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Well parting can be sweet sorrow, and I have been parting with my 60+ years of fishing tackle. Many of those old lures are collectors' items. Some antiques. Some rare and many no longer made. The sad aspect is that I can no longer use them as intended, and none of my family has the need or appreciation for what these are. But the sweet part is that I found several different people who understood and appreciated. So most everything has been sold (cheap) or given away.

You all know about leg-banding ducks and geese to study their flight migration patterns. That's been done for a long time. Of course nowadays most studies of wildlife and fish habits are done electronically with radio collars and embedded GPS location transmitters and even tiny cameras. Here's some info on how it was done almost fifty years ago, for bass. I was fishing a bunch due to the fortune of a supportive wife and being able to guide a few years. Sam Rayburn Reservoir in east Texas had been dammed and filled in the late 1960s. At 114,000 surface acres it was, and still is the biggest lake wholly within Texas. (Toledo Bend was a few years later and shares its 180,000 acres with Louisiana). Anyway, Rayburn was my lake. BASS was going well, outdoor writers were spreading the word about the great bass fishing, US Forest Service & the US Corps of Engineers were busy building big reservoirs, Texas Parks & Wildlife and other agencies were studying bass habits as well as economic impact fishing had on nearby areas. During that time (about 1970) way less was known about bass behavior, especially how they moved, seasonally and otherwise, in large reservoirs. Stephen F Austin University is in Nacogdoches Texas, about thirty miles from Sam Rayburn lake and they sponsored a tagging study then. I don't know how many bass were tagged but a bunch of them. Small metal tags clipped onto the gill covers, serialized and documented where released. Unlike 2018 when we can just do a web search of such things and have near immediate access to details, much of what we learned was word of mouth. Some from local newspapers. Little from TV. I knew about the tagging program and was acutely interested because we were all learning about bass. Anyway, I caught two of the tagged bass within the next year. Called the tag numbers in with location, depth caught etc and learned about the release date and site ( and kept the tags). Absolutely amazing to me was the distance these bass traveled from their release site. One was caught on a sandy point extending out to the Attoyac River channel about a mile from release. It was in late spring and about 20' deep. The other I caught was many miles away, down in the big part of the lake in open water off the Angelina River channel (winter, big schools of open water bass following shad). Both bass had moved a long way, and in different directions, much farther than most of us would have even imagined. That was in the days when folks thought bass took up a home on a log or stump and lived near it for life. Turns out that they roam, some like nomads, others stay in a smaller area but still move more than we thought. Here are are the tags and an old Creme Lure Co float I kept my boat key(s) on. Nick Creme started that company making rubber (plastic) worms in Tyler, Texas and was very successful in timing that with the growing interest iin and knowledge of bass fishing.

Okay...so is this where we discuss largemouth X smallmouth crosses? Midmouths maybe? And what will Smallieking and BigSmallie call themselves now - hybrids?

That may be,...they are deilcious,pan fried ..especially for a bank lunch.my wife at one of our favorite brookie spots.we did catch lunch,no clue where the fish pics went,must have eaten them.

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Yes sir some of the best advice on the web right here I have never caught a bass on a lipless that was the first one

Not catching as many over 28 inches as we did 5 years ago. Not doing much different other than not fish as much or as hard. I burned by kids out i think unless i guarantee a hard quit time or swimming by noon. For trophy fish, you just have to have things line up right and have big fish turn on at the right time when your there. I once caught a 10 and 12 pounder on the same bait down 110' against a cliff 30 mins apart. on the same spot. Hasn't worked since! but still catch fish there, but no slabs. I think the big lakers can get food so easily in East TN resivoirs, like gizzard shads and suckers for a weeks meal that they are very inactive and sulk most of the time right on bottom and hard to see on sonars when actually laying in the mud or sand. The old ones often like to lay moitonless on the bottom. I've seen this first hand in 80 ft deep natural springs in Canada, actually covered in sand. I think they have plenty to eat, more bait than ever since they are regulating the water draw downs better in the late fall. Best time to catch a really big one is when no else is even fishing, early or late at dusk. I've caught 10 lb plus fish on small spoons and 9" flasher and flies and 8" plugs, small plug. Small baits, big baits, spring, late summer, super shallow and super deep. There is no secret bullet it seems. Even jigging big hair jigs on deep points with strip of sucker works at times. from 2008 August..

Glad the TA Forum advice helped you out. Nice bass.

8+lbs took 1st, 7+ got 2nd, and 6.15 lbs got 3rd on the lake trout and two rainbows at 4.5 lbs tied for 1st on the rainbow side. It was about too hot to fish from noon on and the big ones definitely didn't bite too well today.

