Lund Explorer

I responded to your prior question on this, and perhaps you missed it. http://www.bassresou...-stingray-grub/ There's a really good reason that i said I used an exposed hook jighead. It is due to the fact that the plastic used for these grubs is quite hard and I always had trouble getting the hook to punch through it. Now that you've gone into a little more explanation here, I'll throw in ,my two cents worth on a few other things. The rod you are using is a little limber for trying to set the hook with the rig you are using. Cherrywood rods run the course (L, ML, M, MH, & H) of actions. By their construction, both in compostion and guide placement, they tend to be much softer than a comparable graphite rod would be. The choice of flourocarbon line is great as it has much less stretch than mono. Could your second choice of rod be what is available to you? The use of an finese action is going in the wrong direction. If that's the case, you may hope that the guy in the red suit shows up this weekend with an extra $20 for your stocking. That would be the perfect reason to purchase a 6'6" to 7' MH action rod. However if cash is tight, then you are going to have to tweak your rigging to get the results you want. As PFangler stated, the pictures of your rig shows that there isn't much of a gap on that hook for the bait to get a good bite into a bass' mouth. Others have suggested skin hooking the grub to keep it weedless and yet make setting the hook through the plastic easier. Still others have suggested using a weedless hook/jig. All of these options could work. The shakey heads in the following link are what I've been using, and I've had good results with them. Perhaps you could order some, or as time is short find a local source for something like them. http://www.northstar...259/6502292.htm Whatever you decide to do, I wish you all the luck in the world. I've fished stingray grubs for many years and they are a great little grub. The fact that you are also using my #1 color (Avacado) helps too.

Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun. Congrats on the new PB! For the smallies and not RW's whistle trout!

Yup, makes me wish I'd quit typing right before I said "Just Kidding". Unfortunately for PSU, he came on here to pose a question for which we all had an answer. And it looks like none of us gave him the one he was looking for!

Hey Snook, as soon as the guy mentioned Arnold Palmer you have known there was going to be a little attitude toward Jack Nicklaus. Arnie's Army had to watch this young upstart Nicklaus unseat the reigning champion of golf at that time. It was a hard pill to swallow when we witnessed it. Time has mellowed some of us, but you have to remember that there are folks who still view the civil war as a noble cause!

There is NO explanation that's going to work. The only thing left to do is to post her vital statistics along with her picture, and leave it up to the rest of us as to whether you should give up fishing or take it on full time!!! Just kidding.... Seriously speaking, 20% of your income? Financial woes? While $700 doesn't sound like very much to me, I haven't used either of those previous terms with what I spend each year. If you keep complaining to your girlfriend that the electric company wants to put you in the dark, or if your cellphone has been shut off recently, she might be on to something. Maybe the ultimate judge to all of this should be the one woman who you will always have to respect. What does Mom think? What does your father think about what she would say about it? She's the lady you really need to worry about right now, because she's the one that should be your bailout option if it ever gets to that point.

I think you should drive right over there this spring and find out!

I think most of them know they are pushing the limits of the rules of etiquette or sportsmanship, but in the middle of competition, sometimes common sense takes a back seat. Those are the guys that will react to a polite request to back off and learn to not repeat the behavior. They're a nuisance when you have to deal with it, but you know it is simple ignorance that caused a mistake in judgment that they'll never make again. With others, it takes a little more to get the proper reaction. These are the guys that finally catch the wrath of so many others that the TD or other officials have to take an active hand with. Some learn and others just move on to another venue where they can start to alienate a whole new group. Fortunately, most tournament organizations I fished with over the years were filled with other anglers who felt the same way as I did. Anglers who can't live within the rules run out of options sooner or later.

