Fishing Rhino

I remember that happening to my Hula Poppers years ago when the skirts were rubber or some type of plastic. Back in those days I used Burkes or Berks plastic worms and they'd eat up the plastic tackle boxes, melting their way into the box. Do you think that will happen with the silicone skirts? Silicone is pretty much inert. Nothing seems to touch it chemically. It's used for hot mats, engine gaskets (even for racing engines) where it is subjected to all manner of extreme temps and chemical fumes w/o being affected. I haven't noticed any silicone skirts clumping yet, though I have found it necessary to replace the skirts since the strands seem to disappear (break off), particularly when the pickerel are biting. I've used these replacements with good results. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_7420____SearchResults

It is temporary. Some day the sun will burn out.

Your sales tax is higher, and they charge it on clothing in RI, unless I'm mistaken. Even Taxachusetts doesn't do that. But on the bright side, you don't have the equivalent of the Mass Turnpike Authority, yet. Full of hacks. The toll takers in the booths make up to 70Gs per year. Those who run it, make sure that it stays in debt. Tolls were to be charged until the costs of building it, and the tunnels (once another separate authority) were recouped. Then the state highway department was to take over the maintenance, and the tolls were to go away. Never gonna happen.

Chatterfrog. But, I've jotted down some of the recommendations on this thread, and may give them a try. If there is something better than the Chatterfrog, I want it!

The O-ring tool works fine for me. I've got red and black O-rings, just in case they want a "bleeding bait".

Well Matt, I just saw more bad news for RI taxpayers who smoke. They are considering raising the state tax on a pack of cigarettes to match that of Mass. I think making it 2.51 per pack. Almost half the price will be state taxes. I hate to think of what the feds and states will do when no one smokes. Higher taxes on booze? It'll be a "sin tax" of some type.

Like any other kind of shopping you need to do some legwork, and compare prices. All the places have some great deals from time to time. There is no need to ever pay the regular retail price for most items. With BPS, you need to check catalog prices, on-line deals, and flyer prices. It is a bummer that they do not automatically charge the sale price. Right now BPS has a clearance on J Morris signature rods. Regular $170.00 for $70. My guess is that if someone grabs one off the rack, the cashier will ring it up at $170.00 Clearance: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&partNumber=58453&hvarTarget=search&hvarAID=&cmCat=10006927 Regular online catalog sale price: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_98026_100002002_100000000_100002000_100-2-2 Price in their 2008 Master fishing catalog $170.00 I've bought all my combos that way, and saved from 20 to 70 dollars per combo. In my mind it's like having coupons available for certain products. If you are aware of the price, you have a discount coupon. If some are too lazy to do due diligence before buying, they'll pay the higher price. Do your homework, especially when shopping for high ticket items. I get a kick out of their "sales" prices that only amount to pennies per item on five or ten dollar items.

A search yielded this. Seemed simple, straightforward, and wasn't trying to sell anything. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/455773/the_care_and_feeding_of_nightcrawlers.html?cat=11

I did something like that years ago. Put some soil in a bucket and a bunch of forest decay, and some leaves, and kept it moist, but not wet. I don't know how fast worms multiply or how fast they grow, but that bucket never ran out of worms. When I dumped it in the fall, it seemed like there were more worms than I had originally put in it. A kid's imagination or not, they were all fat and healthy. I'll check out your thread. I have an old bathtub out back that I used years ago to keep minnows. It is cracked so it will allow water to drain, but not allow worms to escape. If the bed requires a container, it should do the trick. It's certainly large enough.

While an outrageous fee, at least you had a choice. It was a voluntary contribution.

Regarding the bridge tolls, I buy fiberglass materials from Composites One, in Bristol. To get there from Westport, I cross the Sakonnet River Bridge and the Mount Hope Bridge. Several years ago, the Mount Hope Bridge was a toll bridge, with the toll being paid on the Portsmouth to Bristol lane. No toll on the return. However, they eliminated the tolls which were collected to keep the bridge maintained. Unfortunately, the tolls did not even cover the cost of collecting them. The toll booths were taken down 5 to 10 years ago. Don't feel too badly. RI is not alone in being taxaholic. Mass is considering some of the same to help keep the Mass Turpike Authority in the black. They considered raising tolls on the turnpike and on the Mystic River Bridge as well as the tunnels that run under the Charles. There was such an uproar, they decided against it, and want to make all the Mass residents, who do not use those routes, contribute to them. Then you have NY which is worse than MA and RI combined with their new tax package under consideration, which includes an obesity tax. No, it's not a tax on fat people. It's an 18% tax on sugary drinks such as non diet sodas, to discourage their consumption.

