DanielG

Half the fun is figuring it out and browsing the stores and online. I had my spinning setup. Not great but good. And I'd never bait casted so I researched and got a pretty good bait casting outfit. They both have their place. I'm not one of those people who have 10 rods and 500 lures I never use. I have one of each and a small collection of lures. I recently began making my own too. If you're planning on going all out as time goes on great. If not, it doesn't matter. I have two poles and reels that do multiple duty for different kinds of fishing, and ya know... they work just fine for however I decide to fish. If I had a dozen in the bottom of the boat I'd probably go nuts going from one to the other. Seriously, I'm a bit older and old school. Long ago we only had one pole and only got another one to upgrade or if one broke. I'm not sure about the mystique of having every piece of equipment made and carrying it with you all the time. Seems a bit decadent to me. When I got back into fishing and found out that people had evolved to this I was like "What the heck?" Sometime simple still catches the fish.

I've been there recently.... Ya, know.. I started fishing again three years ago after many, many years of being out of it. My gear was very old. I went to a local fishing place, Kittery trading post, sort of like a cabellas or LLbean and asked the guy at the counter to recommend a decent spinning outfit just to get me started. I ended up with a shimano outfit that worked well for about $149. I purchased some Berkley Swimbaits at Walmart, the ones with the big weighted hooks in them for $2.99 for a package of five and for the first year (They are still that price) and I had fun catching a bunch of bass, I did have a small trolling boat though. After two years with this setup and a few more different lures, I felt I almost knew what I wanted with research and reading forums like this. I got a Dobyn's glass rod and A Shimano Curado reel and I do a lot of crankbaits. They work in my deep cold lake. That's my story, yours might be different depending on your needs. Point is, Pick up a few lures, and fish with what you've got for now. Seems you've got a servicable setup. Later on you'll get a feel for what you want and were you want to be. Spend the money then so you won't have regrets because you really didn't know what you wanted at this point in time. For now, just get your line wet and have some fun. Give it at least a season, then spend the winter looking online, going to gear stores, and choosing just the right first setup that fits you and your needs. Order something and enjoy setting it up and getting it ready for good weather.

I've toured every continental state from the road in the last 12 years. I think all states have people like this... various or no accents though. Well.... maybe not South Dakota. Couldn't find anyone in South Dakota. I put the car in cruise control, woke up two days later and was in the next state. I did enjoy the Corn Palace in Mitchell though...

Last summer, approx June to October about 60

3 ----------edited Someone reacted with a smiley face on the '3' post I just did. Actually I find that a perch or Chartreuse crankbait for bass, and a pale, 5 in a pack, at $2.99, from Walmart, swimbait for Crappy. Pickerel will bite on either. They're just mean that way. This winter I've made about a half dozen baits... my first ones, so my repertoire has VASTLY increased. I hope they work.

Welcome, and thanks for what you do. We'd be lost without you.

Well, we're a very touristy lake. 4.5 miles long but camps dot the entire perimeter of it. The lake is pretty clean though as it's actually a flooded river made to power the now defunct mills in Sanford so the current is quite strong and the water flushes though regularly. It can get busy in mid summer but I pretty much get the lake to myself early in the morning. Lotsa bass and some crappie, pickerel and such. They stock it so in the spring they pull out some sizable trout and salmon. But the best part for me is that it's out my front door.

Howdy, Southern Maine here...

Mousam in Acton maine here.... I awakened to a wide water open on the edge.. about 30 ft. and an open river down the center of the ice sheet. I give it a couple of days maybe? Our governor sent an email yesterday. She loves angling and has issued free no license fishing....saying, "go fishing, it's a good social distancing activity."

I'm 65 but my mother was 46 when she had me. So, my mother was born in 1908. I grew up with depression era people even though I was born nearly 30 years after it. Gardens, cord wood, no waste, hoarders of things that 'might' be needed some day. As a result learned to lived a very frugal life as a lifestyle, not as much as those who came before me but still fairly frugal. But like Scoggins, I've remember hearing about the depression, especially when I was wasteful. The way our interdependence of our society makes it harder to live that way but lots of adjustments can be made. We just have to bite the bullet to do it and be accepting of the experience. Take care everyone.

