OldManLure

Silver spoon with marshmallow trailer.

Voyage of the Beagle and Origin of Species -C Darwin

Last Spring I was fishing for smallies on the Upper Potomac with a Heddon Torpedo. I’d already caught a couple, when something took the lure about a foot from the bank and headed straight toward deeper water. Instead of the characteristic explosion on the surface like the smallies, this strike sounded like someone had slapped the water with their paddle. When I finally got it to my yak, I wasn’t sure what I had. I had to Google it to confirm I had just caught a 23” muskie. Not only was it the first muskie I had ever caught, it was the first I had ever seen.

I don’t doubt you, and I’m sure there is no compelling reason to not use that size braid, but it just seems unnecessarily excessive.

And there are many who will buy it to complement their tactical pants, sunglasses, flashlights, and cordless shavers.

Class!

Good lord, for what, gators?

I agree! I received mine a week ago (a Christmas present). It was becoming a struggle to wait until Christmas Day to ‘open’ it with temps here in high 50s - low 60s and water holding at mid 40s. My daughter saw my anguish and feeling sorry for me told me to go ahead and take it out, so I went bank fishing this weekend. An absolutely awesome rod. And it is incredibly sensitive. So sensitive I had to watch my language.

Actually, a couple years ago a buddy and I kept track of average casts and catches for river smallies. We limited it to a particular stretch of the Shenandoah River and a particular stretch of the Upper Potomac, and did it for only 3 trips on each. On both stretches, about 5% of casts resulted in a catch. We both questioned if the information had any real value, but it was interesting to quantify something we had only given a passing thought. What was most surprising was the number of casts we made. Many more than either of us would have guessed. The percentage was disappointing, but we did catch some nice fish, and on a couple of the trips one of us ended up catching what at the time was a personal best. I think we both agreed that even a 5% catch rate was worth it when at least one of them was was a pig.

When I typed this, I believed that 20-25% of the fish that become aware of and have the opportunity to strike a lure will strike. But then I did the math, and realize that at this rate, on a float that I catch 16 fish (which excites me), I’ve exposed my lure to 64 fish. So maybe the percentage is actually higher. Hmmm.

Sounds fishy.

You might be missing out. https://www.dnr.sc.gov/magazine/articles/mayjune2012/crayfish.html There is also an excellent feature article in the May 2021 edition of Bassmaster magazine that details the crayfish stages of development. It is worth the read.

I’m with you on this! I have been buying these for quite awhile, and always have a small box of these buzz and spinner baits on hand. I’ll use them as they are, but I’ll play around with them all kind of ways…tweaking blade angles on the buzzers, change blade sizes and configurations or trim upper arms on the spinners, and replace skirts and often repaint the heads on both. And as long as they keep catching fish, I’ll keep using them. There are certainly a number of baits that I would never go cheap on, but buzz and spinnerbaits aren’t two of them.

On the topic of spinnerbaits for smallies, has anyone used the Panther Martin Bearded Banshee? I have been a fan of Panther Martin spinners since the 60s. I was intrigued by the concave/convex blade, and was sold on it after seemingly catching something on almost every cast. I can’t help believe that their spinnerbait would be a nice addition to my collection. I might even overlook that several of their choices (at least those offered by TW) have painted blades.

Whether in one of my sit-ins or my sit-on, I take 5…1 in hand and 4 in holders. The rods are rigged for entire water column…..top, spinnerbait, shallow crankbait, deep crankbait, and finesse worm. There have been numerous occasions when I’ve anchored, parked in an eddy, or wedged in rocks and used all 5. If I retie, it’s almost always for color rather than action.

Spinnerbaits can be a killer for smallies. I am a firm believer in speed, flash, and a trailer. I have been unable to replicate the success I have had with silver blades when using painted blades. I’m not sure why, but it doesn’t really matter. I don’t believe I’m missing fish. I should say that I fish rivers almost exclusively. But on the few occasions I’ve fished lakes, the only thing I change is size of the willow leaf blades. When I’m in water in which current isn’t exaggerating lift, I can use larger blades for more flash. I think you will find spinnerbaits to be effective and fun. Almost as mush fun as topwater and jerkbaits!

“Weather shouldn’t determine whether or not to go. It should only determine what to throw”. - Dad

I suspect that anyone who stays put in a ‘historical’ spot that now isn’t panning out is probably ignoring a few other memories that encourage ‘moving on’.

I owned at least one Penn reel for quite a few years, and have found no reason to abandon them. I currently use a Slammer and Battle II, and continue to have zero complaints.

Livescope technology is pretty amazing. It will change fishing. For its users, it will be like fishing in the BassProShop fish tank.

I use a single strap backpack for wading and bank fishing. I use 4 of the small Ozark Trail bags for my 2 sit-in kayaks. I have 2 large tackle bags for my sit-on. And when I take out the boat, I use the bags from my sit-on plus 2 additional tackle bags. Except for numbers, there is not a lot of difference in the baits for each craft. Yes I have duplicates of every bait so it is represented in each set up. The main difference as I go from wading to kayak to kayak to boat is that the choices for color and/or size increases. The benefit for me is that there is virtually no risk of leaving a desired bait behind. The cost is when I have success with a new bait, I end up buying at least two more so that it is added to each setup. Since available space ia finite, I do find it necessary to cull baits once in awhile…sheer agony!

Not to mention that blue has a shorter wavelength and can be seen from a farther distance in water than say yellow, or orange, or red.

It is likely I heard it first from my dad, and it is just as likely he heard from his. It is interesting how idioms and other sayings are passed through generations. Cool find!

Buck Perry may have ‘popularized’ it (if you believe it is popular) by including it in his book, but by no means did he coin it. I heard that phrase as a child in the 60s.

For years I’ve kept notes about every trip on the river. I still keep and use them to decide 1)which stretch of river to target based on past catch rates at various depths/flow rates, 2)weather, 3)time of day that the bite was most active, 4)structure that was most productive, and 5)which baits/presentation provided best results. I consider them extremely helpful for providing enough information to develop a plan for at least starting the day. An added benefit, at least for me, has been that writing down the information (or entering it into my iPhone) has helped internalize a lot of it so that some of it is now as much in my head as it is in the notes. The downside of this is that it allows me to sometimes tell myself that I have some idea of what I’m doing.