| __________________________________________________ January 27, 2004 - Vol. 5 No. 3 __________________________________________________ WHAT'S IN YOUR TACKLE BOX? ~ By Connie Kilpatrick Are you sitting there looking at the cold outside, just watching the snow drift by on a dreary winter day? Well, get busy and find some entertainment for yourself. I need to practice what I preach about this little assignment. I'm probably the world's worst. Empty out all those 40 tackle boxes and spread all those 5,000 different baits and tackle accessories on the dining room table. Then get them sorted and organized. But wait! Maybe you better not do that if anybody else is at home. You could be making a very costly mistake. My hubby did that many years ago. He paid a high price. It cost him a new living room furniture suite. Now things are different since I started fishing with him and I believe the dining room table is a great place to spread out our mutual tackle entourage. I got into one of my old tackle boxes and by golly, what I found sure surprised me. Some old canker sore medicine, old gum hard as a rock and cracked into millions of pieces, a ticket stub dated August 1985 for a prize raffle drawing at a tournament in Missouri. They never did call, so I guess I didn't win. The next tackle box I opened held half-forgotten memories too. A dinner napkin with fishing hot spots marked on it for TennTom Reservoir. I didn't win there either. The spots were probably incorrect anyway. Then I found my most favorite line clippers. The ones I had unmercifully accused my hubby of having. He was happier than I that I found them. No doubt his life will be a lot easier from now on. I suspect he finally had enough and no doubt he used this opportunity to slip the clippers back into my tackle box when he heard me talk about cleaning them out. Now where is that crankbait I caught all those fish on? I swear I had put it right here. Hubby, do you have my favorite crankbait? I'm not alone on this tackle organizing ritual either. I have asked others what they've found in their tackle boxes this winter, friends and acquaintances from around here, as well as from our GYCB chat room and BFHP forum. Here are some of the strangest things that appeared in their tackle boxes. Tydwater from Washington DC says a package of bologna that was entirely lively maggots! Which means he will never be able to eat bologna ever again. OOOEEE! Mikebass from Kentucky says he found an old Heddon Lure, a bare-chested mermaid stick bait. It was in an old tackle box of his dad's. My dad's buddy gave it to him when they were teenagers, many years ago. Dad is now 73. Mike says he also found a tin of Chlorine Salve and some old pre-rigged Creme lures that were still in the original package which was brittle, hooks rusty, and worms discolored. My friend Sheryl says she quit smoking last summer until just the other day. She was cleaning tackle boxes and found a pack of cigarettes. Now everybody who has ever quit smoking has stashed a pack of cigs somewhere, just in case of an emergency. She said that pack caused her to fall off the wagon. Rick says he found a camera with film in it. He had it developed and it was a roll of pictures of him fishing in cold weather and icicles were hanging off his rod waiting for the fish to bite... says he'll never forget that day of fishing! Mark says he found his wife's sunglasses. The ones he had sworn to her were not in his tackle box. Said he wasn't going to mention it to her since she has already purchased new ones. The ones in his tackle box were pricey ones, Costa Del Mar, and she now has a pair from Wal-Mart. Said he's going to hold on to the Costa Del mars for a time when he might really need them to get out of the dog house. Might be a point maker there, Mark! Jean said she found a recipe for making catfish stinkbait and she has denied all knowledge of where it came from or from whom? I always thought she was a die hard bass angler, but maybe she's been fooling us all this time. My neighbor, Skip, says he found a hundred dollar bill rolled and tucked inside an empty pill bottle. Can't imagine how it got in there, but he decided it would be far better off to hand it over to a Bass Pro Shop check-out person rather than back in that pill box. As you can see, some of us have not touched our tackle boxes for a long time. What's in YOUR tackle box? __________________________________________________ ABOUT THE AUTHOR Connie Kilpatrick and husband Tommy own and operate Lake Fork Tackle Repair. "We fish exclusively with Shimano reels, and our business is dedicated exclusively to servicing and upgrading Shimano freshwater baitcasters. We pride ourselves in providing Shimano anglers nationwide with excellent service and a fast turnaround. We know the importance of having your fishing equipment put into top shape and returned right back to you." For more information visit their web site at: LAKE FORK TACKLE REPAIR http://www.lakeforktacklerepair.com __________________________________________________
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