A-Jay

I'm such an idiot ! I just tried to hit the Thanks tab AGAIN ! Wow. It's like flipping on the light switch to find a flashlight when the power goes out. Durrrrrrrrrrrr. ? A-Jay

Thank You ~ Love your response here and I think you know I can relate to much of it, except the competitive fishing part. Your son's a Lucky Boy. I am fresh out of my daily allotment of Likes & Thanks btw. But I can still hang that little smiley face right here . . . A-Jay

Nice ~ ! (I'm plump out of 'likes' for the day) A-Jay

After all this time, Lynn's finally got me trained (mostly). My only hope is that she doesn't trade me in for a new model. A-Jay

Thanks a lot for the support, I really appreciate it. Lynn's my proof reader. And she has no problem routinely 'red lining' much of my, let's call them, more colorful submissions. Still love her though . . . . A-Jay

As is sit and stare out at the frozen snow covered world outside, my mind began to wander back to some of my more memorable trips out onto Lake Menderchuck. Knowing how nice it will be to get back on the water again always makes the day a little brighter. Then I started thinking about how & where I was going to fish once the opportunity presented itself. Always a trying decision given the many choices in both. Getting even deeper into this train of thought, I started typing and this is what I ended up with. The Natural Progression of a Basshead ~ One Man’s Point of View Each and every one of us that chases these little green/brown fish has a special story about how we got started. Many of them have been shared in this forum: including mine. Regardless of how we got started, there seems to be a certain path, or a progression if you will, on how we each think of and go about catching bass. Certainly I can’t speak for everyone, so I’ll relay how it went for me. After reading through it, see how it compares to your own path down Basshead Lane. Are there similarities or does it differ completely ? After catching my very first bass, to say I was pretty pumped would be a serious understatement. Of course I didn’t exactly know it at the time (or maybe I did) it was a life changing perhaps even defining moment. Either way, from that point on, bass fishing consumed me. It was all I could think about and I could not wait to do it again. Which brings me to the first stop in the progression of a Basshead. Stage 1 ~ I want to catch bass, any bass. Before catching my first bass, I was totally content on hanging a night crawler or a cricket under a bobber and staring at it for hours on end. I would do it every chance I got. But now it just seemed boring and regardless of how many sunnies or hornpout I caught, the satisfaction just wasn’t the same. I needed bass; felt like the meaning of life to me then. So Stage 1 for me routinely included bass in the 10 to perhaps 14 inch range. As a pre-teen I was majorly excited each and every time it happened. Sometimes I kept them and ate them. I think the limit back then was 10 but I’m not totally certain. (circa 1970’s). So keeping every bass I landed ‘limited’ the number I felt I could catch. So then I started letting some of the just barely keeper sized bass go. As time went on, this started to feel a whole lot better. Soon ‘the release’ was almost as much fun as the catch. (to this point I still hadn’t fallen in love with ‘the hunt' yet, but it was coming) So it was the Catch & Release that led me straight into Stage 2. Stage 2 ~ I want to catch as many Bass as I can. Starting out as a weekend, mid-day only angler, I had not yet been introduced to the wonder & bounty that an early/pre-dawn time frame at the lake could offer. The high sun action was OK back then but by this point, I wanted more. After reading an ‘article’ in “Boy’s Life” magazine, where it talked about fishing early & late in the day, and how the lower light levels could help get More Bass, it was on. I began getting up ‘earlier & earlier’. Riding my bike those first few times in the early summer morning grey light, seemed surreal. Empty roads and what seems like a ghost town. Just the paper boy, the trash man & me. I was big eyed, skinny as a rail, and pedaling for all I was worth. Looking back, I rarely took much to eat or drink in those days. Had to be home before dark (street lights had better not be on) but I always cut that timing ‘very close’. Dad knew the deal, so he usually cut me a little slack; just a little though. (When I did keep them, riding home with a stringer of bass spread out & hanging from the handle bars must have been a quite a sight) I used the same few baits to feed my now totally addicted infatuation with catching bass. A black single silver hammered Colorado bladed Spinner bait, A Rebel Jointed Minnow, a Red & white Daredevil Imp spoon, A Crème Rubber worm Night Crawler rig with 2 hooks, a little red propeller and some beads, A small Hula Popper, a chartreuse Mr. Twister Curly Tail Grub and my favorite – a Glow in the Dark Jitterbug; which I thought was the coolest bait ever ! All of this was presented on a 6 ft light action Diawa Spinning rig and 8 or 10 lb blue Stren – can’t really remember which. I do remember the major line twist, vividly. Just didn’t know any better. Still I had days were I caught a few, days where I got blanked and a few of those memorable days where they seemed to come every cast for a while. Really loved those. What did bother me quite a bit was that I was losing many of the better bass that stuck. This is what opened the door to Stage 3. Stage 3 ~ I want to catch a Big Bass. A Big Bass in those days for me was mostly determines by length. While I did have one of those black metal ‘De-Liar’ scales, my Plano 777 tackle box was not exactly water tight. So there was a good amount of rust on it and how anyone was supposed to get a decent size and flopping bass on that tiny little hook, I’ll never know. Either way, I measured bass with it but