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Good point, Senior!

You won't get far doing screamo exclusively on a cruise ship...or blues...or rock...or...well...anything at all, exclusively.

Hey Bob! Thanks, man...I always wondered what all those fake wormy-lookin' things were in my tackle box! I've only ever used bait. I even sprayed it with that stinky stuff to attract the lil fishies without luck. Now this weekend I'm gonna try 'em out...I do have some wild lookin' colors in there, but have never tried 'em for some ungodly reason. Of course I don't know the dif between a spimmer & a spooner & a jig, but wtf....I'll try it out!

Maybe I should do some research on this whole fishing thing?

I'll letcha know how it turns out next week.

Hey philbymon, don't forget to use a lure that CONTRASTS with the water color. Go with the lightest line possible. Always remember that fish won't strike what they can't see. Another tip which I forgot to mention is how to retrieve the lure. The absolute best way I have found is to reel in the slowest and steadiest you can while keeping the lure just off the bottom. I see people reeling in all kinds of different ways twitching and jerking the lure to try and attract attention. If you watch baitfish swimmig in the water they usually swim steady and straight. The only time they might swim erratically is if they are being chased by a predator. There was a very famous fisherman named Charlie Brewer who invented the "do nothing" retrieve. He started reeling in his lure slow and steady without stopping or racing or jerking the lure in any way. His catch rate went up dramatically. He invented a jig and plastic bodied lure called the Crappie Slider which is an awesome lure for BIG crappie and bass. Another thing I do is work one area hard. I fancast the entire area in front (or all around me if I'm in a boat). I'll try one color and if that doesn't work I'll try a few more colors before I move on to the next spot. Fish are everywhere in almost every body of water I fish. While I'm moving to another spot I'm not fishing. The more the lure is in the water the better chance you're going to catch something. Fishing with lures takes time to learn. You have to have patience and you have to work the lure. Some people like throwing out bait and waiting for something to take it. There's nothing wrong with that, especially if you want to relax and have a few beers. I'm more into the sport of fishing. When I get done with a day of fishing I'm dead tired. I really work and it usually pays off big time. Good luck and be patient.

Thanks, Bob!

I went to a few sites to research, & OMG the terminology! It's like learning a new language with some of these ppl. There's a word for each of the different types of casting? The rods. The reels. The lures. The best time to fish by lunar cycles. Sheesh! It can certainly look overwhelming to a beginner if he looks at these sites!

I'm still trying to keep the damned canoe from overturning on me. LOL

I got one of those real skinny round-bottomed ones that's molded plastic. I've been on the aluminum ones with the nice flat bottom & they're great, but this thing must be made for an olympic sport or something. It glides real well through the water, but don't turn or reach out over the water or you'll be in the drink. The wind blows this thing like a leaf on the surface. I did manage to come up with a makeshift anchor - 1/2 a cinderblock on a rope. It works good & doesn't snag.

I've had a lot of fun with my son on it, & I'm sure I've been to some great fishing holes, but didn't have the skills necessary to benefit from them.

This weekend we're going out on a state park lake that gets up to 25 ft deep. Gonna try for bass & crappie. I made up a bunch of different colored jigs with some wormy things (Texas jig?), & I have this rattling minnow-lookin' thing with 2 small triple hooks on it. I also have some of that stunky spray to use on lures & bait. Does that stuff help? I'll try all of your advice on Sat.

My friend Dddonie says I need some surface lures. Any thoughts on that?

I still have bait in the fridge, too, worse comes to worse.

Thanks for the advice!

Some of the most fun I've had Bassin was at night. We would use black Jitterbugs and Chuggers on top water in summer. Seems the Bass would move out of the deeper cool waters at night to feed. Great funfrom canoe.
But you got to mind the overhang in the trees for snakes and red wasp nests.

