diver_sniper

Yessir, they we using great big 1 oz. weights on their T-rigs. When they said that I turned to the girlfriend and said "Jeeesh! These boys aren't playin around!". She just rolled her eyes. I understand the idea behind the big weight, but it still seems a little overkill to me. I don't think I've ever thrown a weight bigger than 1/2 oz. on a T-rig, and I throw a lot of T-rigs.

I caught that episode last night. I've tried to find it online for ya but I didn't have any luck finding that specific episode either. I can tell you though that they didn't really teach anything too ground breaking. The best I could do was find a bunch of older episodes of the Linder show here http://www.watchtheoutdoors.com/shows/lindners-fishing-edge.html . To the right of the video click on the tab next to the tab that says "Linders Fishing Edge 2010" and there's a bunch of older episodes to watch as well.

For anyone who's interested, head over to basszone.com and click on the link for the on the water live web video. They've got a guy in a boat watching Shaw as we speak. He's streaming it live and commentating as they fish. It's really cool. http://www.basszone.com/

Yes, it's an entirely new problem. And it's silly because sometimes I can put them back together and they're like butter. I get the feeling that there's a variable involved that I don't know about. Like the teeth need to be lined up in a certain way when I put it all back together or something. I don't know... It's frustrating. If the gears were worn would I be able to visually detect it?

Hey guys, I've been going through some of my older reels this off season and trying to clean them up the best that I can. Everything has gone well except for that now when I reel line in there seems to be something rough going on inside. It's a constant vibration that I think is the pinion gear and the drive gear not working together properly. It's like the teeth are lining up just slightly off. Is there some kind of trick to this? It seems like most of the reels I've torn down end up with this problem to some degree or another. Am I over greasing? I'm pretty certain I've got all the parts back in the right places. I keep all the schematics when I buy a new reel. Anyone have any ideas?

I've been watching a lot of fishing videos lately, and now I'm watching old Classic highlight shows on ESPN Classic (turn it on if you're reading this on Friday night) and I've been paying close attention to how everyone casts. It's interesting how everyone does it a little bit different. What I'm wondering is how many people do the switch? Just to be clear, an example of someone who switches would be someone who has their right thumb on the spool and holds the rod with their right hand during the cast, and then after the cast switches the whole thing so they're reeling with their right hand and holding the rod with their left. Do you guys feel that switching is a bad habit? I had never thought about it before but you're spending a lot of extra time an energy and also not feeling much during that split second during the exchange from one hand to the other. If you were with a new fisherman on their first day with a bait caster would you discourage them from falling into the habit of switching?

Did anyone else have trouble watching the streaming video of the Okeechobee weigh in today and yesterday? I watched it on Thursday and Friday without problem, but these last two days when I really wanted to see what was going on, I couldn't because it would constantly be frozen and say "buffering xx%" at the bottom of the screen. Just wondering if the problem was on my end of if it's something everyone had trouble with?

Hey guys, I'm wondering if anyone has tried this Under Armour cold gear base 2.0 or 3.0 stuff when they're fishing? I've been to the store and felt both materials. I've never owned any UA though and everyone seems to talk about it like it's some kind of magical material, so I don't really know what to expect from it. Has anyone had the 3.0? I just worry that it would get too hot in the truck driving to the lake or later in the day when the temp goes up a little. I live up north and do a lot of fishing in weather around 40 degrees. It can get windy. I'm not very thick myself. I'm trying to avoid ever having to put on a jacket while I'm fishing. Any recommendations?

I'm really glad that you guys don't like the 4 wild cards either. From what I was first hearing everyone liked the idea, but now I'm finding more and more people that think it's stupid. I think it's incredibly stupid. Like someone else said, I understand it, but it's lame. Basically it just ensures that Skeet, Mike Ike, and KVD will be there no matter how their regular season goes. It's bull crap for anyone who places ahead of them in season points. But at the same time it will bring the event more attention having them there. The more attention it gets, the stronger the sport gets. The stronger the sport gets the better it is for us. Kind of a double edged sword. Also, the thing to remember here is that this event is supposed to be the equivalent of an All Star game, not a post season. Really though, they screwed it up and made it a mix of both. I also don't like that first place in this thing gets paid the same that the AOY does. Another dumb thing is that the 4 guys that get voted in will most likely be guys that have enough money to get by without this event. And I bet the 9-12 place in the AOY race turn out to be guys that are barely able to pay their bills. I'm going to vote for whoever is in 9th place in the AOY race no matter who it is. We should all vote for someone 9-12 in the AOY standings.

