.ghoti.

Fly line floatant is even better. Cheers, GK

I remember reading about a study which suggested that the plastic worm was the only lure bass would not become conditioned to. As I remember, the study also suggested that the conditioning was a short term thing, and that rattling cranks were the lures most affected by conditioning. I've been googling that topic, and have yet to find the original study. I'll keep looking, as time permits. Cheers, GK

I've been using the Johnson minnow for years. I seem to forget about it for longs stretches, and then dig one out and catch fish. You'd think I'd be smart enough to remember this thing, but apparently I'm not. I used to use a pork trailer; the bass strip from Uncle Josh. This was a flat strip of pork, about 4'" long, 1/2" wide and 1/16" thick. Lots of wavy action behind the spoon. I haven't seen these for sale anywhere for years, but I haven't really looked for them. I started using grubs and stuck with them. I like the Fluke idea. Thanks, I'll be trying that out. Weeds are always a good place to toss a Silver Minnow. A steep bank or bluff is also a good place to try. Toss it up shallow and twitch it back, letting it flutter down the steep bank. Cheers, GK

My main finnesse jig has been the Bitsy bug, with a 3" Power Craw as a trailer. I use mostly the 1/8oz size. Black/blue jig with black/chartreuse craw, or a brown/orange combo have been best for me. Just got some Evolution jigs in 3/16oz. Can't wait to try them out. After the thread on the Nories Bug, I think I'll be trying those for trailers on the small jigs. I don't get many fish on the Bug fished by itself, so I may as well use them up as jig trailers. It's worth a shot. Cheers, GK

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, dude. Pay attention to the doc's, they DO know what they're talking about. Cheers, GK

Got mine yesterday. Looks great; better than I expected. I'll put up as pic as soon as I can Thanks to Muddy and Zel for all the work. Cheers, GK

The real solution is to not get one in the first place. I never have any problems with my baitcasters. Anybody wanna buy a bridge?

I've been using these since they came out, but they are not one of my go-to baits. For me, they're one of those baits that look better than they produce. I still have about 30 of them in one of my plastics bags, but they don't see much use. I basically use these only when my regular baits aren't producing, and I want to down-size for tough bite times. I fish them on a light T-rig; 1/0 light wire EWG hook and 1/16oz weight. Tried them weightless and caught nothing but dinks. They might make a good bait for C-rigging, but I rarely use a C-rig. Sorry for the negative report, but they just haven't done it for me. Chers, GK

ME TOO

The Big Kahuna Cut Tail worm is one of my go-to baits. I fish it T-rigged, with a 5/0 EWG hook, 1/16oz Ultra Steel weight, and an Ultra Steel clicker. I'll go up in wieght as the target range gets deeper, or the wind demands it. I always have one of these rigged and ready to go. This rig, and the reverse rigged Fat Ika, are my one-two punch for deeper water. I've never tried a Cut Tail weightless; it sounds like I should. I've never bought, or used, the smaller Cut Tails. Cheers, GK

I have the Rapala Lok-N-Weigh. It's about twice your price, but very accurate, and very handy for the toothy critters. Cabela's has them on sale fairly often. I got mine for 55 bucks. Cheers, GK

Check this out. http://www.agrussell.com/knives/by_maker/a_through_d/columbia_river_knife_and_tool/crkt_small_ultima_plain_edge.html I have one, and it is tough. Cheers, GK

The original question was; what's the difference?". In my book the main difference is, when rigged backwards, you can fish the Ika much deeper than you can fish a Senko. I have a hard time fishing a Senko much deeper than 10 feet or so. Maybe a little deeper in dead calm conditions, but that's about it. I can fish an Ika down to 20 feet with no problems, and have fished effectively down to 30+ feet on Table Rock, catching smallmouth. The place where the Ika really outfishes the Senko is along very steep banks. When you pull a Senko forward a couple of feet, it can drop several feet on a steep bank. The Ika, with it's "scoot backwards" drop, will not fall near as far. It is much easier to work a steep bank, and hit a lot more spots along it, with the Ika. Cheers, GK

For the last two years, my best muskie baits have been 7" Senkos and 7" Yum Dingers. The rig is 50lb test braid,a large swivel, 2 feet of Tyger Wire leader, and a 5/0 EWG superline hook. No weight. Cheers, GK

You should see the sign in my local post office. For years, the stamp vending machines have been basically useless. You never knew what you were going to get out of them; you never knew when they would take your money. After years of complaints, they finally solved the problem. How, you ask? By removing the machines, and putting up a sign that directs everybody to the gas station across the street to purchase stamps. I wish I were joking.

