farmpond1

There'll be more fish on other days. Just nice to be able to do it, huh!

Can you even find pheasants anymore? Between the loss of habitat and hungry coyote's, hunting pheasants around East Central Illinois, besides being mostly an exercise in futility, would seem like genocide to me.

It's also a good idea to check them to ensure they are still alive and healthy. I've found entire refridgerators (at Walmart) full of containers of green, fuzzy waxworms. Apparently, the employee's hadn't checked them for (probably) weeks.

The waning interest thing can be as unique as you are as a individual. I could speculate (and I will) but you'll have to tell me if I'm even remotely close. Sometimes a person dives into a hobby or activity because they are trying to fill a void or distract themselve from other things. I've been known to immerse myself in something to compensate for dissatisfaction in other areas of my life (my job for instance). But in time the original dissatisfaction came back into focus and the distraction wasn't working so well anymore and I became disillusioned by it. At other times, I just wore myself out and what was once fun became more like work- another form of disillusionment. Or maybe this is all so much psychobabble. Anyway, might I suggest to a simpler form of fishing. Leave most of your gear at home. Pick a pleasant day. Make it your goal simply to take in the scenery rather than to catch a bunch of fish.

Agree. Maybe they were checking to see if they were in his will before rescuing him? Must not have been. Time and hard lessons are one kind of wisdom. I bet he won't cross a wake again doing Mach 1-unless the accident gave him amnesia. But he has the video to remind him.

I haven't touched the pond for about 2 weeks so it's time to give it the ol' college try again this weekend-if I can find the time. I haven't tried drop-shotting so I might give that a shot. Can't hurt at any rate.

The pond is figure 8 shaped with lily pads dominating the smaller half of the 8 and also running along the sides everywhere else. It does get some light to medium fishing pressure (including a guy who fishes for bass with bits of hotdog) but it's mostly catch and release. It is just uncanny how quickly the temperment of the pond changed without any clear indicators. And I've fished this pond in some pretty extreme conditions (cold, hot and bright, etc) with better results. Thanks for the advice. I'll give this pond a bit of a rest and see how that pans out.

From March thru July, I could reasonably rely on catching at least 4 or 6 or 8 bass from a pond I go to. It isn't necessarily an easy pond to fish. Sometimes I have to switch from a frog in the pads to spinnerbaits to plastic worms, etc. But as I said before, I could usually coerce a half dozen bass to bite. Lately, however, it's like the fish aren't there. Some of the lily pads have died back but not many. The pond isn't so large that with a little effort, I can't cover a good portion of it. Unless they've all gone to the smack dab center, they should be accessible. I wonder what's up. Have they seen my entire bag of tricks and gotten wise to me? What do you all do when a pond goes from "easy but you've gotta earn it" to "forget about it!"?

But if you drive just down the road to another lake (I wish it were that easy here in Central Illinois), the bass there will crave something entirely different. It's enough to drive me buggy sometimes. But I love it.

There may be some variables that you haven't accounted for. Or rather, the factors that made last year a winning year for you may not be there this year. Maybe the water has been lower or it's been cooler than last year. No two seasons (or days, for that matter) are exactly alike. If what worked last year is not working this year, you've got to try something different. Don't fall into the rut of last years routines. You may or may not improve your record but it doesn't sound like its been a stellar year for you so what have you got to lose? And the thrill of discovery is exciting.

Don't give up on it yet. I've been using baitcasters for years and yet early this summer I had a two day period where nearly every cast turned to shinola. I couldn't explain it then and I still can't. But the situation/my technique corrected itself and most of the time, casting isn't a problem. Usually, I advise folks to be a little heavy on the thumb at first and gradually lighten up. I can't advise on how to use your particular reels gizmos.

Mmmphhh!!!! I almost spit my coffee out on this one. Good 'un!

When a person is single, they can do whatever they please. It doesn't affect or hurt anyone else. But if/when they choose to partner with someone else, it isn't just about them alone anymore and they have to collaborate and compromise. Ok, having said the obligatory Dr. Phil bit, I'll go on to say that assuming you are willing to collaborate and compromise, a relationship shouldn't be that difficult. If it is, one of two things is happening: 1) the other person has control issues and has some work to do or, 2) You just really ought not be together anyway. If everything is work, than it's no good. Go fishing! Have fun! Enjoy the freedom that being single offers. Learn from the past but don't be hindered by it. My 2 cents.

I've been known to let out an F-bomb, realize what I've said, clamp my hand over my mouth, and then mutter "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!" repeatedly until I regain my composure. But that's usually only when it's a really big fish or one that startles me near the boat or the shore. Otherwise, I'm a perfect angel. :

"By the way, what is a pedal-file?" - That's funy right there. I don't care who you are!

One smart fellow, he felt smart. Two smart fellows, they both felt smart. (repeat)

If you "feather" the line while it feeds out, you can keep the lure (and especially the butt end) ahead of the line better. You lose some distance but it will help.

I doubt pumpkin was all he was eating. I meant "eating crow"!!! You people are so dirty minded!!!

Well, carrying dynamite across state lines is a federal offense so I'll start with just fishing.

You took the words right outta my...keyboard. Nice fish though!

Am sorry to hear about your experience. It's semantics, of course, but I wouldn't call what you experienced "bad luck"-unless you were out of site and the ski boaters couldn't see you. Otherwise, I'd call it reckless/irresponsible/downright rude behavior on their part. I have nothing against ski boats and/or jet ski's except when their drivers are rude and inconsiderate. This, unfortunately, seems to be too often the case. Makes you almost wish you were equipped with torpedo's, huh?!

In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, "Doh!"

One time I was just putzing along with my boat near a boat ramp on a dark night. I had the throttle only slightly above idle when I nearly bumped into a boat in front of me. Had the other boat not swerved, it would have been an embarassing little scrape. And I was paying attention. My passenger was a big guy and he was sitting in the front of the boat blocking only a very small area of my view-but it was enough, apparently, to prevent me from seeing the other boat (which had all the required running lights). Contributing, I think, to the "near miss" was that there were bank fishermen nearby with a very bright light which lessened my ability to distinguish other light sources. Anyway, that rather sobering experience told me it's very easy to have an accident at night-even if one is cautious. Sitting out in the middle of a lake with no lights is a perfect recipe for disaster. Dumb. Oh, just so you know, I believe there is a typo in the Subject heading. I think you meant "Darn near..." rather than "Darn need..." It changes the meaning just a bit.

For military, naval, and aviation buffs, this collection is priceless! Assuming you can retained rights to the images, you ought to make these photos available/accessible to museums, history authors, etc. I'm sure they are always looking for new/fresh images to publish, etc. It's great that you shared them with us! Take good care of these photos!

One of my goals if/when I retire is to fish every state in the union. So far, I've only fished a few but I would like that to change. As a primer, I'll begin. I've fished in 5 states (Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama, and Arkansas) and 2 countries (USA, Canada).