eric1978

Occam's razor...twice in one night.

Which one do you have the most confidence in? If you're looking to really stock up, and you're a big-time jig user, this may be a good time to look into pouring your own, that way you get exactly what you want and in the long run you save a fortune.

No way, man. The older and uglier the hat, the better it fishes. I grab the rattiest old torn up thing I can find if I feel like I need some luck.

Sounds like a tough but successful day (you know my requirements for "success"). I was thinking the same thing about the shot of muddy water before you mentioned your theories. My guess would be a slump. Even if just the foot of it slipped into the river it would make a real mess but could be washed away for the most part in minutes. You see scarps all over the muddy bank sections of rivers , but I've never seen one happen before my eyes. Saw a bald eagle soaring above my house today in the middle of suburbia. We're only about 5 miles from the MO river, though, so I guess it's not that odd.

These are the people that talk straight through a movie at the theatre. They're idiots. They can't be taught. I hardly ever waste my time anymore pointing out to people how stupid they are. It's just a waste of breath.

Occam's razor. But just by chance it was an anomaly and you really suspected the fish was full of eggs, it wouldn't be the end of the world to keep it and take it to the bio lab at your school. I'm sure you could get a professor to slice it open and tell you what's up. Go back and catch her again. You got me curious now.

Great pics as usual. Thanks for sharing.

wader, I know you do a lot of fishing from your toon, so this might work for you...I took a sharpie and marked up to 25 inches on the handle of my paddle from the tip of the blade. It's as good as a golden rule and you can see how long the fish were later when you're looking at your pics if you take them laying on the paddle.

Wound up buying Rio Gold WF5F. Cabela's was of course out of that size so I paid retail. Going on a Sage Launch 9' 5 wt. and Lamson Konic #2 reel. It's a med-fast rod so I went with the gold because I didn't want the heavier line.

He's doing business on two ends. I'm not sure I'd want to finish one of those transactions.

I know, I was just pokin' ya a little. I'm used to river smallies and any time I catch a fish that size it qualifies as "big." You guys down at TR are spoiled.

Uh...what? That's a big smallie in my book. Are you from Tennessee or up north or something?

I'd shoot the middle one to put him out of his misery.

I'd PM Hoglaw...he'd probably know and could find out for you if he didn't.

Sack of potatoes, couple cases of beer...that fish fry is ON!

Thing is though, is you weren't fishing in a tourney, so weight is irrelevant. The number that you should be looking at is how much fun it was to catch on a scale of 1 to 10. That's all that matters. You got a picture of it, so you really don't need to know how much it weighed for bragging rights.

Yep, I've always figured that smallies generally head to the closest somewhat slower and deeper water in the winter, but I really do think that fish that live close by downstream from the spring, probably head up that way for the winter. I know I would if I was a smallie.

Like this?

And you know what? Who cares what it weighed? It was a big ol' fat pretty bass and I'll be she faught like an SOB and that's all that matters. I'll bet that was one of the biggest LM caught in the state today. I'd be happy as a clam.

If your goal is to teach them ethical behavior, don't bother...people that stupid will never get it. But if you're just trying to save your hunt, it doesn't hurt to ask very politely if he would mind moving just a little further down yonder. You might get an "oh sure, sorry 'bout that," but chances are he'll just get a real stupid look on his face or respond with a shrug of his shoulders. In that case just carry on. Sharing the planet with morons is frustrating, but there's nothing we can do about it. Take a deep breath and keep telling yourself...Serenity Now!

That's a big fat pig you got there, but I hate to tell you it's no 7 pounder...I'd guess closer to 5, although it's nearly impossible to say just looking at the pictures. Great fish, though!

That's pretty much what I was thinking, but I say it almost every day...I'm no biologist so what the heck do I know? I really don't think a bass will spawn in the fall, though (at least in our neck of the woods), regardless of water temperatures...lately I've been realizing photoperiod has a lot more to do with all aspects of behavior than I knew.

Very nice smallie! I bet you'll keep seeing them around the park more often until the water temps go back up in the spring. Bet you thought you had a real beast of a trout!

Not so sure she was full of eggs, Joe. Probably just fat from gorging on 'dads.

Thanks wrench. That bing map you attached earlier is really good. I need to pick up a Delorme, too, but I've always found something more fun to spend my money on when I've had one in my hand at the store. I've always assumed that most private roads will be marked. But I have noticed some private roads will start off as a public county road and cross onto private property that isn't clearly marked. Some land owners leave their private drives pretty ambiguous for god knows what reason. My dad's old neighbor in Huzzah didn't mark his private drive. One minute you're on a clearly marked county road and the next thing you know you're pulling up to his house at a dead end. To this day I don't know why he didn't put up a sign. I guess he liked confrontation because he said he's had to run off hundreds of guys looking for access to the river, which could have been easily averted with one PRIVATE-NO TRESPASSING sign. We had a gate at the top of our private drive, and although it remained open almost all the time, never had someone wander in.