senile1

bshaner stated: While this is mostly true, I've found that long casts also may be needed when the fish are in shallow stained water with moderate brush. By moderate, I mean there are plenty of gaps for the fish to get a good look at you. Under these circumstances I use braid and long casts. I also use mono backing but I only spool on enough to cover the spool with a couple of layers. This leaves me more braid for longer casts and I can also clip my line off more times when it is frayed or when I need to retie a knot, before I have to respool.

Catt, I'm glad you started this thread. I'm really wanting to up my personal best this year and I was thinking about purchasing some bluegill swimbaits by Mattlures, or possibly a shad swimbait. I normally catch my biggest fish with big plastics and jigs, but this year I'm expanding my repertoire. So I'm curious about this as well though I don't know how well these will work in our Missouri waters. Ten lb fish are rare here, but an 8 or 9 lb'er will do for now.

I finally broke down and bought some Lucky Craft Pointers and Sammy's this Winter when they were on sale. I tried out the DD Pointer 100 for the first time yesterday and caught quite a few fish on it though none were greater than 3 lbs. The hooks were sweet and the action was good right out of the box, to which all of the Lucky Craft afficionados will attest. I have a feeling I'll be using my other jerkbaits much less. Now about getting some of these LC crankbaits . . . . . . .

I started this year with high hopes for some Winter fishing but all of the lakes iced over and stayed that way until the first week of March. By that time, I was involved in a network installation and implementation project and I didn't get to see the water until yesterday. I went out to a 5 acre pond that I have permission to fish. The wind was blowing 25 mph but I brought an anchor. I still had to use a paddle with the owner's rickety aluminum boat. The water temps here are around 40 - 43 degrees in our bigger lakes, so I estimate this pond was close to 50 degrees. There are two creeks that feed the upper end of this pond and the wind was blowing straight up one of them. I started off working the underwater channel banks of this creek with a Lucky Craft Pointer DD 100. Within an hour I had boated 8 bass but none were more than 2 - 3 lbs. I tried a flat off the creek that was protected from the wind and got no bites so I moved back up the creek and caught a couple more on the jerkbait. The bite was getting slow so I switched to a chartreuse and white spinnerbait, slow-rolling it along the channel banks in about 10 feet of water but was not getting hit. I switched to a jig and pig with no success either. I moved further up where the creek went into a cove and the water was shallower and warmer. Then I started nailing fish right and left with the spinnerbait. By the time the bite died down I had boated 31 bass. As the day was getting warmer the fish were moving up into the warm shallow water at the back of the creek and the wind was pushing the baitfish back up in this cove. The bite died down so I switched to a Texas rigged watermelon tube and caught 3 more fish for a total of 34 fish. I had never caught more than 15 - 20 out of this pond before. While the numbers were fun, I'm a little disappointed. According to the owner, he caught a 7 and and 8 lb'er out of here last year, which was the reason I started fishing it. I'm wondering if there are too many bass in this pond. I have caught some fish that were just shy of 5 lbs here last year but I was hoping this would be a place to catch a PB. Anyway, I had fun and it was a good way to work out the rust from the Winter.

fourbizzle, you Cali guys make me sick . . . . . with jealousy that is. Over 30 lbs with 4 fish!! Wow.

Good work, CJ. Not bad at all. Sounds like KY Lake is hopping this year. Were yours all smallies, or was the winning bag all smallies?

This looks good, and to top it off, they have a link to Bassresource.com at the bottom of the page.

I catch and release almost all black bass. However, maybe that's not the best thing to do in every lake. Has anyone read the article about Catch and Release on the Bassresource.com home page? You might re-evaluate this practice after reading it. http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/catch_and_release_bass.html

Muddy, maybe you could do some sketches like they do when cameras aren't allowed in court.

Good stuff, Squid. My favorite: All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.

I can't answer theory 1, but regarding theory 2, I've caught numerous bass in weeds and mats where I heard no bluegill feeding.

Anytime the water temperature goes from warm to cold, or vice-versa there is turnover. I believe the Fall turnover is more pronounced but don't quote me on that. Check this link out. http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/elements/turnlakes.htm

Name: Ed G. Occupation: Network Engineer Location: KC, MO

Incredible!! That last one is completely unreal, Fish Chris. You're the man. D$#@, I wonder how big the skittish one was?????!!

This album will be Guns 'n' Roses in name only. Besides Axl, I believe most, if not all, of the rest of the band is gone. Most of them are in Velvet Revolver as mentioned above. I know he hired some pretty wicked guitarists to grace the album but I don't know which ones stuff will be on it. Buckethead was playing with him for awhile. I don't mean to offend anyone but Axl is psychotic. That's why it's taken so long to make the album. No one can stand to be around him for very long.

Power Pro is great. I think Sufix Performance Braid is better but you can't go wrong with either of these. Power Pro frays more than Sufix.

Sometimes I believe we think too much. I've planned everything down to the last detail regarding location and lures that should be correct for the situation and failed to get a bite on occasion. Some of these occasions I've relaxed and fished a more general pattern such as cruising lake points, or just allowed my boat to drift across a cove while fishing and broken the skunk.

Sounds good, Muddy. Your alterations will allow you to have a higher hookup ratio. Now walk that dog.

This is the way I trim mine.

I like Spooks but that's because they've been around and I've fished them for years. If it ain't broke don't fix it. However, I've bought some Sammy's this winter so there'll be some competition this year. My favorite Spooks have white, chartreuse, or chrome bellies. I don't think the backs are that important.

I'm not an avid bluegrass follower but my Dad loves it. I always liked the guys below. Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs with the Foggy Mountain Boys (They did the theme to the Beverly Hillbillies.)

Add John Popper of Blues Traveler to your blues harp afficionados. If you haven't heard him, please do. He's a virtuoso through and through. I play guitar bass mandolin some keyboard on past recordings when I didn't have a keyboard player handy trumpet Gazoo

Lure: Somewhere in between. I'm a generalist but there are a few lures that I'm very good with. Water: I specialize between 9' 4" and 9' 8". I'm an expert in these four inches of water. Seriously, I'm more of a generalist than a specialist. Angler: A combination of all of them. Reading through the posts, I'd say my fishing style is similar to KUB's.

From the wording of the post, and the bouncies, it looks like a clone to me. I don't think this comes from natural breeding.

Like GMAN, I would give more weight to depth/location. I would also give slightly more weight to taste and smell but not much. This is an interesting topic. I agree with some of the other posters regarding the possibility of analyzing this too much, but it is good to keep in mind each of these factors when you are fishing. (Especially the most important ones.)