justfishin

Ok, and please don't drive to MD to whoop up on me. I still do not get the braid thing. I have tried it and gave it a honest try. I just do not like the feel of it or anything. I like mono. My 20lb test hauls them out of the thick stuff. I can feel everything on the end of my mono, no problem. Why use something you go to the hassle of adding a leader to? OK, I am going to " Tuck and Roll " now, have at it,lol.

Raul, I remember that oval line. Man, that was some horrible stuff ! I remember the first time I tried to feather it on a baitcaster when pitchin to a specific target, it was ugly, lol. I also remember all the PR about that line, we all wanted it,lol. Hmmm, reminds me of some of the line out nowadays !!!

Muddy, great idea. If I can help in any way in getting the shirts to the men and women overseas, pm me. I will do what I can. I just hope I live long enough to see the president shaking hands with a service man or woman wearing a Mook Tee Shirt,lol.

Very cool. I hope everyone keeps this trivia coming. Its interesting as heck to me.

Congrats. In this day and age, thats a good thing. I wish you many more happy years.

Lol, exactly AlphaWolf. Its not hard to get caught up in the tube color thing. Goodness knows, I used to be as guilty as the next guy. I had tons of colors. It was a guide thing for years. One of us would be on the river and get home and say man, it was the smoke/purple and copper flake, they were nailing them and etc, etc. Years of experiance and river smallies have convinced me that you don't need the color combos. I have been to Erie, Thousand Islands, New River, James River, etc, and if you took only Green Pumpkin Tubes, you would be fine. I always take Dark Melon/Purple Flake because of the dark color in stained water, and Smoke/Purple Flake if I am fishing shaddy water or it is clear. Thats just me. Hey, the absolute best time for big smallies here is when the river is on the rise, muddy as heck, like chocalate milk, and cold, as in the low 40's and high 30's. They don't care about colors in these conditions. A big tube to displace water and a rattle brings them to the bait, not color. I am convinced of that and proved it a million times. I think a Green Pumpkin tube and a Dark Melon or Black tube is really all you need, really. The purple flake thing is a idiosyncracy of mine along with the Red Flake in my Green Pumpkin tubes,lol. But hey, its fun buying way too much stuff, its what we do! For smallies take some Green Pumpkin/Red Flake and some Dark Melon/ Purple Flake and Smoke/Purple Flake 3.5 and 4" big salty tubes fishing for smallies paired with some 1/8 and 1/4 jigheads and you tell me. If they are not hitting any of these, go home and watch The Flintstones or make some more kids,lol. I am still going to give RW's " Kents Classic a whirl.

Nothing more wonderful than family pride. You have a beautiful family and cool dog, Kilo?

I certainly will. It looks good. I also eyed up that Purple Oy !!! Thanks.

I don't think line vis at night makes a difference. You can get away with heavier line at night. I still use a lot of #8 for fishing for smallies at night in the open water or off of points and in the gravel flats where they feed at night but, when around a lot of wood or boat docks I use #12 at night on a baitcaster. During the day in the clear impoundments of Western MD I certainly think it makes a difference. I go as light as the cover will allow me in the gin clear water here. I always use green line all year. Its just my choice. I don't care for Flouro or Braid and only use Co Poly Mono with the exception of Yozuri Hybrid Soft in #6. JMO

Thanks everyone whom replied. I am glad to see other bow hunters in here. Glad to see your son is interested in the outdoors Fishingbuds, I am sure it makes you proud and makes hunting that much sweeter for you. Its cool some of you stay old school and use your fingers. My buddy uses his fingers and shoots well. I use a release because it keeps things more consistant, for me. Good luck to all of you this season and enjoy your tenderloin!!!

Green Pumpkin, Red Shad or Blue Fleck are pretty much all I use. Sometimes Watermelon.

Wecome, and nice fish !!! Good to see another smallie lover here. I never tried swimbaits for smallies but, I mostly river fish in fast moving water. I would be interested to see someone try it in a lake. FishCris caught a good one on a big swimbait recently so.... Don't look at his California smallie pics, you will want to move there and he sure has them unlocked. Check out his pics. Also, RW is our Southern smallie guy. He catches some great fish as well. There are a lot of knowlegeable smallie guys in here from all over. I love to read all of the different points of view and techniques from guys from different regions. This is a great place to learn, and all of us are always learning.

Fendercaster, like wise, the avatar is great! I grew up on the Garrett Co. border. Yes, they have really come back up there. My Aunt lives between Lonaconing and Deep Creek and sees them a good bit. I live close to the border of Allegheny Co. in Washington Co. I usually only see them in the spring. I have a regular that comes through around late April and May with cubs and hangs around for a few weeks. Whether its the same one or not, I do not know. This is about the 5th time I have seen a bear here. I have seen coyotes here as well. I think the correct name for them here is Eastern Red Wolves. I have seen them here at the house a few times and along the river a few times. I think PA. stocked some years back for deer control or something. Pretty cool stuff. They have a bear lottery for hunting here in MD. I have no interest to shoot one. If I don't eat it, I am not going to kill it. The past few years in Garrett, there have also been some sightings of Cougars. The DNR has documented some sightings as well. I have only seen some Bobcats this far down. Once while driving home late one night and once while hunting in Garrett Co.

