Josh Smith

I am finding the stuff that I grew up with is working well again because others have abandoned it. I guess my technique is to fish natural-style presentations, but do something to the bait or presentation to make it stand out. A lot of my spinners are Dad's from the '70s and '80s. I caught my first bass of the year on a small vintage inline spinner with a trailer. Josh

I was kinda' proud of myself. I recently read Tom Mann's Think Like a Fish. In it, he described how he got bass to jump into his boat. This last fishing trip I went on, I was fishing some heavy tree cover from the bank. A largish bass blew up my Jelly Worm and began to dive under a fallen limb. I didn't have time to play it out, so I got it to turn and using that technique, got it to jump onto shore. It was really pretty cool. It's not a method to be relied upon and Mann never used it for more than a stunt on his show from what I gather, but in the case of this last bass, it worked. Regards, Josh

I want an update from the OP! Josh

Thank you for the link. That stuff looks interesting and I would like to try it. Regards, Josh

Hello, I use an Albright or, more recently, a Seagur. I must confess I don't know a couple of these other knots listed and will be looking them up. The Seagur is very small and strong. Josh

I like it when using bushings, but I agree with you with regards to the ball bearings. I wanted to try it, though. There is some gun stuff called Militec-1. It's light, and it's made to fuse with the metal. The military doesn't like it because it operates dry and gives no corrosion protection, but it doesn't attract that talcum-powder sand either, and is therefore popular with at least some troops. I've been thinking about trying it on the bearings. As long as friction is reduced, running dry should be good, I think, for operation. Do you have any thoughts on the matter? Thanks, Josh

Enough votes for Zoom; I like them as well. I found something that's working better, though: Mann's Jelly Worms. Give me a couple of those Jelly Worms and a tungsten bullet weight for a Texas rig, and I'll give you some bass. Josh

Well, I'll not give you flak. I'll just tell you this: When I was in high school, the gym class was playing with weights. The leg press was set up and contests were held. I won, though it really was close. Thing is, I felt something "give" in my right knee. The next day it was swelled as big as my thigh. I got some steroids for it and it healed but was never the same. A couple years later in martial arts, I got to be the dummy on which a knew guy was practicing joint locks. I did volunteer, but my teacher had been sort of hoping I would because I was incredibly flexible. Well, nothing hurt, during the leg lock, but the student torqued my leg a bit more and I felt a "snap snap snap" down my leg, including that same knee. Well, now I'm 36 and fat. I can run, but it's hard on that knee. When I do run, I prefer it to be in the woods, carrying a rifle. The rifle helps balance and the ground is soft. I can jump over downed trees and across the creek and not hurt too bad. Running on roads is just too hard. It hurts that knee. I'm sure I'm facing a rebuild some day. I'm 36. Like I said, be careful. I'm not giving you flak, as I also said. I'm just sayin' be careful, man. Josh

Hi Guys, I live in Indiana. I was engaged to another woman prior to the woman I would eventually marry. She rescued a "dog" from the city park. I knew right off it was a wolf cub, and told her so. Sure enough, training him was a chore. He was a very, very loving, loyal pet, though, and scary smart. I started him on come, sit and stay when he was only a few weeks old. The ex-fiance and I went our separate ways. She took the wolf, though I knew it was a bad idea. Nothing ever happened, but I did just learn that she put it down to please her new husband. The wolf did not like the new husband. It was idiotic, putting him down like that. There's a wolf breeder less than an hour from here who would have taken him. Wolves and coyotes do not coexist as they compete for food, and that print was one among coyotes. The way the tracks read was that the canine with the large paw came through after the coyote pack had last drank at the creek early the night before. It was the only time I saw that track, too, so I can only imagine it was a transient canine of some sort on the move. To this day I simply do not know. It's interesting but not particularly scary. Josh

Hey, found this picture I took a few years back: That's too big for a coyote and there are not supposed to be any wolves in Indiana. Josh

Hey, I'm not judging. Just thought I found a deal and it turns out I didn't. I'll pick up a Shimano when I can. I'm curious about them. Regards, Josh

Sir, I converted my collar-style pinion gear to accept the brake plate! It works really well. Regards, Josh

This depends solely on you. With an IC or modified choke, the gun should be capable of making the holes touch. Since you're the back sight on a shotgun with a bead front, that part is up to you. You can buy, for cheap, no-drill shotgun 'scope mounts for most pumps and semi-autos. This way, you can mount a holosight, dot sight, or low powered 'scope (2.5x is excellent!) on a bird gun for use during deer season. The only way to know you can make a shot, though, is to take it -- in practice, of course. Regards, Josh

Hello, I grew up shooting slugs. My favorite slug gun was a 'scoped H&R Tracker 20 gauge with a smooth bore and rifle sights. With Brenneke slugs, it would cloverleaf at 100 yards. The Mossberg 500 was OK, but it really was too big for me at the time. It too was a smoothbore. Slugs have limited penetration on solid objects, as Clayton found. A Brenneke will not expand/deform nearly as much as a softer Foster, and it's more likely to blow through soft tissue. A soft Foster expands like you wouldn't believe. I've never gotten either to pass through even midsize trees. I've been thinking about another Tracker, but can't find one and have come to really like my muzzleloader (traditional-style sidelock) and will take a sidelock .32 or .36 first, for squirrel. Regards, Josh

That was a really good idea. Using the flash and some Photoshop filters, I got the old decals to show back up, in the pics at least! Here they are: Thanks, folks! Josh

Will do.

