Josh Smith

That reel retrieves 21ipt to 23ipt when full. I use one of mine for crankbaits. Josh

Hello from Wabash, Indiana. Josh

Hi Folks, I've been looking at the extended forecast and it's holding with what they were saying earlier. It simply doesn't look like we'll get many days below freezing this year in Indiana, which is a nice change from the past two winters (blizzards and sub-zero temps as the norm!) Yesterday I went fishing at the river but didn't have any luck, so I went to the lake. It's not frozen, so I tossed a few lures out -- jigs, lipless crankbaits, a square bill crank bait, and mostly, a jerkbait. Still nothing, but I'd like to try this more. Water temps are in the high 30s to low 40s, and I was fishing the north end, mostly, in the shallows after the sun has come up. If I recall, the deepest point in that lake is 15 to 20 feet or so, but the water is down a few feet due to lack of precipitation etc and those soundings are from about 20 years back as well. I'd say the average is more about 15 feet. Would this be a good time to break out the deep cranks, too? I have several I never use because the opportunity rarely presents itself. Also currently, no boat. I'm hoping to have it fixed and back out next summer, but I've also said that the past two years. I simply don't have much time to work on it. So, no depth sounder/fish finder/graph/whatever at this point. I do keep a deep crank in my tackle box (Cordell, I think it is; huge lip). I use this mostly to check the bottom of wherever I'm fishing using pre-sonar methods. The bottom of this lake, when using this diver and a split shot weight, shows to be mud/clay/muck, same as parts of the shore. How would you approach this lake during cold water? Regards, Josh P.S. Still planning on concentrating on river smallies for the winter, but I want to work on cold water lakes, too, as it's a weak point due to lack of exercise. J.S.

I seem to recall some old-style glass rods would take a set. I had one I kept in my room that did. This was the mid to late 80's and mounted my Zebco 33. I've not seen this on graphite to near the same extent. Josh

32fps/s on Earth. Josh

Sort of, I guess. Josh

Yes, I do all the time. I come from a family of engineers, scientists and educators. There is no hope that I won't think about this. Josh

I just ordered some Abu Garcia lube. Might have to go back and order some Penn stuff now. There is some stuff I used years ago that I really liked. It was translucent, light blue, and really sticky. Any idea what this is? Regards, Josh

Aguila Super Subsonic. Generally doesn't stabilize in standard twist barrels. Regards, Josh

Thank you. We have a NAPA, so I'll check there! Regards, Josh

Hello, No Ace Hardware around here. I'll need to check at True Value, though. I was looking for my previous standby before I got to experimenting, which is Abu Garcia with PTFE. The one place that has it locally was out... darnit. Regards, Josh

Guys, I found some Ardent Reel Butter locally. Yellow grease stuff. Any experience with this? Regards, Josh

Penn was another I was looking at online. When researching it, I could only find references to saltwater anglers packing their reels with it, so I skipped it. Regards, Josh

The stuff I'm using now is not a grease, per se. It's engine assembly lube, which is excellent in most applications I've put it, especially firearms slide rails. In fact, it seems excellent in the reel itself for certain applications; I really like it on carbon drags, for example. It does not do well inside bearings or on gears. This has mostly been an experiment with newer lubes. Prior to this, I just used old tubes of Abu Garcia grease I had laying around. They've since dried out, though. I'll try the Hot Sauce as I have it ordered, apply it sparingly, and see what happens. I'll be placing an order for Shimano grease soon, too, to apply to another reel. Whichever works best for me will go in all the reels when I'm done 'playing'. Thank you, DVT. Your input is always valued. Regards, Josh

Thanks guys. It was a tossup between this and Shimano. I went with the Quantum because it'll get here faster, but I do want to try both eventually. Nothing I grease in my Ambassadeurs spins so fast as to throw the grease off. I am more concerned about temperature resistance and staying put under friction. I don't use a lot of grease at all; pinion and main are the only gears to get it, and only the teeth on those. Thanks again! Josh

Hello, I'm wondering how you folks feel about the Hot Sauce grease. My biggest problem with greases I've used in the past is that it tends to migrate off the gears. I was reading reviews on different greases and it appears that this migrates the least. Is this your experience? It was between this, Cal's, and Yamaha blue marine grease. I went with the Quantum stuff because it can be here tomorrow or the next day due to the vendor being 45 miles from me. Thoughts? Thanks, Josh

I can sometimes get on them with a small needle nose pliers. That's my preferred method. Otherwise it's a dental pick. Josh

Hi Folks, I'm looking at a new dedicated cranking rod that matches better the feel of the rest of my current rods. My current dedicated crankbait rod is a '70s Lew's Speed Stick fiberglass model, 5'6", with pistol grip. Though it does well, I've gotten used to the straighter grips. The cranking rods I'm looking at are fiberglass and hybrids. Because I use crankbaits mostly in the river, I'm going with the shorter (7' or less) lengths. Most of these have long butt ends, too long for my preferred fishing style. However, if I go and just chop the end off, it'll leave the rod imbalanced and, therefore, less sensitive. I've been looking at rod butt weights. Most are ugly -- I'd like a design that could be unscrewed and weighted washers or something added. It would give the rod a clean look, I think. Do they make anything like this? Any tips for doing what I'm considering? Will duct tape around the cut area keep the blank from splintering when I cut? I plan to use a hack saw with fine teeth -- is this correct? Or should I go with a fast rotary tool and cutting wheel? Answers will help me decide which rod to buy. Thank you! Regards, Josh

