Gatorbassman

I have had the great opportunity to talk to Ike on two separate occasions. Last year at the FLW Championship in Alabama, and a couple of weeks ago during the BASS Tourney at Clark's Hill. Both times he took the time to stop what he was doing and listen to my questions and he gave great feedback. This wasn't just for a few seconds either. We talked for several minutes. He is a wealth of knowledge. If you want to learn how to power fish, he is one of the best and more than willing to share everything he knows. He is very down to earth, despite his "tweaked out" personality. Anyone who says he is a punk hasn't attempted to sit down and just talk to him. He seems like someone who can't bottle up his emotion. Just imagine if every fish you catch during a tournament was worth 10,000 to 100,000 dollars. How would you respond? The one thing I am glad of is that he had a new flame shirt made for him. That old one was getting real ratty.

I broke in my fishing partner's new Ranger Z20. All I can say is, WHAT A BOAT! That boat is so different from any other boat I have been in. You have to try it before you will know.

I agree with fatdaddy. You shouldn't ever depend on luck. I tell you what, try this. After you cast your bait out. As you are bringing it back to you. Say in your mind over and over. "Be the bait. Be the bait. Be the bait." And try to imagine everything you are making that bait do. If you bump something see if you can tell exactly what it is and what your lure looks like as you bring it over the cover.

The thing you should pay more attention to is what your worm feels like as it is moving across the bottom and bumping into rocks, logs, and other stuff on the bottom. This is what you will feel 99% of the time. Anything different from that is probably a bite. Another thing to try is, go out in your back yard with someone else and your rod. Hook your hook to something solid. Back up 30 yards or so and pull your line till it barely gets tight. Hold your rod with tip at about 10 o'clock. Close your eyes and have the other person tap on the line about 2 feet from the hook with a pencil. This is what a soft bite feels like.

Catfish

you answered that one yourself.

Both. I love to fish from the bank this time of year. I have several public lakes in the area that are walk in only and they are great.

I've got a 3yo boy and I love to take him fishing. But I never tell him I am going to take him till just before we go. That way if something comes up he won't be let down.

I fish 3 days a week here in Georgia. I am finding the fish in a solid pre-spawn staging areas. They want to come up and spawn so bad. The big females are in tight schools in the middle of spawning coves and the males are at the first deep water off the bedding areas. I have been catching the big fish slow rolling a large white and red spinnerbait with gold blades in both areas. My friend hooked a 10lb bass in 10 ft of water on Thursday when it was 48 degrees with 12 mile an hour winds. He was using my spinnerbait, or should I say it was my spinnerbait. He probably won't give it back now.

First of all the north or northwest parts of a lake, cove, cut, or creek arm are the first areas to warm up, because they are protected from the much colder north wind, and due to the angle of the sun, they get more sun than other areas. The key is protection from cold wind. As for the "Invisible beds". If I am fishing a spawning flat it doesn't matter what the water clarity is. I am going to fish it from a distance to start with. I like to start with something on top first. Like a prop bait, floating jerk bait, or a sammy. Then I toss some type of suspending bait and fish it real slow. Next I will use a Carolina rig with a lizard or a craw and a stand-up jig with a craw. After that I will move in and start looking for who's left. Move very slowly and stay as low in the boat as possible.

I lived in Grants Pass, OR for a little wile back in 95 and had a great day on a private pond. I caught about 20 bass then after lunch hiked down the hill to a creek and started catching trout. It was a very memorable fishing trip.

I have a lefty on my flippin stick. It comes in handy for those quick bites. No more missed fish during the switch.

Good question. I never thought of it that way. I have no idea what I always say. Probably something like "Sweet Fish". That will make me pay more attention to what I say next time.

Speeking of Denny. He had a little bad luck on Clarks Hill Lake today. He had one of our beloved Georgia Pines reach up out of 26ft and grab his lower unit. He was over an hours boat ride away, but never fear he was back fishing in two hours. Thanks to a backup boat. He still ended up with an O.K. stringer of 3 good fish, but no top 12.

Spend time finding the fish before trying to catch them. It's hard to catch something that's not there. Just because the cover looks fishy doesn't mean there is a fish there. They might be under your boat.

Just a couple as you can see I usually wear camo. Stealth is a must. From experience, don't throw anything you don't want lose. It hard to get those Lucky Craft's back without a boat. I am not saying it's impossible, just hard.

I regularly fish a popular Public Fishing Area here in Georgia. In fact my picture is of a fish caught there last year. Several years ago the biologist noticed a increase in small fish and a drastic decline in larger fish. The implemented a slot limit encouraging us to keep everything under 14 inches and over 21 inches. It has worked wonders for this 90+ acre lake. I have caught six there in the last week and all of them were 3-4lb males. The also shocked up an 18.4lb bass last winter during a shock survey. I have seen the pictures and the data on this fish. She was awesome. Selective harvest is a great solution if you suspect you have a problem in the particular lake you fish.

A couple of years ago I started keeping maticulate records. I feel it is a great advantage to find a computer program that organizes your fishing logs into a searchable database. This has helped tremendously. I fish almost 200 days a year, in a number of different lakes and it is impossible to remember all the details of each fish I catch. With this program all I have to do is type in a key word i.e. time if year, name of lake, etc. and it pulls up every fish that I have caught under those conditions. I recommend that you research what fishing log programs are out there and find the one that best suits your style of record keeping. There are some great free ones out there but the ones that cost a little money tend to be a lot better. Mine even keeps a file of digital pictures that are attached to each individual log page. Remember no matter how you decide to keep a log. Just do it. You will find yourself becoming a more better, consistent bass fisherman.

Flipping and Pitching are just two ways to get the lure to a precise spot quietly, after that it's up to you how it gets back to the boat. The percentages are high that a fish will pick it up in the first 3 or 4 feet.

If a bass lives its entire life in deep water how can it ever accomplish its only goal in life, spawning. This is a bunch of junk. I would like to see the study data. A good rule of thumb is to fish shallow during the spawn and fish deeper the rest of the year for quality fish. Fish will hold at the deepest possible place in their area of the lake and not be very active. When they are ready to feed they will move up shallower, stopping at breakpoints (structure on the edge of a drop or change in bottom contour)along the way. The schools of big fish tend to stay at deeper breakpoints for safety reasons, and the smaller schools will move to shallow water. If you are casting to the bank, the fish are probably under your boat. This us only my opinion but it has worked for me.

This is all a mater of oppinion. Go with what you have confidence in, or by a few of both.

Chris, you hit it on the head. Only about 20% of a lake holds 80% of the fish. You just can't catch what isn't there. Spend alot of time looking at a map finding breaks and even more time with your Fish Finder finding break points and it will decrease the time spent trying to find that perfect lure.

You can also find the video at Wal-Mart.

Another great thing about the Vista is you can download Fishing Hot Spots Maps on it. These maps have underwater topography and lots of extras.

I think I have a Bell Pedestal on my 14ft Jon boat. It works great. Get some self-tapping screws to mount it to the bench and build a simple box to lift your trolling motor pedal up a little and you should be set. You will find that a Jon Boat is a lot more versatile than you think. Just use your imagination.