OhioFisherman

LOL, I am a lot closer to the bucket than a bucket list fish, and whatever was swimming in the waters I was fishing was fine, as long as I was having fun doing it. A 10+ bass would have been nice? but I had to lose a lot of fishing time to get to an area where they were common.

Those drag numbers only seemed to have become an issue since they made it one? How many of us fish for bass in an area where 15 - 20 pounders are present? Just my view? It is a marketing ploy. Granted you are in an area where bigger fish are present, muskie, pike and such, just my experience fishing up north? If your not using a steel leader, floro or whatever it might not matter much anyway? LOL, I competed in bass tournaments here for 30 years or so, locating them was always more of an issue that the tackle I was using. Once I stuck them? loosing them was never an issue unless I made a poor hook choice for the water, light wire hooks aren`t the way to go in slop, or where bigger than average fish are common.

A fairly common sight here on the south side of Lake Erie since I was a kid. Funny though, you never saw small ones, even in the back bays. A red flag in front of a bull? I think their color made most of them easy targets.

I don`t know of any water supply reservoirs being built here in northern Ohio since the late 1960`s. It has become the accepted practice for communities looking to expand or for the development of farm land into urban or suburban areas to just run a pipeline to Lake Erie and get water from there. It`s probably pretty certain that Ohio is not the only Great Lake state doing it? Why would a community that wants to expand and fuel growth tie up their land, er... that can be developed and taxed with a water supply reservoir? The availability of city water here is a huge draw to the development of rural areas. The county I live in was mostly rural until 20-25 years ago, then the availability of city water in the area made it one of the fastest growing areas in Ohio until the recession hit. It seems that people are a lot more likely to tolerate septic systems than a lack of city water?

It looks like carp and sheephead are safe? LOL

Hyper, usually when I say spinnerbait anymore I am referring to the safety pin style, in line spinnerbaits also catch bass, classics like a Mepps or Rooster tail. I just got away from using them for bass as the safety pin style are more weedless. It is a bit warmer here longer than it is up there, but before I became disabled it was normal for me to fish here right up until the long Thanksgiving weekend here. Depending on weather conditions here, most if the lakes are frozen over, I have friends that still have small bass tournaments into December or early January, it takes a mild winter for that though. Also don`t depend on water depth as a factor, ripping blade baits in 4-6 feet of water has worked in some of those late year tournaments.

Pointe Au Baril had a good mix of L/M and S/M bass, and decent sized ones of both. It depends on what area of it you intend to fish? I also found that the back bays and waters tended to hold more L/M bass, but there were still smallies around and it wasn`t all that unusual to catch them together. No idea what the conditions are there this time of year, obviously if there is ice near shore, shallow water early it might be hard to fish shallow early in the day? Just me? I wouldn`t limit myself to just crankbaits, mix in tubes, jig and pig, jig and plastic or even slow rolling a spinnerbait in deeper water. I caught L/M and S/M bass together there in 17 - 20 feet of water in September.

I paid someone to clean mine one time, watched how and what he did and did it myself after that until I became disabled. I have a ceramic flue pipe, and bought a brush and rods. It isn`t hard to do, and it seems sort of obvious to me if you look down the flue from the top and their are cracks or pieces missing or falling into the junk as you are cleaning it you need an inspection from a pro? Also clean and inspect the inside metal pipes, especially the thimble sleeve where the metal pipe enters the ceramic pipe. Weak or rusted pipes should be replaced. Mine has been in use now for almost 23 years, my son cleans it now.

Some more honest sports people.

Don`t quote me on any of this. I believe the original Storm lures ( Red Label ) were made in the USA, blue labels in Mexico, and once Rapala got a hold of them production moved to China. My use of them was limited to wee warts, wee steelie warts, wiggle warts, magnum warts, hot n tots, and Texas shads. First walleye fishing on Lake Erie starting in the 70`s with my brother and dad. The wart series seemed to have a habit of attracting some outsized smallies on lake erie and I experimented with them from there. As it was explained to me each move in production brought subtle changes to the lures, a different formulation in the plastics used and different quantities of rattles used, which affected the sound and vibration produced in use. For me the red labels were the best producers, and they disappeared off the store selves quickly when changes were announced. They seemed to have a higher percentage of lures with the " wander factor ", it seemed like every 5 or 6 one you bought had a slight difference in action that made it a fish catching machine. Hot n tots also worked great for walleyes and smallies on lake erie, but had an annoying habit of the metal lip working loose after catching a number of fish and getting water in them affecting their action. Texas Shad were a rattle trap style lure and I used them over all other lures of the same style because they worked best for me. Their production life seemed a lot more limited, and since their use wasn`t really geared to walleye fishing in this area they were a lot harder to find. During the rebirth of the walleye fishing on Lake Erie here in the 70`s and early 80`s most tackle shops and bait store here had Warts and Hot n Tots as their primary lures offered for the Walleye fishing on Lake Erie. Although steelhead fishing was never really a primary interest of mine? Most of the steelhead I caught were on Wee warts or Wee steelie warts on Lake Erie or it`s tribs fishing for smallies. I also lost a bunch of them fishing for bass in waters in New York and Canada that also had pike and skis with out a steel leader. The newer ones will work, just in my opinion not as well. A link if it helps, the Storm family had something to do with the production of these remakes? http://www.bsfishtales.com/wiggler.php

