THUNDERSTRUCK JIGS AND THE WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT

On my last post I mentioned some good web sites to view. There is one that I wanted to make a special post on. "Thunderstruck Jigs" have made an amazing looking series of skirted jigs. They are made with football heads or rounded heads and come in various shapes, colors and sizes. The skirted material is made of silicon for durability. Jigs have become a very necessary weapon for fishing for various species of fish. They are so popular that you can find them anywhere and they are made by dozens of lure manufactors. The most intriquing aspect of the THUNDERSTRUCK JIG CO. is a special program that they have become involved with! It is the "WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT"! This project was founded on the principle that VETERANS are our nation's greatest citizens. The "WWP" seeks to assist those men and women of our armed forces who have been severely injured during the conflict in Irag, Afghanistan and other locations around the world! Thunderstruck Jig Co. has produced a special football headed jig and named it the "FREEDOM JIG". It has a red,white and blue skirt and sells for $5.00 with 100% of the profits going to the "WWP"! I think this is an extremely patriotic idea and I encourage everyone to go to www.thunderstruckjigs.com and purchase some of their products. Their web site is full of material, how to videos and a catalog of their products. Please, check them out. You won't be sorry!

The Advantage Of The Internet

Years ago there was no internet, so in order to find information one had to do it the hard way, ask questions, read about it in the newspaper or witness it! During the fishing season our local newspapers would run outdoor columns dealing with up dated fishing reports. Not anymore. The papers need all their space for ads to bring in money so they can continue to publish the every day news. Being 60 years old has been a major disadvantage for me in working with computers. If you can imagine, just think how big a computer was back in the 60's, when I was in school, and then look at the one that is in front of you right now! When I graduated from high school I had an opportunity to attend a computer programming school. I was so intimidated at the idea that I chickened out! Who would have thought that today if you didn't have a computer in your home or a laptop to carry with you, you would be considered to be from the back hills! Well, it's fairly obvious that I have one now, and even though I have to "hunt and peck" to type anything, I LOVE IT! I spend so much time on it searching for "STUFF", it has create a few arguements in the home live! Getting back to where this was heading in the first place, I have found so many "NEAT" web sites dealing with fishing! I thought I would list a few here today! Most of them have a forum that can be joined or just read if you don't feel like joining! Some have great videos and how to information. Some are for the sale of their products but are interesting to view, so here goes! 1) SPORTSMANSLIFE.com 2) OHIOSPORTSMAN.com 3) OUTDOOROHIO.com 4) PONDBOSS.com (if you need information on building or working on a pond) 5)LARRYSLURESandCRAFTS.com 6) NORTHSTARCUSTOMBAITS.com 7) AMERICANBASSOUTLET and my favorite 8) MYOUTDOORTV.com. If you cann't get out fishing, maybe you can at least key up some of these sites an have a look around! Good Fishing!

SOME FAVORITE FISHING LURES

When my Dad started me out casting for Bass, he kept the lure selection simple and easy. Our favorite lure in early spring and again in the fall was a Johnson Silver Minnow with a #11, green UNCLE JOSH PORK FROG. For some reason, Dad had come up with a way to trim the pork frog to give it more kicking action. He would lay it down (green side down) and using a shape knife, would trim most of the fat (white part) off. He would then find the hook hole and angle the knife blade toward the upper leg then cut off a wedge. When this was done on both sides, the pork frog had an arrow shaped head with about a 1/4" wide area at the hook hole. With the action of the Silver minnow, the frog would almost roll with the legs kicking. No matter how slow the spoon was worked, the frog always had action! Another lure was and still is a favorite of mine! It is a CP Swing. This is the simplest spinner made! Dad taught me to add a FLY-STRIP to one hook. Again, the Fly-Strip is another UNCLE JOSH pork product. It is only about a 1 1/4" long and about a 1/4" wide. Back in the "old days", we only had white fly-strips but today they are white, yellow/white, and red/white. These are a great addition to any spinner! The third favorite was a CREEK CHUB PLUNKER! It was your standard surface lure which you inparted the acton with a twitch of the rod. Then came one of the all time greats in the RAPALA! Everyone knows this lure! We started fishing it in the middle 1960's and what a fish catching bait it was and still is! All though the essence of the true fisherman is to have as much fishing tackle as possible, you can take these 4 lures today and catch Bass! Why not give them a try and hold on for some explosive action! As I said earlier, these are what my Dad started me off with so, tie one on the small one's line and watch the fun!!

How Do We Do It?

