hoosierbass07

I ordered some jigs about two years ago and it was shiped to me in one or so weeks. Last year I ordered more jigs and it took two weeks or so to get them. I really like their little jigs. I would order more but I have a lot of them now. http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/a-short-and-informal-history-and-tour-of-gopher-tackle/

What's so funny about Lews competing against Shimano? Last year I picked up my first Lews baitcaster for $130 and to my surprise it worked almost perfect and blew my $200 Chronarch out of the water. Last week I picked up my second Lews baitcaster - Tournament Pro, and it casts great. I picked that up at the Indianapolis Outdoor show and the sellers I saw were all selling Lews with a few Daiwa reels and few *** reels. Not too many Shimano reels. Lews baitcasters are the real deal. I love my Shimano spinning reels but I doubt I will buy a Shimano baitcaster again. Lews is amazing. Now my Chronarch is a piece of worthless junk. And at Gander Mountain yesterday I was looking at a Shimano $150 baitcaster and the four mechanical brakes seemed sort of junky/cheap.

Good for Timmy. His TV show is one of the more palatable fishing shows on TV.

My Fenwick HMG rods are made in China.

That describes me almost 100% Mono is the best in my opinion. I have been using XT on my two Lews baitcasters and it seems to really work well so far.

Shimano spinning reels are the best. But now after buying my second Lews baitcaster I've given up on ever buying a Shimano baitcaster again. My two Lews work 100% better than my old Chronarch.

I've been wondering what the deal was. The Super Walmart I go to on weekends moved the fishing section to another area. So are they reducing the size of their fishing section?

I went to the Indiana Outdoor show today along with two of my brothers. Had a nice time. Ended up buying a Lews Tournament Pro Speed Spool I've been wanting. Wasn't planning on spending $190 or so but you know... it looked good so I had to have it! I really enjoyed walking around the boat section even though I think prices are nuts. I saw ski boats for almost $100,000.00! Walking around the camper section is fun too. I've been to the Outdoor show now three years and I thought this year the tackle sellers might have been down by one or two sellers. I did listen to Joe Thomas give a talk on top of the water tank. I've never actually stayed for a talk before. I was a little surprised it lasted only twenty or so minutes and he didn't really say anything important. I'm not a Harely fan so the motorcycle show was, to me, boring. Wished they had street bikes but only say two. Overall I enjoy going and walking around for three or four hours, once a year. The weather makes it feel a little odd. The Outdoor show is supposed to take place in cold February, not spring February. Oh well, I'll take it.

I used to try to follow that rule. I read in one of my books, after a front passes, give it two or three days for the bass to become acclimated with the new weather and then go. I've really not noticed any increase in my bass catching by keeping that suggestion/rule in mind. So this year I'm not even going to think about fronts, only when I'm in the mood to go bass fishing.

I've noticed a lot of contradictory information since I started fishing five or six years ago. I'm at the point now to simply ignore most of it and base things on my own fishing experience but still keep ideas from others in the back of my head.

Here in Terre Haute we have a Gander Mountain that's been here for some time now. I can't remember when it opened, maybe more than ten years ago. But an Academy Sports opened up last year. Gander Mountain is an expensive store and has always been expensive. The shoppers between these two stores are very very different. Mostly grown older men who bring their wives along (who seem to have decent paying middle class jobs) are the regular customers. But Academy Sports? I was totally surprised when that store opened. I see family after family after family in there, plus moms with lots of little kids and even college students going into Academy. Academy Sports seems to be the Walmart of sporting goods. Gander Mountain seems to be the premium upper level sporting goods store. The Academy Sports parking lot seems to be always packed or have a good crowd. Gander Mountain, not so. I've bought a few guns from Gander. They have a large gun selection but they overpriced. There's a local gun shop that offers way better prices. On thing Iv'e noticed about Academy Sports - the workers seem to be from another planet, particularly the check out employees. You go pay for something and they seem busy texting their friends or making faces at other employes and not focused on you the customer. I find it irritating how a good store could put the same kind of people at the check out counters. I would hate to see Gander close though. It's nice to have two good sporting good stores.

Yeah, it was a dink bass. Nothing to write home about. lol. But I caught it in February. That's the thing. Never been kayak fishing in February before and never caught a bass in 40 degree water before. My thinking, if I can catch a bass small bass in 40 degree water then I can catch a larger bass in 50 degree water.

Wow oh wow! Am I happy. We've been having some warm winter days here in the Midwest this winter (here in Indiana at least). I told myself the next warm day we get I'm getting my kayak out and going fishing if the ponds are not frozen over. Well it got close to 70 today. I have not been kayak fishing or bank fishing in winter because it's usually too cold and I don't want to risk hypothermia if I fall in. I decided to go kayak fishing because it's warm out plus my Ride 115 is very very stable and with scupper plugs I hardly get a drop of water on me. Anyway, to my surprise I caught a small bass. Yeah, it was a dink. But I'm still happy that I caught a bass here in Indiana. I got it using a plastic grub. I took the temperature water and it was around 42 at the surface. I was using a big plastic worm and 3/4 ounce weight and 14 pound line with my baitcaster for deep bass and didn't get a bite. Then I tried a plastic grub and smaller weight with my spinner reel and I caught that bass. Anyway, I'm really happy that caught a bass in February!

