kjackson

Yes, they have value.

I fished out of Holiday Island on Friday; saw one walleye caught, had two bites and left the area to explore elsewhere. I didn't mark much in the way of fish. I may head out Tuesday, if so, I'll post my lack of results then.

Stomach is growling after reading that...

I launched at Holiday late in the morning and went out in search of walleyes. Had what might have been two bites and saw one boat land what looked like a 6-8-pounder that as a bit on the thin side for a pre-spawn fish. I'm thinking it was a male, but it was a ways away. Finally gave up on the 'eyes and went exploring a bit with the idea that I might find crappies. Ended up in a warmish bay (46 degrees at one point) and caught a short largemouth on a jerkbait and had another make a pass.

That place is awesome, and you had a great trip. Loved the photos -- you could see you were having fun. It was also nice to see you fishing in shirt sleeves as we fished there in the snow this year when you couldn't wear enough clothes. I envy you that. The lake may be managed intensively, but it's not easy fishing by any stretch, and any large bass is a bonus. Don't let anyone take away from the pleasure of what you did. For me, it's a bit like fishing in Alaska or any remote destination. You get to see things that you wouldn't on TRL or Beaver. It's almost like you are fishing in a lake 100 years ago--big bass in schools feeding or sipping shad on the surface. It was a great experience for my group, and I'd love to go back. Having said that, I caught my personal best largie there this year, and while I'm happy to have it in my avatar, it doesn't mean as much to me as it would if I'd caught it while fishing by myself in one of the lakes around here.

14 degrees and rain? Really? Thundersnow I can handle but rain when it's this cold is beyond weird… And now it is snowing…that's much better.

You should have a great trip...I was there during that first nastiness of snow and cold that closed the area down. Even though it was snowing/sleeting/wintry-mixing, the fish were pretty active. My largest and PB was a 10-13--the one in my avatar. It wasn't hot fishing, but all the fish were big.

Smithwick brought out another jerkbait that was introduced at the Classic--the Elite 8 Rogue. It's designed to dive to eight feet and suspend. I was able to fish it last Friday at a little lake in northern Alabama, and we did catch a ton of fish--probably 80 for two boats on a short day. There were a lot of doubles and at times it was every cast, one of the benefits of fishing in an intensively managed private lake. I can't tell you that the Elite 8 did dive to eight feet, but it dove quickly, and a few times when I was working it close to the boat, it was very obvious that it was suspending. Water temp was in the mid-40s. Colors are much the same as the Perfect 10, but as I didn't have the new chart to look at, I couldn't say for sure. It was a memorable day for me, and now I am anxiously awaiting the bite to start around here.

The weather blew through, but it was cooler than I thought this morning--in the upper 30s. And we had a small tornado hit in town, so the weather was pretty wild about 3 am. I went out with three guys on a private lake an hour and a half north of Birmingham, and the bite there may well be representative of what is happening on the big lake---very slow morning with a jerk bait bite starting to turn on close to lunch. After lunch it started to pickup, and by four it was on fire. Between the two boats we had several times when three of us were hooked up at once, and in the boat I was in, doubles were the rule for quite a while. For about an hour it was every cast. Granted, most of the fish were small, but the action was very consistent. I did catch two fish on a jerk bait--we were fishing the new Rogue Elite 8. I could learn to like jerk baits--that was a hoot!

The weather blew through about midnight last night, and it's clear and around 40 degrees. So today's predicted weather has changed to sunny. I'm upping my guess to 93.4 pounds. Walked through media day yesterday, and a lot of guys were putting new hooks on rattle baits or tying on rattle baits, FWIW.

I'll match your 60 degrees with 70 here...a windy 70, though. Unfortunately, I leave for the Classic tomorrow, and there is only one fishing day scheduled. Next week, just in time for the next cold blast, I'll be fishing. My timing needs to be better.

And there went a quick $75...

Yeah, I figured they were not the usual run of migrants. They are fun birds, and the breast fillet is close to that of a small goose. But first I have to get with the duckhunting program in general. That is high on the list for this year.

Scoters? Hmmm...I may have to rethink my attack on puddlers for next year. Scoters make such a lovely splash when they hit the water with a load of #4s.

Perfect; thanks.

Where did you get the mold for the wobble head? I've been looking but have yet to find one.

Great way to start...

Alton Jones says he has at least one spot with some nice fish.... If it rains like as predicted on the first day, then that will change things a bit. Still upper 70s or low 80s would be my guess.

From experience...it could be a faulty drain plug or the area around the drain itself. It's worth a quick check. Neither is a difficult fix.

I'm trying to work away from my northern roots, but as for companies that could be worse--Jarden maybe? Although, I would have put Pure Fishing right up there after Bedell sold his interest. Being a West Coast emigre, I still can't forgive what happened to Fenwick.

Never heard of the otolith thing as jewelry…I understand drum have large ones. The only thing I've seen deckhands do in Alaska is take the cheeks off the halibut…mmmm, halibut cheeks.

I don't think it was a matter of guys "up North" so much as Finnish engineers. They wanted to make lures that were consistently the same--with no leakers, none that didn't run correctly out of the box, etc. What they didn't realize, IMO, is that the erratic action was what made the baits so good.

Rapala says that the "origiinal" Wiggle Warts it is now selling are made using the old Storm molds. The difference in action, if there is any, is supposed to be due to the use of a different plastic--or so I read somewhere. Having toured the Rapala plant and after meeting some of the engineers, I'd guess that the original series now made by Rapala also doesn't leak, uses sonic welding or comparable other system to glue parts together and in general isn't as erratic in manufacturing process as was the case before the purchase. As for the possibility of obtaining old molds and selling enough to make it worthwhile, I dunno. Currently, the competition is Rapala with its two series, Brad's Baits, Yakima Bait's FatFish, and the Luck-E-Strike version. Then, if you add in the new wart-action baits, such as the Koppers' HFC craw, I'd say the competition is pretty stiff.

That was worth watching, but now I need to review what I have in Chatterbaits or similar...

Hey, mon, I can hook you up... Depending upon boat, I may have a set of short-arm downriggers available. If you're serious about the fly thing, again... At one point, my life goal was to be a trout bum, but then I got married. However, I still am interested in the waving stick part of the sport and have some extra stuff that may work. What I need is specs for what is best for stripers and hybrids. I don't have complete outfits, but I think I can fill a hole or two. However, if you start thinking about tying flies, you're on your own.