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Thursday, September 18th, 2008 by Diesel Fueled
Just when I thought I was getting away from the beer gogglin hawg seekin guy trip to Chicago I have decided to do my own hawg seeking of a different flava. Oh yes I am Illinois bound. Only on the south side in a nice lake called Lake Egypt.
But don’t worry I am going to get me some! Yes she will be greesy. She will be slippery and she will require both hands to handle. Some will be brown, some blue, some dirty. Some may may just be down right putrid with smell. Despite that fishy smell, in the end there is always good eating on the inside.
Of course I am talking about a nice weekend of catfishing, drinking some canned beer wearing my Bill Dance polarized sun glasses. What else would I be talking about?
So coming from a primary crappie fisherman I have decided to venture into the world of bloody liver, aged shad, and whupass catfish bait. Yes it is called “whupass” because that’s what I am going to do.
So let’s start with the fisherman. I would think the equipment to purchase is based on the type of fisherman. Well I am a lazy son of bitch when it comes to catfishing so I had to set up my gear for such.
Catfish Rod / Reel.
I was strolling through Bass Pro looking for things I don’t need and as I made my way through the Bill Dance Polarized sunglass section and turned the corner on the Wally Marshall Crappie rigs the feeling of shock and awww hit me. Rays of light streamed through the clouds and was in heaven. Well close to heaven. I was heading straight towards possibly the best redneck catfishin rod / reel ever made, The Zebco Hawg Seeker on an ugly stick. Oh yes. What makes this so special? It’s battery operated and a red beeping alarm goes off every time there is line tension. So now no more interruptions with me and my bud light in a can.
Floats
What makes a fisherman like me better? Luck and a ton of lines in the water. For just $3.49 a piece you can buy you a nice piece of styrofoam (like the ones you see in the swimming pool) and hook 20 pound test line, weight or bomb, and hook. If your a bigin like me you may need to tie you two styrofoams to make sure it floats. Then sit back and watch the little yellow things float all over the lake. Get er done hawgs!
Bait
Got me some bloody liver and chicken mix. “Great Scott” is the brand and I truly believe it’s fate. Also picked up some bloody shad, and some miracle bait. Kind of looks like mom’s dried up red beans, but supposed to work well.
Outside of that you have to have a cooler stocked with some nice cold Bud Light in a can. Budweiser if they are on sale or Natty Light if your on a budget.
When I return from my trip I will follow-up with a review of the equipment and the lake.
FISH ON!
Posted in Editorials, Humor, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 15th, 2008 by Lead Jig
We are on the eve of another Reelfoot trip so I have been packing my gear over the last few days. After I was done I looked at the neat pile I had created and remembered the mound of junk I used to bring. What follows is not a complete list of all items, but rather specific to the gear I take along.
On my first few trips to Reelfoot I foolishly packed any and every lure and tackle I had. I figured if the crappie weren’t biting I could switch to bass. If bass weren’t biting the cats may be. At the end of the day I ended up losing sight of what I was there to do, catch crappie and gills, and subsequently was out of the water tying new lures. I ended up catching much less fish than I should/could have.
With each trip I learn a little more and have stripped down my gear to the (almost) essentials. I still add a few things just to mix it up, for instance this year I’m going to bring a 10” telescopic crappie pole so I will always have a live minnow rig ready. The core gear items however stay the same. The first 9′ spincast combo is rigged with a slip bobber and cricket hook for wax worms and cricks. The other 9′ auto-fly is ready for straight lining grizzly or other jigs around visible cover. The ultra-light with a slip bobber rig is great to have around when you are shrouded in trees and where a quick jerk up could cause all sorts of chaos.
You could argue that this is too much gear, but in my opinion this not only gives me the tools I need to fish Reelfoot, but also enough variety to keep myself entertained or to try new things if the bite is slow.
The bus for Tiptonville leaves soon!
