silvercliff_46

I prefer fishing with folks who at least act like they saw a fish, before the one they just caught. When Sterling Sharpe played for the Packers and scored a touchdown, he didn't spin around, fall on the ground, nor dance like a fool. He was happy, but just handed the football to the Ref. The man knew his job, did his job, did it well, and knew he did it well. We got a local TV guy in Wisconsin named John Gillespie (not sure of the spelling) a real screamer. He is probably a nice guy, but I couldn't handle that stuff. maybe it's just me?

Yeah! forgot about snappers! They like to hang around old bank den holes. They will bite right through your boots and won't let go. Nasty buggers, but they make great soup (really, no kidding!).

I had to release a couple of otters caught in foot hold traps that weren't happy about the situation. They may look cute, but they have NO sense of humor. Out fishing I have been in the middle of the creek once or twice, when a sow has been on one side and the cubs on the other. I sat down and shut up until they moved along. I changed my shorts and kept fishing. Not much for snakes around these parts in summer (grass, garter, pine) and nothing poisonous. Ya gotta watch out in winter though. We got snow snakes that bury themselves in the snow. If ya go to take a dump they will crawl up your behind and freeze you to death..., Honest I wouldn't lie to you. :

I am guessing your new "Romance Novel" won't be coming out this year. Ronnie No wonder women change men like they change their socks now days. Ya might want to remember the old song title "I wonder Who's Kissing Her Now"

I'm getting mine a new Ultra light spin combo from Bass Pro with the pink reel and pink baseball cap. Last year I bought her a medium/heavy action spinning rod for bass. The year before that it was a medium spinning rod combo for bass fishing. The year before that a big tackle bag. She loved everyone of them, even though her girl friends thinks shes nuts. Occasionally I use her stuff, but I better ask first or else. I think I'll pass on the pink rig though. She' a good old gal. We'll be married 43 years this June and we started going together in high school 7 years before that. She had a stroke 6 years ago, three days after I buried my Mom. I stayed by her side everyday she was in the hospital, even slept in a chair next to her. She is fully recovered now, like she never had it. In the 43 years we have been married, and as far as arguing goes, we do it EVERYDAY about something. The minute I find a red hot 20 something rich model, with her own land, a four wheel drive, one of those big Z-model Ranger boats, and a large cache of magnum Vi--ra., I'm gettin' a divorce. ;D I can't believe the word Vi--ra was bounced. I have seen them advertised on a pros bass boat :

Thanks Paul nice to be here. I don't do much trapping anymore. I have arthritis and trapping is hard on all of your body. Standing waist deep in ice water, working with metal traps in well below freezing weather, sometimes sticking your hands back in the 33 degree water just to WARM them up . I have regrets too, not the arthritis, nor ever making much money, just the days that I DIDN'T spend outdoors. Just me, the critters, and maybe my dog. And for that all I can say is "Thank you LORD for BLESSING me so." Speaking of posting land. If it's good enough to hunt, fish, or trap, it's good enough to ask.

Me too! You would think the powers that be would know we are mostly guys (not all) and we do it first, then read the instructions when it doesn't work.

I like the fly rod too, but for small creeks and at certain times live bait can be the answer too. Besides worms and crawlers, you can try hoppers, crickets, minnows, leaches, wax worms, canned corn kernels, cheese, bread dough. HMmmm! canned corn, cheese, bread, trout. Sounds like shore lunch. 8-)

and that's not the only thing that isn't working on Ronnie ;D Me Too! (on both counts) but only one, can be helped here :-[

I'm sure they do Muddy. If you got a river or stream that isn't choked with beaver dams, thank a trapper (ask T.U.). As far as the dam being safe. No one can ever say anything to 100%, but I never found a weak dam. I had to rip a few apart. The only ones that I was able to take apart by hand were very old, or very small and just started. I have had to resort to back-hoes and even dynamite. I was authorized by the DNR, and paid by private land owners and sometimes hired by Trout Unlimited. Just so you guys know it wasn't done just for grins.

It was -20 (that's temp NOT wind chill) at sun-up, now, about noon it's already a toasty 2 above. I put another log on the fire and turned on the TV only to see that some of our southern brothers were getting snow and freezing rain (snicker). I must say it was quite entertaining watching you southern folks driving. Y'all look like figure skaters out there(snicker, snicker). A bit of advise from one who drives on this stuff almost 6 months a year..., ease off the gas, and don't slam on the brakes. Oh yeah..., thanks for the show ;D ;D ;D

Being an old beaver trapper myself I got to say ...,Yeah what Mr. Roberts says, Eh! Ya! fer shure! Well at least in da upnort by here

Ice fishing breaks it up for me. It is probably the only outdoor activity I don't take seriously, and don't really work at. I try to not even think of soft water until the middle or end of March, even then I have a good month to get out on open water, sometimes more. There is nothing like that first windless, sunny day after ice out. I love unfurling those casts with the fly rod. You see the line and leader gently rest on the water. The line twitches, and a big gill sucks in a size 18 midge. He tears the water in tight circles as you bring him to the canoe. When you reach down to pick him up, he feels cold as ice and looks almost grateful to be warmed by your hand. I greet him and tell him how much I missed him, then let him swim back to his lady. About then the sun warms my spine from my butt to my neck.., and everything is good again. Winter is tough, twenty below temperatures, wind chills to minus fifty, snow, snow and more snow...., but on those warm days after ice-out, I figure the Lord gives me pay back. Heck if you had a birthday every day it wouldn't be fun any more.

