Dontcryformejanhrdina

I've eaten largemouth, never enjoyed it. Smallmouth taste a little better since they're generally in deeper, cooler water but not much better. I haven't found any yellow grub parasites in bass but a few of the lakes I fish, the perch are full of them. Which is a shame since the one lake I fish the perch get really big.

Now the floodgates open! Persistence pays off, nice to see ya get the monkey off your back Mike.

Trent has ton of catfish, both channels and bullheads.

I have a 24 year old Starcraft with plenty of dents and scratches in it, I've even hit a rock shoal hard last year with the hull I'm embarrassed to admit. Still doesn't leak a drop.

In my mind, it all depends on whether you were paying cash or not and if the total came to $3.99. In that case, stores now round either up or down to the closest $0.05. If you buy something for $3.99 it's going to be rounded up to $4. There's no pennies anymore. At the same time, if it comes to $4.02 you'll get it for $4.00. Unless you're giving those pennies back, I'd say it's not very honest to complain about. At the same time, if paying by debit or credit, there's no need to round up or down. So if it's automatically rounding all .99 items up to a dollar before even getting a total, yeah, that's a mistake by the store that should be fixed otherwise they're basically stealing from customers. A penny is just a penny but if they're getting it for several items over countless transactions a year, it will add up. Sounds like Office Space.

Haven't fished it but I was told there's lots of pike which has dropped the musky population drastically. I imagine walleye are harder to come by too than in years past but that holds true for many lakes unfortunately.

Hey I'm not disagreeing here at all. I just don't expect every single officer/warden to know everything. Human error is always a possibility. While a wrongful ticket would get thrown out, it's still a big inconvenience. I'd rather not risk anything and I always buy the sports fishing licence anyway. I've heard of guys having their hunting rifles confiscated by young cops because they had them unloaded and in plain view on their seat, which is perfectly legal. They got them back without any fines but they still had to drive to the cop shop and get it sorted out. There are tons of people bad at their jobs. I'm sure law enforcement is no different.

An individual's own interpretation of the rules? Even wardens can make a mistake and/or be looking for reasons to give out tickets.

I actually asked a retired game warden that I know about this. He said you can still fish for them and basically a warden would have to be a big jerk to ticket you if you're releasing them. Maybe just pay the extra $10 and not worry about it.

Anything. But seriously husky jerks are great in cold water. Long pauses usually trigger strikes. I've also had success using 6" depthraiders for pike early season before the weeds develop. Specifically target any side creek openings, especially if they are areas choked with weeds later in the summer. Don't be afraid to fish very shallow for them this time of year.

One thing to remember when looking at tracks is a cougar's tracks aren't actually that big for that size of cat. Wolves and even a lynx would have bigger tracks.

My mom saw two fighting with each other in her neighbour's driveway a few years back in the Paudash area.

The house I bought last year has a wood stove insert with a glass window. My wife had a fireplace on her must have list so this is perfect. Heats the main part of the house very well despite being fairly small, especially this time of year plus gives you that warm glow. I haven't had to turn on the heat yet, plus I cut my own wood so for me it's worth it. Of course I didn't pay to have it installed.... Ironically enough, the original owners had a wood insert, switched to gas then back to wood. I guess they didn't like the gas as much. An actual open faced fireplace is just plain drafty and like others have said will suck warm air out the chimney. And don't waste your time on willow for burning.

Awesome buck, congrats! That must have been quite the thrill! I saw a doe and two fawns 20' in front of my blind Monday morning, the doe walked up to 10' in front of me. Had another doe come around about 15 minutes later as well, nothing since. Only have a buck tag though and haven't seen one all week. None on the trail cam since Sunday night either when I had 3 on there (two of which were rucking). So I've been out hunting grouse more than deer the past couple of days.

Not the controlled but this will be my first year hunting deer. Can't wait until next week! I just hope the bears would go to sleep already lol. I get a lot more deer here when they're not around.

