slonezp

How dumb can they be??? How smart are they? is more like it. It's all about the bottom line.

You need to factor in that smaller bass have more competition for the same food source than big bass and that makes them more aggressive towards a lure. In general a larger fish will eat a larger meal to expend less energy thus less competition for its foodsource. #'s wise there are many more small bass than large ones. Also a 12" bass will eat a 4" bluegill, but a 5lb bass may eat a 4" bluegill or the 12" bass. A 5lb catfish may do the same, and a 50" musky may eat the 5lb bass. The point I'm trying to make is the higher up on the foodchain the fish is, the less agressive it needs to be. It's possible the larger bass may seem lazy because they can be.

You could trade the wife for the boat, keep the guns, and live happily ever after. ;D

Bed fish. No, not bed fish. I have personaly had it happen once with a bass, and once with a steelhead. Not really inconceiveable when you think about it. If a fish is feeding agressively that's all it's thinking about. How many times have you guys caught fish with shad or crayfish sticking out their gullet? or hook a fish, it gets off and hooks itself again? There is no doubt in my mind that fish can be conditioned. I've had oscars in a tank and tank fish develop personalities. As far as "wild" fish are concerned i believe it to be different. There is so much stimuli in a lake enviroment a fish has to be on guard constantly. I believe they to be more selective. Any of you have a "lucky" lure or 2 of the same identical lures, but one seems to catch more than the other? Why does one catch more than the other? There is just something special about the lure that causes a reaction. How many times have you been fishing with a partner, you dial in on a pattern and you outfish or get outfished 3-1 using the same bait. Just something about the rig/retrieve. Correct me if I'm wrong but IMO the original post is based on the idea that fish feel pain when mouth hooked. A fish has one purpose in its life, and that is to survive. That means eating when it's hungry, attacking when it's threatened, and reproducing. We as fishermen have to figure out how to trigger that response.

grapejuice, There has been sporadic rainbow action thru the ice in the harbors on the northside. Guys picking them up on spawn or cooked shrimp.

So I just got my baitmonkey TW order which included a few swimjigs. Swimming a jig will be new to me this season. I have paired them up with Poorboys kickin' darter jr trailers to give a little more bulk and action. Looking at the bait with the trailer, it looks more versitile than a spinnerbait. Should I fish it the same as a chatterbait or spinnerbait as far as the retrieve? MH fast tip rod ok? Anything I'm missing?

Awsome. Now tell her in order for you to retire early she must graduate at the top of her class, work hard and make lots of money because fishing stuff don't come cheap. 8-)

What about the fish that you catch, release, and recatch 5 minutes later? Did it not receive negative stimuli from being caught or does its instinct to eat and survive surpass everything?

Here's the link '> http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/news/local/chibrknews-man-shot-robbed-of-snowblower-20110204,0,5192264.story FYI this happened in Englewood which is the most dangerous neighborhood in the city.

Funny, maybe. Jody Weiss the police superintendant came out on Thursday, the day after the blizzard and said there was NO crimes committed during the blizzard. BUT soon after we had a guy get shot by 3 thugs who robbed him of his snowblower. Lazy SOB's.

How much money would they bring in on vocal talent alone? I bet this 40 year old white guy can sing with autotune. If I am hired to do a job and I have the ability to make the job look like it was done correctly even though it wasn't should that suffice?

' Cristina Agularia butchered it. Sounded horrible and changed a few words. Glenn, I wouldn't argue. It was the worst halftime show ever. changed words or forgot them?? how can you change words to the national anthem........ Forgot the words and made up new words to take their place

If you're not experiencing any kind of uneven wear or stress I wouldn't worry about it. If it ain't broke don't fix it. I'm on my 2nd set, I keep them @50psi which is max. Never had uneven wear and had 1 blowout after 5 years which is when I replaced them.

' Cristina Agularia butchered it. Sounded horrible and changed a few words. Glenn, I wouldn't argue. It was the worst halftime show ever.

My not so famous garlic hot wings and whatever alcohol is around. Which at this point is Bacardi, Crown, Cuervo, Smirnoff, and Miller. Will be spending the 3 or so hours with the ol' lady, her daughter, her mother, and mothers caregiver. I'll need all the booze to get by

How many of you guys will revisit a spot you had luck with earlier in the day? Do you find that these spots replenish themselves? Will you try a different pattern than what worked earlier in the day if the same pattern doesn't produce or just write it off as "fished out"? Do your answers differ on different bodies of water? For example a highly pressured lake may not replenish as quickly as a low pressured lake, or do you think ideal habitat is ideal habitat and if a fish is removed from that habitat another one will soon replace it?

