5bass

The B.A.S.S. Elite Series is descending on my home lake (Smith Mtn) in early June and I plan to follow one angler from blast-off each day. Only problem is, who? If you had the chance to watch these guys on your home lake, who would it be? I have a short list put together, I just need to narrow it down and make final cuts. 1. Ike....because he's Ike 2. KVD...because he's KVD 3. Mike McClelland....he's one of the best deep water anglers on Tour and the deep water bite may be a big factor when they are here. 4. Hackney....I'm a power fisherman at heart and I'd like to see Hack on the job. 5. Hite....one of my favorites and he's due. 6. Brauer....would like to see him catch a bass on something other than a jig. 7. Clunn....I love throwing cranks and he'll be crankin' 8. Swindle....he may do something stupid or have words with someone 9. Skeet....might gain some confidence in swimbaits following Skeet around. Who would you follow? Help me decide.

The fish are always out but sometimes not actively feeding. Whenever I face conditions like that I try to use some type of reaction type bait to make them bite. Jerkbaits or crankbaits mainly. If the reaction baits dont work I will just drag something (usually a Power Bait worm) real slow on the bottom. If the fish are suspended, I like a wacky rigged *** ***.

Yes, thats the one....the same one in the link that Bucketmouth posted.....Case Plastics Tora Tube.

Ish Monroe won an Elite tournament by pitchin' those to bedded fish a couple of years ago at Amistad.....it looked like a freakin' squid in the water.

I'll second the trick worm and superfluke advice and add in a senko or trick stick and a Sweet Beaver on a Spot Remover head. And dont rule out the spinnerbait if the wind is up.

No but I expect those hand pours would be great worms too....as long as they have "the Power Bait scent". These are the ones I'm talking about....5 and 7" shaky worms..... http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&partNumber=90521&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults

Best fillet knife? A sharp one. ;D

Burley, I'm referring to the regular Power Bait shaky's, not the GULP! stuff.

Anybody else tried these? I've been using them the past few weeks and the fish have been absolutely eating them up. Its not a real big surprise to me because I'm a Power Bait believer but if you're looking for a great shaky worm, be sure to try the new Berkleys.....

Power Bait 7" shakey worms (green pumpkin,watermelon,blue fleck) Power Bait 7" ribbontail worms (tequila sunrise,red shad,blue fleck) Power Bait Beast (breen) Power Bait 10" worms (black,red shad) *** trick sticks 4" and 5" (green pumpkin,watermelon/red,black/blue) Reaction Innovations Sweet Beavers (sprayed grass,dirty sanchez,infection)

I fish deep cranks ALOT.....its actually my favorite way to catch 'em. The past few years I've been using the Fritts BPS 4.7:1. Its got the wider handle and the "slop" gears which helps on a deep crank hook-up. Obviously the slower gear ratio helps tremendously with the fatigue factor that comes into play when throwing the deep cranks. If you buy a slow gear crankin' reel, the retrieve will feel a little weird at first but dont give up on it.....stick with it at least until you catch a few fish with it. I know some people who throw deep cranks dont like that slow of a reel but way back when I switched to the slow gears, my catch rate went up instantly and I'll never go faster than the 4.7:1 again for a deep crank reel. It's almost time to start the serious deep crankin'.....you better get something quick! Let us know what you decide on.

jomatty, dont worry so much about the cheating.......just concentrate on putting 5 good 'uns in the boat and see what happens.

Coming from a Virginia Tech "homer"......Michael Vick is a turd. Ever since he signed that huge contract, he's done nothing but hurt his image in any way he could. I really enjoyed watching him play here at Tech and he's solely responsible for putting VT on the college football map. He did big things for VT......I wish he'd straighten up and do it for Atlanta. His QB skills are lacking, he's flipping off "home" fans, carryin' weed around and fighting dogs. Come on Mike, get with it man! You can take a thug out of the ghetto but you'll never take the ghetto out of a thug!

Atta boy Muddy!

Thats good stuff Russ! Nice job with the video!

Yeah, I agree, anytime money is on the line someone will cheat. In a club I was in a long time ago, we had a team that consisted of 2 brothers.....they were winning every tournament we had. Sure, they were good fisherman but the fish they were weighing were obviously in bad shape and all scarred up. One of the brothers was able to fish pretty much every day and finally one of the other club members busted him putting fish in a basket.

I own a few of each model of the Revo lineup and would recommend ANY of them. I feel like the SX is probably the best overall deal but with the STX you can really launch baits across the lake. I'm glad I decided to try the Revo's.....just wish they made a 5.1:1.

I bought 3 of the 8035's.....I was going to buy one 8030 but they were out. I've got 1 spooled with 10#, one with 8# and 1 spooled with 6#. The 8035's seem to be a perfect fit for any situation. I'm satisfied with them so far.

Way to go T-Rig! Those are some good 'uns!

Typically in the spring (pre and post spawn) I'll burn some water with a spinnerbait or crankbait and cover as much of it as I can during any given trip. This is usually done in different creeks after I have sectioned them off in 3 parts (mouth,middle and back) and made an educated guess on which section the biggest concentration of fish "should be" at that time. I cover the section I picked out and if I dont get bit, I move to the next creek but I will fish a different section of water than I did in the first creek. When the bass move deep I am a "run and gun" fool. On my home lake, brushpiles is the name of the game in the summer......thats where the bigger fish are. Period. And to fish the most brushpiles I can, I have to use the "run and gun". I'm a power fisherman at heart and the "run and gun" style fits me well.

I think the biggest advantage that these side imaging Humminbirds offer is that you'll be able to see structure without riding directly over it. Plus it will give you a better idea of exactly what you're looking at. .....and all those brushpiles that I worked so hard to sink, aren't safe anymore.

If you go back a few pages in the General section you'll find more than one thread about fishing for spawning bass.

I have been using some from Omega Custom Tackle that are working out pretty well and seem to be made with high quality skirts and hooks. Last year I used some footballs from CR Custom Tackle....they are good jigs too and the pb&j skirts he puts together are killer.

I had some success with the bluegill fished on beds last month but I cant make myself just chunk the swims around all day. I probably should but I havent done it yet. That day will come.

So this is what a minnow on steroids looks like.......NICE! ;D