OhioFisherman

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Well I had a 1987 Smokercraft that I bought new and had for 22 years. It was also the Pro Angler model but single console, I can't think of any complaints on the boat except I should have gone with the maximum HP on it, it was rated for a 60HP and I bought it as a package with a 35HP. Two other guys in our bass club had the same boats, none had problems and none seemed in a hurry to get something else. Mine was labeled as 17 foot, but specs said 16' 8" and of course given the model year it was narrower, like a 73 inch beam. Just a suggestion, if you can swing the upgrade to a 75? go with it, it's nice to get off big water in a hurry if it starts to kick up.

It is the same here in my area stateside. My drive way is 180x22 and gravel.

Didn't fish get a lateral line to help them find things they couldn't see? Bass fishing with a friend at East Harbor off of lake Erie, we pulled out of the marina and started casting. He had 4-5 bass boated and I didn't have a hit yet, just fishing plastic worms rigged on a jig head, but different color worms. It was enough for me, I took off the worm I was using and switched to one the same color and brand as his, magically I started catching bass. The jig head had stayed the same. Tournament day a year or so later, the same body of water. I stuck a couple of pigs early and lost both due to light wire hooks on the jig heads I had made. Same deal, a plastic worm rigged on a jig head, even the same partner. The action then stopped, 15 minutes or so before we had to head back? I switched from a worm to a hellgrammite looking lure on the same jig head, a completely different color lure though, and had 3 bass in 3 casts over water we had just covered. LOL at least lures are cheaper than shoes? Take a look at how many pairs some ladies feel a need for?

I always fished for them, take a 12 - 16 hook flatten the barb with a pair of needle nose pliers and snell it with 4 or 6 # test line. If you can use a spreader and two hooks legally in your area it makes it faster, just fish under a small bobber with a maggot or tiny piece of worm for bait. Those real small hooks may be hard to find outside of a fly tackle shop, and trying to get anything bigger than 6# test thru the eye to snell them was also a problem. As a kid at a local reservoir I used to watch one older guy that seemed to be a regular there use a cast net for them around a bridge that crossed the lake. He would attract them with bread crumbs or oatmeal and then make his casts, it seemed to work for him, at least when the net didn't get caught on the rip rap around the bridge. With a minnow trap and a 1 inch limit? to the opening? You might have trouble getting large enough ones to enter? They are deeper thru the body than emerald shiners, and you don't usually see emeralds much over 4 inches long?

Berkley has one for 40 bucks 7' 6" 5/8 - 1 1/2 ounce lures. I have used their lightning rods and never had a problem with them.

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/waterbodies/index.asp?type=1 If that helps any, Joe and Art would be the guys to ask about all things Virginia. Only there once myself and fished a water supply reservoir near Newport News, tackles shops in the area had 10 - 12 pound bass on the walls that had been caught there. I had borrowed tackle, and an electric motor as the water supply lakes I checked out were all electric only. No luck for me except some strange eel that ate a golden shiner I was using for bait. I rented a boat at the lake, I was advised against walking the shoreline because of snakes. They have ones down there we don't see here.

Kentucky lake, Dale Hollow, are a solid 8 hour drive from here, so add another 6 hours or so driving time from you and you have a whole day or more tied up just driving? Our bass club used to meet in February to pick our tournament sites, a lot of the younger guys seemed to really suffer from cabin fever badly. You want to drive 3 - 3 1/2 hours for a one day tournament? The first of the year? Dudes! them hogs will be there in July and August when most of us have vacation time to spend a week there and have a two day tournament and some fun, with out a rushed feeling.

I spent a number of years docked in a marina in that area that also was home to some charter captains, their results could be impressive, some big eyes.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/9-VINTAGE-GARCIA-ANNUAL-FISHING-TACKLE-CATALOGS-ambassadeur-mitchell-fans-/130848801715?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e773243b3 It seems that 17 bucks bid at the time was a lowball number?

http://arkansasroadstories.com/nature/walleye.html If you read the story and apply the logic? With the demise of the walleye fishing on the Great Lakes in the 50`s and 60`s a lot more tourists headed to Canada to fish for them. The cottage industry was booming, Canadian`s personal income was rising, as was American`s. Travel and the time to do so was becoming easier. Canadians and tourists were trophy hunting, something to take home to show for results of a vacation? and catch and release was unheard of. Then figure in the population growth of Ontario, I am pretty sure Lew and guys my age saw a lot of outsized fish " back in the day"? and didn`t have to go as far to see them.

