GobbleDog

You guys can read ? Seriously though, I once read Larry Nixon's book. It was... well boring. But maybe that's because I had just started fishing. A few years ago I read parts of Kevin Van Dam's book and I thought it was pretty good.

You can only fish so much, before the woman has a right to tell you to spend time with her doing something else. I'd say 3 times a week is fair. My g/f is pretty good about it. But my fishing partner's fiance is meaner than a motherless goat. She wouldn't let him practice a few weekends ago before the big tourney - even though we're currently in 2nd place in the overall standings. Apparently, "she didn't feel well." That WarHog never feels well! >

Bill Dance may have been pretty good back in the day, but I think he should lose points for his crappy tv show. "Look at me! I'm in a private stocked little pond, that nobody else in the world can fish! And my lures are catching fish by the barrel! Amazing!" :

Does anyone know for a fact whether or not bass can hear that frequency? That's the main question. If they can't hear it, it wouldn't make one bit of difference if the depthfinder was on. My guess is they can't hear it. But that's just a guess. Does anyone know for sure?

I know guys who don't turn on their livewells very ofter because they're worried bass might hear it. They also turn in more dead bass. I didn't think fish could hear the transducer. I always keep mine on and still catch fish, but who knows... ?

Absolutely agree. I once read about a Snook farm in Tampa, FL. The biologist basically said they were pretty smart. He said when one person walked down to the tank, the Snook all went up to the top of the tank knowing they were about to be fed. When two people walked down to the tank together, they all hid in the bottom corners of the tank because they all knew some of them were going to get netted.

True. 100 years ago, how many people were catching bass in America? Probably not even a million. Today it's probably around 50 million or so. And today fisherman are equipped with depth finders, better lures, gps, trolling motors and every other invention that helps people catch bass.

Species can change quicker than you think. The average height of a Civil War soldier in the mid 1800's was about 5'7". Compare that with the average American male height today.

Obviously I didn't mean smarter in terms of "hey George, what do you think of that lure..." I meant less aggresive. The idea being less aggressive bass are less likely to get caught and are more likely to pass on their DNA. Do that for several hundred years and it seems like the aggresiveness (or whatever makes them vulnerable to getting caught on hook and line) would slowly get bred out of them.

And will they ever be any smarter (harder to catch) than they are today? Seems like Darwin's theory of evolution would gaurantee that fish would naturally get smarter. The one's that are easily caught get killed, the one's that aren't live on to procreate making more generations of bass with similar "hard to catch" DNA traits. Even in today's catch and release environment, fish still die after getting gut hooked or infections from hooks/hands.... I wasn't fishing 75 to 50 years ago so I don't know the real answer, but bass sure seem plenty aggressive today. Perhaps their killer instict is too inbedded to get breeded out in a short time. Will it ever get bred out of them? Thoughts?

Not if there's still slack in your line. When you feel a bump, you're supposed to reel up the slack while getting the rod into position to set it. Once the line is gently tight, you feel for the fish. Then with the rod in position and the line tight and you feel that fish move, you set the hook!

You missed a fish? ??? Man, you stink! I never lose fish. well, almost never... sometimes... every once in a while... alot. :'( Actually, all I can say is a 4/0 hook is too big for me. A bigger hook should help get better hooksets, but I only use 2/0's with senkos and I do just fine. I don't want to kill the action. (you just have to make sure the hook tip is right against the back of the worm and doesn't have to go through too much plastic to make a solid hookset) - which may be your problem with the 4/0's . ???

A trick to walkin the dog: Everytime you pop the lure while you're "walking", let the rod fall so some slack allows the bait to make wider turns. Keep doing it to a rythem and it looks like a real wounded baitfish. On a side note - I once read the #1 thing most topwater fisherman do wrong is they get impatient and work the bait too fast. It's better to wait a few seconds for the ripples go away after the cast and then after a few twitches.

Did you read that article? How many people can do what that guy can do? Not only can he see the baitfish and bass on his $1,000 depthfinder screen, he can tell you the difference between catfish, striper and any other fish that's down there. My $100+ depthfinder only tells me the depth and if there's any grass.

120 horse.... not bad for that price if it's in good condition. I think the boat looks pretty good, but I don't know anything about that specific type. Overall, I think you got good value for your money, especially if the trailer is in good shape.

Yep. Glenn's picky about them posts.

You might have posted it in the wrong place and it got moved. But it's probably for the best. Nobody fishes cold water except yall pike lickin Yankees.

Yep. My box is full of lures that I paid for and then cast about 5 or 6 times before stuffing them back in the tacklebox and rarely ever using them again. But the fancy lures make my tacklebox look really good.

Busted. :-[ Ok, I'm sorry Bassinchik. Nice fish.

Good to hear so many folks like their Mercury. From the sounds of this thread, they make some quality motors!

12.2 lbs.... ??? no way. How was this weight determined? Did Rolland Martin tell you that?

??? Could be just a natural variation. Who knows.

Go Gators!

I second that. I wouldn't buy a boat without a compression test, no matter how good the deal seemed.

I bought a 16' fiberglass Bass Tracker with an 80 horse Mercury for $3,500 about 5 years ago. I love that boat. Somebody recently offered me a Ragin Cajun for $5,000. And I've seen a few other good deals for under $5,000 as well. So it can be done. If you go to a used boat dealership and find a boat that you like, I recomend you reduce the asking price by about $2,000 and make a pure cash offer right then and there. Most of the time, they'll take it. They hate having to finance people and are usually willing to sell it at a reduced price for cash.