Mike G

44. Buck asked, “Does a fisherman put a jig on the minnow; or does he put a minnow on the jig?” E.L. Buck Perry

I don't know if the fish can tell Goldenrods from Milfoil. Weeds is weeds. Since they provide nutrients and cover for food, the bass will move in. This is one more reason to have weedless lures and flies in your bag of tricks,.

A man once asked Diogenes what was the proper time to fish, and he made answer, "If you are a rich man, whenever you please; and if you are a poor man, whenever you can.” Diogenes

You do nice work, Colt. This is deja vu all over again. The first spinning rod I build close to 60 years ago was based on a 3 piece 8.5 ft HDH blank cut down to 7 ft by trimming the butt. I used a Herter's Browntone fiberglass blank. A big name in spinning at the time was Ernie StClaire who promoted this Wavecaster spinning rod. It featured extra large guides and a Tenessee grip-still the most comfortable grip IMHO. The resulting rod was "parabolic" and handled 1/16 to 3/8 oz lures nicely. The original blank "fatigued" and suffered a broken tip. No matter, using the same guides, I built another one on a new Herter's blank. BTW It cost about $10 for the new blank. I still have the rod but prefer the action of these new fangled carbon rods for everyday fishing.

In another category, on spinning tackle Fireline was a noisy line to me when I first used it. I got used to the noise and enjoyed greater distance since the diameter per pound test is less than 1/2 that of mono. I saw no signs of line or guide wear that would come from friction. Patrick seems to have had the same experience. The question is whether the extra $$ are worth it. They were with Fireline on spinning gear. BTW I like the comparision with dimples on a golf ball. No matter what the ball looks like, keep your head down. You have to hit the ball first.

Too bad Diogenes never found you. His search would have been over. Reminds me. Just last Tuesday, my cast looped over an branch about 10 ft above the water. The lure came to rest on the water. As I reeled in, just as the lure was lifting off of the water, an 18" Largemouth engulffed it. But that was no accident. I threw the lure over the limb on purpose Here it is.

I never caught a fish by accident, nor did any of my fishing expertise come by accident; it came by work. Plato

Norm, that sounds like what Buck sed about controls-Depth,Speed, Size, Color, Action in descending order. Specifically about color Buck sed,"If you have a favorite color, use it!" And,"Bright day, light lure; Dark day, dark lure." Buck was not one to get wrapped around the axel about specific colors. I will get back on what Lefty sez if he does not chime in first.

I don't see a show on the calendar. Did I miss something?

test

But the dull lures are not in brisk demand because the buyer prefers a product which appeals to his own eye. He thinks the fish will like it because he likes it. This is a poor fishing logic in every way except: the confidence a favored lure gives to the angler in using it. Faith can move mountains and it has more to do with the success of individual lures than almost any fisherman realizes. Ray Bergman, Fresh-Water Bass

Nice one Ryan. The shoot out that is going around on this site may never conclude what the fisherman on the street should do--lay off or go for the kill. On the one hand, seems like they will die no matter what we do. On the other hand, they will live no matter what we do.

Should we bting ear plugs for Jude's Dynamite demonstration?

This thread and the other one are "heads ups." There's still most of August one of our hottest months if not the hottest month. And prospects for rain are poor. So there is still time for Smallmouths to die. I am glad some of you are optimistic. Me not so much. Though it is not enough for me to stop fishing, I will be on my good behavior when it comes to C&R practices and watch for other warning signs."

Ken, A little while back, I made a post similar to yours. http://illinoissmallmouthalliance.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9725 Responses were similar even down to Terry wanting to get a shot at some of those fish in a barrel. Problem is that we are trying to have a trout discussion with bass fishermen. Trout are more sensitive to water temps above 70; likewise, trout fishermen are more sensitive to the conditions. This is about the time of year when trout sites begin to carry posts that ask anglers to refrain from fishing western rivers like the Yellowstone due to high water temps and fish in a barrel conditions. The Michigan DNR is reporting Pike kills in some rivers in the Lower Peninsula. The brown bass and the green bass are both tough customers compared to trout and pike in hot water. Their weakness is cold water. No SMs or LMs in Alaska. Lots of pike and trout. Maybe we do not need to worry about the fish right now, bass, that is. I will let it go at this. You are not the only one who wonders if there is a problem coming or already here. And please send me the GPS co-ordinates for those fish in a barrel.

To some degree it matters what party a fish belongs to, but it matters more how much pressure they're under from the public. Noam Chomsky

Clouser's rule of thumb for Bass Poppers: "The gap should be as wide as the popper body diameter; and the shank should be twice as long as the body." (I suppose one would use width for a square head like a blockhead.) When I make poppers this way they just look right.

I would be delighted to meet these genglemen. Please introduce them.

I am restringing my dad's old Ukulele. Now I see that I have to choose between Nylon and Flourocarbon strings. Any thoughts appreciated.

"Life without fish has no meaning.” Arthur Schopenhauer Schopenhauer=What your wife does when she says, "I'm just going out for a few minutes to get some things at Target."

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEFTY-KREH-2012-ALLEN-GINTER-FRAMED-MINI-AUTO-AUTOGRAPH-SP-/400311028503?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item5d34658b17

We have water temps in the mid 80s. We have extremely low water conditions. Some places report fish kills. We know smallmouths like temps between 65 and 75. We know low water concentrates large numbers offish in small areas. Therefore our fish are very vulnerable-stressed by temps and hungry due to limited food supplies. They are both easy to catch and easy to hurt. When should we start taking precautions to deal with these extreme conditions? What would they be?

Thus we see that it may readily happen, that a man may easily think too highly of his fishing prowess, or a loved fishing rod, and, contrariwise, too meanly of a golf club. This feeling is called pride, in reference to the man who thinks too highly of himself, and is a species of madness, wherein a man DREAMS WITH HIS EYES OPEN, thinking that he can catch any fish that fall within the scope of his conception, and thereupon accounting this real, and exulting in this, so long as he is unable to conceive anything which excludes its existence, and determines his own power of action. Baruch Spinoza

Never heard of it, though I have heard of things like it. On a famlous salmon river in Maine there is a well known holding pool where the anglers line up to take turns. By gentleman's agreement, each angler gets 5-10 minutes to fish the hole before the next guy steps in. That's a five minute rule. Nobody ownes the hole; and this way everyone gets a shot at it in a reasonable amount of time. Obviously the guy blindsided you with a rule that does not exist on the waters you were on. Next time find out where he is from. PS he was nice because as noted a lot of others would have started fishing right next to you.

http://adventureblog.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/24/ultimate-adventure-bucket-list-video-kayak-over-a-waterfall/ On the Red Fox show, old Iron Jaws used to say, "Yeah. Can you do dis?"