The overwhelming number of Lakers I've caught at Watauga this spring have been 17-19". There's a few big ones stirring but they seem to be few and far between. A huge one broke me off on my first trip of the season. It only took two big head-shakes to snap my 10 pound line.....

Maybe they should be checking the stomach for Purina Crappie Chow...?

Go early, fish deep in deeper water, troll @ 1.5 mph or more with heavier weights, catch crappie, leave early, clean fish, cook in peanut oil invite the boss lady to dinner,-----enjoy! dada 6-15-18 7:46 AM

BigSmallie can catch any kind of fish out of a wet ditch along the roadside. Don’t let this photo mislead you...

I saw more Golden Rainbows on the local TV news last night. There was a piece about how Tellico River and Citico Creek were not holding trout very well in late summer. They really didn't say why. I presume climate change is warming these streams. They talked about starting and ending the stocking season sooner. Any way, they showed the stocking in what looked like Citico Creek and there were Goldens mixed in with the regular Rainbows. It makes me wonder if eventually they'll be stocking mostly Browns in these streams. Browns can tolerate higher temps than Rainbows.

Me and a partner caught over 100 lb’s in three long days of fishing. 21#, 5 bass stringer average of just keepers. 8 bass over 4# off one point. But Guntersville can disappoint, the trip mentioned was 2012, 2014 ...., one three pounder and a bunch of dunks. We fish near Goose Pond. Find a long point off main river, throw a 3/4 oz. Excalibur One Knocker as far as you can. Let it sink till you know it will be ripping it back through grass, most hits will come just as the lure breaks loose. So pause, then set hook. Orange worked for me. Good Luck

The reel was a fun project during these rainy days. Took it completely apart and cleaned all of the pieces. Flushed the bearings. Polished the ends of the spool shaft, the spool shaft that rides in the pinion gear, part of the pinion gear, and the drag washer. Re-applied grease and oil where necessary and put the reel back together. Not sure what to do with it though. I can't hardly use a right handed casting reel. Maybe sell it or donate it?

The bottom 2 are obviosly browns.we used to catch 8,10 ocasional 12" brook trout until the browns got in there.we tend to think that a couple heavy october rains gave them access over some beaver dams from the farmington river.look at the spots on the 2nd brown,that is a wild brown,the other is a holdover stocker that swam 8 or so miles under high water conditions both had eggs,glad we got them out pre spawn.our DEEP has severly damaged our native strains.

Tek, you must know the trick in oct/nov for trolling a "champlain jane" streamer etc. in the prop wash,split shot and a inline barrel swivel for the landlocks.i actually held the champlain record for landlock,13 lbs....20 years,caught it on 4 lb line no lead,not allowed,Ausable chasm, hiked in a 3/4 mile . not the tourist trap area,though,before.30 minute fight on a ultra lite...piece of crawler ,tail....absolutely has to be in their face....those were the days... i am a freakin fossil,...with a pulse.forgive the cigarrete,i quit over 20 years ago.

I used to cook my trout on a stick, like a weenie, in the back country....or bake 'em in aluminum foil. I didn't carry oil. I let the Brookies go and ate Rainbows and Browns that I caught farther downstream.

Now he's talking about my neck of the woods. Born and raised in the Adirondacks. So when people think I'm from the city...better think again. I was brought up on brookies.

It is a common spot frequented by crappie fisherman at the Concord piers along Northshore for Ft. Loudoun. The first pier by the embayment has brush at the point where it splits and has been holding crappie. The second pier has them as well unless they have been fished out. Minnows seem to work the best. I've caught them in the past on small pink jigs along with blue and white tube jigs vertically as well as in the late evening on small casting spoons (gold) shallow along the bank. There is a bait shop right by the roundabout but if you have a cast net there are infinity * 100,000,000² shad in the area...

Nice bass!

good nnniiissss! While it wasn't THAT big, a childhood friend of my caught one that was around 3.5 lbs, in a creek we fished growing up. It was nearly that length, just didn't have near the girth. We were young, and unsure of what it was because of it's size...so we ate a probable NC state record. My buddy that caught it wasn't the most dedicated fisherman. He showed up that day with nothing. So we game him some line and a florescent fuzzy tailed little crappie jig. He made a cane pole, and out fished us for sure that day. He also caught a 8.5 lbs large mouth that he had mounted. Needless to say, we where down there for weeks after that, fishin with cane poles and crappie jigs.

Just off the smoker