justfishin

If you are going to be fishing around some wood and such, just T-Rig it on a 4/0 EWG hook and use a 1/8 or 3/16 bullet sinker, pegged with a toothpick.

The handy dandy fish calculater here in Bass Resource with the lenth of 22" and girth of 25" gives a EW of 11.86lbs. It sure does not look like it in the pic. Like RW said, " The bottom line.........

Fight crime, SHOOT BACK !!!

Its like anything else in this time of the world. Its all about money, bottom line. ESPN would not have jumped on board if it wasn't. Its just the way it is nowadays. ITS ALL ABOUT MONEY. I feel there are pros and cons though. It has raised the bar on the equipment as far as choices. Equipment like rods and reels have never been better. I like that. I like the idea of the everyday guy being able to purchase a decent grade rod and reel for around 300.00. On the other hand the tackle corps. have also put out a lot of unneccesary bells and whistles to draw us in to the trap. In other words, there is a lot of junk on the market today as well. I try to keep it basic. Buy quality stuff in your price range. You just have to use your common sense and do some research before your purchases.

Yo-Zuri's core. ...lol Flechero, Flechero, Flechero, you are in BIG TROUBLE MISTER, BIG TROUBLE,LOL. ;D

I have never fished St. Clair so I cannot help you but, I would not call the 60's a cold front situation, especially this time of year. Its been so hot all over the country that some recent low temps won't affect anything, at least for awhile, I would not think. JMO

You got that right RW, it is for me. When the river is on the fall you can catch them, but from my experiance you are better off staying home. I am a terrible fisherman on the falling water table and bluebird skys. Both of these scenarios are the kiss of death for me, thats for sure.

Let me make something clear before I get myself in trouble here. All rivers are different. The Susquehanna in Pa, the Upper Potomac in Md, Pickwick, Wilson, Allegheny, etc, all have their idiosyncrysys and all fish different. Forage, dams water releases, wide, narrow, deep, shallow and everything in between help create tactics toward your approach on smallie fishing on them. The tactic I have given are mainly for the Susquehanna and Upper Potomac. I think it will work on some othere rivers, as well, on certain occasions but, by no means what my opinion is on river smallies in my local rivers the only way to approach your fishing, and I did not mean it that way. It just worked for me during all those years guiding, thats all. There are way too many variables to change things on any given day. Each day is a new one when fishing for smallies and sometimes they don't go by the rules. Have a great fall and winter season and stay safe---Jim

Yes, but not in the scenario I am talking about. Very, very fast water and very cold and very muddy color is what I am talking about. Jerkbaits are a good winter bait but, I feel its not a good choice in fast moving river water in those low temp ranges while fishing the type of eddie fishing I had described. The flooded areas are usually pretty trashy as well, and a treble hook is not a option. Seems here in MD, around the Christmas holiday to ice up is the best time. Be prepared with dry cloths, cell in a waterproof container, cushion and throw rope, anchor in case you lose power ( you don't want to be at the mercy of the water in these conditions ), alway tell someone of the area you are fishing, flares and any other common sense items. Always wear your life jacket at all times and keep your kill switch hooked up while running.

I have been talking back and forth with a member in here, Cory, and he seems like a great guy wanting to learn some area's here in MD. Anyhow, he had asked about cold water smallies and I gave him a very brief idea of how I do it, or some of us anyhow. I try not to post too much anymore but, hey, winters coming so I am just trying to help. You can add this technique for winter fishing on the low, fast river type area's or leave it. I will say its been a technique that has caught me thousands of smallies over the years so......... Cory, Thanks, I am hanging in there somehow. As far as cold water smallies its a real simple formula. I sure don't take credit for perfecting this technique I use. I was forturnate to become friends with a guy whom guided for a long time, as I did, and we became friends. He fished with Lefty Kreh, and they sort of put it together. My friend Butch is gone now but, I have caught some big smallies over the years fishing like this. When the winter is cold and the water is stable at say 38-45 we get below the eddies and throw tubes and hair jigs up into them. I only use a couple of color tubes. By far my two favorite are the 3 1/2" BPS Salty Tubes in Green Pumpkin/Red Flake and Dark Melon/ Purple Flake, usually with a 1/8 or 1/4 jighead and rattle inserted. I make my own jigs and rattles. I tie my hair jigs mostly on a 1/4 in black or green made with deer hair and a Uncle Josh 101 Pork Frog. We start at the tail of the eddy and work our way up via trolling motor ( I use a 36volt system ). Slooooooooww is key here. If you think you are fishing too slow, slow down even more. Also, this is not a scenario for heavy line. I think the best is #8 test. A good strong hookset is also imperitive as their mouth gets very hard in the cold water. Multiple cast to target small areas are also, key. I never move a jig more than a few inches at a time in winter at water temps as cold as I had described. Sometimes just a deadstick technique with a little shake works. I pull them in with a mouth full of sticks and leaves a lot of times because they will just suck your bait in and sit on it in one spot. Rarely will you feel the bite. Its mostly a mushy or weightless feeling. The optimum scenario is heavy melting of snow or flooding and fishing the eddies along the bank. Muddy water is perfect. Anything breaking the current and creating a eddy running around 4-8 feet is perfect. Maybe a log jam, small island, boulders, small points, on the outside river bends are optimum. The smaller eddies might only be 2 - 4 feet in dia but, they always seem to hold one or two fish. A big eddy say in the 4' wide x 20' long are good as well but, the smaller ones are the best. I will run up river looking for these eddies created by high water and get below them where the water speeds up again and throw or flip straight up into them, sometimes the side of my boat is on the bank. I will hop from one to the next all day. A critical factor is stable water. On the rise is perfect, falling: stay home, water temps rising 2-4 degrees in winter is perfect. A cold front and water temp drop of even 2 degrees: stay home. Of course these are just baselines and sometimes the bass can surprise you but, day in and day out this has been a numbers and big smallie way to fish for me. Good luck.

