Simp

Maybe because he is in PA and not TX with probably close to a 15-20 degree water temp difference. This time of year for him is very different then it is for you. I'd say lay downs and bushes in deep water are a good place to fish if his water temp is in the low 50s or lower.

1. Got one 2. Fish on and after that if I'm whacking my partner (uaually my friend, nephew or neice) I'll ask them if they want to reel the fish in. My friend ;D at me and usually gives me a F.U. after that, but my neice and nephew usually and takes the rod and real.

This may sound wierd but I think it's hard for many of us to SLOW dowm in the cold because the more we move the more we heat ourselves up. It's hard to barely move that lure when your mind is screaming "IT'S ****ING COLD OUT HERE!". ;D

Well one of the biggest reasons I like it most of the time is for the water temp reading. I also find it works good on ponds that might also be considered strip pits. Right now my favorite ponds are closed in the Crab Orchard Wildlife refuge and so I've been hitting some local ponds and most are strip pits. The main one I fish has a very hard bottom with heavy spotted patches of grass. The pond itself is shaped like a football and on either end it gets VERY shallow but right next to them are VERY quick drop offs. I usually scope out the shallows for a little bit on warm sunny days (less and less of those) and when I find nothing I bring out the smartcast. I usually try to locate the drop offs and see if the smartcast can pick up a school of fish. Then I start throwing a Worm/JiG, Rattle Traps or Crankbcaits. Don't get confused thogh I still go home many times just cold and wet :'(. On those days I blame the crappy pond I'm forced to fish with no fish in it and start counting the days until my other ponds open up March 1. I will say it's nice some of those 2lb summer bass now are 3lbs!

Gloves, heating bags, rain suit, Hummingbird Smartcast (to find deep fish from shore), and PATIENCE!!!

Well if you cut out the menus, extras and do just the movie then you get can get 100% to 60% on quality. Generaly if you keep compression low you won't tell to much of a diffrence or even any at all. Well that's what "I hear" ahyway.

Well I just gave me friend the bad news and so he's getting on the horn to some friends. I jalso ust got off the phone with Daves Auto and the steering column won't be in until tuesday :'(.

Well I'm about to pull my hair out!!! A week or two ago something happened to my truck that wouldn't let me turn it off with the key. I had to use my clutch to kill it and take off the negative battery cable to prevent my battery from going dead while the truck was off. So I called a local repair shop I was refereed to and described the problem to them. I asked several times can you have it done before Sunday, because I must have it Sunday. Otherwise I'd just wait until Monday because while it's a hassle it's certainly drivable and still safe. They assured me several times it will be done before Sunday and should cost about 100$ parts included. I get a call today telling me it wasn't the ignition switch and they thought something was striped and wanted permission to fix it. I asked how much and if they could still get it done for me to use on Sunday. I was assured they would have it done today and it would cost me about 60$ to fix parts included. So I told them sure go ahead then. Well I didn't hear from them by 3pm (4 hours later) so I called to see what was going on. The repairmen then starts going on about a new problem and how it's some rod now in the steering column and how it would take 5 hours of labor at 60$ a hour to take it apart. So instead he's trying to find another steering column to put it in because that would only take a hour. The problem is they can't find one right now but they are still on the phone looking for one. So I ask will I still be able to pick it up on Saturday or Sunday and he informs he they are closed on the weekend!! I about flipped out but I stayed calm and he said he'd try to work late if he can find a new column. So it started out as a less then 100$ job and they could get it done before Sunday. Now it's a $300-500 job I'm betting and the chances of getting it done before Sunday are slim to none. So now I've been on the phone trying to let my fishing buddy know my truck probably won't be done in time and he needs to start looking for another to haul his boat to his tournament! :-[

That's not a bad idea but the reel was only 50$ and I could still get one for that price. I don't know if it would be cost effective to mail one to be serviced and have it fixed for a fee. The Reel Mechanic seems to sure know his stuff so if I send it to be fixed fee I'd sure send it to him. I've have had the reel less then 6 months so I'm probably covered by some warranty if I can't fix it myself. The only thing I could mention that might help a diagnoses is the reel will make a high picth whine sometimes when you really let loose for a long cast but that's it. I'll make sure to do a good cleaning of the worm gear and pawl again. Thanks for all the help.

I love it but because it was discontinued I moved on because of shelf life for mono. I knew even if I bought a ton online I would eventually need to move on. It's a low stretch line and very tough and it's great for heavy cover and vegetation. I used this before I went to braid and was very happy with it.

I have a Dick's branded Field and Stream reel that has took a beating this summer with braid, grass, and some big bass. The reel only set me back $50 and it out preformed my Abu Garcias, Diawas, and Phlugger IMHO. Now it's finally giving me some problems that are making me consider just buying another reel to replace it. This brakes my heart because it's been the longest casting, smothest reeling reel I've owned. The problem is now when I'm reeling once in a while the reel wants to stop reeling. To me it feels like it's grinds up against a small rock and stops for a second. I've cleaned the outside of the reel and added some reel oil by the teeth of the reel and it helped some but I'm still having the problem. I'm not to knowledgeable about fixing reels and I'm trying to find out what's the problem and what's needed to fix it. At one point before I cleaned it the reel eyelet would get stuck on the left hand side and didn't want to move. After a long cleaning the reel eyelet moves ok but it still hitches once in a while.

