Kirtley Howe

Abacus=A becaus(e) I can't count that high on my fingers.

You are on fire. Fantastic day of fishing under less than ideal conditions for you, but apparently not for catching fish.

You can often find widow weights at architectural salvage places, or at building material recycling stores. They are usually about $2.00 each around here.

Short answer......Pros use the lures that work for the conditions. When their sponsors lures do the job, they use them. When the sponsor lures don't work, or don't work as well, they use other lures. But when asked, they only mention their sponsors lures BY NAME, and go generic (spinner bait, crankbait, etc.) when talking about any other lure. To my knowledge, no sponsor forbids a pro from using any lure (that would be counterproductive as they want their sponsored pro to catch as many fish as possible)...they just don't allow them to talk about those lures by NAME.

^This^..and I would add the Mohawk River, the Huson River, and of course, the Susquehanna River. There also a river located in St, Lawrence County called the Grasse River. To me this is one of the most "forgotten" rivers in New York State. Tons of Smallmouth and some Largemouth plus trophy sized Pike and Muskey as a bonus. Tons of shore access, and lots of places that are good for canoe or Kayke fishing. There is also the Delaware River, which is better known for its' Trout fishing and its' seasonal Shad runs, but it is a great fishery for Smallmouth Bass with some Largemouth in the warmer, slower moving areas. The section near Hancock NY has several easy access areas for shore fishing or wading...but be aware of some areas that have special seasons/regulation in place to protect the trout population. Another great stretch is from Narrowsburg to around Port Jarvis. Sorry, that should be the HUDSON river, not the HUSON river. OH, while not technically a river, the New York State Barge Canal is great for both Largemouth and Smallmouth. It has a great deal of shoreline access and also boat and canoe/kayak access.

Man, I would love to do that....but where I live (middle of nowhere, on a hill, surrounded by higher hills) I get zip for TV reception, even with an antenna booster. We don't even get cell phone coverage out here.

My friend Casey just wrote and recorded a new song. It is called "Like John Belushi". I think it is as good, or better than anything currently on the radio. If you like, you can check it out on YouTube. Search for Casey Max, and you will find that song and several others he has done. He does not sell any recordings---he just does it for his own pleasure and for others to enjoy. He does his own production using AI for the video construction. If you check it out, let me know what you think.

Great to hear. I hope you set a new personal best.

For me, an expensive rod is one that costs $60.00. Most of my rods are in the $30.00 to $40.00 range. I am very happy with any of those rods. Are the more expensive rods worth the money? Probably, if you can afford them. I can't so it does not matter to me at all. If someone can afford a $550-$700 rod, good for them. I am sure those who can afford them think (and they are probably correct) that the rods are worth it and are objectively better than my $60.00 or less rods. However, as the great Bill Dance once said. "The fish does not know if you caught it with a $10.00 rod or a $100.00 rod".

I don't know, and I am not sure how you could determine that.

I can only speak from personal experience, but I know that on Cayuga Lake in New York State, both Largemouth and Smallmouth will sometimes spawn in up to 30 feet of water. It is more common with Smallmouth I believe.

New York----Jamie Hartman, from Newport NY... First New York State angler to fish the Bassmaster Elite Series. John Higby...Held the New York State Largemouth Bass record from 1987 to 2024. 11lbs 4oz, caught in his home lake of Buckhorn Lake NY.

Around here everything freezes solid in winter. Someone told me to try ice fishing, so I did. Didn't work for me, my lures just kept bouncing off the surface.

Sure you do. Your brain is covered in scales....er.....surrounded by gills......Oh, never mind, this is coming out all wrong.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss....or at least the source for creativity. And that is not a bad thing.

You have quite the protégé there, Good for him, and good on you.

Have you ever seen JIS screws in reels? I work on motorcycles on occasion and see so many stripped heads on screws because people don't realize the difference between phillips head and JIS head screws. Use a phillips head screwdriver in a JIS screw and you will destroy the screw head in a heartbeat.

I don't know about tightening down the drag that much. I personally never do it. The tightest I ever go is as much as I can tighten the star drag wheel with my fingers. And I seldom even do that...to me there is no point in having a drag if you tighten it down so it does not work. I will crank the drag down with my fingers to pull out a fish buried in the weeds. If I need more power I will just manually pull in the line hand over hand until the fish is either free from the weeds or I can grab it weeds and all.

Which Finger Lake?

My experience is with braid, no more than a couple of feet. With floro maybe 3-4 feet. With mono maybe a couple of yards.

Slightly heavier than their medium light, but not as heavy as there medium rod. Of course. that designation only applies to THEIR series of rods and has nothing to do with any other brand.

In the past (1970 to about 1995) a pro could excel at 3 or 4 techniques and be very successful in tournament fishing, often placing in the top ten and winning more than a few tournaments. As equipment (boats, rods, reels, and accessories (power pools, spot lock trolling motors, etc.) became more common place and the understanding of fish movement and habits became better know and more accurate, things changed. You can do no longer get by with being good at a few techniques and expect to be consistently competitive. A pro who only excels in a few can (and sometimes do) win, but they most likely will be in the bottom 50 rather than the top 50. It is true that some pros (Kevin Van Dam, Jacob Wheller and the like) seem to have an innate ability to find active fish. Some of that is just their nature, but most of it is experience and time on the water, and the willingness to adapt and do things outside their comfort zone if necessary to catch fish. Your average fisherman will tend to rely more on past results, or stick to a comfortable technique longer than they should whereas the pro will change and adapt much more quickly. At least that is how I think it is......On any given day I could POSSIBLY out fish a pro, but doing that for 3 or 4 days in a row as most tournaments are, is about as likely as me being able to levitate.

Katie,,,,,,when I read this, the first thought that crossed my mind is that it would make a great entry line to a series of stories kind of like Stephen Kings' "The man in black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed" in the Dark Tower books. I can envision an ongoing series with you writing a new one every few weeks. Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the thread.

I do believe that after your eye heals up from your surgery, with the prime time fall fishing coming up, you could easily hit a 2000 fish year. Your results so far this year are amazing. You are looking at a 2000 fish year, and I am hoping for a 200 fish year. You are still an inspiration to all of us on this site.

I don't normally say anything. The only time I say something is when I am near another angler and am concerned about our lines crossing. In that case I will say "Fish On" followed by "coming your way" or "going away from you".