I've just discovered that this is harder to explain than it is to do. The hard part is the cadence. You have to get a pattern going between your hands. It may help to practice this a bit with no lure on and no line out. Try this. With the rod pointed down, use you wrist to pop the rod tip toward your feet, then immediately back to the original position. try to get about 6" of movement back and forth with a short pause before each downward jerk. Got that? Now add in a turn of the crank following each downward jerk. The crank should happen at the same time that the the rod is moving back to the original position. So, the cadence is jerk-crank-jerk-crank, etc. The crank coincides with moving the rod tip towards the bait. Do not crank while moving the bait with the rod. Make sure the rod movement back towards to bait is quick and sharp. You want to put some slack in the line between jerks. Now you can tie on your spook. What you'll need to experiment with is the length of the jerks, the amount of line retrieved between jerks, and the time between jerks. Don't try to get fancy with it just yet; just try to keep a steady pace. Once you can consistently get the nose of the spook the shoot back and forth, you're ready to move on. You can use a slower cadence with longer glides, ( the glide is what this bait is so good at ). you can use a very quick cadence to make that bait pop back and forth, you can use very short sharp jerks and cranks to make it stay in one spot longer, ( this is the hardest ), and you can make it change directions. You don't neeed weights to make directional changes. You just need to adjust your timing. A short jerk-short pause-longer jerk-longer pause will make the bait change directions. Which way? Depends on which way it was going when you made the longer pauses. All it takes is some practice. Doesn't matter what gear you use. Spinning gearr will work just fine. I use baitcasting gear most of the time. Doesn't matter which hand you use. I'm one of those weirdos that use right-handed baitcasters and left handed spinning reels. And I can walk the dog with either type of gear. What does matter is line choice. This is not a technique for flouro, or for light mono. You do not want line that will sink. When you're first trying to learn this retrieve, you may be aided in your quest by going up a line size. If your using 10# mono, try 12#. The thicker line will stay up better. What can also help is to use some fly line floatant on the first 5 or 6 feet of your mono. Put it on before you get it wet. It will stay on for quite a while, and will help you get the hang of it. good luck, hope this helps. Cheers, GK

The X-Rap is a great bait. To answer the original question, the X-Rap is better than the original floating Rapala, or jointed Rap, when the water is colder. The colder the water the wider the gap. In warm water the X-Rap is not as good. I have a box full of them, and in the spring, winter and fall, always have one tied on. I use one in the summer only when nothing else works, and I'm grasping at straws, trying to buy a bite. In early fall, or late spring, you can be fairly aggressive with your retrieve. Fast rips, short pauses, etc. The colder the water gets, the more you need to slow it down. Use longer pauses, and shorter, less aggressive rod movements. Get some. you won't regret it. Cheers, GK

