BassChump

Nothing like the two your holding in your avatar but I was excited about it. Gee, I didn't realize that my post was sooooo looooonnnnngggg. I need to get a life. lol.

I was having a very hard time catching ANYTHING. Been fishing since February and not catching a single LM. Caught some trout with my daughter and that was fun but honestly, I was growing weary of doing all this fishing and no catching. I loved being on the lakes I've been fishing but with nothing to brag about once ina while, I was getting a little embarassed with constantly going out and getting nothing. People were starting to make fun of me. lol. I finally caught a nice 5 pounder a few weeks ago but that was it. I even had a tournament fisherman go out with me once and we both got skunked. I asked him to go out again and we did on Saturday. Again with no results. He was starting to say I was bad luck. We went out on two of the best bass lakes in Oregon. The most recent lake we visited was Tenmile Lake in Lakeside Oregon. I really liked the lake so I went there this morning. On the water at 5:30 am. Kinda early for me but it just felt right. I first tossed a Rapala along a weedline near the docks. No takers but a good size bass jumped at it as I was pulling it out of the water. I thought that was a good ***. I cranked up the motor and went to a large cove with lots of docks and big weedlines in about 8 feet of water. Surface temps are around 69 degrees, high overcast, lower 60's and little wind. I haven't figured out much of anything with bass fishing so I've been sticking with the basics. A 4 inch watermellon Senko. Bullet weight and t-rigged. First cast into a boathouse and something felt different so I cranked back and set the hook. It didn't budge. Go figure, I hooked a log or something. I pulled a little harder and it slowly moved but it wasn't a log. WOOHOO! I actually hooked a fish and a big one at that. I'm on a spinning rod with flourocarbon line. I start cranking and wouldn't ya know it? I must have had a little loose line in the spool. One loop came out and caught on the bail. While I tried to fumble with that, the fish spit the hook. I was devastated thinking that would be it for the day with my luck. I pressed on. If nothing else, I am persistant. I started tossing my Senko along the weedline. A couple of casts later, something just didn't feel right. No "tap, tap" on the line or anything. Just a very slight heaviness to the lure. You guys always say if it doesn't feel right, SET THE HOOK. I rare back set the hook. This bass was not happy about that but it sure was fun for me although I wished my daughter could have been with me. If she had landed that fish, she could have walked on water. It would have been a sight to see. She has never caught anything bigger than a few small trout and some 12 inch kokonee. It will happen but in the meantime, she is enjoying herself visiting my brother and his family in Southern California so I'm on the boat by myself for another 2 weeks. So with one fish on the boat, I continue tossing a Senko. A few casts later, same thing. No tap, just a different feel to the line. I set the hook and another fish on the boat. I'm stoked. I have fished for 6 months with only one fish to show for it. Today is shaping up pretty good. I've got 2 fish in the boat and I've only been on the water a few minutes. I was out for about 3 hours. I got tons of hits, 11 hooksets and 5 fish on the boat. Nothing huge, all between 2 1/2 and 4 pounds and certainly not the greatest hookup ratio but I'm happy. Very happy. Yes, it was a very good day. My point in telling this long story is so I can tell you this one. While I was fishing a lot ( 3 or 4 times a week), not catching much, I couldn't figure out if I was doing something wrong or what. I took a tournament guy with me a couple of times, gave him the front of the boat and watched. I could never see anything I was doing differently than him other than he fished quite a bit faster than me. One bit of advice I can give new guys about fishing Senkos is that when the experienced guys tell you that the bite is very light, they aren't kidding. I felt no tap, no movement of the line, just a very slight heaviness in the line and that was almost imperceptible. Of the 11 hooksets, only 2 did I feel a "tap". The one thing I never saw on this forum explained in detail was how to keep in contact with your line on the fall where most of the hits occur. My tournament fisherman friend showed me that when you throw out a worm, instead of letting it fall on a slack line, he would raise his rod tip almost over his head and lowers the rod tip allowing the worm to fall naturally but still stay in contact with it so he can detect the bite on the fall. That little tidbit of information did wonders for me. I always let it fall with an open bail so I never detected a hit unless it was already on the bottom after I set the bail and twitched it once or twice. Every day on the water is a good day but I finally had a good day "catching". I've read and learned a lot on this forum and I wouldn't be fishing at all right now if it wasn't for the awesome people here on this forum. From here I have learned what baits to use, how to use them, where to use them and what to look for. I've had a LOT of help from a lot of people. All from this forum. With the exception of this tournament fisherman, I've had no outside help at all. The Pacific Northwest is salmon and steelhead country so bass information is hard to find around here. Everything has come from this forum. If you have followed any of my threads, you know that I've been blessed enough to have had some very special people help in some very special ways and it's all from this forum and the great people connected with it. You know who you are. I can't thank everyone enough and there is no way to express how much I appreciate not only all the fine people on this forum but just the fact the forum is here at all and we should thank all the guys and gals involved with BR for their efforts. You guys don't realize how much little things can affect peoples lives in such big ways. Unlike most of you guys, I'm not looking for that "elusive record breaking bass", I'm not looking to make money fishing tournaments, fame, fortune or anything else. I just want to enjoy the day, enjoy some quality time with my daughter and hopefully put a few fish on the boat. That's what does it for me. Camping, a few cold beverages, a campfire and my guitar, getting excited about fishing in the morning, talking about the previous mornings fishing, that's what it's all about. Good stuff, good water, good people and good times to make those memories that both my daughter and myself can remember for a lifetime. If the boat gets us there and we can land a fish or two, we are pretty stoked. I'm hoping that the fishing this day wasn't just a fluke and we can count on catching a few now and then. Maybe not every time out but most times. In any case, this was definately a good day. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all their help and imput. It means the world to us I wouldn't be doing any of this if it wasn't for the people here and the fact that this forum exists at all. Below is a pic of the first fish of the day.

