Mike G

F&S Top 50 Don't let this question be answered by comparison to how mant pairs of shoes is enough. Lures cost about 5- 15 dollars these days. Shoes cost at least 10 times as much. If you make that tradeoff you loose the battle. As the discussion of Ockham brought, out there are different lures for different conditions. The 5 or 10 lures, that I carried into the Quetico long ago, might not cut it today. Here'an article naming a top 50 Lures of All Time. How many do you have? What do you think. Here's the list in one place: Twister Tail on Ball Jig Daredevle Spinnie Rapala Mepps Aglia Johnson Silver Minnow Slug-Go Zara Spook Berkly Power Worm Original Gitzit Flatfish Storm WildEye Swimbait Rat-L-Trap Terminator T-1 Spinnerbait Gibbs Pencil Popper Needlefish Kastmaster Krocodile Little Cleo Lucky Craft Flashminnow Rooster Tail Panther Martin Cordell Red Fin Swedish Pimple Blue Fox Foxee Jig Rebel Pop-R K.O. Wobbler FoodSource Minnow Zoom Trick Worm Rapala Shad Rap Yamamoto Senko Hopkins Shorty Phoebe Lucky Craft Splash-Tail 90 Al's Goldfish Hot Shot Williams Wabler Hula Popper Jitterbug Stanley Flat Eye Jig Teeny Torpedo Bagley Balsa B Mann's 1-Minus Berkley Bat Wing Frog Hula Grub Snag Proof Frog Lunker Lure Buzzbait Culprit Tassel Lizard Uncle Josh Pork Frog Mepps Muskie Killer Castaic Trout

“Fishing is not preparation for life; fishing is life itself.” John Dewey

If you can get your hands on the old instruction sheet that used to come with a Flatfish, you will see that that is exactly what Charles Helin recommended for casting his plug including the slow retrieve. That was also the recommended way to fish the original Rapala when it came out. (Instructions on the box.) So I suspect a lot of people have done it. Tangles, yes, especially with the hook spreaders that adorned the Flatfish. A friend used to joke that he got a tangle on two out of three casts, but on the third cast he caught a fish. While we may think of these plugs as shallow water or surface baits, the original idea was to get them down and fish them slow.

Paracord Store Looks like a good material for Super Wonder Worms, Rich.

Lots of places sell the cord. The problem is what color.

Besides leaders there is more on the table - like flies, lines, backing, reels, and rods for a beginner at Smallmouth fishing in lakes. That is a big bite to tackle here. There is an ISA fly show coming up soon where you can get a lot of questions answered. BTW join ISA if you are not a member. If you are a member, there is a terrific article on tying Bass leaders in a recent edition of the bulletin.

So now you tell me about not trimming. It is a great material. I would really like to try the red. It seems perfect for the Red and White. The gold and silver look good too. I have the Night Fire and Chocolate from Terry. Is anyone interested in a swap? I'll buy the red. You buy another color and we swap yard for yard. That way no one has to get stuck with a full 110 yard skein. Next there is taking pictures; background is important. I use the Same Fun Foam sheets that I use for flies. Just lay them on top or clip the foam to an easel behind the vise. I usually shoot with natural light instead of flash. Nobody compiains. ]

The Ptrime Motivator Motivation exists. One action is motivated by something else which in turn is motivated by something else, and so on. However, there cannot be an infinite string of motivated motivators. Therefore there must exist an Unmotivated Motivator. This Prime Motivator is called Fishing. St. Thomas Aquinas

The three way or Wolf River Rig comes to mind. Pencil shaped weights are said not to snag as much. Use lighter line on the dropper with the weight. Fishing downstream as Norm suggests has a lot of advantages including the tight line that keeps you in control of the bait.

Mike, I figured they would. Ag is business, and business is jobs. Anybody against jobs? That brings us to the the crux of the problem. The fishers and the farmers should be friends to paraphrase Okalhoma. But they are far apart. Restricting AG is restricting one of the few going industries we have in the state. So we fishers can spend our time COMPLAINING IN UPPERCASE or get down to figuring it out. By figuring it out I mean accepting that there is a big lump of special interest behind agribusiness. They are used to fielding complaints by our friends in PETA and other tree huggers. So they are not going to cave in when we get dewy eyed about a few fish. To get their attention some serious economic value has to be shown. The Ag folks are businessmen afterall.

Great stuff. Now I see some hope for reviving the SA.

Thanks for the good news, Mike. Where lawyers are reconed, two and a half years is a short time from event to settlement. Looking at the case, I suspect that it was so open and shut that even their lawyers could not find a dodge. I am glad to hear they paid the penalty, but prevention is the way to go. We need some help from the Department of Agriculture there.

You shoot Carp?

