Tackleholic

I did not find an earlier topic on this. I use a landing net for both Bass and Brown Trout. Sometimes the fish will flop around in the net and damage themselves with 3 sets of trebles. When I finally get hooks out and release the fish I am still left with hooks entangled in the net; usually time consuming to get them out. Megabass 110's are the worst. I'm asking for recommendations on the type of net which could best alleviate these situations.

I had that exact same setup; recently gave the reel away, still have the rod. Memories from the 50's and 60's.

That's how it was for me in Illinois, but I adapted quickly to the Ozarks.

Alberto and Palomar. Only problem with a Palomar is the length of the tag end when using braid to leader; requires changing leaders more often.

Zillion SV TW 1000 L

Each time I believe I've made every stupid mistake possible, another new one happens; there's no end to it. Maybe I have too much stored memory and need to do a scan to delete old files, start fresh.

Works that way in Arkansas.

Flood light.

If you were to observe the size of some of the crawfish, and their claws here in the White River Chain (Beaver, Table Rock, and Bull Shoals), you may think some of your Maine Lobsters were transplanted.

You should take up fishing; you have too much time and money on your hands. Ha!

I have a few of them; they are in an unmarked plastic bag. Don't remember how many decades since I used them.

Just happened this morning....throwing a spinnerbait with 30# braid and 15# leader. Got a backlash, looked down and picked at it a couple times, ran over my line with the trolling motor. Wrapped so badly it stopped my Ghost, line got inside the housing, jammed the spinnerbait into the small gap between the housing and prop so hard it bent the blade. Spent the next 1/2 hour hanging over the bow and fixing the mess. Brought the reel home to work on the backlash, spinnerbait dropped into the lake.

Not a braid fan, are you?

I hear what you say about the release factor in Walleye tournaments, I'd forgotten about that. The PWT used to hold tournaments on my lake, but to my knowledge Bull Shoals and some other southern lakes were removed from the tournament circuit. A friend of mine who used to participate in the PWT told me it was due to the high mortality rate of fish placed in livewells in the lakes with warmer water. Some of the Brown Trout guides on our White River will use various types of live bait, and the ones I know will release every Brown Trout their clients catch. That water is always cold, and the guides share the attitude of not killing the fish which are the source of their livelyhood.

I'm dedicated to catch and release. The mortality rate seems higher with live bait than with artificial lures. Whenever I see someone using live bait I know whatever they catch will be going home for dinner, even if it is a 5 pound smallmouth. I also look down on people who use chicken livers when fishing for large brown trout; disgraceful.

I feel badly for the great older pros who are now losing to "kids" because they do not and never will have the ability to be as proficient with the electronics. I would like to see some tournaments with no electronics allowed; bet the old guys would rule.

A few years ago the State began taking license sales away from tackle dealers. One of them told me that he received nothing from the sales, so he didn't care. He said the time spent kept him away from other duties, he also had to swallow credit card fees and fill out a separate deposit form when turning in the cash to a bank. He was pretty sour about it, stating that the people buying licenses seldom bought anything else. I'm referring to Arkansas.

That's a Golden Trout, we have them in the Arkansas White River. Personally, I could never kill such a beautiful fish.

Jig Man, you and I must be of different generations; you are more tech savy than I.

I'm OCD about keeping a log; begin each new year with a new spiral notebook. Date, time, temp., wind, sun, cloud cover, moon, water temp., lures, where, depth, dock talk, what I'll do next time out, etc.. I fill it out as soon as I get home.

Tiny crappie trailers made by Bobby Garland increase their appeal.

I was introduced to them by my guide while trout fishing on the Arkansas White River and I was immediately impressed. The guide let me keep the one on my rod and a couple others that were trashed. When back in Illinois I tied them on for Smallmouth and crushed 'em. Next day I placed a sizeable order with White River Zig Jigs.

In the 1940's my parents would give me a quarter to put in the collection plate in church. I would drop the quarter in and take out a dime in change. Don't believe I ever was caught.

There is a pro, I believe Matt Robertson, who uses Ugly Sticks. If I am correct about that, I would like to know what reels he uses.

I believe the flag incident happened as a result of him running aground and wrecking his boat. Ranger dropped him over that and other boats he had previously wrecked. Ike and Bass Cat hooked up after that.