done

LOL. Yeah C&R is a hot topic here that a lot of guys are passionate about. To me fishing is a lot like hunting. Selective harvest is a good thing. Now if everyone kept every fish every time they went out, they would deplete the fishery quickly. That being said, when I go out, I will frequently keep 1 of the Bass, almost all catfish, a lot of panfish, etc. Bass are absolutely delicious. I went to the private pond where my mother lives and at their request me and my bud kept about 2 dozen 4-6 lbers. Their pond is literally infested with them. Had a great cookout. When I get a huge one, I will almost always let it go. That is my thing though. My PB, which I caught this year, I did not let him go. I gut hooked him so I brought him back and gave him to my bud. The cove I caught him in was the same one his wife was baptized in when she was a kid. The two of them enjoyed that meal. Don't ever be sorry for asking man. It is good to and if you can spur a healthy debate and pull in a lot of opinions, it is always a win win.

Hey Man! Greeting for Gastonia. Whereabouts in western NC you from? I do a huge chunk of trout fishing out near Linneville and a ton of Bass fishing here in Gaston.

ROFL ;D Nice. Yeah I have to say breaking in my motor was ANNOYING but I have seen what happens when you do not do it properly and that could be some of it. I have seen the threads here on Ethanol and remember the fun time we have in WNY with lawn mowers and snow blowers when they made it mandatory for a bit. So I avoid it. Maintenance is a common issue as well. Speaking of which I REALLY need to get mine in for a tune up and check up.

I am not picking on any one in particular but why does being famous make you a role model? I have seen folks claim everyone from Paris Hilton to Bruce Smith as role models and heros. I have never understood why being a good actor, or being able to throw a ball good, or in the case of Bruce Smith crush the life out of an opponent makes you a humanitarian. I met Bruce Smith many times at one of my previous jobs. He was a good, down to earth dude and a great ball player but role model? I mean Heath Ledgers death, was tragic, he was a real good actor, I enjoyed his films but I cannot say I would place his death above the coworkers 4 yr old son that died of cancer about the same time. While Heath's end came mostly at his own hands, the 4 yr old fought like a 40 yr old against his cancer. To me a role model/hero is someone like a Congressional Medal of Honor winner, MLK, George Washington Carver, Joe Clark, even Patton etc. People who really sacrificed a great deal of their life (or with CMH winners frequently all of it) with little or no comparative personal gain, to make the world a better place than it was. Many of the biggest heros most folks probably would not even know their names. Like I said, while I am bringing up some examples, not picking on any one celebrity/athlete, just the whole concept of famous equals role model. I just do not get it.

That and the folks hurt in the explosion. It was a pretty nasty scene from what I saw on the news here.

Where abouts does it hurt? I tend to get lower back pain when I do full day trout trips, but mine is because my posture sucks. You work out a lot? My brother pulled his back mowing the lawn when he was 25. That was because he had been power lifting (at sick levels) since he was 16. if it does not subside or keeps happening, i would take the other dudes advice and see a chiropractor or your doctor. You cannot be too safe with your health.

Apparently, the plant in NC that blew up, was the only one in the US to make these things. If ya like 'em, better go get 'em now. They wont be making any till fall at the earliest. http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstocks/archive/2009/07/06/is-slim-jim-an-endangered-species.aspx

I got a 50# Minn Kota on my 1446, I used to have a 12# (it was free). the 12# would work alright if there was no wind and I was not in a hurry to get anywhere. The 50# will break even heading into Winds of 65 MPH, on a normal day though it rocks. I would expect 27# (especially for the right price) would work on most situations. High winds would be the exception.

YES, thats what a fella here at work told me about his last year-It was not planned and it all happen accidentally-so I ;D at him on that. The other funny thing is when they believed they made the right choice on the new partner Sooo you believe it won't happen again : Its a hot topic right now here at work, theres been 6 affairs here in the last three years On the happening without intent, in the cases I have heard about (as I do not go around polling folks), these types of accidents happen because the individual put themselves in a position for it to happen. For example, I am a frequent business traveler. I do not travel with female coworkers. I am sure their spouses would not like it, and I know my wife would not. While I will meet a male coworker for lunch or dinner occasionally, I would never dine one on one with a female coworker. I do not go out to bars alone (in fact I very rarely go out to a bar at all). We are all intelligent enough to know what situations provide opportunity for these accidents to happen. You can play the "I am tough, I am not weak, it would never happen with me." game or you can avoid those situations altogether and not have to care or worry about how tough you are. Just my .02. My family means to much to me for me to take those chances.

Amen to that. I would love to see them at least require the CG class for drivers of any watercraft. I am shocked at how few folks have it and how dangerous they become. Granted Lake Wylie is not as dangerous as say Lake Erie or the Niagara River near where I grew up, but folks learning right of way, simple navigation signals, basic safety should be a requirement.

