Kirtley Howe

If you can't baffle them with brilliance blind them with BS. Just kidding....I love doing what you just did....It takes a certain skill to say something with 100 words that can be said in 10. <G>

I am reminded of the movie The MIst. Sorry...that is The Mist. Clumsy fingers.....

Figured out why it LOOKS less smokey today. Lots of wind is blowing so the smoke is more dispersed, but it really is acrid and hard to breath out there.

I fish a version of a flutter spoon. I have a number of trolling spoons that are used in trout and salmon fishing. Check out Sutton Spoons to see the type I am talking about. They a very thin metal that weight almost nothing...maybe 1/16 to 1/18th of an oz. They are anything but aerodynamic, which makes them almost impossible to cast by themselves. What I do is to put a few split shot anywhere from 4 to 12 inches up the line from the spoon. The farther away from the spoon, the bigger the flutter, but also the more apt you are to having the spoon catch on the line above the sinkers when casting. How many/size of the split shot depends on how much wind I am casting into, and how fast a fall rate I want. These spoons flutter down very nicely, and also flutter pretty well on the retrieve. If fishing in current, I sometimes use a swivel to prevent line twist. It is not a technique that works all the time, but when the bite is on, it is dynamite. Sometimes just drifting them downstream in the current and then holding them in place so they "suspend and flutter" behind boulders (or any current obstruction) is a great technique also. I only use single hooks on the lures, which helps prevent snags.

Here in Tioga County NY, the air was more smokey in appearance yesterday than today, but the overall air quality is worse today. Yesterday it just smelled like wood burning, but today the air is much more acrid. I am staying indoors today, as I can barely breath out there. I have COPD and am missing 1/3 of my right lung due to lung cancer surgery....

Cayuga Lake is always listed in the top 100 bass lakes in the country....and often makes it into the top 25 list. Some say it is a top 10 lake. It also is a great fishery for Lake Trout, Brown Trout, and Pike. It used to be a great lake for Rainbow Trout, but that seems to have declined in recent years. It also has a good population of Perch, Rockbass, Crappie, and Sunfish and Bluegill. Also catfish and bullheads. And we have some European anglers who come over every year just to fish for Carp....they say we have an incredible Carp fishery, and don't realize what a great sport fish they are. There is also a limited population of Walleye. And they have stocked it with some sturgeon, though you cannot legally fish for them yet. Back in the 1800s, Cayuga Lake was a commercial Sturgeon fishery, but over harvesting just about wiped them out: In fact, it was though that they were extinct in this lake. About 14 years ago, a few Sturgeon showed up in the lock at the north end of the lake....that convinced the DEC to try restocking them. It will take 30-50 years before they allow anyone to fish for them.

Well, it IS open for everyone, as Catch and Release. You just can't keep any bass yet. Look up NYS fishing regulations, and you will find the rules on this. Cayuga Lake has an excellent population of both Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass.

For me it usually depends on 3 things. How much room I have for my back cast, and what it the weight of the lure, and what is the length of the rod. No room behind or next to me means very little line dangle. A light lure means more line dangling. A longer rod would mean more line out than a short rod. This is true for both spinning and baitcasting. So a 1/4 oz lure would have more line out before the cast (say around 16" to 2 feet depending on length of the rod) than a 1/2 oz lure. If I am using a 7'6" rod, I would have more line out than if I was using a 6 foot rod, as I just find it more manageable. Of course, these are just general rules. Things differ if I am pitching or flipping, or under certain other conditions. I don't fish from Kayaks so I don't have an opinion about that.

May work to get the fish to hold onto the bait longer, but it will not work as an attractant because the anchovy paste is held in sunflower oil. Any oil based product will not disperse in water, so it will not leave a scent trail....or at least not much of one.

So, I reloaded my browser and everything cleared up for me.

You must have a death wish.

when I click on a topic, yes that is what it looks like. But when I originally open the menu to "Forums" it has the different topics listed in boxes. Two "boxes" across the frame, and the other listed 2 wide down the screen until all are listed. It never looked like this before. I have not changed any settings, and do not have this problem on any other forums I am on.

Ok, things are getting weird. Now when I click on "Forums" they show up as vertically stacked boxes with the heading for each topic in the top of the box. Is someone messing with things?

Works fine here also. But I have been having a different issue. Sometimes when I go to click on Activity or going from one topic header to another, my screen will jump to an ad instead of going to the thing I selected. When I close out the ad, it takes me to the topic I selected, so not a big deal, but curious as to why that happens.

I am in the Hate camp for Starbucks coffee. It all tastes burned to me and has a very nasty after taste. And while I take milk (not cream) and a bit of sugar (sometimes), I will never order a Double Venti Cinnamon Almond Half Caf with whipped cream and a cherry. I like COFFEE, and when I order it I want to taste coffee.

Just rechecked the leader board. Keith is actually 3 lb 1 oz back. Still very doable for him to win.

Thanks. That encourages me to try one this summer. I just bought a cheap 5 arm with willow leaf blades. The reason I bought a cheap one is to try it out before I commit to a quality one. Plus, it is much lighter than most of the ones I have seen advertised, so it should be easier for me to throw. Time will tell.

I have read that A0-Rigs are primarily a cold water bait. Do any of you throw them during the summer months, and if so, what have your results been? That should be A-Rigs........

I started a new diet. I took the advice of a dietician and removed all the bad foods from the house. They were delicious, but I gained 8 lbs.

Did you notice that for a lot of today Keith Pouche was leading the tournament? He ended up second after weight in, but is only 1 lb 1 oz back, so he still has a great chance of winning. He actually got a fair amount of time on camera during the coverage, and the announcers were...are you ready for this?....extolling the virtues of his flat bottom aluminum boat. I guess all is forgiven after his DQ in the open division.

Snap swivels work fine on in line spinners (NOT spinnerbaits though) and on some spoons. I have found that using them on jerk baits and crankbaits seems to negatively affect the action of the bait, and often causes the lures hooks to get caught up on the swivel when casting. I have not found that to be a problem when using a snap, most likely because the snap by itself is shorter than a snap swivel of the same strength.

What is really cool about them is that they can raise and lower any/all sides--including bow or transom to almost any angle. That is kind of necessary to load one of the unlimited boats onto those canted trailers. I have also seen one trailer that had hydraulics built in so that the boat could be stationed over the trailer then the trailer would come up to the angle needed to keep the boat in place. I always thought that it would take a real pro to get/keep it perfectly in place while the trailer came up. I know someone commented on how they used to race these boats. I would be curious to know how they loaded their boat......

They use a crane, or a special boat "donkey:" which is a large motorized lift that can move boats around.

I drink their Bold brew. That has flavor.

Stopped off for a coffee and a donut at Dunkin' today. Coffee was good, donut was ok. I got to thinking abought the donuts that I remember from 20 years ago. In my area of the country we had a few local shops (some good some bad), Dunkin' Donuts, and Mr. Donut. Both Dunkin' and Mr. Donut made their donuts right in the store that sold them, and they discounted them by 30% or more if they were over 4 hours old. Any left over at the end of the day could be bought for next to nothing. They made fresh donuts all day long and had their standard donuts that they made every day, plus some "special" donuts that they made each day, but were different each day. Now days Mr. Donut is out of business. Dunkin' Donut stores do not make the donuts from scratch at each store now. The donuts are shipped to the store already made and frozen, and the store basically just thaws them out. The donuts are still pretty good, but nothing like they used to be...which seems to be the case with many things these days. Sure wish we had a Krispy Cream around here.