Goose52

You every think about customizing your rig? Looks like a plain ol' canoe to me ;D You're right - it's just plain as dirt. I need to figure out how to get on a nautical version of "Pimp My Ride"... ;D ;D

Not a problem Dwight - my real name has been easily found anyway with a bit of web sleuthing for a number of years now. Sometimes you just have to leave a "footprint" on the web...

Thanks for the suggestion A-Jay! My previous PB in Tennessee was actually longer at 26", but it was a skinny fish at only 7.75lbs and I never considered putting in for the recognition certificate. This fish was only 25" but was heavier at a bit over 9 pounds, and it may be a while before I better this weight, so I decided to apply for the cert.

Didn't get a boat until early 2010 when I was 57 years old...and it's a canoe. Radisson 12', 34 pounds.

They just started showing up on eBay...

x 2 !!!!!!!!! X3 X4 - I sharpen them all the time. I check 'em out of the package and periodically after that - touch them up when necessary...

A grub can be fished lots of ways. Many people fish them on jig-heads. I nearly always fish 5" grubs - rigged weightless and weedless on a 1/0 EWG hook. You can cover the top 5 feet or so of the water column this way - fish as a topwater, just under the surface, or if you're patient, wait for them to sink. As others mentioned, the grub is a good multi-species bait - use 5 or 6 inch grubs for bass, go smaller if necessary to target smaller fish. They work for me - I caught 791 fish with 5" grubs last year consisting of 6 species: LMB, yellow perch, warmouth, bluegill, redear, and white crappie. Now, if you meant your question literally (which I know you didn't) then all of the answers in this thread are wrong. If you truly are subsistence fishing, then chances are you are too poor to have a boat, fancy rods and reels, and store-bought baits - or even the $ to replenish plastic baits. What you would have would be as many cane poles as you can afford or your state/local regulations will allow, some cheap line, a package of hooks, and all the worms, crickets, grasshoppers, etc. that you can harvest for free... :

This one:

8-)

Hey shimmy - the good thing about being retired is not only the days/hours on the water...but WHICH days. All the good luck I had in February, including my new PB, were because I was working weather patterns and could be on the water at the optimum day/time - not limited by a work schedule. A day or two earlier or later, and I would not have had that new PB !

The goal is every day that the water is soft. Once the water temps get above 55 or so I get the boat out about once a week on average - that's 8 or 9 hours on the water. The rest of the time I fish from the bank - 1 to 4 hours total each day. SOMETIMES, the chores build up or I have to be out-of-town and I will actually have to miss a day or two... :'( This season, some "aging airframe" issues might make me miss a few more days than last season...

That's great! Maybe in a few years you can beat your LMB PB....in your backyard ! 8-)

I asked them to. They were really doing a number on it. Now there are actual colonies of grass growing. It's pretty cool. I think they also did a small restocking here as well. I saw a carp in this lake. I haven't seen one in the lake in 7 or 8 years. Mind you, lots of the lakes in this area are interconnected, so it could have came through the culverts as well. Eric - that's great that they listened. Our Lakes Committee is torn between the "wants" of the anglers, and that of the lakeside property owners. At the end of the day, the lakes are managed for appearance and to keep channels clear for lakeside property owners - shoreline cover removed, grass carp introduced, channel dredging, etc. The President of the bass club is even the Chair of the Lakes Committe but anglers have mostly lost the battle in our lakes - "pretty" rules... :'(

Outstanding fish indeed and right in your "backyard"! Dang, I have to drive at least 5 minutes to get to a lake with 6 pounders...

VERY cool! Thanks Glen !!

They're on sale in-store for $79.97 until March 13 as part of the Spring Fishing Classic sale. You can get price-matching on a phone order. You can't get the store price on an internet order however.

Did you have a price range in mind? While there's not a whole lot of 4.7 or lower ratio reels made anymore...without a price you could get a wide-range of answers. For a quality, value-priced reel, I x3 the PQ. I use the 4.7:1 on my deep-cranking rod, and use the 5.2:1 on my heavy spinnerbait rod. Also - take a look at the IPT ratings for each candidate reel. Not all 4.7s or lower will pick up the same line. If the IPT suits your purpose, you might expand your range to take in the 5.0:1 reels which would then bring the the Revo Winch, Curado 200E5, and others into consideration.

There you go! You'll be cleaning the rest of us Tennessee guys clocks pretty soon!!

Outstanding! It's great to start putting the winter behind us, eh !

Way to go! Looks like a good start for Illinois !

X2 I have the 7'mf Extreme - one of my favorite rods. Good for lipless cranks, lighter spinnerbaits & buzzbaits, shallow to medium cranking, etc. I've used it for Deep Little N's down to 12 feet or so. BUT, any deeper, I think you'd be happier with an MH.

Those are great fish for sure...funky...but beautiful!

Yup. I posted up in reply #56 that I did indeed buy my first RES because of last year's classic. I bought more because I caught a bunch of fish on the first one. The RES just seems to be in a sweet spot with a good balance of quality, performance, and cost.

Thanks for the tip and a good looking fish! It's a bit colder up here on the plateau and we didn't get to 50 degree water temp until yesterday. However, with all the rain, most of my water went from clear to looking like thin pea soup. Time for a "Plan B" myself!

I fish nearly every day the water is soft. Rods are stored vertically in the "ready" rod rack in the garage, reels mounted, sometimes last bait used is still on the line, ready for the next day. All rods used during a day will have all knots retied before placing back in the rack. No disassembly, no storage, all ready to go. If it's a "niche" combo that isn't used that frequently, I'll have the bait removed, drag backed-off, reel still mounted on rod and placed in the "reserve" rod racks in the garage.