.ghoti.

Apples to oranges. My only question is: Avid, how do YOU know she's any good at THAT?

I bought the 7' worm/dropshot model Rick Clunn rod last year. In my opinion it is a lousy worm rod. The tip is too soft. But, it is a great crankbait rod, for the price. They are on sale several times a year. At the sale price of $60, the one I have is a lot of bang for the buck, for crankin, anyway. I like the rounded EVA buttcap, too. Haven't tried any of the others in the line, so I can't comment on them. Cheers, GK

Burley hit the nail right on the head. Whatever knot you use, wet it well and tighten it s-l-o-w-l-y. That's the key. Friction generated during the knot tightening process will weaken flouro lines more than mono. I was ready to give up on flouro for this reason until a friend gave me this tip. Works every time. Cheers, GK

I'm a firm beleiver in scents for all slow moving baits. I use a scent on all plastics and jigs. Not because they draw more bites. They don't. It takes a good presentation in a good location to draw a strike. A scent will keep the bait in the fish's mouth longer, giving more time to set the hook. Some baits, like GYCB, Powerbait, Yum baits and Chompers, to name a few, don't need a scent. The scent/taste is already there. But, I still use something anyway to cover up any scent or tastes I've added to the baits. In my bag now are Megastrike, Powerbait liquid, Kick-N-Bass and Ultrabite. I've used most of the scents out there, and I don't really think one is any better than the other. I don't care for the sprays. They go everywhere, particularly in the wind. Megastrike may well be the least messy. I probably use Powerbait the most. Cheers, GK

These are always with me. Senko's Fat Ika's Zoom tubes Power worms Power brush hawgs Zoom trick worms Powerbait tubes GYCB cut-tail worms All of these would be go to baits in my opinion. Cheers, GK

3/8oz white/chart tandem is my #1 choice. Hard to fix what ain't broke.

Bought the whole kit about ten years ago. Didn't catch anything on them. Gave "em all to a buddy who caught his PB on one, and who still uses them, and still catches fish on them. Go figure.

If I had to pick just one it would have to be the Yamamoto Cut-Tail worm. Second choices; Power worms, Zoom Finesse worms, Zoom Trick worms, original Culprit worms.

Powerbait worms, tubes and grubs are always in my bag. They will catch bass. The fish rarely drop a Powerbait. A hit is almost always a catch, for me anyway. I do not believe that they will attract fish from any distance. It takes a good presentation to do that. The 10" worms and the largest Powerhawgs, T-rigged, are good big fish, structure baits. The craws are good jig dressings. My favorite is the Tournament Strength worms. They are thinner and have a longer, thinner ribbon-tail than the regular Power worms. They have more tail action with smaller weights, making tham a good shallow water option. I don't use Gulp anymore. Too much hassle for too little gain, in my experience. If you want to really "impress" your sweetheart, leave a gulp worm in your shirt pocket. It makes a mess in the washing machine. My wife was dsigusted with me for weeks after that one. Cheers, GK