I'm going to start right out by saying that I haven't watched this show or the so-called episode. However, after reading some reports about Ike's day I thought I'd pose a couple of questions for everyone to think about. Who here has ever been in a tournament that you lost by the closest of margins, regardless if it was because of a lost hawg during the day, a tie breaking big bass, or the flip of a coin? How many of you didn't at least say a curse word under your breath, or waited until you were driving home before going into a full blown rant? Have any of you won a tournament in the same way? Who here has witnessed the supposedly greatest golfer the world has ever seen hit a shot that the average duffer would be ashamed of? What do you think when Tiger throws a club down in disgust, blasphemes at the top of his lungs, and stomps off down the course to where ever that errant shot took off to? Don't worry, I got plenty more. How'd you react to the Suh Stomp? A Busch Bros retaliatory wreck? The ever popular bean ball thrown right after a home run? How about the hockey player that blindsides another player into the boards? Back in the day, I tossed a reel into the murky depths. Too many lost fish caused by a bad roller bearing sent that thing to the bottom. As it sank out of sight, I made sure it got a rousing send off complete with a famous hand gesture! Other equipment has been sent to the landfill in various states of disrepair after failing to live up to what I expected, though most of that took place in a pole barn out of sight. Hey, I've even thrown a club or two along with assorted epitaphs while out on the links. I'm not posting this to either condone or condemn what Ike supposedly or actually did. I leave that up to people who have never been guilty of losing it. Humans are emotional people, unless you're Mitt Romney. Most people have moments were those emotions take over. I just happen to know that the only difference between Ike and I are that he is so much more successful as to have more witnesses. I can't imagine that he has done anything worse than most of us, and when compared to other professionals, nothing nearly as bad as other examples. I also know that he has done a lot of good for the sport. It just isn't in me to condemn somebody for something I'm guilty of as well. I'll leave it up to Ike to decide if he is worthy of condemnation from the guy he should worry about more than me. Himself!

I always fished stingray grubs on an exposed hook jighead. Hookset accordingly, a short sharp snap of the wrists.

For a year that started out so well, 2011 was pretty much a complete bust for me. The absolute high point was having the year start out by attending the Bass Resource Road Trip. The chance to meet the other attendees is an experience that will stay with me the rest of my life. A better class of ladies and gentlemen can't be found. Fishing for a couple of days with Alspter wasn't just fun, but made me wish that I would have had more time to fish with some of the others during that week as well. I'll consider that as a future goal in 2012 and/or beyond. Once I got back to Michigan, the bottom fell out! I can't say that the fishing was bad, because I got so little time to actually go. I did get the chance to hit the water during the pre-season a couple of times. I even made it on the water on May 28th which is opening day. Then the boat didn't get wet for another 22 days. Let's just say that there are times in life where fishing has to take a backseat to other priorities, and 2011 was just one of those times. For 2012, I'll start out by saying that the glass is already half-full. Aside from picking up a few new things that sponsors like North Star, Seibert, or the Big O have come out with, the tackle boxes are full. I've already got reservations for a couple of fishing trips paid for. Granted that one of those trips conflicts with the next Road Trip, but I haven't given up trying to figure out how to squeeze them together. Just the fact that I plan to be on the water more than last year should make this year's goals a little more attainable. 1st Goal - Just getting on the water! 2nd Goal - Finally to honestly getting into fishing a swim jig. 3rd Goal - Catch a slob smallie. On one of the Big O's new grubs. 4th Goal - Putting up a picture here holding that hawg while wearing a Rage Tail hat. 5th Goal - Getting one of those hats!

Nope - I throw right at them! If somebody thinks its okay to get so close that I can reach them, then they need to understand that I think its okay to put a few dents in their gelcoat. I used to try to put my boat between the encroaching angler and the particular piece of cover or structure that I was fishing. If at all possible, I would herd them right away from the area and then go back to fishing. If that didn't work, I'd start talking to my partner in a voice loud enough that the other boat couldn't help but hear me. The discussion was always a lecture on sportsmanship and how it fit into the current situation. If that still didn't work, then I would start using words that Glenn won't allow on here while casting directly at their boat. I always figured they had the option to explain to the tournament director how those dents happened to get there, and why they couldn't help the fact that they wanted to get that close. Dock fishing? It's the same as anywhere else on the lake. Most shorelines that contain docks, have a long stretch of them. Just like a weedline, a drop, a creek channel, etc., many of those structures/cover run along for a good sized distance. If you step back and think about it, wouldn't it make more sense (courtsey wise) to run to the other end of that stretch and work towards the other boat? Wouldn't it make more sense to pull in behind the other boat and go in the opposite direction and hope to pick up a few fish the other boat may have missed? After fishing tournaments for over twenty years, the one thing I could never understand and certainly do not miss, are the anglers that leave etiquette sitting back in the parking lot with their trailer. The winner of a tournament should be determined by their ability to catch fish, and not on their ability to impede on another's ability to do so. With a little time to think about it, the answer should come to you.