I netted my buddy`s 31 inch walleye at Pointe au Baril, like Terry`s fish it seemed to have a problem, long and skinny, it only weighed like 9 pound 2 ounces. Sort of odd for a mid to late September fish to be that skinny? My uncle also had gotten an 11 pounder a few years earlier at Pointe Au Baril, right after the season opened. I got a 28 incher there that weighed a solid 8 pounds, chunky rascal. Saw other people in various camps we stayed at there with bigger ones than we got. The bait store on HWY 69 ( E&E?) had a picture of a guy with a 16 pounder caught in Pointe au Baril, and from the pic? it looked right.

Just thinking that a lot of the border states have also gone to closed seasons for some species, you will need to check your area`s regulations carefully? They can vary from state to state and even with the body of water you intend to fish in some states. Presque Isle Bay in Erie PA has some good bass fishing, it may be catch and release only in April, they get an occassional pike there early and some decent crappie and other panfish. East out of the bay opens up smallie waters. Chautaqua lake in New York has some good bass fishing, smallies and largemouth,also a crappie run, muskies, walleye. The season thing will limit you.

Heck even on the south side of the lake I used them every year, and studded snows were legal here also. One year our politicians in Columbus Ohio, roughly 150 miles south of here tried to pass a law banning studded tires in Ohio, they caught hell for it.

We all know what really goes on in them ice huts! LOL

Scent trail!

All is well at this border crossing.

LMAO, after having 30+ years in the business of local delivery? I can tell some stories about the fun times and levels of thinking involved. Granted the items shipped thru the companies I worked for were generally to big and heavy to ship UPS or by the mail carrier, but I always viewed those guys as assests in an area if I could find one! I recall driving 3 mile or so down a country road, dirt and gravel, to deliver a bucket for a backhoe. Me in a 53 foot long trailer with about 25, 000 pounds on it, a tandem axle tractor, and all at once? a sign, bridge ahead 3 ton load limit. Hmmm. guess I get to practice backing for awhile? The radio call from dispatch, we need you to make a pick up at this place located on county road yada yada. Great boss! you have me covering parts of 4 counties? Can you be just a little more specific? It will cut down map time. UPS, the mail? those driver tend to be in the same area every day, long term. I was in the same areas at times for 8 -10 years, but lost if I got off the major highways or industrial parks.

I always used wheel weights, I got them for free. I also had access to tie rod forgings and drilled a piece of wood to make handles for them to create pre made ingots of lead. For me it was easier to heat and clean the impurities from the wheel weights before I made a production run. As I heated the pot I put the mold I intended to use on top of it to heat also, it speeded up the process. A dremel bit in a small drill press with a piece of wood clamped to the base plate for a guide will allow you to open up the hook slots to install larger hooks if there is a need to. Use caution and test the amount of metal removed frequently. Bees wax was also used, parrifin wax ignited too easily. The wax also seemed to help remove the impurities from the lead.

No, not everyone has the same morals on what is proper. Because I could show you at one time a spot on Lake Erie where it wasn`t too difficult to catch a limit of 5 pound smallies, you felt it was right to take a limit for a wall mount to boost your business?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/9-VINTAGE-GARCIA-ANNUAL-FISHING-TACKLE-CATALOGS-ambassadeur-mitchell-fans-/130848801715?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e773243b3 I used to pick these up any time I saw them at garage sales, just judging from the current price and bidding activity the market is down for them, if that is what they actually end up going for, At one time I collected Abu reels and to a collector they made good trade bait, still have some around, as with Abu reels.

No suggestions as I don`t live there, but don`t let electric motor only lakes scare you off. I always viewed them as more of an equalizer than a handicap, the idea is supposed to be your ability to catch fish, not race around the lake? This was one of our week day evening spots for tournaments. http://findlakes.com/wellington_upground_reservoir_ohio~oh00774.htm My 35 hp motor didn`t seem nearly as slow on an electric motor only lake.

Roy I know that, but for a while here even the cheap cuts were 3.50 a pound, the stuff I had been getting for 2 bucks a pound got pricey.

I used a dehydrator, mine came with directions on how to make your own seasonings to soak the meat in. It was great until the price of beef went up.

I planted like 10 or 12 Ash trees around 12 or 13 years ago in my back yard along the property line, they are all dying, as are the ones that are much older that separate my property from the railroad tracks. If you look closely at them you can see the holes bored in the tree, as the limbs start dying they become brittle and fall easily in windy weather. Better to have them taken down than to risk them falling down on people or pets? I take mine down as they show signs of problems. Another foreign import we could have done without? If it is cost prohibitive to treat the ones in your yard yearly? Do you want tax dollars doing the same?