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right around this time of year (late winter/early spring) I've hit the jackpot! A big female laden with eggs. They burrow into shallow rocky creak bottomes. Put her in a 30 gal tank and grow the 50-100 fry to bait size for a couple bucks in electricity and food scraps. They like lettuce, bits of old lunchmeat, all fish food, etc. A single powerhead with an undergravel filter is easiest, room temp is fine. I also downsize the aquarium bulb to save electricity and to get them active. They're fun to watch.

well, it is public waters. get over it.

oh yeah, forgot to say that if I am taking Ward Cleaver, Mother Teresa or Dexter fishing I leave the cider and cigars at home.

yes, drink and smoke too 8-) you can put almost 36 oz of Woodchuck cider in a Nalgene bottle. It looks like a bottle of pee to most, so usually it is left unbothered by fellow fisherman and john law. BTW, I fish electric only lakes 90% of the time. Most boats go 3 mph. Going 3 mph with a buzz on is a lot safer than going 55 mph with no buzz. All you glitter rocket jockeys are playing with fire with all that kinetic energy. Feel free to lecture and condemn me. It won't change a thing. :-?

very informative thread here... I've moved from Storm shads to Tsunami and have caught more fish. The Storm shad tails are too thin and don't swim nearly as well.

run a 14.5' Kevlar square-stern canoe, 55lbs boat weight, and it is a boat. i've run a 40lb, 55lb, 80lb and 101lb trolling motor on the stern at various times. All Minn-Kota Maxxums except for the latter, a 36v Vantage. 1) use a lead wire to put the batteries up front. you boat will go faster and be better balanced. I do this for even the 12v motors. 2) 24-volt 80lb Maxxum is the best overall, good speed (5.5 mph GPS), and great endurance. On days when I'm planning to cover 10+ miles, I take two sets of two batteries. Most of the time I don't need to hit the second set (but they are very liberating to have). Once a man experiences a 24 volt trolling motor, there is no turning back, even on a canoe. 3) 36-volt 101 got me low 6mph range, not worth the extra setup/takedown time. check out these likeable yahoos that put a 10hp on a canoe: A torqeedo might get you up on plane. ;D

If you have deep water, try a Sexy Spoon or Lake Fork Tackle flutter spoon (or Bass Pro version). They catch big fish! During the early Summer peak, when fish have moved out to deep structure like points in 10-20 ft,etc, toss 'em out and pull/rip them back, letting them flutter through the key depths. Use a swivel and leader to minimize line twist and hold on. Tiger muskie, 22" largemouth and so forth.

fish deep! from the Gaussian perspective, the shallows have been thoroughly seined; move offshore and catch the cows that see 10% of the pressure.

mastering the San Diego Jam knot has been hard, although not the 'hardest'. breaking off too many 15-25lb Stripers on fluorocarbon with Uni-knots led me to research a better fluoro knot. The San Diego Jam fits the bill. (the name sounds cool too - like a movie about foul play). A video on Youtube helped me to perfect it, at least most of the time. My av is a 24lb that came from a 600 acre lake last December (San Diego Jam baby!).

saw an 'Cops in Alaska' type show where a salmon fisherman had a 50cal handgun on the rocks at his feet. cop had no prob with it, in plain view, and defense from death as bear rag doll toy.

read an article about big bass hunters that used buzzbaits all year. They said it was specifically a big bass bait in cold water.

you guys are too hard on yourselves. fishing is fun ** finding a boat parked on 'my' spot. some guys in our balt/dc reservoirs will work a prime spot all day because the lakes are small (e.g. 500-900 acres), few in number, and surrounded by millions of people. Around here, when you get a shot at prime real estate on Saturday, you don't let go. <my weakness is adjusting on the fly and not getting too frustrated when they don't move all day>

good long talk with Bill Murphy... also ask Ike why he is so obnoxious, screaming like a dang fool. yeah yeah, I know, he is 'excited'. I get excited too but don't scream like a 3 year old. flame away, if you wish, it don't hurt me. you can tell me how he gets kids into fishing, how he is such a great fisherman, how 'nice' he is in person, how he catches better fish than me, how he is living the life getting rich fishing and banging bass groupies, however, he is still a jerk in my book.

you can't go wrong with pre-rigged Storm or Tsunami swim shads. they have caught lots of largemouth, stripers, and even a few hefty smallies.

yeah I got got the bait monkey bad too... today ordered about 20 jigging spoons, 75 big swimbaits and a bucket full of grub jigheads. all day at work that dang bait monkey sits on my shoulder and whispers in my ear until I crack. next up, replacement trolling motor (torqeedo monkey, lol) (not 75 expensive swimbaits, rather a bunch of 6"-9" swimbaits in packages)