Fully agree with heading south during the month of April. Only bodies of water you didn't mention that I thought about would be Bay De Noc, Burt/Mullett, or Saginaw Bay.

Pennies since 1982 aren't made of copper either. Zinc w/copper plate.

When you get older, you'll learn not to trust any bubbles. Whether you're sick or not!

The parents and grandparents got me started many years ago collecting coins. I'm kind of at the point where any missing coins are going to probably have to be purchased from a dealer, unless you have an extra "Lincoln Head 1909SVBD" you want to give away. That would fill all of my penny books. You might want to look into getting some of the Littleton Coin Books instead of the cigar box though. http://www.littletoncoinsupplies.com/ Here's another interesting link: http://www.numismedia.com/index.shtml

Note to self: Remember to ask Snook how the weather is in July/August! (Darn - No emoticon dodging daily thunderstorms while sweltering in 99% humidity!)

Not so much a trolley rig in that the dropper line for the weight is much shorter than the leader. Remember that for years, Michigan didn't even allow us to use a drop shot rig. Still not allowed in designated trout waters. The best way I can explain it is to have you imagine the rig using a three-way swivel, and then replace that with two straight swivels with one of them hanging freely above the other. This is a great rig for rocky water, and also where you have low grass/weeds that you want your bait to stay above. I use this rig for most of my live bait presentations when I'm going after walleye. For bass, try using a floating jighead stuffed into a tube, or a nose hooking a small 4" plastic worm for another way to show bass something they don't see very often.

Relatives that like you? I've got an former Sister-in-Law who lives in Troy, but I'll pass on visiting her. I probably can't make it there for KVD's Friday seminar. Just a timing thing if I'm going to be gone the rest of that weekend. But I did see that Kim (Hook-n-Look) Stricker is going to be there on Saturday. Maybe a bunch of us could corner him and get the scoop on how his day really was with the Big O! I was thinking maybe a bunch of us could meet for breakfast before the show opens, or perhaps all of us could hit the Shore Lunch Booth around lunch time! Don't worry about the roads either. Lock in the 4WD and just stay clear of the crazy people with the snowmobile trailers. I'm pretty sure that they're the worse winter drivers. BTW - Spell check? There's a couple of apps for it, but I won't worry about it until Long Mike shows up to correct my posts!

That might make for part of a nice weekend getaway. I could drag the war dept down with me, find a place to stay Saturday night so I could hit BPS or Cabelas on the way home Sunday.

It's actually the same basic rig I use for a lot of fishing presentations from splitshotting artificials to drift fishing live bait. Guess I just got used to fishing the rig and decided to stay with it for a number of applications. I also find that I like to have the option to use heavier weights where the fish can take line without feeling the weight. By trading out the swivel for a snap-swivel, you can attach a pencil weight too. Side Benefit - A great setup for soaking spawn bags/smelt off the piers for browns or steelhead too. Just add the rubber band to the rod's handle, open the spool, and wait.

You'll avoid the breakoffs that basscrusher was talking about if you rig up a little differently. On your main line, slide on a small swivel so that it moves freely. Next, tie on a second swivel to the main line and then attach a leader of your choice and then the fly to the end of the leader. On the free moving swivel, attach a 6" length of four pound test line where you pinch on the split shot. If the sinker hangs up with this rig, it will either slide off or break the dropper line. I use this same rigging for any bait when I want to use a splitshot rig.

There's enough MI guys bouncing off the walls here that somebody should be able to find us a fishing/outdoor show to meet up at.

My suggestion would be checking out a few swim baits, and I've even got as link to a website! http://www.mattlures.com/products.htm 20% Off until 12/15, Free Shipping over $50, Free Gift over $100 Then you only need to tell us if your boyfriend is a member here. If its CAdeltaLipRipper, a bunch of these other young guys are going to turn green with ***!

Non-Boater? I didn't need gasbuddy. For me the trip would total 767 miles one way. Towing the boat gets me an average of 14 mpg at best. That's a minimum of 110 gallons for me round trip, and I don't think I'll find any stations selling fuel at $1.52 per/gallon. Regardless the cost of gas, the chance to meet these guys is worth it.

I couldn't agree more! If living in the sticks is nowhere, I love it. Now when I was in North Dakota we had a sign at one of the missile sites that said "Contrary to popular belief this isn't the end of the world..... But you can see it from here!"