I bought a couple spools of vanish as well to try out. I've used it some and so far so good. One thing when using it I did decide to change is what knot I use from now on period. I was always a improved clinch knot and Trilene guy but I was getting tired of these knots after learning the Uni Knot when I went to braid. With the improved clinch knot and the Trilene knot, I just lost some baits and fish once in a while because of the knot. Now maybe that's my fault for not tieing the greatest knot with it, but I know when I went to braid for my frog set up the Uni KNot NEVER let me down. I'm talking hauling 5-7lb bass threw grass mats so thick I had to support my 7ft MH rod half way up when pulling. Then after having some more bad experiences with the improved clinch knot and the Trilene knot on mono and Fluro I've moved to the Uni Knot for everything. I can already tell the difference when I'm snagged in grass with a Rattle Trap. The downside for Fluro with this is you have to be careful and wet the knot, because you cinch the knot twice so you have twice the chance to generate heat so be careful. Even with that said I think it's the best knot for Vanish and any slippage problem for me is long gone. Just remember to spit on the line and not go crazy fast when you cinch the knot each time.

Any idea about price on these?

Oh it was a slurp, I swear it was like a draining bath tube lol. I let her have it for a couple secs and set the hook hard and the Gama hooks on the spro didn't let me down!

Do exactly what Senko77 said and you have a very good chance of catching some big fish. What he describes is exactly how I learned to fish the frog this summer and it produced MONSTER fish!

Makes me think of the Planet Earth scene where the great white is chasing the seal. Only on a smaller scale. ;D

I bought a pack of the bigger ones and caught my first fish on that style of swimbait. IMHO they are better then the Berkley type in terms of swimming and the two nice screw in hooks work great. For $5 I couldn't pass them up. Now I'm also thinking about trying the smaller ones because alot of the shad fry are about that size now. My concern are probably the same as yours, will the action be the same and how about rigging the things? I'd almost try something like a screw in soft plastic jig rig or a small split hot on the upper part of the hook.

I've got some but I prefer the bigger profile of the chug bug when I want a popr type bait. I fish a frog allot but when I feel I need a bigger calling action on top I go to a Zara Spook or chug bug usually the chug bug.

Well I just broke down and ordered $50 worth of them at TW to get free shipping. I hope they have enough in stock to cover my order. Even if they aren't being phased out I still got a great price ($4.79) on one of my favroit lures. Now how can I hide the fact I spent so much on fishing lures this week from the family ? ;D

The Chug bug is my favorite hard TW bait and it's becoming hard to find in local stores. I've never found it in walmarts but both Dick's sporting goods and Dunns sporting goods carried a nice selection of them early this year. Now Dicks only has the clear ones with two or three empty spots on the shelf for the other colors. It's been that way for over a month and Dunns is down to just a gold color with several empty shelf spots. This has gone on long enough that I'm worried Storm is stopping or slowing down production of them. I know BPS and TW both list them and stupid me forgot to order some from both of them even though I'm waiting on orders from both. Anybody else having this issue?

I ordered over 50$ worth a day ago to get the free shipping as well. It's my first order so we will see how it goes, but so far so good. My order shipped the next and as long as they got the order right and packed it well I'm !! One thing I love about their site is the videos they often add so you can see the lure in the water.

Well I went to my favorite pond again today to nail some big fish again! Then I see some type of wildlife official checking the drain out when I was walking to my spot. I asked what was up and he told me "it probably be better fishing tomorrow". I asked why and he tells me they just started draining it a couple hours ago. I was shocked, I told him that I was told we had to Sept 30 to fish and then they would drain it. He told me I had bad info and that no they wouldn't be doing any shocking. I about LOL at him when he tried to tell me there wasn't anything over 5lbs in the pond anyway. Long story short he said I can come out and fish plus take photos until they put a closed sign up. His guess was it would take two days to drain. My friend has a cooler with a live well kit set up and I'm considering taking it out there with some hip boots. I'm seriously so bummed part of me really doesn't want to go out there On the other hand I wouldn't doubt I could find some DD fish that i could take and put into another pond or lake. UPDATE: Well I went back out today with some supplies to try and save a few big fish if the water level was low. I went ahead and stopped in the Visitors Center to ask about the water levels ect. I found out the water level had only dropped about a foot and I could fish all week! After that I was setting up to go out to the pond and a DNR official pulled up and checked the water level. We had a conversation that made me very happy! He plans to go out either Thursday or Friday and shock some of the fish and save some. I offered my help and he seemed happy to have some. Apparently there is also another group who is going to help with the shock and hopefully we can save some fish. The only bad news is the drain pipe is only 8 inch wide so what we don't save will die. I'll be sure to take plenty of pics.

I don't know but they better stop running all their commercials! I mean serouisly we could have a world class universal helthcare plan for what we may end up paying to bail these companies out.

Ya the whole computer manufacturers getting into the TV buiss was just because the numbers were about the same. They had no idea on how to make a quality set or even a reliable cheap one. They just went to Taiwan and China and said make me a TV at this size and price. I guess the only good that came out of it was Vizio. The guys who started it worked for Dell and he left to start up his own company after seeing how badly the situation was being managed.The other option you might want to consider is Vizio does sell a 720p 50 inch plasma for under 1,000 at sams and costco. My dad bought a version at sears that comes with wireless surround sound for around $1300 after taxes. BTW I don't work for Vizio or anything.

"Honey didn't we ask them to hold the hooks?"