RobbyZ5001

Very nice fish! I hope I can get up there one day...

I have that beat.. my 25 hp motor wont run flat out so I idle and go slowly so I used about 30 bucks this season. I was restricted this year to certain parts of lakes. Also fished a lot of trolling motor only lakes :'(

Lets see if I can explain this better. When I hold the rod I have 2 fingers behind the reel stem toward the butt of the rod those two are my pinky and my ring finger. Two toward the tip of the rod after the reel step thats my middle and pointer and my thumb on top.

I think sometimes we think too much into bass fishing. I didn't know fish that are murdering minnows were so complicated. I have found schooling fish busting on the top in 40-60ft of water 10 ft of water on top of grass on humps on drops on points. I only ever use one bait. It is always in totally different conditions depths structures. I guess all lakes can be different. The one thinkg I hate is I only catch 1 fish per school. I wish I could hit a few more everytime. That would frusterate the hell out of me if I couldn't catch fish when I see all that action. I feel for you Bassfinatic... :'(

I don't think it matters what the school of minnows does. I throw right in the middle of the school. Your worried about the bass not what the minnows do. They come and go no matter what you do. Get in at the hot spot while they are there.

Just as the title states what are your stand by preperations for new rods and reels. Do you wrap the cork do you seal the cork? do you apply any wax or anything. Do you oil/grease reels? Do you uput different grips on the reel? Change out any parts with better parts?

My home lake is known for this. TONS of shad activity especially around full moon and new moon days. I probably don't go about fishing them the right way but it works for me. When I see shad schools getting busted on top i keep my big motor idle and I go to the school as quick as I can i usually get a cast at it and I would say 95% of the time if I get a cast while the shad are getting busted I will catch a bass or striper. I will also follow the school around. I have had days where I caught 2-3 lb largemouth and smallmouth out of schools and also 25 inch stripers out of the deeper schools. This is a fun game to play for a couple hours. If I come to the school right after they are done on the surface I wont catch a fish but if I get a fast cast i'm golden I also use lucky craft G Splash. I could imagine what people think when they are watching me but I could care less I catch fish that way! ;D

I hold the reel one finger toward the thumb more then you do. I don't think it would work for me. I do things awkwardly.

What is the proper form for fighting fish? It all depends on what the fish is doing is the fish is staying down deep I have my tip high and am just doing what the fish lets me do drag wise. When the fish comes to the top to jump I usually drop my rod tip down sometimes i drop it below the surface I always keep tension on the fish though. :-? What is the proper hook set? With live bait and plastics I have been letting slack in my line and I usually wait for the line to go out or move and then set the hook. Jigging it's always tight. Cranking and topwater I move the rod toward the line and then bring it back to me and set the hook. Let me know what the "proper" form is. I would think there would be differnt opinions on the matter. :-?

This is such a huge topic in my book. I have been known to tell girls who love fishing that i'll marry them. <-- This turned out to be a bad idea because some girls tried to hustle me and say they loved fishing just so we would date and I came to find out I was tricked!! Think how amazing it would be to have a partner that has the same passion as you do.

Very nice! How do you guys make those circles? I havn't even began to look into tacklemaking i'm just curious.

I rarely read but lately I have been buying fishing books by the pile. I have finally found something that I can read and stay awake. Fishing on the Edge was my first read. I then read both Kevin VanDam books, then sowbelly, now i'm reading A Good Life Wasted: or Twenty Years as a Fishing Guide. I suggest all these books all very good.

Go to a local Barnes and Nobels they sell this little pocket book of antique lures. They have 100's of lures descriptions and pictures. The book retails for around $15. I was tempted to buy this little book for yard sales and so on. It ranges from couple bucks for a lure to over 10,000. Call the Allentown barnes and nobels and ask them if they have any antique lure books.

Depends 5-10 is a good depth apart. Rapala DT-6 to DT-10 would work. Go with whatever forage is in your lake whether it be Craw, Shad so on. Bomber Model A is 10', Norman Deep BabyN 6-8' might be the best option for just one. Good luck!

Only advice from someone who recently has been trying to learn is.... I hope your a glutton for punishment. Get a pick....

The National Championship was in Texas on Lake Lewisville. Smashmouth was just another tournament.

I live in PA as well and this sounds like a common occurance on a local lake I fish >. What lake are you talking about?

When I walk the dog I have my rod tip 7:00/9:00 or so. I do it high if I have to if i'm from shore over brush or something. I dont get the movement that I do when it's low.

I used to get like that too, but now that I have been fishing tournaments and found what I really enjoy. I have some lists of goals... I set a mark now i'm just trying to take the steps to do so. Maybe if you set some goals ie. fishing a new lure and trying to get the hang of it, catch a new PB, fish new lakes, get inolved with kids also will do it.. If it's something you truly enjoy it will come back to you, you may just need a break.

This may be to vulgur for the forum but i'm a college kid give me a bit of leave way. I'm going as a preist with "an inflatable crotch" hand pumped

Yeh it's going to be crazy I was at the 2005 game also. So loud...110,000 drunk crazy penn state fans... alumni are as bad as us students as well. It's an amazing experience. I also went to the Orange Bowl in 2005 in florida. My freshman year I bought local boy Austin Scott jersey this year he got suspended for various accounts so I turned the 33 into a 38 2 weeks ago at the home game. 38 is Dan lawlor a 2nd string fullback, last week first string fullback got injured. Look for the electrical taped 38 dan lawlor jersey on the tube! Also a lot of students have been camping out in line at the stadium since monday, AND GAMEDAY will be here!

Yeh Zel is defanetly an huge asset to this forum. Muddy gave me his name saying he would be great help for my issues. Contacted Zel he gave me his number saying give him a call whenever and he would be happy to talk about the issues. Called him up 2 weeks later he still remembered who I was and had an enlightening conversation with him. Thanks again Zel!

During the summer I went every day for 3 weeks. I either went with my boat started at 6am-12pm on days off. When I had work I fished from 4-8 or 7-11. Switched between bass fishing, trout, catfish.

I try to follow patterns but if it comes up with nothing I will go back to my confident spots.

Yes I heard of smashmouth, I dont know about the all expense paid deal... Wherever your getting that from that is interesting...Plane tickets, hotels, food, gas? that would be a suprise. We couldn't go to smashmouth because we didn't get a qualifying event in. Collegate bass fishing is a somewhat new thing and many places are unorganized low funded and cannot get boats and the majority is your own expense. If it IS all expense paid... that's amazing and neat.