Greencoachdog

Great report and pics Cliff!!! Do you ever keep any of the smaller fish for the table?.. or are they tainted with pollutants? Solo... you really should discover the "vertical" hold, it would serve you well!

Are you left handed or right handed?

I use a ball about the size of a 1/4 oz. jig head. When you drop it in the pot stir quickly but very carefully and be prepared for a flame because sometime the wax will ignite, if the wax doesn't ignite it will smoke a lot... you can ignite the smoke with a lighter, some folks say the extra heat from the fire helps. When stirring the wax in, scrape the sides and bottom of the pot.. all the trash and oxidation will float to the top so you can skim it off. I prefer something with a wooden handle for stirring and skimming so as not to conduct the heat from the lead. Yes! Melting lead gives off toxic/noxious fumes and I won't do it in an enclosed area!!! You can do it the way you described, but I just feel better about doing it outside!!! I do paint my jigs in the garage, but I always open the big garage door for ventilation. The paint is non toxic... but you're still heating bare lead until you get the first coat of paint on the jig. Thanks again for the kind words y'all!

I use the "Bucket"! I have about 500 pics on there and have only used 10% of my alloted free member space... does that tell you anything?

They should have that thing "wallowed" out by now eh Beansy??? ... maybe you could practice at home with a piece of coaxial cable or something? Good luck with the procedure Beans!... ask for "general" anesthisia instead of "local"!

I was up at 3 this morning... sleep is so overrated eh Lew!

I made 120 jigs, my initial setup cost was around $500 $115 for 23 jars of paint $125 for 50 lbs. lead $75 for the melting furnace $120 for 12 boxes of hooks @ 100 hooks per box $40 for the mold $40 for 2 toaster ovens When you figure the price of just the materials only per jig it's about $.05 for lead, $.05 for paint and $.10 for the hook = 20 cents per jig... when you add in the labor, it's about $5 per jig! Thanks Henry, I got the Melting furnace from http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/ I bought the mold from Cabelas I buy my lead from http://www.rotometals.com/ I buy the hooks from http://www.do-itmolds.com/ ... and I buy the paint from http://lurepartsonline.com/cart.html ... as you can see, everything was bought online and I shop around for the best deals. It takes about 3 hours to pour them and about that long to "clean" them up for painting = 6 hrs I can paint 40 in 6 hrs. ... so I have about 24 hrs. in a batch of 120 jigs Who does THAT??? I actually did pay for it, it was off of a CD I bought. Thanks for the kind words y'all!

Well this is my first attempt with Windows movie maker, so forgive me if it's pretty crude... tried to add music but photobucket wouldn't upload it because of a copywrite filter, how do you get around those things? Anyway, here it is.

ADDICT!!!!

It doesn't look like the Dawg is going to make it anyway any how!!!... let my spot go out to a closer more reliable specimen... like the douG!!! Sorry Bubba's, but it's just too damn cold.. and too many sick folks running around for me to attend!!! ...maybe we sould try a G2G on lake Neely Henry in Januarary???.... biggest Crappie gets a lifetime supply of yellow corn grits!!!

Fishing with live bait is completely legal... hunting over bait will get your firearm, ATV, and pickup truck taken away from you in the state of Alabama!!! There are time limits on "greenfields" too!!!... hunting them too soon will get your firearm, ATV, and pickup taken away too!!! Personally myself, I say leave Bambi for when times get tough! (are you really that broke and hungry?) I could hunt them from my computer room and dining room windows if I wanted to... but I prefer to watch their natural beauty... and save them for more difficult times!... that may be something y'all don't understand..

... as a matter of fact, it would make me feel a helluva lot better... then you could C&R!... ever heard of anyone shooting and releasing a deer??? Am I then only one that can figure this stuff out???