Wow!!!!! That is a work of art. No kidding. That's about the most beautiful boat I've ever seen. Beats the heck out of my 25 year old trophy. Makes me want to go spend a gozzillion dollars. I don't have it but if I did, I want that boat. lol. Great catch. Congratulations.

It doesn't sound like a gound problem to me. If the ground was bad, the turn signal lights and brakes lights probably wouldn't be working as well. To me, it sounds like the hotwire going to the running lights. The simplest way to check this is to buy a cheap 12 volt tester. The kind that has a probe and a light and a wire with a clip on the end. Get 'em almost anywhere for a couple of bucks. Take the clip and clip it to any metal. The bumper, the hitch, something substantial. Turn on the lights and the left blinker. I'll assume you have a flat 4 wire plug. There should be 4 colors of wire. If it's wired properly, green should be the right blinker, yellow the left blinker, white is the ground and brown is the running lights. Put the probe in the socket that goes to the yellow wire and the light on the probe should blink on and off. If it does, you know your probe has a good ground. Now put the probe in the socket with the brown wire. It should have a steady light. If you don't get a light, then you'll need to follow that wire under your truck and find the break or bad connection. If you have a good light, then the problem is in the trailer wiring. Plug the trailer into your truck and now you can check the running light wire going to the trailer. Just a thought??? Have you checked the bulbs at all?? It's not all that uncommon for the bulbs to have gone bad. Hope this helps.

Hey fishstick, Yup, I kinda liked catching that one. Hoping a few more come my way. Gonna fish in the morning again. Hoping to be on the water at daylight. I'm so glad to hear all is well with the wife and the baby. Congrats on the new fisherwoman that you are bringing into the world. What's the first pole and bait for a baby girl???? lol. Did you get the email I sent????? Let me know.

