Norm M

Mark , No offense taken and none implied . I was just in a mood to offer up some of my observations gained from years on the water . I should have made them under a seperate post so they could have been taken in the spirit I intended . I know the confidence thing has been beat to death by writers over the years but it has truly helped me since I developed it .

The most irrelevant things I post are giving Don Rego or Joz some raspberries from time to time .

9 years , 4 months and 7 days to go

Land sakes , how does a guy get close to cracking the top 20 most active posters in less than a year ? I going to have to start fishing more when I get home from work at midnight .

Some random thoughts on being successful at catching big fish . Time on the water has a lot to do with it but only if you make good use of it . Learning from every experience good or bad , learning how to translate book learning[books , magazines, videos , internet , etc.] into on the water knowledge , seeing , learning and remembering as much of the flow as possible , identifiying spots that will be productive at different times of the year while fishing year round all play into it . Being observant and aware of the natural cues and signs including noticing what certain plants and/or animals are doing when you are doing well helps you to not only have success but to repeat your success . Things like noticing over the years that when the herons are active so are the fish . Paying attention to how local climatic conditions can affect your water and learning how to adapt to them also plays a role . Learning as much as you can about the fish you pursue while remembering that they will still do the unexpected as no one will ever know it all ,learning as much as you can about the other species they interact with with the same caveat , learning as much as you can about how moving water works, trying and perfecting as many techniques as you can than chosing the ones that suit you and your style most effectively also play a role . Realizing that you will never know it all but still striving to learn as much as possible and to try and learn something new as often as possible . Above all developing a sense of confidence that you will catch a fish on every cast and the ability to maintain that feeling no matter what the results have been so far that day .

I catch more big fish from November thru March than the rest of the year , sometimes close to a 2 to 1 margin on twenty inch or bigger fish .

Tim , you were fishing with the right guy for sure . He really knows his stuff and has a lot of ideas that challenge your thought process . If Phil can't find the fish down it that neck o the woods you are prolly better off cutting the grass .

Get that sleep apnea checked out Brendan , I was asked by the docs if I had any , said it could lead to diabetes and/or heart trouble . The weird part for me was I had no symptoms of heart trouble , no pain , tightness or shortness of breath all things the docs said should have been there . I ended up with extra tests and a lenghty quiz from a specialist trying to figure out why I didn't . It was finally decided that the diabetes masked the symptoms . I am definitely going to come out better after it is all said and done . Maybe I'll be up to the 14 hour wades again , show that young pup Rego how it's done .

Joz could prolly buy it out of petty cash .

Well , I changed my diet when I was diagnosed with the type 2 diabetes . White sugar and white flour gone . I am walking every day and will start cardiac rehab soon . I plan on starting bike riding again next spring . I have lost 50 lbs since Feburary and fell a lot better . The doc told me that just as my body has become accustomed to the huge amount of wading I do , it also becomes accustomed to how hard you work . They have stressed aerobic exercise over and above the wading . The good thing is that they approved of all the wading , said it was much better than sitting in front of the boob tube . Good news for those of us in the age 50 range . I read an article in the paper that said they have come up with an X Ray technique to check the colon . You wouldn't need the tube slipped up your backside unless they needed to remove polyps . I know I'll be asking about that . The worst of all this I think is knowing I'll be taking meds for the rest of my life , got 8 bottles on my counter counting vitamins and glucosimine for the knees . I go in next week for the follow up and to schedule the next and hopefully last angioplasty . The worst part of that proceedure is having to lay flat on your back for 10-12 hours and not moving the leg on the side they went in . I'm also shaving my arm down where the IV goes , getting all that tape pulled off all that hair hurt a bit . I want to thank everyone for thier thoughts , calls , messages and words of encouragement .

Well the angiogram showed 1 artery with 100% blockage , another with 90% blockage and another with less that will be treated with meds . I got 3 stents put in the one that was completely blocked but it did not open it completely . I go back in a month or so to get the 90% blockage worked on . Part of mt heart was in what they call cardiac hibernation and has scar tissue . Hopefully within 6 weeks I should see some pretty good recovery . I got 3 more scrips today to go along with my diabetes and cholesterol meds , plus I take an asprin a day . I will be doing this for a good long while on some , others the rest of my life . I was told I was lucky I wasn't dead , that will give you a pretty good wakeup call . All I can say is that it is entirely my own fault . I did not take care of myself and I did not get regular checkups which could have caught it much earlier . I owe it all my to my wife who finally convinced me to get checked out . Do yourself a favor and get your health checked and take better care of yourself with your diet , smoking and drinking . The earlier you change your lifestyle and the earlier you catch the potentially life threatening problems the better off you will be .

Steve , Outside of the time of year when spawning overrides all else , the availibility of forage is a major factor . One of the guiding principles in my approach is find the food and you will find the predator .

Steve , I think the photoperiod has more to do with it than the water temps . The biggest smallies are the ones leading the move toward the wintering areas . The smaller and medium sized fish[more than I expected] are the ones still hanging toward the summer areas . Today was a good example of that . All of the quality fish I caught were in or near wintering areas . Some of them were feeding on cobblestone/ boulder flats in a little faster water that was close to the spot where I get them in coldwater . All of the smallies I got in the more traditional summer spots were not as large . It was interesting that the crankbait/rattlebait bite was nonexistant today in all areas . The only thing that worked was a weighted keeper hook with a 5 inch twister retrieved very slowly with long pauses . All of the bites were extremely light and you had to drop the rod and give them time to fully commit . Fast water , slow water deep or shallow , big fish , small fish all wanted the same thing . So much for a feeding frenzy of highly aggressive fish . It just goes to show , we will prolly never completely understand everything about these fish . You know though , I really don't think I would want to know all there is to know , kinda take the joy out of it .