I'm going to give you the skinny on cooking fish skinny!... don't serve it to guests until you've become proficient at cooking it, experiment on your family first! Fish isn't hard to cook, but it's even easier to screw up!!! ... for guests, cook something that you do well!... hamburgers, steaks, or maybe a nice leg of lamb!!! You might get lucky and have the fish turn out well your first time, but the odds are against you!!! Do you really want to look like an idiot in front of your friends? As far as thawing the fish, they should be thawed in the refrigerator a day or 2 before cooking.. depending on the fillet "mass"! All of this will be learned in time and over a period of "trial and error"!!! As for recipes, Beans recipe sounds a lot like my wifes... except she goes the simpler route! 1. Thaw fillets (as mentioned above) 2. Pat fillets dry with paper towels! 3. Dip in beaten egg (maybe add a teaspoon of milk or 2) 4. Roll in Italian flavored bread crumbs (we like Progresso brand) 5. Fry in hot peanut oil (around 400*F) 6. Drain on a plate covered with paper toweld ina 200*F oven while cooking the rest of the fillets! 7. Serve warm with with seafood cocktail sauce and side dishes like french fries. cole slaw, baked beans. potato salad, steamed rice, steamed veggies, salads... or if you screw it up, lots of high octane alcohol!!! ... but most importantly, practice before you serve it to guests... do I have to do all the thinking around here???

So, you're hunting over bait too?

Hunting over bait is always so sportsmanlike!!!

Complete Bull!!!... they had to have hit it with a 12 gauge power point or just shot it... no way you're just going to gaff a 748 lb. Mako and land it!!!... get real!!! Video is too chopped up to be believeable!!!... I guess an idiot might believe it!

Good report and pics Rob!!! ... but next time, spare me the gore pics... please! That lake looked so nice and calm!!! As for the Moose remains, to quote Josie Wales (the outlaw) "the buzzards gotta eat, just like the worms"!... as far as taking the legs, i figure they're about like deer legs and not much good meat on them.. they're mainly left for the scavengers and dogs. It's good to hear the CO was active and busting the violators, I hate any kind of wildlife poacher.. fishing or hunting!!! Thanks for taking the time to post!!! ... btw, looking forward to your ice fishing reports!!!

Nice introduction and welcome to the board Andoni!!! That extra fin on that Pike is unusual for sure!... I will blame "Global Warming" for that! Post more pics from Finland!!!

Live minnows are my winter go to bait for Crappie!!!... but last winter some folks on here were raving about the Gulp Fish Fry, so I just recently purchased a couple of jars for this winter... I'll try them against the live minnows to see which works the best. As far as color, if the water is really stained/dirty/muddy... pink works the best, if it's just a bit stained/dirty/muddy... then the color is yellow. if the water is clear... white is the color to go with! This holds true for jig colors and the plastic grubs/tubes that go on them. For Crappie, pink/white can be killer... and so can chartreuse/black!.. and then there's the Electric Rooster pink/chartreuse!!!

If your wife liked the Perch, do the Bass the same way.

At those temps, I would suggest looking for suspended fish over deep water with your sonar. If that lake is "turning over" they will be scattered and suspended.

Never ever never let you gas gauge dip below 3/4's empty when traveling!!! Never ever never let your GPS do your thinking for you!!! ... if you had PMed me before you left, i could've told you they were closed... have been since the last time I drove the 401!!!

A very talented bird! We have a mockingbird in the neighborhood that does a perfect ringing cell phone!

Heck Steve!... just send me a blank check and I'll pick you out a nice one!!! ... I'll put it thru the paces this winter and deliver it to you this coming Spring!!!

David Cerullo came to prominence after purchasing the television studios abandoned by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and established what is perhaps the boldest of all Christian "prosperity gospel" ministries (that pays him an annual base salary of $1.52 million). With his father, semi-retired Pentecostal preacher Morris Cerullo, they assure followers that the more they give, the more God will return to them. In a recent TV spot, Morris, speaking first in tongues and then addressing the currently credit-challenged: "When you (donate), the windows of heaven ... open for you ... 100 fold." "Debt cancellation!" (The on-screen message: "Call now with your $900 offering and receive God's debt cancellation!") [Charlotte Observer, 5-23-09]