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go with the Sea Eagle. I love mine.

Blakemore Road Runner Jigs are nice.

The 20lb Calif bass thread was closed. A spin off of the discussion seemed to be centered on the use of live bait (trout,bluegill) and the use of realistic swimbaits in catching these big bass. What is the difference in the perception of the skill of the angler, whether he is using live bait OR the realistic swimbaits that are are so close to looking and acting like the real thing. Would you diminish a catch because it was with live bait? Would you extol a catch because it was with realistic swimbait? I am seeing these as almost being on par with each other.

My brother lives on a 50 acre lake in Alabama that has been there since the 50s. The lake has been maintained by a Lake Management company for the last 10 years. They came in checked the bass population ten years ago. Found all the bass were basically undersized so they fertilized the lake, introduced threadgill shad and have maintained the lake for the last 10 years. The Florida strain of bass is in the lake and over the last ten years the fish have now done what many managed lakes with Fla. bass in them have done...basically the big fish only feed on the now huge schools of baitfish and have virtually stopped biting lures. After doing some research on the net, there are several sites that discuss this problem. What happens is that about 3-4 years after managing the lake, the bite is great and then about 9-10 years the big fish wise up and don't bite artificials much. The residents who live around the lake and paid the company to manage the lake and produce big bass are not catching any to speak of. There is a type of bass called "Tiger" bass raised over in Alabama that is more agressive than the Fla. bass. Their website says that introducing the Tiger bass into the lake will cause the Fla. bass to be more agressive also so the lake residents are discussing this. What live bait tactics would you try on a stubborn well stocked lake like this?

I did. Bass fishing is not like it used to be. There are more and more fishermen with no regards for anything and many more inexperienced bass fishermen that don't know enough to care. I watched a fellow fishing the other day with his kids. Kids would catch a fish and he would let them walk around looking at for several minutes and then he would remove the hook and sling the fish about 30 feet back into the water with a loud enough splash to hear it across the lake. Bass fishing has become run and gun. Catch everything you can and then haul it miles away to be gloated over and then released. The continuing growing pressure on fish during the spawn certainly cannot continue and expect nature not to be affected by it. Come on!

There are some 30 pound carp in the small neighborhood lake I fish all the time. I see them lumber by while I fish from the shore. I am going to try your hotdog bait on them this spring. I will be sure to leave the bail open!

Lake Lanier is being affected by a severe drought for the last few years. It was down over 20 feet at one time. You might want to hire a guide.

Your right about this. Fishing in a private lake stocked with lunkers that are easy to catch misrepresents the reality of what real life fishing is. It is not "cheating" per se, but it does tilt the balance of the fishing scale towards the angler. I would also say that Dance has done a ton of shows out on lakes where the rest of us fish, so maybe in his older age he deserves a set up.

At the end of the summer, Wal Mart marks down the auto inflate type of vest. I bought three last year for $99 for all of them. One for me one for my son and one for my wife. I put it on when I approach the water...the reason is that I have read of tragic events where somehow the person either passed out or fell and was knocked out and drowned. When your launching your boat that is a time where an accident could result in you being knocked in the water and out for just enough time to drown. The comfort factor of wearing no vest is not worth the possibility of ending up dead. Even the fishing pros on TV only wear PFDs when the motor is running. They should be required to wear them all the time to set a good standard for other fisherman. I don't know about you guys, but I am close to 60 and have not swam a lick since high school! Don't fool yourself into thinking you could get your out of shape butt out of 25 feet of water 30 or 40 feet offshore. Wear it!!!

Find a small lake that is close to you that you can fish everyday if you want. Just an hour or so after supper or in the morning before work..that kind of thing. I am not talking fish every day all day! Try some different presentations. Get used to your tackle etc. This will give you some great first hand experience for the big trips to the big lakes. I have learned so much just fishing the little lake here in my subdivision.

Thanks for the reply d. I ask the clerk if I could return them if I did not open them and they said sure. Sure would like to know if anyone has had any luck with these. Kind of hard to believe that Storm would market something like this if it was really a terrible lure. Maybe someone else has found a method for these.

I was at a Sports Authority this afternoon and they had all the Storm lures buy 2 get one free. I see these huge Storm Kickin Slab bream lures! 6 1/2oz and 7+" long. The biggest lure I ever bought. Anyone have any experience with these. They were $6.68 each with the sale. Anybody caught anything on these? If so, how did you fish them.

Back in the 60s we used fly rods to crappie fish because they were longer and you could troll allong the bank and just flip a set up out rather than do any casting. We used a hook, a smaller sinker and a quill bobber with a bobber stop tied up the line. When you raised up the line, the quill would ride down the line to the sinker and make it much easier to "flip" the bait out into tree tops and cover. The quill would then ride back up the line as the bait sank and stop at the bobber stopper. The quill works much better for crappie and it offers less resistance and you just watch for it to bob a little. Hard to find those these days.

Do you guys have a time limit for how long you stay with a bait that is not producing before you switch to something else? Do you anchor in one spot and try several things or just keep moving and trying different things in the tackle box? If your fishing a new lake or a new area of a lake, what do you do to try to get some action going in regards to trying different baits, colors etc. to get a bite. I have a bad habit of just sticking with something too long with no results.

You get the one in the DC area? You won't need any upgrades. Just inflate it and fish it!

Went out to my small neighborhood lake at noon to toss a few. Took two spinning rods, one with a worm and one with one of those vibra jig lures. I fished the worm so slow it was silly and did not get a bite. So I swapped over to the jig, cast it out, slow retreive...all of a sudden I get a hit that just rips the rod out of my hands. I was still in the slow motion worm mode and holding the rod real delicate and such. I caught the rod but in order to keep it from going in the lake I grabbed it with both hands and the fish is making a run and the spinning reel is roaring backwards and when I reached down to get a hold of the handle it just slapped my fingers silly!! All I could do was just laugh and wish I had a camera. I never even had a chance to set the hook. Must have been a nice one. Things you have to go through to be an experienced bass angler. I did catch a couple though. Anyone else have something like this happen to them?

I have several Sea Eagle inflatables. They are the best fishing money I have spent. I fished in my SE 6 today. Great product.

I have several Sea Eagle inflatables. The best money I ever spent. The SE6 is the one I use by myself. Stand up in it and cast all day long with no problem. Finshed fishing. Just let the air out and put it in your trunk. I love my inflatable.

My brother lives on a nice healthy 50 acre lake. The neighbor association sends around a report on the lake that comes from the company that oversees the lake with fertilizer and other good stuff they put in the lake along with doing the test to see how the fish population is doing. They give reccomendations on which fish to keep and what size in order to maintain good ratios. Some fish of certain sizes they tell you keep or even just throw away to keep from ruining the lake. C@R is great...until it ruins your fishing spot.

Sorry but I disagree. I went this morning...39 degrees... no bites...still enjoyed being out and trying.

Thank you James!!!

Can someone PLEASE post a pic of that fellow with the styrofoam boat thing with the Alabama hat on. I can't find it and want to show my brother in Alabama.

How many fishermen do you think it would take keeping the limit to ruin an entire small reservoir?

Ok so talk to me about the fall rate thing. If a fish won't take the bait on the fall because it is being snooty about the speed that it is falling, does that mean that that fish or even another fish that did not see it falling will be equally as snooty about the worm as it is being moved along the bottom where the fall rate does not come into play as much????

Roadwarrior Would you think differently if you fished these on a heavier rod set up??