Kirtley Howe

I would bet that you will see more of this. And I also bet that the cost of insurance to run one of these tournaments has gone way up due to this tragedy.

At this time I am stuck fishing only from the bank. And with my poor breathing and somewhat compromised mobility, I am limited to spots within in a short walk and with easy access. So, I don't need to know where the fish are.....I need them to be where I am. Sometimes I catch fish and sometimes I don't, and that is OK.

When I was about 15 I was camping out and fishing my way down a local creek. (Remember, I was a country boy in a very rural area, so a teenager camping out by his self for several days was not really uncommon) One night I was sitting at my campsite on the river bank....it was one of those moonless nights when the darkness is so thick you could wear it like a coat. No wind, and only the sound of a few insects and the running water in the creek. I did not have a fire...I was just enjoying the night and relaxing before turning in. All of a sudden I could hear heavy breathing and some light scuffing noises, but could not see a thing or pinpoint where it was coming from. I sat there listening for what seemed like forever with my anxiety lever climbing out of sight. Then I could no longer hear the breathing or shuffling sounds, and I started to relax a little. All of a sudden the most blood curling howl I had ever heard happened about 6 feet away from me. My mind was racing....Bigfoot? An axe murder going on?The death throes of some tortured creature?..my overactive teenage imagination was in hyper-drive. I was sweating but chilled to the bone. I was shaking like I was strapped into one of those paint mixing machines. My hair was standing on end and I had goosebumps the size of small hills, and I could barely breath. Then something moved closer to me...I was sure I was about to die a horrible death....and I saw it....it was a coyote that was just walking along. It passed by me no more than 2 feet away and walked off into the underbrush. After I regained my composer and checked to make sure I didn't have to change my underwear, I hurriedly built a fire. At that point I could laugh about it, but my laughter MAY have sounded a bit hysterical.

I doubt an organization would do that. They would have to buy a bunch of cameras, and pay several people to do nothing but monitor/review them. That mean $$$ that the organization would have to spend. By comparison, a polygraph is pretty cheap, so you know which way the organization will go....

I tend to agree with you, but what other means could they use? Other than the anglers self reporting their violation, how could the organization enforce it? If reported by another angler, then it would be a case of "he said and he said". If an official witnessed it that would be another matter.

You would think that by now competitors would learn that there are consequences when you cheat, and would start being ethical and honest.

I had to look that up. You are right.

My signature sums up my opinion of "knowing" or understanding Bass.

You scored big. I think you will do well with them.

I think they are, and in fact the new ones have somewhat better quality hooks than the originals.

Silver with black back. And in areas where sunfish or bluegills are the primary forage, gold with a black back. In areas where perch are the main forage us a perch or firetiger pattern. But honestly, the color is not as important as the action of the lure.

Nice. That is a good day for anyone. And you have had a very good season...over 1500 Bass for the year is pretty spectacular.

Thanks. It was a nice fish. Not my best from the Susquehanna... that was a 48"I caught several years ago. In both cases they were incidental side catches while fishing for Bass. I catch between 4 and 10 each year. Most are in the 30-35" range. Whenever I get one that goes over 40" I consider it a "trophy sized" fish. They are a ton of fun on light tackle, but they also have a bad habit of stealing lures. I have a bunch of times each year where I am reeling in a lure and all of a sudden it is just gone. When I check my line, it is cut like someone took a knife to it, or it feels like someone is grabbing my line and shaking it, and the line comes back shredded like someone took a grater to it. Either way I know it is a Musky or a large pike.