You are so right LBH. That would have made a great pic. Trust me, I really thought it was one of the local dogs whom come to visit me, but, I was still unsure and spooked. I was tired and it was late. A bear was the last thing on my mind. I would guess now it would have went about 120-130lbs. Would he or she still be with Mama at that size? Dude, I never got over that Twilight Zone episode when I was a kid when " Ole Cap'n Kirk ",lol, was looking out that plane window and that freagin Gremlin was looking back at him,lol. That haunted me for years when I was a kid. Its what I thought of when I turned on the light and something was looking in at me!!!

Skillet, LOL. I know what you mean. I bought this house ten years ago and my imagination has heard a lot of stuff here at night. Its the same here. When it gets dark, its DARK !!!

Its 2:30am and I am up at the pc. We went night fishing at dark and came home at midnight. It was slllloooooowwww. Only eight smallies between two of us, and I only caught two of them,lol. So I am sitting here sipping on some hot tea, the screen door is locked but, the main door to my deck is open. I live in the mountains by myself, and I hear a sound like a deer snorting at my door. It sent chills up my spine, as it was loud. I grab the double barrel and the handgun and peep around the corner, look down the hall and look. Nothing, but, the noise keeps going on. It sounded more like a big dog sniffing and snuffing at the bottom of my door by this time. I was spooked. I layed the shotgun down, cocked the hammer on the handgun and headed to the door as I hollered, GET OUT OF HERE !!! It still keeps doing it. As I entered my kitchen and turn on the light I see a face looking in the screen at me. It was a small young black bear !!! He was standing up just looking in at me. I kept heading toward the door hollering at him and when I got close he walked away. I looked out the door and he was going down the steps and looking back at me. Scared the living crap out of me. I am getting to be a wussy in my old age,lol. That little bear has no idea how close he came to being a rug !!! I am shutting my door from now on,lol.

Hmmm, we are all so different. For me, spooks, and river smallies its a Shimano Curado 200, #12 test line, paired with a 7' MH 10-20 line rating rod of your choice in fast action. The 7' rod helps keep the line off of the water--- which you want for the river currents, lakes are a different ball game---, for me and helps with the hooksets on long cast. I throw a lot of spooks and Spittin Images for smallies. Use what is comfortable for you. There are a lot of good suggestions here. This is just what works for me.

Ebay-----Stradic ( older ones with the rosewood handles). Best spinning reel made for the money. IMO. Yes, I am running now,lol.

Big Game dude, and for flippin the knarly stuff like wood , Trilene XT hands down.

Yes, I forgot about Pearl although, I don't use it in tubes. When they are on that " White Bite ", I call it, I use a 5" Pearl grub paired with a hot pink leadhead, or a Pearl Super Fluke. When you just cannot get anything going a Pearl grub and hot pink leadhead seems to always get a few. Good luck as well. One other thing, I always use a rattle in all my tubes, even in clear water. I make my own out of Mickey Dee's straws and #9 birdshot. Cut a Mc straw in about 3/4" lengths, use tweezers to squeeze one end shut, leave a little overhang and melt it over a candle flame quickly, hold and go over the melted part with another pair of tweezers drop in 2-3 shot, squeeze the other end, and repeat. Whala, McRattles!

God I hate a thief with a passion. I remember years ago my fishing partner and I were fishing a Tourney on Lake Kerr in Va. He dumped me in the water and the boat just went zinnnnnng and would not go anywhere. We pulled it out and the SS prop was missing. It turned out that some other guys props were gone as well. Prop lock was the answer. Dude, that sucks.

A circus owner runs an ad for a lion tamer and two people show up. One is a good looking, older retired F-100 pilot in his sixties and the other is a gorgeous blonde in her mid-twenties. The circus owner tells them, "I'm not going to sugar coat it. This is one ferocious lion. He ate my last tamer so you guys better be good or you're history. Here's your equipment -- chair, whip and a gun. Who wants to try out first?" The girl says, "I'll go first." She walks past the chair, the whip and the gun and steps right into the lion's cage. The lion starts to snarl and pant and begins to >charge her. About half way there, she throws open her coat revealing her beautiful naked body. The lion stops dead in his tracks, sheepishly crawls up to her and starts licking her feet and ankles. He continues to lick and kiss her entire body for several minutes and then rests his head at her feet. The circus owner's jaw is on the floor. He says, "I've never seen a display like that in my life." He then turns to the retired pilot and asks, "Can you top that?" The tough old pilot replies, "No problem, just get that da** lion out of the way."

Thats really cool. I guess you could do that with a LCD as well but, you would have to use Flounder !!!! Sorry, I just got back from a Rib Shack and drank two pitchers of beer. ;D

Ah, to be young and have those options again. I would give my left ___ to have choices like that. You are a lucky guy.

FiveBass, I am glad you said it. I have some friends whom fish sticks only most of the time, and do well I might add, but, not always. I am very old school and versatile. I tend to use the flavor of the day for different places. River smallies, tubes, green bass, jigs are my first choice, then T- Rigged worms, Spinnerbaits and topwaters. I have never been stuck in the trap. Do sticks outfish everything else, yes, at times but, there are certainly other lures that catch quality fish more often like a jig. On a stick you might have five to my one but, a jig fish is usually a good fish. I fish for quality when I am fishing. When I guided all those years and fished the Federation Trail, it was different. Let your years of time on the water and experiance let you chose. JMO