Pretty sure than was called a Strawberry vamp, and it was one of our go to lures at Point Au Baril in the 60`s and 70`s. At one point back then I had a half a dozen of them, pike would play hell with the finish. As I recall all of mine were purchased in the Parry Sound - Pointe Au Baril area, they weren`t a lure that was regularly seen or used in this area, perhaps due to a pike shortage in my area.

Lake Erie just east of deadman`s curve on I-90, no boat rides today.

Even here stateside in farm country it seems as though some people with large tracts of land are to cheap to pay for trash collection. It is not provided here with tax dollars in a lot of rural areas, an out of the pocket expense, so they take their trash into their wood and hide it from sight.

Pike fishing here in the states is sort of limited to the northern tier of states, even Ohio is certainly not a good place to look for pike action or size. Pike were incidental catches here in Ohio for me, always in the early spring on tribs of Lake Erie and a 5-7 pounder was considered good size here. LOL warmish? by mid November it is a gamble in any of the northern tier of states. Some years I could fish until Thanksgiving here, other years it was snowing. Cave Run lake in Kentucky has muskies? and since it is 2-3 hundred miles south of me the weather should be better? Never checked but it also should have large and smallmouth bass.

My steehead gear was the same as my bass gear.

Actually Sandusky Bay is east of Toledo, and there is already 50 - 60 pound carp swimming around in Sandusky Bay. Asian Carp wouldn`t be a good thing.

Oh heck yes Luke, the only lake here in Ohio where that isn`t a lock is Lake Erie.

31.50 winning weight, new Canadian record, 8.05 big fish. Fantastic!

It`s a lot bigger than any bass I ever caught! Honest!

LOL, no problem. After 30+ years of driving a truck making 15 - 30 stops a day, and having some pretty interesting conversations at times with people here? I am surprised at what some of my fellow Americans believe. Hmmm... the light is on, but no one seems to be home?

I don`t think the problem can be fixed stateside, most of mine come from politicians that have exempted themselves from the do not call list. LOL, with the public`s approval rating of congress here at a lofty 10% or so I guess they are afraid to call in person?

Well I always tried to find what would work on a body of water quickly, some favorites? Storm wee steelie wart, a multi species crankbait, they seemed to work on most bodies on water and were not species specific. Jig and pig or jig and plastic, same deal, mostly thought of as a bass lure? but I have caught walleyes, pike, crappie, and hooked Muskies on them. 6 inch zoom lizard, junebug, watermelon blue fleck, just a lure that usually worked for me. 3 1/2 - 4 inch tube, sadly for me they also seemed quite effective for carp and sheephead in waters that had them. LOL 6 inch Zoom utail worm. Storm Texas shad, a rattletrap style lure, just better success on them than similar lures, also multi species. Original floating Rapala 3-7 inch, I have caught fish on them just doing nothing but a cast and twitch. Jig and grub, jig and shad, even 2 inch ones seemed capable of catching some decent fish. Buzzbait, although I was generally slow to throw them, just had better hookup rates casting an unweighted lizard in the same spots. Spinnerbaits, in line or other, they can be hot. Heddon sonar, Silver Buddy, go to blade baits. Jigging Rapala, even caught catfish on them. Smithwick Devil`s horse, Heddon Torpedo. Jitterbug - Hula Popper. Red Eye spoon, Johnson silver minnow, dardevle, great up north baits. 6 - 8 inch Cisco Kid crankbaits, LOL my go to lose a lure on a big fish up north. Super lines 40 years ago were anchor ropes. I caught a heck of a lot of pike on a U 20 Flatfish years ago, what`s up with that?

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