DR. AlphaHawk .. <'TK><
 

Glad you got to chat with him! Randy is a great guy and knows his stuff. We all have a lot of respect for you DR. Alpha.

Thanks TK, now his head will be so big that I won't be able to fit him in my little Riverhawk. I can say first hand he sure loves fishing and has the patience of Job.

Roy

Thanks for you comments TK. It was a pleasure meeting your wife and visiting with you and seeing your shop.....and thanks for the burgers too....very good. No need to worry about my head getting too big....fishing will humble you....and so far this spring fishing for Gills has humbled me. For those that have not seen TK's shop...if you like old motors and boating...fishing stuff...you need to check it out. Saw some river charts that his dad had from way back....pretty neat stuff. Of course the job he does on restoring motors is first rate. TK has some neat scrap books from 40 years...or more....that had pics of several people I knew. I also found out that on my attempt several years back to get a Striper below Cordell Hull that I had brought "a knife to a gun fight"....LOL. Can't get over the size gear he used while guiding for those....I was way under equipped. I hope you can use the TM's to get some good Gills. Headed to Pickwick even though the wind is going to blow.



Regards

I am just not sold on "magnets". Flyrod out fishes them in my experience. I have cleaned well over 400 big bluegills out of priest this year. Crickets are number 1, worms, then flyrod. People fishing with me have told me several times in the last couple years that I would quit using crickets when I saw them fishing with magnets (one was a power bait fan) but all of them could not even come close to crickets and could not keep up with the fly rod either (I tie my own and when it is late in the day use popping bugs) but nothing beats a cricket in my opinion. These fish are aggresive and can be caught occasionally on a bare hook, but the magnets don't hold up in my opinion. Great bait for sure but I will stick with what works best. Saturday before last a friend and myself had over 100 in the boat in just over 3 hours, and my 79 year dad and myself had 91 in under 3 hours on another day.

I have yet to be outfished by live bait when using a TM. Most if the time for me it considerably outfishes the live bait. Just my experiences though.

Fly rod bluegill is my favorite as well. The TM shines in my experiences during off peak times of the year for bluegill once they move out deeper but catches everything else in the process.

It's just another tool in the tool box for me and everybody has their preferences as to what works. Just for fairness sake with TM's someone who is just fishing them will catch some fish but to truly see the numbers on them they need to be using 2lb line with a 2lb fluorocarbon leader like the setup is meant for. That is when it's ridiculous.

TK's shop is a pretty neat place. You should put that Elto on your kayak Alpha. :D

MNFisher, I would bet money I can catch more on a cricket when bluegill are on bed. Like I said, several have tried (good fishermen to, been fishing as long as I have) and it didn't take long for all of them to ask if they could fish with the crickets I had and of course they were welcome to. My friend the other day said he did not know someone could put a cricket on a hook that fast when I was putting them on. All of the magnet guys who fished with me (and the one guy who swore up and down that the small gulp baits would outfish live bait) were catching 1 bluegill to my 5 or 6.

You probably can, I was just referring to my experiences. Personally I am not a fan of using crickets, they sure catch fish, but I am not a fan of putting a new cricket on the hook every fish. I am glad they are working well for you though!

Most of my experiences out fishing live bait with a TM have been spring before spawn or in the late summer and fall. Bedding gills may be different, but as of late they have been destroying my bait!

Where I went to Elementary school we had a big long pee trough in the boys bathroom and I could pee further acroos that trough than anyone. I was the best pisser that the school had ever seen. I could piss so good that the others just quit competing with me. I sure did "piss" a bunch of people off.

Roy

Where's that "like" button at?

now thats comedy;)

Well played. I really did not mean to start a competition and didn't mean to pull this thread from acknowledging Randy and TK. No more challenges on this end;)