Do carbureted boat motors have fast idle cams attached to the chokes like those on cars? Is this lever the analogue to the fast idle cam? Josh

I find most spinnerbait brands I prefer have the closed loop. I've had knots slip down on the R bends before, too. Closed for me. Josh

How do you even fish with another's rods and tackle? I've tried and can't do it. Some have been nice rigs but I can't. Worse, I can't explain why! I'd feel foolish in another's boat, too, if I made the call to go out fishing. I mean, I'd want to at least be able to say something like, "Hey man, go fishing this weekend? How about Salamonie? My deep v will do better out there, or we could go to Hominy Ridge and take your jon boat." You know, not back the guy into a corner where he feels he must take his boat out. That's rude. In fact, since my boat's been down for an overhaul, I've not called anyone with a boat to go out fishing. My parents taught me that inviting ones' self is the height of rudeness. Then again, when my boat is finally repaired, I can see myself inviting random bank fishermen to come out. I thought through this while watching a teenage bass fisherman fish a frog on the opposite bank of the small lake this past summer without much success. I would have told him to jump into the boat had I had it up and running as that's how the lily pads are accessible. These three years without the boat have been hard, and I'm thinking more and more that when it's repaired, I'll use it quite a bit to help out young anglers who can't afford their own yet. Guys, I am sick and therefore rambling. Those on certain gun boards know I do this. I apologize if anything I've said makes less sense than most times. Josh

I just caught a nice river smallie in near-freezing water using a Live Target Baitball square bill. I was fishing it by reeling and pausing, with some twitches thrown in. Josh

In all fairness, it was in the mid-50s out. There was still a sheet of ice in the slackwater in the shade of Hanging Rock and the water was definitely in the low to mid 30s, but it looks to be a mild winter. When I go fishing for bass, I tell my wife I'm going to see my friends. She typically makes fun of that. After I told her this story she was astounded and kept asking me questions about how/what/why. I've been trying to figure the imprinting out. Logically, I think that maybe the rock was the closest cover and the bass needed to recover after the cold water fight. That's why I let it hang out initially. But when it didn't swim off after a recovery period, I started getting curious about it. I wonder if it associated me with something warm, since the water was so cold? That's a thought I had. Then again, Tom Mann had a pet bass that he was fond of, and seemed fond of him. He talks about it in Think Like a Fish. I simply don't know. I'm sure there's a logical explanation that doesn't involve that lil' girl falling in love with me, but I'm not good enough at bass psychology to tell you what it might be. There was plenty of other cover around and plenty of water without current. I found it very interesting. This is one bass I'm going to remember for quite a while. Regards, Josh

Hello, I got a couple hours to fish this evening, so I went to the Wabash River by Hanging Rock. I brought my jerkbait rig (6'6" Daiwa M/F, 31ipt Ambassadeur 4600), my jig rig (6' Cherrywood HD, 26ipt Ambassadeur 5500), and my heavier rig that I use for frogs, but really need to replace with something slightly heavier (7' Daiwa MH/F, 26ipt Ambassadeur 5500). There was snow left from a couple days ago, and there was some skim ice in the shadow of that huge rock that hangs out over the river, so water temps were around 32-34 degrees. The jerkbait rod is a new build. I got the reel for my birthday. Before I used it, though, I used the 7' Daiwa MH/F, which seems slightly slower than the traditional fast action, to through a square bill Live Target Bait Ball. A few casts and the rod bent. The way it was pulling drag, I thought I'd hooked a drum. Nope! A minute or two later, I landed this: She was 15 inches long, and a couple pounds. I really shouldn't have caught her as I was fishing a bit faster than I should have at that water temp. Not huge, but a respectable little brownie. Then it got interesting: I tried to release her. She didn't want to go out into the river, and swam back to me. I tried to nudge her that way again, and she swam back and hid under the rock on which I was standing! I wasn't trying to move her into current or anything; it was slack water I was fishing. So, I kept fishing. A gent came down to the water to watch. He asked if I was doing any good, and I told him that I'd caught a smallie. Just then, it splashed. Bending down, I grabbed it from the water and said, "In fact, here's that smallie I caught!" The guy was somewhat amazed. I told him I was going to take it over to another spot (and indicated the spot) to let it swim out into a pool, and did so. I'll be damned if that bass didn't turn right around and swim back to me! Well, I had fishing to do. After a while longer playing with my jerkbait rod and not catching anything, I decided to move to that pool in which I released the bass. Walking up, I saw the lil' brownie just hanging out, waiting on me! So I started stomping up to the bank. That scared it and it took off quite quickly for the deeper water I'd been trying to get it to swim to the whole time! It was some fun. Nice fish, fun time. I need to sharpen hooks now; rocks are hard on 'em! Regards, Josh

Thank you. I do generally run 30lb braid with an 8lb fluoro leader, 50lb braid with 12lb mono or 17lb fluoro leader, and 65lb braid with a 14lb mono leader (if I run a leader on 65lb; generally I don't as I need the strength of braid when I go 65lb). I guess I'll play with the blood knot on the similar diameters if I can tie it fast. R, Josh