Low_Budget_Hooker

thats the thing, I'm not really willing to convert the boat. Slow fishing will always be my thing. Just looking for a change while things are slow.

I got a niece that will run the motor for trip to the movie theatre with uncle Russ after And if you ask my friends , they'll tell you to stay tuned for a "franken" version of a blender with a dremel speed pedal hanging off the front of the big red jon,lol.

I've noticed, coming into a transitional time of yr in the northeast that the bite is really a hit or miss thing right now. Looking for another strategy to try when the go-to's aren't producing. I never speed fish and I won't go home till there are 5 in the boat. This can take awhile when you are picking apart grass that may only be holding a fish or two. Soon enough the big fish season will begin and the jigs will be flying full force in the deepest water with the steepest rock banks but for now, I thought I might challenge myself to somthing I see work for many of my fellow hunters here. My own member challenge if you will. RW- I was thinking of "speed fishing" as starting at the bass of a point with a husky jerk, spinnerbait or even a topwater and constantly casting and retrieving as I manuever the boat along the side, out around the tip and down the other side of the point and on to the next one. For this I would need both hands on the reel non-stop while I walk the boat out and around with a foot controlled motor. I just don't think I have the tools to do it properly. With a transom mount I have to constantly adjust with my hand and the bow is out in front of me, subject to the winds.

A question for all our proficient power anglers, joshkeller,kiethscatch,FBL,etc. Is a foot controlled T/M neccessary? I was reading a post earlier about power fishing, moving from point to point, grabbing the few fish off each point and moving on. My lake is 223 acres and I was thinking that power fishing wasn't really feasable for me seeing as how I have a transom tiller T/m. Make sense? Should I not bother trying?

Odd,...I can't believe I missed that one!

Have you fished with this year? I was fortunate to have alot of time off lately and got to fish with 17 new people from 9 different states. Pretty cool. I'm curious to see how some of the guides answer also.

Doesn't matter, all these suggestions still apply.

That's Better,...cheater.

Where it goes is a mystery till it gets posted. I will say this,..it went NORTH.

Our state made a book. It's a compilaton of 100 lakes and ponds in RI from a study done in 1957. Call DNR.

FBL- Read back, you'll see that my snakehead ended up deader than sadams sons. He was actually store bought in the early 90's. This was before we knew what we know now and they were still sold legally. But,no,..I've never released a store bought fish into a natural fishery.

liqour before beer, have no fear, beer before liqour, never be sicker... oh, no, wait,.... Slow it down and go to town Long cast gets the bass never let you down,..the greens, the blacks, the browns Hooksets are free Always a jig on a rig Big turtles=fish Every fish tells you somthing, even the ones you aren't catching Can't catch 'em from the couch Dolphin=Tuna shade=mahi mahi Follow the birds

There are a gazillion ways to fix a leaky jon boat. If it is the actual rivet, there are 2 or 3 specific treatments that are painless, cheap and quick. My favorite is to use a tapered head bolt (stainless of course) with a dab of 5200 marine adhesive/sealant on the thread. Drill out old rivet and replace with bolt from bottom. Bed liner has it's +'s and -'s I think you just gave me a good idea for a new article.

Because he will recycle anything you put in there! Very fitting name for an Oscar.

Awesome nick!! Way 2 go!!!

OK, it's nearing the end of the month so if you havn't been challenged yet, PM the person on the list BEFORE you and remind them that you are waiting. If you don't get a reply in 2 days, PM a mod and one of us will challenge you personally. Also remember guys, that the time of the year can have an effect on the challenge results. Try to keep it realistic. ex.--Please don't challenge me to fish a buzzbait in 2ft of water in Dec. I'll be making slushies,lol. Everyone is doing a great job and thanks to all for helping keep it rolling smoothly.

Tipp-It's a confidence thing Here's a topo of mine. It's kind of in the boondocks so the google earth image is useless.

Ken- doesn't always work that way these days....lol Times have changed.

very nice set up Brad Muddy- what crayfish? lol They don't last very long unless they find a hiding spot. Then they can last yrs ,...literally. Found one under a rock once when cleaning the tank, hadn't bought any in over a yr or so.

This has come up a few times before and the overwhelming asnwer was that in any 24 hour period, the best time to catch bass is whichever of those 24 hours are available to you.

Don't know about fedearal requirements,I only know in Riverside, there is a chinese restauraunt with a 500 gallon custom tank. They have Perch and Largemouth in the tank and on the wall next to it is a permit from the Dept. of Environmental Managment of Rhode Island. I always assumed the BPS would obtain one of these same permits. My friend has a 250L gallon tank and was going to do all bass so I told him to call D.E.M. about a permit and he was told that they were not granting residential permits for gamefish at this time. I assumed it was this way across the board. Ouchitafisher should know--JIM???