Hey guys. Thanks for all the positive gestures. I didn't get to go out this morning like I thought I would but tomorrow morning (Friday) I'll be on the water before 6:00 am. I talked to the guy that I know about the lakes around here and he said to throw in the reeds. Jigs as close to the bank as I can get and walk them all the way back to the boat. Also a weighted senko or a tube the same way and even a rapala for topwater if it's early enough although he said he has had great luck with rapalas even during the middle of the day on that lake. He no longer does tournaments anymore because he moved inland for work so he hasn't fished these lakes in a few years but I don't imagine a lake changes that much in just a few years would it????? Do his recomendations sound good to you guys???? I'm curious as to everyones different opinions. Hey Nitro.......... As far as my daughter not being in the picture??? My brother and sister in law flew her down to California for a vacation for a month. She gets to be "cool" on the beach until the end of July so I'm a bachelor for a while. Kinda lonely around here right now but if the fishing is good, I'll be a happy guy. Frogtog, I finally got a pole for the baitcaster. That's what I'm going to throw the jigs with. I'll keep you up to date if I catch anything tomorrow.

Thanks fishfordollars. Yup, I think all the junk in my life is finally at rock bottom. Only way to go is up right now and I'm very good with that. Starting over is going to be interesting for sure but at least it's uphill from here. Since I'm already replying, let me ask a few questions. This lake I'm now fishing is a larger lake for around here. It's probably around 2000 acres or so. Very shallow in most places. I've found no place deeper than about 30 feet anywhere in the lake. Large coves and lots of docks but also very secluded areas as well. Even several islands. The water is pretty clear right now and the surface temps are around 70 degrees. There are lots of places with reeds, lots of places with large lilly pads. Most of this very shallow water. 2 to 4 feet or less. It's a coastal lake and it gets very windy in the afternoons. The weather for the next week is going to be warm and sunny. How would you guys fish this? I plan on being on the water every day around 6 am.

Can't help adding one more pic. Sorry if it's boring to all you guys that catch a gozzillion fish all the time but I was kinda excited. BTW frogtog, what do you think of the sweatshirt???

Well, I was going to post something today talking about how and or why I'm STILL not catching any bass. Oh whoa is me kind of thing. I've been out on my favorite lake every day for a week and caught NOTHING. I am persistant but to no avail so I finally gave up on that water. I went to another local lake that is very well known and proven waters. Siltcoos Lake is the name and it's very well know thruout Oregon for it's good bass fishing. A guy I know that has fished around here for years and was a tournament fisherman forever told me to fish the reeds at this time of year so that's what I did and still didn't even get a bite so I went off his advice and fished some docks on the other side of the cove I was in and wound'nt ya know, I finally got to use my fish scale for the FIRST TIME. I was stoked. 5 pounds, 3 ounces. I caught it with a 4 inch senko, watermelon flake something or another with a bullet weight T-rigged. Honestly, I didn't think I had it on. I thought I hooked a clump of weeds or something. I saw it on my hook before I realized I had it on. It came up like an old boot. Mouth wide open. It saw me at the same time and took off. That was fun. Anyway, my year long dry spell is FINALLY OVER so I can now say my personal best is a fiver. Notice in the picture the trolling motor and the front fishfinder. I gotta say a big thanks to everybody for all their help and imput but in particular, fishstick and frogtog for all their generosity. Without all the fine people on this forum, I'd still be in drydock. Hopefully it wasn't just luck and my daughter and I will be able to catch a few more now and then.

Back on the water. What a great thing to be able to say. WOOHOO!!! My daughter is going to my brothers and sister in laws house for a visit for a month during the summer. She left just today. They live in sunny southern California in Huntington Beach so she gets to be "KEWL" for a while. lol. They always treat her to a lot of fun stuff. Disneyland, Knotts, Magic mountain, surfing, fishing, and much more. She really gets spoiled but she deserves it. She is a great person. Unfortunately my fishing buddy won't be around for a few weeks so I'm on my own although I enjoy being on the lake anytime. Had a huge elk swim within a few feet of the boat once. He didn't much care that I was there but it was a sight to see for sure. Anyway, yes, I'm sure I'll be posting a few pictures very soon. Hey, at least I'm getting bites. I wasn't even getting bites until lately so I'm pretty happy about that. lol. At least it makes a guy anxious. I know they are out there. Saw a guy pull out a 5 pounder. If there is one, there has to be more wouldn't there??? I'm going to plan a little camping trip in the next week or two to a lake not far from here and it's supposed to be a really good bass lake. Anybody ever heard of or fished Tenmile lake on the central Oregon coast????? If so, any words of advice????

