Bassbilly

Sounds like you're in the same boat as me! I just moved to Reno from Chicago about 4 months ago. I was in a bass club out there and fished multiple times a week. I haven't wet my line once since I moved out here...and I'm going nuts! Here is what I have learned since I've been here. Sparks Marina does have spots that they stocked a couple years ago, but I haven't heard of many being caught. There are a couple of clubs in town, but you're right that they fish mainly in California. I have heard that there are bass in some of the golf course ponds, but I don't know which ones. As for shoreline fishing (which is what I'm looking for also) it looks like the best bet is the Mason Valley ponds and the Fort Churchill cooling ponds. Little bit of a drive, but I've heard the bass don't get a lot of pressure (mostly trout fisherman). With the cooling ponds, the bass bite is good right from the beginning of the season (second Saturday in February I think). If you're looking for somebody to head out with let me know. I'm thinking I'll hit up the cooling ponds next month. Drew

Hi Michael, I wanted to run something by you. I have been fishing at the club level for a couple years and am planning on making the transition to the Stren Series in 2009 as a co-angler. Of course, I understand sponsorship is at a premium in this industry and highly sought after. Companies seem to not be as concerned with tournament performance as they are with ROI. I am a publicist by trade and recognize that promoting companies, their products and "selling yourself" and your sponsors is the top priority. For somebody like myself, with a PR background, how would you approach a potential sponsor when you are only fishing at the co-angler level (with hopes of moving up)? Any help would be appreciated! Drew

Hi All, I was wondering if anybody had fished the Stren Series as a co-angler? If so, how did it go? I'm thinking of fishing the Western series in 2009 and was hoping to get some info on it. Any comments would be appreciated!

I'm moving from Illinois to Reno, Nevada and I'm looking for any clubs that are in the area. I am currently in a BASS club, but would be willing to fish with an FLW affiliated club or an independent. Reno is not exactly the bass capital of the US, so I'm looking for a club that fishes places like the Delta, Clear Lake, etc... Any information I could get would be appreciated. Thanks!

I'm big fan of the Extremes and Pro Qualifiers. I wait until the Qualifiers go on sale for $99 and I load up. There are 14 guys in my bass club, 3 of which have been fishing for 30+ years and have made the 12 man state team. They all fish Extremes or even Bionic Blades. Some of them have G Loomis and St. Croixs but say they like the BPS brands just as well. I think the higher end rods are best for drop-shotting and finesse presentations, but for cranking, spinnerbaits, topwater and flipping, they are light and sensitive enough. I have no complaints.

If you stay at Anthony Acres it's all taken care of. It's a $60 lake pass, but the resort gives you the money back when you leave.

Has anybody fished Lake Sara in Effingham,Illinois?? I have a tournament there this weekend and wanted to see if anybody had tips on structure, lures, areas of the lake, etc.. Any help would be appreciated!

I now have three SX's and have not had any problems at all. They are by far the smoothest reels I have ever owned. Actually, I would even go so far as to say these reels have revolutionized my fishing, because I could never pitch or flip with as much accuracy before I bought them. I have caught my three biggest fish this year pitching into tight spots that I wouldn't have tried before I bought the SX.

I own two PQ's and three Extreme's and have been very happy with both. I prefer having a rod with a little more backbone. They're definitely heavier. My buddy has a couple of G. Loomis rods and he just recently bought a Carrot Stick. Not a big fan. They are almost too light in my opinion. I haven't tried the new design yet. I heard they're on sale for $79, so I am definitely going to check them out.

Our rescheduled tournament was last weekend. It was tough. Cold front came through on Friday and dropped the temps 15 degrees and the wind was blowing 30 mph. On Sunday the wind wasn't as bad, but it was cold and rainy. There were 6 boats and only 5 fish weighed each day (16 inch limit). I managed to catch 11 fish over both days and squeeked a keeper each day. A 2.80 on Saturday on a 3/8 ounce black/blue jig bumped over rip-rap in the Boondocks bay and a 3.85 on Sunday with a 3/8 chartreuse spinnerbait on my third cast in "Y Cove" on one of the points. Good enough for 3rd and 2nd place respectively and 1st place in the club overall after the weekend. The 3.85 was also good enough for big bass ($60 and an extra 10 points). Not a bad weekend overall. Seemed like jigs were working well. Few guys caught fish on spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. I was a non-boater, so I was pretty happy with the way things turned out.

