Low_Budget_Hooker

When Imake the transition from post spawn tosummer patterning, Ilook for anything with 10-15 ft of water with deeper water nearby. Jig/pig is my favorite way to learn deeper structure. Gives you a good feel for what your graph is telling you is down there. Change up the times you go. Alot of our fish are just finishing the spawn and have moved off to deeper structure and tonight I'll be throwing a jig/pig combo, senko, Suspending jerkbait and topwater. I'll start going now in the 3:30am-sunrise and 6pm to midnight time ranges.

A picture is worth a thousand words (or dollars eventually)(small pic below)

Dude.......................................You win.

ECH- Episodic cluster migraine. Went to Dr's again today,..out fishing,....I mean,...healing for another 8 weeks.

You California guys need to come spend a summer with me. Reality check is free, I won't even charge you to see how we struggle in the cold! We got 5 lbrs that are probably 12 yrs old! But on the other side of it, you won't catch a 1000+ Bluefin off Malibu so I guess we're even But then again,...you do have those roosterfish which are a blast in the surf,....oh,...I don't know,... It's all relative and it's all fishing so,...it's all good!

Well, it's a small enough body to get to know. I would say you could fish every inch and know it intimately in 2 or3 outtings. Try a super fluke in and around any grass or vegetation.

4-5 is a lunker here.

'trout bowl"presentation Winner of big fish gets the signed "trout bowl" ( a salad bowl that the winner of each yr autographs), trophy and cash pot. This is David (last yrs winner) ceremoniously handing over the bowl to his uncle (this yrs winner) Sorry for the hijack

Good stuff SAL. That's how our "opening day" for trout season started 31 yrs ago. Now we have 3 generations of men there with about 15 of us "originals". Started off my friends dad took him and his brother. Then the next yr, him,brother and 3 friends. Next yr,he asked my dad (his best friend) to help out and so that was my first yr. (16 people total. 2 adults,14 kids.) Now,...1 of the original sons, is my best friend of 28 yrs. The relationships fishing can build can last a lifetime,...literally. This yrs group pic below

The Federation here also holds these once a year but they invite specific groups. They are a big help in the C.A.S.T. events.

There are a few national organizations out there that hold these events. The one we are most affiliated with here is the C.A.S.T. for kids Foundation. This one primarily works with physically and mentally handicapped or sick children. There is also another division (Fishing kids) that targets inner city youth. The way these work is we invite whole organizations and then the interested people register to attend. Like the Ronald McDonald House or Shriners Hospital,etc. Yours sounds like a private event being a company run ordeal. I would contact the friend that invited you and inquire a little more. You will probably be more than welcome but some registering may be necessary so they have the resources to accomodate you. For example, if youcame to one of our events un announced, I don't think I would ever turn a kid away from fishing. He/she would be more than welcome to come and fish and take advantage of the knowledge available. (Fishing lessons,wildlife class,etc) However, each "registered" participant would be getting a shirt,hat, rod & reel, tackle box, plaque with picture,etc.,etc., etc. See what I'm saying? I would give your friend a quick call and ask for the contact persons number for the event. Give him/her a call and get the whole scoop. Hope this helps.

or somthing like a hump out in deep water that doesn't come all the way to the surface but is surrounded by deep water on all sides. Prime.

One day, tuna fishing, I was resting my eyes, laying on the bow. Pilot whales had been surfacing all morning, nothing new. Then one surfaced very near the boat and cleared it's blow hole. I got me a nice "oil shower". there's no bottle of lemon juice big enough! Took a few days to have friends again.

jc-Welcome aboard. Congrats on your success. Great c-rig info in the sticky topic above.

Knowledge is power.

squeeze a lemon seriously. Lemon juice

So that would make you Mrs. Bill Dance? :-* I'm thinking more on the Laurel & Hardy lines for you two! I think you misread. Jackie Gleason? I chose the Brady's.

yea, I track more variables than most people. I know Rolo's records are pretty in-depth also. That one however, is just too inconsistent to track for way too many reasons such as the ones mentioned and the biggest variable of all would be which bait are you using? Someone that fishes 3:11 no bull frogs and buzzfrogs primarily will have a much lower ratio than a jig fisherman. If the angler employs both tactics, then it's a completely inconsistant number. Now that's just recording 2 tactics. Personally I use many more than that in one outting and a tournament fisherman even more than me. Waaaaay too much information.

and why. Bonnie & Clyde? Ricky and Lucy? Mine would be Mike & Carol Brady. I constantly deal with fishing with lots of different people. Whenever I take people fishing, I think of them as one of my kids that I am trying to teach. So I got lots of kids. I got Dirk as my "Alice" lending a helping hand constantly with my endeavors. Sometimes there's mayhem, sometimes there's discipline (gotta run a tight ship for safety sake) But there are always laughs and smiles and countless crazy adventures. **Yes, it's been a VERY long night of migraines and now I am shut off of the lake with 2" of rain coming down on a 30mph sideways wind. Idle hands...

Like I said to bassman,....I'm not a jerk,......I'm not the type of guy who would embarress someone on that level without provocation......

JIm- nfantastic posts, very informative. 2 things that stuck out to me from my experiences were that the 2 fish (male & female) on a bed are very often quite similar in size. For example, I hit a 4.2 the other day and figured I had found the female from a bed (10-13 ft ish) but my buddy casted in the exact same spot while I was unhooking her and came up with a 5.9. I doubt these were both females, bedding side by side! I figure they were fromthe same bed, with the 4 being the male. A "bull" male if you will. The second thing is the inflamed vent on a female with egg. It stays inflammed for a little while after they have emptied out also.

BBfool-Your point is quite valid but if you think back the show was based on the fact that the every day guy at home can challenge this guy. It actually ran that way for the first few seasons. Now however, you are correct. It's been nothing but name recognition type people. Bassman- I not a jerk, I let my girlfriend and nieces beat me all the time,lol. I was planning on letting him win but they won't even answer me. Email rally back in effect EMAIL RALLY

A high bluegill population can do some heavy damage during the spawn. Too many to defend the nest against. My point was that you may see alot of sunnies but that doesn't neccessarily mean that there is an imbalance somewhere. Certain times of year, they are much more visible than others. For instance, if person "B" were to go to the same lake in November, he may say "wow, no sunnies, I should put some in here." Fish should not be introduced nor harvested blindly. An educated opinion from the DNR can explain alot. Ask questions, you pay their salaries. Even an email to them may shed light on issues like disease and such that you are not aware of. Just my opinioon.

Careful what you wish for, those sunnies could be the only thing keeping those bass alive! Nature has a way of maintaining it's own balance. Things aren't always as obvious as they seem sometimes. If I were to do anything without DNR by my side, it would be to add some structure or cover. Give the bass an "upper hand" and one more place to ambush the bait from.

here it is and it looks like it would work perfectly!