farmpond1

How do you know this is true? I don't. It's just an approximation (I wish I had a solid gold model F-15 so I could find out). But even if it weighed half or twice as much, the question would remain about the same).

This sort of thing keeps me up at night.

Johhny has a 1/48 scale model F-15 airplane made of gold (Johnny is very rich). The model weighs about 25 lbs. Why is it that a full scale, real F-15 (48 times bigger than the model and made of lightweight materials) weighs approximately 31,000 lbs and not 1,200 lbs? Or, to put it differently, if you shrunk down a F-15 to 1/48th of it's original size, why wouldn't it weigh a healthy 645.833 lbs?

Once, while fishing at a farm pond, I left a spare rod on the levee while I fished the other end. A calf (I think it was a holstein) stepped on it and broke it. The farmer refused to pay for it. Geesh! Some people! Reality check for those who take things literally: Only the first half of this story is true. I never demanded payment (although I did have a few choice words for the calf).

I've read a lot about the effectiveness of Senko's but still haven't tried them. (Am not saying they don't work-just haven't bought any yet). But my question is about floating plastic worms. Is there anyone else out there who likes to toss out a bouyant plastic worm without a sinker and just twitch it back to the boat? I don't always use this method but it can work well.

You might've unlocked the secret by now (hope so) but if the wind is out of the North, fish the southern banks and especially the points and steep drop off areas. The wind will push baitfish in that direction and the warmer water will be pushed to the south. Crankbaits are a good choice to cover a lot of water and simulate shad/etc. Good luck

3 lbs, soaking wet.

This should be an effective object lesson for those who unnecessarily overextend themselves. Too bad everyone else gets dragged into the fray. Also, too bad memories are so short.

Awesome fish dude! If the back half matched the front half, it'd be absolutely huuuuuge! It looks like one of those body builders who only works on their upper body. Still, it's much bigger than anything I've ever caught. Good job!

Ditto. missing paint will not cause a leak. Missing metal will, however.

Black marker sometimes turns purple after awhile. The fish may not care but it looks a bit goofy to me. I once turned a white, soft plastic "ghost" bait into a purple one by mistake so I know of which I speak. So if you do this, test the marker for true permanence before going crazy on the whole batch.

This year is not even close to being over! I am so looking forward to catching the big ones that are fattening up for the winter here up North. I am sure you must have a longer season down there by you. I know there are some parts of Illinois where some bodies of water never see ice. True. Just don't know if I'll have the chance to make it out or not. The Kankakee river is awfully tempting but it's a drive.

Oh. Well, nice job anyway. I've been thinking of abandoning my model airplane hobby and moving to making crankbaits instead. Some of the equipment is the same and I fish anyway so...

Looks more like a shad than a shad. Nice paint job. Hope it runs as nice as it looks.

Looks like I'm the first to respond-though my response is limited. I would suggest you never use Q-tips for anything except, perhaps, cleanup. The miniscule fibers in a Q-tip will separate and mix with any paint you attempt to use-messing up your paint job. As to which paints to use, I'm sure with some research on this site and others, you can find some appropriate types.

To make it nearly unanimous, I vote smallmouth. They don't even quit when you're releasing them. I've had numerous smallmouth give me a defiant splash on their way back down. Sadly, it was a rough year for smallmouth in central Illinois. The early spring flooding and higher than average rainfall this summer made things difficult. Even Canada produced only very small ones for me. Oh well, there's always next year!

Congratulations on 20 years. May you have at least 40 more! Snotrockets! That's great! I'd never heard that nickname before!

Beautiful fish! Nice going! Glad I could help!

Well, I made a fishing buddy and I lost one. The latter person wasn't much of a friend really (more of an aggravation) so I'll call it progress. I've learned to be a little more flexible. Still haven't learned to fish open/deep water very well but I'm working my way out/offshore a little at a time. I've gotten better-more confident with a crankbait. I've slipped a little on my flyfishing but there's always next year.

My turn to ask a question: I have an achor on my boat but if the wind is stronger than..."mild", it isn't much good. What kind/size anchor do you use?

X's 2. :'(

No the 6'10" 400 pounder named Tiny Or the plethora of guys all named Ben. Ben Dover. ;D

Ditto. Oh, and if the wind is strong, I don't bother with jigs or plastic worms-there's too little control to fish them effectively. I switch to fast moving crankbaits. It's much easier to get a nice presentation and shad are what's often pushed against the shore, anyway.

In our case, the wind wasn't so strong as to pose serious control problems. I have the same challenges keeping the boat from crashing into the shore or veering off course as the next joe. You're certainly not the lone ranger. Best I can tell you is to keep the bow pointed into the wind (or cantered into it) and try to adjust your trolling motor to just keep up with the push against the boat Easier said than done, of course.

Yesterday two buddies of mine (one is a member of this forum-hi Matt!) and I hit Clinton Lake in Central Illinois. Though the weather was nice, it was pretty tough fishing until we found a windblown shoreline (which dropped off into 9-12 feet of water). Fishing dramatically improved. It held numbers of white bass and some pretty fair largemouth (the latter were hanging 'round fallen trees. Apart from that spot, we only picked up...2 fish. So, if your day is slow and you can't catch fish, if there is a wind blowing, go to the windward side of the lake and look for fish there.