Thanks for sharing.
Those lures and ones like it are used very frequently in Musky fishing. Surface bait fishing for Musky is used in typically calm water conditions. But there are ducking lures, Bat lures, Pflueger Globe style lures. Thought the lures in the article are made from plastic, they have been making them for years out of wood. Greg Nimmer - Nimmer Swimmer Lures makes all types of handmade lures out of wood and some that are essentially collectibles.
He does make turtle lures. I think they are more to collect than to use for Muskies. But very cool.
I had to have one.
I don't have a photo of it, but I should take one. It is worth it.
That's the problem with Musky fishing. It is an addiction that grows into a lure addiction and keeps on going.
But Fly, actually that is a good idea to slowly troll a ducking lure behind the boat in places where you can use more than one rod while trolling.
I will try to share some lure photos soon.
God Bless.

Awesome story!
Thanks for sharing.

Yes, Thank you for your service.
And another great story.

That's awesome!!! Great tractors! Thanks O.J.
And Jack you are right.
That's why this one is cool. It looks better than before.
Most of my old flames look very lackluster today.
Lackluster was a careful choice of a word, for me.

Thanks Saw and Plumb!!!!
And it would break my heart to leave that beauty behind, seriously.
And I would love a toy like that now.
It's funny too. The guys that trashed Allis before me, took off the mower deck too and threw it away.
So, I don't have that part, but it O.K.
Thanks for the photo.

Alright, I have to tell this story after I saw the bulldozer photos.
I am 53 and was born in 69. In 1974, my Dad and Grandpa bought an Allis Chalmers lawn tractor/ snowblower for a machine shop that they had South of here in Michigan a few miles. Needless to say, people that use equipment that belong to an employer typically do not care for the equipment the way they would if it were their own. Some people so, but most do not.
In the early 80's Allis was retired from professional work and my Dad brought it home and gave it to me to snow blow our driveway. The seat was ripped to shreds, it was rusty and hadn't seen an oil change in years. I doubt it was ever greased after being new. I was 13 and took care of it and used it for years.
Then I got married (the first one was bad - but that's another story) and forgot about Allis.
It was in storage and my folks kept asking if I still wanted the tractor. I always said yes and they kept it, thankfully.
I pulled it out of storage this year and rebuilt most of the engine, new carbs, oil, grease etc.
A new seat and started repainting it. I still have some of that to do. But I brought it up to my Winter cabin, which is in a town called Winter, Wisconsin and it is going to be my snow removal champion up there.

My stress relief is turning wrenches and working on cars, so working on this was nothing but fun. Although I did have a small gasoline fire the first time I fired it up.
No worries.

But having this machine back and better than ever is like having a super hot girlfriend in your past that got away for whatever reason, but now she's back. And she still looks awesome, even better than she did back then.
We grew up together.
What a beast!

And I am remarried to an awesome woman that tolerates my love for sports cars, snowmobiles, tractors, muskies, guns, etc.

Now I think I need a bulldozer. I totally need a bulldozer.

Thanks. Have an awesome day.
God Bless.

ALL of those photos are awesome!!!!
Wow.
And I am not a hunter, but appreciate our hunters for helping control animal populations and love the mounts and seeing the amazing animals they bring in.

That's funny.
I feel like a bad father sometimes - not really. But I purposely mispronounce certain things just because I like my pronunciation better. I know, it's dorky. You know the sugar substitute called Aspertame and how it's pronounced.
I always pronounce it "ass -part-a-me". I never gave it a second thought and knew that everyone knew I was just being an idiot. Until my daughter called me years later from college, a few years ago.
She said it "my way" in front of a bunch of her friends. They asked her, "What are you saying?"
She repeated it and they ridiculed her.
Then she called me and I heard the story.
I still think it's really funny though. But probably not the best way to parent.

