.ghoti.

Recon, I know exactly what you mean. My Dad and I went through a very long period of no-speak. A typical conversation was " How ya doin'?. "OK" Repeat. End of conversation. Repeat at next year's meeting. It was two hard-headed SOB's agreeing to be hard-headed SOB's. I won't go into all the details, but we eventually patched things up, and got together several times a year for about 7 or 8 years. We had some good times. He's now in a nursing home living out his last days. About all that can be done for him is to feed him and make him comfortable. He has no idea who I am. I just visited him for Easter, and for about 30 seconds, I think he recognized me. At least I prefer to think of it that way. He's not dead yet, but, effectively he's gone and I miss him just the same. All I can think now is how many years we wasted being stupid. Really wasted, really stupid. I try to not dwell on the lost years, and focus on the few good ones we had. I have to quit this now. GK

I find that bass I can see are the hardest to catch, and the easiest to spook. I've just about totally given up on trying to catch fish I can see. CHeers, GK

In addition to the good points mentioned, I seem to be able to get a single willow spinnerbait through cover easier, with a lot fewer hang-ups. particularly in weeds. Cheers, GK

Mattlures has had his new Bluegill bait very positively reviewed by Tackle Tour. Way to go Matt. Cheers, GK

8 - 12 feet for summer, shallower in the spring and fall. For the rare winter trip, the deepest water i can find is my first target. Cheers, GK

I mostly use whatever oil comes with the reels. I use Zebco grease because it comes in an easy to use accordian looking squeeze bottle, that puts the grease right where I want it. I have both baitcasting and spinning reels. All my reels get torn down, completely cleaned, and relubed every winter. It gives me something to do when the water is hard. The ones I use most, get another cleaning and lubing at mid-season. Again, it gives me something to do whan the weather is not cooperating. Any time one takes a bath, or gets dropped in the mud, or anything else stupid, it gets a clean and lube. For some reason, I find baicasters easier to do than spinning reels. Glad I have more baitcasters. Cheers, GK

BAD MONKEY ??? You mean good girlfriend, don't you? Cheers, GK

I've always had good experiences with BPS. We have a fishing trip planned for the weekend after this. I ordered some baits, hooks, line, etc at the beginning of last week, and got it all in four days. The local store, at St Charles, Mo. is rarely out of anything I want. Cheers, GK

I've caught a lot of fish on silver and gold blades. I can count on one hand the number I've caught on painted blades. I'm no doubt doing something wrong, but, I have no confidence in them, and have stopped buying them. Cheers, GK

White Mike is dead on. Color is the least important aspect. Depth and speed are the key. Having said that, use more natural colors for clearer water, and darker colors for dirtier water. The lake I fish most has, for the most part, stained water. It has some clarity, with a definite green tint. My most productive colors have been black/blue or dark green/brown for tubes, red shad for senkos and baby bass for super flukes. In the spring, when the water is dirtier, I go with black or black/blue, and forget about the flukes. Tubes and senkos produce for me in dirty water, and flukes do not. You have picked some great baits to try. I always have a rod rigged with a senko, another rigged with a tube, and, if the water is reasonably clear, another rod with a super fluke. And, get the super fluke, not the fluke. The regular fluke is a very small bait. It is hard to get it rigged so it doesn't spin, and when you do manage to get it rigged straight, it's a dink magnet. It does make a good spinnerbait trailer. That's been my experience with it, anyway. Cheers, GK

I have a handful of Matzuo cranks, and I paid a lot more than two bucks apiece for "em. I don't remember the names, but they are more or less shad looking baits. All ran true right out of the box, had sharp hooks, and all still catch fish. At $2 a pop, I'd buy a bunch. Cheers, GK

I had to print that, and send it to my wife. If she hits me with a rolling pin, I'll send you the bill for the stitches. ;D Cheers, GK

There has to be few cigar lovers here. I know there's at leat one. That's his name on this site. My current fav's AVO, a perfectly made medium strength smoke. A little pricey, but I'm worth it. Partagas, always good, have been for years. Love the Series S Leon Jimines, if you like Macanudo's, you'll love these. the best light strength smoke on the market, for my money. Indian Tabac Cameroon Legend, most of IT's gar's are way too strong for me. These aren't. Smooth and tasty. Punch Rare Corojo, medium-heavy in strength, very smooth and rich tasting Can't always find them. Others that find their way into the rotation on a regular basis; Montecristo R&J La Aurora 5 Vegas Gold Acid Blondies CAO There's more, but those are on the top of my list. What's on yours? Cheers, GK

