.ghoti.

This 80 year old woman was arrested for shop lifting. When she went before the judge he asked her, 'What did you steal?' She replied, 'A can of peaches.' The judge then asked her why she had stolen the can of peaches and she replied that she was hungry. The judge then asked her how many peaches were in the can. She replied 6. The judge then said, 'I will then give you 6 days in jail.' Before the judge could actually pronounce the punishment, the woman's husband spoke up and asked the judge if he could say something. The judge said, 'What is it?' The husband said, 'She also stole a can of peas and two cans of corn.'

A really cool rig I'd never tried before this year. I picked it up from CJ. One swivel, two hooks and two baits; with a lot of possibilities. Bass_fin@tic covered that well. I think most fish this fairly shallow, but it works fished on the bottom too. I haven't has the chance to try it, but this should be another option for cold water. Fish it low and slow.

http://www.google.com/goog411/ I haven't tried it yet.

Around here, we call that plumber's butt. Are we now supposed to cal you "Dom the Plumber"?

Bounce worthy.

We all know that all crankbaits are not created equal. Some just work, and other identical ones don't. I don't want to get into the reasons right now, that's a good topic for another thread. Here's what I've been doing for a couple years. When I find one that does work, I leave a tag of line attached to the bait when I cut it off at the end of the day. When I have time, I install an oval split ring to that bait. I like the ones BPS sells under Rick Clunn's name. It's easy to pick the baits out of the box when they have a tag of line attached. And, it's easy to pick out the proven winners by simply looking for the oval split rings.

I walked out my back door this morning to 27 degree temp and frost on the car windows. WINTER SUCKS!!!

Any plastic is a viable candidate for the T-rig, but you asked for a go to bait, so here's mine. A GYCB Big Kahuna Cuttail worm. Any color, as long as it's dark.

Match or not matters very little if you don't get the two most important variables correct. Depth and speed.

You picked up on the first key piece of info; slow down, then slow it down some more. The other key piece kayl mentioned. The Hula Popper works best adjacent to, or over cover. Got a weed edge? get as close as you can without getting tangled. Brushpile? Ditto. Submerged weeds? Work it slowly over them. One more thing. Put on some sharp hooks. I also replace the rear hook, and it's always gummed up trailer, with a fethered treble. Cool, old, classic bait that still produces.

I used to attempt to keep a log. Gave it up for Lent. I have two jobs, so my spare time is limited. I can either fish, or act like an accountant. I'd rather fish. I have a memory that still functions.

You can find a few colors here; http://***/cgi-bin/order/DIS-9A-20?HNixt8km;;165 Apparently they are no longer in production

OK, I've had it up to here with "sexy" anything. It's a stupid name for a bait. So, here's mine. I'm thinking a deep diving crank: green on top ( think foliage ) Light pink with off white or slightly yellow striping I'm calling it the Rutubaga Shad It's mine. Make up your own. I have to modify this, don't know what I was thinking. I'm re-naming mine the"Sexy Rutubaga"

A frien of mine sent this. Thought I would pass it along. Yesterday one of our dog agility friends experienced a tragedy and wanted me to pass a special message along to all of my dog loving friends and family. Over the weekend the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased Cocoa Mulch from Target to use in their garden. They loved the way it smelled and it was advertised to keep cats away from their garden. Their dog Calypso decided that the mulch smelled good enough to eat and devoured a large helping. She vomited a few times which was typical when she eats something new but wasn't acting lethargic in any way. The next day, Mom woke up and took Calypso out for her morning walk. Half way through the walk, she had a seizure and died instantly. Although the mulch had NO warnings printed on the label, upon further investigation on the company's website, this product is HIGHLY toxic to dogs and cats. Cocoa Mulch is manufactured by Hershey's, and they claim that 'It is true that studies have shown that 50% of the dogs that eat Cocoa Mulch can suffer physical harm to a variety of degrees (depending on each individual dog). However, 98% of all dogs won't eat it.' This Snopes site gives the following information: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp <http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp> Cocoa Mulch, which is sold by Home Depot, Foreman's Garden Supply and other Garden supply stores, contains a lethal ingredient called 'Theobromine'. It is lethal to dogs and cats. It smells like chocolate and it really attracts dogs. They will ingest this stuff and die. Several deaths already occurred in the last 2-3 weeks. Just a word of caution, check what you are using in your gardens and be aware of what your gardeners are using in your gardens. Theobromine is in all chocolate, especially dark or baker's chocolate which is toxic to dogs. Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of theobromine, a xanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline. A dog that ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch made from cacao bean shells developed severe convulsions and died 17 hours later. Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cacao bean shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine.

