burleytog

One thing I do know is that those Oklahoma state troopers can drive really really fast.

Drop a deep cycle battery on your foot. You'll forget all about your burn. ;D

Handling a Zillion a few times has made me seriously rethink my commitment to Shimano. :-/

I'd be ashamed to snap photos of such small fish. Those are some nice ones.

That is one thing that amazes me about California. It is one of the most diverse states in terms of terrain. I would love to visit the northern part of the state, but California is one of the few states that I refuse to visit for political reasons.

Quite a few people fail to take that into account when they are on the water. As for coon eyes, they don't bother me that much. What gets me are the white stripes on the sides of my head and the big brown spot on the back of my head where the sun comes through the hole in the hat.

I'm not much of an expert on suspending baits, but are the Pointers designed differently than an X-Rap? I ask because back in January I was fishing an X-Rap in 37* water and it never floated to the surface even on pauses of up to 2 minutes.

From what I have read, becoming quite common in VA rivers. I rarely keep any smallies. Kept some last summer on the James and they didn't have any worms in them. There was a guy on RiverSmallies last summer who kept a few from the Susquehanna. Starting cleaning them and they were eaten up with them. He tossed them to the cats. That was a fun thread... :

Most of my local waters are very clear and I've been looking at those things for the last year and a half. I would love to have my hands on one for about a week. I just don't need any more clutter in the boat though. :-/

The land in the background looks nothing like what I picture California to be like. That looks more like some pasture and pond around here.

Standings going into the final day. Place Angler City, State Day One (Fish/Weight) Day Two (Fish/Weight) Day Three (Fish/Weight) Total (Fish/Weight) Total $$$ 1 DEREK REMITZ HEMPHILL, TX 5 20-3 5 29-7 5 30-7 15 80-1 $0.00 2 STEVE KENNEDY AUBURN, AL 5 36-10 5 16-6 5 24-2 15 77-2 $0.00 3 MICHAEL IACONELLI RUNNEMEDE, NJ 5 27-9 5 24-8 5 24-3 15 76-4 $0.00 4 TODD FAIRCLOTH JASPER, TX 5 18-2 5 20-8 5 36-7 15 75-1 $1,000.00 5 EDWIN EVERS TALALA, OK 5 29-11 5 20-14 5 20-11 15 71-4 $0.00 6 DAVY HITE NINETY SIX, SC 5 25-15 5 22-1 5 21-13 15 69-13 $0.00 7 KEVIN VANDAM KALAMAZOO, MI 5 26-8 5 24-8 5 17-4 15 68-4 $0.00 8 JEFF KRIET ARDMORE, OK 5 26-14 5 21-4 5 18-15 15 67-1 $1,000.00 8 JOHN MURRAY PHOENIX, AZ 5 19-4 5 27-10 5 20-3 15 67-1 $0.00 10 SKEET REESE AUBURN, CA 5 25-2 5 21-7 5 20-5 15 66-14 $0.00 11 KEN BRODEUR NIANTIC, CT 5 23-7 5 19-8 5 23-13 15 66-12 $0.00 12 ISHAMA MONROE HUGHSON, CA 5 25-2 5 18-1 5 23-6 15 66-9 $0.00

That is true Mike. I always end up with a lot of twist in line no matter how many times I flip the filler spool. Mudman makes a good point as well. If you are fishing a lure that likes to twist line (such as weightless plastics), use a quality barrel swivel (usually a #5 or #7 barrel for me) about 12-20" above the lure. Or, you could just trash that line-twisting hunk of junk Flooger and get a quality reel like a Shimano®.

You're killing me Randall...just killing me. And I can see now that TheBeast and I might have to break out the orange and white for our day in the boat.

Tie that one up for me. Counting counting counting the days...

What you doing catching my fish boy? FWIW, this is what the lake Peasey is fishing looks like (at least in the summer...water was 82* that day).

I also see now that you are closer to the sun than we are. ;D I wish it worked like that half the time.

Yeah, but I'm at 2600' above sea level and you're about 800'. Plus I'm only about 50 miles closer to the equator than you. I saw 46* in a couple of spots late Wednesday afternoon. We've had upper 60s the last 3 days, so the water might be up to 47 or 48 by now. Might have even been that high late last week before we got 2" of rain in less than 24 hours.

I've never seen a clear Torpedo.

That's odd to say the least. I remember something on the package of a Pointer about suspension and water temperature. If memory serves it was around 55*F. Since gas contracts at colder temperatures, perhaps there wasn't enough boyancy to keep the bait suspended. BTW, 40*???. Can't believe we're warmer down here than you are up there.

That looks great. I wish I had the time, space, and patience to roll my own (rods and smokes).

Increasing the heat isn't an option with the Hot Pot II that I have. Cabelas has the Lee Production Pot on sale and I'll probably order one this week. I tried a bit more last night. First using some (I assumed) lead screw anchors that I've had sitting in a shop for the last 20 years. They weren't lead, but they did melt (tons of slag). Pouring was hard as the stuff set up as soon as it left the pot. A 1/8 oz. lead jig should weigh approx. 3.6 grams. All of these weighed 3.3 grams, so the material is a bit lighter than lead. Then melted a bit of lead. Heated the mold in a 105*C oven for about 30 minutes while the lead got good and hot. Didn't smoke the cavities (still need to swipe a candle), but I did pour with the mold setting about 15* above flat. Still got a couple of incomplete pours. I think some of it is due to slow pouring (hard to hold that Hot Pot just right without getting a hot hand) and some of it due to lead temperatures. Even though I let the lead heat for 30 minutes, I don't think it was hot enough (had the green/purple hue to it though). It is a learning process and hopefully I will be able to perfect my technique. Watch the Flea Market section soon for Burley's Custom jigsheads.

20 size? 30 size? 40 size? If you have the capability, I would tie the line to a tree or post and walk away until all the line is off the spool. Then reel & walk while holding a bit of tension on the line. Spray with silicone (like Reel Magic) and see if that helps.

The excess dye will bleed out after a trip or two. First time I fished new braid (P-Line Spectrex IV) last year, my hands, reel, and rod cork were green. Not to mention my shirt and shorts. Didn't have any dye bleed the next time out.

Is it a 20/30/40?

What size of reel? Did you use any line dressing?