fishfordollars

What schooling? It gave me a headache trying to read it.

It will not only hold the bass, it probably has 90% of the bigger ones living on the deeper edges. Fish it with a jig/craw worm trailer. Fish it with a t-rig craw worm and when it gets close to the top fish it with a top water lure and a trap. Fish the inside grassline early and late and the deeper grass during the mid day. You have a gold mine if you just take the time to learn the depths and the underwater points and bare spots that are down there. Fish the trap just above the top of the grass letting it tick and when it burys up, rip it free. This is when you will get the bite. Fish the jigs, craw worms, and large worms verticle. Just drop it over the side of the boat and work it up and down. It will be a chore if you are not used to fishing hydrilla(I suspect that is what you have), but hang in there. All the foul ups and time taking all that grass off your lure will be worth it. FYI, Hang on tightly! Remember, loose lips sink ships. Enjoy, Jack

I have a complete Lowrance X96 2 months old and I have decided to upgrade to HD. BPS has them for 199.99 so if you would like it for 125.00 TYD it is yours.

X2

It's a good buy. You said you can fix it yourself. If so the first thing you need to do is find out why it blew in the first place. Otherwise you may have more practice repairing than you want. good luck.

If you keep doing what you are doing you will continue to get what you got. Not near enough rod or line for correct jig fishing.

Gulp is one product line that will never be seen or found in my boat.

Unfortunately it's part of fishing with that type of lure. It has the weight needed that the fish can use to dislodge it and it happens a lot. You can increase your hookup ratio by using a different rod, changing out the hooks after a day of fishing. Hooks can become dull from just hooking fish or draging the lure into rocks, stumps, and many other things. Keep the hooks honed up and it will help some, but it's a fact of life.

I've tried going "Ike", but it seldom helps.

Sounds to me as if you need to do your homework. Are maps available? If so, have you purchased one and studied it? Have you googled it to take a look at it? Checked the weather to see if rain has the lake on a rise? Water clear, tainted, and or muddy in spots? Are the fish in Pre spawn, actively spawning, or post spawn? Checked with any tackle shops to see if anything is hot? Taken a trip to the lake to at least look at it from the road, or spend a couple of hours scouting it out if possible? What's your game plan when you leave the ramp? What are you going to do if/when the first spot or two fails to produce? If you have not taken the time to do a few of the above you are going to hit the water blind. Smallmouth or largemouth, which are you going to target? What's the game plan for each? You don't need to know what to throw at the fish from anyone on this site. We have no idea and cannot help you unless we have current knowledge of the lake. Conditions and the fish can and will change hourly. The lures that will produce will be the ones that best cover the part of the water column that the fish are in at that time. If the fish are in a chasing mood a lizzard will not be the most effective lure to use. You will need to get bit to find out what the best choice will be. That may mean covering a lot of water, throwing different lures, or sitting on a ledge or shallow flat. You will not know until you take the time to fish an area. This will put you at a distinct disadvantage with anyone that has been on the water before hand. It will be a long and frustrating day unless you happen to pitch it into the mouths of a couple of decent fish. Tournament fishing is tough. You can do more to help yourself than anyone else. The toughest bite to get is the first one. Learn from it! Good luck, Jack

I like the sun at my back and the wind in my face.

I use them all the time. also use the 1/16 on a wacky worm instead of the nails. Cannot remember the last time I fished a weightless senko. It allows me to fish both faster and cover more water.

Well there are a bunch of different ways to go. You can do the cap only, total boat(Top, sides, rear), are we adding anything in the carpet or floor area? Need more info. I know several that will do a good job, but you will need to be a lot more specific. Let me know and I can give you the info. Full boats can run well into the mid 3,000-4,000 range but will vary depending on the graphics as well as what areas and color mixing. Will you apply or want the company to do it?

About as important as being able to take another breath.

I checked 30-40". Not sure though. It was a 32 lb. catfish on a 1/4 oz. trap.

Nope, just too much boat, add ons, and people for that motor to push

Let's all hope it's not a body.

Myself I voted 3-4 hours. I have to load everything in the boat and work on tackle selection as well as spooling a few reels. Might not take that long, but I usually spend it anyway just to be certain everything is ready to go. Besides, it's more fun than watching the tube or working in the yard.

Consider all of the time it takes you from the time the trip is planned until you leave the driveway.

Kinda like the Daytona 500 is to NASCAR.

If the stainless is damaged that bad, you better start checking out other things also. The prop shaft could be bent and take a look at the lower unit housing around the the lower gears to see if it has any swelled spots. If so it will need new gears and it is common when you nail something that hard. Good luck

Nice job guys. Glad the trip went well.

I thought Biffle just won a tournament? He's right in there with the rest of the over the hill gang. I do agree that the desire may wane after many years involved in the bass wars. Once you have made it you are not under the gun to produce to stay afloat. If you think the older guys can't get it done I totally disagree. A win a year is hard for anyone to do reguardless of age. Formats and game planing have evolved over the years also. Years ago it was common to leave one tournament and arrive the next day and fish for 20+ days just to get ready for the next. Marriage, children, sponsership commitments, etc. have changed all of that. Now it's likely a tournament from week to week with a lot less prefishing time. That will level the playing field.

Catt's buying the Gene Larew stuff on line. He's been up at 6 mile but should be back today sometime. I'll bet he will post early in the morning. He called me at 6:00am this morning while he was up there and said they were starting to pick up some decent fish on a jig. Jack

The only thing. I set records drag racing when I was younger, but the fishing was still #1