In some cases I think this is correct. There aren't as many people beating up on the bass up here. Especially on smaller lakes that would never have a tournament on them. I guess now that I think about it, I have a few theories. First, fish up here have a limited growing season. It's to their benefit to take advantage of the little time they get in water warm enough for them to grow. So being more aggressive could have something to do with that. Also, in natural lakes like we have here, the water doesn't fluctuate very much, if at all. There aren't creeks feeding into them. There's no current. There are no shad. It probably makes things a little more predictable. It can still be next to impossible though. It will be really interesting when I get a chance to head south and experience the difference for myself.

I stumbled across this video on youtube today and it got me curious. I'd like to hear from some people that have fished both in the north and the south. The video makes it almost seem like catching bass up north is no more difficult than catching sunnies from a dock. I don't want to get defensive right away and argue that it can be just as hard here as anywhere else, but I have a hard time imagining it's as different as they claim. If I moved to Texas, should I expect to get skunked/struggle twice as much as I do in Minnesota?

Tomorrow morning a buddy and myself will be fishing in a little 10-15 boat tournament. Here's the twist. Today there is a fairly large pro-am tournament on the same lake. Today there is 50 boats out there keeping 6 fish each. This lake isn't huge, so after the beating these guys are giving it today I'm not sure what to really expect. So here's what I'm wondering, do you think it would be worth fishing the area immediately around where all these fish will be released this afternoon? Do you think that between 4pm today and 6am tomorrow they will move quite a distance from the release point? Or do you think those fish will be too stressed to eat for a few days and trying to catch them would be a waste of time? Thanks for any tips guys.

The musky thing was just something I heard about, I'm not sure if it's true or not. But you get the gist of it. There is absolutely zero reason for any walleye fisherman to be concerned even a little bit about the walleye populations in this state. The DNR might as well be the DWS. Department of Walleye Stocking. I think that's the only thing to DNR exists for in Minnesota... Right? :-?

It's become tradition to hit the same lake with a few buddies every year. There's a lot of dead trees, some laying down, some still standing up. Normally we would just pound it with spinner baits and do pretty well. This year I'm going to try a lipless crank and see how that goes. And maybe a suspending jerk bait. Who knows, all I do know is that May 29th can't get here fast enough. If my love for bass fishing continues to grow, I honestly don't know if I'll be happy living up here anymore.

I don't know what it's like in NE, but in MN, the "Fishing Opener", is the Walleye Opener. That's the tourist catcher. That's the day the Governor goes out and all the news crews follow to see if he lands one. I venture to guess that most of the State has no idea the Bass & Muskie openers are weeks later. I'm not the only bass fisherman in Minnesota? I'm exaggerating of course, but really, the only lakes that I think would really get "raped" are the few big ones that have a reputation of being bass lakes. I could list about 10 lakes within 10 miles of me right now that I doubt would see more than 1 or 2 bass fisherman between ice out and 5/29. But, like someone said, take away the bass opener and we'd have all the walleye idiots (95% of all Minnesotans[born and raised here, I can trash it all I want ]) flipping out. First because of the shocking news that there is a bass opener, and second because they would want to fish their precious walleyes sooner too. In all seriousness though, if we're agreeing that having an opening day is only for generating revenue, and it really doesn't have squat to do with protecting the bass on their beds, why is it two weeks after walleye opener? Why not the same weekend, or the weekend after? It's all kind of confusing because I'm fairly certain that the the only fish lower than bass on the MN DNR's concern list are carp and bullheads. Bass don't make money here, walleyes do. Walleyes make millions and millions of dollars every year for the state and businesses that bring home a profit from fishermen. Maybe my view is a little skewed because I'm from a tourist trap lake town, but I'm surprised a season was ever set up for bass in the first place. In fact, you want to know how much they love their walleyes here? I've heard of people catching muskies and slitting their bellies and letting them go because they think they're eating all their walleyes. I've also seen walleye fishermen taking smallies and bouncing them off their boat motors(to kill them, they hate them) because they get sick of catching them and having them ruin their wimpy @$$ walleye gear. I'm sorry. Rant over.