Copied form Ilinois' DNR site. Does it seem like your favorite fishing hole is less crowded than it has been in the past? Do you notice fewer blaze orange caps when you're pheasant hunting? Or maybe your best outdoors buddy has suddenly lost interest in what was once a passionate pursuit? If you spend any time at all outdoors, you might have observed that there are indeed fewer people hunting and fishing. Our licensing section shows overall declines of more than 20 percent in the numbers of people buying hunting and fishing licenses over the last decade. And it's not just in Illinois; other states across the country also are reporting declines in license sales. There are any number of reasons for these declines: our transformation from an agrarian/rural society to an urban one; increased competition from other activities such as school sports, video games, 500-channel cable TV and the Internet; less available time to spend outdoors; as well as the expense of buying licenses and equipment. In various national studies, lack of time is the reason most often given by people who don't hunt or fish. Most of the other entertainment options can be spur-of-the-moment decisions, whereas hunting and fishing require a little advance planning. Our own studies have shown an increase in the number of days anglers/hunters are spending in the field, meaning the occasional angler/hunter has dropped out, while the more avid outdoor enthusiasts are spending more time out there. As a sportsman, your first reaction might understandably be that this is good, considering the number of species available for taking and less competition for places to hunt and fish. From DNR's perspective, however, this is not good. I'll concede that the Department has a vested financial interest in the number of licenses sold, but our mandate is to provide recreational opportunities by efficiently managing species and habitat, and license sales are the primary way we finance that work. Less license revenue means less money to spend on fish and wildlife stocking and habitat improvement programs. In the past few years, DNR has created numerous programs aimed at increasing the number of people who hunt and fish. These include the Urban Fishing Program; the Access to Fishing rod/reel loan program; youth dove, deer, turkey, duck and goose hunts; the "Becoming an Outdoors-Woman" Program; and the Disabled Outdoor Opportunities Program. We've also made it easier to introduce newcomers to fishing through the annual Free Fishing Days promotion, scheduled for June 6-9, when license and stamps are not required for fishing any public waters in Illinois. We've even tried to lure the occasional angler by offering a 24-hour fishing license that includes Lake Michigan salmonid privileges for a mere $5.50. As a government agency, we've tried everything we can think of to increase participation in fishing and hunting. Now we need your help. If you know someone who might be interested in fishing or hunting, tell them about the many ways the DNR has made it easier for them to get involved. Point out how much fun these activities are, and how they offer the whole family a way to share quality time together. Then give them the benefit of your expertise by offering to take them with you. Getting more people involved in hunting and fishing is the best way to ensure these activities are available to future generations. This does not suggest any agenda. At least it doesn't to me. I will agree that lately it "seems" that there are more people fishing, in my area, than there were ten years ago. So much for "seems". The real numbers are down, if the DNR is to be believed. And, why would they distort the numbers? There is only one solution. Take somebody fishing. Cheers, GK

I have a few buddies I fish with that make some "music" of their own when they fish. Can't say I haven't composed some "ballads" myself! I've been known to display my virtuosity on the "trouser trumpet" from time to time.

" Absolute silence for me. Although sometimes I will talk to myself. " Agree. When I'm talking to myself, I'm talking to the smartest guy around. ;D

A breakline is a change in the structure. Could be the edge of a channel. Could be drop-off. Could also be where the rip-rap stops and the smooth bottom begins. Anything that breaks up the contour of the bottom is a potential fish holding spot. Learn to find and fish structure instead of weeds and wood, and you're on your way to better things. Just my opinion, of course. Cheers, GK

Quite a question. I had to think about this one for a while. I started out in the limit out category. When I started, fishing was putting meat on the table. It was all about live bait and catching, not about sport. The other half of that category does not apply to me. I did a few tournaments, just enough to find out that this was not for me. I quit fishing for several years and took up golf. Yeah, I know, but we all get an aberation or two, don't we? That has since been corrected. I got back into fishing via a stack of InFisherman magazines. Bass fishing was something I just had to try. So I guess I went straight into category one. Got a box of cranks and spinnerbaits and hit the water. Threw them anywhere and everywhere. Didn't take me too long to get to category four. The engineer side of me is into methods and processes. This is the fascinating part of the game for me. I've never really been a trophy hunter. I do like to get out and enjoy the "real" world while I'm enjoying the "reel" world. So I guess you can call me a 4 with strong 5 tendencies. Or maybe the other way around. Great posts, great thread, thanks Fisher GK

Done, and if you can get to my place from those directions, you must be a Zen master

Gotta go with RW on this one. Al Lindner

That's sick. I couldn't do better than 992'. The venus flytraps kept eating my cats. ;D

