AQUA VELVA

A guy on my lake said he quit using spinner baits because they were more trouble than they were worth. When I asked what the problem was, he said the snap always ended up tangled in the blades.

Eating fish with high mercury levels can lead to memory loss and in some cases also lead to memory loss!

Just out of curiosity, do drag washers ever need any kind of cleaning or maintenance?

Never heard of a ''bearing blaster'', who has them?

Any thoughts on the Quantum Kinetic & the new Accurist PT baitcasters? They are both in the same price range, about $100.

If I live to be a 100 I'll always remember what the old timers use to tell me when I was a kid,'' You shoulda been out here yestaday, they was jumpin in the boat !''

Wow, never read a BAM. Have subscribed to In-Fisherman but did'nt care for it. Been getting Bassin' magazine for quite a few years but it seems like it's getting thin on articles and heavy on advertising lately. Will have to look for BAM.

I have always tried to be prepared for the most likely problems while on the water so I always carry a complete change of clothes in a couple of two gallon zip-lok bags. One day I pulled up to what I thought was a sandy beach and jumped out only to find myself in crotch deep muck. I managed to leverage myself out with the help of my boat but I lost both of my shoes doing it. I motored back out into the middle of the lake, stripped off everything from the waist down, toweled myself off and put on clean clothes. Im glad I also had another pair of shoes. Luckily it was a weekday and I was about the only boat on the lake. It just goes to show you how fast things can go south when you least expect it.

Hey, I bet PETA would have an opinion on this subject.

Read a few years ago that some of the jig fishers like to open up the hook gap a little.

What is the correct way to flush bearings?

I've spent $30. on a musky bait but I probably would'nt spend that much on a bass bait. I think most people have a cut-off point in them when it comes to this kind of stuff. After that , cost / benifit kicks in.

After all the major winter festivities are over it's just a mental slugfest until spring. If it were'nt for the catalogs and this website, I don't know what I'd do.

If I catch a nice size one ,4lbs and up, I generally like to ease them back into the lake and watch them as they swim away. Sometimes payback is a face full of water but I still enjoy it. Anything smaller gets dropped from a couple feet or so and believe me, as soon as they feel the water they are gone in a flash.

Thats an interesting question. I've never had a reel that did'nt perform right out of the box. All the reels I have bought always came with an owners manual that explained how to set the reel up and care for it. I service all of my own reels. Believe it or not, most BC reels are very similar on the inside no matter what they may look like on the outside. Some reels came with an exploded drawing and some did'nt. If your not very mechanically inclined you might be better off having them serviced by professionals. Good luck.

I'll let the scientific, fishing community debate vibrations, sensitivity and feel. All I know is, full length cork grips work for me and I catch fish.

I started out with Shimano and their Quick-Fire cast system. Never had one problem with them. I have an older Symetre and two Spirex reels with Quick-Fire and I love 'em. Unfortunatly, Shimano only offers QF in the Spirex now. Don't know why, it was a bullet proof set up for easy casting. Other brands tried but only Shimano got it right.

Nichols. A little pricey but quality usually is.

Out of desperation, I tried ice fishing once. By the time I chopped a hole in the ice big enough to launch my bass boat, I was to exhausted to fish. Really.

I read some time ago that, believe it or not, quite a few fishermen fall in and drown trying to urinate in the water while standing right on the end of the stern. Always have a container handy, people.

My gramamatorical perplexables are as suspect as my mathamaticical configuretivs.

I don't seem to have any trouble getting rid of tackle till it comes to crankbaits. I have a good size plastic tub filled with dehooked CB's, most of which, never caught a fish. I would no sooner get my check cashed and I would head straight for the nearest Lures-R-Us store. Im surprised that they did'nt send a limo out to my house to pick me up. That was back in the early 90's and now that Im much older and somewhat wiser, I look at all my lure purchases with a critical eye. Still, I had a great time like any kid in a candy store would. Quite a few of those plugs are no longer in production so who knows, maybe some day they may be worth something. In the meantime, Im thinking of a CB Christmas tree this year. By the way, I also musky fish and had the same problem there.

Unbelievable. Cabelas has it's X 900, Pure Lead AGM, group 27, battery listed at $370. Can $500. batteries be far behind?

I have two of those things. I only bought them as novelty items as there seems to be way to much going on mechanically for them to be very reliable lures. Everyone gets a kick out of them though when I show them how they work.

My first boat was a 94 Tracker Tournament V 17 with a 60hp, 2 stroke, Merc. I still have it and it's in great shape. It has a few drawbacks , one being a narrow beam (72'') so there's not a lot of room when you get two people in it but I fish by myself most of the time anyway. I really like the new Trackers but I can't find enough things wrong with mine to let it go.You will enjoy yours for many years to come!