For those of you that have followed my threads, I just want to say thanks for all the help. I've taken a few hits and had a little bit of bad luck but with some help from a lot of very special folks from this forum, my daughter and I are back on the water. Zel,Popeye, grimlin, pond hopper, Nitroman, and so many others to thank. I feel like one of those movie stars that can't thank enough people when they win a big award. lol. I just can't name them all. A special thanks to fishstick and frogtog. I've never met these guys but their generosity and kindness is truly inspiring. Without fishstick's help, I wouldn't be on the water probably until next year. He went way beyond just being kind and generous. The trouble and expense he endured was way more than he should have and I want to say thanks to him for all his help. It worked out exceptionally well. As far as frogtog is concerned, all I can say is WOW. I wasn't expecting that. I probably shouldn't say what he did but I can tell you it was unbelievable how thoughtful and generous he was to not just me, but to my daughter. She is putting everything to good use. The offers of help came rolling in and I hope I didn't insult anybody by not accepting most of their offers. If anyone of you fine people are ever on the central Oregon coast, just send me a PM and you've got a fishing trip on any one of the many lakes in the area. I don't have a fancy boat (an older trophy bass boat) but it's yours to use and it does a great job. I took my daughter fishing for the first time in a week and we really enjoyed ourselves. We didn't get anything on the boat but spending the day with my daughter was great fun. We fished for a few hours, the weather was good and we went out to a nice dinner later in the day. It was all good. I do have a question. We were fishing with 4 inch senko's T-rigged with a pegged bullet weight. We got some bites but were unable to hookup. Several times we lost the worm but not the hook. I'm wondering if we were getting bit on the end of the worm and if I'm trying to set the hook before it's fully in the fish's mouth??? I feel a tap, tap, jerk the rod up and only get the hook back with no worm. I'm mostly throwing into fallen timber in about 3 to 8 feet of water. Any suggestions????

A member on here (fishstick) was kind enough to send me out a trolling motor he had when mine was stolen. When I received it from Fedex, the head was busted up during shipping. I bought the parts and installed them with no problem. My only question is do I have to make the wiring waterproof??? When I took it apart, there was shrink wrap on the wires and I had to cut that to get the connections apart. When I put it back together, the only thing I had at hand was electrical tape so I just wrapped the wires with that. Is that good enough or should I get some shrink wrap and waterproof the wires???

Hi everyone. I got the parts to the trolling motor and put it together today. It was cheaper than I thought. Only cost me about 12 bucks and it went together pretty easily. Everything is working great and it looks like it is supposed to now. One question. How important is it that the 4 wires are totally water proof??? I put the wires back together but they originally had shrinkwrap on them and all I had was electrical tape. Is that ok or do I need to waterproof them?? Again, I appreciate everybodys offers of help. It ended up working out great. Now all I have to do is figure out how to put something in the boat. lol. Thanks again for all your help.

Thanks for the offer Nitroman. That's very kind of you. Everybody on here has been great. It's just awesome to see how many good people that are willing to offer help to someone they don't even know. You just don't see that in todays society anymore. Kinda make a guy feel pretty good about things. Yeah, I've taken a few hits in the last few years but my daughter and I are doing fine and things are improving all the time. One nice thing about hitting the bottom, one can only go up from there and that's where we are headed. As far as the trolling motor is concerned, I'm sure it will work out great. It works just fine the way it is and I'll get the parts soon so it will look as good as it works but I do sincerely thank you for the offer. I really wasn't looking for any freebies. I just wanted to go fishing with my daughter and that is working out with everybodys help so everything is fine. I'll be sure and get a few pictures up here when we get some fish in the boat. Thanks again to everyone. We really appreciate all your efforts.