I'll recommend three baits/lures. The only way to fish them wrong is not to fish them. There is no special technique needed to fish them properly. They can be retrieved quickly or slowly. You can vary the speed. You can retrieve them at steady speed or twitch them. Two of the three are fairly weedless. The first and most basic is the Mepps Black Fury, size 3 with chartreuse or fluorescent red polka dots. You might want to use a swivel and leader since they can twist the line. They'll catch just about anything that swims. The #3 will also catch panfish, but not as many as the smaller sizes. The Mepps will snag anything it comes into contact with, so don't fish it near the bottom if there are stones, submerged logs, etc. The second is a spinnerbait. I recommend three, all Strike Kings, some of which can only be found at Walmart. My favorite is Cochran's Lil' Money in the green/chartreuse color combo. The center strands of the skirt are about an inch longer than the outer strands. I use a 4 inch Mister Twister, curlytail grub, chartreuse w/ silver flake as a trailer. I've only seen the Lil' Money at Walmart, not at Dick's or Bass Pro Shops. The Premier Elite Bleeding Bait is another, larger spinnerbait with a large gold willow leaf blade and a small silver Colorado or Indiana blade. Yellow head with yellow, white, and red skirt. The last spinnerbait is the REDEYE Special. has a small willow leaf spinner with a holographic scale finish, a small silver spinner and a red eye. I prefer the greenish willow leaf an a yellow head with a red eye and a yellow skirt. These can be bumped along the bottom and fished through light grass and weeds pretty well. The only way I've hung on the bottom is if the lure gets wedged between a couple of rocks. Other than that it will bump its way over them. If you are fishing the lure, and bumping rocks, be sure to check the last 3 or 4 feet of your line regularly. It will get frayed. The last is a Chatterfrog. Color, head and blade green and white with black spots. The skirt is a patterned combination of green, yellow, chartreuse, and a touch of white. Some of the strands have a green mottled pattern. The lure comes with two tails. One green and the other a transparent chartreuse with silver flake. I use the chartreuse with flake. I started with it, and it has worked so well I am reluctant to try the darker green. I may be missing the boat, but it's tough to switch when something works so well. When installing the tail, bring the point of the hook out of it so that the body of the frog legs is straight and not bent around the curve of the hook. The front of the leg assembly should be snug to the head of the lure. Once you have it on correctly, a drop or two of Super Glue between the plastic legs and the head will keep it in place, even if a fish grabs just the legs. This lure, like the spinnerbait is fairly weedless, and can be bumped along the bottom. Be advised it can also get wedged between rocks, and your line will need to be checked for fraying regularly. The Chatterfrog will throb and vibrate. If it doesn't, it's either fouled, or has snagged some blades of grass or other weeds. Sometimes a hard tug, like a hook set will shed the gunk, and it will "chatter" again. If it doesn't, retrieve it and clean the lure. I suggest fishing them fast enough to keep them off the bottom, for starters anyway. Of the three, the Chatterfrog is my favorite (at the moment), but all work well and will catch fish.

I'm definitely going to try it. Some of the best times I've had fishing was when I was a kid with a bamboo pole, a hook a bobber, and a can of worms. It was always an adventure. The bobber was usually a cork, sliced lengthwise to the center. Pull the line into the slit, and slide the cork to the desired distance from the hook to determine the depth of the bait. We used kite string for line. My dad would tie the line at the tip of the pole, leaving several feet of line on the non-fishing end. Then he'd bend the tip of the rod and tie the line again, two or three feet from the tip. Then he'd use half hitches and work the line down toward the butt end, finishing up where the pole was gripped. If the tip snapped, you did not lose the fish or your terminal gear. I never understood why the bend at the tip, unless it was to put tension in the end to help with hook sets. Hook sets being something that never entered my mind in those days. When the bobber went under, you pulled in the fish. Ahhh, the simpler life of youth.

