Willzx225

I always try to get to the ramp before sunrise but when I fished out of the back of the boat for the Clarks Hill Elite Series those guys got on the water around 7-8am. I would have never thought they would be that relaxed about it but I guess if you have it figured out then you have it figured out.

Good job on graduating! Don't forget the old standby Zoom Super fluke.

I don't know what must have hurt more after that.... Your face or your pride ;D Just kidding. (Did ya'll hear the sound when the rod hit him in the face? OUCH) I got hit once in the eye brow with a 1/2 oz rattle trap that was stuck in some bushes. That hurt! but I was very lucky as I was not wearing Sunglasses!

after happy hr. Nice!

Just by looking at the picture posted above, I would think the way the worm is rigged on top would miss a lot of fish. When you set the hook on that Senko it will force the fishes mouth open, but since the hook is inline with the plastic it will not allow it to grab as much meat as if it was turned on the 90deg angle like the bottom picture. I have an extremely high hook up percentage with my wacky rigs and I rig my hook on the 90deg angle. I have not played around with the O-ring deal much but would think that rigging it like the top picture would also cause it to fall at a wierd angle and not allow for the correct fall.

I agree with GMAN on the length of the rod. You can not set the hook w/o the proper rod. The longer the cast the longer the rod needs to be to move larger amounts of line. The only way to get hook penetration is to move the bait inside of the fishes mouth. If you only get enough pressure to slightly move the fish you will loose them if they jump/shake their head/ or sometimes even open their mouth. It is very easy to loose/ miss fish at longer distances so I use Fluro for all of my deep water/ long casting techniques. I use braid in heavy cover or very stained water. Both of which long casts are not needed and can often be detrimental (heavy cover)

Good deal. I also am going to try to fish one Elite each year and would love to fish KY lake next year. I heard the rumor going around that they will be back next year and 2010 as well.

Thank you for your responses. They have been enlightening. Structure fishing is my biggest weakness (aside from the good ol' ball and chain carolina rig of course) and I am trying to develop that part of my game.

Great story! Next time it will have a better ending (making the top 50 cut).

They were probably made on a friday. ;D

Thats a good idea on the muscle study. Also, what is a brail boat? I am not very familiar with the TVA chain or other bodies of water used for transport.

They look good. If I am seeing this correctly are they not offering a 6.something ratio Curado? Why not have a 6.3 ratio?! I use that as my all purpose reel. They did the samething with the older Curado 200's and that was part of the reason I switched to Abu. JMO

I dispise the hook hanger. Anyone else? When I wrap the line around the guides for traveling it always gets hung in the hook hanger. Also just the other day the hook hanger latched onto one of my Crucial's guides (let the power struggle begin! haha) Loved the Jessica Alba response!

It just seems like a scam to me. For example when I have been asked to verify information from a legit call they always read me my information and ask if that is correct instead of asking me to give them the information they should already have. If that makes sense.

Yeah I saw this reel in person and it is definitely not a bass reel. It comes equiped with the bait clicker and all. It looks great for big game applications. It is reel along the lines of Saltwater Penn reels but with a low profile. They are trying to redefine the saltwater market I would guess.

I have been fishing Owners for 5 or 6 years now and have not had the first problem with the hooks. I switched from Gamakatsu because of hook point problems and I actually broke a few of their hooks (bad batch I am sure but didn't want to run the risk in BFL events). I love the Owner cutting points for their strength. Just curious - What lb line were you using and what size hook was it?

I would definitely go with the Crucial. I have 10 and love every one of them.

With the last two Elite events being largely influenced by the fishing of "shell beds" I am looking for information on locating these beds. Are they typically found in the same general areas? IE Inside channel bends, outside channel bends, etc. Or is it something that you have to fish and find at random? Other than having consecutive casts come back with shells on your baits, is there any other way to know you have located one? ( I have heard that if you are fishing bottom baits you can feel it getting rougher than the surrounding bottom composition) Any information on these shell beds is greatly appreciated! I would really like to hear from the guys around the Kentucky Lake area (hint hint CJ) ;D

It does suck but still no sympathy ;D I will guarantee that there was atleast one smile over the course of the night that was worth the trip! I would love to bust a big sack like that sometime.

typically when do they start taking co-angler sign ups?

Not that I don't doubt that these baits will not catch larger than average fish, it is just that by nature I am more of a power fisherman first and a finesse fishermen second. I will catch them anyway I need to but my prefered techniques are power techniques. Though I have started many a tournament with a drop shot or a shakeyhead. Its just a mental thing.

my panic box consists of a drop shot and a shakeyhead. For the most part when I go to the panic box I have conceded first place and am now fishing for a check or a limit. Most times if I were going to start with a shakeyhead or dropshot I am not fishing to win. JMHO

I will agree with RW 5 1/2 - 6 1/2. Depends on if she ate rice cakes for breakfast or a big fat steak. haha

Most plastic worms are injected while the paddle tail swimbaits are dipped multiple times. x2 to the much more labor intensive process.

Jason Quinn catches a ton of fish on Lake Wylie doing the exact same thing with a 1oz or 1.5oz Hopkins Slick Spoon fishing channels like that. He has been on a couple of "The Bass Pros" shows doing that as well.