5bass

I agree with LBH.....I learned a whole lot from a Humminbird 3D wide unit I once owned.It gives you a very detailed 3D look of the bottom that you are fishing.It will help you find the sweet spot faster.

Va. Daytime- senkos(doks),carolina rig,deep cranks(brush) Night- 10" worms,shallow cranks,buzzbaits(very late) and Thundersticks(when the shad are up)

And ESPN should rename the Greatest Angler Debate to be the Greatest Bass Angler debate. If it was just for greatest "angler",either one of the Lindner brothers would be #1.No question about it.

ew,I dont think Roalnd is #1.Like you said,he hasnt done a whole lot since the mid-80's.Sure there was lots of people bass fishing the Tour then but how many had the top notch sponsors and could hire guides and pre-fish a tournament for 2 weeks?And when I think of Roland Martin I think of Richard Petty......he had the best sponsor and the most money behind him so he had the fastest car and won tons of races.What Dale Earnhardt (R.I.P.) did was tie Petty's title record and he did it with the competition being at its highest level once NASCAR equalled the playing field with the cars.I think what Earnhardt did and the time frame he did it in is way more impressive than Richard Petty's accolades.I feel like Clunn has the "mojo" when it comes to being #1 and what he has accomplished is more impressive than Roland because he is still competing at a very high level to this day and the competition gets stiffer all the time.And he's still hangin' tough.I vote Clunn #1. Sorry to get off on the NASCAR tangent,just making a comparison.I do still think Petty is a great driver and Roland is still a great fisherman,but they arent #1 in my book.

Well,since I've caught keepers everywhere in this cove and in all situations,I would circle the whole cove as many times as I could before the weigh in. If theyre biting like that-WHO NEEDS A PATTERN! Otherwise, A with a Carolina Rig would be my first choice if the water is low 50's.....high 50's would be B with a spinnerbait.The exact temp makes a big difference I think.

Believe me,I know what you mean about it being tough this time of year.Usually in the summertime my brushpiles hold them on a regular basis but at times they just wont bite or are simply not on 'em. I place all my piles either on the ends of points or on the sides of them and always in at least 15'-20' of water.I have one point with 20 plus brushpiles on it,I call it the magic point.I used to catch alot of bass there but now it seems like the stripers are always there and the bass arent.Stripers are fun,dont get me wrong,but you cant weigh-in stripers.

I have a good game plan when it comes to deep water usually....unless my brushpiles are empty.I depend too much on my brushpiles and sometimes they just arent on them.

When the dog days of summer hit your favorite lake,what is your approach or method to fishing the bass' deep summer homes?Boat positioning?Favorite bait?Favorite structure and how do you fish it?What do you look for in a deep spot? It's that time of year and lots of us could use some deep water help/tips.Lets hear what you got.

finesse worm,light line,smallest weight you can get away with

When fishing at night,I dont think color matters as much as sound and vibration.Thats what you need to concentrate your thoughts on when choosing a crankbait to throw in the dark.

I buy all the different types and keep them all handy....if I run out of one,I replace it with the same.There are times like Brad said that X bait will outfish Y bait and that is very true.It happens all the time.I do think the Yamamoto baits are overpriced but I'm a tight-azz so my opinion on their price doesnt really count. It comes down to the confidence thing once again.If you can catch plenty of fish on Dingers,buy Dingers.Same with Tiki's,Kinami's,etc.....I like the Yamamoto baits because of the soft texture and I think that is what makes the big difference AFTER the initial bite.I hardly ever have a fish spit out or just bite the tail on any Yamamoto bait I throw.I really believe that the soft texture of the Yam baits sets them apart from the rest.Not crazy about the price but I still buy them on a regular basis.

I will rotate between points and brushpiles during my night fishing trips.Most times I will fish brushpiles in 10-25' of water until the shad come up,then I head to the main lake points where the shad are right against the bank floppin around.Then after the shad go back down,I move back to the brushpiles.Usually I am fishing the brushpiles with a carolina rig or tx worm,sometimes a crankbait (depending on brush depth).When I'm fishing the banks while the shad are up,I'm usually throwing a Thunderstick,a shallow crankbait or a worm.

Here's my boat.

jappleseed.....the key is to throw what they are biting on a consistent basis.... kbj,how did you guys do Tuesday night?What won it?

The dude in the picture is fishing 'til HE drops!

