Gatorbassman

Right on Brother!!!! Thanks for all you are doing for our country and the people of Iraq. May you have a safe trip home.

You hit the nail on the head. The bait monkey is a cunning little pick pocket that knows all the tricks to get the money out of your wallet without you knowing it. Untill you walk out of the store holding a few bags. Just when you think you have him licked. Your wallet is empty again and you are stuck with a bunch of fishing stuff that you might get around to useing some day.

Don't ask the guy at the sporting goods counter. Ask the department manager or better yet the store mangager. They have the power the discount it. They may give you a discount for doing the right thing.

How much cash are you looking to spend?

Physical differences are of course spots have a smaller mouth. They also have a rough spot on their tong and they have more pronounced markings. I believe Triton Mike describes there temperament like this. "It's like a rocket being shot out of a cannon." They are more aggressive than a LM. I have caught them on top water (Bama Rig) when they were suspended at 25ft deep. T-Mike gave the best advice for Spots in something he wrote several years ago. Work your lures fast most of the time. Don't let them get a good look at what you are throwing. The faster the better. If you asked Mike to slow down and finesse them more he will probably jump out of the boat and swim to shore. You can easily compare the speed that he fishes to KVD. The Bama Rig is a lure developed in the late 80's or early 90's by Triton Mike. It is awesome bait for Spots when you want to catch numbers.

If you are fishing with a finesse worm as soon as you feel a bump give your reel two quick turns and set the hook. If you get several short strikes try dipping the head of the worm (instead of the tail) in spike-it to get the fish to concentrate on the buisness end of the lure.

this is what I do. Before you put the toothpics in your tacklebox cut a little bit of the sharp tip off. Not to much or you won't be able to stick it in the sinker. Go ahead and stick it into the back of the sinker and when you are ready to remove it just take another toothpick out of you box and poke it down the front of the sinker and it should pop out.

When the only time your truch leaves the driveway is when towing your boat. ( I have an extra junkie car for all my running around.) When you introduce yourself to someone new in church and they say, "Oh, your the bass fisherman". When your boat is named "The Other Woman" and your wife asks you to change it to "The Office." When your kids see you in the morning and give you a big hug and say "Daddy why aren't you fishing? Are you sick?"

A spook is a great lure to learn with. It is very easy to walk. Remember that with every twitch you must let the line go slack to get the most out of the walking action.

I saw Joe Thomas at the boat ramp today and asked him about this. He said it airs during the 3rd and 4th quarters of the years so it should be back on sometime in August.

"The Other Woman" but my wife asked me to change it to "The Office"

For that much money you could buy a small jon boat and a very good trolling motor. The problem I see is it doesn't look stable enough to use in the wind. Than limits the days you can fish.

Where do you put your gear?

With that water temp and those air temps I usually start off slow with a light weight C-Rig with a 14inch leader. The lure is usually something simple and straight forward. I like a paddle tail worm. If the day before was sunny and warm I try to locate fish in the vicinity of thick cover but not in it. As the sun come out and starts to get up I move in closer to the cover and specifically target the laydowns and rockpiles on points leading back towards spawning areas with a Spot Remover or some type of jig. You should be in a solid prespawn pattern now and don't hesitate to go to the spawning area and look for those early beds. Males should be fanning and some females should be cruising.

Chris you can always take that ring back to the store to get a little extra cash. I did it twice. Tell your sweetheart I just kidding.

There, I fixed it for ya.

langs15, To keep from hijacking this post I'll PM ya.

Those questions are great. They sure got me thinking. I have turned into a fisherman with tunnel vision. I throw the same confidence lures day after day time after time and I catch fish most of the time. But I want so bad to get confidence in jigs. So tomorrow that is all I'm going to take on the boat with me. Thanks.

For 2500 you can have mine. It is rigged for any small lake in GA. I designed and built it to use it as I work on my book about all the small lakes in GA. It has everything you need. If you are interested PM me and I will give you the details. It's a great first boat.

Welcome to the site BigBear. The best tip I can give you is go up to the top of this page and click on "Fishing Articles". There is so much information in that section that it will keep you busy for months. It is jam packed full of articles that will teach you how to make the decisions that will but fish in the boat.

You know, it's great to know what guys are catching there fish on, but I feel the first and most important question to ask these guys is at what depth they are catching them at. Then follow by asking what type of structure or cover the fish are holding on. Then just look at the rods on their decks and see what is tied to their rods. Then hopefully these guy are somewhat honest and you might be able to go out and catch something.

Ditto!!!! Every fish is different. With some experience yow quickly know what do.

The truth of it is that a very large percentage of bass are caught due to reaction strikes. The bass strikes our ugly lures because it is surprised or it's a possible easy meal that is about to get away. They catch it first then decide weather to swallow it or spit it out. Many times if the bass gets a good look at your lure, it doesn't matter if it is the most realistic lure on the market, it will turn away. But if they start to get a look at it and it starts to get away they will try to catch it and then decide if its dinner or not. So matching the hatch is important only up to the point that the lure you are using looks like a good meal for a split second without scaring the scales off of the fish. So get close to the "hatch" with your lure. Then make good accurate casts with very little splash to the places where bass live and get ready to set the hook.

Here read this thread I started a couple of months ago. Hopfully it will help you out a little. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1139446991/0#0

Take a 1/2 jig and hit that 3lber in the head a few time and see what happens. It should tick him off enought to get him to strike at it. As for the others. Don't try to cast to the fish if they are off of the actual bed. Put your lure in the bed and wait till they are close enough to see it, then shake it slightly. Try to get the lure in the sweet spot. This is usually a spot in the bed the size of a cup that the fish are accually laying there eggs. This spot is sometimes a little darker or it may be on the side of a stick or something that is in the bed.