senile1

Hmm. . . . . a Zeppelin song for a fishing trip . . . . kind of happy and upbeat maybe? How about . . . . Noboby's Fault but Mine from the Presence album Out On The Tiles from Led Zeppelin III Nice fish, LBH.

The Cardinals were swept easily but one three game series tells you nothing. I mean the Royals swept the Tigers in the last series of the regular schedule. Does anyone think the Royals are a better team than the Tigers? It's a long season and at this level of competition, any team can beat any other team at a certain point in the season. I'm just hoping that at this point, the Cardinals have the upper hand. They were definitely due to get hot, considering the injuries and the poor play since the All-Star break. We'll see. The top two slots in the Cardinals order haven't been getting on which has made it more difficult for Pujols to get anything to hit. Last night Eckstein and Wilson turned it around so I hope this is a turning point in this situation. Fortunately, so far, the middle and latter batters in the Cardinals order have been able to produce enough RBIs to make up for the upper part of the order.

I"m with you Muddy_man. I hope it doesn't get rained out. Missouri is having heavy rains the next couple of days.

I'm there with Catt. I fish every day in my mind. The responsibilities of a wife, kids, grandchildren, job, home, and property require too much time to allow for daily fishing.

Daniel My Brother, I didn't notice you lived in Cape Girardeau, MO until I read RW's post. I'm going to hijack the thread for just a second. I graduated from Southeast Missouri State University and lived there for eight years. My parents live in Sikeston. I make it down there quite often but I only fish in the area maybe once or twice a year. The next time I fish down there I'll have to hit you up for some fishing reports. Maybe you can turn me on to some big crappie. Does Lake Girardeau still have good bass fishing?

I think Carp is due to pitch a great game for the Cardinals. I hope it is tonight.

I haven't seen a 3 lb crappie in real life. That's a beautiful fish.

Gameover, you stated you were in college and quit to support your family. Now you've lost your job. This is the perfect time to be back in school if you still want it. I was married with one kid when I finished my last two years of a four year program. At the time, my job barely paid the bills. I quit my job to go back to college. I filed a form for change of circumstances to apply for financial aid. When you do this, college financial services will go by your current income, not the income you made the previous year. I obtained a full Pell grant and student loans for college. I also picked up another job while I was in school and worked full time. Yes, I was busy and tired but if you want it bad enough you'll do just fine. Once I graduated, I had to pay back the loans but this wasn't a problem because I had obtained a good job. At this time, I believe your loan payments are deferred for six months after you get out of college, so that you can find a job before the payments start coming due.

I have no trouble believing reasonable fishing stories without proof. I guess I believe people are innocent until proven guilty. It's the stories that border on incredible that I might question. I think anytime you're going to post a catch that is considered a hawg for your area, it's not a bad idea to post a picture to protect your integrity. Hey, I know we're not here to impress others (at least most of us) but if you are going to participate in the forum on a consistent basis this is the only way to earn the trust of others. I haven't posted any great pictures. Why? Because I haven't caught any great fish since March when I started posting. I've only reported one or two fish over five lbs, a couple of skunks, some dinky catches, and a few trips with fish in the three to four lb range. I assume people believe these because they are not unreasonable reports. When I catch a bass in the six or seven plus range I think it is only fair to post a picture. FishChris could claim a 14 lb'er and I'd believe him without a picture, because he has already proven himself. He has earned that trust.

Darn, I missed all the fun and games on this thread because it started this weekend. Oh well, great thread and excellent arguments on both sides of the equation. I use braid, copolymers, and mono for different situations. For the guys who don't like braid on spinning outfits, I've been running 10 lb braid on one of my spinning rods since Spring. I really like it, but about once an outing, it'll tangle around my rod tip if I'm not careful. Different strokes for different folks.

That's a pretty wild statement from your friend. Many people use spinning gear for crankbaits. Some people prefer spinning gear when throwing very light crankbaits because there is no chance of backlash. I use both. As RW stated, there is no functional reason why either one won't do the job.

Hair??? I thought that was pine tar.

The Niekro brothers . . . . . man, if the knuckle ball wasn't such a difficult pitch to control those guys would have been unbeatable. Joe wasn't quite the pitcher that brother Phil was but he still won over 200 games. I was just reading up on Phil. Bobby Murcer made the following quote about Phil Niekro: "Trying to hit him is like trying to eat Jell-O with chopsticks."

Syfer420, what is your water temperatures in the lakes you're fishing in New Jersey? I'll bet most of your problems are the locations you're choosing to fish in your lakes. While the fall can pull some fish up into feeder creeks and shallow flats to feed, when the water temps drop into the 50s a good solid cold front can push fish back onto channel ledges, and even send some scurrying closer to winter homes. Those that stay in shallow water will be holding very tightly to cover. I've had a couple of bad days in the last two weeks under these circumstances, where I stayed on the feeder creek pattern too long when I should have moved out to the channel ledges and secondary/main lake points near deeper water.

I generally am comfortable with down to about 15 - 20 feet but I am trying to become more adept at fishing deeper. The lake I fish most often has depths down to 45 or 50 feet near the dam, but the average depth is much less. The thermocline at this lake tends to form at no more than 20 feet. I fished Table Rock this summer and I found that if I'm going to catch any fish in a deep clear reservoir I'm going to have to fish much deeper.