Sounds like I need to reconsider my attitude towards spoons. I've used them for years, but only for pike, crappie and white bass. When we go north every year, I always take along a few Daredevil spoons, 1/4oz, and whatever the next size up is. I think it's 2/5oz, not 1/2. Hammered nickle finish, and the classic 5 of diamonds pattern. I catch a lot of pike, and fairly frequent smallmouth. At home, I have smaller sizes, 1/32oz and 1/16oz, in the same colors for crappie and white bass. I get an occasional lagremouth on these, and have always regarded catching LMB on spoons as an aberration. Looks like I need to re-think that one. A note on the retrieve; my small contribution to this thread. I catch the most fish using a lift and drop retrieve, but, I do not pump the rod. I hold the rod off to the side, and do the lift and fall using the reel only. This lets me maintain contact with the lure as it falls. Hits come on the fall; very few on a steady retrieve, or on the lift. You have to maintain contact with a spoon. Not moving the rod makes it much easier to do so. You just stop reeling when you want the spoon to drop. I think there may be no lure a fish will spit out quicker than a chunk of metal. You''l catch a lot more fish if you allow no slack in the line. Cheers, GK

I use mono, Trilene XL, for everything except my crankbait and spinnerbait rods. For those I use Sufix Elite, clear green. I like the way it seems to disappear in the water. It's a bit stiffer than XL, and has a bit more memory. But what line doesn't, when compared to XL. The memory is not an issue with moving baits. I use #12 for my spinnerbait rod, #10 for my main crankin rod, and #8 for my small crank rod. I experimented last year, and the year before, with just about every line out there. Mono, flouro, and co-poly. This year I put XL on everything except those three setups. Cheers, GK

The old rule of thumb for temperature rollback was one degree per hour. With heat pumps and aux electric heating that goes out the window.

Bass fishing has pretty much come to end for me this year. I may get in a couple more short outings, maybe not. Got a lot on my plate right now. But, here's what worked for me this year, and some that didn't. GYCB 5" Hula Grub on a Shake2 jighead Strike King 3X worm on an Ike's Spike jighead. These two were my best producing baits this year, by far. I'm not sure which was the best. Not far behind these was the Fat Ika; reverse rigged, of course. T-rigged 7" Power worm and T-rigged GYCB Big Kahuna Cuttail Worm. Year in and year out, solid producers. One or the other could be counted on to get the job done. Rage Tail Toads and Shads. My favorite local spot was again infested with duckweed this year. I caught a lot of fish this year working these two baits over the weed. Nice fish, too. No dinks on these baits. Evolution skirted jigs. I may never buy another brand of jig. Tried a lot of different trailers, but a Berkley Power Craw is the one I turn to most. Megastrike. Buy it. Use it. Enough said. Rapala Twitchin Rap. Caught three of my four biggest fish this year with this bait. Looks like a fat X-Rap, with no bill. Sinks at a very slow rate. Easy to work slowly, just under the surface. Excellent dawn and dusk bait when they won't hit a topwater. Stanley Compact spinnerbaits, double willow. Bought a dozen when Cabela's put them on sale at half price. I haven't had another spinnerbait tied on since some time in July. This one worked that well. Gotta buy more before next year. Cavitron Buzzbaits. Got my first one at Guntersville, at the Roadtrip Dinner Party. Tried it out as soon as I got home, caught some nice fish, and bought a dozen more. I may not buy any other buzzbait from now on. Yum Houdini Shad. It has a tail designed to be modified. Don't do it. Leave it as is. Fished on a 4/0 EWG hook, on 10lb test line, it has an amazing wiggle on the fall. I discovered this bait in June. I have one rod that has had one on it ever since. A top notch bait for quantity and quality. Cheap too. Cabela's June Frog. A little, 1/8oz bait that acts like a Jitterbug, running just barely below the surface. I like a Jitterbug, but it seems that half the fish miss it, and of the half that get hooked up, half of those throw the bait before I can land them. That's about a 25% land ratio. It's better than 90% for the June Frog. Almost every hit resulted in a hookup, and I landed every fish I hooked. An excellent bait for calm water, low light conditions. Gotta get some more of these before next year. These are cheap, too. GYCB Swim Senko, on a Shake2 jighead. My secret weapon. I fish it like a jig, not swimming. You have to see this to believe what it does when hopped on the bottom. If there are any active fish in the area, this will catch them. A double Fluke rig. Got to fish with CJ and RW on Kentucky Lake earlier this year. CJ was using this rig. I'd never seen one in use. Went home and tried it out, and it works just fine. I tried it with both Super Flukes and Houdini Shads, Tried it one of each. Every combination I tried worked. Give it a shot. You might like it. Gambler Bacon Rind, both T-rigged and on a Shake2 jighead. A big bait with a lot of action on the fall. It worked all year long. Did I mention the Shake2 jighead? Well, get some and try "em. I got my first ones at Guntersville. I've bought a lot more since. Put a soft plastic bait on one, I don't care what, and go catch some fish. They work. Also, the Tru-Tungsten Ike's Spike jighead. Great for smaller plastics and lighter line. It has a very light wire hook, so don't try it with heavy line. I have a 3600 box full of jigheads. Before next year, I'll have it cleaned out, and re-stocked with nothing but Shake2 and Ike's Spike jigheads. Ike's for smaller baits and 10lb test and under. Shake2's for 12lb test and up, with larger plastics. I've been on a quest to simplify and reduce my load. These two jigheads are all I need. Now, what didn't work out so well. Rattletraps. I hadn't used one of these for years. I got to fish two days in January with George Welcome, on Stick Marsh. If you read George's posts, you know a Rattletrap is one of his go to baits. I caught some fish with George, so when I got home I dug into the bait archives, ( that unorganized pile of junk in the garage ), cleaned up and installed new split rings and hooks on enough rattletraps to fill a 3700 box and added that to my tackle bag. I used these off and on all year, and caught two or three dinks. These are going back into the archives. Sorry George. They worked just fine on Stick Marsh. Around these parts they just don't Money Minnows, Shadalicious, and Berkley Hollow Belly baits. Call "em paddle-tails, call "em small swimbaits, call "em whatever you want. I call them an over-priced, over-hyped waste of time and money. Enough said. Shimano Cumara. I bought the 6'8" MXF version. Very light and sensitive, neat minimalist reel seat, split EVA grips, SiC guides, cool looking finish, nifty hook-keeper, I like everything about it. Except the fact that it fishes like a broom stick. I'll unload it at the first opportunity. Sweet Beavers. A lot of guys around here swear by them, and catch a lot fish on them. I can't catch a cold with them. Gave 'em all away, and won't be buying any more. Senkos. I don't know what happened, but I can count on one hand the number of fish I caught on a Senko this year. And I threw one all year long. For the last 8 or 10 years, the Senko has been either my number one or two bait. It has me totally baffled. I don't even have a theory. Tubes. Another year in, year out, go to bait that did not produce for me this year. I had two trips where the tube was the ticket. I blanked with them the remainder of the year. No theory for this either. That's about it for the equipment log. There are some other things I should mention in the unfavorable list, but I won't go there. Have no desire to start a whizzing contest. Highlights of the year: January: family vacation with wife, son, daughter-in-law and grandson. Orlando. While all the others were doing various Disney things during the day, I was fishing. Two days with George Welcome on Stick Marsh, one day with Fishindaddy on Harris Chain ( thanks again Lee ), and two days on my own. great trip March: Bass Resource Road Trip at Guntersville. Got meet a bunch of great people, and fish with a few. Made some new friends. Need I say more? We left there a day early and drove to Table Rock Lake. Stayed at Chateau on the Lake and did one of their Vintner's Dinners. They only do this during the off season; January, February and March. This is a very special something to do for that very special someone. It ain't cheap, but I highly recommend it. April: a trip to Trophy Country with the guys. Long Mike joined us for this trip. I hope this was the first of many trips with Mike. May: a week on the Riviera Maya with the wife. Too much sun, too much food, too many drinks, etc. A great get-away for me and my sweetie. Also another trip to Trophy Country. June and July: trips to Trophy Country with the guys. Good food, good whiskey, great fishing. August: fishing trip to Crane Lake in far northern Minnesota, right on the border. Me and the wife, cool cabin, lots of pike and smallmouth. Two days in Minneapolis on the way. September: Labor Day weekend at Carl's house on Lake Barkley, with Carl (Riskkid), Alpster, Roadwarrior and CJ. Fished two days with CJ and RW on CJ's way cool boat on Kentucky Lake. October: tried on two weekends to get a trip organized to do Trophy Country one more time, but neither came together. Can't wait for spring. No October get-away for me and the wife this year either. We normally do one, but our schedules got in the way this year. The only thing left is a son coming home from Iraq, sometime very soon. I'll take a couple of days off, and we'll do a get-away in St Louis. Looking forward to his safe return. And that's it for this year. Nothing left but work and winter. Not to leave on that note; this has been a great year for us. Or, it will be as soon as Justin gets home from He!!. Cheers, GK

