.ghoti.

scissors ?? to trim the motor?? ;D ;D ;D Thanks for sharing. It takes a real man to laugh at himself. Cheers, GK Now that you've got that out of your system, I hope you have a marvelous fishing season this year.

There was a test presented here a couple of weeks ago that was intended to sort us out as either yankees and southerners, based on language. The test results declared that I was positively yankee, so, who would I most resemble in this one? Who else, Robert E. Lee. Go figure. I passed this on to a few people. Thanks for the link. Cheers, GK

here's an idea for you http://www.amazon.com/Cedar-Aroma-Balls-pk-cedar/dp/B0002AL4EO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-9647757-1525611?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1175202128&sr=8-1

I have an older Team Daiwa rod. It's a 6' George Cochran Topwater/twitching model, with an EVA pistol grip. It is a great rod for light weight balsa cranks, or any other very light baits. I haven't been using it lately because the finish is coming off the blank. I intend to make this my first rod building project. The grip and reel seat are in excellent condition, so I'll be leaving them as is. I will replace all the guides, including the tip. I intend to spiral wrap it. My main concern is the old finish. It's black, and the blank, under the finish, is a dark grey. I want to get all of the old finish off. I'm not sure how to do this without damaging the blank. I've had the rod for years and gotten a lot of good use out of it, so it doesn't owe me anything, but I'd hate to ruin it. My other concern is finishing the rod after I've completed wrapping it. Should I apply the finish to the entire blank, or just the new wraps? It came from the factory with the entire thing finished, so I was thinking it was done that way because the blank needed the protection. Any advice would be appreciated. Cheers, GK

Thanks, J. I have a bunch of old baits that I can afford to tear up experimenting. If I have any success, I'll send you some pics. Cheers, GK

Redline, you have a serious addiction. Have you considered counseling, hypno-therapy, transcendental meditation, etc? ;D ;D Just yankin' yer chain, man. That's some awesome gear. Well done, indeed. Let us all know how it fishes. Cheers, GK

Dang, Natural. Who's your sponsor; the bait monkey? I really did not need to see that. Got two on order now, thanks to you. I'm having them shipped to my office. I don't need two more reels to show up at home. Cheers, GK

jasone, that's a very interesting concept. Do you think this can be done with out-of-box cranks, or is the line tie to stiff. Thanks, GK

Guess I'm the odd man out here. I don't use a trailer hook, but always use a trailer plastic of some kind. If I get a lot of short strikes, I change the trailer. I use spinnerbaits in cover quite a bit, and have lost too many to the trailer hook. Cheers, GK

It's going to tough to find one rod that will do everything perfectly. But I do think that it is possible to find one rod that will serve for several different applications. I used to fish with just two rods for years, and did just fine, thank you very much. Check out these. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_61232_100002006_100000000_100002000_100-2-6 Team Daiwa Light & Tough rods. I have two of them, and the 7' Medium is a pretty versatile stick. it's $120, a little over your asking range, but I think these rods are some of the best values out there. Cheers, GK

Greetings Fatboy, we're in the same neck of the woods, and the little ones are moved up shallow.The spawning season will be upon us shortly. I personally don't fish for spawning fish. I like to find the bedding fish, and then back out to the first good depth change close to the spawning areas. Not all the bass will be on the beds at the same time, so the pre-spawnres and post-spawners will be out there at the first drop off. I find those fish much easier to catch then the ones on the beds. If you can get a jerkbait down to the level they're at, that would be my first choice. After that, senkos, ika, spinnerbaits, cranks, jigs, just about anything will work on a given day. Good luck, don't catch "em all. Cheers, GK

I give you some contrary advice. Don't fish for the bedding bass. Back off to the first good drop into deep water from the spawning area. Fish cranks deep enough to go down the break, or spinnerbaits, or just about any plastics or jigs. Not all the bass in the lake are spawning at the exact same time. The pre-spawn and post-spawn fish will be out there deeper, and most will be easier to catch. Cheers, GK

Love to fish in the rain, as long as there's no lightning. Rain on the surface disrupts light penetration, so many fish will come up shallow to feed. Lots of things work. One of my favorites is a big worm, like a 10" Power worm, on a 5/0 ewg hook with no weight. Throw it it up on the bank, and slide it down into the water. Work it slowly on top. Keep it with 3 or 4 feet of the bank. Don't set the hook right away. A spinnerbait, cranked just under the surface, is a top option. A shallow crank, like the Minus-1, is also good for these conditions. Think the top foot or two of the water column. Cheers, GK

I've never heard of anybody getting three bad Shimano's. I think a letter to the company is in order.