Illinois Species Weight Location Angler Date Photo Atlantic Salmon 18 lbs 11.25 oz Lake Michigan Robert Lueckhoff 5/26/1979 Bighead Carp 43 lbs 3 oz Lyerla Lake Larry Hileman 5/25/1995 Black Buffalo 23 lbs 12 oz Rock River Ron Smith 7/27/1984 Black Bullhead 5 lbs 6 oz strip mine lake Justin White 4/24/1988 Black Crappie 4 lbs 8 oz Rend Lake John Hampton 5/15/1976 Blue Catfish 124 lbs 4 oz Mississippi River Tim Pruitt 5/21/2005 Bluegill Sunfish 3 lbs 8 oz private pond Darren May 5/10/1987 Bowfin 16 lbs 6 oz Rend Lake Charles R. Keller 9/23/1984 Brook Trout 7 lbs 5 oz Lake Michigan Daniel Frazier 11/3/1998 Brown Bullhead 1 lbs 10 oz Weldon Springs Shane Richardson 4/25/1993 Brown Trout 36 lbs 11.5 oz Lake Michigan Deva Vranek 6/22/1997 Buffalo 48 lbs 0 oz Mississippi River C.B. Merritt 1936 Carp 51 lbs 0 oz Lake Hillcrest Steve K. Davis 5/1/1994 Channel Catfish 45 lbs 4 oz Baldwin Lake Todd Baumeyer 2/7/1987 Chinook (King) Salmon 37 lbs 0 oz Lake Michigan Marge Landeen 8/7/1976 Coho Salmon 20 lbs 9 oz Lake Michigan Carry VandeVusse 5/24/1972 Flathead Catfish 78 lbs 0 oz Carlyle Lake Jody Harris 8/11/1995 Freshwater Drum 35 lbs 0 oz DuQuoin City Lake Joe Rinella 1960 Goldeye 2 lbs 1 oz Embarras River Steven D. Unzicker 7/26/1998 Grass Carp 66 lbs 8 oz Lake Petersburg Mark S. Metzger 7/8/1998 Green Sunfish 2 lbs 1 oz private pond John Stein 6/28/1981 Hybrid Bass 20 lbs 0.32 oz Lake of Egypt David B. Gjelsvik 6/20/1993 Hybrid Sunfish 2 lbs 4.48 oz private pond Georgia M. Holland 6/16/1990 Lake Trout 38 lbs 4 oz Lake Michigan Theodore W. Rullman 8/22/1999 Largemouth Bass 13 lbs 1 oz Stone Quarry Lake Edward J. Walbel 22/15/1976 Muskellunge 37 lbs 13 oz Shabbona Lake Chris Kim 4/1/1997 Northern Pike 26 lbs 15 oz strip mine lake Walter Klenzak 11/9/1989 Pink (Humpback) Salmon 3 lbs 4 oz Lake Michigan Neil J. Duba 7/5/1992 Rainbow Trout 31 lbs 6.72 oz Lake Michigan Kyle C. Johnson 7/10/1993 Redear Sunfish 2 lbs 12.3 oz Marion CC Lake Mike DeMattei 9/7/1985 Rock Bass 1 lbs 10 oz Aux Sable Creek George Nielson 5/5/1987 Sauger 5 lbs 12.5 oz Mississippi River Bill Rolando 7/30/1967 Saugeye 8 lbs 7.68 oz Mississippi River Thomas Drovesky 11/21/1998 Shortnose Gar 5 lbs 1 oz Vermilion River William Meyer 7/20/1999 Shovelnose Sturgeon 5 lbs 2.56 oz Rock River Allen Trout Jr. 5/30/1988 Smallmouth Bass 6 lbs 7 oz strip mine lake Mark Samp 3/26/1985 Spotted Bass 7 lbs 3.12 oz strip mine lake Richard Leonard 3/15/1992 Spotted Gar 7 lbs 13.4 oz Horseshoe Lake Danny Peters 7/10/2004 Striped Bass 31 lbs 7 oz Sangchris Lake Eric Shivers 5/23/1994 Tiger Muskellunge 26 lbs 9 oz private pond Joseph Veronda 5/4/1999 Tiger Trout 8 lbs 12.5 oz Lake Michigan Robert W. Zimmy 6/26/1977 Walleye 14 lbs 0 oz Kankakee River Fred Goselin 1961 Warmouth 1 lbs 13 oz private pond Wesley Mills 5/22/1971 White Bass 4 lbs 14 oz Kaskaskia River Bruce Wilson 10/7/1981 White Crappie 4 lbs 7 oz private pond Kevin Dennis 4/8/1973 Yellow Bass 2 lbs 0 oz private pond Jimmy Kostoff Jr. 5/5/1994 Yellow Bullhead 5 lbs 4 oz Fox River Bill Snow 1955 Yellow Perch 2 lbs 8.75 oz Arrowhead Club Lake Joseph Grega 1/5/1974

Cabin fever? Isn't that what a fishing forum is accomplishing? I'm guessing there is no such thing as a tupperware forum, but if there is it can't be that interesting. That's why the girls get together. To make it more interesting and have pillow fights.

This is the view from the ramp from my 2010 fall smallie trip to Door County. Needless to say never got out that day or the next. We did catch a few kings shore fishing though.

Never heard the term Baitmonkey before. :-/ You haven't lived til you met the Baitmonkey. I enjoy the videos, and articles. I can't pinpoint 1 piece of advice but the thing I like best is can get plenty of different opinions. Fishing shows on tv are biased to their sponsors. Magazines may give you 1 or 2 options and tend to promote the lasest trends(which I am a sucker for ;D). BR can potentialy give me thousands of dirrerent opinions on where to fish, what to fish,how to fish, what to do when they're not biting and real unbiased reviews of equiptment and baits that I may never have tried .

We call them floaters in Chicago. Only rather than mobsters ours tend to be the homeless or suicides. Mobsters are the ones who run the state.

I buy my local at WallyWorld and my Wisconsin on line or at BPS on the WI-IL border.

I still have no idea how anyone can even think that wrestling is fake. The fact that anyone survived from that move is a miracle.

Congrats. Even though you're a spam filter you got your foot in the door. I've met him before at the BPS in store fishing classic and he's on with Gillespie at least once a month. Seems like a normal everyday average guy. Just can't go fishing when the sun is out. :'(

Old enough to know better. 8-)