Goose52

Hey John, as someone that used to have a blood lead level of 47 micrograms/deciliter (lead poisoning level), let me just add to that a bit. After handling lead, it's always a good idea to wash your hands before eating, drinking, smoking, or otherwise getting your hands near your mouth. Now, if you only handle a lead weight a couple times a day while tying up a Texas rig, you will probably die of old age before feeling any effects from lead poisoning. If you are sorting out a bunch of lead sinkers and have handled quite a few - for your health and safety you should be washing your hands. There is indeed the potential to transfer lead into your system while handling the solid form. The effects are minimal, but can be cumulative, depending on frequency of exposure. Handle enough lead, enough times, and you run the risk of gradually increasing your blood lead level. As John said, if you are casting your own weights, jig heads, etc., you MUST take precautions to prevent excessive lead exposure - gloves, cross ventilation across your furnace, thorough washing of your hands and face after a casting session (and a shower is good idea as well), washing the clothes worn during casting, etc

On another forum - some are thinking that the green rods have a "fix" for the reel seat issues occuring on some of the earlier NRX rods. (Google green NRX rod and you'll find it) OTOH - perhaps Roadwarrior convinced Shimano to come out with a green NRX to come closer to color-matching with a Curado 50E...

I just picked up 12 XCalibur lipless cranks (XR25, XR50, XR75 & XR100) for $2.99 each during the Lurenet Black Friday sale! A good price, especially for the two 1 ouncers that I got. Probably should have ordered more but I've bought about 50 lipless cranks in the past few weeks and should have enough for next season - and for a few more seasons after that! I might still give the H2O baits a try, but I've scored a bunch of Red Eye Shads, the XCaliburs, and some others at a lower price than the H20 price.

I started a thread to get feedback on those baits: Academy H2O Lipless Cranks Didn't get very many responses. Either not many folks use them...or perhaps people ARE using them but don't want to admit that they're using a "store-brand" bait...

Ho Ho Ho - Enjoy!

I can't really relate. I did fish with my Dad back in the 60s and that was OK. I did a bit of surf fishing in the 80s and my wife would go with me, just company - she didn't fish, and that was OK because it wasn't about the catching, or even the fishing...it was just about the time spent together sitting in our chairs watching the sun go down on a Southern California beach (and occasionally tending whatever bait I had out on the 13' surf rod). My recent fishing phase, starting in 2008, has been all solo; from the bank by choice, and in the single-seat canoe by necessity. And that's OK. I spent 40 years at work around people and it's nice to have time to myself. As far as competition goes, I competed in another sport for a long time and have enough match-time under my belt to satisfy any competitive urges. It's me against the fish, not me against another angler.

This question has come up before. Many of us use permanent ink sharpies to mark the rated depth (range) on the bait. Some mark it on the bill, some on the body of the bait. Some folks have electopencil etchers and mark the bill. Some folks will reply that all this is unnecessary and that they just look at the crank and the size of the bill and sorta just know what it will do... Of course the rated depth is only approximate - actual depends on your type and diameter of line, casting distance, etc. I use 10lb test for cranking and seem to usually get close to the rated depth on a long cast. I know for sure when the sonar says I'm casting to X feet of water and I'm bringing back dead leaves from the bottom...

I organize by depth. At present, I have 3 boxes: shallow cranks (~0-8 ft), mid cranks (~8 to 13 ft), deep cranks (~14-30ft). Some cranks overlap those depth breaks and I just put them in the box where I think I would most use them (shallow/mid/deep). I'm trying not to buy any more cranks so hopefully I won't have to expand to a 4th box. If you are a big-time cranker, you might consider a Special Mate box by Trinity Industries. They have a couple of crank boxes that hold a whopping 120 cranks each! "Micro" on this board posted some pics of the Special Mate boxes - they are very cool if you have a lot of cranks.

I standardized on 3600 boxes - the smaller size makes them more manageable in the canoe or when carrying a few on the bank. Plastics are left in their original bags. For carrying the 3600s, I have an open-topped tote (Cabelas) that holds 6, and 2 tackle bags - one holds 3 3600s, the other holds 2. In the canoe, I usually just have the 6-box tote. Other times, I can mix and match the tote and 2 bags to carry from 2 to 11 3600s. I have 3600 boxes for: cranks (3 boxes) - organized by depth lipless cranks topwater jigs & spoons spinnerbaits/buzzbaits minnow baits (2 boxes) - rapalas, rebels, jerkbaits, etc. terminal tackle a couple of misc boxes Then, I have some 3500-size boxes that hold smaller swimbaits, in-line spinners, and some other stuff. I've got an empty 3600 handy for when I want to just mix-and match baits and configure a box for the particular plan I have for that day. There's lots of ways to organize tackle. How you do it kinda depends on how much stuff you have and how much of it you want to take with you when you go fishing, and whether you are fishing from the bank, a boat, or both.