Hi fishfordollars, Honestly, I appreciate the offer. I really do but it's really not necessary. This is a functioning trolling motor and I'm good with that. It just doesn't look great. Neither does my boat so it fits well. lol. I don't need to take your money or anyones money. The parts are cheap and I can get them in a week or two. I'd love to get a new one but this works fine and I do honestly like it. I suits my needs just fine. Actually, it is a much better motor than the one that was stolen so I'm way ahead anyway. I'm a fair mechanic and I'm confident I can get it together easily but if I do have any questions, I would appreciate it if I could call or email. That certainly could be a big help if that works for you.

Well, great news. I can get all the parts for the head from a local service center for about 20 bucks. Sheesh!!!! I should have checked that first so fishstick and his wife wouldn't have gone to so much trouble. I can't get the parts right now but it works fine so all is well after all. I'll get the new parts in a few weeks and call it good. Thanks again to everyone but most of all fishstick for all his help.

Hey fishstick, It certainly wasn't your fault. You went way above and beyond and I can't say enough how much my daughter and I appreciate it. I have been back on the water the last couple of days and it sure is nice with the weather warming up. Trust me on this one folks. Fishstick ROCKS. If it gets resolved, that's great. If it doesn't, I'm still back on the water so I can't be unhappy about that. Specially considering all the trouble you have went thru to get that out to me. If you need pictures to show the Fedex store, PM me your email address and I'll get them right out to you. I can peel off the duct tape to show all the damage and all the little pieces that are broken off. I hope all is well on your side. Thanks again for everything.

It was packaged at a "Fedex store". I'm assuming those are privately owned.

Another pic

Hi everyone. Last week fishstick was kind enough to send a trolling motor out to me so I could fish with my daughter. I received the package and when I opened it, parts fell out. Fedex busted up the head of the trolling motor. The plastic case that contains the gears, cables and wires was completely broken off. Both top and bottom. The pointer is gone and a couple of the gears were out. I was able to piece it back together and hold it together with duct tape and it seems to be working ok. Fishstick had it professionally packaged but they didn't put any protection in the package. They just stuck it in a square box with nothing else and off it went. Not even any bubble wrap, newspaper, ghost poop, nothing. My question is this. Fishstick called Fedex and they want me to box it back up, they will pick it up, send it to some corporate office. They will make some kind of determination on if they will pay anything and how much. It takes at least 10 days and since it was a used trolling motor, I'm guessing they aren't going to pay much and it will put me out of fishing for a couple more weeks at least. If they do pay a little bit, I can't afford the difference to buy a new one so should I just keep it as it is or send it back and be off the lake for another few weeks???? What do all you fine people think???? It's has nothing to do with money, I just want to go fishing with my daughter so I'm kinda thinking I should just use it the way it is. It doesn't look so great but it's functional. Can replacement parts be had from the manufacturer?????? Thanks in advance.

Hey Fishstick. Yeah, I was hoping too. It will happen soon I'm sure. I'll figure it out. And thanks for the lures. Obviously I haven't had a chance to use them but I WILL put them to good use and that's a promise. Also, you never did let me know how much the shipping was. I'd like to send you a money order for that. Let me know. Thanks again

Again, I want to thank everyone for all their imput and all their help. I did receive the trolling motor from Fishstick. Unfortunately, Fedex killed it. It came out of the box in pieces. Thanks FEDEX. I will do my best to make it work but it doesn't look good at the moment. The top case is broken completely off, the gears our all fouled up so I can't get it to turn. The only thing that's working is the motor itself. Does Fedex give any guarantees on thier shipping??? I'm going to contact them on Monday to see what can be done. Well, I still want to thank everyone for all the help I've been given and a heartfelt thanks to fishstick for the trolling motor. I'm sorry it didn't work out at this point but I'll figure something out. I honestly want to get back on the water with my daughter soon. We always have a good time, fish or no fish. Thanks everybody. I really appreciate it.

