gobig

By the time the reports show good you have missed the window in many instances.

Read the big bass zone and in pursuit of giant bass. As far as smaller glass boats I would go with a Champion or a Ranger.

If my goal was to catch a fish over 6 I would head to clearlake. The reason I say that is Clearlake has more 5+ fish than anywhere around here. For a giant I think Berryessa would be your best bet. As for guides up here John Pearl, Matt Allen and PJ are all good.

In my opinion the speculation that bass just react is not giving one of the top predators in the food chain its due credit.

My top three would be a dropshot, swimbait and a jig.

Not calling a kitech or similar bait a swimbait is the equivalent to saying a tacoma is not a pick up because it does not have an 8' bed and can't haul 17,000 pounds. The guy that buys a tacoma to haul his 30' toy hauler is probably going to be disappointed also.

I am sure there are several good brands out there. I have been using owners for a long time with out any issues where I have had other brands straighten. What makes them better in my opinion is the quality of the steel used. When putting them on baits they go back to form and are not sprung open. I guess part of it is that I am comfortable with them and they only run around .30 cents a piece. So cost is not a huge factor.

Owner hyperwires get my vote also.

One thing that is often not considered with college is the cost. I would guess that it runs on average around 20k a year or more by the time you get done with tuition, books, housing etc... Most people have to take out loans where interest is paid on top of the loan. I would guess that to be about 6%. Inflation should also be considered. Over the last 20 years that is roughly 8%. So over the course of a 20 year loan you should expect to pay about 14% on the money borrowed based on the past. If you were to fall on hard times or not find a job in your field after school you are still stuck with the debt. You cannot include student loans in bankruptcy either. Another thing to factor in is lost wages. The money you could be earning while in school. If you made $12 an hour with a 40hr work week it comes out to roughly 25k a year. So 4 years of school is about 180k and half of it will be loans. At 6% that 80k you borrowed is going to total to about 140k if payed back over 20 years. So in reality 4 years of school runs about 240k with out factoring inflation. Factor in inflation and its closer to 340k. You could buy a really nice house. If a large majority of being a professional fisherman is sales and public speaking I think it would make more sense to take a job or an internship with someone who is a master at sales. You could earn money while learning the craft. There are clubs like toastmasters that focus on public speaking. There are loads of books, cds and videos that focus on sales. The classroom and the real world are totally different. An architect can give you the blue print to build a house but with out ever pounding a nail in his life how well could he build it? However the guy that build houses for a living would probably do ok with out the architect.

I am all over the map on this one. It seems like each manufacturer makes one or two that really just stand out. If I had to pick my top five in no particular order it would be 10xd, speedtrap, Deep little'n, lv500 and the kvd square bill.

On a five wire rig the teasers should be on the top and the baits should be on the center and bottom two wires. I use hitchhikers to attach the teasers straight to the rig. I eliminate the swivels for the teasers. This does a few things. Stops the teasers from spinning and makes those baits ride towards the front. I also use smaller baits for the teasers. Putting a nail weight in the belly will also ballast them, helping them run true.

It's not about making excuses. It's about learning to make adjustments to the conditions.

The wind is directly associated to the barometric pressure. Clear sky and a north wind is generally high pressure setting in. I am not sure how the systems move in back east but we almost never have a eastern wind. I don't think that anyone is saying its impossible to catch fish in these conditions but there is a real good chance your going to have a long day.

The bigger the better. You want to know where the fish are a swimbait will definitely clue you in.

Beast

In process of moving back to Vacaville.

I am with gulfcaptain. I have never been hit by one either but I have a friend that took one on the forehead. It about knocked him out. He had an egg for a week or so.

Like double chocolate cake.

I know out here in the west a north wind usually means its going to be a grind.

I am a huge fan of the champions. IMO they had the best big water hulls ever made in a bass boat. My 190 eats up rough water.

With out seeing a video of where its leaking from its hard to tell.

MMMMMMM Cormorant, tastes kinda like spotted owl.

Some days in the spring are just plain tough because they seem to be more sensitive to the slightest changes, especially Florida strains. I do not a pay as much attention to water temps as a lot of other people do. The reason being I want to keep an open mind. I have seen the mythological rules of bass fishing broken to many times. There are a ton of variables that dictate fish behavior that need to be considered. Much of which is contradictory. What matters today may not matter tomorrow. For instance the idea that suspended fish are uncatchable. In the right situation this is simply not true. I have caught bass suspended over 200ft of water. The solution to your situation seeing cruisers that would not eat, may have been as simple as backing off and making long casts. Where the next day you could possibly catch them from 10ft away and watch the whole thing go down. I ask these questions. How often do we catch cruising fish out of sight? And does the idea that they are tough to catch come from the experience of watching them turn their nose because your to close? The suggestion of moving off shore could have been the ticket also. Those shallow fish may have been in a negative mood and in recovery from the spawn.

I fish up hill and into cover and structure as often as I can.

Spotted bass will slap at a jig before eating it some times. But I have never had a largemouth double tap it and be there.