advice from the local baitshop

[stripmine1]

Many times on this forum and others i have seen people say "check with the local baitshop". Most of the time i buy all my stuff at wal-mart because around here the small shops are a bit to proud of their stuff. i was in town , just goofing off and stopped by a baitshop just to look around when i happened upon a nice elderly fella that was just hanging out there. We talked a bit and i asked him what he liked to use to catch bass with. He said "i don't use anything but minner's, but i treat them differant than most people". Naturally i was courious so i asked him what he ment. He said , one morning about 25 years ago he went fishing with a bucket of minnows and when he rowwed the boat out into the lake he took a big swig from a jug of moonshine he happen to have brought with him . As he hooked a minner(as he called them )he must got to feeling the "shine" and he felt sorry for the tiny fish flopping on the hook before him.....sooooo he pour a slug of the moonshine on it. he then casted it out into the water as as soon as it hit , he said the pole doubled over and he was in the biggest fish fight he had ever saw. after fighting for 20 minutes he pulled it up out of the water he saw that the minner had a strangle hold on a 10 pound bass

[Arkie John]

Don't you understand that you can believe e v e r y t h i n g that you hear at the local bait shops???? :D

aj

[CrappiePappy]

Stripmine1 was a real trooper, right up til the very end. He passed away a few years ago, from Muscular Dystrophy complications.

Click on his User ID name (Stripmine1) and then click on his "homepage" link, and you'll get a sense of what Andy was all about. Click on the link to "all posts" and check out the posts/pics, too. He sure loved to fish them stripmine/strip pit waters, and usually got into some fish of one kind or another.
I sent him a box of Crappie baits & stuff, just some things I had way too much of or no longer used ... and you'd have thought I had sent him a thousand dollars worth of the latest and greatest :p the way he went on about using them to catch him some Crappie.

He's sorely missed. R.I.P. Andy, my friend.

... cp

[Arkie John]

Your reply reminded me of a special story. It's entitled, "Mr. Hester's bait shop." I'd be honored of you'd read it. Thanks for joggin' the ole' memory.

aj

[CrappiePappy]

reminds me of how alot of things "used to be" and how they've changed with the passing of time/people.
Just hope some will remember me as kindly, in the years after I'm outta here.

... cp

[Arkie John]

It's tough when we lose special people, and I hate it when I hear of that happening.

Like you, CP, I hope I can make a positive impact on those around me before I check out.

aj

[sam liddiard]

Great thread. I can remember the great men and women who took the time to teach me how to fish and sat in our kitchen when I was young and told stories about the trips that they had been on. Back then fish were taken to feed the family, catch and release was not practised. I had a lady lived around the block from us, called my mother and ask if it was ok to take me out in a boat with her. I was 11, her son was 8 and he and her husban did not care that much for fiahing. She took me to Deer Creek Resivoir and we fished for Trout and usualy got our limit. I am 68 and still learning. Thanks to all of you and all those who have gone befor who have had a hand in my fiahing education. TL to all.

Sam

[john h]

lol love these stories... just weird it took 3 years to get a response lol

[Arkie John]

Well, john h, that's what happens when you find a forum as good as this one is. The first thing I did was read everything I could in the archives. (I wanted to be a better summer crappie fisherman)

In doing so, I discovered a multitude of gems--this story being one of them!

I retire tomorrow. Who knows, Maybe I will have some time to be able to write another story or three, if I can stay out of the boat.

aj