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I have often wondered if ABC having Byron Velvick as the bachelor was actually a 6 week long commercial. After all ESPN is owned by ABC, and ESPN owns BASS. HMMMMM!

Pool thermometer should work well. You can put it on an old rod and cast it out away from the bank and let it sink also. then you will know the temp below the surface and at the depth you are trying to catch fish as well.

Fish where others fear. I Honestly believe that when I am fishing a shallow lake I can catch more fish deeper than most folks that stay on the banks. Main reason being is due to pictures and notes taken of spots that I have found during winter draw downs. One such spot has 2 points that are only about 50 ft apart at the bottom. At the top where the to points come together, they are over 200 feet apart. One just has some old river rock on it. The other one has 2 stumps, a vertical piece of concrete, a small house foundation and a ditch. All far enough way from each other to hold some nice size bass also. When the lake is at full pool, all this stuff will be under 35-40 feet of water, and I have never had to race to beat anybody to it and rarely don't pull at least a few fish from it.

Here's another link: http://www.bassrods.com/products/flatfoot.htm

I prefer to fish shallow water, but the majority of the lakes I fish are deep water mountain resevoirs. You can be a cast length from the shore and be setting in 100 feet of water in some places. One lake I fish is over 450 feet deep, so I have to be able to fish deep. You can find bass suspending in 60 feet of open water over 200 feet of water, or you can find them right up next to a bluff in 30 feet of water. Largest smallie I ever caught was with the boat only 6-12 inches from the bluff walking the boat down the bluff by hand. All I was doing was dropping a ice jig behind the boat to about 50 feet. Granted I like to drive to the flatlands and fish Shallow too. I t is nice to have a place to fish that remotely resembles what you can see on t.v. during a bass tournament. It is also nice to fish somewhere where your crank can reach the bottom. 63 miles to the nearest mt resevoir and 77 miles to the nearest lowland resevoir so it is about the same.

Work it like a popper or a buzzer. I normally use mine with short twitches and jerks when ever there is a slight chop on the water due to a light breeze during low light sitiuatons.

I put my minkotta on my Skeeter this past summer. In all honesty, the instructions that come in the package can be of more importance than me trying to tell you a step by step. The instructions are very dummy proof and in plain terms. Mine even had pictures showing the proper setup looking from above the bow and from the front. As far as thrust, I went with more than I needed. By haveing more, it allows my t-motor to work less with less drain on the batteries. Plus the extra power is good to have on windy days. You could probably get by with 46-55 pounds easily. Have an extra pair of hands if it is at all possible. They will come in handy. The one in this link should be more than enough for an aluminum rig. http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=37374&hvarDept=200&hvarEvent=&hvarClassCode=2&hvarSubCode=1&hvarTarget=browse

Just read my signature.

Well the effect that you are looking for is a side to side walking action. Like a snakes head when it is swimming is the best way to explain it. You basically give the rod sharp, short jerks on a slack line. (It's all in the wrist) Jerk it forward and reel (about a half of turn of the handle) in the slack as you bring the tip back up then jerk again, reel in the slack as you bring the tip back up. Repeat all the way back to the boat. Add in pauses also. It doesn't need to be a constant retrieve. A lot of times a bass will blow up on it as you start it back up after the pause. You don't reel in all the slack, because you need the slack in oder to give the lure it;'s side to side action. All of the action of this lure is done by the angler. There is no built in action like a crankbait. It is one of the hardest lures to learn to work properly, but the rewards can be huge. This lure has the potential to be a big bass lure. Last thing. Wait untill you feel the fish before you set the hook. Easy to say hard to do when one blows up on one. Hope this helps out. Good luck.

At 15-20 dollars per reel, I would go broke paying someone else to clean my reels. With 12 for the boat and 5 more for the pond it would take anywhere from $255-340 dollars to pay someone else to do it. Learn to do it at home and save the money. It will also give you something to do when you can't fish due to cold weather and frozen water in the winter.

Yes you can repaint a boat a different color. However, remember that just like when a car is painted that the cost is more when doing a color change. There is more prep work to be done. The amount of time that it takes to bring a paint job up to professional standards is more consuming as well. If you are wanting to add the glitter back into the finish this brings in another step or three. Then there is also the clear coat to bring everything back smooth as glass. Let's not even talk about the amount of wet sanding to be done during this little project.

Actually there is un-burnt fuel and oil in the exhaust of 2 stroke engines. This is one reason that there is so much smoke from 2 stroke motors. If you ever run one in the yard you will see the stuff that I am talking about. Just hold your hand next to the exhaust while it is at idle and have someone bump the throttle with your hand there and you will have it on your hand. Since the exhaust is in the water then it gets there before it ever hits the air. Every boat leaves some type of oil slick floating behind it. Don't forget about the grease fittings that are on the motor mount. That grease is in dirrect contact with the water. It may be calcium based, but it still has petrolium products in it as well.