- Rod and Reels
- 9′ with spincast (4lb high viz)
- 9′ with auto-fly reel (4lb high viz)
- Ultra-light spincast combo (4lb high viz)
- 10′ crappie pole with (17lb clear)
- Tackle Box (aka crappie purse)
- Hooks (assortment of cricket/goldies)
- 3/0 sinkers
- BB sinkers
- BPS cheapy bobbers (love the cheap)
- Slips (tokens only)
- Flys (gotta be Grizzlies)
- Jig bag full of tubes
- Extra line (4lb Mr. Crappie high viz)
- Live Bait
- Minnow bucket
- Cricket tube
- Wax worms
- Booty
- Electric knife
- Ziploc bags
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Monday, May 12th, 2008 by Lead Jig
Yes, I was one of them. I used to think fishing Lake of the Ozarks was a lost cause. I figured that being the hot-spot that it is that there was no way this lake could produce decent fish. I was wrong. This past weekend was proof that there is excellent fishing to be had at “The Lake”. Party Cove aside (which serves its own special purpose), much of the development on the lake has helped the fishing. With each new development, up comes a dock or two. In fact, there is a plethora of boat slips, docks, and other structure within each and every one of the lake’s fingers and inlets.
Minnows gave us the most success by fishing docks without bobbers just a few inches off the bottom, but by far the most fun was had with a Smithwick Rogue crankbait. When they were biting, it was on like, well you know. We caught quite a few bass over 14 inches and surprisingly enough a few crappie that pushed the one pound mark. Truth be told however, my fiancé skooled us all with a smaller sized (1/16oz maybe?) crank that mimicked a minnow. The only thing that did not work was the frozen shrimp for cat idea. Only one cat was caught on a minnow.
On Saturday before heading to the local establishments we fried up the catch. We used a live-well to keep them for the day instead of keeping them on ice. I’m absolutely convinced that ice makes the meat more al dente when it’s cooked. That’s right, I said al dente.
Side note, I need to find a better fish batter. The products sold at the Schnucks and BPS are awful.
Posted in Lake of the Ozarks, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, May 9th, 2008 by Lead Jig
Lake of the Ozarks - land of drunken boat wrecks, STD infested coves and what could have been a sunken pontoon boat (more on that in another post). It is one of the few places in the world where the production and selling of hillbilly wallets still thrives. Not to mention the place where a few PVC crappie beds were installed around a dock owned by a friend’s father.
Because of this we are off to the lake we all love to hate - and to fish. I am taking a variety of gear from 12′ graphite crappie poles to an Ambassadeur 5000 rig for cats. According to my top-secret inside sources, the bite was on last weekend. Simple slip rigs with minnows did the trick.
The weather appears to be wet and rainy all weekend with chance for a break Saturday AM. I guess I will pass on the sun screen. .
Posted in Lake of the Ozarks, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, March 27th, 2008 by Diesel Fueled
Growin up a little boy I always was a little off. Mom would always say “your not stupid your just special” Being a solid hoosier worthy of this award takes years of practice and special upbringing. I always thought it was normal when we would have bonfires in the backyard, put catfish we cawt from Busch in our 4 foot pool, and made almost $5 a week by pouring everyone beer from the keg. Then on top of that I got 1 penny for each cigarette bud I picked up from the yard. It really all started for me when mom pulled up to Kroger parking lot in the beat up deville that had more engine parts in the back seat then under the hood, but still had power windows. I clearly learned to master the “duck and cover” when we drove by people. And I never could figure out how she could take the keys out and the motor kept trying to run. So back to Kroger. There I am walking around in my codezero sweater and homemade skidz thinking I am the shit. Yes plaid cloth from clothworld and you can get the patch there too! I knew those clothes were hot because all the ladies were looking. It’s always nice going shopping with mom because if you get hungry you just eat whatever you want from the isles and bring the empty wrapper when it’s time to pay with the food stamps.
That was just one of the shining moments that made me the special person that I am, but I don’t want to leave others out.
Lets see:
I learned how to stop, drop and roll when my smart ma tried to burn the artificial christmas tree. I guess to save room in the beat up aluminum trash can for other trash or maybe her meatloaf. Meatloaf night was always fun because we knew we end up ordering pizza!
I learned how to sort things in chronological order by sorting all of my papa john’s boxes so the older one gets ate first so it don’t go bad. That’s smart thinking and very efficient
Did you know that when your done drinking a milk gallon carton you can cut the bottom off and make a drinking mug for beer or water or anything else? The best part is that it is free.
Thanks to a nice family secret I learned that the one thing that you absolutely can’t live without: the one thing you would want on a stranded sand bar on the Mississippi: the one thing that can solve the world’s problems. A nice thick roll of Duct Tape!
I would love to go on, but it’s time for a commercial break. Thanks to everyone that has voted for me. This award means so much to me. Almost as much as my authentic Z Caverichi’s and British Knight high tops.
The end.
Posted in Humor, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Hawg Seekin’ and Good Eatin!
