Masshole Mike

even though i froze my skinny little @ss off, i still had a great time and am glad i got to be a part of yesterday. congrats to the tourney winners, but especially to CAST for Kids and all those involved. i had the pleasure of sharing a boat with Cigarlover and even though we didn't get a bite all day we still had fun (we'll nail the smallies at the quabbin craig, don't you worry!). on top of that i got to meet a bunch more BassResource.com members... Tin, Bassectomy, bassnajr, stratosdaari, and i'm sure there were others. ronnie it was great to see you again. a truly genuine person, he drove 4 hours each way to participate yesterday. that right there says a helluvalot about the guy. can't wait until next time! LBH, if i can help out in any other way with CAST for Kids, lemme know, i'd love to lend a hand. and thanks for letting me and craig use your boat!

that was going to be my contribution! i find myself doing this constantly. driving by bodies of water and looking for structure and cover and thinking how i'd fish it. my brother and i just took a road trip to toronto and at one point we had a river running parallel to the highway, and i kept looking over at it and finally my brother says "do you keep looking at that river?" and when i answered "yes" he said "because you're thinking about fishing, aren't you...." neither one of us could help but laugh when i sheepishly said "yeeeeeaaaaaah....."

i just got home from toronto, my brother and i went up yesterday to watch the sox play the jays. didn't realize it was the jay's home opener so us sox fans were a little outmatched. the sox lost so of course we didn't hear the end of it until we got back to our hotel. i still want to see a replay of the game, there was one play in the 5th or 6th that i swear got so f'ed up by the umps that it changed the outcome of the game. i could be wrong but from where i was sitting ellsbury caught a fly ball in centerfield, frank thomas was on 3rd already running for home and never tagged up but they counted his run, as well as letting the runner on first advance to second without tagging up and the batter to be called safe on first. francona was on the field along with all 9 of the sox players pleading their case but the umps didn't budge. oh well, it's only one game. off to another world series ring! *edit* guess ellsbury dropped the ball when he hit the outfield wall... http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080405&content_id=2494357&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos

i'm planning on may 10th to head to the quabbin for some smallie fishing. anyone that wants to come down and meet up is welcome to. that includes you NH, RI and CT guys!

new thread started for anyone that wants to hit the quabbin in may...

i've got a revo s coming in by next friday. i had to have my local shop order me a lefty because they don't usually stock them. how easy is it to adjust the brakes on it, fishguitbeer? i've only used external brake controls before and haven't had to set brakes like the S's yet.

understandable. i won't buy a rod or reel sight unseen (unless it's one i've used and already know the feel/shape/weight/etc. of and know that's what i want...) so i see where you're coming from. keep in mind a lot of the sponsors of the site offer discounts and will usually hook you up if you support them through here. i know brent from *** and the guys at karu lures have gone out of their way to help out members of the site. not sure about the megastrike crew but it couldn't hurt to find out, right? you'll like that evo jig regardless, whether you buy it online or in-store.

kent beat me to it, i was just going to say i think ARC Dehookers is a new sponsor of the site and to check them out. that's what the mods are here for! but yeah, getting a hook out is all part of fishing. the more you do it the better you'll get at it, and a de-hooker will surely help. just get a good grip on the fish and don't be afraid to get in there to get that hook out.

be gentle?

one option is to man up, dig in and get that hook out. actually that's about the only option. i'm just kidding around, but seriously, a LM isn't going to bite you or anything, so don't be afraid to reach right in there and yank that hook out. a good hook remover works wonders, as does a pair of long needle nose pliers.

if the water is pretty stained i wouldn't even worry about a leader on braid anyways. like others have said, a leader with braid isn't necessary but some choose to use one. it's personal preference, but your best bet would be 30-50# braid tied straight to the lure (depending on your reels line capacities). are you already using a baitcaster and having these problems or are you looking to get one to alleviate said problems?

i believe they are available at retail stores like BPS, but if you buy them online using the BassResource.com link to the site, BR gets a little something extra. buy online and support this great site! you can find the link here... http://www.bassresource.com/fish/advertisers.html or go right to the source @ http://www.megastrike.com or http://www.evolutionlures.com i'm personally a fan of the evolution jig. haven't been able to use them much since g'ville but i did catch my PB on one down there last week!