On the thread about netting, or the lack thereof, were a couple of comments about Largemouth Bass Virus. In a recent issue of InFisherman, the study on this was reviewed. I wish I had it in front of me so I could quote some numbers. The gist of this study was that LMBV spreads almost instantly from infected to non-infected fish in captivity. There difference was dramatic. Part of the study was to see if any handling practices associated with tournament fishing could be responsible for the spread of this disease. A group of fish was captured and held in tanks as a control group. The virus was passed in the control group as readily as it was in the fish stored in the fishermen's livewells. Any handling during the weighing process was determined to be a non issue as far as the spread of disease was concerned. The control group fish suffered the same mortality rate as the "livewell" fish. I wish I could remember the numbers, but it was extremely high for both groups. Something in the order of 70%. The university group conducting the experiment will be doing some follow up tests. The bottom line is, LMBV spreads very rapidly when the fish are confined. If further testing proves this to be true, some changes are in order. Unless this problem is ignored, tournament weighing procedures will have to be completely re-designed. The weigh-in may have to just go away. I realize that is a dramatic statement. But the alternative is worse. Not only are most of the fish captured going to die, if this study proves to be correct, but they are going to live long enough to pass it on. I'm not a biologist, so I don't know what the overall effect of this disease is on the bass population. Is this a nation-wide problem? Or, is it regional in nature? Could having infected fish in our livewells spread this virus from one lake to another? These are some questions I have not seen answered. I'm going to locate the results of the experiment and see what it has to say. Not trying to PO any tournament anglers here. I'm just interested in this issue. Cheers, GK

Interesting results so far. Unless I've miscounted, the winners, if that's the correct term are; C-rig 14 votes Drop shot 12 votes and a suprising 11 votes for cranks and jerks. ( I lumped them together as hardbaits) Spoons and senkos tied for 4th with 4 votes each finesse got mentioned three times Spinnerbaits, flippin and plastics in general got two Jigs, T-rigs and live bait each got a vote Shows what a diverse bunch we are.

thanks for the link cool stuff!

I just wasted ten minutes doing this. 321.1 best skip 208.9 best lawn dart 69.1 shortest Thanks for the link GK

The 3X or CyberFlex plastic tubes will float a 4/0 hook with no problem. Mt favorite topwater to toss into any kind of weed or brush cover. Cheers, GK

It's hard to pick just three, but here's mine, in no particular order. Spook Buzzbait Rapala original floater Cheers, GK

Got to go muskie fishing for the first time this year. I always do muskie during November and December. Been too busy to go so far, but this past Sunday was the day. I needed new line on one the two reels I use for muskie. Wally-world was out of 50lb Spiderwire, my usual choice for this application, so I got a spool of 50lb PowerPro instead. So, I had one reel with Spiderwire and one with PowerPro. These are identical reels, older Quantum EX500 models bought at the same time. One is on a 7' heavy power rod and one is on a 6'6" heavy power rod. Both rods are older berkley moderate action sticks. I've told you all this because the fishing was poor. According to several people we got there a day too late. Great fishing was to be had the four previous days. You win some and you lose some. Anyway, since the fish were elsewhere, I decided to do some testing. I wanted to see if I could tell the difference between the two lines. I noticed two things right off. The PowerPro was noisier during the cast and the Spiderwire gave better distance. I had identical baits on the two rods. The Spiderwire was on the longer rod, so I thought maybe that was the difference in casting distance. I also thought that maybe the difference in guides was the reason for the noise difference. So I swapped reels. Got the same results. SW casted farther and PP was noisier. The I swapped spools between the two reels. Now the PP casted farther. I evidently need some new bearings in one of the reels. So the casting distance difference was not line dependent. The PP was still noisier going through the guides on either rod. I noticed no difference knot holding. Had no problems with either line. I used both Palomar and Uni knots. No discernable difference in sensitivity. The only difference appeared to be the noise. Actually there is one more difference. The Spiderwire costs a lot more. I'll be using PowerPro from now on for my muskie rigs. Cheers, GK

The biggest fish I've lost was a smallmouth, hooked of the coast of Cozumel, trolling a magnum Spook, at 22 MPh on a 3wt fly rod. I'd guess it was between 38 and 42 pounds.