Frog season is not quite here yet in the middle of Illinois, but I'm ready for it. I've found that this is a warm water bait. I don't have a preference in baits yet. I have in my bag horny toads, ribbits, cane toads and sizmics. All I used last year were horny toads. I did very well with them while the water was warm. When the temps started dropping the toad bite disappeared. I use a very large hook. Started doing this after missing a few and tearing up the baits after one fish. I really don't like the one bait per fish ratio. For the hormy toads, I'm using a Gammy 5/0 magnum superline hook. I don't know why they label it as 5/0. It is quite a bit bigger than the normal Gammy 5/0 ewg hook. After running the hook through the nose, you'll find that the hook is too long to run through the bait. I slip the hook between the toad's legs, and let it rest on the back of the toad. Sometimes I'll skin hook it, most times not. I put a drop of glue just behing the hook eye to keep it in place. The big hook rigging does three things for me. It's swinging free, so my hookset percentage goes up, I get more than one fish per bait, and the hook acts as a keel, keeping the toad from spinning. It's a bit heavier, so I have to crank just a bit faster for the topwater presentation, but on the pause, it has a nice glide, and on slack line will most of the time do a "death" spiral. I caught a lot more fish last year with the toad on the glide than on the top. I have to say that that big hook is hard, nearly impossible, to set with 10lb test line. The wire is a larger diameter, and the barb is a little farther back from the point. I had to go up to 14. Whne warmer water shows up, and the frog bite turns on, I'm going to try out the lighter of my two muskie rods for froggin. It has 50lb braid on it. I don't use it for much, but his may be one of the applications for braid. Don't know, haven't tried it yet. Give the magnum hook a shot. At the least, you'll use up less baits. Cheers, GK

As usaul. RW has delivered the right stuff. The only thing I'll add is try flourocarbon line, not mone or co-polymer. True flouro will sink. This can give you just a little bit more depth, and a bit less line visibility. I believe in the concept of using diferent lines, with differing characteristics, for different applications. Suspending baits and flouro line are one of those good combinations. If you're comfortable using lighter line, try 8lb test. You'll get more distance, less line visibilty, and greater depth with lighter line. All these things are a plus when using suspending baits. Cheers, GK

The Fat Ika will catch fish in either direction. One of the differences between the two rigging directions is how deep you can effectively fish the bait. When reversed, you can fish it much deeper. I caught a bunch of smallies last year, on Table Rock, in 25+ feet of water with the Ika rigged skirt up. I may have been able to get them with the bait rigged the other direction, but it takes more patience than I have to fish it, rigged that way, that deep. Here's another rigging/retrieveing technique. I can't claim the credit for this. My #2 fishing partner came up with this. Rig it in the conventional way, with the skirt down, and add an 1/8oz shot about 5 or 6 inches in front of the bait. Now retrieve it like a Spook. You can make this thing walk-the-dog underwater. The size and placement of the shot is crucial. He said 4". I found somewhere between 5" and 6" to about right for an 1/8oz shot. I have not experimented enough to know for sure, but, I suspect the shot size and placement will vary with line size. Cheers, GK

DANG, bizz, that's awesome. We don't grow "em that big around here. Keep putting up the pictures. If I can't catch a 10, the next best thing is to see a fellow BR.commer do it. Cheers, GK

Thanks for the tip. I gotta get a new picture on mine.

I use both, but with different rigging. For ribbon-tailed worms, I use a wide gap hook, Texas-rigged with with just enough weight to get the tail working on the drop. I'll peg the weight with a bobber stop if I'm throwing it into cover, otherwise leave the weight free. As far a situations go, I'll use a t-rigged worm anytime and anywhere, with mostly a lift and drop retrieve, varied with some short stretches of swimming. This works at any depth/cover/structure you care to try. The straight worms, mostly Zoom trick worms for me, I'll rig with a smaller wide gap hook and either a swivel or a bullet shot about 12" or more up the line. What I'm looking for with this rig is for the worm to glide. I use the wide gap hook to act as a keel, keeping the worm from spinning. If it spins, it won't glide. The swivel and shot both will get hung up, so I tend to use this in open water. Outside weed edges, outside brush edges, down or up points, etc. This lightly weighted rig is only good up to 8' or so. I don't have the patience to fish it deeper than that. Both rigs will work all year long. Except, of course, when they bounce off the water. Both types of worm will work on a jighead, but I'm pretty sure I've caught more using a straight worm on a jig than a ribbon worm on a jig. Cheers, GK

cart7 beat me to the punch. A beetlespin or a roadrunner. Awesome job with the youngster. You're building a lifetime of good memories. Cheers, GK

That there are morons everywhere is an unavoidable fact of life. Walk away. The pleasure obtained by trying to slap the stupid out of an idiot is fleeting at best. And it never works, anyway. At worst, it will land you in jail. Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level, and beat you with experience. Cheers, GK

Avid, I'm reminded of an old commercial: "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful" I know what you mean though. Cheers, GK

I keep a can in my office. It used to have tea bags in it. I save everything except pennies. My wifes penny jar gets those. I take it to the bank and deposit around $120 each time, and I get about five cans a year. It goes quite a way towards funding my tackle addiction. Been diong it for years. I use to keep one at home but it never would fill up. Cheers, GK

Save the twist ties off your bread wrappers. They are much easier to apply and remove. Cheers, GK