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It is a private lake.

Small lake my brother lives on....around 60 acres. About 40 miles south of Birmingham.

Fished in Alabama this morning, caught some good ones, hopped in the car and drove back to Atlanta to vote. Is this a great country or what!! Black chatter bait copy with a black trick worm as a trailor. Fished slow right off the bottom...bite was just a tug, not aggressive at all. Water is getting colder. Had good look slowing everything down.

I have some squirell tail ends (about 3-4") that I wanted to make jigs out of. Can I get some ideas or see some pics of jigs or other lures that you guys have used the end of a squirell tail to make. What is the best way to attach to the hook? I know that Mepps uses squirell tail for their spinner baits, just wondered if anyone has used the end of the tail for a lure.

WoW!!!

Not trying to cause any consternation, just asking at what point the size of the bass would be such that a trophy mount would be warranted and accepted in the sport. Every one is entitled to an opinion, and the explanations of some will cause the others to rethink their own. Some will change and some will intensify even more.

How big would a bass have to be before you would consider it a keeper for a trophy mount? I have released all the large bass I caught, even up to 10lbs. I would have to say if I ever was lucky enough to get something up in the 12-15lb range, I might be VERY tempted to have it mounted. That size would surely be once in a lifetime for a non pro fisherman. Any opinions.

Sort of. When the fish bit, I just let it have the bait for about a minute. It did not run with it, just sort of sat there and injested it. I had broken off a few on setting the hook that evening so I did not really set the hook hard, just a nice sweep to the side.

I caught a 4 pounder the other night on a split shot rig. Fishing with a BIG Bass Pro Shop 12" worm. I let the fish have the worm for a while because the bite was just a very, very light tap. After I fought him to the bank and lipped him and looked in his mouth, all I saw was line going into the gullet.....%$)(${IO!!....I thought I was going to do some damage trying to get to the 4/0 hook. I gently started to pull the line to try to see the eye of the hook...the tip of the worm appeared!!! I pulled a little more...the rest of the worm comes out with the hook still embedded in the worm!! The hook had never pierced through the worm into the fish!?!?!? Wonders never cease in bass fishing. I never had anything like this happen. Have any of you???

No....what do you guys think?

Caught this one yesterday. Learned a lesson. Fish hit a chatterbait with a cream worm trailor. About 8 feet from the bank I thought it wrapped up in something and got off. I tried all the rod shaking I could but the lure seemed to be hung up real good. Finally I walked back to my brothers house about a 10 min round trip up the lake and got his lure retriever. My son held the rod while I was gone. After about 15 mins. of trying to run that thing down the line and grab something, I suddenly felt everything move...the fish comes up with the chatterbait AND the lure retriever in it's mouth and I reach down and lip her. I could not believe that a fish could wedge itself in like that and not move for that long!! Nice fun catch that I had to work to get. I won't ever assume again that just because I can't feel anything but a hung up lure that the fish might not be there. Fish was released unharmed. How bout' that belly!.....on the fish that is. 8-)

Found an old Japan made Pflueger 640. Any one have a dead one lying around that might have the spool on it. Private message me if you want to get rid of the whole reel. They were made in Japan and not great, but I have a rod that has the reel sort of permantly mounted and I don't want to tear up the rod to get it off.

Ah, to be young and in love...........nice looking couple!

Why don't you get the fish off the ground!! Not good for them. How about a pic of the girl?

Sometimes I will carry with me one of those collapsable panfish 12 foot poles. I tie a length of 20lb line with a treble hook on the end. I keep the rod stuck through my belt in back and I have had to use it many times to get lures and flies out of the trees. They collapse down to only a few feet.

When I walk around a pond, I carry a small Case Logic shoulder bag I bought at a yard sale for .50. You see them all the time. They were for small electronic devices. Two zipper sections and a mesh cover on the front that you can also slip something into. Maybe 7"X7". I keep a larger box in the car and if I need something I can walk back to the car. That little bag is very handy and it has served me well. A baggie full of worms, some hooks, sinkers, beads. knife, small forceps and a few lures. Anything heavier/bigger will just get in the way and tire you out while walking.

Even easier. I keep needle nose pliers or small forceps. If I cannot quickly get the hook out by backing the barb out then just pull the barb on through and continue pulling the eye through then just cut the line. Takes only a few seconds to do this. Get the fish back in the water quickly and then retie. If your releasing all fish, bend the barb down a little...gives the fish a little better chance and makes it more of an even situation sportwise.

Great! That is a nice looking fish.

Not good for the fish to be laying on the ground like that.

Thanks for the info. What is the advantage you like for the tip heavy spinning set up??

Need some input on balancing a rod/reel SPINNING combination set up. Should the balance point be at the handle area right above the reel? Should it be such that when you hold the rod at that point, the rod does not feel front heavy and the rod tip fall downward? If this is the case, is it acceptable to add a bit of weight in the butt end of the rod to balance it? Any of you guys ever add weight there? I am trying to balance a 9 foot spinning rod with a reel that I like. Unmodified it is weight forward. I have the end cap off and have been inserting different size metal pieces to test different balance. What would be the best scenario: Weight forward with the set up being lighter..no added weight in the handle. Balanced with the overall weight being heavier. What effects on casting distance do each of these setups have? I am not so concerned about accuracy here as I am with distance. Thanks for the advice.

The rest of the guys here are the experts, but I can comment on my own experience. Spend a lot of time on quality water. Use bigger baits. If you are fishing solely for large fish, don't expect but a few good bites a day maybe, so you have to be ready to do a lot of casting with not much action, so be ready at all times even when you are bored with all that throwing. Talk to some of the locals who have caught some bigger fish and find out colors, depth, time of day etc. Keep at it. You will get a big one. I have already caught several and I have been bass fishing less than the two years you mentioned that you have.

You know I should have thought this through better. Actually the RETRIEVE is what is killing me. Gripping the rod with the right hand and cranking with the left, the rod pressure exerts a "pull" on the right shoulder socket. I wonder if I can still cast the way I am now and just retrieve with the other hand?? All I would need to do is reverse the handle and then just shift the rod from the left hand to the right to cast. This may be easier than I thought! I have a weird way of casting with a spinning set up anyway. I start out with the rod in the right hand and end up with the rod butt in my left hand as the line is bailing out. EDIT: OK I went out into the front yard with the spinning set up and tied on a practice plug and reversed the handle and threw a few. Wow!! NO problem. Just shift the rod to the right hand for the cast and like I said it ends up in the left anyway. Man I cannot believe I did not try this before. This is really going to help me out during an all day fishing trip to take the pressure off my mistake shoulder. Amazing.

Old football shoulder injury is catching up with me. After several hours of right handed casting with a spinning rod my shoulder sometimes just hurts like heck. I want to try to see if I can develop some left handed casting skill to take the pressure off it. All I have to do is switch the reel handle over. Any of you done this? Any tips to get some quick results. thanks

What the heck is that???? A crime of "need"??????? Need for fishing stuff?? That is no excuse for stealing stuff out of your boat.