OhioFisherman

Scary stuff Phil, glad you are OK! I didn`t know they had fire ants in Ontario, I thought they were a southern pest.

I always changed out a lot of my crank baits to Excaliber rotating trebles in black nickel, fish didn`t seem to be able to throw them as easily. I don`t see the black nickle ones any more, just bronze. Only one issue with the black nickle ones, they seemed a bit brittle.

There was talk here about a Cabela`s near me for 3 or 4 years? A couple of locations were mentioned. It seems though that they were playing the cities involved to see which one would give the biggest tax abatements. How does the line go? cost plus 50% = profits? and if you can bargan enough tax breaks from the city involved? more profits? Maybe they can pass an increase on the sales tax and let the taxpayers pay for the lost revenue from tax abatements? The customers seem to pay the taxes anyway?

I have seen bass cruising a shore line many times, and beat myself up trying to figure out something to trigger a strike, other times I have got fish every cast. There are no guarantees, just probabilities. If you are reasonably certain they are bass? Try jerking a spoon like a hopkins shorty, or Crocidile or blade bait like a vibee or heddon sonar, silver buddie off the bottom and left it flutter back down. A lot of things may or may not work, when you hit the right one you will know? some days there is no right one, you catch the stragglers.

Catch and release, it beats the heck out of catch and kill? Bass tournaments have brought awareness to a section of the people out there fishing. LOL shore lunch? at McDonald`s on the way home!

A difficult question to answer, it depends on the water you are fishing. Open waters of Lake Erie or other open waters? Tubes with a tube jig hook insert, not much junk in the water, drop shot, a gobie type soft plastic is big down here. I have caught smallies on a wide range of lures, soft plastics like grubs, tubes, lizards, worms, I just usually down size from what I use for large mouth. 3 1/2 inch tube, 4 inch worm or lizard. Crank baits, spinnerbaits, surface lures, jig and pig,I like small hair jigs with pork for smallies, roadrunners, it`s just a question of location and what you can present that they will hit. I have also caught them regularly using a jig like a fuzzy grub or foxie jig tipped with a fairly good sized golden or silver shiner. Also on craws, worms, leeches.

Zebco? Zero hour bomb company, their bombs must have made them enough money to be around this long.

I don`t believe so, they said the were heading to Lancaster Ohio to visit friends. Not much Striper fishing here in Ohio. I know they used to go to Cumberland lake in Tennessee? I believe it has problems with it`s dam though, so trips there maybe on hold?

Roy, Lew, it`s not the first time they have stopped in, super people and always welcome. It gives them a chan ce to get a break from driving.

Don and Ruth Gimmer stopped by today on their travels through Ohio, always good to see them. They got nice dry weather for travel, a bit warm though.

Caught them on a lot of different lures, but never top water. I have seen them busting bait fish on the surface, so it is possible.

It`s a sales pitch, sold to the highest bidder. How long would they have a sponsor if they didn`t push their products. Money can buy loyalty. Most of my reels are Shimano, old Abu`s mixed in. LOL I might use a Quantum, if I was getting them for free, and supported for using them.

MDL, I have cut the treble off of spinners before and attached a Mr. Twister keeper hook so I could use a grub and have it weedless.

2nd? cool, bass at night can be a blast! Just my feeling on it? on some lakes with a lot of boat traffic I think they move off of some areas when the boat traffic starts and don`t really get comfortable feeding on those spots until after the boat traffic has died down.

Tin cup and helmet time.

Glad to see you got out Eric! MS sucks! Walleye? my biggest one came on a spinner bait, Georgian Bay. Nice fish.

Bandit, he stole our hearts

I have a Chevrolet 2009 Cargo Express van, 2500 series that I bought used the end of July last year. It had 14, 800 miles on it when purchased and now 21,000. Yesterday I took it to Walmart for an oil change, as part of the package they check tire pressure and ad air if needed. The valve stem blew apart, the van has a tire pressure sensor and sending unit built into the valve stem. I believe this is the same shared platform as the Chevrolet and GMC pickups? The service people at Walmart said that these seem to be subject to corrosion and are failing, an aluminum core instead of brass? 45 bucks for a valve stem, all they charged me for was the part, but they did mention they are failing on other vehicles too, and some of the sensor valve stems cost 95 bucks each? They also said it was against the law for them to replace it with a standard valve stem, USA LAW. They mentioned my others are going bad too, and on some of valve stems the air valve pin is extended out past the end of the stem, something I have never seen before. Save your eyes, have yours checked, most people don`t wear safety glasses putting air in their tires. The parts may be covered under warranty.

All I used for fishing slop was 17# test mono, line stretch isn`t that big of an issue. Surface lures in slop, they can be frustrating at times, misses, some times the fish don`t get a good aim. If you are waiting until you feel the weight of the fish to set the hook? No good answer? small bass? Like Garry says, they can be the most actives ones, he gave some good advice, a miss stop and settle, a big fish might pick it up. Lots of bait fish in the water? Try a white texas rigged tube, a white swimming jig. You can also try slowing the pace down, sometimes a different lure that can be worked slowly thru the junk will increase the connection rate, one of my favorites for that was an unweighted lizard swim it slowly and let it settle in any open spot, bass may follow it and nail it on the drop. If it`s swimming slowly they get a better aim.

The days of Abu made i Sweden and the life time warranty seem to be gone. Owned by Pure Fishing now which also owns Berkley. Haven`t bought a recent Abu reel in a long time, made in Japan looks like a better label than made in Korea.

City, I had a 12 x 6 1/2 tandem axle utility trailer that I bought new in 95 to haul slab wood for the wood burner. I never did any thing to the deck in mine and it lasted until 2007. I stored it outside in the weather, anything might have helped the deck boards last a little longer? They were 2x8 pine? I replaced them with treated lumber, an easy job, maybe 2 hours? Treating it boards over the years could become more expensive than new wood? Just guessing that road spray underneath is probably worse that the top were it can dry out better?

Ever been fighting a smallie and seen 3 or 4 more following it? Trying to steal the food?

Just my opinion here, depending on the depth you plan of fishing for them? Their survival rate may be low? A battle with a bigger fish and dragging it out of the depths? Take a swimming pool thermometer and about 12 or 15 feet of line, I am guessing there is a big difference between that depth and the surface temp? Jig and pig, greens mixed with yellow, like a firetiger or perch look alike, slow rolling a heavy spinner bait, a heavy swim bait, a deep diving crank bait, possibly jigging a blade bait. They may move shallower late evening to feed, look for weeds in 10-18 feet of water near deeper water, 30+ feet.

thanks for all the great responses. So judging by the responses I probably shouldn't try targeting pike after dusk and before dawn. However, the thought of hooking up with a pike on a top water buzz-bait style lure does sit in the back of my mind to try. Like Cudz says smallies will hit well at night, so will largemouth, walleye, cats and even skis(no fear). Your basic bass tackle at night can bring some surprises. I personally enjoy fishing at night, most lakes are a lot more peaceful.

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