huskertko

It is funny you say that, I was watching a show last night that I TiVo'd over the weekend and there is a segement of him talking lures and stuff standing in front of a grill with a Johnsonville apron on with bratss on the grill and several packages of brats on the side, I just had to laugh at how obvious the plug for them was. ;D ;D

I watch his show, albeit on TIVO, so I can fast forward through the actual catching of the fish, my only problem with him and I have stated it before on this site, is the way he insists on putting his hand inside the gill plate of every fish he catches.

I think that with KU Bassmasters and LBH's video expertise with a camcorder, they should make a video of how to pitch and flip. This seems to be a very common request for a how to video on pitching/flipping, heck I think I even asked for one way back when. Maybe it could be a sticky at the top of the forum board for all to see. I would make one with my video recorder but, well, I kinda suck at pitching >:(so my video would be very, not good.

Considering I have never fished from a bass boat, jon boat, canoe, or kayak, my only other two options are from the bank and from a personal pontoon boat. Of those two the boat is by far my favorite, but I don't mind fishing the bank either.

Not sure I completely understand the question, but I think that of those items listed, location is the most important. You can use the perfect bait, present is perfectly, but if you are in a location where there are no fish, you aren't going to catch anything.

I actually don't have a trailer or a truck. I drive a 2000 Mitz Galant, a sedan, and I just put mine on the top of my car and use tie downs to hold it there, granted I don't travel on interstates with it but I feel comfortable drive 55 MPH with it tied down to my car. I keep the D/F, and rod rack and stuff in my car and just put it on the boat at the water.

I know for a FACT that when using the fish symbol feature it will report both fish and debris as a fish. I KNOW this because I fish from a personal pontoon boat and use my feet for propulsion. My depth finder in symbol mode has indicated fish in very shallow water that I could feel was grass and it has indicated fish in very shallow water that I know were fish because I felt them swim by my feet. The point is the fish symbol feature will show fish but it will also show anything else in the water as a fish too. That is why I only use that feature to clean up the graph and look for bottom structure not for the fish themselves.

I think I may be one of the few on this site that has one, and my experience has been great. They are very stable and very easy to manuver, once you get the hang of it. I can get to water that a lot of big boats can't, and being able to get there much quieter, I can sneak up on fish. I don't have a truck or vehicle to tow a regular boat, nor the bank account, :'( so I went this route. I mainly fish smaller bodies of water but there are guys who fish large lakes and impoundmnts. I have started to customize my with a depth finder and rod holder, etc. Do a google search for Sonoma Bellyboat club and you can see some pics for some really tricked out boats, and those guys fish a tournament schedule on some large bodies of water.

Ok, this may sound stupid, but what is a fluid bed? Does anyone have a pic of one?

I only use the Fish symbol setting when I am really more focused on the bottom contours and not the fish or baitfish. the reason is that the fish symbol will show anything in the water column as a fish even though it may be debris, grass, a log, etc, so it is pretty hard to define what a fish is or not, and for the most part I use my Eagle 320 for the bottom structure and contour, not really to find fish. I figure that if I can find good structure, then more than likely there will be fish in the area. I do however look for balls of baitfish, because like structure, where the baitfish are there will be bass near by. I have been using this feature less and less, trying to become a better graph reader.

When I started fishing about a year and half ago, I definitely considered myself a "power" angler. All I did was throw fast moving baits, cranks, spinnerbaits, etc, but lately I have found myself picking up a t-rigged worm/plastic or weightless plastic more often, to the point that I am beginning to have more confidence in those type of baits over the fast movers. I kinda like it but I feel that I am abandoning the fast movers, maybe I am just developing more patience to fish the slower moving bait.

The numbers on the narrow light colored lines indicated depth or depth from full pool level. If those are the numbers you are looking at.

The one thing that I noticed with the way that KVD had it rigged that is different that the above diagram is that instead of a 3-way swivel, he used two barrel swivels. His reasoning was that if you get two fish on at one time, with a 3-way swivel the fish have pull point to pull against each other and the chance to break on off is greater. With the second barrel swivel above the first, it is free to move up and down the main line so the fish really can't pull against one another to break off, and he said that way is less likely to tangle since the second fluke is more free to move around.

If you are moving very slowly or not at all you will not see arches, you will see small straight lines, look for those. The other thing you may see is a diagonal line up or down, this may be a fish swimming away to toward.

