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| Just cause you can fish down here in the winter, doesn't mean you always should. Crappy days down here, are very similar to crappy days up north, and usually start with a double dose of sunshine and LOW humidity, and can go from there. Full moon, warmer weather, and being cooped up with work and ugly cold weather, and trying to coordinate a day with Stan Durst, got me out for lots of sun and a couple of skunk days. But then I thought of that pitiful Doug Johnson, up there in MN, where checking the weather this morning I see they were at ONE DEGREE FARENHEIT, and it felt like ONE DEGREE FARENHEIT, and that immediately gave me a warm feeling in my stomach, and I thought, "at least I aint that poor SOB!!". 
Note the first photo, fishing Green River Reservoir, actually in the back of the Blue Hole. It has been a cold couple months winter down here, but fixin to get right. However some residual effect remains, no fish hit when I brought the bait back around this snag. Got a lot of extra distance skip casting though...
Below that are some pictures of Stan Durst and our day at Melton Hill. I am not sure what that red thing in his pocket is, but he did talk about holding up a gas station on the way home, and I guess those things come in handy for security cams. Note the leaf on his lure in the casting sequence. He just keeps casting, evidently with the custom paint jobs, they bite even with trash on the lure. I made him cast this good looking set of pilings, front to back, three times during the day, and guess he needs some work on his musky fishing game, I mean, how can there not be a musky in THAT mess. I would also note that Stan fishes only between phone calls, and we have made arrangements for his personal secretary to come along next trip and answer the phone, so he can get a little extra casting in. I always like an idiot caster to keep their bait in the water as much as possible.
I know a lot of people wonder, well, "how does dat Stan Durst compare to dat Doug Johnson as a musky fisherman??", well there are several notable comparison points, Stan is slightly better looking but he talks more than Doug, so they are about even there. Stan occasionally throws a cast into the wood, but so does Doug, but Stan to his credit, NEVER TRIED THE "BOW AND ARROW" to get his bait out of the wood(yes, Johnson did that once, hmm, didn't work too good) and Stan never popped it off the rocks and smugly turned and stated, "BOW AND ARROW", seems like I heard that from Mr. Johnson at Green River Lake, Dale Hollow Lake, and Melton Hill. Hey, maybe don't throw it on the rocks, eh??! I can't print what I say when I throw it up on the rocks, bow and arrow or not. I have noted before, that Doug keeps his hat on frontwise, zinging down the lake, due to a slightly anvil shaped head, whereas, Stan, having a more normal human shape to his, has to turn his hat backwards, obviously, that is a plus for Doug.
Lastly, Doug had people sending him stuff to try all winter when he came down, he would let me TRY some. Stan of course is a bait painter of high reputation, and has a lot of project stuff he works on, and some of it is hot off the molds. Stan steps in the boat and has a whole box of baits I never saw before, and says, "Well, which color of these do you like, and which color of this one, and which color of this one, and then he says, now YOU KEEP THOSE, and Mr. Richardson wants you to have this one, and try em!!!!! How can you NOT love a fishing partner like that??? 
Edited by firstsixfeet 2/18/2011 4:53 PM
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| Great report! Nice pics, I’m glad you guys had fun. Stan told me about this “skip casting”, not sure when I’ll use it, but it sounds like fun. Good luck with the new lure(s)!
Mike | |
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Location: oswego, il | Mike, not sure if that is the same skip casting that FSF does. He starts at the back of the front deck skips forward to get momentum up for a longer cast. Not an easy feat for him, literally, being cold and barefoot aflter all can make for some uneasy footing at this time of year. | |
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| wheres the ice and snow!!!! lol jk it might be slow but a a bad day fishin.... well you guys know the saying | |
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| Note that the top picture shows a bait and line on top of ice at Green River Reservoir, and I am adding a picture of the bait I was skipping up there. Uh, the process was kind of hard on the bait.
Below is the bait we were skipping under the brush at Melton Hill, actually I have fooled around with this bait some more to see if I can make an upside down delivery a majority of the time. Regardless this bugger is often good for the landing and an extra two yards.
And Todd M, you are always acribing all things Appalachian to me, typical FIB behaviour, trying to find ANYBODY to feel superior to(mighty tough when you are a FIB). I want you to know that I play the guitar, not the banjo, and I have all but one of my teeth, and when I where my bibs, I have BOTH straps buttoned.
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| Geez, such little time with the bait and you already accuse it of buggery; give it time and it will prove it can stick a pig properly lol
Ahhh, I understand the skip casting now, I’ll give it a try utilizing the “golf swing” cast. The shape of the bait does lend itself to skipping, it wasn’t a design intent though, bonus I guess.
Edited by MRichardson 2/23/2011 9:51 AM
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Location: Pigeon Forge TN. | HHmmmmm, Those pictures remind me of my Dad for sure. I looked so much like him. He named me Stan Jr. Now I know why..
Don't let FSF fool you, he wasn't the only teacher on the boat. I was trying to teach him how to properly snag an underwater branch or how to "park" a lure on a limb to give your arms a short rest. He is a fast learner as he "parked" a few of his own.
You did very well your first time out with me FSF.
I don't need to catch a musky to enjoy the day on the water but it is a nice bonus.
Had a great time and we got to do it again.
Todd M. he really does button both buttons on his bibs, don't know the skipping trick you mentioned, he forgot to show me that one. Maybe next time out. | |
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Location: oswego, il | FSF, perhaps you are not totally acclimated to the area as I had assumed. I have seen you barefoot and in shorts in 40 degree weather. Totally threw me off. Knowing when you lost that tooth has relevance in this discussion. I will assume however you have not lost all of your roots such as understanding the difference between a reusable food source and an object of desire.
Edited by ToddM 2/23/2011 9:05 PM
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| OK Todd, that's funny, and I give... | |
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| The doldrums continue.
I have never done particularly well in any February I can remember. Appears this will be another one of them. Hit MH today and noted, #1 the water was down #2 the buggers were pulling enough to cool the upper lake, and #3 the weather service appeared to be slightly off on their prediction. Fished in the rain, got soaked through eventually, and caught nothing. Saw one fish. Ran into Billy Davis, and he and another fellow had not seen anything, when I talked to them, they were still at it when I left. I quit about 5, cold miserable and not looking forward to the drive over the mountain to get home(but it's even worse after dark). Saw 4 total boats out for the day. | |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Generally speaking, we drill holes in the ice up here before trying to force lures through the stuff. Just an observation. | |
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Location: Knoxville, TN | FSF, we hung in there and our persistence paid off. Actually we only stuck around another 30 minutes but we had a nice fish to show for our efforts. As we were packing up, I noticed the gizzard shad starting to show themselves up shallow so we started down one bank and this fish slammed the bait in 3 feet of water. I wish the fella I was guiding could have hooked this fish but he got to net the first musky he ever saw. She measured 50 inches and was radio tagged. Fish was quickly released in the 52 degree water.
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Location: Indiana | nice fish | |
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Location: Missouri | Heck of a fish Billy | |
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| Oooh! Nice fish Billy! | |
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Location: Minnesota: where it's tough to be a sportsfan! | For this time of the year that's a good fish doesn't matter where you are from. | |
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Location: Kentucky | Nice 1 bro... | |
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Location: Kentucky | Melton Hill? | |
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| Nice fish!! | |
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Location: Knoxville, TN | yeah it was on Melton Hill | |
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| Billy congrats on a good one!
Stan glad to see you out on the water.
Keith
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