OhioFisherman

Dad had two 20 hp Merc`s, one as I recall was a late 60`s motor, the other mid to late 70`s? Two different boat involved. One bought new, the late 60`s motor, one used but barely. I used them both, fishing motors for us, when we were on the water we were fishing. Really no problems with either. Dad had the second one until he died in 1991, then mom gave his boat, motor, and trailer to my youngest brother. No problems for him either but sold in a few years as he upgraded? I know dad and me trolled with them a lot, no problems.

Sorry to hear it Joey.

calico bass?

A tube will catch anything that will eat a baitfish or crawfish. Around river mouths where baitfish are schooling in the fall try white with silver glitter or watermelon blue glitter to imitate emerald shiners.

actually Cudz in the process of being a free man again, wouldn`t have been afraid to tell her if she was still a resident here although she did slim down. Just brutally honest I guess? She doesn`t think much of my new name for her either now that I don`t have to keep the peace. LOL, I have my faults too and hearing them doesn`t bother me.

I used to do a lot of night fishing, just a lot less traffic on the water and the night bite on some lakes is better than the day bite. Bass fishing on some lakes at night can be great! Never had much luck at night for pike, never caught a steelhead at night(but didn`t really fish for them), that said caught most species of fish at night. Crappie fishing at night can also be great.

full moon on a clear night makes it a lot easier to see, that said it never mattered to me, and didn`t seem to affect the bite. Had good nights fishing in all conditions and moon phases I fished, some poor ones also. can`t catch fish if you don`t go, supposed to be fun anyway! have fun or don`t play!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSDh94eQTAk

don`t call on weekends unless you want to talk to a machine!

I like Boston Terriers, cool dogs, and didn`t have a camera with a wide angle lense to take a picture of the wife at the time.

Used to do a lot of club tournies, 100 bucks a boat entry for a 1 day 200 for a two day. Couple of different states and different size limits (by law) on different bodies of water. Some had a 12 inch minimum for bass, some a fifteen, some had slot size, fish had to be between 15 and 18 inches. Never had a problem with fish mortality, water depth at the end of the ramps or docks was usually at least 5 feet and in Ohio, New York and PA, so maybe a bit warmer water than farther north. Always had the weigh in close to the water, weigh and release with a minimum of handling. Not really a fan of pictures myself, the less I have to handle the fish the less stress it gets. Also done reduced limit tournies, 3 fish per boat limit, usually works better on lakes or bodies of water that have a larger than normal average size bass.

Now, the depth changes VERY suddenly in the pond... itll go from a foot or 2 on the shore and drop to 16-20ft in a matter of feet. The depth change in that short of a distance is an edge, edges are good places to fish, especially if you can find irregularities on the edge like an underwater point or trough, just highways for fish movement. Type of cover or weed growth? Water clarity? A carolina rigged lizard or such dragged at different depths along the drop off may produce some action, or different depth running crankbaits cast along the drop off. Some ponds live bait will out produce lures, especially for big bass. Big chub or shiner on a slip float?

http://www.tradingpostnewspapers.com/Artic...fish_story.html

1. what I can find quickly that draws an interest. 2. 6 inch zoom lizard,(junebug) texas rigged or on a jighead even weightless depending on the amount of cover-weeds. 3. 3 1/2 inch - 4inch tube,(green pumpkin or white) texas rigged or with a tube jig insert depending on cover-weeds. 4. spinnerbait, 1/4 to 3/8 ounce, white, chartruse. 5. small crankbait, 1/4 to 3/8 ounce shallow or medium runner, bandit 200 series, storm wee wart, chrome and black or white.

Don`t know the exact size, but if you pop them out just about any auto parts store carries them. You need to take them an inner and outer.

Knipex? http://www.knipex.com/

Knipex?