I'll second that nomination, even though you are WAY older than I am. ;D ;D ;D

Makes me glad I just bought another one. ;D ;D ;D ;D

Cabela's is not exactly right down the street from BPS. But, it's not far away. ABout a ten minute drive My old car "knew" the way. My new car hasn't learned it, yet.

Bounce worthy

I have two rods that answer the durability question. Both are Team Daiwa, both purchased new, somewhere around 1993. One pistol grip baitcaster and one spinning rod. Both have black EVA grips. They are 15 years old and have seen a lot of use. If I use a little soap and water, the EVA still looks new. No rips,tears, or splitting to be seen.

My wife tells me that when I go to BPS or Cabela's, I'm like a little kid. So, can I play too? $328.75

Outside a small Macedonian village, close to the border between Greece and strife-torn Yugoslavia, a lone Catholic nun keeps a quiet watch over a silent convent. She is the last caretaker of a site of significant historic developments. The convent once served as a base for the army of Attila the Hun. In more ancient times, a Greek temple to Eros, the god of love, occupied the hilltop site. The Huns are believed to have first collected and then destroyed a large gathering of Greek legal writs at the site. It is believed that Attila wanted to study the Greek legal system and had the writs and other documents brought to the temple. When the Greek Church took over the site in the 15th Century and the convent was built, church leaders ordered the pagan statue of Eros destroyed, so another ancient Greek treasure was lost. Today, there is only the lone sister, watching over the old Hun base. And that's how it ends: No Huns, no writs, no Eros, and nun left on base.