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Nice pics Elbert. Is that brownish one a smallie? I rented a cabin up in MN from a goofy old guy who loved to tease and especially he loved to provoke his wife. I was at dinner at his place one night and he casually said as he looked across the table at me and then over at his wife, "you do know Ron, that the large mouth bass are the females and the small mouths are the males? That's when the baked potato arched its way across the table.

A friend tried for years to convince me to try UL on gills and crappies and I stubbornly resisted. I usually only fish for cats and carp with heavy gear, except in MN where it is heavy tackle for walleyes, Northern, musky and big black bullheads.

Last year my catch count went up drastically...not in size but in fun and number of fish caught. I found an inexpensive Shakespeare UL spinning reel and an Ugly Stick rod and decided to give it a whirl. (pun intended) Now I like UL so much I may get another rod and reel just for those little marauders of the local ponds. What a hoot to catch. They clean easy and are the best tasting of all the little ones. Walleyes are good too but to me nothing can come close to a bluegill or crappie.

Now I want a small boat of some kind, but I may have a problem with that. I don't have a place to store it so I may have to get some kind of inflatable. If it stops raining and snowing and blowin I will go get me some bluegills for dinner. If anyone has used an inflatable for a fishin boat, please post some info about your experiences with them in a new thread so we don't steal this one.
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Those look like the perch we caught yesterday at Pine Flat res, which is right between Clovis and the Giant Sequoia nat monument.

We released everything. All too small to keep. Otherwise I eat what I catch, as the waters here are still quite clean, being direct Sierra snowmelt.

BTW I have caught exactly one small mouth bass since I moved here in '75. We get some nice largemouth though.
 
Yes Sir, I`ve been catching a few of those too and they are fun to hook up.

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I got the bug for fishing...a lot...this year. I ordered a 8' UL crappie rod and reel. I go to 3 places where a machete is mandatory if I want to be able to see the water. I will still hack my way to fishing splendor but the 8' rod will allow me to do some doodling and dunking. I just got hooked last year on the UL thing and now I need a fix.
 
It`s been a bit bumpy this last week here in Oklahoma, lakes levels above normal and rivers running strong. I took a break from mowing the wet grass and got out for a few minutes yesterday for walk around a friend`s pond, I missed one and caught a couple of smalls...10 day forecast looks like I might get a little reel time in between thunderstorms.

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Time for some new gear here, and to pass the old stuff down to the kiddies.

Nothing wrong with the old stuff as long as it`s well taken care of. I don`t have an exact date but I`ve been running my two main rigs since 2001 at least and maybe a tad longer. The only thing I`ve changed is this year I started using Trilene instead of Stren. 2868354-grner-see-underwater-rock-austria-water-lake___l.jpg
 
Haskell Lake here in NE Oklahoma provided a little ultralight fun today, I caught a couple of nice little Bass and a couple of Redears.....(Rebel Yellow Crickhopper) Quantum Micro MS00 - 4`6" Shakespeare rod - 6lb Trilene.

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How many times ya gonna catch them same fish? I'm jealous. I plan to get out but something always stops me. Tomorrow and Tuesday I have pickups and deliveries here so I may get out in late afternoon. Of course, it could rain any day now. I can't go fish anywhere on the Rock or Mississippi. We have record flooding on the sippi and the Rock reacts to that. The Wapsi is way out of its banks too. I have 2 small lakes close and several long distance. I have bait all made up to try. I hope it doesn't spoil. I need worms also but I will get them when I go. Last times I kept worms in the fridge I squeezed the container somehow and they all got out. Some ate my lettuce, some got into the carrots and the rest were in the crispers. Next time I will make sure I leave some salad dressing out for them.

I just got a new rod and reel specifically for panfishing. It is a ULight, 8' glass rod that is like a buggy whip. 6 lb line and a new spinning reel...Zebco Crappie Fighter. I ordered it from Wally World. I checked Zebco site and Amazon and Wally beat them by about 8 bucks. I am anxious to try it.


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All my fishing gear has been bumping around in the boat all over the place for years so it's pretty scratched up by now.

I have a local fishing store that sells high-end Yuppy fishing gear, but I'm looking for stuff that is a a better value.

I do like the Diawa reels and I own three or four plus a Penn 10 which I am not giving up.

I have Eagle Claw rods and Shakespeare graphite rods, which have served me well. The one I snapped a tip off was some new one called ROX, and I believe this is only the second time that I've had it out.

But I'm kind of old school I guess, because I like Shakespeare and Eagle Claw and Fenwick. I would probably still fish with my old Mitchell Garcia 330, but I have literally worn the thing out and none of the pins will stay in place.

I used to go out with some guys for big carp fishing, but I don't enjoy catching fish that I can't eat as much.

I have been promising to take my granddaughters fishing but now it looks like I will have to make good on that.
 
I still like fishing with my old zebco 33 and ultralite Berkley lightning rod.

I have a really old Diawa bullet reel that will cast a bare hook about 15 feet even without a sinker on it. You put a sinker and bobber on it, and you don't have any problems getting it out to about 50 or 60 feet from the bank if you need to.

There's a lot to be said for those old reels.

And the funny thing about it, I found the old Diawa bullet reel and the rod in an illegal garbage dump. Looked like someone had a $5 yard sale sticker on it and didn't sell and they got tired of tripping over it so I was more than happy to pick it up and put it in the back of my truck. I got 5 more rods and reels that day too. I felt like I had won the lottery.

I'm not above picking up good junk I find like that.

I also recently got a shiny newer "craftsman" 3/8 ratchet out of the road about 5 months ago. Seriously, I don't have a problem pulling onto the shoulder and walking back and waiting on traffic to clear to pick it up.

Finders keepers.
 
I've had a few lucky finds over the years. A Snap-on flex ratchet, a Kershaw camping knife, lots of lead wheel weights found while skating. I often pick up hardware off the road if it looks like quality stuff.
My dad used to collect metal scrap in the hills, back in the 30's, and sell it to the local junkyard. When he taught me about radios and TVs, I had no problem picking up junk stuff from the street corners to strip or fix. I still have a box of vacuum tubes I've been saving since the 1960's. Some are still available, but complex ones are like gold.
 
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