IwillChooseFreeWill

looks like a blast... wish they were biting here... but these nights in the 20s have kept them from moving

I have noticed a lot of companies that have increased their shipping costs or cut out "free shipping" since the economy went sour, and some even force a "shipping surcharge" on "oversized or odd shaped items". UPS and Fedex charge the same whether it is a 5 lb normal box or a 5 lb long skinny box with a rod and reel inside, so these extra "surcharges" are mostly just pocketed by the companies.

I tend to stick with 6lb and lower for panfish, and 8lb and higher for bass. Right now my favorite is Pline CX on my spinning reels, I have a light setup for bream using 4-6lb (which works well because catfish take my bait off the bottom sometimes too) and my new heavier reel (when it and the line gets here) will be 15lb. For heavier vegetation, stumps, branches, I stick with 15-20 lb PowerPro braid line (also on a spinning reel). Now if you KNOW there are only bass 2-3 lbs max in that lake/pond then feel free to use the super light line.

have a look at the racks on her: http://www.discountramps.com/roof-bars.htm

I was/am the type that would do it (bring a laptop) just to make my point: that he cannot do what he wants and if he does, he will be buying me a new one out of his paycheck. Plus the car on fire idea works too but thats only after I get the money/replacement laptop... I've done dog sh-- in hubcaps, Vaseline on windshield wipers, dumping water into a locked car keyhole when it is 5ºF out, jacking up the car and turning the rims inside out, among other things to teachers that bugged the sh-- out of me...

Well we got another 4-5 nights in the upper 20s in my stretch of FL... which will push the spawn back until at least mid to late March unless we get a big and long heat wave with no cold breaks (not likely). Normally by now we are well into the brunt of the spawn and some smaller ponds that warm up quicker towards the tail end of it.

Its not much but as the only vehicle for a tall family of 4, it works nicely... and it tows this without a problem 2004 Dodge Durango with 4.7L V8 (just shy of 100K miles), 1987 Jayco popup camper that has toured much of the east before we got it (still has original Michigan dealer sticker on it), unknown year 14' canoe

when he said composition, thats where you throw old fruit, heels, rhinds and food into a pile right?

pretty much anything works for pike... I have seen rods everywhere from 21" to 8 ft long. Overall it is best to keep it close to bass equipment except using heavier line.

someone say catfish?? <~~ link

wow just crazy... I remember catching some small ones ice fishing (8-12") and never had a problem... they didn't fight too much, not nearly as much as pike and walleye do

yep they did the same thing when their Nascar driver won too...

humminbird took over the fishing buddy setups so therefore should also have the manuals for them as well regardless of what name they were under previously. You contact Humminbird and ask them to send you the free manual for your fishing buddy. Humminbird Toll-free: 1-800-633-1468 Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm CST Email: cservice@johnsonoutdoors.com

looks great!!! Have yo tried getting into bluegill or bass type patterns? I heard they are doing well nowadays

I have had cheap line in the sun all day and within 2-3 months it was brittle and I have had quality line out in the sun for several days at a time and work great for 5+ years. So just check for problems, kinks, wear spots, or any problems. Some people replace it every few months but to me that is just a waste. Considering line sits in warehouses and store shelves for months or sometimes years before you use it, a few months use will not hurt it.

Yes we have the MegaStrike scent and Kickin Bass scent threads, but reading some of KVDs comments had him talking about coffee scent... The main area I found it was HERE. So has anyone tried storing bait in used coffee cans maybe with a little of the grounds left?? Any brand work better than another? ;D

The rod/reel monkey got me earlier this week for $100 and now the bait monkey got me for $50 more... Ordered some -Kick'N Bass Scent, -Super Flukes, -Ewg Treble hooks in red to replace the ones on some of my cranks, -Stacy King 31Pc Jig set (all my previous jigs are at the bottom of a local pond when oldest daughter dumped them over), -1/4oz Redeye Shad lipless crank (the type KVD used) in Sexy shad which is the one that resembles the bream here the closest and also can stay above the vegetation on faster retrieves. Fluke color and how I plan to fish it Clear sexy shad (just to show the color choice, not the actual lures)

That is the problem... finding it... I did find it at Cablas and a few places online but they want just as much for shipping as the items costs....

yeah I read that... good stuff.

