Slice Of Summer...and Deadsticking

[dtrs5kprs]

Why didn't they have those cool camo rod/reel combos when I was 4 years old?

I know. Mine was green and white with stripes on the handle like a rugby shirt. Trigger was a piece of sheet metal held on with a screw.

[abkeenan]

I had a very manly blue Donald Duck pole/reel combo. Might have been all one molded piece. I was very spoiled with it's half a ball bearing, 1 to 1 gear ratio with 0 guide inserts and IM 1 graphite. I was such a fishing phenom at the age of 4 though it didn't matter. I still wore out the bluegill under my grandparent dock.

[GNSfishing]

My first fishing pole was a willow stick with a string tied around the end, a bobber, & a hook tied on the end of the string. That rig caught many pan fish on the upper James river above Marshfield. My grandfather is the man that got me hooked on the quest to go after our Finney friends over 66 years ago.... It's amazing our equipment has progressed over the years.....

[gitnby]

Hey, Dave!

Any reason why you couldn't rig up the Ned on a slip bobber for the young un's?

Or, heck, for any of us?

should be easier to cast for distance with a spin cast

maybe put the stop at 18-24" and let that sucker sink down on a slack line.

I would think you could move the bait along by just poppin the bobber a bit?

might give a better bite-detector on a windy day, and impart some additional action, too?

[dtrs5kprs]

Hey, Dave!

Any reason why you couldn't rig up the Ned on a slip bobber for the young un's?

Or, heck, for any of us?

should be easier to cast for distance with a spin cast

maybe put the stop at 18-24" and let that sucker sink down on a slack line.

I would think you could move the bait along by just poppin the bobber a bit?

might give a better bite-detector on a windy day, and impart some additional action, too?

Worth a try. I saw a bunch of brown fish caught with a slip bobber and garland crappie bait out the back of my boat last spring.

My thought is that the Ned is actually easier for kids to cast than the whip around action of a bobber and whatever dangling below it. That said, I started mine with a topwater bait, which was probably equal parts crazy and genius.

[brierpointer]

I am fortunate enough to live in the very cabin I started fishing in 28 years ago. You all compelled me to go searching through the old pole graveyard in the basement two find my first two old hand-me-downs.

I never knew back then that there was a second piece to the green Abu, or that neither reel was doing anything but making noise... (there used to be neon yellow line tied to the end of both rods...) I would spend hours on the old wood dock with my 95# grandmother and a can of corn and a Folgers can of fresh-dug (by me) worms, catching pan fish after panfish... oftentimes with my sister joining in the fray, and on more rare, special occasions, my cousins, aunts uncles, etc.. and into the pan they went.

We didn't dare walk up the hill without a full stringer! Grandpa, though all the gear was his, always had tinkering to do, but Grandma was indisposable until she had lunch strung up.

So cheers to all the fisherwomen out there who are keeping up the good fight while us guys are busy elsewhere.