never weighted anything on it. Somehow 18 inches became my Big Bass standard. Don’t remember how or why, just that when I got one over that magic mark, besides them looking ‘different & better’, I always felt very accomplished. At this point I was driving, had my ‘permit’ and my old Ford burned almost as much oil as it did gas. But it beat pedaling and seriously widened the big bass potential; although I was still fishing from shore. I started hitting every northern New England lake I could get access to; mostly state parks. Time after time it seemed that the ‘rubber worms’ where accounting for most of the bigger bass I was catching. Additionally they always seems to be ‘in the lily pads’. Turned out my gear, wasn’t actually up to the challenge of the cover; surprise. Saved some $$ and purchased my first casting gear; it was an off brand thing I got a local sporting goods. There was a steep learning curve and in the beginning I struggled mightily to get baits off the bank. Finally it came together (with the help of my first Texas Rig, needed the weight) and some of those ’18 inchers’ that I was losing, where ending up on my thumb. I thought I was The Man. By now – I was fishing and Fishing was me. My brother & mom thought I was crazy, so did most all of my friends. Very few of them ever have any interest in ‘getting up so early’, pedaling 5 miles or more, fishing all day and then pedaling home. So before I was driving, I mostly fished alone. Once the hard part was gone, I had a few friends fish with me now & then, but they almost always wanted to ‘go home early’. So I just stopped asking. This is also right about the time when I caught my first Brown Bass; pretty much a by catch. That just added an entire Extra Level of gooey goodness to the whole thing. This is also when I started to fall in love with ‘the hunt’. As the years past, I’ve bounced back & forth between Stage 2 & Stage 3. Much of that had to do with where I was stationed & what was available as far as bass fishing was concerned. By now I had joined the service and the vast majority of what happens in the US Coast Guard, happens on the Ocean. So salt water angling had taken a solid hold of me. But I still bass fished when I got the chance. Fast forward thirty years, (I know right). I’ve retired and am living in here in northern Michigan and it’s almost always the brown bass I’m fishing for. And there are some true trophy smallies here. However it didn’t take long to realize that there just wasn’t much in the way of plus sized green bass locally. I would need to travel a bit to scratch that itch. Well, I did that & in a few more months I’m scheduled to take another trip south of the border. Doesn’t guarantee anything but the place we fish has Stage 3 written all over it. Currently, I’ve pretty much come to like and settled into, a certain style of fishing. Most all of it revolves around ‘the hunt’. I enjoy first looking for potential big fish areas (usually holding bait) and fishing them. Repeatedly visiting these spots until they either produce or I feel like I have exhausted every possible combination of seasonal periods, conditions, wind directions & times of the day, with no success. I have spots that I believe in so strongly that I fish several times a season, that have not yet produced. But they just look & feel right. So I keep going back, for years now. And this is what has had me venture into Stage 4. Stage 4 ~ ~ I want to catch bass, the way I want to catch bass. Even though I’ll do it when I have to, soaking a drop shot, dead sticking a Senko, and flipping docks, are not at the top of my list. I love to chunk & wind; moving baits. Even if I’m just crawling something along the bottom, or sliding a walking bait across a big flat, I feel engaged. Connected to what I’m doing. Success at this stage can have a very high satisfaction level for me; as if this stuff wasn't addicting enough ! Really makes me feel like a most accomplish Basshead; when I can actually pull it off. Admittedly, staying locked in here has probably cost me more than just a few bass. While adaptability can be a huge part of one’s success, staying true to stage 4, or being stubborn (call it what you want), can lead to the opposite at times. Always been a fan of having my rigs all set up the night before a morning trip for instance. But I can’t even count the number of times ‘something’ changed overnight, and most all of what I have rigged up, or what I wanted to throw, is somehow ‘wrong’ for the present deal. Do I change it or try to force feed them ? Sort of depends on how ‘off base’ I feel I am or even my current mood. But there’s enough times where I tried the old force feed deal, where I crashed & burned, to warrant me mentioning it here. Really need to work on this. Stage 5 ~ I want to help someone else catch bass ~ I think at some point, we all get here. It’s either a friend, a sibling, a spouse or even a co-worker we take an interest in, place under our wing and pass on some of this hard earned bass fishing knowledge. More often than not, it’s a child. Take a kid fishing. The pressure's on though. Hopefully the bass will cooperate- and lucky for us – our willing participant usually starts out in Stage 1. I have quite a bit of fun now taking my wife out. Mostly in the Old Town Canoe. Being her guide, and if things work out, her net man for the day. Tying on baits, coaching her on her presentation, where to cast and offering words of encouragement when she ‘hooks up’ ! And then there’s That Smile; you know the one. What’s not to love about that ? Let’s recap ~ Stage 1 ~ I want to catch Bass – any Bass. Stage 2 ~ I want to catch as many Bass as I can. Stage 3 ~ I want to catch a Big Bass Stage 4 ~ I want to catch bass the way I want to catch Bass. Stage 5 ~ I want to help other folks catch Bass. So this is where I ask “Where do you did sit and how did you get there ? “ Stay Safe A-Jay