Mark , Right now everything depends on whats happens with the angiogram tommorrow . Hopefully the blockage can be cleared with a balloon and possibly a stent . If not then it's prolly heart surgery and major time on the injured reserve list . Hopefully you were running with the elite group as I heard one guy from the Score describe them .

Tim , On my flow some smallies have eased toward wintering spots and some are still in summer spots . With the increased water clarity some of the fish have shifted to low light feeding , while others have moved to deeper and/or faster water . In areas with heavy moss buildup there has been a tendency for them to feed up and chase fish more than crawdads , prolly due to the fact that the moss interferes with thier ability to forage effectively on the bottom . Depending on the options availible to the fish in your flow and the size of the flow , I would start with the deepest water in the small flows and tend toward the faster water in the larger flows and make adjustments in location from there . Fast shallow , slow shallow , fast deep , slow deep , with a check of the midsection of the flow for fish feeding up . Of course if the water comes way up than it's checking the highwater spots with big spinnerbaits and bulky plastics that push the water . If the fish in your flow are currently in thier summer haunts the first cold snap won't move all of them at once . I would still check but prolly with a fast and very agressive approach and then a slow subtle approach in the highest percentage spots . After that I would tend to start fishing the cold water areas throughly .

Mark , Grab the ultralight , a Thill mini stealth float , bb shot , size 10-12 hooks, bee moth or red worms catch a dozen chubs and put them in the bucket . Sometimes a small white rooster tail spinner really gets the big chubs . Grab your regular gear and catch some pigs on the chubs .

Actually what we call ourselves is smart enough to have moved west of the Wabash .

As far as I'm concerned the most important time frame is however long it takes to have the right attitude . You must get to the point where you believe you are going to catch a fish on every cast and be able to sustain that attitude on every cast no matter the result of the previous cast . If you start with the attitude I probably not going to catch anything , it soon becomes a self fulling prophecy . Once the fishing starts and you catch a fish I can't really say that any one part of the fight is more important than another . If you screw up at any point you have still lost the fish . Just a crotchety old farts point of view .

I heard that it will still be illlegal to wade within 100 feet of any bridge though .

Jeff , Crankbaits are the lure I start with and are my primary tool for catching smallies . Hooking a fish in multiple locations happens quite often . I have also been thinking about that since I read the article in the paper . Mashing down the barbs would help making the release easier but I don't think it will do anything about multiple hooking of the fish . I am thinking about bending the bottom hook on the treble closed and looking to see what effect that has . I don't want cut it off as that may affect the balance of the lure . It may well come down to changing how I fish entirely by switching entirely to single hook lures such as single spins , swim baits and plastic jerks on an EWG Gammie in addition to jigs/soft plastics . I got away from fishing tubes a lot as they had a tendency to get swallowed deeper than other types of plastics I use .

From last Friday's Kankakee Daily Journal in an article by Bill Byrns A University of Illinois researcher , Cory Suski determined that 4 minutes was about the maximum time a fish could handle the stress of C&R fishing . He recommends that anglers minimize the amount of time it takes to land a fish , including taking a picture and getting it back in the water . His research is availible online in the journal Comparative Biochemical and Physiology Part A . The newspaper article states it will be published in an upcoming issue . Mr Suski conducted the research on bonefish but said the results apply to other gamefish . The study also found that warmer water can increase the amount of time a fish needs to recover . One stressor is expending a lot of energy when it's reeled in and more stress comes from measuring and photos . If the catching lasts a long time it puts additional stress on the fish . Mr Suski likens it to a runner in a sprint , afterward the runners heart rate and breathing may return to normal fairly quickly but the lactate buildup takes much longer to return . He said that 4 hours is sufficient for bonefish to return to baseline values . After reading this , I am even more convinced that using heavier tackle and landing the fish as soon as possible is the way to go . As is well known , I have a thing about cameras so not taking photos any more is not a problem . However from this day forth , I will strive to release each fish with a minimum of handling including not taking it out of the water if possible . I am also taking the tape measure out and leaving it at home , no more measuring fish either . For me at least , how big a fish is will no longer be important , just enjoy the fact that I caught a nice sized fish and let it go at that .

Joeseph , I really don't think that one way or the other is superior , just different as you say . It was just a way to phrase the question . If my life ever gets back to normal , I may look into the lessons . Mike , My wife said she gets 75% of the action from any video . You better have a tripod as I believe it's hard to focus a camera while rolling on the ground and laughing so hard it brings tears to your eyes .

I readily admit that I don't know much about flyfishing . From my observations fishing along side those that do flyfish it is obvious that they have an advantage in being able to hit a spot again quicker than I can . It seems me me though that I have an advantage in that I can cover the different parts of the water column more efficiently than they can . Any thoughts on this would be appreciated especially from anyone who is adept at both .

Tried lock tight bolts , the signpost and all disappeared . In most of the cases where the signs are gone the post also disappeared . I put up close to fifty of the big yellow signs for the IDNR by myself with the smallie and walleye regs on them , about 30 are left .

Excellent Jonn , excellent .