Fishing Rhino

That's interesting. But consider this. Years ago, commercial fishrmen, who "tub trawled" for cod, or "long lined" for swordfish changed to circle hooks, and the catch rates improved dramatically. Of course, there was no one to set the hook when a cod or swordfish took the bait with the regular hooks. I use circle hooks in 4/0 and 5/0 for wacky rigging. Once I got used to not setting the hook, I have had no problem with hookups.

Imagine how wide that smile will be when she catches a bass that tops your pb. I'd bet you'll get more enjoyment if and when it happens, than when you caught yours.

Last year, when the algae got thick in the pond, the bass had a washed out appearance, almost as though they had been bleached. The lateral line was barely visible, and even the back was lighter than one would expect. They stayed that way until the cool weather set in and the algae began to die off. This year, the algae started earlier than last, and the contrast of colors began to fade. Then the rains came. Whether due to the rain, or some other reason, the algae diminished considerably, with algae only in the top inch or two, and only "thick" at the windward side where the wind had blown it. As soon as the algae thinned to just the surface, the bass, immediately darkened up. I know some species of fish, maybe most for all I know, have the ability to "adjust" their coloration to their surroundings. I did not realize they could do it with such rapidity.

There is a Dicks only minutes away from here. They have a good assortment of lures and baits. If they don't have exactly what you want, they are quite likely to have something close. Granted, it doesn't hold a candle to BPS, but I'm an hour from the one in Foxboro. Dicks has had a good assortment of Rage Tail lures, but some are obviously old stock. Most but not all of them are packed in the clam shells. They haven't had the lobsters, but they've had a good assorment of monkeys, craws, toads, shads, and anacondas, though only the ten inch version. They have Strike King plastics, but not the 3X elaztech stuff. Lot's or Rapalas, Zooms, Berkleys, hooks, line, and accessories. Short on jigs, but they do carry the BooYah and Strike King pro football jigs, though colors and sizes are limited. But all in all, it's the best in the area.

Looks like the ad got lost. It's not there now. It's been up for a couple of days. When you looked at it, it was apparent his right hand was in his pocket. Tell me this "pose" ain't similar to that jean ad.

Am I the only one, or at first glance does it appear to anyone else that it looks like a photo of a guy taking a whizzz? Especially when you see it in your peripheral vision. It has been appearing at the top left of the pages on the forum.

I was a big fan of speed clips. I no longer use them. While they may be OK on eyes with light gauge wire, when you flex them to install on the heavier hooks, there is a noticeably larger gap which may fail to make a secure connection on the lighter gauge wire. I've also had one fail at the flexing bend. So, they have been banished from my tackle boxes.

So do I. But, I have to admit, there are days when I question that logic. If it's tough sledding, I end up asking, "What am I doing here? I could be pulling them in at my regular pond." That has happened on several occasions. The one thing I do, and recommend to all is this. When trying to learn a particular technique, or how to fish a particular lure, do it on a pond where you can depend on catching fish. Then if it fails, you know it's either your technique, or the lure. On unfamiliar waters, you have to include the possibility there are no fish in the area in the list of possibilities as to why you aren't getting hits. In auto racing, the accepted axiom is to make only one change at a time when testing and setting up the car, so you know exactly how that affected the handling. The more changes you "throw" at it at once, the more confusing it becomes. There are times when wholesale changes are made, but that's usually a last minute, desperation move in the hope of "fixing" an evil handling race car. I usually make sure the fish are biting, even on my favorite pond, before I try new things.

I don't think it's bad luck at all. Just a matter of timing. I have started off catching them left and right, and then, nothing. I've also fished an hour or two without a hit, then cannot miss. Sometimes it due to a change of scenery, a change of bait, or both. Sometimes, the fish decide to cooperate. It's what makes it a great recreational pastime. Frustrations and rewards. It's always a challenge, and never boring. I'm heading for the pond in the next few minutes. It's blowing northwestery about twenty, and cloudy. There are some things I "learned" yesterday on another pond, and am anxious to see if they apply to my home pond.

The first Saturday in August works as well as Sunday. They bail out on Saturday, and return the following week.

Try either, or both. I'd try a bit deeper water as my first option. Not familiar with your pond, but my "home pond" can find the bass from the shallows at the shoreline to six foot depths. In most cases, the bottom, from the beach to six feet deep is rocky, with minimal vegetation in the beyond the two foot depth contour. I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that if the bluegills are that plentiful and active in an area, the bass must be elsewhere.