It looks like a good one Terry. Get this one on the calendar too. I need all the paper memory I can get since my other one isn't what it used to be. While I am on the topic of the calendar, The Rockford Boat and Outdoor Show is at the Sportscore on Feb. 17-19 2012. Though it seems we won't have a booth there, it is good information for our calendar.

Back to basics. What do you need the boat for? Can one do the job? What is your budget? How much will you use the boat? Optimize from there keeping in mind that used is going to be more economical though new may be better if you anticipate a lot of use.

To be is to fish. (Esse est piscari.) Bishop George Berkeley (Don't confuse him with the inventor of the Power Worm.) Here's the KISS. It is a lot simpler to think of yourself as the act of fishing instead of some mysterious thing that hangs in the background experiencing fishing. Who needs the ghost?

Since we seem to be building a mountain out of a mole hill here, I will repeat my original request with emphasis added: “All I ask for is a general location.” Location is one of the entries made on the profile page. Of course the burden is on the user to type in the information. A simple entry here should take care of in state, out of state, and out of country. Examples: Rockford, IL Nome AK Berlin, DE Of course the burden is on the user to make the entry. I don’t want to add another job for our officers and moderators. Adding a region to the profile is too big of an undertaking to consider now. Though when it comes to regions, “Northwest is best!”

Our pleas seem to be going unheeded. Maybe we can make it simpler so folks don't feel too burdened. The one thing I would like to see on each profile is the person's location. I do not care a lot about age, profession, etc. But location would really help in interpreting the information. Say a member reports warm water and hot surface action. Without a location I can't tell if those conditions are current in Rockford or Carbondale or somewhere in between. All I ask for is a general location.

lots of colors out there. Add black/gold, solid black, blue, green, red, and copper to your list. Gilt Eyelash But wait there's more named after our favorite Ex-Con. Martha

A while back Terry Dodge introduced me to flashy stuff a.k.a. Gilt Eyelash. I have used it on a number of flies. Recently I saw this in Jay Fullum's new book. He's using gilt eyelash. I guess it is catching on. I do like Fullum's idea of trimming the strands to size if they come out too bushy. But no matter what, Terry had it first

Rich, Which came first, the Pig Boat or the Swim Jig? It is good to see you looking into the riches of the past. The original Pig Boat dates from around 1950. Your thought is right in tune with the success I have had with The Homer Rhodes Streamer (c. 1900) and Lefty's Bug (c. 1955). There are some great old flies out there that deserve more attention. They get overlooked as we chase the latest and greatest. In a way Craig Reindeau's Hairy Fodder is a descendant of Nixon's creation. Just as Nixon incorporated the rubber skirt of the Hawaian Wiggler into the Pig Boat, Craig used the silicon skirt of the Spinnerbait on the Fodder and worked in a rattle, dumbell eyes, and bunny fur to boot. That is a great hybrid. I pushed it further with the Swim Jig Fodder subbing gilt eyelash for the bunny fur. BTW a few years ago, I merged the marabou of the Wooly Bugger with the rubber strands of the Pig Boat into one fly. I called the result the Wooly Boat to avoid using a X rated combination. As for your question about my fly of the year, right now I intend to perfect my act with foam poppers like Lefty's Bug and Clouser's EZ Pop. I am going to see if a coat of Epoxy improves their performance. I will also be working on using my grandson's BLOCO cylinders for making the same bugs. Pictures to come.

According to Xenophon, Zeno became fustrated that his fly never reached the bass. He gave up fly fishing and took up archery. The results were similar. His arrow, halving the distance to the target each second, never reached the target. Given lemoni, he made lemoni ade. He published the results of his experiment as Zeno's Paradox and has been famous ever since. Not bad for a guy that couldn't cast 60 feet.

Zeno's False Casts Zeno is fly casting to a Smallmouth 60 feet away. When he begins false casting, the fly is 30 feet from the bass. Each false cast cuts the distance from the fly to the fish in half. How many false casts will it take till the fly reaches the fish? Editor's note: This ancient riddle clearly shows that the ancient Greeks invented fly fishing.

OK you used the G--- word. I think the comparison is a good one, however. A G--- pro once explaned to me that there are two basic ways to grab a club. With the "ham sandwich" one holds the club like a baseball bat, two fisted. It is the worst grip for golf and would be the same for holding a rod. With a good grip, whether you ovelap or interlock, the club is gripped mainly with the fingers. It would look like the trigger grip. After this discussion I may try the 3 point grip. I have seen golfers use it for putting.

No sooner said... I found this unfinished version on Barlow's site for $5. A creative person could start here. Lte's see. Shave some lead off the head, remove a few spreader wires, use flies or lighter soft baits on the spreaders... http://www.barlowstackle.com/Casting-Umbrella-Rig-Lure-Head-Unpainted-P2538C242.aspx Of course, if you are good with pliers, you could get a coil of .041 stainless wire from Barlows and go from there.