pafishslayer

My money and heart are still with Penn State.My predictions are as valid as anyones, at least for today. LOL Mike

sorry for your loss. You are a good friend to devote your time and energy to his memory. God Bless, Mike

macmaster, As far as top water I like Bumle bee's, grass hoppers,dry caddis, and deer hair crickets or beetles are deadly close to the bank. If these prove to be to enticing to panfish I also like a deer hair frog which should persuade the bigger fish into biting. I also like bead head woolybuggers in white, chartreuse, black, olive, and rust. Maribou streamers take on a life of their own when they hit the water . Either in current or action you add with the rod tip marabou comes alive. Their has been some great advice here, but if your are fishing rivers, especially for smallmouth you have to add some sculpin imitations. These can be deadly when fished withthe right presentation. When pulled up a sculpin will immediately struggle bact to the bottom to hide in rocks or gravel so you need to present your imitation in the same manner. Great fishing, Mike

I am interested in which 3 set ups you would recommend for someone wanting to get more serious. I would like to hear your preferences for different applications.(crankbaits, finesse, Flipping, spinnerbaits etc.) Ex: Med action 7' rod with med duty spinning reel with 6 pound flouro for senko fishing. (maybe bad example, thats why I'm asking). Im not as interested in brands as I am in types, due to possible limitations in funds. Feel free to mention a favorite particular brand if pertinent, but please include the generic specs. Should be very interesting and educational to compare everyones preferences and will definitely help us newbies in making educated purchases when first getting started. Thanks as always, Mike

I would like my 14' Jon to pull double duty as a bass boat and a boat I can hunt ducks out of. I would love to see examples of anyones boat if they have done this. I really interested in camo paint jobs. I would rather paint than add a camo wrap, so if anyone did anything really cool I would love to see it. Im gonna buy some grass matts to attach to the boat, they seem pretty reasonable in price. Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks, Mike

I think you've found the right place. Welcome, Mike

P.S. Hope the wind at MG wasn't too rough on you!

Hey Guys, This is the only way I can get him to stay still! He has nowhere to go. He would fish everyday if he could and maybe someday he'll even lose his special gift of tanglin' every rod in the boat! Mike

Also, If you have something worth dancing about, dance brother dance

congrats Moby! As a new boat owner I share your excitement. Many happy days afloat ;D MIKE

Joining this forum was the best! When I learned I had serious health issues I bought a boat. I wasn't sure about the decision, This pic proves that I did. Mike

your gettin' closer to the right part of the state! ;D Mike

Excellent post! I have another perspective on the c&r deal. I personally dont like fish much so I dont keep any unless someone wanted some that did not or could not catch tany themselves. Now my 6 yr old son loves to fish and I cant expect him to fish with artificial bait all the time. If I did he wouldnt catch anything and probably would love video games instead of fishing. Since he's been 2, any fish that he hooks deep, we keep and he really enjoys fish and now with the deer meat we harvest, he associates food with the earth and nature. Not that we need to hunt and fish to sustain ourselves these days, but we do need to respect our natural resources and the value the earth has towards all of our future. He will not hurt the fish population any time soon and in time he will get better at fishing different artificials and wont deep hook so many fish. I think he values the resource and understands that food doesnt just magically come from the super market. Keep in mind that as we're fishing we discuss c&r and he knows that I prefer to release them to enjoy another day. Im putting a lot of stock in the lessons learned outdoors and hopefully he will grow up to be a steward of our land and water, not to mention that while he's hunting and fishing he's not getting into trouble somewhere else. I know thats a lesson that we all hope are children will learn. Thanks for a forum where you can express your feelings and interests without making enimies. Mike

thanks for the tips guys. Still was a pile of fun. Mike

I guess this post could just about go anywhere but for the most part it was an outing from which I learned more in one day than I have for a long time. My 6 year old son and I hit the MG's today about 2:30. I rigged him with the good old bobber and nightcrawler and he had a blast catching perch, sunfish, bluegills, 1 smallmouth and 1 largemouth. My experience was a little different. Late last night I read the tutorial on senko fishing. We I chose a 4" smoke senko rigged wacky style. I never missed so many fish in all my life! Finesse is definitely not my strong suit. after 3 hours or so I rigged texas style and my catch rate did increase, however I didnt get quite as many hits. But let me tell you I still had tons of hits! I would say 70% of the time the senko was hit nearly as soon as it hit the water. What I learned: First of all the first rod had a real stiff line with lots of memory and it made it very difficult to stay in touch with the senko. Once I swithced to a much softer mono on a different rod I could keep in much better touch. Didnt someone mention that the wind always blows at the MG's. Well the wind also made it very challenging; the big belly in the line made hook sets very difficult. The last component that I should have had but didnt, was a rod with a stiffer tip. I really learned so much from the 4 hours or so that I fished the senko and my boy thought that it was pretty funny that I couldnt hook anything.Thanks for the excellent article on fishing senko's. I know my fishing will be much better for it. Also, Im a relatively new boater and had never really used my foot operated trolling motor. I always used my rear trolling motor that I could steer by hand. Well I new that motor had taken a beating on the Juniata's low water last weekend but I didnt realize how much. With the rear motor we were going nowhere fast. If you happened to be on the lake today you couldnt miss me. I was the guy in the middle of the lake spinning in circles! ;D Again though by dusk I could almost run a straight line. Even though the day didnt go real smooth I never got frustrated. I was having a blast with my son and learning about our little fishing boat. We finally got our fish finder working and my boy was crazy over the underwater camera that came along with the boat. As a matter of fact I thought it was pretty cool to. What a great day! The knowledge I've gained since I found this site made this day a success. We spent the last hour by locating and marking walleye in about 35' of water and again drawing on the research I'd done previously. Apparently I need to study a little more, especially on the walleye. Sorry for being so long winded. I just needed to share this experience with some folks I knew could appreciate it. Here's to many more satisfying days on the water. Mike