Hey guys to add to his question and maybe help this guy out, what about making the wood on the transom larger? I was once told that it would help to relieve the stress on the aluminum on the back of the hull ( I have a new tracker topper 1446). Is this something that can/should be done? Or should he use the exact same size?

I feel your pain man. I went from my a small farm pond which was like fishing in a barrel to Lake Wylie in NC/SC which is HUGE. Where the pond I was used to had 3 or 4 good spots, Lake Wylie had 300 or 400 just within a mile of the launch. First of all, the spots at the ponds you found fish, remember the characteristics of those spots. Why were they good? Find similar spots on your new lake to start with. On my farm pond the Bass were big on one side of the pond that was the first to see shade, it had a deep drop off, good amount of fallen trees and sticks. The first bass I got out of Wylie I found in a cove, fishing the shaded side, I did not have a graph but by pitching some jigs I got a good feel of the bottom and I saw it had the same type of drop-off. Watch others. Where are they going? How and what are they throwing? If you have a boat and a fish finder go out to their spots (after they have gone) and get a good look at what characteristics make up those spots. Find other spots with similar characteristics. While in a pond you can cover the whole thing in a single day easily in a lot of cases. In a larger body of water that is not the case. Focus on what you can cover for the day and work with it. It may take you a few trips to start to get to know the lake. I have been hitting Wylie for about a year and I am now really just getting a good set of holes to hit. Keep in mind, in a larger body of water you may see a greater shift in behavior during specific seasons. In the pond I hit the fish pretty much kept to the same patterns all seasons except spring when they were bedding. In Wylie, I have seen drastic changes in where they are in the seasons. So in a long winded way, I would repeat what the others here have said, be patient, pay attention, methodically find your pattern.

But of course! What true paranoid would be complete without firearms!? LOL. I got a few myself, my fav is still my semi auto 12 gauge. I load it up with deer slugs though. With 4 little ones in the house, I need accuracy and I am a very good shot.

I know around here, if someone catches a gar they kill it. They look at them like they do snakehead though gar are native to this area so it always bugged me. To me if it is not an invasive species, it is part of the ecosystem and belongs there every bit as much as the species you want to catch. I see trout fisherman do the same thing with chubs. Beat them against a rock or toss 'em off into the woods. The irony is in the hatchery supported streams, The trout or the non native fish (except the brookies).

I actually have it locked down with a firewall, 128 bit encryption and explicit username/password required for access. I am a professional paranoid

I recently grabbed one of these: http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/WVC54GCA Got it set up at home to pick up movement and email me video when it does. Got it for a few reasons the biggest being the geek factor (I work in IT and it was just cool). The other was of course home security. The only way you can get into my home without being seen by my neighbors is a set of back windows off our deck. This covers them and if something moves it sends a video to my email and my wife's which hits her phone and lets her know before she gets home that something is going on. I spend a lot of time on the road so I always worry about someone sneaking in on her as well. One of my clients recently installed a wired variant in his home. In 2 weeks he found his neighbors kids going into his shed, partying in his back yard, his neighbor getting tanked and stumbling through his back yard, His neighbor and family partying in his back yard, and a few other things. Was freaky. Anyway, any other paranoid folks like myself out there got one of these set up?

doh...I think i just got served! ;D Seriously though, they work, and work well. At least on Wylie. One of many types of ammo I got. One thing they are good for, when you are out on a long day, and get to a point where you want to just kick back for a bit and throw something out not really caring what type of fish you get, they are good. I can pull in just about any species in Lake Wylie on these. They are also good for new water. I can throw these and cover some new water weedless, easily and determine what species are in there. If they got some bass, I can pull out whatever to zero in on them more. But then, the way I am, I would use a pink pole and tie on a barbie doll holding a rubber worm if it will get me Bass (I have 4 girls so the thought of finding good use for all the barbies is enticing).

Thanks Glenn, now I am going to have that monty python song stuck in my head all day long. LOL. I have seen this on a couple threads as well. Where folks asked question that to the responders was maybe a little naive but they got blasted for their question. Blasted may be a little to tough a term, but the responses seemed very un-BR like. Maybe they were being sarcastic (online you never can tell). God knows I have asked some pretty low level questions over the time i have been here. I always got good answers from the folks here, even if they tried to gently tell me to "Go read the article!". or when they have disagreed with me on a topic they were able to get their disagreement across without tearing a fellow apart. Honest to Gods truth fellas, when i came into this board I had never caught a single LMB out of Lake Wylie. Not one. Thanks to the article on here, the feedback to my stupid questions, the guidance on modifying my boat, I am taking newbies out on a regular basis and having them hit the crud out of the bass. I am fishing smarter, safer (that was a big one), and more effectively than I was the day I signed up. This was because all of you took the time to respond to my good and even more importantly, my "duh" type questions. I also have significantly modified the way I behave on a ramp thanks to feedback and guidance on ramp etiquette, which is something I know is not easy to stay cool on when discussing. I would not want BR to be a place where everyone spent their entire time trying to be PC as not to offend the PC police, but if we could all maybe consider our posts a little more maybe refrain if the only retort we have it to tear someone apart, we could refrain. It does seem they general mood is a little more aggressive than normal. Anyway, off the soapbox, you are a great bunch of guys on here and I would not want to see a negative mood overwhelm the site. Y'all are too good for that.