I've been debating with myself for a few days about posting this bit of info. I finally decided that a public service of sorts could be performed by doing so, So, here it is. My wife and I, along with my brother, his wife and son, took a few days off to go fishing. We stayed at Old Northwwods Lodge, in far north-eastern Minnesota. Great lodge, clean cabins, excellent food, good fishing on Poplar Lake. I'd recommend this place to anybody. Gale, the owner is a truly nice person, very helpful and a wonderful cook. I hope to retrun to this lake, and this lodge for another trip. We caught a lot of smallmouth, quite a few pike and a few walleye. We were not really walleye fishing on the trip. We were all more interested in the smallies. We caught our share. Grand Marais, the nearest town, located on the north shore of Lake Superior is a neat little town, with interesting small shops, and some excellent, unique eating establishments. All in all, a good trip; one we will do again. Now the exciting part. We were five days into the eight day adventure, out fishing after dinner, when I got a severe case of "heartburn". I'd had this three or four times during the preceeding 2 weeks, so I thought little about it, took some Tums, and kept on fishing. Well, it did not go away this time; just got worse and worse. Turns out I was having a heart attack. Not one of life's more wonderful experiences, I assure you. We motored back to our cabin, got to the lodge and called for help. About 45 minutes later, a young lady showed up, in her own car, with no medical supplies, to see what the problem was. She informed us that she was not certified to do anything, she was there as a first responder, which meant she asked me questions. About a half an hour after that, another one showed up, asked the same questions, administered no aid or medications of any kind, and finally decided to call the ambulance. By this time, I was in serious pain. I'm a pretty tough guy, but, I'm tellin ya, this was kickin I disagree, big time. About an hour later the ambulance showed up, it took about 30 minutes for them to decide to load me up, and then an hour drive to Grand Marais. All together, it was about four hours after the attack started that I finally got some medical help. At the Grand Marias hospital's emergency room were a doctor and two nurses. These three ladies saved my life, in my humble opinion. After a few quick questions and tests, the doctor realized the problem and started what she could do at this facility, which was shoot me full of morphine, and some other drugs, whose names I can't remember, designed to dissolve the blockage. It took about 90 minutes for the pain to finally disappear. At this point, I was loaded into a helicopter, and taken to Duluth, where another wonderful lady doctor finished saving me. I got one artery roto-routered, another opened up with a stent, and a third minor blockage, which is being chemically treated, at this point. I escaped from all this with a very small amount of permanent damage to the heart, which is truly amazing, according to the cardiologist, considering the time factors. I got lucky. Many people do not survive their first heart attack. Having one in the middle of nowhere, with such a long delay before treatment, decreases the odds even further. I'm very fortunate, and very thankful to be here. So now I'm on a very different path. I take a hand full of drugs every day, and will, for the rest of my time here. A lot of my favorite foods are on the forbidden list. My beloved cigars are in the trash, never to be replaced. I'm drinking decaf coffee, yuk, yuk, yuk. ( it turns out that the coffee is the hardest part of this so far ) And now for the public service piece. I know you've all seen those tv adds, touting all the new wonder drugs, and the diet adds, and the health warnings, and all the reports about Americans being over weight, and so on and so on. You know what I'm talking about. I also know that there are a bunch of you, just like me, who saw these things and said to yourselves, yeah, I need to loose a few pounds, quit eating all the crap food, cut back on the cigars or quit the cigarettes, get in better shape, yada yada yada. And then you said, just like me, yep, I need to do that some day, hey Honey, get me bowl of ice cream while you're up, will you please. Well boys and girls, my someday got here, a lot sooner than I expected. I wish I had listened to that little inner voice a few years ago, and cut back on the cigars, ate better, lost the spare tire, etc. I'm doing that all now, you may rest assured. I've had my warning shot, and fully intend to pay attention to it. So folks, and you know who you are, pay attention to that little voice that's telling you to take a little bit better care of yourself. It knows what it's talking about. Please do not put it off, like I did. I got very lucky. You may not be so lucky. Many people die from their first heart attack. You will be missed. When I'm tempted to stray from my regimen, I simply remember the emergency room at Grand Marais. I was shot full of morphine, and still in extreme pain, and a nurse was shoving a tube up my crank. I was trying to tell her that either that was too big a tube, or too small a crank, but I was too stoned on morphine to articulate the thought, and I don't think she would have listened anyway. That's my motivation now; a memory of a 800 pound, 500 degree F anvil in the middle my chest, and somebody shoving a tube up my wazoo. Play that little movie in your mind the next time you feel like having steak and eggs for breakfast. And if you have any pains in the chest, go have it checked out. Do not travel to the middle of nowhere without knowing what's going on with your health. OK. I'm done preachin; thanks for listening. Cheers, GK