i threw all my jig trailers and worms that i'd used at g'ville in the trash monday morning, came home from work that afternoon and my whole room smelled like garlic. took me a minute to figure out why, but that stuff smells so potent that all the old plastics in the trash still smelled that much, that many days later!

damnit... :-/

Klem's tractor sales, rt. 9 on the east brookfield/spencer line http://www.klemsonline.com/ the sale only goes until the 9th though, so hurry up!

my local tackle shop just stocked up on brand new revo's and fenwick rods. until april 9th they've got a sale going on, all reels are 20% off and all rods and other fishing gear are 25% off. i'm thinking revo s/fenwick hmg sounds pretty tempting. i even called pure fishing to ask if i purchase the combo at a discounted price if the $50 main in rebate still applies and was assured it does. let's see... revo s $110 - 20% = $88 fenwick hmg $130 - 25% = $97.5 total = $185.5 - $50 mail in rebate brings the grand total to $135.5!!! shawweeeeeeet 8-) guess i'm gonna have to put some practice in on the casting setups!

On the Bass Pro show he said "Heavy action". Does this mean heavy power or extra fast action? Van Dam also said that he used a medium action rod on the Bass Pro show too. Is that moderate action, medium power? I hate it when people on TV shows use this type of terminology. How am I supposed to translate it into an actual setup. Maybe the online interview clears this up, but the TV show definately left me scratching my head. If Clunn is talking heavy power then he must never fish a dropshot, shakey head, small crankbaits, weightless plastics, or any other finesse technique (1/4 oz weights or less). How would he cast them? with a spinning setup? he said all he uses for casting setups is a 7' heavy, but did he mention if he uses spinning setups at all? i'm guessing he wouldn't dismiss certain techniques just to say he only fishes a certain setup 100% of the time.

www.jjsmagic.com garlic scented dye. this stuff WORKS. just don't spill it on your cabin floor...

Just start saving money for right now. Once the trip gets closer and Glenn, Keri and whomever else involved get details worked out they'll post up about it. Hester you can fish the whole trip with one rod and reel man! I brought 4 rigs to G'ville and used 1 baitcasting setup about 75% of the time (once I got the hang of it, thanks Gene!) but I could have made do with just one rig the whole time. Tackle, line and all that other stuff is good to have but again, not completely necessary to have mass amounts of. Everyone I got to fish with was completely willing to share tackle, rods, reels, line, etc on the water or even for a whole day to try out.

DO IT! Seriously, these trips end up being extremely cheap after all's said and done. I flew down (pretty sure I was the only one, too...) to Guntersville and it still cost me less than $800 for the WHOLE trip. And $140 of that was for my luggage being "oversized and overweight" on the way home (Airtran's customer service is getting a call REEEEAL soon about that crap). My plane tickets were another $240 or so, that's almost half of my expenses right there. I know gas isn't cheap these days but you won't spend $380 driving to Kentucky next year (unless you're rolling Bass Bus style at $1 worth of gas every 2 minutes!) If you think you can't financially swing it, chances are you're wrong. If you've got a job and enough motivation to make one of these trips, DO IT. Think about it this way, there are approximately 55 weeks until the next trip (3rd week of April). Set aside $10 a week and by the time the trip rolls around you've got $550 saved up. Set aside $20 a week and you've got $1100, MORE THAN ENOUGH! I really urge everyone that wants to attend but thinks they can't to reconsider their options. Regardless of how much you end up paying, the memories and the friendships built off of these trips are 100% worth it.

good point, the heck with BPS and cabela's!

and YOU have to block out a day for me!

She really is the first bass I ever caught on a jig! Some of the other guys were catchin bigger fish on a black and red jig, and I just happened to pick up a two-pack of green pumpkin/black/red Evolution jigs at the Wednesday night dinner so I tied one on and it wasn't a half hour on the water before Ronnie was lippin my new PB! Unfortunately I lost that jig and another one later that day casting to some riprap, but I plan on picking up some more next time I head to BPS or Cabela's. Thanks for being a part in catching that fish, Bobby!

i just happen to have photographic evidence of this said defection. to release the photos could be catastrophic though, so i'll keep them hush hush.

I figured the NE crew would roll out together, should be a blast!