Lund Explorer

LMAO!

Dear Raider, Please tell Blondie Sparky to fish the INSIDE of the break wall. Soft plastic crawdads attract a lot of smallmouth bass when casted close to the rocks.

Almost all of the fish I catch that are going to end up on the dinner table are put into a cooler with ice water. Putting them in a livewell or stringer is fine so long as they stay alive, but if any die before you leave, those fish are being stored at whatever the water's temperature happens to be. In the summer, that might not be that good. Another benefit to icing your fish is that most species are easier to fillet when they are somewhat stiff. The only fish that I normally bleed out are large trout and salmon species. The easiest way I've found to do this is to cut between the lower gill plates. Note - make sure that this cut doesn't alter the fish's length if that is an issue where you're fishing. In answer to your other post, I fillet all of the fish I plan to eat. Other than bluegills or yellow perch, the others are also skinned unless the rules require that a patch of skin is left intact to determine species (Think Ontario). When the skin stays on, I remove the scales first and then fillet. Everything else is filleted and then I remove the skin.

If you're here long enough you will learn the real "facts" about bucket fishing. 1st - It is the act of keeping every fish caught regardless of size or possession limits. 2nd - It is almost always done by illegal aliens/immigrants/etc.. and who never, ever, have a fishing license. What you will never learn is how anyone can tell who has a fishing license or the citizenship status of the offending fisherman, or how long the poster actually stalked the bucket fisherman to know without a doubt that no fish was ever thrown back. These things we must simply assume to be the truth because its on the internet, and nothing is ever incorrect if its on the internet!

This topic can't die until we've all had the chance to watch this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnh-FZAo56c LMAO - This kid is a scream and it can't hurt that it fell onto a less than healthy surface. It's a Hot Dog!

Bluegill, Bluegill, Warmouth, Bluegill, LMB

Took the words right out of my mouth. 600 Hull & 500 Cap. Not sure if it is going to do either well.

Great post, just add one disparaging nickname to the list. Edward Scissor-Nose!

I sure wish my lawn needed to be trimmed this morning. One of my neighbors, "The Great American Patriot" was lighting off fireworks until 3am so I'm sure he'd like to listen to it at sunrise. Another leaves his teenage children home alone for the weekend so the rest of us can listen to the thump, thump, thump of Ghetto Rap. The old fashioned idea of respecting your neighbors started to circle the drain a long time ago. It wouldn't surprise me that these idiots get upset when they're awakened in the morning by the noise of people going to work, none of them have that habit.

I can't even see it on Lake Michigan. Give me the walk thru windshield of a 600 Series for when that rouge wave hits so I can have something to hide behind.

So let me see if I've got this right..... You're in Muskegon and there's a biker gathering going on and its called.... Wait for it...... Rebel Road? Are you the mascot for the weekend? Yeah, well I'd love to come over this weekend but I've got plans that aren't going to nearly as fun. Mom's memorial service is scheduled for tomorrow morning and its in the other direction. But rest assured, I will figure out a way to get over there in the next week or so.

There goes the neighborhood!

If you got them in the boat, then you got your lure back. That's better than around here where 3 out of 4 toothy critters bite you off!

First & Worst - Everyone would post up their avatars sideways! After that, the end of the world would be upon us.

Thank God that I was cured many years ago form this "your team" disease. Those with an incurable case will never figure out that its only the fans that suffer from it. The players, coaches, and even the back office types are only there for a paycheck, until some other team offers them a better deal. Kinda sad that these diehard fans have more loyalty than the people they are actually cheering on.

Sounds like this thread should have moved to the tournament section rather than the fishing tackle section. The problem has nothing to do with his choice of lures.

Doing the simple math, that means that there are about 7 boats still catching fish. I'd bet even money that its the same seven, right? Time for some constructive criticism. Your post makes it sound like you need help in finding the lure or technique to get you back on the 4lber's you were catching last month, and that's wrong. The real problem has nothing to do with the lure and everything to do with location. If you are fishing the same lures in the same locations and the results have changed, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the fish have changed and you haven't. Time for some advice. Your tournament is only four hours long, so you need to concentrate your efforts on the limited amount of remaining cover, whether its those trees, cribs, or a patch of weeds that didn't get sprayed into oblivion. If after the first two hours you still haven't put anything in the box, put down the rods and take a boat ride. By now you should have figured out what the "lucky" seven are fishing out of, so go look for them. At less than 600 acres, it shouldn't take too long to find all of them. See where they're fishing at, mark those spots on your GPS, and then go back to those spots a day or two later, and see what those areas hold (besides fish). Once you've figured out what the "lucky" guys are targeting, make yourself some luck by finding somewhere that has the same conditions/cover/whatever that's holding fish.

Too bad you can't get into the pickup market. Site sponsor has another good idea coming out for 2016. https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2015/05/21/all-new-pro-trailer-backup-assist-for-2016-ford-f-150-makes-back.html Get her behind the wheel of a brand new 2016 F-150 and she'll be able to launch you!

I don't really call it the hunger for victory so much as it is the Drive to Succeed. You can be born with the skill set, but the mindset has to come from a person's experiences, especially those learned early in life. It also isn't limited to fishing, but almost everything in life. In the world of fishing tournaments, the guys finishing consistently in the money are the ones who have both a natural born set of skills along with the drive to do what it takes to place in the top of the field. That drive has to include all of the time it takes before the tournament to study where the fish are, what they're biting on, and possibly most importantly, the ability to focus on the task at hand. On the water, it might take skill to cast accurately, to feel those bites, and to get that fish in the boat. It takes drive to maintain composure when things don't go according to plans, such as inclement weather, too many jet skis, and so many other things that can take a well laid plan and tear it to shreds. There are many people in this old world that have natural born skills, who simply never learned how to drive themselves. There are others that use the drive to overcome the lack of those natural born skills. When you hear some of us older guys lamenting about the younger generation's shortfalls, most of that comes from seeing a lack of that drive. Most of have learned that you can't survive on skill alone.

In Michigan, hot dogs are spelled "Koegel's"!

Yes! I also like every kind of sausage ever chopped, mixed, seasoned, and stuffed into a casing.

Someplace in the big bad "www" you might find a video from a television show called Hook-n-Look. There was an episode several years ago where Kim Stricker the host, was fishing that lake with a Mr. Steven Parks, better known around here as The Big-O! Think Rage Tail. Think Space Monkey. Think Weedbeds. If memory serves me correctly, Think Junebug. FWIW, I consider Houghton Lake as a highly overrated lake for every species that swims in it. Hard to get skunked on it, but almost impossible to have a day of a lifetime either.

Try typing "aluminum boat launching wheels" into your favorite search box.

This darn majority rules experiment is an obvious failure!

Tell me you won't be wearing a rental tuxedo, as those things never fit all that well! All kidding aside, you may want to consider the fact that the picture you are complaining about could very well be serving the purpose of supporting the lake, marina, or a possible sponsor.