Yes, you are probably right Robert. A Moran might not fit the bill for everyday. Sorry about that but, I have a Kershaw that has been a excellent knife for a lot of years and since you brought in this post you have me looking at knives again. I am interested in the SOG Bi-Polar for a utility knife for outdoors use. Good luck. http://sogknives.com/store/BP-1.html

I was lucky enough to have a old friend about 10 years ago whom sold me two older Bill Moran knives for 225.00 each. These knives are legendary. I have the Elkhorn handled ones. I have seen them on ebay from time to time Robert but, be careful of claims of authenticity. A true Moran ( Sr. ) is a collecters item. His son is still making them. If you can find one they are a truly fine knife. http://www.knifeart.com/inwitbilmorb.html http://www.arizonacustomknives.com/artists/?artist=305

I am not sure how many of you go into the International Forum but, there is some good stuff in there. I saw the pics of the Australian Bass, as well as, looked them up. Pretty neat. http://www.another site/article13.htm

Amen to that RW.

Thanks. When I read Australian Bass, I just took it as transplanted North American Bass. Very cool stuff. They are very unique looking and look well feed and healthy, thanks.

Great pics ! That is the strangest looking bass I have ever seen in your right hand in the pic. What strain are they?, and where does your DOF get those fish? Just curious.

For some reason I could not download the vid this morning. I will attempt it again later. Anyway, sounds like RR and his wife were good host and you guys had fun.

Glad you are OK.

Contact your local state rep via online letter for your district. I did and every year got 500 dollars from them toward my education. It was not much but, it covered a lot of books, well, about two or three anyway,lol. Your school will also go to bat for you so see a counsler.

Thats good news Mr. Welcome. I am glad you are home and things went well. Now listen to the doc's and relax for awhile.

Great advice fishtank and RW. From what you are telling me, you really need to get a handle on this possible asthma condition. Yes, it can kill you. I hate to put it that way. I am afraid OTC's are a fix for your present symptoms, not your problem. Get to your MD soon. Let him give you a Spirometry test, Scratch Test, etc. You are going to need to do this in order to get a refer anyway in order for you to see a specialist. You are telling me its asthma but, it can be a number of other things as well. Let the MD put the puzzle together as your symptoms can be a preclude to other problems, as well. Let him make that diagnosis. I won't be posting in here very much anymore but, I still like to read so I will always be here. Feel free to PM me with questions or concerns and I will try to get a answer for you or at least point you in the right direction. Get a appointment ASAP.

Excellent.

Fishingbuds, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?holding=jhumlib&otool=jhumlib&term=allergies%20and%20herbal%20medicine&db=PubMed To be specific, pay close attention to #10 and #11. We used this site for my Pharm. classes in college and still use them at work. I recently attended a 2 day seminar in Fairfax Va. concerning Herbal Meds because of the recent climb in patient interest for home cures. My boss, Dr. Andrade, sent me because of the American Medical Journals results concerning the study of the only two long term placebo based clinical studies of two herbs, Valerian Root and St. Johns Wort. Amazingly they both came out at about 86%. Thats good news but, herbs are not regulated as to formula's given out every year. Thats the problem with OTC herbs, along with purity issues. Also, there have been problems with contraindications of herbal meds and Rx meds, especially, blood thinners. Tinctures are more specific but, even they are way beyond the 20% ref baseline. Another problem is with patients with allergies. Testing on OTC herbal meds has lent to the discovery of high pollen contents in some of them. Work with your GP and listen to him. You expressed concern over the COPD and Scratch test. Do them. Lung capacity and your specific problem will give a lot of specifics, to your problem, not just for diagnosis but, as to treatment barriers. Also, don't be afraid of second opinions, I am all about them. Something you might want to research is Immuno Suppression, T and B cell info as well as, environmental causes of allergies. As far as vitamins, your body will only take what it needs. Massive intakes of high potency vit,s will not give you a edge. Vitamin intake is not a bad thing because in this day and age, most of us do not eat well. You might laugh but, I just take a Flintstones vitamin every morning and a tablespoon of honey. Your body will pass what it does not need through urination at the time. A good diet of 3 squares of a balanced meal a day or 4-5 smaller ones if you are pre diabetic or diabetic is a better option. The John Hopkins and Medline sites I gave you are what we use at work. Just trying to help.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6773/allergies_and_asthma.html http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=53108 http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/herbalmedicine.html