I want to know what that means, I really do. But I just don't. No Clue actually. Is your keyboard not operating ? A-Jay

I am one of those guys. For me, and I think it's been mentioned already, a change in mind set is required. When I'm looking for a big bass, getting smaller fish is like not catching anything. So there's not much in the way of satisfaction. I have little interest in sore lipping several dozen smaller bass on the way to looking for a bigger bite. (I am putting the finishing touches on a new thread/post discussing this very thing) And while I do not usually use baits that totally exclude a small fish interest, my hunt often sees me fishing spots where there are less smaller fish around. Unless that's what the bigger bass are looking to eat, then I am right there. Although not every bass will grow to plus size, some of them will. And we've all caught bass that have been caught before, including big bass. My PB Brown Bass in fact had one good eye. But I think jaw jacking several small bass a trip only functions to hurt my own interest. So I choose not to do it. If that makes sense. A-Jay

Yes. A-Jay I have another supply of those God Awful out barb trebles if you want them. Let me know A-Jay ( aka Crazy) ?

At this point that might actually help ~ A-Jay

Everytime another one pops up, it's everything I can do keep from spooning out an eye ! (sorry @MN Fisher) ? A-Jay

Right here for me ~ A-Jay

When they made such a big deal about the line breaking and the jig hitting the cameraman, (and used up 10 minutes of film) I knew that the fish catching was not going to be what they wanted it to be when then set out to film this one. #iknowthefeeling A-Jay

288 Days & a Wake Up ~ A-Jay

Got about 6 inches or so last night, on top of the 6 from the day before. Headed out to clean that up in advance of the 6 we're getting tomorrow. Did you notice the three 6's right there. That can't be good . . . . 113 Days & a Wake up ~ A-Jay

I tried it a few years ago ~ Purchased one Left handed casting reel "Just to see". Did it for a very short time but eventually gave it up. Made me think too much. Never a good thing for me. A-Jay

Hello Emiliano and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

Been fishing this way since I joined this site. Especially during prime big fish windows. Started with two anchors in the canoe and progress into two talons in the Pro-V Bass. A-Jay

Hello @BassSTL and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ Bought plenty of line from Amazon & E-Bay - FC & Braid mostly Been on both sides of the good deal / fake line stuff at least one time. Day in & day out, Amazon has the best deals on FC. Specifically Seaguar InvisX and Tatsu 1000yd spools - As mentioned above TW sales get close and this time were the better deal. Actually went that way myself last week on Tatsu. Either way if on the rare chance you get a bum spool of something returns are easy on Amazon and using PayPal on E-Bay is surely the way to go. A-Jay

I usually say something like 'oh' or some other short semi grunt type word . . . Once I get a big brown bass on I'm almost always begging for them to "please stay on!" . . Sometimes they do, some times they do not. A-Jay

Same here. But once I started running the GoPro's talking to myself didn't seem as bad. Sort of like talking to my dogs. A-Jay

My response revolved directly around your admitted tresspassing and undocumented boat purchasing practice. Nothing more. Also, as a retired enlisted man, I risked my life for a long time for the little I have. A-Jay

This 'advice' should never be shared and more importantly, Ever Followed. A-Jay

I agreed. A-Jay

Admittedly I do not fish a ton of 'muddy' water, avoid it when I can honestly. However when I do fish it, my success almost always finds fish snuggled up to hard bottom cover, or in the absense of cover, very close to or on the bottom. Baits often need to hit fatties on the head. Places here that never get 'muddy', usually post frontal after rain, can be tough sledding unless I can find cleaner water. Lakes that seem to flucuate in and out of different stages of 'mudness' I am looking for the dirtiest areas. Super high, like flood waters, I rarely deal with. A-Jay