I've decided to leave my big fishing tackle box in the shed till March. Usually I get it out January 1st and get my rods all ready to go for April but I've slowly but surely learned - having rods and reels ready does not make winter shorter or bring spring quicker. So I'll just leave it all in the shed till mid March. Although, I'm still buying so many new fishing lures I already bought a new smaller tackle box just to store all my new stuff in! There is no hope for this addiction! lol. I have picked up a new hobby though that is almost as expensive as fishing - building computers. I built my first PC at the end of December and I'm posting this from my new home built computer now. It was really easy to do plus the led lights inside make the motherboard look alive. lol. Now I'm addicted to Pentium processors, Asus motherboards and super quick Samsung SDD's. Plastic worms and Pentium processors, my passions!

Dance is my number one fishing TV guy. I don't mind him pushing this product or that because he doesn't do it in a Hot Shot/I'm the Best way. Still, I can understand why some people would be disgusted with TV hosts pushing a product for a decade then switching the next TV season and start pushing another product as great. So it's just "business" for the TV fisherman? Uh, what about us fishermen who spend our hard earned money on the products those TV fishermen said were super great? We buy those products then next year that TV fisherman is singing a different tune and pushing a different product and now there is no love for the product he was pushing last year. Anyway, I'll take regular old Stren mono over all other lines except Sufix mono. I'll take any mono over any fluorocarbon. Old mono is superior to all other lines.

I've really come to like Jimmy Houston but every bass he catches he jaw grips and torques them a little to give them a kiss. He wants to kiss all of them, fine. But torquing them by the jaw, enough!

Since I'm a Shimano spinning reel fan I will definitely be picking up one of these Nasci reels. But how in the world did they come up with a lame name like Nasci? Sahara, cool! Symetry, cool! Stradic, cool! Nasci? Ugh.

I'm with most of you - the print magazine is going the way of the dinosaur. But a fishing subscription for $6.00? That's a deal. I'm not a fan of Indiana Game and Fish but at $8.00 its a decent deal for me. Two money orders from Walmart, one for six and another for eight dollars, and they are ready to be sent in.

Happy New Years. I do think New Years is one of the lamest holidays every. All we do is change the calendar. Big deal. The media loves playing it up though, making you think if you are staying at home on New Years Eve then you are a loser and not in the "in" crowd in New York City or at some party getting drunk. In fact, most Americans do stay home during New Years Eve. Stay safe, stay off the roads away from the drunks driving on the roads.

Me, since its almost the new year, the cable channels are showing their new 2017 fishing shows already. I may criticize a lot of them but I still enjoy watching them until I see them three or four times and by that time its spring anyway so then it's time to get outdoors and do some fishing.

I received two letters in the mail today, one from In-Fisherman and another from Indiana Game and Fish. I've only subscribed to In-Fisherman once, a few years ago. I've never subscribed to Indiana Game and Fish. In-Fisherman wants only $6.00 for a years subscription. Yeah, $6.00! I double checked that thing and it says $6.00 Indiana Game and Fish only wants $8.00 for a year. I had no plans to subscribe to the Indiana magazine for for $8.00 I think I will take it. Anyway, watch your mail and don't throw away those magazine subscriptions too quickly. Oh, and here is my secret to happy magazine subscriptions - USE MONEY ORDERS! Don't give those companies your credit card numbers or they will automatically resubscribe you. If you send a money order then its one year and done.

Never thrown an a-rig and have no plans to. I've only made a few casts using a Carolina rig. For some reason I just don't have a desire to use a Carolina rig although I use the Texas rig 99% of the time.

So, have any of you seen the new Star Wars film Rogue One? I won't give any spoilers. I will say this: I'm a big Star Wars fan and this movie is awesome! I've seen it twice now and the second time was even better than the first. There are so many cool things in this movie I can't talk about them because it would spoil it. But oh oh oh, are they so cool. This is where I put Rogue One on the list of great Star War films. 1. Empire Strike Back -the best and one of the greatest films ever. 2. Star Wars A New Hope (the first Star Wars film). This film started it all. 3. Rogue One! Yes, Rogue One is even better than Return of the Jedi. 4. Return of the Jedi. I would put this film above Rogue One if it were not for the Ewoks. Those Ewoks don't age well on film. 5. The Force Awakens. All five are great films but Empire Strike Back and Rogue one are extremely great. In fact, Rogue One might even be better than the first Star Wars film. Rogue One is a war film more than anything. Critics have said the third act of the film is worth the admission alone and I agree. The third act blew me away. If you haven't seen it yet and are thinking about it, definitely go. It's worth it and it's now my favorite movie of 2016.

Man, what a sad time. First George, then my number one female actress "Prince Lea" Carrie Fisher, and now her mom.

I've been watching the show for a few years and at the end of the show Al gives an inspirational message often quoting the Bible. He did an episode where he basically said if you don't like it then don't watch. Fair enough.