Good reply. Barbless hooks should be required nationally! .

Hey Ohio: You are a credit for your stewardship to the Maumee walleyes. At 82, I have fished from Ashtabula to the Western Basin, skippering mainly out of Marblehead. Capt Pete, OSU 1963

TO: GIDEON...Good questions! After salting and if you do have an option, I would refrigerate the salted minnows until you leave for your trip. However, It's not absolutely necessary after a couple of weeks when salt-curing has taken effect. That's when the minnows have lost internal moisture and are shriveled. Keep pouring off any liquid and top off the surface with new rock salt. This is what eventually turns the soft minnows into "leather"-like toughness. Hope your trip goes well...Pete

For over 50 years, nothing came close to white bread saturated in bacon grease to attract any species of bait fish. It's a little messy but the results are worth it! pete

Casting small metal jigs for bass have resulted in catching numerous bluegills. I was using 1/10 oz Sonic BaitFish manufactured by Mack's Lure Co. in Wenatchee, WA. I wish I could send you all the photos with this jig in a bluegill's mouth. I've been having poor luck in attaching photos with my replies as both are lost and uncoverable. I'll try to follow this text with just a photo. Pete

Dear Gideon70:

Back in the 1960's & 1970's, I fished salted golden shiners on leadhead jigs in Kipawa, Quebec. They were tough as leather and caught a large number of walleyes. Here's the "secret' to their toughness... plenty of rock salt, plenty of time to cure and constantly draining excess liquid. After 3-4 weeks, those shiners were ready to go.

Hope this helps...Pete

Dear Whitecat...That's exactly why you turn the fish ID off. With the ID off, you are now looking for arch patterns vs fish icons. An incomplete fish arch just means that the fish was partially out of the sonar cone. Knowing how to operate an electronic fish locator is like having a Hall of Fame guide in your boat! It is what can make a mediocre angler an expert. Hope this helps. Capt Pete

I'm surprised there was never a mention of grilling the king mackerel after basting both sides with mayonnaise or Miracle Whip! Pete

Get rid of the nose assist hook and replace with a single tail hook. This is a very poor jig rig for casting, as is. Even then, you may have difficulty in attracting fish with this lure shape. Pete

My never fail, and exciting technique, is surface skipping a 1/6 oz Crippled Herring or Sonic BaitFish metal jig along the shoreline. By adding a #0 Indiana blade to the split ring, extra flash and vibration are added. After casting, hold the rod at 12 o'clock to skitter it over the surface. It gurgles and darts and drives fish crazy. Bass hate to let this lure escape. This is not worm fishing. It's fast action once you learn the technique. I'll show the lure under the heading...Crippled Herring/Sonic BaitFish Bass on a follow-up to this reply. Hope this helps...Pete
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What has been a liability for the tackle manufacturers is protecting the hook point from injuring people while the lure is still in the retail store, hanging on a peg. Hence, the plastic wrap provides a shield of protection. In the old days, many lures were in cardboard boxes or stapled to a cardboard backing. Pete

TO: JMarkH

In my younger days , I trolled for almost everything. Trouble was, fishfinders were not available so we were forced to search for fish by trolling with the hope of blundering into them. Now, we have excellent electronic fishfinders but we also have some very productive metal jigs also available to us. With these fishfinders, we now can search for those fish before fishing. Here's my question to you. If you found that school of fish you certainly do not want to lose access to that school. There is only one way to stay on that school and it's by vertical jigging to those fish. By trolling, you may pass through that school and within a few seconds they are gone. If you are lucky, you might relocate that school again but at the expense of lost time. One of the largest freshwater striped bass ever caught was by vertical jigging Crippled Herring metal jigs in deep water near the dam on Lake Cumberland in Kentucky. It was caught in the 1990's on a 3 oz chrome Crippled Herring and weighed 55 lbs. It was caught by a pathologist who was being guided by two licensed guides. One being Tony Campisano who passed away about three years later. To add to that excitement, it was a three way hook-up. Both guides hooked stripers in the 30 lb class but eventually saw that their fish were no match for the doctor's giant. Like the doctor, both guides were also jigging 3 oz Crippled Herrings. The Crippled Herring has many world and state fish records and is now sold by Rapala after buying out the Luhr Jensen Company in 2005. Across the country, I fish metal jigs exclusively rigged with a single tail hook. They are the Crippled Herring, the Kandlefish and the Sonic BaitFish. All three are loaded with action and require little rod jigging to achieve flutter and vibration. Almost all strikes will occur on the drop. Use the snap enclosed in the packages for maximum lure action. Tie 2-3 feet of 25 lb fluorocarbon leader to the snap and the opposite end to your main line which should be 20-30 lb braid. I would use a med-heavy, or heavy, 6 ft rod...either spinning or casting type. The longer the rod, the less control in your presentation. Hope this helps...Pete

The pros in the western states, especially Idaho and Utah, are more likely to choose the Sonic BaitFish over the Kastmaster; Pete

Dear Lapralapso:

Adding bait to your jigging spoon will adversely affect the action of the lure! However, I would not be too concerned with this potential problem when it applies to ice fishing. Reason...fish metabolism slows down in cold water. As a result, slow down your presentation to match the environment. "Dead-sticking" is the extreme example of really slowing it down. Basically, that applies to holding the rod still except for an occasional twitching of the rod tip. Lure action is secondary to the bait attached to the lure. My reply to your last sentence is what anglers ignore at least 95% of the times. That being three words...SHARP HOOK POINT!!! Test...If that hook point is not digging into your finger nail (not your finger). as you slide the hook point over it, you will miss strikes or lose fish after the hook set. With a very fine fish file, very gently slide the file towards the hook point. Repeat until any rough bur is no longer felt...2-3 strokes usually. Do this on all three side of the hook point. It's referred to as triangulation. Hope this helps...Pete