Well,no, the bass you had was wild and so was the food so no issue there. I'm talking about feeding wild food to a "store" bought fish. I can't imagine a bass stopping at 2 minnows. Crazy. And when I say skinny,....I can't stress it enough,...I mean skinny! Paper belly. I have an Oscar in a 55 at my house right now. Been in this tank 9 yrs. He stopped growing at 3/4 pound and about 12 inches. Tank is 13 inches deep His name is Dumpster,...say "Hi"

another note-- anyone bringing fish from the wild to a tank Be sure there are no current occupants in this tank I made this mistake again, when I lived in vermont. Same pond, Colt. After the bass, I got a snakehead for the 80. Grew like a champ but was getting expensive to feed so seeing as how I was fishing out at Colt Pond a few times a week anyway, I took my minnow trap and left it there one night. Next time there, I emptied contents and took them home. (minnows, chubs and crays) Fed minnows to snakehead,....loved them Hopped in shower and 2 minutes later I heard the cover of the tank. sounded like someone slammed it. I got out of shower and snakehead was on livingroom floor, stiff as a board, literally. I asked vet and evidently, the wild fish carry parasites that the farm fish never built up immunities to. When you go to buy shiners at the bait store, you'll notice the water in the tanks is blue. That is some kind of anti-parasite stuff. If you have a feeder tank they suggest you buy some of this stuff to keep your feeders clean. My point is, look into it first if you are introducing "wild caught" specimen to "non-wild" caught specimen. Not only did I lose a $25 fish, I felt guilty as heck that my ignorance killed a pet. (now that we know what we do about snakeheads, I don't feel so bad but still,....you guys get the point)

Ok, first off, I am only speaking from my personal experiences. I have no biological or marine studies to back up my statements, just observations and opinions of my own. With that said it's ok to agree to disagree. When I lived in Vt, I had an 80 gallon tank. I took home 2 6in bass from a place called Colt pond one day. I had a small Oscar in the tank for about 4 months and we moved that to a tank I had set up at my g/f's house which finally stabilized. The first day I had these bass, they were "normal" size. When I woke the next morning, day 2, they were emaciated looking and I felt terrible so I went to the pet store and grabbed 50 feeder fish (about 1-1.5 inch goldfish)(about $7) I put all 50 feeders in figuring that will be good for a few days, let them gorge and be happy seeing as how I just displaced them from their home, it was the least I could do. Of course, they fed till there were tails sticking out of their mouths and by late that evening, there wasn't a single goldfish in sight and nice size golfball bellies on my happy bass. I was kinda surprised that they ate all 50 but not really because I did know that bass are voracious eaters and I didn't know if maybe they had been starved in that pond before or whatever. Anyway, I figured opnce I lowered the temp a bit, slowed their metabolism, they would balance out. They didn't. I gave them another 50 the next day and same thing. oh, I forgot, morning 3,...emaciated looking again. Bellies razor thin. I did this for like 3 weeks, $7/day and they would be all malnuorished looking again each and every day I would wake up. The problem now was that my single fluval 303 wasn't able to keep up with all the waste this was also creating and I've never had a problem with a 303 keeping an 80 gal crystal clear. The nitrogen was also through the roof. So now I have to ask myself. I figured these would be the ultimate pets, being a bass angler myself, but only if I could give them a better life than they had. I thought I could offer them fat fat fat bellies and super clean, fresh water for the rest of their lives but this wasn't the case and I felt that I was ethically and morally doing the wrong thing by keeping them. Not to mention that their home went from 60 acres to 80 gals. Which brings me to the point of "how can I consider ethics when I stick hooks in their face?" Very easily. The 2 are exremely different in my book. Am I the only one who sees a difference between a pierced lip and imprisonment? Both are "forced" and that's the real issue, granted, but still, I think the degrees vary greatly. Plants-I only keep "larger" fish. I've tried all plants and I give up,lol. I only use driftwood, rock(slate is very nice) and skulls (deer and coyote) for decoration now. Saltwater is next I think. It's time. To clear up the confusion regarding the "Cabela's" bass Read back and you'll notice the words "without a permit" Many restauraunts and businesses do display gamefish but a permit is required. Very few permits are granted for residential display. that's my .02 guys, thanks for listening.

My personal opinion, aside fom the obvious laws of keeping gamefish captive, is that LM do not make very good pets. Especially in a tank as small as a 55gal. A bass needs 2/3 it's body weight a day in food. I personally can't afford that. Even if I could, I wouldn't want to have to clean any tank that often. Plan on changing filters weekly with that kind of refuse in the tank also. You're talking a minimum of $100 a week to maintain that bass anywhere near a level that would be considered morally "ok" even though you are talking about taking a wild fish and putting it in a 4x1 tank. This is not a farm raised Oscar. Although a cool idea, I think it's kinda mean. And again, without a permit, illegal. NJfishinguy- I'm assuming you had a minimum of a 200 gal tank to get a fish, any fish to 2lbs!! (fish will only grow big enough till it can't turn around. In a 125 gal, that's about 1.25 lbs) How much did that thing cost to feed and what size fluvals do you run?