Never hurts to carry an extra 50 foot coil of rope, it doesn`t take up much room in the boat. Most of your smaller boats are fine with 5/16th diameter, like mentioned a piece of chain on the end will improve anchoring. A piece of heavy chain on a rope can be used to slow a drift in a current or a cast iron window counter weight on a piece of rope, if your fishing an area of smaller broken rock the counter weight dragging also disturbs the rocks and sends crayfish scattering and can attract smallies following your drift. Fished a tournament with my buddy one time, a small gravel medium stone ramp, every time a boat would launch we would get a smallie fishing the ramp. Tough job anchoring on rock bottom with any style of anchor, you need weight and can`t carry enough, one of the reasons for the paint can or coffee can cement anchors up there, take people that don`t fish often or have much of an idea about it and they lose anchors in rocks to snags. Cheaper to lose the can.

Fish top to bottom until you locate them, then concentrate most of your time on the area of activity, try to establish a pattern and repeat until proven unsuccessful. You don`t have to fish a spinnerbaits fast you can slow roll them, cast it let it settle to the bottom and crank slowly, if you can`t be sure were it is stopp the retrieve and let it sink. A technique better(easier) with a heavier spinner bait 3/4 to 1 1/2 ounce but can be done with a lighter one in shallower water. A rubber core sinker with the rubber pulled out can be crimped to the hook shank to add weight with out changing the lure profile. Jig and pig, jig and craw, tubes will work deeper for pike.

I kept a pike, around 30 years ago, about a 40-41 incher that died on me. LOL had a picture of it around here somewhere, buddy insisted we had to run back to camp and get his camera, I don`t carry one, just never had the interest. Fish didn`t recover after about a half hour of me trying so I had it mounted, LOL what a waste. Cost about as much as a week of cabin rental at the time, another week up north would have meant more to me than than that fish did. Muskies? don`t even go there, my jinx fish. Just not into keeping fish much, a walleye or steelhead a year for the wife and kids was enough.

Our bass club had limited areas for some tournaments, we fished a number of them on back bays of Lake Erie here in Ohio. All the bays had access to Lake Erie so it prevented the guy with the fastest boat to have an advantage over slower boats. You were not allowed to go out or past a certain point and enter the main lake. You had to fish, not run. In my mind money has in some ways corrupted the sport, kind of like an arms race. You do have to remember it`s all about them money, some came up with the idea to make money. If they don`t follow the path the sponsers want followed no or limited revenue. Obviously Merc or whomever makes more money selling a 250HP than a 60 HP motor, a 20 bassboat brings them more revenue than a 17 footer. Another sad part of it is it takes a lot of people out of the competition, they can`t afford to compete with the big boys and have to become spectators, which I feel is the wrong direction for the sport. The idea should be to get people to fish, not watch other people do it. Sort of lucky here in Ohio I guess, some smaller 1000 acre or so city water supply reserviors that are electric motor only, some lakes with a low horsepower limit, like 10 hp so there are a variety of options at least for bass. Guess it just depends on what you call fun.

My guess is mid 60`s to early 70`s bought them often in the same style packaging.

Brian check your PM`s.

I would suggest a tackle bag over a tackle box. They are a bit more expandable as your interest grows. It is a lot easier to take out plano boxes from the bag and plug in ones that are species oriented. I don`t carry muskie or pike tackle in mine unless I am on waters that have them and they are my target. Don`t carry panfish tackle unless I intend to fish for panfish. Just keeps things a bit more organized. If I am just out to fun fish I can plug a plano box with basics for a number of species in the bag. It doesn`t have to be very expensive, if you and the kids get the fishing bug it be easy to keep new purchases for species related tackle in separate plano boxes and take what you need to fish for them White grubs 2-3 inch will catch a variety of species, get a couple bags of 1/8 to 1/4 ounce white or black jigheads. A few snelled hooks from size 8 to 4 are good for most of your average species, worms, minnows, maggots, leeches or what ever form of legal livebait is allowed is a cheap way to start, a few bobbers, some various sized splitshot and your good to go. Take some time to study the fishing regulations in the waters you intend to fish, it can save you a problem and embarrassment.

If you understand the principals of a contract negotiation at all nobody ever starts out with exactly what they will settle for, the company or the union. You settle for the best you can get. Be interesting to me to see exactly what salary cuts the execs are willing to take? Would they be willing or forced to work for the comparatively mere pittance the Japanese auto executives work for? http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/0904/112.html