Wow, Bassmasta7. Those pictures say a lot. You know they posted stats for Rogers last night stating that he gave up around 20 runs in his first 20 or so innings of playoff pitching. His last 23 innings he hasn't given up any. That's a big turnaround and is possible, but these pictures surely do raise doubts. This is definitely not dirt. And who knows if he wasn't able to store his substance somewhere else after the umpire was notified of it. I don't mind losing fair and square and the Cardinals may lose this thing fair and square. I'm just tired of all the cheating that goes on in sports today.

In addition to what has been said, when it's really cold you want a spinnerbait with shorter arms and colorado blades. When you cast it close to cover and structure let it drop and helicopter down on top of where you think the bass are located. Once you hit bottom, you have some choices depending on the circumstances and cover: hop it like a jig, slow roll it, etc.

Everytime that 25.1 has been caught at Dixon it has become that much smarter. They may not catch her again. If they do, I would bet that it'll be during the spawn and no other time. I believe California is the state but I have my doubts about next year. I think Roger is correct about Cuba being too far South.

JB, were you fishing Beaver Lake? For any of the deep, clear lakes on the White River, you need to learn how to drop shot, even when there isn't a cold front. From post-spawn through early October, all of the fishing reports for Table Rock stated that the bass were deep, all the way down to 40 feet. I only fished the lake once this year but the reports proved to be true. I assume Beaver is going to fish similar to Table Rock. If you're going to catch fish on these lakes consistently, carolina rigging and drop shotting is the way to go. I'm not a big drop shot fanatic either, but I realize I better become one for these lakes.

Kenny Rogers was lucky. : The Cardinals hit quite a few balls very hard but they were all right at someone. And what was the deal with the stuff on his hand in the first inning. (Read below if you didn't watch the game.) http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/gamecenter/recap/MLB_20061022_STL@DET Kenny Rogers says his idol is Sandy Koufax, but I'm wondering if he might be influenced by Gaylord Perry. : Muddy_Man and Riskkid, you know what I'm talking about.

I woke up Saturday to rain and 48 degree temperatures. The rain was supposed to increase throughout the day and a cold front was coming through later in the day. I traveled to my favorite small lake and as I got there the rain began to fall harder. I put on my rain suit but I had forgotten my rain pants. So I said to h#@$ with it and went fishing anyway. I thought the fish might be hitting before the front so I started with a chartreuse and white spinnerbait with one Colorado and one willow leaf blade. Within 15 minutes I had boated 5 bass, none more than 17 inches long. Two hours later I had caught 14 bass and about half of them were in the three to four and a half pound range. It rained the whole time, and at approximately 10:00 AM the wind turned directly from the North and was laying the cattails over. By then the water was almost ankle deep in the bottom of the aluminum boat, my fingers were stiff, and I was getting cold. The temperature had dropped to 40 degrees by the time I got back to my truck. I had a camera but it was so cold and wet that I didn't take any pictures. Besides, I didn't catch anything that would be a personal best, but I sure had a lot of fun. The head cold was worth it.

He pitched better in previous games in these playoffs, but of course this game was pressure unlike any he has encountered. He went to full counts on Valentin and Chavez and gave up hits to both with no outs. The pitches that were balls were almost all above the strike zone. Wainwright tends to keep them lower and then when he throws his curve the bottom drops out of it when it crosses the plate. However, you don't see too many pitchers give up hits to the 7th and 8th hitters in a lineup, with no outs, and then escape from the top of the lineup unscathed. Wainwright showed some guts for a 25 year old pitching in arguably the most important game of his career so far. It was one hell of an exciting inning wasn't it? Too bad for your Mets, Muddy. They had a great year.

This is a hard one. For one thing, I don't think any streak I have is impressive compared to some of those already mentioned. I've had some 100 fish days and some days where my five bass limit was around 20 lbs but those are things that many people have surpassed if they've fished awhile. There is one day that I think stands out for me. I don't remember the exact details because it occurred when I was 18. My Dad and I were fishing in the middle of January. Air temperatures were in the low 20s. We caught over 20 bass in 3 or 4 hours between us. These fish were mostly 2 - 3 lb'ers but we caught a few over 5 lbs and two of these broke 6 lbs. We could hardly feel our fingers and we were very shocked that the fish were biting like they were. I haven't had a winter fishing day like that ever again.

Bucketmouthangler13, Even if this doesn't work, I think it's great that you're thinking. If one thing doesn't work, the mind always seems to find another that will. It's a matter of having the determination to stick with it. All great inventions usually evolve from many, many failures.

As avid stated, I have carried a scale for years, but only in the last year have I made it a habit to carry a camera. Most of the people who know me, know that I'll tell them the truth about the numbers and size of fish that I catch. The people who don't know me didn't really matter until I joined this site. But when I joined this site, I realized I should carry a camera because you all will only know me by my posts. Integrity is everything. However, I generally don't take a picture unless a fish appears to be close to my personal best. I haven't been close in the last year, so I haven't posted any pictures.