Zel

Found a full size pic of RW's catch when he got back to the dock. Is the $5 grand in the mail?

Family Guy. Chicken Dance or the Hokey Pokey

Jigging spoons are one of my most favorite ways to fish for bass. You can almost always find some bass willing to grab them in the deeper water. I don't use swivels but do get a lot of line twist. I just keep changing rods when line twist gets bad, then pull out some line off the reels and let it unravel itself behind the boat as I move. I also don't tie the line directly to the jigging spoon. I thread the line through the eyelet and tie it to a small treble hook. If you keep in contact with the spoon on the fall you won't get the trebles crossed as often. Also, take along some old spark plugs, as it's a great way to get your spoons back when they get hung up on the bottom.

I hate ice-out angling usually cold and miserable, and not much action. Not sure quite what your looking for, but you picked some of the lures I would use for ice-out fishing. I agree with first keying on structure points, rocks, ledges and breaklines are the structure I target on the lakes I normally fish. When you find the structure and see bass holding on it, then see what lures would interest them. Suspending Jerkbait Cast it out, Crank it down to the depth you want, and then utilize one-or-two jerks of the rod to move the jerkbait, and let it pause for about 3-15 seconds (depending on what the bass want, and they will let you know how long to pause between jerks, as I have found they usually hit it on the pause or when you first jerk the bait after letting it pause for a while). Keep repeating the jerk and pause action. I have found you need to let it sit motionless for a longer period of time between jerks in colder water temps. Jig'n'Pig I prefer smaller jigs and pork (not plastic) in colder water, and in natural colors, and I personally think hair jigs (or hair jigs combined with marabou) work better in colder water than do rubber skirted jigs. And I've found you can't seem to fish the jig slow enough in cold water. When I have to put the lure 18ft or deeper in colder water, I'm using Jigging Spoons (1/4 ounce Kastmaster's match the hatch where I live up north), or Drop Shots with 3 or 4 inch hand poured worms in smoke, green watermelon, or pumpkinseed (basically natural colors). And I use a hair jig rather than weight at the bottom of the drop shot rig. Good luck.

Muddy Imitation is the greatest form of flattery Don't let it get to you. And don't go out and get your head shaved!

Joe Cocker's slower blues tempo cover of the Beatles' With A Little Help From My Friends has more passion in it than the media's infatuation with Britney Spears and Anna Nicole Smith combined.

Tonight... one step forward, two steps back.

Welcome. Roboworm has some of the most unique color combinations on their worms I've ever seen. either of these colors close?

Ever wonder why they call it LOST it refers to the viewer.

I have a PENN 2000 Speed Shifter baitcasting reel that I purchased around 15 years ago. It is a two speed reel, and shifts from high speed 6:1 to low speed 2:1 depending on your setting of the speed shifter. I like it for crankbaits, especially for fighting the fish when it shifts to the lower speed after setting the hook. The problem I have is the 10 lb test line that I like to use for crankbaits has always got caught between the spool and the housing on either side of the spool. I've gone as high as 14 lb test and it still happens. There doesn't appear to be a noticeable gap between the spool and the housing. I can't figure out why it has always does this. Does anyone know if this problem be fixed or repaired? I know I didn't spend a lot of money for it and the quality isn't the greatest, but I like it matched up with my fiberglass 1960's Silaflex Magnum that I had redone (yes I was warned what would happen to the value, and I saved that unique handle). Thanks for any info.

NJBasDevil, I'm curious about your "Unnatural Crankbaits". Got any of these unnaturals:

To hell and back (and it was a rough trip let me tell you)!

Took me 6 years to get my Bachelors, as I did it all at night and weekends, working 50 hours a week and raising a family. Took me two years at night for a double major Masters Degree.

PB, Kinda know what you're going through. Two years ago I had a pipe break on December 18th in my first floor bathroom below the line shutoff (also had to turn off the main value to stop the water). Water went right down to the basement. Guess where Santa hid and stored the kids presents yep right under the bathroom. What a nightmare, all the way around. Good luck.

It's so cold out there that lawyers are putting their hands in their own pockets. It was -2 degrees in my back yard at 6:00 AM today. Well, I guess it's like Dr. Timothy Ball (who was the first Canadian Ph.D. in Climatology and has an extensive background in climatology, especially the reconstruction of past climates and the impact of climate change on human history and the human condition. a Ph.D, Doctor of Science from the University of London, England and who was a climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg.) forsees that we're due for a global cooling. "Temperatures declined from 1940 to 1980 and in the early 1970's global cooling became the consensus. This proves that consensus is not a scientific fact. By the 1990's temperatures appeared to have reversed and Global Warming became the consensus. It appears I'll witness another cycle before retiring, as the major mechanisms and the global temperature trends now indicate a cooling." Good reading... http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/global-warming020507.htm

Muddy... Happy Birthday. In your honor, your favorite lake (Mauch Chunk), and your affinity with Italian cooking, I'll name my most recent lure invention (a meatball shaped pork jig trailer). The MOOK CHUNK. It will be available in the following scents Bolognese, Pomodoro, Puttanesca, and the all time favorite Marinara. It's great for fishing around those concrete shoe structures found New York and New Jersey lakes.