A few days ago I posted something in the "Everything Else" section. For reasons I won't get into here, I don't have many people to talk to and I was having a bad day so I vented here. This probably wasn't the place to do that I'm sure but I'm glad I did. I've taken a few hits in the last few years like anybody else and I was feeling sorry for myself. Anyway, the response I got was absolutely unbelievable. I actually wasn't looking for a response, I was just venting but everyone stepped up with offers of help. It was a sight to see and a good indication of the caliber of people on this forum. For people to offer not only verbal inspiration but help with actual "stuff" to someone they have never met, never talked to, never even communicated with even on this forum, it gives me faith that generally people are good. At least the people here. Real stuff that cost them money, time and effort to achieve. Tackle, cash, fishfinders, fishing trips and even trolling motors not to mention open invitations to whatever I needed and wanted. With all the crime, the negative stuff on all the news lately, it's such a good thing to see how positive and helpful people really are here. I was absolutely blown away by all the efforts and offers of help and I hope I didn't insult anyone by not accepting many of your offers. I really didn't want to take advantage of everyones generosity. That wasn't what I had in mind when I posted that. I wasn't looking for any freebies. I was just venting my frustrations. I was able to get a new transucer from BPS. I had a gift certificate from when I bought the fishfiner originally so that worked out well. A special thanks to Zel, Catt, Popeye, Mitchisfishin, Pondhopper and everyone else that offered help but in particular Fishstick. Everyone was offering all kinds of stuff and I appreciate it more than I can say. I just wouldn't feel right about accepting any of this when there are so many others more deserving than me. The one thing I did accept was a used trolling motor from Fishstick that he wasn't using. There is no way I could afford one so with his help, my daughter and I will be back on the water and putting fish in the tank hopefully by the end of the week. I can't thank fishstick enough for his kindness and generosity. I won't get into his personal details but I can say that he went to extraordinary lengths to ship out the trolling motor when he himself had some huge personal tribulations of his own at the time. He is definately an exceptional person and I can't thank him enough for his extra efforts. (Btw, he has a baby daughter arriving in a couple of months so he could use way more help than me, lol) I'm hoping that someday I can repay all the kindness and generosity I have been shown. "Pay it forward" as some of you have said.

Me???? I'd like to fish with my 14 year old daughter and my wife. My daughter because she is such a great person and fun to be around. My wife because she would have loved it. She was taken from us far too early in life but I wish I could have taken her out bass fishing even just once. She loved salmon fishing but I think she would have loved bass fishing even more. I'd like to think she is watching when my daughter catches a few. That would put a smile on my face. I'm hoping to take my daughter fishing again soon. Someone stole my trolling motor and I can't afford one so that will unfortunately have to wait but I'm hoping soon. Very soon!!!!!

Yeah, that was a good day. We had so much fun. We went out on a local lake and there were probably 5 boats on the lake and 5 or 6 guys fishing the bank near the boat ramp. The lake is probably about around 500 acres with almost no access to most of the shoreline so a boat is the way to go. Most of the other boats were trolling and I went to one spot on the lake that I like and we started throwing some small trout lures. About an hour of tossing an Aglia and a small Blue Fox, suddenly the trout just started jumping all around the boat. The other boats are on the far side of the lake so we were by ourselves. We were catching trout on every other cast. Pretty good size ones too. We had a great time. She was fishing the back of the boat, I'm on the front. We were laughing, casting, talking. Remembering fishing with mom and all the fishing trips we used to take to the high Cascades. It was truly a day to remember and it was at a lake right up the road. Even the weather cooperated. The Oregon coast isn't exactly the warmest place on earth. It's usually very "cool", windy, cloudy and wet, even during the summer but this day, the clouds cleared, the wind died down, the sun came out and it was T-shirt weather for the few hours we were on the water. It was almost a perfect day. We went out to a nice dinner and went to the ice cream store that night before coming home. Yes, that was definately a good day. You are right, it wasn't the good fishing that made the day, it was the quality time spent together. The good fishing just made it all the better and I'll remember that day to my dying day. I'm looking forward to more days like that this summer. I do have a new transducer coming from BPS but I haven't been able to get the trolling motor just yet. Very soon though I'm sure. It's been cold and pouring rain here for the last week anyway so I haven't missed much but hopefully we will be back on the water shortly. When we get back on the lake, I'm sure we will catch a few and I'll post a pic or two of her latest catch. I hope I'm not boring all of you. Just a proud papa for sure.