Years ago I had a 12 foot Sears jon boat. I had an old 5 hp Johnson, with the gas tank on the top of the motor. With just me, it scooted along nicely. Got up on plane with no problem, and I'm guessing it topped out at 15 knots. Wish I still had that motor. It was excellent for trolling. Started on the first pull just about every time. There was a carb adjuster at the top on one side which also served to prime the engine for cold starts. Depress the adjusting wheel and it would squirt gas into the carb like an accelerator pump. With something near 10 hp, and a light load, you'd have to be approaching 20 knots. Sorry about the knot thing. It's a throwback to my lobstering days. Speed was always in knots, including wind speeds, and depths and lengths were always stated in fathoms. I had 25 fathoms between lobster pots on the ground line of my trawls.

I can get 'em for free for a few minutes work. It'll make me feel like a kid again. Yea and an aging person when your back is killing you from walking bent over. Worms will work though. Fish em t rigged the same as plastics. Nah, the aches and pains only bother me when doing something I don't like. They seem to vanish when I'm doing things I enjoy.

It has been my experience that they do. However, their "official" policy found on their website regarding price matching for their online catalog, printed catalogs, and competitor prices includes the following disclaimer. The above policies apply to catalog/online orders only. Please contact your local Bass Pro Shops Retail store location for information on their price matching policy. For some reason, copying and pasting the URL does not work for this page. To see the policy, on the BPS website find "frequently asked questions", then click on the question, "do you match prices?" Clicking on the following URL will get you to the page where you can click on question #15 price matching. https://basspro.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/basspro.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_sid=mJPRiWDh&p_lva=&p_sp=&p_li=&CMID=CUSTSERV_FINDANSWERS

If you remember it, and watched it with your parents, you've got to be around my age, 67. I seem to recall it being broadcast prior to or after American Sportsman too. Ahhhh, those were the good old days. In a tackle shop, you could check out the available selection of lures in about ten minutes. Now, it would take more than 10 hours to peruse the selection of stuff at Bass Pro Shop, and Cabelas too, I would imagine.

I'm sold. I can always have a pole or two with worms and bobbers fishing while casting other lures. The price is right, they are biodegradable, and, they pose no hazard to the fish. Not counting the hook on which the worm is impaled Thanks for that reply.

I can get 'em for free for a few minutes work. It'll make me feel like a kid again. They are easy to keep in a bucket or tub. It must have holes to allow water to drain. Keep the bucket in a shady spot, keep it moist, and they'll last until a hard freeze. I'd dump 'em out before then.

Tried a search that yielded nothing, including searching all posts for the word nightcrawlers, not case sensitive. Here's my question. Has anyone tried nightcrawlers, I mean the good sized paddletail nightcrawlers from 4 to 6 inches long instead of the plastic jobs? I used to get nightcrawlers years ago on nights when the dew was heavy or it had just rained. A flashlight with less than new batteries was best, since a bright light sent them scurrying into the earth. In fact, most times it was best to concentrate on the edges of the lighted area. I'm planning on reliving my childhood a bit by catching a bunch of nightcrawlers and keeping them in a bucket of soil and mulch. Worked like a charm many years ago. I'd like to try them in place of the plastic stuff, but can see a downside that the little fish of all species could nibble them away. I'd also like to try them as a trailer on jigs and spinnerbaits, but again, they are quite fragile and could be easily "stolen" from the hook. I'd appreciate any input, pro and con.

Where does it wear, and what causes the wear? You could use the plastic coated metal cable, but once the plastic coating wears off, you'll be grinding on the surface that is causing the wear on your cord now. I'm guessing that it wears where it rubs the gunnel of the boat as you pull the line. If so, hardware such as this might solve your problem. http://www.iboats.com/Anchor_Rollers_Mounts/dm/view_id.217392

Here's a sure fire way to slow down the speed of your trolling by using a 6 volt battery. Tie it to a line, and toss it off the stern. Sorry for the levity. It popped into my mind. The devil made me do it.

Anytime. I'm not that far from you, and I'm semi retired. In Westport, right on the RI border in southeastern Mass. If you want to get a closeup look at it, or a bit of help, I'll be more than glad to assist in anyway I can. I've got a good sized garage/shop, 34 X 34, and all the light tools needed to handle small and medium sized projects. When you're ready, you can email through my profile on the forum.

Here ya go. A graphic of Bugs Bunny along with "WATTS UP DOC", or w/o Bugs. The Ts can be lightning bolts with a horizontal lightning bolt across the top.

Carmen? YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Works for me. Pssst, don't tell my wife