Got out Saturday between 2:30 pm and 6 pm. We had had 3 days of fall weather....Mid 50 during the day and mid to high 30s during the night with lots of wind and scattered rain. Saturday was temps in the low 30s in the morning, and warming up to 63 at 5pm. When I went out at 2 pm, the temp was 45, mix of sun and clouds, and wind at 5-10 mph. The water temp had dropped from the mid 60s last week to 58 today. I was thinking I could have a top water bite, but there was so much debris and leaves in the water that that was impossible so I started with a weightless 4" fluke in ghost green color on a 4/0 wide gap hook, thrown on a Diawa AridX 7" spinning rod with an old Rapala Spider spinning reel with 8lb mono. I caught 4 dinks...Smallmouth in the 8-10 inch range. They hit very aggressively. Not what I was looking for, but fun none the less. I switched over to a Caustic Jerky J (4' in black with gold flakes). That got me a couple of 1 1/2 pounders and one smallie that was a solid 2 1/2 or 3. Then the bite shut down. I tried several other baits with no luck. I packed up and moved to another location. When I got there I started with the last bait I had tired at the previous location, which was a Mepps spinner with a silver blade and a white feather dressing. On my second cast, I thought I had snagged...the lure just stopped dead. I gave it a jerk to pop it free and to my surprise it started swimming. I worked the fish for a few minutes and saw that I was into a good sized Musky. I was still using the spinning combo with 8 lbs mono, so I figured the odds of me landing the fish were slim to none but when I got the fish close I could see I had hooked it in the corner of the mouth, so it could not bite me off. The fish did several more runs with me gently playing it. I finally managed to get it to the bank, and I was lucky enough to have a fishing buddy show up with a large net. He got the fish into the net, and just as he lifted it up the lure popped out of its mouth. Anyway, we admired the fish and measured it....42 inches on the nose. I revived it and watched it swim away none the worse for wear. A check of my spinner showed he had bent out two of the three legs of the treble hook. I am amazed I landed that fish. After catching my breath and regaining my composure, I fished for another half hour or so and managed 2 more decent smallies on a fluke (white/silver), and a couple more 1 pounders on a wacky rigged worm on a drop shot set up. That ended my day. Altogether a pretty good day.

OK, you have seen your Moby Dick. <G>

Katie... As always I am in awe of both your writing skills and your fishing skills. And I totally understand how it is difficult to create an artistic photo. I get so frustrated by the fact that I can see what I want to do in a photo in my minds eye, but I am almost completely unable to translate that into a real photo. I have to settle for what I call "newspaper photos"...as in they are usually clear, focused, very boring and look like a million other similar photos. But as Brian said, I can keep the pictures in my minds eye, and they are always great there.

I love the HJ. It is killer jerk bait for bass in warm or cold water. It is easy to cast on a spinning rig, and not bad to cast on a baitcaster. I often replace the hooks with a slightly larger size as I find that give me better hook ups and also makes the bait suspend ...or actually sink very slowly...a bit better As a bonus, it is also great for Walleye and Musky or Plke. The x-rap is also a good bait, but I have had more success with the HJ, and the price is a little easier to handle.

I fish deep diving crankbaits from shore in water that is 8' or less often. I find that the deep diving cranks snag LESS than one that runs at "correct" depth. I think that is because the deeper diving crank runs "bill down" therefor deflects off rocks and snags instead of dragging the hooks directly into the snag. As mentioned, you will wear the bills out doing this, but it is worth it.

Really nice fish. And you are SO close to 1400 for the year. I am excited for you.

I will apply peer pressure---hell, I will flat out SHAME someone who is littering. I alway start out being nice and asking them to clean up, but if that fails I will become much more insistent. There is NO excuse for an adult to litter. If it is a young person, or group of youngsters, I offer to help and start picking the litter up. With kids, setting an example is more successful than berating them.

So the lure must be one of those 3 foot long display lures, right?

We have a large Lockheed Martin plant here in Owego NY. My brother owns a precision machine shop, and doe some one-off work for them, Maybe I can get him to put in a good word for you (G).

Fish it as a twitch bait (cast, let it sit, twitch it gently once or twice, let it sit again. Repeat). Or, retrieve it like a shallow crankbait...fast, slow, variable retrieve. Or, fish it like a jerkbait. All these retrieves work depending on the mood of the fish. It is a good bait to troll.....you can change the depth it trolls at by adding splitshot sinkers a foot or so up the line from the lure. No matter how I am fishing it, i use a snape ring to connect to the lure. I think that allows the lure to have better action.

There was an older gentleman I used to see now and then fishing from a kayak. One day I watched him load it into his truck bed. He had mounted a small electric winch on a mount in the front of his truck bed. It was on a quick release mount so he could take the winch out when he wanted to use the truck bed for other uses. Anyway, he would get the kayak near the be back of the truck, toss a blanket on the tailgate, hook the winch cable to the bow cliip of the kayak, and just winch the kayak in. It seemed to work well for him. I only saw him do that the one time.