ButchA

It's behind me in the kayak. The James River in VA is like 4-5 feet deep anyway...

Cayman 124 fishing kayak (was my late bro-in-law's kayak) and my sister gave it to me after he passed. I keep everything just as it was, and even named it RIPJACK on the front bow sides.

Exactly.... I ordered these from Jann's Netcraft and the pliers are fantastic! You have 3 different sizes of loops to use for closing the wire. https://www.jannsnetcraft.com/round-bend-wire-pliers

Thanks, everyone.... If you have the supplies, etc... parts, pieces, etc.... Jann's Netcraft, whatever, etc... Feel free to duplicate what I have done. I swear to you, straight up, on my mother's soul... That very second cast I made out into the James River from a boat launch pier, and BAM! A smallmouth bass nailed the lure that I created, based on an idea that I had in my head. Wow.... Just, wow... 😎

Holy cow, designing your own variation of the legendary Mepps Aglia inline spinner, and catching a (very small) but nice Smallmouth Bass on it, is the most rewarding experience! I took a common #3 brass French spinner blade, and cut a tiny sliver of prism tape, and taped it vertically straight down the blade. What the heck, you know? It might work, it might not. It was a crazy idea, so I decided to go for it, and add it. WELL, IT WORKED! 😎 My second cast off the pier, and BAM!!! A small, maybe 6-7" long little Smallmouth Bass chomped on it, and I reeled him in. I (obviously) tossed him back in to grow some more... 4" closed eye wire shaft #6 treble hook w/ red tubing Lower body section (Mepps copy) 1 brass bead Upper body section (Mepps copy) Size 2 clevis and #3 brass French spinner blade (w/ 1/4" prism tape piece) 1 brass bead on top.

I made this Firetiger colored spinnerbait yesterday. The two different size willow leaf spinners work pretty good too.

I have a genuine, classic, S&W Mod 36, J frame, .38 special snubnose, that I carry in a Desantis IWB holster almost every time I leave my house. "It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it".

I had a small kindergarten boy (serious attitude issues) come up on my bus, reach over and try to punch me! 😲 Naturally, I still have a quick instinct and "saw it coming", and blocked it with my arm. I immediately radioed into the county school system, about what happened. They pulled the onboard video recording of the incident, and next thing I knew, the little boy was gone from my bus... I found an ice pick once from a high school bus run, in a.. not so nice.. neighborhood. That particular time, I did NOT notify the county schools, and simply took the ice pick home. Want more stories? Pffffffttttt... I could write a book after 12 years driving a school bus!

I know I am a relative newcomer to this forum, but I just wanted to share some aspects about careers, life in general, growing older, looking forward to retiring, etc... CAREER: 1) US Coast Guard. Yes, I served in the Coast Guard as a Yeoman (desk jockey - somebody had to do all the paperwork!), and retired after a full career. 2) I used my computer skills, etc... and migrated into the I.T. industry after retirement. Unix servers, database programming, etc... ------------------------ Sadly, things took a turn for the worse, as I grew older, way way more experienced, salary compensated, etc... (you know what that means!) BINGO... The I.T. industry saw me as a "dinosaur" as they did many others like me. They sort of phased me out, laid me off with a comfortable severance package, etc... and proceeded to hire a young 23, 24 yr old kid fresh out of college, who would work for next to nothing (you know what I mean). ------------------------- 3) I tried and TRIED in vain to get back into I.T. and couldn't do it... So I had to swallow my pride, re-invent myself as the saying goes, and say "F You" to the I.T. Industry... I took a 180° turn, got my CDL Class-B, and approached the public school systems, as a school bus driver. Sha-zam... I was in, and started all over again from scratch. 12 years later, with what sanity I have left.... Enough is enough... I am now 63 years old, a gray haired grandpa, and can't do this sh** anymore.... The kids on my school bus are downright AWFUL and the parents think they would do no wrong (Ha!) and the schools won't offer support. So, I'm done.... I'm totally done, and retiring at the end of this school year. US Coast Guard Retirement Pension -- $$$$ Social Security (early - 63) -- $$$ School Bus/Transportation Pension -- $$$ When you add it all up... It's not too bad to be "triple dipping" as the saying goes! I want to go full time, all out, go-for-broke, with a small home based, custom fishing lure business, designing and modifying my own bass fishing lures, for a little pocket change, a little gas money, etc... you know?

