bassnleo

It's not necessarily all grip, that's part of it, it's the overall stance. A weak grip, arm position, and stance can cause the Glock to fail to eject a fired round. The gun relies on soild back pressure to complete a cycle of the slide. It's an easy fix and instantly points out someone who does not have proper shooting mechanics. That being said, I've owned several Glocks (but not the one which started this thread). I am currently issued a .40 cal G23 and have had zero issues with it, and like Bassn Blvd I have thousands of rounds through mine.

What suprises me is how many times this whole net vs. no net thing is debated here

Just a friendly reminder I'm sure The_Natural is reading this............... Glad I didn't buy anything from him, he does not have my address

Umm, the original post/question is 4 years old?

Try the Lake Erie tributaries for steelhead, it's an awesome winter fishing activity. They are like stockies on steriods!

Was the challenge by lowbudgethooker before your time on this forum? That was (and may still be) a big sore spot for lbh and other members here. Lbh was doing it help a kids fishing program (or something similar) and if I remember correctly, the shows producer wouldn't even talk to lbh.

I'm with Bassn Blvd, we are issued the Bushmaster AR-15 for our patrol cars. They are accurate and dependable, plus alot of fun to shoot at the range .

Just about all of them. I do find myself throwing the original chatterbait more than the others. Unlike others, I've found the hooks to be fine. I do sharpen them often though....... One thing that helped me tremendously........These things are a jig, and I fish them as such. Heavy rod, heavy line. When I get bit I want to make sure I have the power necessary to bury that hook, just like a jig. My current favorite set-up is a Kistler jig and pig special and 30 lb braided line. On occasion I will add a trailer hook but that is mainly if I'm fishing it around sparse cover. The thing is deadly in the Spring. My favorite time to throw it is around emergent weeds and pad stems near spawning areas. Burn it though there and hand on .

Dwight, judging by your Erie smallmouth pics, I can't imagine you need much help. You got game on the big water. We need to hook up this Spring!

Thanks man! The wall thickness of tubes is something I've yet to write about. I think I'm similar to you in that I like thin walled tubes for internal jigheads. For flippin applications I like thicker plastic. The thicker plastic seems to hold up better with the heavy weights and heavy guage hooks common for flippin. They seem to last a bit longer when constantly popping the tube of out the weeds or whatever heavy cover I'm targeting. Carolina rig, try this. Take a foam earplug, soak it in whatever scent you like. Jam it inside the open end of the tube and leave it toward the opening. Serves 2 purposes, obviously the scent, and it will allow the back of the tube to float up slightly. It's a good deadsticking technique!

Been a fan of the chatter style baits since they became popular. I've caught hundreds, if not thousands, of fish on them. Like any other bait, they have a time and a place to be used. Do they work? Yep!