Not meaning to brag, my Dad and I have always had the ability to, generally, outfish anyone who was fishing with us! This, on occasion, has been almost enbarrassing and compounded by the remarks made by the other fisherman, you could tell they weren't very happy! My Dad had a long time friend that was a very good fisherman on his own right but when he was with Dad, he just couldn't keep up! Some how I inherited Dad's fishing ability, probably because Dad taught me everything he knew about the sport! I, like my Dad, have tried to pass on my knowledge to others but I cann't be held responsible for what they haven't learned! I have a fishing body that refuses to fish my methods and gets very upset when he catches few fish and I, on the other hand, am pulling them in one after the other! He is constantly asking what I'm using, what color is it, how are you working it,etc..I will always remember a cold early April morning while I was still in High School. My Mother and I had been fishing all the previous week, under much warmer weather conditions, and had quite abit of success on Bass while fishing with worms from shore. A friend asked if he could come out on Saturday morning to try his luck and I said yes. A major spring storm hit on Friday and Saturday morning dawned with wind,clouds,temps in the low 30's and snow! I just assumed my friend wouldn't show but there was a knock on our front door at 9a.m.. He had walked about 5 miles to our place and looked like a snowman! After he came in and warmed up, we went fishing! I already had my rod rigged so I showed him how I was set up and while he started to rig his rod, I baited mine and cast it out, then sat my rod down to see if he needed any help. I turned to check my bobber and it was gone! I grapped the rod and set the hook into a 3# Largemouth Bass. My friend hadn't even had a chance to bait his hook! I proceeded to do this two more times during the day and was rewarded with two more Bass in the 3#-4# class. My fiend caught a few small catfish,bluegill and perch but no Bass. My whole life has been like that. Not to say I always catch fish. There has been many times I've been skunked, but as they say, "A BAD DAY FISHING IS STILL BETTER THAN A GOOD DAY AT WORK"! A Proverb comes to mind, "GIVE a man a fish and feed him for a day. TEACH a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime"! Go fishing and take a friend and/or child with you. You'll have a great time!

Carp fishing in the Ohio River

I was down by the Ohio River the other afternoon and was remembering all the fun we used to have fishing for Carp alone the river! My Dad grew up in Wellsville,Ohio and he spent many of hours along the banks and fishing for Carp and Catfish. He would make dough ball for bait and would add flavoring which the carp really enjoyed! There would be some days the bite was fast and furious and then days when we couldn't get a bite! the fish generally weren't that big but they put up a scrap! One evening Dad had invited two cousins(Bill and Ken) along and their Dad(Rodger). We got into some larger fish and were having a blast! My cousins fishing line was not as strong as ours and they were getting a lot of break offs. Some of these fish were well over 5# and their Dad was becoming more and more frustrated with every break off. Finally, on the next line break, Rodger went running into the river chasing the broken line. It was shallow and he must have ran out 30'-40' and up to his waist to catch the line. He was successful and he turned back to shore pulling the Carp with him! It was one of the funniest moments to witness that! Carp are not afish I would chose as a food fish however that doesn't mean I don't enjoy catching them! For some real fun, take your kids to the river and have a ball!

Spinning Reels

When I was growing up, there were two major spinning reels that were favored by fisherman. You could be sure that just about everyone had a MITCHELL 300 or a SHAKESPEARE spinning reel. We favored the Mitchell 300 and had about 6 of them. They were a simple reel to use and still are today. However,today things are a lot more complicated! We would mount our Mitchells on a 6'-7' fiberglass spinning rod with 6#-8# monofilament line and away we'd go! Today you have to consider how many ball bearings the reel contains, what size of reel you are comfortable using, what length rod you want to use, is the rod made of graphite or a composite of graphite and fiberglass or boron construction, what are you fishing for, Bass, Crappie or Walleye, do you want to use monofilament line, or any of the many non-stretch lines, are you going to be fishing clear water or cloudy to muddy water. Today's modern fishermen have to many decisions to make for just a casual day outdoors. If all this is too much, go dig or buy some worms and take the kids out fishing, they will love it!

Bluegill On A Flyrod

My Dad taught me how to use a flyrod early in my life. We used them to fish live bait for Crappie and Largemouth Bass. Then as I improved my casting ability, I was able to start using flies for Bluegill. I haven't found any thing that compares to the fun of catching big Bluegills on a flyrod! The lake, we lived at, had become over populated with small Bluegill under 5 inches in length. Dad and I used to take 5 gallon buckets, along with our fly rods, when we fished for Bluegill. Any gill under 5 inches would get tossed in the buckets. When the buckets were full, we'd carry them home and bury them in our garden area for fertilizer. We did this for three or four years. The average length of the existing Bluegill grew from 5-6 inches to 8, 9 and 10 inches. Very few people took the time to fish for gills because they were so small. Dad and I received a bunch of criticism from the neighbors about taking out all the fish. They did not understand that too many fish caused stunting and the fish would remain small. Once they saw the size increase of the Bluegill, everyone started fishing for them. To this day the Bluegill have maintained their large size and are a blast to catch! Try to keep in mind, there is only so much food in any pond or lake to support so many fish. It never hurts to remove fish for the health of the others!
Do your duty and take some kids to an area pond and let them have some fun catching Bluegill. Bluegill are good to eat as well so, catch a bunch and help the pond then cook them up and help yourself to a very tasty meal!