Thank you, guys... I guess we're all pretty much in agreement with choosing this line with this reel, that matches the weight of the rod and/or overall setup. 100 gazillion manufacturers of fishing line in all assorted types, styles, weight/poundage, etc... I keep a spool of Hi Viz yellow on my dad's old Garcia Conolon Kingfisher w/ my old mid 60's Garcia Mitchell 304 reel, as you never know if you run into a situation where the lake or river or pond is all muddy or dingy from the previous day's heavy rain.

Here's a random question that just popped into my head... Do you stick with Stren? Do you switch to Spiderwire? Berkley Trilene? etc... etc... on various rods 'n reels and various weight pounds? Monofilament? Fluorocarbon? Braided? I run everything from 4# Stren (clear blue) on my UL Eagle Claw crappie pole.... All the way to 12# Berkley Vanish on my father's legendary Med/Heavy Tri-Sport T32 rod/reel from 1968, for heavy duty Stripers in Lake Anna, VA. My favorite is my Daiwa 212 light action rod w/ Daiwa 7250RLA spinning reel, is spooled with 6# (max) Sufix fluorocarbon in a low-viz green. Anyone else run various name brands in assorted weight pounds?

Incredible posts on here... Incredible, jaw dropping, photos of lures... Wow!!! Confession: I started out in the 70's with Jann's Netcraft. Fast forward all these decades, and I'm still buying supplies from them! I take their stock, OEM, products, but then put my own little twist on it, in order to call it my own, and not just a "generic assembly".

I guess I was brought up seriously "old school" style from my dad... Rod: right hand. Reel: left hand. I guess it's why I just never got into baitcasters and the like. I can't reel in with my right hand, it just doesn't work. Believe me, I've tried. An old fishing buddy even loaned me one of his backup rod/reel setups, and I had to reverse everything: Rod-lefthand, Reel-righthand. It messed me up!

I too have been making lures (got started as a teenager back in the 70's), and made everything from Mepps Aglia (clones) to jighead spinners to buzzbaits and spinnerbaits. So much fun, so much creativity! I learned, rather quickly, that a little goes a long way, with regards to beads and a particular willow leaf blade (or two).

Lake Anna? Wow... Memories! I used to have my dad's old 1975 Glastron speedboat w/ 165hp Mercruiser I/O, and would go up to Lake Anna and take my daughters tubing. Other times, a buddy would get with me, and we'd take a day and go out on the ol' Glastron, and go fishing in some of the coves above the 208 bridge.

Here's my dad's early 70's Abu Garcia Conolon light action rod paired with my mid 60's Garcia Mitchell 304 that he fixed up for me when I was a kid.... So many wonderful memories of fishing with my dad!

Wow!!! Thank you! I noticed the Garcia Mitchell 304 in your photo! I have one too from the 60's that my dad fixed up and gave to me when I was a kid. I still have it and mounted it on his old Garcia Conolon Kingfisher light action rod.

Good morning... How about seriously "old school"? Vintage? Anyone still have a rod/reel combo from back in the day? Check out my 1968 Berkley Tri-Sport T32 with a Spinmaster Diamond III spinning reel. This was my dad's pride & joy for decades. So many childhood memories of going fishing with him! I just respooled this yesterday with Sufix braided line on a spare spool in the tacklebox.

Wow.... Good morning, Chief, and thank you! 😎

Retired US Coast Guard, Yeoman First Class (E-6). I was one of the many unfortunate souls back in the late 90's who tried and tried to make Chief (E-7), but ended up saying "See ya!" and retired anyway as an E-6.

Greetings everyone! I have seen this website & forum, but had username registration issues at first, and got it fixed. Whew! I look forward to reading more and more from this site. I'm one of those guys who "grew up with a fishing pole in my hand" as the saying goes, always fishing with my dad back in upstate NY and way up in the Adirondacks back in the 60's & 70's. I still have all his stuff, my stuff, and it's 100% vintage, and still works great. I also have a little side-hobby, I guess you could say, where I make buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, Mepps inline spinner (clones), and crankbaits. Been doing that since I was a teenager in the 70's. It's so much fun to be able to catch a smallmouth bass on a lure that you created yourself, you know?