It doesn't matter what they do... the scammers will still cherry pick what they want to fit their agenda, and then lobby governments to steal more taxpayer money and force unfair restrictions on car makers and people... Force "recycling" efforts that use big polluting diesel trucks to take it to big polluting sorting and recycling centers. Recycling puts more pollution in the atmosphere than creating the same items new. Relating to vehicles, look at engines today: You need a modern 396ci V8 (6.5L) with all the modern computers and emissions crap, just to match the power and fuel efficiency of a properly tuned 1975 Chevy 350 (5.7L). I had a 76 GMC, replaced the original carb with Edelbrock 600 cfm and took off the catalytic convertor which was not working anyways. I went from 9-10 mpg around town and weak power, to a whole lot of power and 18 mpg. Even when I was constantly putting the pedal down I was still seeing 15 mpg. I towed around a boat for most of a tank of gas and still saw 20 mpg mostly highway driving while towing. Without towing it saw 22-23 mpg highway. Even while towing this 76 truck had more power than the 06 Chevy truck with the same size 5.7L but all the extra emissions crap. Look at the 1990 Geo Metro. 3 cyl engine, 65 mpg and very few computer or emissions crap. Today they have to make it a hybrid or super efficient diesel before they can even break 40 mpg. They can fix this: take off almost all the emission restrictions but keep the computer adjustments, high intake throttle bodies, direct injection and so on, but remove 99% of the emissions equipment and we will still have the cleanest running engines ever, plus require a smaller engine to get the same amount of power which equals out to better fuel economy and less gas used, less gas = less pollution. Its a great cycle... Of course I am just waiting for magnetic power vehicles to take over... giant magnetic wheel spinning and powering the vehicle. No fuel needed.

I am more of a lager guy... Amber Bach, Yuengling and similar types...

so far the southern pike seems to prefer live bait

we got Boyd Duckett here in Destin, FL talking about "preparation for tournaments" : Ok this is primarily a saltwater store and preparation for a freshwater tourney has very little to do with driving miles offshore to the same point where the same fish are every year at that same time. Even offshore fishing captains I have talked to say that locating offshore fish is so much easier than any other type of fishing.

Using the information suggested, I did a quick mock up in photoshop, top one is what we see, second is what we see after UV filters and the 3rd is potentially what fish may see and how it stands out against its background. So this means we need to get more UV photos of crawfish, bluegills and shad as well as which color wavelength their scales reflect and using what patterns. This was we can get a better idea and start modifying our lures with UV based paints to mimic them.

Remember, this subject just relates to the fish's sight, not smell, sound or "reactions" to annoyances. There are a few interesting pictures of normal, UV and IR of plants... http://www.the-wombat.com/UVNIRphoto.htm So if bees/pollen based bugs also see using UV, the dark area helps show the highest concentration of pollen. Even humans look different under UV filters Which means shallow fish that can see UV well may see humans on the bank/dock/boat as "dark" against a very light background/sky, and may get spooked. So as this pertains to sight fishing, plants will be solid flowing light or dark coloring, versus other fish will appear spotty against a solid background. This may also help a fish to recognize common patterns on their food. If they are used to feeding on shad, they are attracted to the shad "UV" patterns (Like the fish picture in my previous post). Of course there are the other methods they use such as sound and "smell". Fast retrieves don't give them a chance to see the lure so they have to rely on whether to attack it or not based on the sound it gives off. Scent may carry through the water current and be how it works its way towards your lure, is indifferent or goes the other way. No matter what, this is a fairly new thing to hit fishing which is triggering more research into the subject. Sure some companies have used UV reactive colors, paints, plastics, additives for years but there was no real research behind it to tell if it had any impact. The Berkley swimming shad mentioned in my last post may be catching fish simply because it looks like a shad, not because of its UV properties. Either way, this may be the latest thing to really make a breakthrough in the fishing world, not just bass but saltwater, trout and every other type of sport/commercial fishing out there. It is also found that most turtles also carry specific levels of UV detection, in the retina of the red-eared turtle, are four cone visual pigments, with 617 nm (red sensitive), 515 nm (green sensitive), 458 nm (blue sensitive), and 372 nm (UV-sensitive) cones. So if there are similar cone receptors in eyes of bass, you would just need to find out the UV coloration of the baitfish it eats in certain areas and make a swimbait or crank that mimics the same UV patterns and normal/UV colors. I believe this is coming very soon and will be interesting to see how this works to our advantage. New bluegill and shad UV colored baits.