I have been reviewing ratings and reviews, and they seem to be on target with this. It caught my eye because someone seem to be selling it cheap, not knowing what they have or something. Guess maybe they know what they have. Josh

Hello, I've been looking at one of these for cheap. What can you tell me about them? Regards, Josh

Hi Folks, I got one of these used off eBay for cheap. I was curious about it. It was advertised as an LEX200, but so far as I can tell, Quantum has no such animal. EX200 is the closest, and upon looking up that reel, I got other reels that looked exactly like it does. Mine just has no markings left. Looking inside, all this reel needed was a good cleaning out of sand and some tuning and polishing. It appears to be pretty good. There is plastic in a couple places I'd like to have metal, but there's really nothing that stands out as terrible in design. What can you tell me about this reel? I'm mostly Abu Garcia in taste and experience, and got this one out of curiosity. I'd been meaning to post this before, and I was just reminded by another thread. Thanks folks, Josh

Hi Folks, A bit of background: When I was 20 I was in college on a law enforcement major. I got to be good friends with the local gunshop owner. He happened have a Class III license and an early AR. It could have been an XM; I don't recall. It had a piece for working the action under the handle and no brass deflector. I'm a lefty. I shot that thing on rock'n'roll, and it was fun until a piece of brass flew back and hit my cheek right below the shooting glasses. It exited with velocity and I had a black eye for a bit. I flinch whenever I get on an AR. I have ever since. Every other rifle I just sort of relax all over, but the AR, nope! I know the brass deflectors will keep another shiner form happening, but knowledge doesn't help in this instance. Regards, Josh

The point was that it apparently kicks up false positives due to Norton's frisky heuristic detection. You might see what AVG says about it. Josh

Hello, A .30-06 pushes a 150 grain bullet 2700 to 2900fps, maybe a bit faster depending on the load. (Garand loads are, of course, different.) The heavier the bullet, though, the more chance of a pass-through. What happens is this: Upon bullet impact, the bullet begins to deform as its design dictates. This creates larger temporary and permanent wound cavities than would be made by ball. As it continues through the deer, the bullet may lose some fragments. Again, this depends on its design. A bullet's main body will stay intact. If the jacket sheds, the main body will be a large piece of lead. The fragments and jacket pieces become secondary projectiles. Chances are bone will be hit, and the bone becomes secondary projectiles, as well, with their own wound tracks. The bullet exits. Depending on whether it's bonded and how well, it may have significant loss of mass, or it may be a mushroom shape with over 99% retained weight. Anything in the .30-06 class (.308, 7.62x54r, 8mm Mauser, .30-06) will go through most large tree trunks and into the next tree. I have trees downed by 7.62x54r and 7.62x39. You cannot count on a tree to stop the bullet. Two large trees, maybe. Remember, if you're aiming at something 50 yards distant with a .30-06, you're working with a near-flat trajectory. Acceleration due to gravity is about 32 feet per second per second, or 32fp/s^2. If you're firing from five feet up (shoulder height, standing) it will take about 0.156 seconds for the bullet to reach the ground. In that time, given 3000fps to be safe, the bullet will travel 468 feet (about 150 yards) before it hits the ground. Will the bullet skip off the ground? Who knows? It probably will, but how far will it go? There are lots of variables here. What it does in the deer really doesn't matter so long as the deer is dead. If you have 200 yards behind the deer and are shooting standing or kneeling, you should be OK. If you aim up, the bullet can travel up to five miles. Regards, Josh

Well, what rods do you have over there? What's your price range? I have always thought that Lightning Rods are pretty OK. They're not high-end by any means, but they're not cheap, either. Josh

Hi Folks, I have been playing with aggression strikes due to large bass being territorial. I've not gotten to do it so much as I'd have liked thus far because I'm still repairing the boat and am stuck on the bank. The lures at this point are large Money Minnows that are colored more like small bass. I've gotten some pretty heavy hits but nothing has taken the hook yet. The presentation is of a smaller bass cruising into territory of a larger bass. Does anyone have thoughts on this? Regards, Josh

I've become convinced through the years that I would want one hand free. This means the 1911 .45acp for me. Yes, I'm giving up wounding potential for maneuverability. It's an acceptable trade-off so far as I'm concerned. Outside, I still grab a bolt action. I'm really wanting an M1 Carbine in excellent mechanical shape (don't care what it looks like) to bridge my gap between rifles and handguns. I'm not a fan of the AR platform. The M1 Carbine fires a 110 grain bullet at around 2000fps. With hollow point ammo, this is pretty potent and certainly better than some so-called intermediate rounds like the 5.7x28. Regards, Josh