sans mentioned using black lures at night. Most people would think that black anything would virtually disappear at night, but the opposite is true. Metallic lures disappear at night since there is no sunlight to reflect off them. The same goes for lighter colors: white, fluorescent colors, etc. Black is in my opinion a highly underutilized color in lure fishing. It works almost universally in any light or water color. If it's very sunnny outside black is my first choice, and it's the number one choice at night. If you see a lot of fish activity (fish swirls, baitfish jumping out of the water, etc.) then topwater may be a good choice. I hardly ever fish topwater, although years ago I did quite a bit of topwater. There's not too much more excitement in fishing than seeing a big bass or trout come up and engulf your topwater offering. If you're going to be trying for crappie reel in your offering as slow as possible. When your lure is right underneath you (if you're in a boat or fishing off a dock) then SLOWLY retrieve the lure straight up and twitch it ever so subtley. Keep a sharp eye on your line (I often use Stren fluorescent gold line) and if you see it move suddenly SET THE HOOK. Crappie seldom hit very hard. Most crappie will hit a lure above them. A little black or dark color on a crappie jig will make it easier for them to see it against the sky. Bass on the other hand move quicker. You can reel in faster. Unless you're fishing very deep you'll usually feel a bass hit. A lot of times they practically set the hook themselves. I'm not really a bass fisherman. I don't consider myself an expert on them, although I've caught quite a few. Obviously there's a huge number of bass fisherman. There's so many different ways to catch them. Some people use plastic worms, or crankbaits, or jig and pig, or spinnerbaits. I met a couple who exclusively hunt for trophy largemouth. Their number one lure is a black jig and pig. They have caught numerous bass between seven and ten pounds. You can definitely go hog wild with all the different ways to fish. So many different choices for rods and reels (I use ultralight spinning rods and reels exclusively.) So many different lures. Expensive boats, fish finders, etc. etc. I keep it pretty simple. At this point I fish from the shore with a few lure types and ultralight gear. Most of the time I catch quite a few fish. I do get skunked occasionally, not very often. Good luck...

Hmmm....flourescent line - I have some of those foam & plastic bobbers that float loose on the string, & they're flourescent. You ever use those?

Tried 'em in the creek, but since the hook went to the bottom, I still got caught on sticks & stuff so I went back to the clip-on bobbers.

They might do well in the deeper waters of the lake this weekend, methinks, whilst fishing for crappies. (what a horrible name for a pan-fish!)

Hey Bob - what kinda fish looks like a largemouth bass, but has those broad stripes on its side? The stripes were kinda yellow to black to white, & went top to bottom on the fish, not lengthwise. I caught one last weekend but threw it back...it was about 10 inches long, so I figgered it was too small.

Boy, I guess I'm really showing off my ignorance, huh? My dad never took me fishing, & I only took my son on the creek & never really studied it, ya know? At least I can bait a hook!

Of course now I'm learning that bait isn't the best way to go.

Haven't ever tried any night fishing. If my son & I are up for it, maybe we'll go twice this weekend. Gonna try the lake in the AM, though. Might be a lil tough, since I have a solo gig tonight.

I don't do too many of those these days. Looking forward to it, though.

I emailed a guy from BM near here & invited him to go tonight. That would be cool. Never actually MET anyone from here. Might make it all seem more "real" to me. LOL

Bob, you got me wantingto wet a line my man. Last time I went was on the white bass spaun early spring as they run up the many small rivers in east Texas. Nurse frient taught me how to do it about four years ago.
Lots of action when you get into a mess. got to soak em in brine water overnight after you felit them else they taste bad.

So last Wed, the local pub asked me to do a solo gig on Fri (last night). Haven't played for quite awhile, & thought it sounded like fun. Been pushing it kinda hard lately, & haven't been able to sleep much either. Got there last night, & started to set up, after working all day on a huge deck job, & I was tired before I even began.

I was putting the mic in the stand, & got a leg cramp. Caused me to lean into the mic stand. The mic popped out of the stand, & hit me just below my right eye. It cut me, & I was bleeding. Ppl asked me what happened & I told 'em the bartender hit me for hitting on her.

My voice was not in good form, cuzza the lack of sleep, I suppose, & since I haven't been playing much I had blisters before the 1st set was over, with 2 more sets to go.

All in all, it wasn't a very fun gig. On top of it all, my guitar started getting all floopy, like there's a short in it by the jack on the inside of the box. Every time I started to play an energetic strum, it crapped out on me. Like right in the middle of "Closer to Home (I'm Your Captain"). So I had to play softer stuff. The ppl seemed to like it, though. (Normally, I'd have had a backup guitar, but of course I didn't need it last night, right?) Sheesh! I could just kick meself in the ol' buttocks for it all.

The guy I met through BM was there. I felt like a crumb for not doing better. Eh...it happens sometimes, right? He seemed to think I was okay, but I know I could have, nay, should have, done better.

Got home around 1:30, got up at 5 to go fishing, & got nothing at all after 4 hours of it (in my defense, everyone else I talked to got bupkiss, too)...GRRRRRRrrrrrr...I don't think this is turning out to be my millenium.

I used lures, the black ones, the red ones, yellow, green & gray sparkley ones, too. 1st cast I got a hit by a huge bass, but it got away as it neared the canoe. Guess the hook wasn't set well enough. Switched to worms, & caught a good sized sunny, but tossed it back. Nothing else at all all day long.

