Fishing Rhino

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I checked off always weigh. But, that applies only to fish worth weighing. I'll guess at the pound and a half or two pounders. While they are nice to catch, they are nothing to brag about. If you "stretch" a fish from a pound and three quarter to a two pounder, no big deal. But, if it's a bragging size fish, it gets weighed. As RW says, sometimes weighing a fish brings a dose of reality, and sanity, to our "estimates".

A question regarding reciprocity of licenses from GA, ALA, and TN, and fishing in Pickwick. Will a non-resident GA license be acceptable? I'm going to stay at our daughter's home in March to do some fishing in Georgia, Lake Varner being one of the places I will fish. Since my wife will be retiring sometime this year, we'll probably go to our daughter's for a few weeks in the fall. I'm going to get an annual non-resident Georgia license before I go there in March.

The Mitchell 306 and I believe the 300 had a nice feature. The quick change spool. Push the button on the top of the spool, and it would release from the shaft, and could be slid off. Drag setting stayed the same, as the entire assemblly, drag and spool came off. Pop on another spool and drag assembly and good to go.

They claim they can be used in up to 30 knot winds and strong currents. They may hold in the wind, and current, provided you are in relatively calm water. On an exposed shoal thirty knot winds will develop some serious chop or waves. I have doubts they will stand up to that. Some boats use two, so the boat cannot pivot on the single contact point. That has to produce some serious stress if the wind or current is broadside. They've probably done extensive testing. At least I hope they have. Nothing like a couple of years to see what develops in the real world environment. Some abuse their equipment, others baby it. I'd be as concerned about the stresses the unit puts on a relatively small area of the transom.

Carolina rig and Texas rig fishing for starters. After that, ?

http://www.richz.com/fishing/articles/dropshot.html

Yes I do. I've posted about it a few times. Gadabout Gaddis, the flying fisherman.

For me, the four inch lizard in chartreuse or watermelon/red, rigged weedless on an Owner SledHead hook. It was killer for me, working it along the bottom through the vegetation. Can't go wrong with any Zoom product. If I'm not mistaken the company that makes the Zoom plastics also does them for ***.

Close, but no cigar. Got you by a year or a few months depending on the month of '42. I'm class of November '41.

Citrus sticks? Not a good choice for a name. When I hear citrus, among other things, lemon comes to mind.

The Roboworm I think you want is the Shakin Zipper in the Zipper Worm models. Here are my favorites drop shot baits. Four inch Strike King finesse worm in coppertreuse. They are indestructible. Cannot tear. I rig it this way. The point of the hook enters the bottom side of the body about a quarter inch from the nose. Then bring the point out through the nose. I want the chartreuse on the bottom, so the hook enters in the middle of the chartreuse band. Where the hook enters will be the bottom of the bait. The other baits are Yamamoto Flappin Hog, and 3 3/4 inch Crawdad, and the 4" Zoom lizard. For rigging these, the hook is inserted into the nose to a depth of about 3/4", then exited out the center of the top side. The possibilities are endless. The finesse worm and flappin hog have been the best producers. But, on days when they are nibbling at the tail of these baits, I switch to the smaller crawdad. On those days, it works best.

I use the Jackall Wacky Jigheads. Basically the same thing. I also use them with Yamamoto Flappin Hogs in shallow water. Pierce 'em along the centerline, and exit the point so the head of the hog is snug to the ball. Use the weedless version for this since the shallow water has vegetation. It also works well in grass beds, working the hog along the bottom. Funny thing is, you'd think there isn't enough gap in the hook to get a good bite on a body like the hog, but they work. I've even used them the same way on Fat Ikas. They are even thicker than the Flappin Hog. Don't have a hookset problem with larger fish. It's the pound and a half or smaller that manage to spit the hook. But not enough to be problematic. I also use them as designed, and they do work well.

126 + 53 = 179 ooops 162 + 53 = 215

Me used rock from driveway. Make talk about Shimano fishing rock. Me want to learn. One question. What is driveway?

Rock not sporting. Concussion from rock can stun fish. Rock long distance weapon. Pointed stick more sporting, and does not produce concussion to harm other life forms in vicinity. Loomis supposed to make best pointy sticks.

