Tsmola

I'm not a "bank beater" as you say it, just because you don't have a graph doesn't mean I am not catching the large percentage of fish/am fishing "blind", there are ways of locating that kind of stuff without graphs: topo maps, watching for baitfish in the water, watching where other anglers are parked. I learn a lot of the best areas by simply looking over the side at the bottom. Most of the lakes I fish aren't that deep anyway.

having a pond full of bass 50 yards from the house. you learn a lot observing the same bass from Spring till late fall. You learn their habits, favorite foods, behavior, and you can even see a personality for individual fish.

don't need one, I wanted one when I was like 10, but as I got older I realized it was just something I didn't need. So I never bought one, or plan to. I believe observation of the lake conditions, shoreline, weather etc... is better than any depth finder can ever be. I also can't see how someone can enjoy themselves on the lake when they spend almost all the time with their eyes glued to a 4x5 in. screen. I'm not bashing anyone who wishes to use one, this is just my opinion. I just don't see the need to buy one when I already know how to catch fish without it.

I've been doing it for a few years now, it's a really exciting way to fish. I prefer to hook them in the head just behind the eyes, they'll try to grab it headfirst. It's espeically fun to sight-fish like this, nothing beats the sight of seeing 2 or 3 4-5 lbers swirling around the bait trying to grab it. The fish struggling on the hook triggers a kill instinct in them, if you miss them or they get off once, they will usually hit again anyway.

never used one and never will.

I'm not a tourney guy, I'd rather enjoy nature, and I get plenty of fishing in, we find lots of little spots the guys in the fast boats don't even go near because they spend all their time zipping to all the already known spots

we've got a basstender 10.2 we only use a trolling motor, so not terribly fast, I don't see how important speed is anyway I don't need to fly 75 mph across the lake, guys who do that nearly swamp me and my dad in our boat. > Unless you are water-skiing I don't see why you need to go that fast on the lake. :

we have a small pond, and I've noticed that the bass quickly learn to recognize lures. If you throw something they haven't seen before, they'll usually tear it up the first 30 min or so using it. But then they figure out what's up and stop hitting it. It's difficult to catch them on that lure after that unless they haven't seen it in quite a while, or if they are in a particularly agressive mood.

I can't count how many panfish I've caught on bass lures, the most notable however was a bluegill I caught on a full-size Castaic Sunfish

we've got a small plastic Basstender 10.2 bassboat, we motor around with a Minn Kota trolling motor. No electronics, I've never used them or felt the need to. It's small but it gets the job done, most of the bass lakes in Michigan aren't exactly huge anyway.