I'm probably as fat as he is and I make sure I bend over and get my own fish. I can't afford those fancy jeans so mine split. It's nice and cool on a hot day and if anyone is crowding me they clear out after the show.

I don't think the smell of gas helps you none, but I'm not real sure if any of it works either. Some of us stink more then others, so a cover scent might be in order. Personally I think burbon applied to your inner self, then letting it ooze out your pores helps, well at least you won't care if you stink or not. Heck! you won't even care if your catchin' or not!

I agree, when they discuss the shape of the crotch of his jeans, it's a bit much. I don't watch Hank Parker either since it became his home movie show. I really enjoy "A Day On The Lake" You can learn something from it. Lindner's show is good, but not as good as when he first hit the air waves with the diagrams, little lake X, and stuff. It was like going to class. I wish there was more stuff like that.

;D ;D Nights are COLD! Man I though today was nice. It was all the way up to 15 above. I guess there might have been a wind chill, but I didn't notice. After all it was 35 degrees warmer then the temps a couple of days ago, and 65 degrees warmer then the wind chill was then. Ya might say it's down right balmy around here now. Tomorrow it's going up to 18 so I'm driving out to my favorite spot on the lake, punchin' a hole and going fishing. I hope I don't forget the sun block.

HMmmmmmmmmm! I guess I'm just going to have my wife iron my loincloth. : ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Thanks Muddy. I guess I fancy myself a Conservationist not a Preservationist.

I think a persons attitude toward harvest has a lot to do in where they live and how they were brought up. I lived in the country most of my life. I hunt, trap, fished and gathered. The wife and I keep a few meals of fish during the summer, a few for the winter, and a couple for folks that can't do it for themselves anymore(believe it or not there are folks older then me). Some are trout, some are bass, most are pan fish. I shoot a deer every year, which provides most of our meat over winter. We gather ramps, mushrooms, chicory, berries, and wood for our winter fire's. I don't trap much anymore but when I did that went for a few extra bucks for Christmas. Now I trap a couple of coon and beaver a year because they both taste great (NO SMART REMARKS ABOUT THE BEAVER EITHER). I loved to duck hunt, but quit because I hated eating them, and the guy I gave them to died. If I lost my taste for venison I wouldn't kill a deer anymore either. I like fishing most because I have a choice whether to harvest or put them back. I'm not the best hunter or fisherman, but I can do it every day. If I wanted to I could fill my freezer with fish and game, but I don't and won't. I guess if what I do is immoral or not sporting, then they should end all the bag limits on everything. I mean we could go after deer with paint balls couldn't we?

Well, that does make me feel better. I have made both my longest casts and shortest casts when I forgot to flip the bail on my spinning reel. :-[ Usually the wife say "Wow! You really cast that one out there." :-/ "Yup but I ain't gonna bet it back" I retort. >

Thanks Fatman! I'm going to down-load that info. Making flies and spinners gives me something to do other then chisel the icicles off my nose. I fish the hard-water but the older I get the closer to the fire I like to be. :-/

I guess I will be bringing this one back from the dead, but it falls into an area I have questions about. It's -20f with wind chills of -50f out so, I have been reading the catalogs and figuring out what I want to buy for soft-water fishing. I'm going to buy a new bait-caster, and am trying to figure out whether to buy one with a flippin switch, or not. I have a regular flippin stick and use and old Ambassador 5500 C on it. The new one would be used mostly be for casting on a medium/heavy 7 foot rod. The flippin switch seems like it would be a handy feature to have. I fish for fun, not for cash or glory, so production is not a factor. I am an old coot, so I do have a touch of "Old Timers disease" and get "Brain Farts" on occasion. The question is will I rip the guts outs if I forget to take it out of the flippin switch, and try to cast it? FYI I'm looking at the "Code" by Quantum.

I don't know about this for sure as I have never tried it. How about busting up old batteries and salvaging the lead plates. If I'm wrong I bet my butt someone will correct me in a nanosecond. nanosecond defined= The time it takes for the guy behind you to blow his horn when the light turns green.

I make my own straight-line spinners for trout fishing. I purchased both a Panther Martin style kit and a Mepps style kit. I dress the treble in many different ways from squirrel tail to plain treble. After shaping the wire loop (line connection) I add the clevis, with blade. Working top down I add a small bead (metal), large bead (metal), spinner body weight (metal) then the dressed treble is attached and fastened. In other words it looks like any store bought spinner. My problem is that the spinners work well as long as I am using a medium to fast speed, but at slow speed the blade doesn't want to spin. My wire shaft is straight, and everything seems right. So now what?????