ROFLMAOOO! ;D How come you aren't dead yet? ;D I'm a spring chicken at only 65 by comparison! Caught my fist LM on a shiner and a $2.00 rod with a fly reel given to me by a neighbor. That got me "hooked". Seen a lot of stuff come & go. I still have a tubular steel baitcasting rod (Heddon Pal) and a Pflueger "Silk Cast" knuckle buster reel. My Dad bought me a Heddon "Lucky 13" for Xmas one year (the old wood kind) which I still have as well. Times have certainly changed! Some for the better and some for the worse. Three years does not a spring chicken make by comparison. Times have indeed changed. I'm not sure I enjoy it any more than I did as a wide-eyed youngster of five, but it sure costs a lot more to do it. I remember going to the hardware store where the bamboo "poles" were standing in an empty nail keg. The nail kegs are long gone too. The kite string was tied to the tip of the rod, leaving a long tag end which was secured along the rod from the tip to the stouter portion of the bamboo with a series of half hitches. When, not if, the tip broke you still had your line bobber and hook. The cork was slit lengthwise about half way through. Slip it over the line. Then it could be slid up and down to adjust the depth of the bait. The biggest fish I caught in those days was a 16 inch pickerel. But, I did not catch it on the pole. We used to put the fish on a stringer, which was also kite string with a twig about four or five inches long tied to the string. We'd slide the twig between the gills and the gill plate and out the back side. The twig would then prevent the fish from pulling from the line. We'd secure the stringer to a bush, rock, root or whatever. Keep in mind this stringer was about twenty feet long, so it was more like a leash which allowed the fish some freedom to swim about. One day I had a shiner on said leash. After fishing for a while, I was ready to release the shiner and head home. That pickerel had come along and swallowed the shiner. To me, it looked like a world record fish. So I brought it home. Along the way, the pic slid off the shiner. I got it home, put it in a wheelbarrow full of water, pulled up some tall grass and put it on the water. Somehow, I thought it would keep the water oxygenated. After everyone saw it, I put it in a bucket, and released it back into the pond where it had been caught. It did manage to survive that ordeal. The pond was only a couple of minute's walk through the orchard.

Pshawww, you guys are all youngsters. I started fishing in the mid 40s using a bamboo pole, kite string, a cork bobber, a hook, and a tin can to carry the worms I dug up in an old, long neglected, orchard on my way to the pond. The first rule back then was to make sure the worm hid the point of the hook so the fish couldn't see it.

A shaky head or two would be a good addition.

I must have missed it, even though I went back through the posts. I did not see where anyone used 20 pound leader on 50 or 65 pound braid. There was a post that mentioned 50 pound braid, but it was tied directly to the bait. I don't get using 50 or 65 pound test line to catch fish that very rarely exceed ten pounds, but, as you say to each his own. That's one of the many great things about fishing. We can each do it our way. Maybe in water where trees and brush are stacked like pickup sticks. Or tournaments when fish are cranked into the boat as quickly as possible. With line that heavy, and the drag cranked down, I would think you'd run the risk of breaking a rod. Most of my braid fishing is done with ten or fifteen pound braid, with the 20 pound Invis X fluro. as a leader. Never had a knot fail to date. For mono and fluorocarbon fishing, I use six pound test. If I need more beef I'll switch to the ten or fifteen pound braid. I do have some spools filled with 20 pound test, and a Nitro Combo with 30 pound test.

The purpose of the guides is to distribute the forces appropriately along the entire rod. That's why the eyes get closer as the rod diameter gets smaller. That's an oversimplification, to be sure, but that's it in a nutshell.

Braid is superb in lily pad beds. If a big bass takes a sweeping run through the stems, it mows them down like a scythe. I first experienced it when I caught a large pickerel in the middle of the bed. I swear the fight cut down about 20% of the small bed.

Absolutely, without question. Most of the places I fish are quite rocky. Braid and rocks go together like butter and a hot knife. Just touch a rock, with a nice fish, or maybe even a small fish sawing the line across a rock and pfffft, gonzo. Twenty pound fluoro joined to the braid with a Modified Albright knot and no more problems. Don't know if other obstructions such as logs or debris are a problem, but I would not take a chance.

Haha does he like it? A better question would be, "Is he still your buddy?"

In 2008, I fell in love with spinnerbaits. Then I got the Chatterfrog and tried it. Gradually the spinnerbaits took a back seat to the Chatterfrog. The Chatterfrog definitely outfished the spinnerbaits. Maybe it had to do with a change of season, or fish preference. Because.......in 2009, I started fishing in March with jigs, learned how to use them and became a jig man. I'd try the spinnerbait and Chatterfrog, but they did not produce like the jigs. Even as the season warmed they did not. When the jig fishing began to die out, I found the Rage Tail products, primarily the Space Monkey and the Craw took over where the jigs left off. Tried spinnerbaits and Chatterfrogs of and on through this transition, with disappointing results. From Rage Tails to wacky wormin' and then to drop shotting in August. Again, forays with the previous years "killers" were disappointing. Different year, different conditions, different things that I'm not aware of made the fish want different baits and different presentations. Who knows, maybe this year the spinnerbaits and Chatterfrogs will be what they want. When I lobstered, there were times the lobsters wanted flatfish racks hung on bait strings, other times they wanted it in bait bags. Yet other times they preferred skates, or cod napes, or pogies. What they wanted, and how they wanted it placed in the trap made a difference. Why that should be, since lobsters locate their food primarily by scent, I have no clue. There were times when everything worked equally well. I've got "big plans" for this coming year. Jigs early, Rage Tail plastics in the lily pad beds when they start to appear beneath the surface, followed by worms, then shaky head and drop shotting. Thats based on last year. You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men.....................