senile1

Check out this article on Tackletour with Triton Mike catching some hawg spotted bass on swimbaits. http://www.tackletour.com/reviewintervieanother sitekebucca.html

Congratulations on your success. Always ask permission, even in less well-to-do neighborhoods.

Cajun1977, it's good to see you back on the forum.

I really like the Yo-zuri Ultrasoft as well. Roadwarrior's opinion of this line has persuaded a number of us to try it and I have been very satisfied with it. I use it for t-rigged and weightless plastics. I use braid or pure fluorocarbon with jigs.

At the Lake BassPro05 is talking about, the last two weeks 2 dinks in 8 hours would put you in the top 10, or even the top 5. Fifth place in a March 30th tournament was 2 fish at 4 lbs 9 oz (out of 51 boats). Fifth place in the April 6th tournament was 2 fish at 5 lbs 12 oz (out of 60 boats). Tough fishing.

I have some 200Ds and one 200DPV. I use the DPV almost exclusively for deep cranking, though once in awhile I'll use shallower crankbaits with it. I keep it spooled with fluorocarbon to get my cranks as deep as they will go.

Great thread. Thanks for the great information, Bob Lusk. I just added this to my favorites.

Same here. The plan is to move further south during retirement.

Two tournaments have been held at Smithville Lake North of Kansas City and, man, has it been slow. Check this out. March 30th tournament: Of the 51 boats with two-man teams fishing only 14 caught 18 fish. Winning sack: 2 fish 8lbs 4 oz. April 6th tournament (Basspro05's tournament in the "What would you do thread . . "): Of 60 teams fishing 28 of those teams brought 43 keeper fish to the scales. (15 length limit). Winning sack: 3 fish 12.52 lbs. I don't fish tournaments, but I was able to get on the water Saturday for only 3 hours. I blanked. Smithville is often a tough lake to fish and the start to this year is proving to be no exception. Are there any other lakes out there that are experiencing the same type of tournament results?

That's a nice-looking fish. Nice markings. Congrats on a new PB!

Dude, what a bummer!! Fishing heavy timber is tough sometimes. All I can say is slow it down when the timber is thick. You never know when you'll find a stump or stickup lurking two or three feet below the surface in stained water.

Nice catches!! You have to leave their meals in their mouths though. That way they'll weigh more.

Incredible fishies!!! Dude, you're in the zone.

Excellent, Matt!!! Sounds like your buddy had a good day too. It must have been a great trip.

You're going to get nicks the size of half a dime in a trolling motor prop if you are taking your boat into wood. I've never perceived this type of vibration as an annoyance. When the vibration is enough to be annoying it is usually a bigger nick than this size or something is jacked up in the shaft or drive pin. Drive pins are cheap and easy to replace. (Cheaper than a prop.) If you hit something that caused a nick it could bend your drive pin as well. Below is an example of a drive pin kit for $10.99. http://www.minnkotamotors.com/products/accessories/detail.asp?pg=propnutkit If your intent is to replace the prop with a better one anyway, you can check the drive pin while replacing the prop.

I would pull off the prop and see if the drive pin is bent. I think that would be the more likely cause.

Nice pics and sweet fish, Randall. If this is what Lightinrod has been doing I'll take it any day over posting on the forum.

try using the "magic words" Ah, yes, the magic words. I forgot about them. I've actually cultivated an amazing talent in the use of the unmentionable, magic words. What good is a talent if you don't use it?

Hmm... Me thinks you're going to like that combination! 8-) I agree . . . . solid quality and decent price for that combo.

Excellent post, Hawg Caller! But I have a problem with your hints to catch these kindly behemoths. I can't seem to get past number 1. :

Wow. I saw this thread when it first started last Thursday. I was out of town all weekend visiting my kids so I didn't look at it again until last night. It had grown . . . . ever so slightly. : It looks like everything has been said that could be said. The reason bass react in particular ways is a great topic, but it is one that can become confusing to newer fishermen, especially with the differing opinions presented by knowledgeable fishermen. I just want to reiterate something that Catt said earlier in one of his posts on this thread that ties all of this together for fishing purposes. We may disagree on what causes a bass to do what it does, or to choose certain locations, but as long as we know there will be bass at particular locations, under certain conditions, we can find them and catch them.

I believe what you are describing is preference based on past performance, not proven long-term performance superiority over other newer products. Many of us love St Croix and G.Loomis rods because they have been mainstays for years. Due to this fact, we won't even try a Dobyns, a Powell, an Airrus, etc. because we have closed our minds to something different. Now that's not to say that these rods are better than the older manufacturers' rods . . . . it's just that many of us haven't really made a fair comparison due to our bias for our tried and true rods, or what we have been told is a tried and true rod by more experienced anglers. Preference, based on biased information from other anglers who have never tried every rod, trumps performance. I still believe St Croix and G.Loomis are some of the best rods made. I just believe that a large group of people who buy them do so based on someone else's preference.

There is probably a difference in the quality of some of these rods but there are very few of us who know every one of these differences. In order to do so, one would have to try every brand in the $150 - 200 class of rods for a period of time to give each one a proper evaluation. We may personally know the differences among 3 or 4 brands at most. The rest of our information comes from others. For the majority then, preference, based on the information we acquire, trumps performance.

The surface water temperature at Smithville Lake was only 40 degrees earlier this week and it is very, very stained to muddy at the upper ends of creeks. All fishing reports are poor except for crappie at the marinas and in a few deep coves. The bass are still deep near their winter haunts. Air temperatures this week will be highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s and 40s. Later in the week, if we don't get much rain the next couple of days, the lake should clear up some. At that time, fish points that have deep water close by on the main lake and fish slow. I would recommend jig and pig, spoons, jerkbaits, and possibly slow-rolled spinnerbaits with large colorado blades; however, to be honest, I haven't had much success at Smithville when the water temperature is this cold.

X2 on the opening of the mouth. I'm not saying anything until I have it in the bag. Sounds good.