cast and go from the deeper part of the point straight up to the shallows or cast across the point and play it slow from the slow side of the current into the faster moving channel water. I like to use the BIG claw along side the weedline with a long cast and bring it back in the channel slowly trying to attract something from out of the weedline. I also like to jig with a jointed shad rap of rapala jointed minnow off the bridge too. Just drop it down and twitch it. As it gets light i switch to a 1/8oz carolina rig with a senko type bait wacky rigged. I cast it out and twitch it as it falls or just keep the line tight and wait for a strike. I move it and repeat. I have also jigg'd with it straight down in the channel too. I have also used the orginal rapala 2" in blue. I use it two ways one is reel it slow just under the surface in the channel or speed it up and keep it deeper in the sight line. The fish can be very finiky at times and will hide in the sight line its below the surface were we can't see them and they can't see you. If the fish are there and you use a crankbait or spinnerbait and fish the sight line you will have success. Its not just night fishin its knowing how to fish that area too and what the bottom structure we have too. We can fish it all to our advantage too. The most important thing is to be very very stealthy when your out at night by yourself. I alos find that during the day in low light conditions it can be the same as night conditions too. I find the fish at both times in the same haunts. I find the fish will move to deeper cover as it gets lighter from a dark situation to a dawn/early dusk. For me the bite lasts from darkness till around 8:30am till 9 am then it falls off probably because there moving to deeper cover. At this time we can start fishing over the submerged weeds. I like to use a floating crankbait like a bomber in redapple craw. Its the same color as the crawfish here. I use it as a topwater bait but twitch it over the open spots / holes in the weeds. If the hole is big enough i will crank it and make it dive into the weed pocket. At this later time i have also found the bigger gals to be hiding there too. There ya have it my best tactics from shore so far. Its only fishing backwards from a boat but its all good and works both directions. Everyone has an equal chance at success. It not luck in fishing its skill. Bill BTW; My very first cast is in the channel/open water, along side the weedline. I will soak my BPS topnocker with scent and cast it as far out as i can. Then pop or walk the dog slowly to spread the attractant to exceite the fish. After that is done its just fishing normal after that. Does it work? I seem to have better action when i scent the water first. Now with my carolina rig with the senko i use no scent on my very first cast. If i miss a strike on the first cast one squirt of scent is a 100% hook up on the next cast. The fish will grab it and won't let go. Fishing in low light conditions during the day, over cast. The fish can be like us when we were in school as kids during recess. Then can be all over the place away from cover. One day in this condition i caught 19 bass from shore in one spot fan casting the whole place. My point as dark becomes dawn and its still low light or over cast as it gets later don't be afraid to tie on an inline spinner or spinnerbait and go to work.