Take it apart and clean the bearings in lighter fluid or other mild solvent to remove the old oil and dirt. Clean the line guide and worm gear also. You can also use lighter fluid to remove the grease on the reel gears. Remember how you took it apart. When you do put it back together, use the grease sparingly on the gears. Place one drop of oil on each bearing and each end of the worm gear. Clean the drum where your centrifigal brake is located and apply one drop of oil and spread with a dry Q-tip. Definatly don't wont any excess here. I clean mine at least twice a year. I will also take them apart after fishing in a heavy rain. Not so much to clean, but to remove the worst of the water that is trapped inside.

Florida bass will even cross breed with other native forms of largemouth bass.

The small pond below my house is about 3 acres. Most of the bass that I have caught are on smaller lures. Most of the ones in the pond are 1lb and under with a few goin almost 2lbs. I have used compact spinnerbaits with #2 & #3 blades to represent the small bait fish in this pond. I use the compact spinnerbaits so I can get a 3/8 & 1/2 oz model for longer cast. I trim and thin the skirts to make a smaller profile as well. Also the Strike King Wild Thing Jr. has landed many fish over the summer last year. A Rapala minnow style works well for a jerk bait also.

I use a worm binder bag from BPS. It will hold most of my plastics and all my bullet weights and all my worm hooks. They all have there own seperate pocket that is seperate from the binder bags.

Slot limits are when the area biologist is requesting people to keep all fish that are a certain size, or the legal state limit. Sometimes, it is fish 12" and shorter. Others it is only above 20" In the state I live in, the state limit is 14" and up, but on all the lakes on the western end of the state the slot limit is dropped to 12" due to over population problems. Another lake that I fish has had a problem where the smallmouth population has been severly depleated. In order to keep a smallie, it has got to be over 20" and the daily limit is only one. Also on this lake there is a request to keep all 10-12" largemouth that are caught, with no kreel limit. Electro- shock fishing is starting to show a high number of juvenile largemouth. Slot limit is nothing more than the legal size of the fish you can keep. The kreel limit is the number of legal fish you can keep in a day.

Welcome aboard! Plenty of stuff here to read when you aren't on the water.

Why, Thank Ya!

Yes it will happen! It will happen in a pond or a lake either one. Here is a link that you can read up on as well: http://bassresource.com/fish_biology/selective_harvest.html If man never fishes a lake, then you are correct. Once man starts pulling fish from a body of water, or adding fish then the balance that nature created is not a factor any longer. Then it comes down to us to manage our waters. One of the biggest examples of this is on lake Powell in Arizona. The striper were being caught in large #s. However there was no size to any of them. They lowered the size limit that you can keep and people started keeping more of them. After a few years of this, not only has the size of the schools of shad increased, but also so have the size of the stripers being caught today. They are also doing things here to improve the smallmouth fishing in this lake as well. Here is a link to the marine biologist that is in charge of this lake: http://www.wayneswords.com/

Basically, when the barometer is falling as a low pressure system or front is passing the bass become very active. Then as the front passes and high pressure builds back in the fishing gets tough. Blue bird sky follow the front and the bass are pulled tight to cover. If there isn't any cover then they are suspended close to vertical structure or over open water at a depth that they will feel comfortable at. Whether it be due to light penetration after a front, high barometric pressure or the falling water temp due to a cold rain, the fishing just gets tough. The fallin water temp is more of a problem in the pre-spawn and spawn period. The time as the front approaches can be the best fishing of your life if you are in the right place at the right time. Every lure that is thrown is a tool. Certain lures work better in stained water. Some are better for when the bite is slow. You would not choose to throw a pumpkin colored finesse worm in muddy water. In that situation, you are more than likley going to throw a lure that has a steady thump or vibration to it. On the reverse side you may throw that same worm in clear water when the water temps are low and the fish are not eating as much due to a lower metabolism. You will be hard pressed to find a fish wiling to eat a thumping bait when the water temps are low in the winter. Maybe it was luck that you have caught all your fish, or maybe it was common sense. Maybe you guessed right in a certain situation and it paid off. The important part is that you keep a log or some other method of remembering what worked and when. If you have records, then you can pull them up and help cut down on your time searching for a lure and depth that works in a certain situation.

If you can find timber that is near a drop it would be the best place to start. Some ponds have drops, and some don't. If yours doesn't then go for timber on a point. Try laydowns on points as well. As BMO stated, crappie can ruin a good pond. Most wildlife agencies recomend not putting any crappie in a pond. Main reason being is that they not only eat more than other pan fish, but also have more off spring when they spawn.

If no bass are kept after being caught and they all continue to reproduce, then all the bass will get stunted due to lack of food because of competion amongest themselves. Selective harvesting is as important as catch and release.

Motorcycle helmet and a bottle of rain-x will work wonders. Not only in the rain but in the winter also. No frozen tears at 70 mph. A helmet is cheaper than a windsheild.

This was my first in 19 years of fishing myself. It was very strange.