skronky

Well just becareful man, don't want that one day to be the wrong day just because you want to prove someone wrong. It's always better Safe then Sorry. Thanks for the concern fellas, but there is about a zero percent chance I would mixed up a cottonmouth with a water snake, at least during the day. It would be like confusing a largemouth bass with a channel catfish!

I spend a lot of time flipping over rocks and logs if the fish aren't biting. I'm in central Oklahoma so there aren't any dangerous water snakes for a long way east or south. However, due to popular belief, EVERY water snake seen by EVERY fisherman I know is a cottonmouth, even though their range is nowhere near central Oklahoma (as long as you are looking at a state range map, not a map of the entire south). There are a lot of water snakes around here in virtually every body of water. They do a good job keeping the place clean, eating weak, dying, or dead fish. They really help to keep disease in check and make the fishing better. So my favorite thing to do when a water snake pops up and everyone starts freaking out is to ****** it up quickly. If there are any old timers around they start wining and moaning, explaining that the water snake is in fact a cottonmouth, and then they start making up stuff about the ways they can tell. If they won't still won't listen to the truth, I'll usually grab the snake by the tail and let it sink its teeth into my forearm (its not any worse than getting bit by a flathead while noodling). I just laugh as blood runs down my wrists and the old timers start to call me crazy and tell me I'm going to die. But of course, I don't. I've found that fisherman know about as much about snakes as snakes know about fisherman. Generally nothing! But they sure think they are all knowing... no offense guys

39lbs thrust, works sometimes and then does nothing. I don't know if there is a bad connection. Seems like the first step to breaking completely. Anyone else had this problem with motor guides? I know they don't have a great reputation on this board...maybe most people have had the same problem with them! Thanks

If they are small enough grab them from the belly. Put your fingers around the spines and you don't have to worry about gettings stabbed as long as you have a good grip. Unless its a bullhead, then use gloves. You can lip them like a bass. They'll bite, but it won't hurt that bite. Unless its a bullhead, then use gloves.

I was fishing the method I described above last night and I caught a 26.5 inch blue cat on CHICKEN LIVER just after dark. He almost yanked the pole out of my hands. It was awesome. Just goes to show liver can produce blue cats every once and a while. Before that I caught a channel cat about 18 inches on a green Senko texas rigged...

For me the best set up for channel cats is chicken liver fished on the bottom with no weight. My theory is the liver sinks really slow, releasing more scent throughout the water to call in the cats. But if you are in more than 10 feet of water I would use some split shots. Don't use a treble hook unless you plan on taking some fish home. Hot dogs also work well if there are cats near. They are certainly the "cleanest" bait I've used for cats. Chicken liver seems to attract more. Once you are in an area with lots of cats, switch to cut bait for bigger fish. Liver can catch big fish but cut bait seems to do a better job. Also night fishing is much more productive. Cats move around a lot at night, no so much during the day.

do a search on youtube and you will get a few videos on how to clean/fillet a fish. I haven't seen bass on there but I have seen stripers, hybrids, and crappie being cleaned. Its all the same.

I have a 39# motor and everstart marine battery. I forget the number but it has 75 amp hours. Its about 4 years old and I don't know if it was charged properly after being used before I bought it. After paddling for two hours against the wind last night AGAIN I decided to buy another battery. Its another everstart, but has 115 amp hours and 150 reserve amps (I think). I couldn't afford the 200 amps one. Hopefully that should be plenty.

I've heard of people using riding lawn mower batteries for backups. I have a 10 foot two man, two normal size batteries add a lot of weight (plus they are expensive). Anyone else have any ideas? It would just be for emergencies, like enough juice to help get back to the ramp.

They are great around lilly pads and other thick structure they can bounce over. They don't have much action on their own, so they aren't as good in open water. If you fish them on lilly pads pause the frog once it reaches a pad, then pull it to a different one and pause it. That's more realistic. Frogs usually don't swim from pad to pad as fast as they can like we usually fish frogs!

I say good. Ban them. We don't need to be leaving thousands of plastic worms in the bottom of lakes that will be there for years anyway. They will be replaced with biodegradable plastics anyway. The market will work it out so stop wining. We could all be more responsible in our hobby anyway.

I always look for topo maps too, but never can find any of the actual lake. I can almost always find topo maps of all the land surrounding the lake, but the topo stops with the lake. Always. Its very frustrating.

Its a great idea. I can't imagine being a serious fisherman without ever having a game fish as a pet. You can learn a lot about them and from what perspective they see food. I would get the smallest bass possible. The smaller it is, the easier it will be for it to adjust to its new environment. I would bring a net and not keep anything over 4 inches. Maybe get a few bluegill frye too. General aquarium maintanence is all that is required. Make sure you have a LID! Always have good water flow in the tank. Use the kind of filter that hangs over the side. Use distilled water only, rain water, or RO water from a local aquarium shop. Tap water is full of bad stuff, and even if treated it will still leave mineral deposits all over the place. Get the tank set up a few weeks before adding fish so it can cycle. NEVER do a complete water change. That is very risky for the fish. If the tank is set up correctly it should only need water added to replace what has evaporated. Lots of a aqautic plants will help filter the water. But you'll need strong lighting to support the plants, which is easy to do. I've had bass, bluegill, channel cat, madtoms, mosquito fish, huge crayfish, bull frogs, tree frogs, red ear sliders, snapping turtles, soft shell turtles, mud turtles, water snakes, garter snakes, bullsnakes, rat snakes, pretty much everything I could get my hands on as a kid!

striped and white bass hybrids. I haven't caught one yet.

There is a power plant lake in Oklahoma, lake Konawa, that has a good hybrid bass population. Usually people target them in spring because they are easy to find, but I didn't get a boat in time. Now I want to go give it a try. I'm planning on fishing the d**n, and trying to use my new humminbird sonar to find schools of shad in deep water. The water is 85 degrees and clear right now. Or should I target the spillway coming out of the powerplant, even though the water is warmed? Does anyone have any hybrid tricks for this time of year? Thanks

Ebay.

You are really better off with a spinning set up. I've found the most important thing when fishing for crappie is finding them. Since they school up in the summer you don't find many hanging out by themselves like bass. Jigs work great, especially when tipped with a berkley crappie nibble. They usually hit them on the fall so I fish them with medium to big sweeps. But I don't think it really matters how you fish them as long as you get the jig into the crappie and it is moving. Small crankbaits work too but for me jigs always produce better. But crappie usually aren't stocked in ponds unless they pond is huge. If you know there are crappie in the pond target standing timber and brushpiles, if there are any.

I'm going to do some night fishing tonight. Mostly bass but I'm going to try and go after some cats too. I'm camping at the lake so hopefully I'll be able to stay up really late and get in as much fishing as possible. Last time I was there I did great the hour after the sun set with a black jitterbug, but then nothing. So I'd like to get input on how to stay on the fish. I might evening try some live bait under my new glowing bobber. A little info about the lake. Its small, but deep. Most shores are steep. Its mostly rocky, but there are some islands with grass surrounding them. And a few coves with creek inlets with lots of grass. Last time I caught a lot of bass in a cove around the grass, then it seemed like they all left. Don't know the depth, but I have since bought a humminbird depth finder. Fairly clear water. Temps here have been at or near 100 this week. The lake has a lot of large bass and large blue cats.