I would take a weight or anchor and it in several places around the lake and just measure by the length of rope how deep it is, it may take a while but it will give you at least a ballpark estimate. you can also get a pretty basic D/F for around a $100 or less. I won't be much for detail but it will at least give you and idea about depth.

I have had quit abit of success in pitching/casting a fat Ika near isolated trees. Find the one or two trees that are seperate from the big clump of trees and cast the Ika in and just let it fall, and hang on.

Cool, thanks. I just saw it and it looked interesting, I may have to give it a try one of these days. Did you fish it on spinning or baitcasting gear?

I was watching BSP show last night on TIVO and KVD was fishing a double fluke rig and the action of the lures looked very cool. It definitely looked like a couple of baitfish darting back and forth. Has anyone else use this rig with any success, I don't think I have ever heard of a pro using it in a tournament, is it legal for tournament fishing.

I have this boat. It is a little larger than a belly boat, and you actually sit out of the water, more comfortable when the water is 50 degrees. I don't use the oars, but I use scuba fins and love it. I can pack it up in my car so transportation is easy. It cost less than $250, I have a depth finder and rod holder mounted to it so I can carry upto 5 rods with me on the water for every occasion. They are very light and very stable, I am 6' tall and weight about 260 and I have never put the boat into a situation where I felt uncomfortable. It solved my problem of being stranded on the bank. This is a pic of a fish i caught last weekend 12-18 ft of water on a single tree stump that was sticking up. She went for 3 pounds.

I have a tie for my worst, and drum roll please , they are a jig and the c-rig. I think it has more to do with confidence than anything else. I will try them for a while, not get a bite and move onto something I am more comfortable with. :-[

I have the Fathoms in Blue Mirror and love them. I would not hesitate a second buying another pair.

I too this year made my way off the banks, and I realized that I still fish them alot, just from the other direction. However, I have noticed that a lot, and I mean A LOT of fish I am catching are just beyond what the bank angler can reach. It is so cool to be able to find a hump, or an old creek channel and throw a deep diving crank, or be able to pitch to submerger timber. I am looking forward to fishing this summer like no other, I used to hate summer fishing because most of the big fish moved to spots that were out of my reach, but not this year ;D. Above all the only real difference in fishing from a boat is where you can go, you still have to find the fish and make a good presentation.

Sorry Yeah, Kill Creek. I had a date and location in the post, but had to do some cutting and pasting to get the pictures so I guess I cut that part, but forgot to paste it back. :-[ I agree, the fish do seem to be getting bigger, my last couple of times there the average was closer to 2 lbs. I remember even last year, throwing a hard jerkbait and the bait almost being bigger than the fish that I caught. I hope so too that it stays somewhat of a secret, but the last few times out there, it seemed the boat "traffic" was getting heavier. Two weeks ago there were 5 or six boats on the water when I left, and for that size of lake, that is a lot.

6/10/06- Kill Creek It was a fairly short trip today, I started have stomach issues that made me get off the water. However, it was a pretty decent trip none the less. I was only on the water about an hour and a half, water temp was between 80-81 and fairly clear. Skies were mostly cloudy with a 5-10 mph breeze from the south. I started off with a Ribbit Frog on topwater fishing it over a grass bed just out in front of the marina, I had a couple of blowups but not catches. Then i switched to an Ika and was pitching it under the fishing dock and had several bites but still no hook ups. So I decided to move off shore and moved out so the submerged standing timber, and caught a small one in about 13' of water. Then I started pitching it to isolated standing timber and that is when the fun began. Caught several on the Ika near the isolated standing timber with the two largest as 2 lb and 3lbs. The 3 lber is saddly my PB bass, since I have only been fishing again for a little over a year. Then the stomach cramps kicked in and forced me off the water. Here are a couple of pics of the largest one, sorry for the quality, they are taken with a camera phone.

The Garmin 250c is a little more expensive because it's resolution is 320 x 320. The Eagle 320 and the Lowrance 67c, which are very similar in features, only have a resolution of 320 x 240. More pixels = more accurate picture. I've read nothing but good things about all of these for the price. For me the better resolution is worth the extra money. Actually the Eagle 320 has a 320x 320 resolution on a 5" screen on the non color version, the 320c has the 320x240 on a 3 1/2" screen.