fishfordollars

Long Mike, can I advertise the back seat as open in my boat?

That's about par for that outfit...They suck

Welcome and enjoy. Do not be afraid to jump in.

Fished a night tournament on Lake Nacogdoches several years ago. First two hours nothing but dinks. Tied a black(whatelse) Jitterbug on and weighed in five the next morning at 24.89lbs. Had not thrown one in years and have not thrown one since. What am I thinking?

Don't even consider cutting a hole in that boat.

I pull my Triton with a Ford Sport Trac v-6. Gets right at 24 w/o the boat and 17 with it. Unless I get in the hills and mountains of North Alabama and eastern Tenn. Then it is less. It tows great at 70. The v-6 has plenty of power.

I prefer braid. It will cut through vegation better than mono and you can turn a fish's head and get him moving toward you a lot easier.

I would be interested...Thanks

High in Houston today is 70+, This weekend 80-82. Yep, I'm leaving Thursday night to go catch a few. Not coming back until Sunday evening.

I am competitive. I have raised my children and they are all gone. Not going to say money is no object but I buy what I want . I have the boat and tons of tackle. Within the last week I have purchased Two Curados, Two Citicas, and a Revo. All but the Revo were on either Allstar or Castaway rods(Bought used in pawn shops). Did not need any of them, just bought them for the price. 90% of the time if I am on the water I am prefishing or in a tournament. I used to fish Red Man, Bass-N-Bucks(Team & individual), bass clubs and several other tournament circuits that have come and gone. I averaged over thirty tournaments a year. Now I limit myself to clubs, big bass tournaments, and will jackpot some of the circuits as they come through. It is not for everyone, I have just been competitive all my life. It started with drag cars(Set several IHRA national records). I just thrive on the competition. Somebodys got to put these kids back in their place. They are tuff sticks and they get the swelled head a lot. Got to bring them back down to earth every now and then. One room in my home is stacked with tackle. It is crazy what I see when I sit and start trying to count everything. Doesn't matter though; the bait monkey was born and raised right here. I know without counting that I have at least 50 Plano boxes full of stuff and at least that many rod and reel combinations, many have never been fished, most never leave the house. When I leave for a tournament I will carry 12-15 rods and maybe 15-19 boxes. Most is season specific so a lot gets switched out during the year, and it depends on the type of lake I am going to fish as to what gets thrown in the boat. Perfect example; buddy of mine and I qualified for the Texas Assoc. of Bass Clubs state championship on Lake Falcon back in September. Between us we spent over 600.00 on braided line and swimbaits and other items for the five day trip. This did not count gas, motel room, entry fees, food, or any other items that were needed. Did we need to have this? No, but we were not comfortable going down there without it and I like to think it increased our confidence. Again, this was not a national circuit. Just a bass club championship. Go figure...

#4 & # 6 hooks will be fine on the 1/2 trap. You might want to try a short shank #4 if you have a problem tangling the hooks on a cast. I use Mustad triple grip on most of mine.

I have several spinning rods in my boat. One has braid on it and I use it a lot. As far as high end stuff I consider my stuff mid line. Get something you are comfortable with and stay with it. You do not need 200-400 reels. I do not own any. At least I didn't until I stumbled on the Core100mg last week in that pawn shop.

I personally have two plastic boxes in my boat with over 100 traps. Best bass to date 9.4 . That's not counting the Lucky Craft lipless crankbaits I have also. Heck yea they catch fish. There will probably be 500-600 7lb.+ bass caught on Rayburn and Toledo Bend from now until next Mayon them. Maybe a thousand. You guys not catching fish on them are fishing in the wrong water. If there is a fish in the water he will eat a trap. There has been a gazillion dollars won on a trap.

Excuse me, but I cannot remember a top twenty team Ohio State beat this year. I see a rerun of last year only worse. LSU 48 OS 13

An item I forgot about getting backlastes out. Before you start to pull on it apply some thumb pressure to the spool. Many times they will clean up and pull right out without kinking any line. Does not work always, but more times than you would think.

On an unfamilar lake give me your procedure for developing a pattern. Here is my technique: Map study(lots of it). I will spend several days studying a section of the lake. I do not try to fish it all. I will pick a section depending on my strengths, time of year, and the type of fish and size the lake has a reputation of holding. I will photo sections of the map and hand trace the contour lines. I find lots of spots I normally would not see by doing this When I arrive at the lake i shy away from dock talk; however, I will try to find out what lure is considered hot and clarity of the water, and what type of grass if any. On the water I will idle for periods and watch the depth finder to see what depth the bait fish may be holding and see if the thermocline will show up. Depending on the depth of the baitfish I will run and look at as many creeks that are within reasonable distance from the ramp. I will not spend a lot of time in any creek. Just cover some water until I get bit. If I am satisfied that the area I am fishing holds a good concentration of fish and I cannot tell you how I know, I just know. I will go back through and idle over and around the areas I caught fish looking for anything out of the ordinary such as a brushpile on a river or creek bend ,grass beds, or ditches. Can't tell you anything else except I have that feeling that a spot will produce. After I am satisfied I will run some more looking for similiar spots and when I find them I will stop and fish. If I get bit I will idle around look it over then I am gone to the next. It has worked for me. Tell me how you do it. I am always looking for an advantage.

I wash, fold clothes, vaccum, yard work, and she never says a word about my fishing. I fish a lot too.

Make sure you use the two part epoxy to attach the puck. Anything else will have air bubbles in it and it will not read correctly. It cost a little more but anything else will not perform as you want it to.

Oldham trailer hitch 3/8, 1/2, 1 0z. in Black/Blue w/matching trailer, brown jig W/green pumpkin(Orange pinchers sometimes) trailer, and a Camoflague with a P.B.J. (Peanut/Butter/Jelly) baby brushhog trailer.

I agree.

I drill a lot of rattletraps and fill the rattle holes with super glue to make them silent. Can't tell you how many times I have followed someone down the same spot both of us fishing traps and caught a ton of fish. I believe that the fish become acustom to the sound and a silent bait keeps them from becoming lure shy. Messed up a few traps before I got it right but it has been worth it.

Looks like a spotted black bass to me.

Welcome to the forum. Beware of the Bait Monkey!!!

Now that's consistent. Good job!!!

I comend all of you that are taking the time to improve your casting ability. Set up some targets and get after it. Another thing that will keep the backlashes way down is to keep fresh line on the reel. I change each reel that I fish after each day of fishing. When you backlash a spool and pick it out you kink many places in your line that will come back and increase the problem. i know most of you will not respool after each trip so use a line conditioner like reel majic. It will help keep the line limp. Once you pick out a bad backlash that portion of the spool will tend to knott up more so than before. Put some backing on so you do not have to strip all the line off and enjoy.