jamie

Mark, It all depends on which safety glasses you are talking about. I'm talking about safety glasses that are made by high end makers. Not some one piece black plastic toss-outs. I'm talking about glasses like ones made by Body Glove and the like. http://www.labsafety.com/store/Safety_Supp..._Glasses/54552/ Not stuff like this. http://www.labsafety.com/store/Safety_Supp..._Glasses/36219/

John, Correct. They are made in Italy, France and Japan.

Don, Good point about the safety glasses for us industrial types! I totally forgot that I have brought out a pair of UVEX glasses that were even better than any of the big money brands. Being industrial safety grade they'd have to perform better. The polarized glasses we have here stop ALL UV (which in UV printing is kind of a must otherwise we'd all be blind in no time) and are polarized. I also like the Body Glove brand that are sold thru Lab Safety. http://www.labsafety.com/store/Safety_Supp..._Glasses/54552/ As well as the Smith & Wesson http://www.labsafety.com/store/Safety_Supp...isredirect=true (I'm thinking THOSE would probably stand up better than anything in the $200 range). I also like the AOsafety brand http://www.labsafety.com/store/Safety_Supp...isredirect=true That's probably the best tip I've heard yet Don. Maybe I just can't get myself to buy Hawiian sunglasses that are made in Peoria. But I don't think they'd sell if they called them Peoria Pete's.

Joz, I should add that I've had the expensive sunglasses like Gargoyles and Maui Jims (print for Maui Jim ), but I've also left a pair at a cottage and scratched a couple others. I just can't see dropping that kind of cash for glasses that do the exact same thing only to potentially drop them on the rocks. Trust me. The knock-offs are doing just fine by me. Most comfortable shades I ever owned are the Killer Loop knock-offs. We'll trade glasses for a minute one day on the water and I defy you to pick out a smallie I don't see. Then again, considering the age difference, I don't think I'd do well in your Harry Carry bifocal sunglasses. I mean, unless I'm lookin' to pick up some old ch..... I'm gonna stop that joke right there. heh heh. But seriously, no matter what kind of glasses you go with, just make sure they are good for you. It's all about what you're comfortable with and what lets you see structure and/or fish. Like I said, I've had the Mauis and the Gargoyles and for me personally the knock offs are the same and just as comfortable. As I wrote about in my last article in the newsletter, we caught hundreds of summer smallies in July at Pipestone. Alot of them we saw in packs, picked out, and caught. What a blast! Sometimes it's like that on the clearer portions of the local rivers too, just have to be sneaky and quiet and you'll get close enough to see them without disturbing them. If it hadn't been for the specs we'd have gone right over those smallies and a couple muskies as well. That brings up another good point for muskie guys...get glasses that work. You HAVE to be able to see 'em coming sometimes so you know when to pull the trigger on the figure 8. My partner and I have written on our site about the negative aspects of fishing for spawning bass. We are totally against that. We've seen guys wearing polarized glasses on Delavan while picking out spawners one after another. That's just unfair. That's why when the bass are spawning we go for pike or panfish or just schedule the trip after the spawn.

If you are in the area, go to the Kane County Flea Market on the first weekend of any month. Find the guy who has the sunglasses booth. Get any of the polarized glasses you like. They are designer knock-offs but have the same build/lenses. I get the Killer Loop kind, but have also used the Gargoyle and Ray Ban knock-offs. For $10-$15 a pair you can get several different lens shades and be covered for any light situation. I use grey tints and amber tints depending on bright or sunny. I've looked at the same water wearing those and changing immediately over to Batwings or Maui Jims (other guys glasses) and have seen the same thing if not more with my $15 knock off Ray Bans or Killer Loop polarized from Kane County.

Glowstik wrapped in bacon.

The only ones I remove are from my own pond. And those are used as fertilizer. Here's a tip. Catch a carp. Dig a hole. Put dead carp in hole. Plant a rose bush over it. Enjoy the best damn rose bush you'll ever see.

Car battery. Two wires. Rubber waders.

Yes. Lakes. I should have clarified that. Although regarding river depth. Mike K and i have been hitting the Fox via boat for the past 2 summers and have found that...oh god, here comes a fight...the upside waters of the dams are pretty darn good as long as it's not like 90 degrees outside for a week. we start fishing upstream in about 3-4' of water and by the time we end our routes we're sometimes in 9-10' of Fox River water not too far from a dam and still banging smallies. We also found that the pools are where some of the biggest ones live. I know..I know.. this totally goes against everything we were ever told. But then again I didnt expect to get that last 20"er in 2' of water last week when the temp dropped to 56 in 12 hours and our nastiest cold front this year blew thru....and that was only one smallie out of many that were shallow and going nuts. ( It was a full moon that night too though). As far as color. I dont know really. I've tried the loud colors and i cant catch crap on them. I toss out a black something and whammo. Maybe it's just a confidence thing. I'm sure that has alot to do with it. I know alot of guys swear by them and I'm not saying they wont work...they just don't do anything for me personally. I mean, even in the dark waters of the Fox River's deeper pools I'm throwing a Salmo Bullhead or a Salmo Minnow. And lord knows there isn't anything colorfull on those things. Good question.

So far, I'm at 6 over 20". ( I'll add pictures later. Photobucket is down this morning..otherwise..y'all know where to see them anyway). The lures I use are generally on the small side. Lures used for these fish in particular were: Exude Hellgie on a 1/8 oz. Slider head jig flipped under a fallen tree next to current ( Fox River). A Salmo Bullhead that got nailed before i could even close the bail on a cast. That fish was suspended over a 12' drop. A jointed Shad Rap in walleye pattern. I don't know the model number but it's the smallest one you can get. That fish also hit on a 12' drop-off at high noon on a warm cloudless day. A Rapala Husky Jerk. Again, I dont know the model number...not the little tiny one but the next size up. Again 12' drop off. Hmmm...see a pattern here? The exception as far as lure size was a Lake Darrow smallie that hit a #4 Mepps over a cabbage bed edge. I'll give you one guess at the depth I was working. .....12'. We hooked up with 3 over 20" in 3 or 4 casts but we only landed the one. The latest one was last week. She hit a Salmo Bullhead on a miserable evening when the temps dropped into the 50's. Sundown in 2' of water at a creek mouth. Again..you know where to see that one too. My biz partner Mike also cracked the 20" mark that weekend by throwing a Chatterbait. I know he's cracked the 20" mark before on Husky Jerks in gold/black. Lure colors I use are always natural colors. I know..I know..some guys love chartruese or firetiger, etc. But even in stained or muddied waters I still use only natural colored baits. Black, white, browns, dark greens, minnow patterns, golds, silvers. Even for muskies I throw natural colors especially back and silver or white and silver. For topwater muskie lures I'll throw any color...as long as it's black. For pike I'll toss in the occasional loud color just because they're nuts and will sometimes hit anything. I know of two pike that I'm sure Scott F could back me up on from http://www.taltsonbaypike.com/ that were caught on some crazy colors.....one was candy apple red, because they were trolling an apple on a treble hook. And the other was dirt colored because Rob Kolar of Kolar Bait & Tackle caught it while throwing a dirty sweat sock on a treble hook. But then again, maybe you could classify those as natural colors too.

I don't want to blow our own horn too much ( looks tacky) but we started our business based on these exact principles; to keep these big fish in the water and preserve the memory in a great/affordable way. Always have a camera ready to go, use the highest settings possible, and look us up www.customfish.com. Again...I don't want to sound like a plug wh*r* here. We do what we do to ensure fish like that stay where they belong. Jamie