BassChaser57

You sound like you have good sense--USE IT!!! I have seen way tooooo many great young people dead trying to be cool. If that voice inside you is screaming at you---DO THE RIGHT THING!! Ask him to slow down or you have no choice but to save your life and ride that %&$^#&*() bus. You will find in life that doing the right thing is many times not the fun or cool thing, that is just the way it is. MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE---PLEASE!!! Good luck

We all need girl help! 8-) At 11 you are to big to be little and to little to be big. Not trying to hurt your feelings - that is just the way it is. It is normal to want to mature and learn more about life but think about this if you can't wait to be a grown up. As a kid you get to do what you want to--as an adult you just do what you have to. ENJOY your age, don't try to push it too fast, and someday you will be glad you did.---PROMISE

Hi Lady Bass, If nothing else is going on, he is at least guilty of not taking your needs of security, importance, and needing to feel appreciated into account. It is a sad but true fact in America that after the I-Dos are said people let themselves go both physically and emotionally. Why is it that in the USA dating stops after the wedding? It is my belief that you have a commitment to each other to be the first to laugh with, cry with, tell your secrets to, and to be best friends. I do not do depreciate my wife by that sort of behavior, and in my opinion it is not an acceptable behavior for any husband--but sadly a popular one. It seems as if many husbands are like fishermen--they complain about the one they caught and brag about the one that got away. I have learned that we all walk in the direction we look, hopefully he will look back your direction. Many wives attempt to get their husbands to "straighten up" through nagging and complaining--that will not work--ever! It just drives a bigger wedge. Be the person he married, do the right thing, be fun to be around, and then the ball will be in his court. Good luck and keep us posted.

I have had bass hit a topwater so hard hat they would knock the zara spook 1 foot out of the water and I have had bass sit right under and behind the spook and watch it on the pause, as soon as it would twich again--WHAM. The walk the dog with pauses has been my most productive technique for topwateras as it is a slower presentation that allows the bass to target the bait. The conditions have to be just right before I will use a buzz bait. I have read 10% of strikes are feeding strikes, 90% are opportunity/agressiveness stikes. This is why repetitive casts work--tick em off and trigger the aggressive strike. 8-)

Sure I can --In my business I can do anything once, if I live thru it and don't get fired --maybe even twice. I would love to come down with you guys and gals but it doesn't look like it is in the cards this year. I have some of my vacation during the full moon in April, and I have a friend that lives about 10 miles from Lake Amistad so I probably will Fish Fork on the way, go to his place to shoot javalinas and fish Amistad, then fish a day or two at Fork on the way home. Sounds like a good trip to me. Time will tell. Still trying to get Tera (the wife) into the new house this winter. I am working day and night to get it done before spawning season---ummm----bass spawning season. I have 2 more weeks vacation during the full moon in June to go to Canada on that smallie/Northern/Walleye trip. It sure would have been convienient to have been born rich as work sure does get in the way of good fishing. 8-)

thanks guys -- eye kant spel bg wurds 8-) Good fishing and let me know how it works.

This in response to a question posed by Avid about my successes at Lake Fork so I thought I would post it for others, hope it helps. Before I went to Lake Fork the first time I asked Larry Nixon how to fish Lake Fork and he said to get away from the bank and find underwater humps or structure. There are so many bank beaters the fish are really spooky. When I got there I fished the bank without much success (except for sight fishing) so I started looking for underwater structure. Most all of my fish have been caught in 5' to 30' of water with the 30' being on the edges of underwater points with shad balls on the points with the bass holding at the edge on the deepwater side. It is a chart and electronics exercise to find these points and shad balls but when you do your success rate skyrockets. Another way I have had success is to find an area where a creek or better yet a creek bend goes by a flat. The bass will hold in the creek and swim up on the flat to the dinner table. There is so much cover on Fork it is tough to figure out where to target so I cast where more than one tree/stump comes out of the same root system and the bass will be buried in the middle of the cover or a tree that is more horizontal so the bass could get under it. It might take several casts to a hot spot to get her to bite but those are high percentage spots. I have had most success on slow moving baits like jigs and plastics. I use natural colored jigs and plastics fished slowly. I believe it is the presentation more than the kind of jig or plastic you use that will make you successful. I have been in small coves behind guide boats fishing fast baits where they caught nothing and with proper targeting fishing the green jig slowly I was able to catch multiple 6, 7 and 8lb bass. My 10 pounder came from two trees growing together forming a V in 10' of water 100 yards from the bank. If you have to fish something fast, try a rattle trap ticking submerged grass. When the trap hits and breaks loose from the grass it jumps erratically and that is when it will get hammered. I have heard it said on Fork that if you are not cussing grass, you are not in the bass and I believe that to be a true statement. Fork is so huge with so many places that look fishy, figuring a place to start is a daunting task. Target the high percentage spots. I believe most general areas of the lake produce well so I generally do not run far, I try to learn a few coves very well. This helps me learn where the 10% of areas are that hold 90% of the fish. This has worked so well I will stick to what has been catching fish. Hopefully this will help and good fishing. Bass Chaser57 8-)

Hi Russ, Of course there are NO hard feelings. As I said, that was the best trip ever to Fork and I can only hope for future trips to be as good. I would rather fish as do about anything so I spent LOTS of time on the water which meant I did not get to visit as much as I wanted but we were jerking bass lips. I have a very good friend who lives on Lake Amistad and he is hounding me to come there with my boat in spring but that is a long way so we may not have time with our house project. I am going to work very hard on the house this winter so it is done by fishing season. 2006 has been the best fishing year of my life with the Fork trip, the Canada trip where I really got into the Smallies, and the private lake I fish. Yes, I am addicted and do not want to go to rehab. It took me a few trips and a guide to figure Fork out so you will have a fantastic trip this year. Good Luck and Have Fun -- 8-)