The other day I was trying to explain to my girlfriend why bass boats are designed to go as fast as they do. I told her that in tournaments on large bodies of water these guys need to go a long ways to get to the spot they feel is holding fish, and because they only have X amount of hours, they need to make it there as quickly as they can. Then the question "well how far is that?" came up, and it got me wondering too. So now I'm asking you guys. What's the farthest from the starting/weigh in spot that you've ever seen or heard of someone going in a tournament? And then roughly about how long did it take them to travel that distance?

I'm with ya brother! Other than that I think the hardest thing is trying to still learn something when you spend a full day trying literally everything that you know and a bunch of things that you made up out of desperation and never got a single bite from any of it.

I feel ya too. I was laying under my buddies truck the other night helping him change a flat. The windchill was 33 below. All I could think about was you lucky jerks down in Texas and how nice it must be to not have 2 feet of ice on all your water >

I feel your pain buddy. I've been having a hell of a time catching anything decent lately too. All summer actually. That's not saying I've caught nothing. But it wasn't like it was last summer. I'm just in my 20's too, and constantly trying to keep learning. The best advice I can offer is to be patient and try not to get stubborn. Those are my two worst enemies. Some days I waste every jig flip I make because I can't get myself to take the time I need to work it properly. First I simply try to get a grip on myself and focus on what I need to do. That doesn't always work though. When it doesn't I switch myself to a spinner bait or something else that moves quicker. Usually it's the fish you have to adjust to, but sometimes it's yourself you need to adjust to... If that makes any sense

I didn't think it was that fast either. It makes sense though I guess. That's an important part of the fish. I suppose once the body senses it's damaged it channels all resources into getting it back to normal.

I've never gone as far as intentionally tagging fish, however I do weigh and record most of the fish that I catch with a scale that pokes a tiny hole in the skin on the bottom of their jaw. I've only caught one fish that I noticed had the hole in the exact spot I always put the hook. It was interesting because it was on a decent sized lake, and both times the fish was within a few yards of the same spot. The two catches were about a month apart. Both times my lure was solid black. Interestingly though the first time was a on 10 inch power worm c-rigged, the second time was on a 3/8 oz. plain Jane buzz bait. The fish had gained 2 ounces between the two times being caught. So I guess what I'm saying is... I hope you figure out a good method because it's a lot of fun to catch a fish you've previously met

Raul, I agree with you. I hate being dishonest. I was kind of fishing to see if anyone would tell me they treated broken house brand rods the way Gander Mountain does. I worked in customer service there for about a year, and if someone bought a Gander Mountain brand rod, took it out to the parking lot, broke it over their little brother's head, then came back in asking for a new one, I was instructed to give it to the with a big smile. If they broke their rod every day, they could have a new one every day. I have a reel that came out of the box making some awful noises, I'll have to ask a customer service rep about the rod when I send the reel back. I'm hoping that even though their warranty says they won't exchange it if the customer broke it, they will anyways. That's how it was with the Gander rods I was talking about. It didn't say anything about a lifetime warranty on the tag, but I guess we gave them one anyways.

I made a stupid last night. Just about a month ago I bought a Cabelas XML 7 foot heavy casting rod. Last night when I put it away in my boat like I always do, I failed to notice that I didn't get it all the way into the compartment and accidentally closed the door on it, breaking the tip off right above the second guide. What I'm wondering is if I send it back saying that it broke on its own, will the give me a new one, or will they be able to tell that it didn't break while being used? If I don't get a new one, will it still work if I just treat the second guide from the top as the new tip? Or should I remove it and put something new on it? And if it was considered fast action before, what would I consider it now that 3 inches or so have been trimmed off the top?

Ear plugs! Genius! I love it! Haha, I hope you guys don't mind if I tell my buddies I thought it up all on my own ;D

Ok, I see. A lot of the guys I've watched use a carolina rig have always used some kind of worm that slowly sank behind the rig as they hopped it along the bottom. So I wasn't sure if I was getting a little crazy with the idea of using a lizard that if left alone for a few seconds, will float vertically right on top of the weight and bead. I figured it was kind of a "duh!" question to begin with, but now I know, and that's what I needed