retiredbosn

If you go to Marion, launch near the canal, fish the back waters, bays and coves. There are tournaments there every weekend and the release area is normally near the canal. Murray fish near Dreher island, same reason. Murray is a herring lake, bass are thru spawning and are hanging off of points, suspended typical SC herring lake behavior. Stupid things are a mystery, except when stripers are around. Then the largemouth hang under the school and eat leftovers. I fish primarily during the week, allot of time the back seat is empty. You're welcome to tag along, hopefully teach me something.

Good night son! I hope he knows your full of it. Lol.

Man I completely forgot about that bait. I went to buy some when I first learned about them, then completely forgot. How long have they been on the market now 10 years?

I don't know where you're located but here in SC for 27 grand you could get into one a couple years old, of course Rangers are a bit higher. Could always buy a pro's boat at years end too.

The situation u described I would first try a rebel popr, if that didn't work, what ever size fluke matches the size and color of the bait rigged weightless. Cast the fluke into the swarm and do nothing, no twitches or jerks let it flutter, start counting if you get to a long ten count work it back with long pauses.

My favorite its a Pro Clacker like no other spinnerbait made. It has been my best producer by far.

I have a 2007 Nitro 911 CDC, love the layout and all the storage. What I dislike is the hotfoot. I'm so used to being able to control the throttle with my hand that it's taking some getting used to. Nitro is the only manufacturer to offer a center dual console bass boat, but you have to go used to find one. I really like operating the boat, it fishes great very comfortable. So far I have no real complaints, on a side note. Most literature I've seen states that my boat only has a 7 for rod locker, it holds 8 footers just fine. I almost bought a Stratos, I'm glad I didn't. I wasn't a fan of Triton either, the storage wasn't well thought out, and they get a little dicey when on plane. Ride in as many as possible go to boat shows, take notes, the boat for u will be obvious when u find it.

For stability look at a pelican raider, I'm 6' 2" about 240 I can stand on one of the pontoons and not tip it. Or the sun dolphin these are basically mini pontoon boats nothing more stable for the size.

Congrats

I texpose my hooks, (skin hook the point) keeps it weedless and there is nothing interfering with hooking the fish, no plastic to go through etc.

We all started fishing for the fun of it, the challenge of fishing, to spend time with a mentor, etc. I sometimes wonder if I wasn't more at ease, enjoyed the sport more, when I was touting a $30 combo and using 4 inch curly tails for everything! I now buy my line in bulk, spend too much money and typically fish alone. Still having fun, still catching fish, but a skunk haunts me. When I get to the point that it's no longer fun I will sell out and find another hobby. Buying quality lures, reels, rods, boats whatever, adds to the pleasure for some others are still evolving and finding their angling niche. My first baitcaster cost about 40 bucks, I got rid of it when it cost me what would have been my pb at the time. The reel flexed, gears disengaged slack line and fish was gone! Now I wouldn't dream of throwing my money away like that. So the cost of equipment has increased as my skill set and desire to catch bigger fish have increased.

Looking good slone

I respectfully disagree that the bass learned, there is to much evidence that bass do not learn. There is some anecdotal evidence that show bass will have a temporary negative reaction to hardbaits. What's more likely is that the fish u caught 1 either died (there is a small percentage of mortality no matter how gently the fish are handled) or more likely 2 had moved from that spot. There are spots on a lake that always hold bass, but its not always the same bass. Individual bass move throughout the year, abandoning one locale for another, other bass will move to the recently vacated spot quickly. Ever wonder why pros go back to the same spot day after day? Because they know that other bass will claim the spot.

Very true, but is that due to the lake experiencing a shift in population? In other words the stupid easily caught bass were harvested, leaving only the difficult to catch bass. I thought the study was interesting.

I'll try to find the link to the article I'm referencing. Basically it was a study of a controlled population of fish in a pond. All were tagged, identifying markers recorded, etc. The fish were all adults that were caught by biologist using electrical current from different reservoirs. It was a multi-year study. Anyway long story short, a certain portion of the population was caught repeatedly utilizing numerous baits (all artificial). Another percentage were rarely caught and only under certain light conditions, and only one or two presentations worked. The final portion of the population were never caught, these fish were easily spoked, apparently line shy etc. The study concluded that about 65-75% of the population of any lake were catchable bass, of that percent only 25% were easily caught. Of the ones easily caught their behavior remained that way throughout their life. Made no difference if they were a pound or ten pounds, these fish never learned. The group that proved difficult to catch remained that way throughout their life as well. They never showed any capacity for memory though and could be caught throughout their life. The group that proved to impossible to catch, remained that way. The percentage of catchable fish remained constant throughout the years. Spawn after spawn. Here's where it gets interesting. Finally the pond was drained, the uncatchable bass relocated to a different pond. They were isolated from the catchable bass in order to study them further. Amazingly their offspring exhibited the same characteristics and were not catchable period, not even live bait worked. In the other pond that contained the catchable bass. The population remained fairly constant, until they started removing the hard to catch fish, then the population experienced a shift where most fish were easily caught. Finally the ponds were drained all the fish went into one large pond. The biologist then opened the pond for fishing, the only requirement was the fishermen were required to keep their catch. Within a couple of years the easy fishing ended, all that were left were the difficult to catch and the impossible to catch The study concluded that liberal bag limits are very detrimental to fishing for sport. The overall population of bass remained constant, but catch rates dwindled.

How does this happen? Wireless communication? Sorta like Bluetooth technology? Excuse my ignorance, everytime I visit this section I learn something.

Looks like the same shirt and hat, is that your secret lucky shirts & hat? Overcast skies, either early morning or late day, long shadows

Catt’s a good dude. He has taught allot of us a thing or two. Toledo bend http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/41658-so-yall-want-to-learn-toledo-bend/

Strangely enough my pb came while bank fishing, here are a couple others I caught while bank fishing, one on the ground went 8 & the other 5

Now your just showing off!

Where is the transducer for the di located? Do you have an Ethernet cord connecting the two units? Hopefully Wayne will be along soon.

Sounds like a plan to me, I'll bring a cooler with the burger and dogs, buns all that stuff. I like to grill so I can handle that part if that's agreeable, just bring your favorite drinks, I'll handle the rest. So next question who needs a ride and who has a boat? I'll have my boat there.

I vividly remember my first and only cast with no brakes and super loose tension knob, lost the entire spool. Overruns happen for me it's typically the first cast, or late in the day when I'm tired and not paying attention. The tension knob IMO plays more into cast control than the brakes. I hardly use any brake now, but if I don't keep at least some tension on with the tension knob I'm going to overrun bad.

Given enough time and you'll be able to loosen up the brakes and spool tension knob. If u really want to experience the difference loosen the spool tension knob until the bait free falls, turn your brakes off, cast it! Now that you've experienced a birds nest cut all the line off the reel re-spool and practice some more

Sportsman Warehouse Jackall Mickey Jr, flukes, left there went to Academy Zoom lizards, Ol' Monsters and power bait worms. Seriously I need to stop.