Getting specific….

How mant times have you picked up a magazine because the cover showed an article inside that you thought was something that might shed some light on your favorite fishing, only to find that the article was geographically so far removed from your area that most of the information was not even pertinant or , even worse, legal? How many times have you gone into your local “name brand , all purpose, they have what you need, store to pick up the hottest new tools for your favorite kind of fishing, but not finding it on the shelves you inquire and are told that they DON’T even stock it? If this has happened to you, it is time to get specific. Most magazines are printed in a couple different formats to fill the niche of geographic needs. In- fisherman is printed this way I believe. I know at one time they had a northern issue as well as a southern issue. A smaller publication like “Crappie” does not offer this. Being a southern entity, most of the information doled out in the magazine deals with southern lakes and tactics to take southern crappies. And if you listened to what some of the authors suggest, you’d never leave the house in the winter thinking that the fish in MInnesota fall to the bottom of the water body they live in and go into a deep sleep. All of this while the water is less than 50 degrees in temperature according to an article in that magazine . I went into a local sporting goods store looking for a certain plastic not long ago and had no luck finding it. I asked a clerk about it’s availability and was told that it was not stocked here because the regional buyers found that it was not a bait that would be popular in the “region” . They said if I wanted it they could get the Duluth store to mail it down in a few days. Now why the duluth store stocked this stuff I have no idea. And this was the same Duluth store that I went into a couple summers ago looking to pick up a “sinking” yo-zuri crystal minnow in a certain color for some shore casting and was told that they did not stock sinking lures because everybody up there used downriggers to get the baits down and they only carried floaters . With everybody up there having lead balls I can see why so many walk with slumped shoulders. The bottom line is that you will do better in your search for tackle, rigging and information if you get specific in your search….go to where the stuff is literally someone’s livelihood. They will go the extra mile. Mike at Hookedonfishing found some plastics for me in bulk when you couldn’t even find a picture of them anywhere else. He is the kid of guy that, if you asked him to locate scales on a bullhead, he would accept the challenge and probably succeed. And with the sites on the internet like this one, every geographic possiblity is covered quickly and concisely by people who “know” their areas. I’ve about given up on magazine, save for one. If I need to find something out, I can come here and ask and get cleaner information.