That's the beauty of fishing. We can do it at our pace, and in a way that suits us. I take my fishing very seriously. But I don't take myself seriously at all. I don't think we make it complicated. It is complicated already. If you've got a small pond, and hand feed the fish, then it's always an easy matter to find them, and hook them. To me, fishing is a combination of puzzles, but most like the logic problem variety. Depending on the individual, it can be as simple as a can of worms, a cane pole, a few feet of kite string, a hook or safety pin, and a cork, sliced halfway through lengthwise to receive and grip the string, which also allows you to adjust the distance between the bobber and the baited hook. Even that is too complicated for some, and they eliminate the bobber. Others even eliminate the bamboo or calcutta pole and handline it. Some boil it down to a pointed stick, while yet others attempt to catch them with their bare hands. Others prefer to fish with tens of thousands of dollars of equipment and technology to help them "find the fish". Here's my personal preference. A boat is nothing more than a platform to move you around on the surface of the water, to get you to areas that are otherwise unreachable from the shore. In most if not all, a canoe, kayak, jon boat, row boat, or other relatively inexpensive craft is sufficient to the task. Yes, they will limit your options, but they are sufficient nonetheless. Knowlege is paramount. Knowing the waters you fish, the structure and where there is cover that is not visible above the surface is critical to success. What constitutes success is unique to each fisherman, and is purely subjective. I want to learn as much as I can. Whether that learning involves the habits of my quarry, or the tools I use to pursue them, I am never "satisfied". But, I always enjoy myself because every trip is an exerience, stored in the computer between my ears, and something is learned. A simple maxim will suffice regarding success. If you are enjoying yourself while fishing, you are successful. If you are not, then you are not successful regardless of how many fish you catch, and how large they are. It ain't a job paying the bills and putting food on the table for most of us. If you're not enjoying it, find another hobby. As for me, I like solving puzzles, and what to use, when and where to use it, and understanding how various things affect the fish, is a wonderful puzzle to solve.

Fluke type of bait. That's what this was doing, it would dart toward the surface. If I gave it a very short, hard jerk, and giving it slack immediately, it would initially dart upward, then loop, and dart into the coontail, then fall. It was a very sudden 180, sometimes darting away from me, back to where it had started. It did twist the line, but after each retrieve, I'd allow the bait to hang on five or six feet of line so it could "untwist". It might not have taken out all the twists, but I never had a problem because of the twisting.

Fiberglass composite is made of two materials, the fabrics, mat and roving, and the resin which is a plastic. The resin gives the product its shape, and the fabrics provide structural strength. You mention a "dent". What has happened is not a dent such as you get in metal. A sharp impact crushes the resin/plastic into a powder, which water can permeate. The gel coat is the outer layer of the fiberglass which provides color, and protection for the hull. Polyester resin which is the most common type used in boat building can absorb water. The gel coat is impermeable to water, and thus protects the hull. No matter if it is white, a color, or a metalflake, the main purpose of a gel coat is to seal the hull from the water. When water gets into the fiberglass either through impact damage such as you describe, or scratches through the gel coat, it can wreak havoc in the colder climes. The moisture can freeze, expand and damage the composite in a way that allows for even more water to penetrate the structure, freeze and do even further damage. While the damage you describe will not result in catastrophic damage such as hull failure, it can result in the gradual degrading of that area of the hull. It's important to get it fixed properly. That includes finishing the patch by applying gel coat.

Today was a great day on the water. Went to a different small pond today. Had fished it last year, and left wanting to try it again. So a buddy and I went. A small pond surrounded by woodland and swamp, that is part of a small state park in Taunton. The deepest water we found is about ten feet. Most is about five and the shore is lined with lily pads, and inviting openings. Other than the deep parts, the pond is thick with coontail which rises almost to the surface in some areas, while in other places it does not come within a foot and a half or two from the surface. Last year I fished it primarily with a spinnerbait, running it just above the top of the weeds, or just below the surface. I wanted to do something different this year. After several unsuccessful attempts with various lures, I decided to try a Strike King Caffein Shad, rigged on a weightless 4/0, Owner twistlock hook. After rigging the pole, I fiddled around the boat with the lure, studying its action. It darted, and dived, and looked pretty good. I caught a couple in short order fishing that in the coontail. Another followed a bit after, and the shad was still serviceable, though somewhat the worse for the wear. But, in the process of catching those fish, and getting a little mutilated, something happened to the action. Give it a quick twitch and it would dart toward the surface, only to suddenly dive toward the bottom or to the left or right. When it darted down, it would do so into the depths of the coontail, only to rise quickly above the vegetation, without hanging in it, when jerked again. After studying it carefully as to the shape and configuration, I removed it and installed a new shad, trying my best to duplicate what I had seen. While it was close, the action was not as violent. So I fiddled around, put a little more bend here and a bit of distortion when texposing the point of the hook, and voila, it performed as well as the shad I had taken off. By the time the fishing was over, I had boated over a dozen fish, and lost a few others, including two that made the drag sing when they realized it wasn't the meal they expected. I'm anxious to try it in areas of my favorite pond where the bottom is covered with filamentous algae muck. I'm anticipating big things. Plus there are a couple of ponds in this area that I don't fish much because they are choked with coontail. That may all have changed today.

Wind from the south blows food in the fish's mouth. And that completes the four points of the compass. But, suppose you're at the North Pole? The wind can only blow from the south. Vice versa at the south.

The solution is simple. I'm going to use a jello lure. Bill Cosby said it best. "There's always room for jello."

Very, very clever. So is the name. It has to be a play on hibernate. It sleeps, peacefully out of the way until needed.