The PEEK-A-BOO episode was with Jeff Kriet...I think they were on Falcon or Amistad. They were destroying the fish that day! Freaking hilarious! I've actually got my wife singing "Little baby cub gonna go sleepy dreamy" to my 3 1/2 month old son. Cracks him up!

Dodged a bullet. Our club cancelled and rescheduled for April 26 & 27. I would still love to hear any reports or tips for Clinton if you have them!

Just recently made the jump to Flurocarbon on half of my set ups. I'm sold. The sensitivity is amazing, especially in windy conditions when your mono is going to bow out like a parachute. I've been using the BPS XPS after watching the Knot Wars where they pitted all of the brands against each other. XPS came out on top in most categories.

I was an Abu Garcia skeptic, turned believer. I used almost exclusively Quantum gear for a number of years and recently decided to buy the REVO SX. I went back and bought another one a month later and now I'm considering putting them on all my rods. Smoothest reel I've ever had and my pitching accuracy increased a ton.

Yeah, I felt terrible for Aaron Martens. Poor guy has been so close, so many times in his tournament career. Honestly though, not a big fan of Velvick, but he had a legitimate shot at winning. Martens made a bad decision to leave the spot they were on and fish other water. He should have stayed and bumped elbows and he would have won it.

So I have my first bass club tournament this weekend and the weather is going downhill fast. It looks like after temps in the mid-60's the last couple of days (first decent temps of the year) there is a front coming through mid-week that will plunge daytime highs into the upper-40's with lows around freezing. This weekend is supposed to be rainy, cloudy and cold. It is a power-plant lake so the water temps around the discharge will be higher, but I'm guessing very muddy water. Any tips on catching muddy-water, post cold-front bass?? :-/

I have two Revo SX's and I have never had a more accurate pitching and flipping reel in my life. They are incredibly smooth. I am sold on these to the point where I am going to work on having them on all my rods by the end of the year.

Good to hear! I've always just spooled off all my line and started fresh, but fluro is expensive and I'd rather not waste brand new line.

So I got my reels all spooled up for my first tournament of the season a couple days ago and I went out and fished a local pond to break in some new equipment. I realized that one my cheaper reels didn't handle flurocarbon very well, but I would rather not waste all of that expensive line. Is it alright to transfer line from one reel to another? Has anybody done this?

What brands of fish attractant do you use on your soft plastics, if any? How do you apply them to the lure?

Alright now that I actually have a decent quiver of rods, here goes: Baitcast 7'0 BPS Extreme M - Abu Garcia Revo SX 6.4:1 7'0 BPS Pro Qualifier MH - Abu Garcia Revo SX 6.1:1 6'6 BPS Pro Qualifier M - BPS Rick Clunn SS 6.4:1 RCX10HC 6'6 BPS Extreme MH - Quantum KVD 5.1:1 KV600CB Spinning 6'9 St. Croix Avid ML XF -Pflueger Supreme 6.2:1 8035MGX 6'0 BPS Tourney Special -Daiwa Exceler 4.7:1 EXC2500

This is great...thanks! I really appreciate the google map plots. That is really helpful. Anybody else have suggestions? Locations, Lures, Patterns?

I have a club tournament on Clinton Lake, April 12-13. Anybody have experience on this lake in the spring? If the weather doesn't improve drastically it may be very cold and very muddy. It is a power plant lake, so that helps. Any tips?

Just driving...I'm pretty sure my rods would end up in a million pieces if I was flying with this bag ;D

I was wondering how everybody travels with their rods and reels for tournaments or trips? I recently bought the "Extreme Bass Pro Shops - Combo Caddy." Does anybody have any experience with this bag? I'm wondering if I made a mistake. I bought it based on the BPS reviews which were good at the time, but there are some bad ones now. Here is the link...what say y'all?? http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_15114_999034012_100000000_100004000_100-4-2