Pick out your largest bass baits; big cranks, big spinnerbaits, buzzbaits with large trailers, etc., and target weeds and weed edges. If you think pike, you're thinking in the right direction. There used to be two lakes in my area with tigers, but the stocking programs ended about 10 years ago. The tigers are mostly gone now. I really miss them. They spend almost as much time out if the water as in it during the fight. They are very aggressive, and very strong fish. Don't forget a steel leader. They will cut right trhough anything else. There's nothing worse than seeing one swim off with a face full of your bait. Cheers, GK

I'm pretty sure I saw the world's dirtiest job, about 15 years ago. Iwas still travelling around as a field tech, and went to a meat packing plant to service some metal detectors. These things are designed to find tiny bits of metal, like saw teeth, filings, and such, in food products, and need regular calibration to assure reliable operation. I got stuck with this call. Put me off meat for about a month. Any way there's a guy at the front of the line with some thing that looks like a large hole saw on a swing arm. He gets the cow after it's been rigged in the sling, and is dead. He swings the hole saw into place and removes the animal's arshole, and as much of the large intestine as he can yank out. How would you like to do that for 8 hours a day. I still can't get that picture out of my mind. Cheers, ( cheers?) GK

Megastrike, Kick-n-Bass, and Power bait liquid are what's in my bag right now. I really don't have a preference. As long as they mask any odors I've added to the baits, I'm happy. A fishin' trip ain't a fishin' trip without a couple of primo, hand made cigars, and I'm convinced that bass do not share my taste for one the finer things in life. Cheers, GK

I used the original version, which was out at least ten years ago. I liked them enough, I had one whole 3700 box full of them. Pretty good bait, rigged weightless, and thrown over weed beds, and even better on a light weight Carolina rig, or split shot rig. Couldn't catch anything with one of these on a t-rig. I'm glad to see them back. I hope the new ones are as good as the old ones were. They better be; I ordered a whole bunch of "em. Cheers, GK

Since you already have a moderate action rod, I'd use that one for cranking, and get a fast action rod for plastics and jigs. Use the slower reel for crankin and the faster reel for your plastics rod. With your spinning rig, those three setups will cover a lot of bases. Cheers, GK

logger, you agree with my non-expert take in this subject. Use the map to put you in the area, then find the cover on the structure. I can't recall ever finding a hot spot with just a map. Cheers, GK

Well you got "em at the right time of the year. Cast it out, turn the crank a few times to get it down, and let it set. Then let it set some more. Give it a twitch, and let it set again. Give it a yank or two, and let it set again. Let the fish dictate the length of the pauses. If you're not getting bit, make the pauses longer. You may have to adjust the weight to get it to suspend perfectly in your water. This is temperature dependent, so don't do anything that's permanent. Good luck. Cheers, GK

You gotta love it. Here we have three guys, who have lots of rod building experience, saying, hey, maybe that's not such a good idea. And then there are three of us, with little or no experience saying, hey, I'm gonna give it a shot. Cheers, GK

That's the only reason to use a scent on your baits. I don't mean just for smokers. We leave all kinds of trace odors on our baits, and a good scent is the best way to fight it. Cheers, GK

I agree, Jim. Every radio has a dial, every TV has a remote. Change the channel if you don't like what you're seeing or hearing. Don't tell me what I can choose to see. Sensorship is alive and well in this country. I am quite capable of doing my own sensoring. I know what offends me, and I can choose to not tune it in. Many things do offend me. I won't get into that, except to say that what Imus said was positively offensive. Hearing somebody call a spade a @$#@ing shovel does not offend me. That may offend you, if you hear it on your radio. If it does, turn the dial, and don't go back. But don't tell me I can't listen, if I so choose. Janet Jackson, and her perfectly timed and executed "wardrobe malfunction" cost all of us a piece of our liberty. Sorry for the rant. To get back on track, Imus has only succeeded in proving, once again, what a bloody fool he is. If we all stop listening, he"ll go away. Cheers, GK

I've done that often. Every now and then you catch two fish at once. That's a hoot. About a foot apart, and two different colors. Crappie can be very color selective at times. Much more so than bass. Having two different colors in the water speeds up the selection process. Cheers, GK

I'm not "in " college, but I teach at one. My school does not close for elections, but I tell all my students that's it's OK to come in late, or leave early, to vote. I encourage this. I probably get taken advantage of, but I can take that. Cheers, GK