Excellent points, all. Especially the secrecy part. For recreational fishing, secrecy is vastly overrated. Even in commercial fishing, there are very few "secrets". You have plenty of secretive fishermen to be sure, but very few secrets. We talk about promoting fishing, (unless that is strictly a marketing ploy by those who make their living selling product to fishermen), and yet are secretive? How do we "promote" fishing by being secretive about fishing? They are mutally exclusive. I'll share my experiences with anyone, provided it's a two way street. If someone is only looking for info, but not willing to share what they know, I write them off. They are strictly out for themselves. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Just a thought. Why not a fishing lure party? I don't know. Some think it's a great idea, and it may be, but I think otherwise. Think about the parties you mentioned, tupperware, avon, pampered chef, etc. As a rule, the party items are not available in the marketplace. They are pretty much available only at parties. You can order them from a "party holder" without actually attending the party. Would you attend a Rapala party, or a Strike King party, when they are readily available through the net or local stores? OK, someone develops a line of lures that are sold strictly at fishing lure parties. Unless, and until they are proven effective, how inclined will you be to purchase any quantity of them? How 'bout a B**jo Mi**ow party? OOOPS. Sorry, the devil made me do it. My opinion is most likely a reflection that house parties don't appeal to me, regardless of the product. Now, if you could get stuff at deep discounts at a party, I'd be interested. I doubt the retail marketplace would sit still for a manufacturer competing against them with home parties. It may be a great idea. It just doesn't appeal to me. Not trying to rain on anyone's parade.

I was out one day in mid March with the conditions you mentioned. Guides icing up with the line squeaking in the guides. I thought it was an equipment problem until I noticed the ice. Surface temp was about 48 degrees, air temp high twenties, headed for a high of fortyish. Had on layers of clothing. undershirt, chamois shirt, sweatshirt, and lined jacket. Jeans and foul weather pants to stay dry while paddling. No gloves. Though cold, it was sunny, with nothing more than a slight breeze. If it had been windy, I'd have stayed on the beach. From time to time, I dipped the rod into the water to de-ice it. Was catching fish, and my hands did not seem cold, until the fishing was done, and I started to load the canoe and gear onto my truck to head home. I'll fish those conditions anytime the fish are cooperating.

Yes! I have gotten into a funk, but not since I returned to fresh water recreational fishing after a hiatus of more than three decades. How to avoid a funk. Do not be a one trick pony. Learn new techniques, and how to use different baits. Sometimes all you need is a different presentation or a different bait to entice them into biting. If they've grown weary of hitting a jig, try a wacky worm, or one of the many finesse presentations. Experiment. Do not be locked into a going by the book mentality. Try things which seem outrageous, and are contrary to the accepted "rules". Those "rules" are not understood by the fish. Example, fish the windy side, fish the shady side. Sometimes they are to be caught on the sheltered sunny side of the pond. I took a friend fishing yesterday. We were doing well on one side of the pond. When I moved to the opposite side, on nothing more than a hunch, or gut instinct, or intuition, we did even better. He didn't question my move until we were headed in. He admitted to having reservations regarding the move, since it was contrary to the established understanding of where to fish under given conditions. I don't believe in hopscotching all over the pond just because a few casts in one area are not productive. I'll fish an area with three or four different things. If that is fruitless after fifteen minutes or so, I'll move to a different depth, or type of bottom. That fifteen minutes may seem too short to some, and it would be on unfamiliar waters. But, when you are intimately acquainted with a pond, and its potential, you learn how long to work over the fish holding bottom. Patience is a virtue, but it can also be a vice. You can keep tossing the same thing in the same manner, knowing that at some point the fish will want it. The problem is they may not want that bait until tomorrow, or next week. You need to find what they want that day. There are endless theories as to finding fish, and finding what they want. The beauty of fishing is that each of us can do it our way. If a cane pole bobber and a worm baited hook is your thing, that's great. If it's the highest tech available approach, that's great too. You should be out there for your own enjoyment. However you achieve that is fine in my book.

The finger on the line. Years ago, I used to troll for stripers using a spinning rod. I, and those I fished with would let the line out with the bail open, using the index finger to stop the line from spooling out. We did this to feel when the worm rig (live seaworm/sandworm, not plastic) began to tick the bottom. Once the bail was closed, we still used the index finger to feel light hits, especially when a fish would strike the lure coming up on it from behind, and creating a momentary slack in the line. When "bottom jerking" for cod or tautog, we'd hold the boat pole abover the reel with three fingers, middle, ring, and little, then hold the line between the thumb and forefinger. It wasn't so much holding the line as letting it pass under the thumb and over the index finger, with a gap between them. I think that technique would work well for dropshotting, which is similar to bottom jerking. Drop shotting is my next brave new world to conquer, or at least fight to a draw.

My wife and our older daughter are going off for a week. They are leaving the first Sat in August, and returning the second Saturday. Weekends are usually out for me, since I fish most weekdays and weekends belong to my wife. But since she's away the first Sunday, I should be able to make it. Will I need an RI license or is it in both states?

Had the first taker today. We had a great time, and I did not have to refund their money. Could have made it a four pounder and I still would not have had to refund their money. And............................, in spite of the four pounder my guest caught, I still managed to top it with a five pounder. The invite is still open.