I got lots of reels, so I guess it would have to be an NRX 893C BC rod. I already have a NIB BPS Carbonlite reel that I would put on it...

When I was very young, living in South Florida at the time, my dad showed me how to use a little cane pole and a piece of worm or a little bread dough to catch a brim. The next phase of my angling education was one day when he told me "go catch a brim." I did and brought it to him. Then he picked up his casting rod with an Ambassadeur 5000 on it, rigged with a float and a good size hook. He stuck the hook through the back of the brim behind the dorsal fin, tossed it out in the water and said "now, I'm going to show you how to catch a bass" ... That was over 50 years ago - the technique should still work today...

The big deal about the American Legacy newsletter was the photo of our very own BR board member Dwight Hottle with a 33" walleye! Way to go Dwight!

Those South Bends look great! I don't collect old gear at all. I just still have my gear that I fished when I was young in the 50s and 60s. Here's a couple more photos. The Ted Williams 400 (a Sears branded Pescador from Italy) was a gift from my Dad around 1959 - perhaps 1960. It was my primary reel from then until about 1966-67. I fished it last year and got a couple fish. I didn't fish it in 2011. The Lido (what the heck is a Lido!) spincast reel I got for one book of SSS trading stamps around 1966. For a rod, I had found a 5.5' plastic handle casting rod laying on the bank on Tamiami Trail in South Florida - the plastic handle was cracked nearly all the way through at the reel seat. I cut off the plastic handle, bought a metal ferrule for a couple bits (I already had some ferrule cement), and then bought a new chucked handle for a buck or two. So, the whole rig cost me a book of trading stamps and about $2.50 cash. In the summer of 1967 (my last year living in FL) I was trolling a Rapala (or maybe a Rebel) with the Lido rig down a canal off the Trail and caught a 4 3/4 lb largemouth...I remember it well. The Lido is now mounted on a cheap BPS rod for use by my wife (but she’s never used it!). The Lido probably hasn't reeled in a fish since 1967 - I'll have to take it out sometime. The Mitchell 408 is on a Garcia Conolon 6'6" hollow glass rod. It was my "Princess" rig in the 60s and I didn't use it much (and took great care with it when I did). It was a real spendy rig when I bought that combo. From the early 70s until the mid-80s, that Mitchell 408 and a 5-piece pack rod was the only combo I used during the infrequent times I did any fishing. The Mitchell/Conolon combo reeled in a couple fish in 2010, but just didn't get around to fishing it this year. My gear from the mid-80s is too new to call "old tackle" and some of it is still in first-line service (although the bait monkey is making me phase it out...).

I still fish a couple of my rods and reels that I've had since the mid-60s from time to time but none of it is in first-line service. The Ambassadeur 5000 shown below was my Dad's, handed down to me, and dates from the early 60s. I was fishing it earlier this year and had that channel cat hit a lipless crank. I've changed the gears in it from the original 3.8:1 to 4.7:1 and it's a bit more "useable" now...

The top one is a trumpet fish - don't know about the second photo. (I only know about the trumpet fish because you posted that photo in the earlier "weird" thread back in January... )

Thanks Big O! Same to you and yours...

I'm with ya buddy. I have a BPS Carbonlite BC reel on a Loomis GLX rod - a more expensive reel on that rod won't get me any more fish!

At any one time, I might have plastics on a number of rods. But to categorize them, there would be say 3 in the boat: The "Grub Rod" - 5" grubs, small worms, stick-worms up to 5" Lighter plastics rod - plastic worms from 6" to 10", sometimes 6" stick-worms, smaller creature baits Heavier plastics rod - larger creature baits, monster worms, could be 7" stick worms if I fished them

IMO medium-heavy. The big deep divers tend to "overpower" medium-action rods.

If it were me, and I had a thousand of them, I'd keep a selection of them to fish from time to time...keep a few more to put on display...and eBay the rest. I still have some of my baits from the 1960s and fish them from time to time. All are used - none are NIB. It's only about 15 or 20 baits though. I lost one of them on the bottom earlier this season and was crushed. It was a little ultralight MirrOLure that probably hasn't been made in many years. Almost made me quit fishing the rest of my 60s baits. I think I will be lining up a selection of those old baits, catch one more fish on each, then retire them to display.

Another great fish indeed! Looking at the hills in the background of your photo - you must be at Lake Perris south of Riverside...

Bassgrabber1 - sorry, will drift OT on your thread for a second! Yes - that's the 9.06 in the avatar. Funny how they shrink if you leave them out of the water too long... Actually, the avatar photo is of the smallest bass that I've caught on an artificial bait - 3" bass hits a 3/8oz Roostertail !

9.06 - not a bad fish for Tennessee...

Poor Hayden is going over to the dark side at such an early age - destined to be a victim forevermore of the rare species of "bait monkey exoticus." Very cool rig though...enjoy!

Very cool! Congrats! I have a Tennessee state citation for my PB but it would be nice to get a 10+ to qualify for the Lunker Club.