Sometimes I wonder. Is coffee really that good? I mean, really? My answer is yes, but why do I always say that. Think about it. Does the smell of coffee call you? Do you think, "coffee" when you're driving and go by a coffee shop? Does even the idea of coffee ice cream sound good? With that in mind.... Is coffee really that good? Could there be another reason? If you're answer is a definite "YES", why could we always be saying that? Good thing Caffeine is a relatively safe drug. That being said, I built a hutch in the kitchen. It's exclusive for stuff related to making coffee. I call it "the coffee alter". I have a real percolator, flavored coffee's, etc.... I think I got a problem !?! Opps... gotta go. Coffee is ready...

I do love this new governor! And I just received my lifetime fishing license yesterday. Like Cuomo she's been on the stick about this virus thing too. She's got my vote again. Governor Mills, Commissioner Camuso Suspend Inland Waters Fishing License Requirement, Open Waters To Inland Fishing March 20, 2020 Governor Janet Mills today directed Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Judy Camuso to open all inland waters for fishing and to waive the requirement that anglers need a recreational fishing license to fish the inland waters of Maine. The order, which is effectively immediately, will run through April 30 and is intended to encourage Maine people to enjoy the outdoors as we confront the challenges associated with COVID-19. The Governor is considering additional measures to make Maine’s great outdoors more accessible to Maine people. She continues to urge those who go out to employ appropriate physical distancing measures recommended by the U.S. CDC.

As the 60's hippie ones said.... "conform and be dull"

Okay, that was interesting... I wonder what it means for the chicken/egg thing..... Thanks. Boy, this is a weird topic isn't it... I mean for this site. I think I'm done with it for now.

I see what you mean... but it wasn't a chicken egg, just an egg. Anyway. It really doesn't matter does it.... especially when fried!

I always said.... make one of those air fresheners you plug into the wall and it sends out a puff of scent periodically. Scents you could add to it.... bacon coffee popcorn fresh baked bread I've never used air fresheners. I'd buy one of these.

The chicken came first.... The truth.... At one time there were no chickens around. When explorers came from Europe to the new world they brought their versions of chickens. A small partridge like bird that was domesticated. It was bread with birds here and we have what today developed into the meat heavy flightless bird we call a chicken. Breeding has evolved it into the many varieties we have today. They did the same all over the world and we have all kinds of chickens. Have you seen the size of chicken breast in stores these days? No hormones to do it... it's all done with breeding. So the chicken came first. Breeding led to what was the first rudimentary chicken development. It was an egg from a bird that wasn't a chicken. Can you tell I eat a lot of chicken....? Let us know if Amazon gets it right.

Here in Maine we're not all in the sticks. I'm rural but have close neighbors. We just talk over the fence though. A big day is a trip to get coffee at Macdonalds (not now though). Prepping with gardens and cord wood is good but....A run on the banks might be in the future. Got cash???

Maine here. Only 32 cases and no deaths. All the neighbors are home. My daughter and her son are working from home. Thankfully they are highly educated professionals and work for a company that planned to work from home. Mostly conferencing and computer stuff. But, with only a few cases I look out the window and the young people who would be at work, their cars are in the driveway. Schools closed too. Maine has the (highest?) elderly population in the country. But we're used to being hermits. Ayuh.... It's like recessions. We usually don't now what all the fuss is about. Mainers often live like we're in recession all the time. Stay well everyone. And being paranoid and over doing it is probably the right thing now.

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I would, the ice is three feet thick.

This isn't another corona virus thread so lets not make it one so the thread has to be shut down.... But.... We're hunkered down. The wife says, "I'm making some coffee, you want the good stuff or the Walmart brand?" We sort of alternate, the expensive bagged stuff and the bulk stuff. I thought....Hey, we're in hibernation here because of this disease thing. Lets keep our spirits up, splurge, and do the good stuff for awhile. Then I got online looking at mail order fishing tackle....And thought... Hey, we're in hibernation here.... I should keep my spirits up.. and.... uh, oh....? Stay well everyone.....

I can see the confusion. My first sentence read "Well, I don't extend the fight but releasing the tension and prolonging it. The 'but' should have been 'by'. It completely reverses the meaning of the sentence. One says I release the tension and keep the fish fighting for a long time. The other says I don't. Damnn auto spell check.

The view out my front door; Maine. Water on the edge and the ice is looking grey in the middle. That indicates it's not long before it's gone. Maybe a week? That would mean the third week in March. The ice never went out before mid-end of April long ago. The past several years it's been approx. a month early. This year it will be the earliest thus far. That pier on the lower right gets wheeled in and my boat gets tied to it. I got the registration yesterday. "There's fishes under that there ice." My house showing several hundred feet of a 4 1/2 mile lake. Southern Maine