Dave Hull

After 50 years of being outdoors I have many such stories but this is the most unbelievable... A buddy and I were Largemouth fishing at a local gravel pit pond one evening. We were about 50 yards apart and there was a large bullfrog in the corner of the pond in between both of us. He was very vocal and in fact would not shut up. All of a sudden I heard a big splash and looked over in the direction of the bullfrog. About a 5 lb bass had flung himself onto the bank grabbed the bullfrog and flopped back into the water. I looked over at my buddy and asked did you see that? Luckily for my sanity he did. We still can't believe it to this day. How could he possibly have pinpointed its exact location? That bass must have done that before? OK can't resist 1 more... A buddy brought 4 orphaned wood duck ducklings to put into a pond at my brothers. He had just recently rented the place and it had a nice spring fed pond next to the farmhouse. Nobody had lived there for quite awhile so the pond was full of all sorts of critters including 2 very large grass carp. One by one the ducklings came up missing untill they were all gone. We thought a snapping turtle, a hawk, a fish or whatever was the culprit. There were some very large bullfrogs in the pond so we decided to gig up a few for the fry pan. To our dismay we found the 4 ducklings inside some of the bullfrogs as we were cleaning them. We just never woould have guessed the the bullfrogs could be a big game hunter. Just goes to show you that as far as mother nature goes some days you eat and some days you get eaten!

Was at Dale Hollow. Thought I had an 8lb smallie, baaaaa

Great coldwater action! I love DHL. I dig the springtime bite in the Lillydale area. I may have one of your lost Silver Buddy's!

I have 2 favorites an Avid AS66MF paired with a 3000 Stradic FJ and a Legend Tournament TBS71MF paired with an older size 4000 Stradic FG. Not sure which one I like the best. The Avid is less tiresome to fish all day but when it gets windy the Legend really punches through it better.

Mister Twister Ribbon Tail worms

Beetle spin

I used to work in the ink industry for years. Best universal solvent is MEK (methylethylketone). Toluene & Trichloroethylene are good ones too. The latter was/is used as dry cleaning fluid and I think Toluene is a component of gasoline. Gumout brand carb cleaner is great stuff for this it has some MEK in it or at least it used to, check the can. Don't get the cheap carb cleaner it can be alcohol based. MEK is nasty stuff don't get it on anything else. Last I checked it was also used (those EPA regs you know) straight as plastic toy model glue as it will dissolve the plastic so you can stick the pieces together.

You can bet you got crawdads about anywhere, even in your backyard.

Forget the symetre, the jump in quality/smoothness to the Stradic is well worth the extra $. I started with the Symetres and they are a nice reel but I only have the Stradics now. One of my favorite combos is one of the old 4000 size white Stradics paired with a SC Legend tournament rod. Sweeeeet! Also have both StradicCi4 & the new Stradic FJ and would have to agree with Capt Bob about the new Stradic being the better of the 2.

Man I remember those skybars used to buy them as a kid loved em, haven't seen one since then. Other old timers I like are ... Zagnut Zero Heath these I have eaten in the not too distant past. We have a local restraunt that stocks many hard to find bars I'm gonna look for the Skybars cause I know I've seen the Necco wafer candies there recently. But from the list you ca'nt beat a Snickers

X3 pro = super human mind blowing talent + unwavering determination + experiance For instance I had a professor in natural resourses who claimed he'd shot 40 grouse so far that year, no dog. Mind you this is in Ohio where grouse hunting then was marginal at best and probably zilch today. When pressed on his methods he said that he could see them on the ground first then walked over and flushed them. He was reported to be a crack shot too. Claimed he could see their eye blink while they were setting still on the ground. So he knew exactly where they where. Amazing! Then there is the fighter pilot from Iran, I think? Who can see other planes 10 miles further out than any of his peers. Amazing! I currently work with a younger fellow who can open a text book to any page, his right eye reads the right page and his left I reads the left page, in a matter of seconds he can process it and soon after photographically remember it. Amazing! Some people are just exceptionally blessed. I'm not. I can't even comprehend them.

Reason I like SM best, other than thier obvious althletic abilities, is that they generally inhabit more pristine waters. You won't find them in your local carp pond like LM. More pristine waters usually offers more solitude, better scenery, less fishing pressure ect. All the elements that for me make a great experience to be remembered. Wether I'm at the local river catching 14 inchers or at houseboating at Dale Hollow and parked in the back of some cove where all I can hear are birds singing I prefer that to fishing any of the busy nearby reservoirs for LM, Musky or Crappie.

Great !!! thanks tons as I am slated to vacation at Erie for the first time May 5-12. In a couple weeks! I usually go houseboating the first of May on Dale Hollow but been flooded out down there the last 2 years in a row so we are trying Erie for the first time this year instead. Should be a good opportunity to reel in my PB! Will post pics....

Real nice. I wanna go!

go at night... we fish old coal strip mine pits in southern ohio. some are very secluded and not readily accessed which of course makes the fishin better. Ya got it covered with a jitterbug, spinner bait & 8 or 10 inch plastic worm. The most fun is to cast a jitterbug along the highwalls. the freaks come out at night... In the daytime of course it is a different game because of the clear water fish live minnows or crawdads. Good luck!

1. Zara spook in clear color, that's right clear, buddy said "what do you think you going to catch on that piece of broom stick that they can't even see" about that time he sees a huge smb jump out of the water landing mouth open on the lure. What a sight, topwater is awesome! Many a 5lb smb has fallen to this one for me. 2. spook jr, try them in small to medium streams for smb in the open flat areas that are 3 to 4 feet deep. They'll come racing for it clear from the other bank. 3. tiny hula poppers, they are maybe 1.5" to 2" long. Can't find them any longer . Only have 2 left in the aresenal. They are deadly on lmb fished around weebeds & such.

Most of us that fish for smb also fish for lmb and to a lesser degree vice versa. Everyone knows that the holy grail for trophy a lmb is 10 lbs. I'm going to say equivalent for the smb holy grail (based on replies to July 2009's topic in the General Bass Fishing Forum "A hypothetical question") is 6-7 lbs. Assume you could fish the location and time of your choice. Which of the two trophies would be easier to produce?

I'm a multi-species angler who cut my teeth on stream smallmouth as a 5 yr old with my grandfather. I typically pursue musky, trout/steelhead, walleye/saugeye, wipers, crappie and large & smallmouth bass. I have several small boats to handle everything from local strip pits and small streams/rivers to lake Erie. Favorite vacation is a houseboat rental on Dale Hollow for a try at the mighty smallmouth. Currently working hard to prepare for retirement and fulltime fishing!!! Since smb is my favorite I particularly like this website as it has a forum strictly dedicated to smallmouth.