Another noteworthy offering for this thread....... In the past year I have been experimenting with different size tubes, specifically, tubes much smaller than the norm. I had this trip on Lake Erie.......Conditions were perfect for tubes. Those fish see countless numbers of 3 and 4 inch tubes. I downsized to a 2 1/2" tube. It's a little more work to cram a jighead into these tubes but with a little patience it can be done. That size change totally changed the rate and type of fall usually associated with 3-4 inch tubes. I actaully had to mess with jighead weights to acheive proper bottom contact depending of course on wave action, depth, "snagyness" of the particular bottom. End result, I loved how they performed, so did the big smallies . I found that my landing ratio went up dramatically. I attribute that to the fact that there was far less plastic (than on a 3-4 inch tube) to interfere with hook penetration. If you've ever fished a tube in depths of 20-30 feet for smallies, hook penetration can be a factor. Now, it's not all from tube size, line strech, rod power, smallies just closing their mouth and holding on all play a factor. It's not uncommon for a 4-5 lb Erie smallmouth to go from 20 feet deep to 3 feet out of the water in the blink of an eye after hook set. It's heart breaking to watch one jump one way and your tube goes the other. I can honestly say that with the smaller tubes I did not have that happen once! I landed EVERY smallmouth I hooked on the smaller tube and each time the hook was firmly embedded in it's mouth, and I pour my heads with only 3/0 light wire hooks. This was all using a 6'6' Kistler rod and 8 lb flouro line. Another interesting fact from that experience. Just about everyone knows that gobies are a predominate forage on the Great Lakes. I actually foul hooked several gobies that were pecking at my tubes. They were just about the same size as my tubes. I found that I WANTED gobies pecking away and they often telegraphed when I was going to get a smallmouth bite. The gobie pecks would suddenly stop and THUMP, a smallmouth would be on. I honestly believe that the gobies pecking away drew the smallmouths attention, they came in for a look, and liked what they saw. Just a theory, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Man, you are so right, I also never leave w/o one tied on. It seems I have also worked a beaver style bait into my flippin aresenal, it may be #1 now. This past year I found myself actually going back to a tube on more occasions. I used to use it more than any other bait I had. Here's an example . Seems like everyone was flippin a beaver style or creature style bait. I had one particular occasion during a tournament, alot of boats were in an area I had found decent fish. Problem was this was my back-up area and me along with everyone else were there because the wind was hammering most everyone's water. I had boats within pitching distance for hours . Guys caught fish, BUT, as the day wore on in this weedbed the number of bites seemed to tail off. It was my thought that the number of boats along with heavy weights constantly punching thick grass had the fish a little spooked. I needed to change. I looked down and saw a tube rigged on a spinning rod........Hmmm.....I re-rigged a flippin stick to accomodate a tube and began to flip/pitch that (smoke red flake ) and with half an hour had culled up 3 times and right in the same area I had just passed through without a bite. I can only attribute that to a tube and it's uncanny ability to get bites.

You are definately allowed to use your Triton on the hp restricted lakes, lots of anglers do. It may take a little longer to get around by trolling motor but you can still have some fun. Also be sure to check out Lake Wilhelm (Maurice Goddard State Park) which is near Sandy Lake PA. I-79 runs right over the North End of the lake. It will be about a 1.5 hour drive for you. It has 4 launches, you can pick a launch and drop the boat in and only be a short TM run to good LM fishing. Also, Shenango is West of Mercer PA. It's a unlimited hp lake, has decent LM and SM fishing.

2.5 hrs North on I-79 and you'll be smack dab in the middle of one of the best smallmouth fisheries in the world, Lake Erie. Presque Isle bay aint too bad for largies either

I wanna go to

bwell, you handled that situation very, very well. I'm sure it was a very stressful situation and for you to order the guy down, immediately realize he was mentally ill (or something like that), keep him calm also, keep him at bay till the police arrive, all requires clear thinking and concise action. Glad you and your family are ok and good job on your part.

The bass may have migrated to their wintering haunts. Usually that will be deeper, slower moving areas. In a local river here, the migration has taken place. Most if not all the bass in the system are out of the shallows and in a deep area. Been fishing that area and it has been really, really, fun. Still catching smallies in 45 degree water by draggin tubes and jigging blades.

LOL, that post is still kicking. Ya know, even though I started that thread I still pick something up every time I read it! I haven't caught a fish on a tube in.......'bout 24 hours Smallies on the river here are still biting them in 47 degree water.

Nope.....

There ya go, learn something new everyday!

So, how did it go? Wish I would have seen your post earlier, I could have passed on some info, sorry :-/

All of the "pay lakes" I know are used for areas like campgrounds and are primarily used for trout fishing........ Never heard of one for bassin here in PA. But I beg to ask the question, with all the fishing here, why in gods name would you want to pay to fish?

Agreed, getting drift speed right is a must. I've actually had days where they wanted it cruising along the bottom really fast, other days at a crawl.

To add to what Cretliner said, cover water quickly. I like to throw a crankbait in those areas and see if I can get bit. Once I do, I slow down throw a tube or a jig and work the area over. If you do hook a fish, watch closely when your reeling it in. This time of year your hooked fish will often have chasers. Wind.......fronts can get a little nasty this time of year BUT, wind blown shorelines and points often hold the most bait and feeding fish will follow. I like to cover rocky flats near deeper water this time of year. Seems that fall smallies will gravitate to those flats to feed up. Some days they are really shallow, other days they may be on the edge of the deeper water. Again, alot depends on existing and recent weather patterns.