I primarily fish lakes in PA and NJ. I've never done well in the past with artificial lures right after ice-out, and I usually wait until there is at least one warm day after the ice-out before trying artificials. But if I'm fishing in early to mid March, then it's primarily with live minnows (if it's not a tourney and I want to catch some to start off the year). The artificals I do use with some success in the early cooler months are suspending jerkbaits, 1/4 ounce jigging spoons, small hair jigs, and 1.5 to 3 grubs.

"First, they examine its motion in a trough of flowing water, a fluid-filled analogue of the wind tunnels that aeronautical engineers use to test aircraft components." Does anybody know where I can get my hands on a used one of these real cheap, ebay didn't have any. I designed a new type of lure loosely based on a spinnerbait. When I tested it out here before the water turned to ice, the look and action on the lure was incredible, but I still have to tweak it somewhat. Hate to have to wait until spring to get it running right.

Don't skate, but long time ago my oldest daughter went out a couple of times with some BMX bike kid named Tony Hawk that she met at Camp Woodward. I understand he went on to skateboards or something like that after his BMX days.

As he starts his final day, I pray the Lord 20 pounds for him to weigh. And if he makes that final cut, I pray the Lord He finishes well and kicks some butt.

Well LBH, not to pick on you (well maybe just a little) but here's something I think I know if you're talking about that 223 (or so) acre lake you recently posted about, it can only handle on average about 4,000 to 4,500 average size bass (average = 2 lbs). So if those 2,000 eggs hatched and survived, along with millions of others (2,000 females x 2,000 eggs each = 4,000,000), the lunkers that would come out of that lake would be about 4 inches long. I wouldn't let those 2,000 lost eggs bother me too much if I were you.

Pennsylvania is considered a trout state. Almost all resources and monies are put into trout. But the state is very protective of the bass, most probably because they don't wish to spend money on the fish, but do realize the huge income bass fishing brings into the state. Protecting the bass during the spawn ensures a continuous replenishment without state expenses. In the past you couldn't even fish for bass during the closed season (spawn), and if the warden caught you fishing with a bass type bait during the closed season, they could fine you. After years and years of study on the matter of bass and the spawning process, the state Fish and Boat commission changed the rule several years ago. You now can fish for bass during the closed season (spawn), but you have to immediately release the fish. You can't even measure the fish, and that is why there are no bass tournaments allowed during the closed season, (even paper tournaments where the weight of the fish is derived from length are not allowed). Therefore, since experts have determined that releasing bass immediately back into the water during the spawn has negligible affect on the spawning process, I fish for bass during the spawn, and I enjoy sight fishing during the spawn. The spawn only lasts about 2 3 weeks where I live.

Done! Glad to help out.

LBH, September at Beltzville is a great time of the year for Sunfish, Bluegill and Perch and the C.A.S.T. Kids should be able to catch a whole bunch of them. But if you're looking to get Smallmouth, it's one of the worse months. Early morning and evening you can do okay with topwater, and natural colored 4 worms and tubes when they're traveling the breaklines and hanging around the rocks near deep water. During the day they go deep into the 18' to 25' range, so I hope you're good (or willing to learn) with 1/4 ounce jigging spoons and drop shots. The primary baitfish there are Alewife, and it's got a lot of crayfish. Also the Smallies seem to be active in bunches, so you've got to find the sweet spots, and you'll hit a couple within a few minutes of each other, then nothing for the longest time. But don't fret, I've got my spots. I lived within a couple of miles of Beltzville for 18 years and was taught much of the lake from a semi-pro who also lived near there. He fished 2 Bassmaster Classics and once won a BASS Northern Open, so he sure knew what he was doing. Also, fishing at Beltzville Lake and the Susky River is like night and day they're nothing alike except for the fact that they're both wet.

I would be interested also in the BR members take on the 250. I just bought a used fish & ski from a dealer several weeks ago. As part of the deal, I asked them to include and install a new trolling motor (at least 50 lb thrust), a new GPS/Fish finder on the dash, and a new ladder all for under $1,000. They put the Eagle Cuda 250 on the boat. The downloadable manual (which you can get from the website you listed) is 172 pages long, and the addendum to the manual is 12 pages long. Luckily spring is a ways off, as it looks like I've got lots of reading to do.