Well Russ, At least you confirmed my ditching last year by not even mentioning it. No biggie for me, my wife just got tired of me eating beans--lol. My wife and I had a great time, caught lots of fish and several very nice big, heavy fish. It was our best trip to Fork ever. We are building a new home so we probably will not make it this year but if we do it will be the full moon in April. Have a great trip and GOOD FISHING!!! 8-)

I read matt's post about the beans and potato salad not making the party. This is true ONLY because you guys changed the dinner location without telling me. I had the beans, potato salad, and 2 homemade coconut pies in my room ready to go. You guys split. I have been ditched before so no big deal but don't crybaby about your own doings! Have a good trip. 8-)

Thanks to the youth for having such caring and energy. With so much bad news these days it is VERY refreshing to see young people giving of their time and talents to make the world a little bit better for others. I had a wonderful friend in George Lovins who got me hooked (pun intended) on fishing so when I recieved LOTS of tackle after his passing I did not know what to do with all of it so the contest came to mind. This is a wonderful tribute to George and I have been the biggest winner for being able to do this in remembering George. His passing has been a huge loss to many!!! I met Russ(Low Budget Hookers) at Lake Fork last spring and was very impressed with him so that is why I asked for his help. He came up with the idea of a secret contest so we did not get lots of bogus answers and it worked GREAT!!! ATTABOY RUSS!!! As I recall the first place will get about 20+ pkgs of mostly name brand plastics, 2nd is about 15, and the third is about 10pkgs. Hopefully these will be put to good use and we will see lots of photos of monster bass and hear all about the stories. Keep smiling and keep casting for better things. Kevin & Tera Barks (BassChaser57) Mrs. Linda Lovins 8-)

All I know is to check into the club at Sikeston or call Dennis Outdoors in Poplar Bluff as they have bass tournements at Wappappello Lake and they would know of a club in the area.

Good Job Nick-- Sounds like the newspaper will be your next sponsor.

I agree--but-- I read an article where the guy said his trips were not about the body count--just the experience. I still get excited about bowing up on a nice one though. 8-)

I have to confess, it depends wher I go and how I fish. Sometimes I enjoy lots of action and of course that means dinks. Sometimes I will fish only for larger fish. So my correct answer is ---I don't know how to answer. I have a small lake where I can catch 15-20 per hour but they are small then I can go to Lake Fork where 2 good fish per day is a good day. Mostly 3lbs or less though. 8-)

Some of the best fishing we had this year in Canada was when we were coming out of a protected cove and the wind was howling. The trolling motor could not handle it and we were blowing backward but we started catching fish like CRAZY! I started the engine, motored into the wind, shut it off then put the trolling motor on high to slow our backward drift speed and again POW, the fish were kamakazies. We looked at it and guessed the wind was stacking up baitfish and stirring up goodies from the bottom, the buffet was on. I have heard "the wind is your friend" and on this day it sure was as we went to a protected cove and never got a strike--back out into the wind we went. Just be safe! 8-)

Catching big bass vs small bass almost seems like two different sports. Maybe it would compare to bear hunting with a gun then with a bow. Almost everything is different with where they live, how they act, equipment needed, hooksetting, landing them. I have only had one very near DD and she was on a spinnerbait all my other heavy fish have been caught in fairly shallow water near deep water and have been on jig/trailer. I believe it the presentation that counts most of the time not the exact style or even the exact color. It would be fishing the right waters slow and methodical which means jigs or plastic.

Guys, These are all great ideas, I will have things thought out by the first of the week so we can get started. Thanks to everybody for the great ideas.--Kevin

As I mentioned in another post, I have just received lots of tackle (mostly plastics) from the estate of my late fishing buddy. I can think of nothing he would have liked better than to award some deserving young anglers some tackle to help them get started in their passion for Bass fishing. I have had some ideas forwarded to me but we need to get it right before we start. I am looking for ideas to make it fair, reasonable, and to get the tackle in the right hands. Financial need is always a consideration but I want young people who will get out, develop a passion for the great outdoors, and use the tackle. Of course Glen will have to give his blessing to the project prior to starting. Cart7 suggested an essay contest with a section on personal information (sort of a resume) first so we can get to know the contestants followed on the same post with ideas to improve the sport of Bass fishing. Maybe conservation projects with pictures, or they can come up with their own ideas. This should be graded on originality, content, grammar, and spelling. It would be nice if we could get comments from the members on the essays (positive please)and even take a poll on which contestant is most deserving. I would not want the poll to be the deciding factor but a huge help with the decision. There should be multiple winners but don't know how many at this point. Please help with ideas for this project as we can get some nice tackle into the hands of deserving young anglers. If anyone would have some nice rods, reels, or tackle boxes for the project that might be nice also as all I got was tackle, just a thought. I will be looking for your input on how to administer the project. 8-)

Hi Marcia, I have always believed effort equals results. You have obviously put forth the effort so now reap the results. Success will be yours. 8-)

How about "Speedy"? 8-)

HOW DO I GET SOME OF THAT COLOGNE??? 8-)

You have nothing to lose if your finances are in order so FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS and $150/day will get you clients so if you provide a fun, quality trip with fish in the boat it will not be long until you can charge about whatever you wish. People will gladly pay for a quality experience! 8-)

Mine is not self inflating but wish I had spared the extra money for that feature. I find I forget to take it off when I stop so I quit removing it and found it has never gotten in the way and it is good to have on in the fish photos. They don't take up valuable storage space and I would recommend them to everyone. 8-)

There is also an active club in Sikeston but I do not have any contact info on it. I understand they do lots of fishing at KY lake. Where are you located. I am in Dexter.