Nice report, they're such beautiful birds. I love grouse, so tasty! I've got a dozen so far this year but have missed many more. Very unpredictable birds. I don't know how many times I've thought I had one lined up and they make a sudden left/right turn and all I'm shooting is air. I once had one flying about 5 feet off the ground, I shot and it dropped down at the exact same time. I'm thinking I hit it for sure. I bend over to pick up my shell and look up to see it running back in the opposite direction into heavy shrubs. Had to laugh at the sneaky little bugger.

To be honest when you're holding a fish, nobody is looking at your face anyway. Nice fish by the way!

Yeah I had soft plastics melt holes right through the sides. I now keep my soft plastics in plastic tackle boxes.

My wife goes fishing and hunting with me. She can't spend a whole day fishing but neither can my friends....she's good for about 6 hours. As far as buying gear she couldn't care less. It's usually me that stops myself from buying more.

And another two grouse today. Can hardly wait to eat them!

Unless they're saltwater hooks, they actually rust out fairly quick. If it was a bass style spinner it's likely in the corner of it's mouth, shouldn't be a problem for it. I've caught a pike with a weedless hook in it's mouth and it didn't stop it from eating my bait.

Well it's been a long, hot dry summer. I seem to be the only one around who is glad it's over though. Working 6 days a week and cutting my firewood for the next two years has kept me very busy. I hadn't been out musky fishing since June, just too damn hot. But I booked the last 3 days off work to spend at a cottage with a couple of my siblings to go fishing. I was hoping the fish would be on fire. They were not. We got there Friday afternoon and after grabbing some food we went out for a fish after supper. I was casting musky gear and they were both casting bass sized lures. We didn't even see a fish. Not a hit, not a blow up, not a follow. Well it was getting dark so I thought we'd fish this weedbed by the cottage then head in, I've had luck there in the past. Around 7pm or so I finally get a hit, fish on! After a nice quick fight I get it into the net. 40" musky. I'll take it. The next day we start before the sun comes up and we cast. All day long. My brother must have went through a dozen different lures trying to get anything to hit. As for me, I didn't get anything either. Not even a pike follow. So after a full day of casting and it starting to get dark, same plan as the night before. Fish that giant weed bed and work our way towards the cottage. I'm coming up to the exact same spot as the night before, same lure, approximately the same time and I get another hit. This one was noticeably stronger and when I had it near the back of the boat and was leaning out to keep it away from my motors it turned around and made a strong run in the opposite direction, taking 20-30' of line out and almost pulling me in the lake in the process. I tighten my drag down enough that I have to wrap my hand around it to pull it out. I've had musky take line on me but not quite like that. We got it in the net though. It wasn't my biggest but the first thing I noticed was how thick it was. 44.5 inches. We were pretty much done for the night so after trying to jig up some walleye after dark with only rock bass to show for it we went in. We didn't see a fish the next morning but I was happy with how the weekend went. Much needed time away from work. So after getting home and unpacking everything I decide to go for a quick grouse hunt. It was quick all right. I just started hunting this year and didn't have any luck so far any time I went out earlier. They'd fly off long before I could ever see them to get a clear shot off. This day was different. Minutes in I get three coming out of a bush right after each other. It was delayed too, I see one, boom, it's down. Walk towards it, another comes out, boom, it's down. Walk even closer, ANOTHER comes out, boom, it's down. So I pick up my shells and go to grab the three I got, a 4th comes walking out right in front of me, then flies up. Didn't get a shot at him as I was just reloading. Saw another one further down but missed it as it flew behind some trees. Not a bad weekend at all. A couple of solid musky and my first three grouse.

Enjoy the extra free time Lew! I'll always appreciate all the advice and knowledge you shared with this newbie.

It's like reeling in a small ceiling fan. It will literally pull your boat in the direction of the cast. Great lures though.

Or you turn to make another cast and just hear a big splash...