Certified Public Angler

My cousin and I pulled out 10 mudfish out of his lake one day when we were about 10 years old. We then proceeded to use a 2x4, a BB gun, and a knife to kill them. Looking back it was pretty messed up, but the instructions from grandpa were to kill them... :-/

haha, nice glove : Congrats on breaking in a new bait, but next time just use your thumb that way you can look at your roughed up thumb during work and dream of being fishing. ;D

the citica 200ds are supposed to be going for real cheap right now, they retailed for 120 only a month ago before the E series came out. I have one and it is a nice reel. Don't forget to watch the flea market, there are good deals on there a lot. EDIT* just did a quick look at ebay and here is a new one for 80$ http://cgi.ebay.com/SHIMANO-CITICA-200D-BAITCAST-REEL-NIB-6-2-1-CLOSEOUT_W0QQitemZ250302333627QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250302333627&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

too harsh on you? that looks great. Have fun.

arg won't play on my cpu either...the numbers are ridic though.

during school I get the weekends and every once in awhile I'll walk down to the lake on a weekday. I'm lucky to have a lake across the street so I can just shore fish for an hour or so when time frees up, getting all the boat stuff out is saved for the weekends.

you guys gravedig much...?

pics please! Congrats btw!

Well there are a couple small holes near the stern but I think most of the water comes in through rivets beneath the deck. I don't think you could see anything from a picture. I would like to just but a bed liner on the bottom, but my question is what brand to use/how much to buy to cover a flat-bottom 12 ft?

20$ berkley digital scale at wal-mart. Once I made this purchase my fish lost about half their weight. It stinks living in reality. ;D

suffix and powerpro 30lbs. I don't worry about the color rubbing off, not that important, imo.

wow, I bet that was fun. lol.

My uncle came in the house with a cranks treble hook stuck in the meat of his shin. After a lot of cutting, pulling, and rubbing alcohol it finally came lose. It will happen to all of us one day whenever I rip a lure out of the water on a phantom strike and it comes flying at me I'm just covering my face and praying it doesn't aim for the groin.

dude you are like the unofficial ragetail spokesman here. ...hmm I didn't just order a pack of lizards, annies, and space monkeys...

I have a 12 ft jon boat that I load into my tacoma. I put all my gear inside it and put the TM and battery in the backseat. It is very easy tp load/unload with 1 person. I would advise getting a 12 ft if you have a big enough bed to hold it and you will want to be fishing with a partner very often. My boat is kinda cramped with 2 ppl in it, but it's a perfect 1 man vessel.

I agree that color doesn't really matter, we all just have our favorites that seem to work more often. Mine are: Watermelon seed Green Pumpkin June Bug Whenever I buy a new type of plastic I usually reach for these colors.

I couldn't agree with you more. There are some hawks on my pond that can be seen diving in the water and pulling out a small bass often. Sometimes I'll just forget my worm is in the water waiting to watch the birds dive on another fish. Not a mosquito bite all year... That is something I have no concept of, if I didn't get bit by a mosquito I probably didn't make it out of bed or off the couch. ;D

I fish 2 private lakes here in Florida that have been stocked with triploid grass carp to help control the vegetation. I realize that these fish are protected and there are fines for harming them or harvesting, but to my knowledge you can still catch them. Many times as I am cruising around the shallow areas of the lake to a new bass spot I run into these huge fish. I saw 2 this morning that were 3 feet long, when they spooked they move a ton of water and the fisherman in me would LOVE to fight this fish. How in the heck can you catch these fish? I run into them randomly because I assume they were stocked properly per acre of water and they cannot reproduce, so it's not likely I find a pack of them feeding. Whenever I see them I want so badly to swap my worm to wacky and snag the beast, but I know it's not allowed. Any advice on hooking up on one of these pups?

haha, or some serious CPR is going on

Interesting...I guess if I have any problems I could always start using the palomar for my mono rods. I just find taking the loop back over the bait to be annoying and sometimes tedious depending on the size of the lure. Or maybe I should go ahead and make the switch that way if I ever hook up with a hog like you got in your avy then I won't beat my head against a wall. ;D You may never get a re-do with one of those bad boys, great fish.

This is the best bass forum I have found on the net. Welcome to the mix.

4 pounds 9 ounces, I know it will be dink in this thread...but I am still beaming! ;D

Lucky crafts aren't good for my tackle box, they just look pretty bc I am too scared to throw them. LOL.

I used to tie the improved cinch for everything and I struggled breaking my line at the knot WAY too often. I then learned the palomar and the arbor knot. I have not had a line break or had a knot fail once since switching to these two. I tie the arbor knot for all mono and FC or co-polymer applications. I tie the palomar for braid. With a mono backing I tie a uni to uni. With 100% success so far I cannot recommend it more.

I tried out night fishing for the first time last night. There was no moon in the sky at all so it was pitch black. I brought a maglite, a small latern and a head lamp. I only used the head lamp to tie on a new bait or unhook a bass. And the others were for launching and getting back in. Ended up catching 4 bass in about 2 hours. Largest was about 2 lbs. so sorry I didn't bother getting a pic. Honestly it was kinda freaky, lol. There is about a 6 foot gator in that lake and even though I know he couldn't touch me my boat rides low and it was in the back of my mind. lol. The baits I caught fish on were: 3/8 oz. spinnerbait white - My first spinnerbait fish ever. whoo hoo! 10 inch ragetail anaconda greenpumpkin weigtless. and zoom U-vibe watermelonseed. 2 fish. I tried some Rat L traps and buzzbaits to no avail. I got 2 hits on a black Jitterbug but they missed the bait, and nothing after that. I also missed one on a *** black and blue. One time when the I thought I was close to surfacing the *** I reeled it in real quick and the tails were skipping on the water, a bass tried to hit it about 2 feet from the boat but missed it, it scared the crap out of me. lol. I took extra precaution being out at night and the only person who knew I was out was sound asleep. I was fishing a lake that I have never fished before from a boat, so I didn't motor anywhere besides the areas I have bank fished previously to make sure I didn't hit any unknown structure. I wore a life-vest the entire time, which I never do. And I also fished sitting down in my jon boat 95% of the time. It can get pretty unstable and I have accidentally rocked my dad out of the boat once...oops. It was a cool experience and I would like to try it again, maybe with a little moon light. Is there a best moon phase to fish? I have always heard under a full moon the fish feed all night, but after last night getting plenty of hits I believe they just feed 24/7 This morning I went out on the same lake, my gf is house sitting and the house is on a private lake. Caught 7 this morning all on plastic U-vibes and lizards and ***. Unfortunately I didn't look up the new entry code for this week of the fall series before I got on the water, oh well an excuse to go out again. I also traveled the entire pond to explore the different structures. So next time with some moonlight I can safely navigate.