I think I'll take a nap & go back out this evening to try out some of that night fishing. Wish me luck!

Phil, man, it's just one of those days. Happy fishing!

Yeah it was - I think I'm a pretty good bass player, now I wanna be a bass fisherman, too!

I'll get it, one day! Lousy lil fishy bastids can't hide forever!

We are our own worst enemies Philby. Enjoy the time outdoors. The way my luck has been going I am ready to start building decks. Screw being a Nurse. Being responsable for peoples lives and having to deal with employee's who have no integrity is wearing a hole in my soul.
Catch the big one for me bro.

Didn't go out last night. Just as well. It rained like hell around 10, & my electric went out. Nice light show, though. I love a good storm.

Woke up with practically no voice at all today. Frikken alergies, I think. Never had 'em until about 3 yrs ago. That explains the vox prob's the other night.

Sans, sorry to hear about your troubles at work. Hope it gets better. There's little worse than that feeling of dread you get every day when you're going to work at a job that bugs you! I got to where I just couldn't do it anymore, & started my own co. It ain't really any better, what with all the extra hassles that a regular job's co deals with for you, except I get to pick & choose my work & customers, to a degree. Hard way to go, sometimes, though, when work just isn't there. I feel pretty fortunate to have the few jobs I do, here lately, what with the economy being so awful. Ppl aren't spending nearly as much on home improvements or repairs this year.

Gonna work on my axe today. I'm pretty sure it's that lil nut on the input jack at the foot of it. I've had them go loose & ride on the wires & create all sortsa bad noises before, on other axes. Why do they not use lock nuts on these for the sake of us all? This time the jack doesn't seem to be loose, though. Hope that's all it is. I can fix that.

I really like the feel of this guitar, but when I got it, it screwed me up at my 1st gig. It's a Dean, & they were using these undersized pegs on the strings. They looked just like regular ones. It had those Elixer strings (which I've found I REALLY dislike!) & I happened to break one in the 1st set. No prob, as I always have extra strings, right? Except the peg broke off in the body of the guitar when I tried to pry it out. It looked like it was made of dried out marshmallow cream. After messing with it, I finally loosened the strings, reached in & pushed it out from the inside. Then, when I went to put one of my extra pegs in it, I found that the hole for the string was too small to fit a regular peg into. Boy was I pissed!

Used my other axe to finish that gig, & had to drill out all the string holes to fit regular string pegs when I got home. It's just as well that I didn't use my reg string to replace that one that broke. It woulda been way too bright to sit alongside those Elixers. (Did I mention that I REALLY don't like those?)

I think a buddy of mine is gonna join me & my son for a lil fishing expedition today. He's talking about going out to the Potomac, but I won't eat anything that comes outta there! ("Never use the water downstream from a white man" - Rolling Thunder - I forget the name of the book, but I quote him a lot on this subject!) I'm gonna vote on going to a lil lake nearby, or a couple of farmer's ponds for catfish, maybe.

Have a good one, folkses!

Went out yesterday & caught me some fish. They wouldn't take to the lures (although that might be due to my lack of proficiency in using them, I'll admit) but they jumped at the worms. Yay for me. Got me 3 good sized bass, & a few sunnies, & my boy got a good large mouth & a few sunnies, too.

FINALLY!

We went to a local pond, took some friends, & out-fished them all.

Well..I'm off to work again.

Have a good one.

There are cruise lines & cruise lines.

I've heard some good & bad stories about working for them from ppl who've done it.

With some co's, you are considered to be on the clock 24/7 as long as your are on board that ship. You cannot sit & have a drink with a fan. You cannot fraternize with the audience or other paying members at all. You cannot have dinner with them or sit in a lounge chair & talk to them, in some cases. You also cannot drink, while working with some of these co's. They consider you to be a member of the crew, ready to assist in anything you can at a moment's notice.

There are other co's that aren't quite so strict, but whenever you work for a cruise line, you best mind your P's & Q's. If you get fired, they just might leave you at the next port to find your own way home.

That being said, there is some great $ to be made by working for them.

I don't know about this guy, if he even has an in with any cruise line, or if you'd want to work for any co he's involved with.

Personally, 6-8 weeks on a big boat with no chance of picking up those rich honeys or even have a simple drink would put me off a bit. Investigate the co & find out what thier policies are for performing acts.

agreed. aside from money wouldn't that be the major perk of being on a ship surrounded by drunk people on vacation?

Wow, notice how the starter of this post didn't respond....kind of says it all. Better watch it, he could take ya out to sea, steal your gear and ask for your booty..... arrrrr