yeah that is them. I think the old ones I had were left over from a while back. I was having a slow day one day and figured, what the heck. I just cannot believe how active the bite here is with them. In a lot of cases you do not even have to do anything. Just cast 'em out in a good cove and they'll be nailed before they hit the bottom. The only thing I don't like is that they don't last more than a couple hits before they are all torn up. They just have some good action to them when you walk them in too.

http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/kelly-bass-worms/113111.aspx# I had one left in my box from a long time ago and last year gave it a shot for S&G's. It looks cheap, figured I might grab a cat or sunfish off it. To my surprise Bass hit the crap out of it. I quickly went through all I had (the unfortunate part, they do not live long when you start getting 5#'s or larger hitting them). I got a few more online and have been using them on and off this year. bass beat the heck out of them. They got real good action underwater. I use the black and white ones, the way they move in the water the contrast seems to trigger strikes (least that is what I tell myself). I have caught the biggest Bass of my life on one of them. Anyone else use these? I would be especially interested in anyone who uses something like them that maybe works as good but can survive more than a couple good hits.

Agree completely with ya here. I started out buying the lower end rod/reel combos (think my first one was from walmart). I have a Eagle Cuda 168 on what was originally an OOB 1446 jon. I have been steadily moving up here and there. Pickinging up a reel and replacing that on the Walmart combo. Grabbing a decent rod, modified the jon w casting deck and electronics. I have really been building my gear as a build experience. The cheap fish finder is fine though. I can see enough of the bottom to gauge depth and structure, then I just need to pay attention above water to find Bass. I actually get entertained when I come in with my <$4k modified jon, and my cheaper gear with a full livewell and a daily catch total much higher than the guys with the high end boats and gear. Don't get me wrong, I still have more left to learn than I have learned to date but experience, reading some books/articles, and sharing on this board have taken me farther than better gear ever did.

I hear ya burley. We have had some bad drought conditions the last couple years, this year though is nice so far. I feel for you guys, a couple years ago they closed most of the launches around here because of lake levels.

I would say both. It takes skill, experience, and knowledge to get to the spots that have the highest probability of holding a good sized Bass. It takes a bit of luck that the biggun will be there that day, at that time, and want to bite. You can go to the same place same time of day, same conditions, and have different numbers and sizes of fish there each time. It takes a mix of skill and luck to use the correct bait. Skill and experience enable an angler to determine the most likely colors and type based on the water clarity, time of day, depth, etc and to ADJUST when it does not work out. How many of us though have caught fish like gangbusters on days or in conditions when experience has taught us that it should not work? It takes skill and experience to develop the right presentation for your baits, in specific conditions. An angler can entice even a stubborn Bass to bite in many cases but not all. Once you set the hook, to get the fish in, is pure skill. Setting your equipment the right way, keeping the lines tight, getting them into the boat, etc. IMO, it is still a game of odds but skill and experience give you MUCH better odds.

Man...we have all had those days/weeks/etc. I have had entire seasons where I can catch next to no bass but can have someone with the SAME bait right next to me throw and catch Bass after Bass. I have had some days I have been ready to tie my anchor to my ankle and throw it overboard. You need to stick with it. 9 times out of 10, I find my pace is off. My bud who is 9,000 times more patient than me will beat the crap out of me because he works a hole. I will cast 6 times to his 1 and he will catch 6 fish to my 1. Reading is GREAT. Knowing your prey makes a huge difference. The other part is...do you have electronics or some way to see the bottom structure? When I put a cheap graph on my boat, it made all the difference in the world. Sometimes the difference between catching them and not was a 25 ft shift in one direction. Shore fishing could be worse cause you are limited to what you can access. Explore more on the bank. You mentioned live bait. When you fished these same spots with live bait, are you pulling in fish? What kinds? What type of rig did you use? Did you ever get Bass with live bait from these same holes? I would try live bait again. This time though, look at where you are catching the fish, how you have it rigged, what action you have to the live bait. Once you have it figured out, try some plastics that are similar in look to the live bait you were using and try the same thing. See if you cannot at least get bites. If that works move from there. Do not always trust the book knowledge. The biggest Bass I have caught I caught in a cove nobody fishes. They fish all the coves around it, the main channel outside it, but nobody fishes this cove. Been told there are "no fish in there" and it has "bad structure". Yet I can consistently get Bass out of there. Keep it up though dude, keep experimenting, keep trying, if the same ol' same ol' does not work, try something the books say would never work. it might surprise you.

I loathe summer. Not because of fishing but because of the jet skis and other boaters. Most of them have no idea what the rules of the water are or what common courtesy is.