throttleplate

I ike randy, i like his opinions on controversial subjects about BASS and the electronics. Wish there were more people with his views who would speak up.

this week i went to 2 lakes in ND very close to me, 20 miles and 40 miles away. Not known for great fishing but we went later in the day and started fishing at 5 pm and the lake has zero trees and no place to hide from the sun.I didnt melt and i didnt complain and i caught 2 bass and some good fighting pike in direct sunny heat. The heat doesnt bother me but in minnesota last week there were no weeds and pads yet to draw me back out in the heat so we stuck close to home. This weekend no matter the heat we are going as the weeds and pads should have grown up some and make my lakes fish better as they do with more vegetation.

last weekend in detroit lakes mn area the weeds and pads were not abundandt at all. I was wading where it is usually unwadeable with heavy weeds and pads but this day it was like walking on a sidewalk. This weekend i suppose after the heat wave alot has changed in the growth department and i will find out.

went to a 17 acre lake and a 117 acre lake this week in ND in the heat. 1.Spinnerbait white with kitech 3 inch. caught pike only 2.Chatterbait white with a grass pig 4 inch and trailor hook. caught pike only. 3. senko neko rigged on neeko hook. Caught bass only

again i was at fleetfarm yesterday and didnt even go to the fishing section because i have all i need and am bored looking at store tackle. When i got home i went downstairs and watched some tv and looked at the screen and then glanced over to my tackle box and some lures i have hanging by the fireplace from my last trip to dry out. Yep they still look the same and soon i will put them in the box and head out this weekend.

here is what i do with every fish and so far it works for me using a spinning reel, 30lb braid with a 20lb fluoro leader or 80lb if in notorious pike waters connected to the braid with a snap and swivel. When i have the fish on i crank and i crank through the drag and if it jumps i keep the rod the same up and to the side and keep crankin and if its got me in the weeds i keep the pressure on and walk the bank a bit to get different anges to pull him out and i keep crankin untill the fish is at my feet. I have pulled fish in draped with weeds and not even seeing the fish untill i pull the weeds off.

i do, but you need to be okay with wearing waders, be abe to twist and crawl over sunken trees, expect to submerge your reel a few times stepping into a sinkhole, at times getting your line out of a tree limb, occasionally meeting a holstein cow taking a drink......

So the weekend is over and i stayed at home and didnt miss fishing at all. Friday night we went to the local speedway and in the evening at 6:30 pm it was 99 out and it was a great time, even with the wind blowing dirt in our faces but thats what good sunglasses are for even at night. I didnt even start the car up sat or sunday, i didnt look at my fishing gear and didnt have an anxiety attack thinking i was missing out on catching the big one this weekend. What i did was watch a few movies, watered the plants and bushes, worked out, layed in bed and slept, read, looked out the windows at the brown grass, went outside and stared at our garden, stayed away from the refridgerator knowing its not good to eat or snack for me in zombie mode, looked at the clock at midnite thinking wow i should just be pulling into the driveway smelling like fish.

i buy lures and plastics at closeout sales where its marked down 80%. For example berkley maxscent kingtails and the generals were regular $9.99 at fleetfarm and just this spring they were clearing out for the new spring stock and selling them for $1.74 a pack. I stocked up on generals and kingtails and wont need to buy again for years. I also buy lures on sale and get 2 if i know i will use them in a certain lake. I have a good selection of lures and if i dont lose any which means if i lose 1 i still have 1 extra backup or more er many more of some lures. The last 3 times i have been to fleetfarm was to buy packaged nuts to eat and the wife bought some plant seeds and i walked the isles of fishing lures and never touched a package and never thought "do i need that". It was such a relief and a great feeling looking at the lures and knowing i dont need squat.

should be easy to pee in them when in the water.

