Jonn Graham

Checked out the site................wow! I plan to order one or two of the prints. Thanks for passing it along.

Backreeling RULES!!! Drags suck!

I guess I will have to add Kinkaid Lake to my list of places to fish in four or five years.

The Central Illinois boys have had to change their meeting site. We will now be meeting at the Heyworth library. Heyworth is located just a few miles south of Bloomington on Rt 51. The meeting will start at 6:30 with an awesome antique lure discussion given by Steve White from St. Louis. Steve has one of the biggest collections in the country. We will no longer be offering free pizza due to the change of scenery. Here are the directions to the library: Go South on 51 from Bloomington to Heyworth exit on right to stop sign--turn left on rt. 136 to the flashing red lite--stop and go straight on 136 two blocks to buchanan street--turn left on buchanan go two to stop sign on main street. turn right and the library is second building on the right--entrance is in the back and park on the left side. That ought to get you there. Coming from the south--exit right--turn right to lite. See you soon.

When it comes to rods/reels, I feel the above posts covered the subject like a wet blanket. When it comes to line, give McCoy Mean Green a try. While all line does twist on occassion, this stuff seems to be the most anti-twist line I have ever used. I know Strictly Fishing in Plainfield carries it and GAT may carrry it as well. jonn

Thanks all! Schad: Pictures of you holding fish are so rare, the ones that I do have are bringing big $$$$$ on e-bay even though they are not centered!

Eric: I plan to be your company for at least one day!

I plan to continue my experimentation with the new plastic swimmin' frogs. Tried them last year and did have a couple of nice afternoons throwing this bait. I like the fact that you can throw and buzz it across the top of the water like a pure topwater, or you can let it sink inches under the surface and pull it that way. So far, both ways have worked for smallies. Right now I prefer the Sizmic frog due to their choice of sizes.

I usually carry at least three in my canoe.l A 5'9" light casting outfit A 6'3" medium spinning outfit A 6' light action spinning oufit Though I have many, I don't like carrying longer rods on a river float trip. Every so often I will carry a fourth rod and point it out the back of my boat. jonn

William: Nice fish and better pics.

Here is a 20 incher I caught on the 1st of September. 3 inch tube

Don: Narrowing it down to three is tough, but here are mine: 4 inch slider worm rigged on a spider slider head 3 inch "Hooked up Baits" tube rigged on a Classic Slider head Zoom Super Fluke rigged on a wide gap 3/0 hook

winter: float n fly suspending jerkbait tube spring: tube four inch grub Popper summer: tube Gunfish 95 slider worm fluke fall: hula grub Gunfish 95 jerkbait ooops thats 13 baits. Of course, I listed tube more than once.

Maui Jims are not made in Peoria. I used to think that until I called them and they told me they are just shipped out of Peoria (headquarters).

Turn the lights off in a room and stick a flashlight inside the waders. YOu will find the hole quickly

Here is the other picture. the first pic is an 18 incher caught on the fnf. If you look close you can see the float n fly jig protruding from the fish's mouth. I plan to discuss, in length, the float n fly technique at the blowout.

With all this cold weather, the river temps. have really plummeted. This is the definitely the time to fish the float n fly. I have noticed that when that river temp gets down to the high thirties and low forties, the float n fly normally will out fish all other techniques (provided you have clear water). Above these temps, the float n fly technique is only fair and does not seem to beat a jerkbait, tube, or other small jig worked slowly on or along the bottom. Here are a couple of nice smallies I caught on the float n fly late in November.

I have a pair of costa del mars. Got them on sale at Dick's a year or so ago. $70 bucks I think. They are great.

Try Stamina.

Yah, the weather was great. Glad to hear you had some success with the jerkbait. I caught a few on the x rap yesterday. Matter of fact, they were caught on a custom painted x rap by yours truly. I call it chartreuse shad........pretty cool color combo. Too bad I threw it into a tree after lunch. I will just have to paint another one. take care

Caught quite a few this past weekend. Yesterday was probably the best. Caught 26 smallies. Best fish was around 15 to 16 inches. Friday I did stick a real nice 18.5 incher. Looking forward to the rest of the winter.

Steve: The gloves are not that tight that they cut off circulation. They are just right. They have a velcro tightner on each wrist. Real nice! It will be interesting when it gets colder to see if they can keep my hands warm. I do know one thing, they are easy to fish with.

Mark: I picked up some really nice gloves from wal mart. They are Rocky hunting gloves. They are a lot like baseball batting gloves. I bought them extra small so they would fit tight on my hands. The palms of the gloves seem to have just a slight tack to them. So far, I love them. I think they were around $12. I will post a pic of a smallmouth where I am wearing the gloves. here they are:

I will be speaking at that show.

Check out this link!!! Great looking stuff at prices so low they are basically free!!!1 http://www.swimbait.com/assalt/closeout.htm