Funny stuff, thanks.
I am the deep thinker and maybe think too deeply sometimes.
But my engineering mind came up with this. I think if you soaked regular Xerox paper in warm water for a while, it could be rung out and used for TP, if you had none and probably would be a whole lot better than corn cobs.
But what do I know, I've never used corn cobs before.
Maybe soak them in water too?
They could be a dream.

Happy Birthday!!!

Thank you, Plumb!
Great reminder that we needed.
God Bless

One more thing that I need to say. And I do apologize that you may not hear from me for a very long time and then I talk too much. I'm good at that.
I will make an effort to respond to more of all of your posts. I do read a lot but don't respond as often as I should, to encourage everyone's efforts in making this venue a great one.
I promise to do better in that regard.
I found this page during Covid, when we here in Michigan were almost totally locked down, and found it to be very helpful to read the cool stories and jokes, etc.
I still feel that way thanks to all of you.

Thank you Guys. G - was your Grandparents cottage near Hayward, WI? The "Hideout"?
My new cabin in WI is very near there. I had to buy something up there to forward my Musky life.

But we do have lots of Gangster history in this town. The hotel where Al stayed still stands and has businesses in it now.
That's where our ninety some year old friend (in the 80's) was a bellhop, when he was a kid.

I actually represent Officer Skelly at our local Berrien County Law Enforcement Memorial Service every May 15th and stand in for him with the local police chief

I would also say this, if anyone doesn't want to better themselves by reading RJS' and other great stories - don't read them.

I scroll down the fishing stuff and pick the ones I want to read that pertain to my fishing interests and them I race down to this section to see if RJS or any of the other witty folks have shared.
I am actually disappointed if there isn't a new one.

Just sayin

Hey RJS.
I am 53 and physically much older than that after many car wrecks over the years - caused by texting drivers, Deer, couples fighting while driving - Easter Sunday - no less.
But when I was a kid, I worked in a restaurant that doesn't exist anymore called, Bill Knapp's. It was a favorite of families and older people. I was a waiter. I literally met people that were Bell hops for Al Capone and all sorts of people that had very neat stories to tell from the past, celebrities, Muhammad Ali as he lived nearby.
I had almost all of my Great Grandparents into the 80's. My Great Grandmother's first cousin, Charles Skelly, was gunned down by Chicago gangster, Fred Burke. If anyone wants to Google that story. It is an interesting one. Here's the short version. When local police were looking for Burke after shooting our police officer cousin, they located the house he was living in at the time in Stevensville, MI a few miles South. They found a cache of two Thompson Sub Machine guns, bullet proof vests, various other guns etc. Ballistics testing was in its infancy in 1929. But they brought the World's expert from NY to analyze the guns. The guns were tied to the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on N. Clark St. in Chicago. There's a whole lot more to the story. I have held one of the Thompsons used as they are kept locally here in our courthouse building.

Where am I going with all of this? I don't really know.

But I think it goes like this. I learned at a very early age to respect my elders and those with great experience and wisdom. I learned so much and was told so many great stories over the years. But all of those folks are not here anymore. I am becoming those people and sharing their stories these days.

I absolutely love all of your stories and insight and I bet everyone else here does too. They are amazing. And I think the stories do help to fill a void that was so awesome in my earlier life.

Thank you a million times over for your time in sharing your stories. There is no such thing as "Too Much RJS."

Last thing I have to say about the Burke/ Officer Skelly shooting that I have to share that I don't think anyone anywhere knows is this.
My Great Uncle was at the funeral for Charles and was a kid at the time (1929). Even when I was a kid, we used to tour the local jail in school. I don't think they do that anymore as it's probably not acceptable. But when my Great Uncle toured the jail, while Fred Burke was awaiting trial, Fred addressed the school kids. He told them to "Do well in school, study hard and to get a respectable job so that they didn't wind up a mess like him".

I don't think that part of the story exists in any of the books about this.

Thank you RJS. Please keep them coming.
And have an awesome day!

Great stories!!!
Thank you for sharing!!