I had one of these about twenty years ago. Not difficult to pick up on, but very difficult to master. At the time I was a pretty good bass player, and a damned good piano player. My experience allowed me to get the hang of it pretty quick, but also had instilled some habits that were difficult to get around. I sold mine for more than I payed for it. I kind of wish that I'd kept it, and kept at it. For a person with no previous experience with a musical instrument, this would probably not be my first recommendation. But, since your daughter seems to have picked this one, I'd say go for it. Getting a youngster interested is about 75% of the battle, when it comes to music and instruments. I do know you'll need an amp. This is not going to be cheap. I payed a grand for the one I bought, and sold it for 1400. And that was a long time ago. Cheers, GK

I'm with G3 on this one. Gammy EWG red's are a bit cheaper than the regular version. I have both in my hook box, and have noticed no difference in catch rate. Cheers, GK

Discovered this by accident. I'd been catching a few on a Berkley craw, T-rigged. I dug into my craw bag for a different color, and came out with a GYCB Hula Grub. Don't know how they got mixed in with the craws. I don't remember putting them in there, but there they were. I'd bought a couple of packs to try out at Table Rock last year. I planned on fishing them on a jighead, but did a lot better with the Fat Ika, on that trip. I'd forgotten all about the Hula Grubs. Anyway, I decided to try one on the T-rig. Five casts, four bass, one nice fat three pounder, then broke off on a tree. I retied and proceeded to catch nothing. Upon reflection, I realized that i had used a different hook, trying to better. match the size of the hook to the bait. So i retied using the original hook, and started catching fish again. The larger, heavier hook was the key to this rig. I used a 1/16oz Ultra Steel weight, Ultra Steel clicker, and a 3/0 G-Lock worm hook. this hook is stouter, and heavier, than the 3/0 EWG's. With the weight unpegged, when you lift or hop the bait off the bottom, the weight slides down the line, and the grub drifts down behind it. The lighter EWG hook brought th grub down slower with no tail action. The heavier G-Lock hook brought the bait down just fast enough to get the twin tails of the grub wiggling on the slow fall. I know this is very specific, and it sounds like I had a plan in mind. I did not; it was a lucky accident. I've been using this rig for about a week now, on my short, after work trips, and it's been very good. Just as an experiment, I tied on a jighead, dressed with the grub, and caught nothing. Went back to the T-rigged grub and started catching fish again. I think it's all about that slow fall and the tail action. Now the good news. Cabela's has these baits on sale, right now, for $2.88 a pack. I'm using the 4", not the 3". Cheers, GK

Great baits, even though they're about a buck apiece. I have a handful of the old ones, and will be buying more now that they're back. Cheers, GK

A palomar knot will work tied to the loop, but you need a swivel. Those pre-rigged worms are the worst line twisters you can use. Use a good ball-bearing swivel and eliminate some headaches. To fish these baits a little deeper, put a bull shot ahead of the swivel. Cheers, GK

An eye dropper bottle works pretty good. It's a pain in the membrane to get cleaned out and refilled with scent, but it's also a lot less messy. If you insist on using a spray, you're just gonna have to live with the mess. Cheers, GK

jb, the Owner hooks are just about as good as you can get. They are sharp right out of the box, so they are not the problem. I have to ask two questions. What size line are you using, and what power rods are you using. For the fish that are getting away from you, if your line is too light and stretchy, or your rods are under-powered, you will get a poor hookset that will allow the fish to throw the hook. As far as the guthooked fish go, that's just the nature of the beast when fishing with plastics. They are many times when the bite is very subtle, and the fish have swallowed the bait by the time you realize that one is there. It happens to all of us. Your best defence against this is to really pay attention to your line, and to develope a feel for what your bait is doing. Line watching is easy to get the hang of. Just watch the line right where it enters the water. Any twitches or movements signal a bite. The "feel" thing is a bit harder. That will require some time and concentration. You have to pay attention to the way the bait feels the whole time it's falling through the water. The deeper it goes the heavier it will feel. When you pick it up off the bottom, note what it feels like, and again pay attention while it's falling back. Also make note of the time it takes to reach different depths. It doesn't take that long to get sense for what feels normal. Anything other than normal is either a fish or some type of cover. With some time on the water, concentratrating on the baits, you'll soon be able to tell the difference between wood, weeds, rock, hard bottom, soft bottoms and fish. To go back to the first question, a soft rod and/or very light line will hinder your sense of feel. Cheers, GK