LBH, I really liked the Humminbird wide 3D.....it helped me understand about bottom contour 100x better than the regular graphs.The 3D view was awesome,especially when fishing around a creek channel and finding and understanding drops and ledges.I only owned one for about 3 months,then someone stole it off my boat AT THE MARINA!!Thanks alot loser!!Hope you're enjoying my awesome 3D finder you piece of $#!-.....oh,sorry,I got off the subject a bit..... I would buy another one without a doubt.As soon as my Pinpoint dies I'm buying another 3D.I'm actually really surprised that more marine electronic makers havent started the 3D lines.

I've always heard that if you are fishing a bait that will be above the fish(topwater,spinnerbait,etc...) that you should use black or the darkest color you can find.Reason being is that the black or dark colors create a better silouette against the background of the sky(because they're looking up at the bait). If you are bottom fishing a worm or a jig,the color doesnt really matter as much as sound and smell matters.I will fish a black worm at night but I am not afraid to fish a light colored worm if they arent hitting the black.I catch fish on all color worms at night.Black is not a set-in-stone color for me at night.I will switch until I get a bite.

Tracker

The over-stocking thing is true,I witnessed it first hand.....my buddy bought some land that had about a 1.5 acre pond but didnt have any fish at all,more of a watering hole for the cows.Well,he bought the land and put 2,000 bass fingerlings in it,along with 10,000 minnows.....after the first year passed we were able to catch some that were around 6-7" and that was it.All the bass were the same exact size.Over the next couple of years the bass grew an inch or so and after that,they just quit growing altogether.He contacted someone with the Dept of Game and they explained to him that he needed to weed out about 75% of the bass in the pond.So we started catching them in a cast net and taking them to the James River and dumping them in.Now his pond has some nice ones in there and the upper James River has some good ones now too. His pond was just over-run with bass and there wasnt enough food in it to keep them all growing and healthy.

ball coach,I have had some problems with Lowrance units lately also.The first was the X85,supposedly one of the best Lowrance units ever made.....well the backlight went out and I couldnt switch it over to manual after about 3 months use.I like using the manual mode most of the time.I then bought an X91,installed it and immediately started having probs with it.The main one was that the graph showed fish everywhere I went,from the top of the screen to the bottom,all the way across.....it was like I had huge fish under the boat at all times,1 foot of water or 100 foot,I was always showing fish.Then when I would try to switch it over so I could see fish arches instead,I never got the first arch to come across the screen.This was weird because when I would be showing nothing on the screen(fish,brush,humps etc..)my in-dash flasher would be lit up like a Christmas tree and we were catching fish that,according to the Lowrance,werent there.CRAZY!.... But if your temp gauge is reading 35 deg too high,I would say that you got a bad transducer,they should replace that no problem.(if you can get thru to them)

I prefer using white or lemon shad super flukes because I can see them from a long ways off but when the bite dies,I will dip them in the red color Spike It (just one end or the other),this gives it the bleeding look and I'm still able to see it. I also use the Spike It on the tails of brush hawgs and sweet beavers,usually chartreuse.

Back a few years ago I set the hook(with braided line) and partially tore a tendon near my elbow.Couldn't fish for a month.Well,the doc said to not fish for a month.I really didnt listen that well back then. It has gotten better over the past couple years but on the real hard hooksets I can feel the tingle in my elbow. Not an actual deformity but......

Raul,have you been hangin' out with Rick Clunn again?? ;D Good post nonetheless.

Excellent job dude.Looks great! I like how you did the floors-made them flat all the way across......thats how mine is now. Did you happen to notice how light the boat was BEFORE the transformation?I'm just asking beacuse when I did mine many years ago,I painted it with NAVY approved marine paint and it gained a whole lot of weight and we could barely carry it afterwards(to the hard to get places).....but I guess it doesnt really matter as long as you have a ramp.Just thought I would ask if you noticed a difference in weight.

I will never buy anything brand new.Except a house.(The value always goes up) But a car or boat,I will always buy used.I just saw something on TV the other night and the dude talking says that after 3 days of owning a new car,you have lost $5,000 bucks.I dont think a boat depreciates as fast as a car but it still depreciates too fast for ME to buy a new one. The 12-15 year finance plan is what gets you.I bit on it but at the last second I jumped and threw the bait back at the guy. 5 more seconds and he would've had me.