I was working out in a gym in the philippines and they are decrepid old buildings with no ventillation and i was feeling lightheaded so i got up and was going to puke in the bathroom but i had to lean against a wall to support myself and the next thing i remember was i started to collapse and then it was lights out for me. Next thing i know i was being awakened by the gym employee asking me if i was allright as i was laying on the floor with people standing over me. I lived 7 minutes walk to my apartment and it took me 1 hr to get home because i had to stop and sit many times as i was still feeling dizzy and about to faint. With the forecast in detroit lakes minn area calling for hot days combined with no lilly pad developement and no thick weed structure yet i am sitting this weekend out. Wife and i are going to the red river valley speeday tonight to watch the dirt cars and work around the house and garden sat and sunday.

i have a large can of super nasty pepper spray i keep in my side door panel, its been expired for 5 years but never used. Can anyone tell me if this can is still good? I would hate to spray someone that was trying to steal my car and it doesnt work.

back in the 90s i left some mister twister grubs loose in my plastic tackle box top tray and at the end of summer in las vegas after sittin in the heat the grub melted through the tray and left a melted looking hole.

the 70s when i was a kid using spark plugs for river weights.

i usually wipe my hands off on a wet towell after handling gulp minnows right out of the juice as i keep them in a glass pickle jar. Sometimes i just wipe the juice on my pants and later i will eat a cookie and the smell dont bother me no more because i am out fishing and smelly fish hands is part of being a fisherman. When i was a heavy equipment mechanic my hands were filthy with grease and oil and when i ate a sandwich for lunch i didnt wash my hands because i was so hungry i didnt care.

can you explain how or have a link?

if i catch 1 fish all day and it comes time to drive home and hit the rack i sleep well knowing i switched up my technique many times that day and moved around alot and for that i am satisfied.

its suppossed to hit 99 tomorrow and we are going bank and wader fishing at a lake in north dakota 45 miles away named brewer lake which i have only seen but never fished it. I have caught some big fish in the evening hours with a high heat index. I dont care if it rains and the wind blows as i am prepared with gear even if it snows in july ?. If the fish dont bite in the afternoon i will chill out till evening and then start again. I and the wife are retired so we dont have to be home untill we feel like it.

usually i catch bass instead of crappie when i use tiny inline spinners and underspins.

thankyou, whats funny is i bought the eagle claw 3 months ago and then i bought some with the metal wire weed guard maybe vmc? I snelled up some vmc because of the wire guard and left the eagle claw in the box because i was not sure how that flimsy fiber weed guard can stop weeds from gettin on the hook. Is it that good at preventing weed catch?

using gulp minnows i let them fool around with it and when bobber goes under i dont anything but reel in some slack and i only set the hook when the bobber is pulled under for a few seconds and is being dragged away underwater. If i set the hook whenever the bobber goes under i just end up pulling it out of their mouth or pulling it away from small nuisance fish. I need to see it and or feel it being dragged underwater and most of the time the fish hooks itself and all i do is reel in. It takes patience to not always wanting to set the hook at the slightest bit of bobber movement.

hot pants and a toad

you have a link to get a good look at them, i cant find any pics of them by searching myself.

i have the same culvert situation but my culvert is big enough to swim through it. Depending on which way the wind blows the smaller panfish and occasionally a sightable bass are grouped up just outside the culvert facing into the wind blown water coming through. This is also where we catch most of the crappie and many bass are caught on the crappie jigs so yeah they are lurking around for a smoregasboard.

I have started to chill out and really enjoy the end of the day evening hours on the bank by sittin in my chair and crappie fishing with a bobber. I am usually out wading throwing different lures, stepping on or over large rocks crawling over half sunken trees, grabbing my wind blown line out of tree limbs, always thinking about what lure to throw next and how to work it thinking back to things i have read on this forum. When i am convinced the bass bite is over i walk back over the sunken trees and rubble and step back onto the bank, take off my waders and sit in my folding chair and pick up my $15.00 crappie combo, throw on a lighted or not bobber with a gulp minnow and toss it out 15 feet from me and stare at the bobber, the surrounding landscape, the burnt orange sky, watching a beaver and muskrat swim by like they know me and we mean no harm to each other, hearing the howls of the cayote and listening to the loons, the loons and the sounds they make are like music signaling the end of the crappie bite and time to roll it all up and head home.