senile1

Kimberling City is nice. I see you're coming down from Wisconsin. My wife and I took a vacation and fished on the James River arm of Table Rock last summer. We drove into Kimberling City just to check it out. It's beautiful country down there. I live in Kansas City and the large lakes I mainly fish are Smithville and Truman Lakes, with an odd trip here and there to lakes further away. I'm 46 so I still have a way to go before I retire, but my wife and I have been looking at lots and acreage that we could buy and then build a home on later. I've found some decent places in Missouri, but like Cart7, I'm going to look at places futher south as well. It would be great to retire and fish all year round.

Fivebasslimit stated: This would be mine. I have two daughters, ages 21 and 17. My wife says it is an obsession. I'm always worried about them when I can't be there to help.

Thanks for imparting your wisdom, Randall. With the number of hogs you've stuck in the last year, I'm all ears.

What time does this show come on? I'd love to catch it one day. Go to this link and click on the <Schedule> button. Right now the schedule is listed up to March 18th. http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.CFPage?appID=487&option=2

How do you like the 3/4 oz? I fish a couple of places where the coontail is very thick in the summer. I use a 3/4 oz Boo Jig in these places. If I didn't fish these lakes I probably wouldn't use this size very much.

I agree, Muddy. Bill Dance still covers more detail than just about any other show, IMO. However, if you get a chance, you might want to watch The Bass Pros on Versus. It's a new show that just started in January and so far, it is one of the best informational shows for fishing techniques that I've seen.

It depends on how deep I'm fishing and how thick the vegetation is. I generally will use 1/4 to 3/8 ounce in water that isn't more than 10 feet deep. If I'm going down to 20 feet or more and there's a good wind, or I'm flipping into heavy vegetation, I'll go up to 3/4 of an ounce or even an ounce. I use 1/4, 5/16, and 3/4 oz. the most.

I am disappointed that I can't fish right now, but thanks for the reminder that it could be worse. I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of you guys in the northern tier of states. It's bad enough here in northern Missouri, but I'll probably be able to hit the water at least by late February, if not sooner.

I hear ya'. Not only the coves, but the main portion of Smithville Lake, north of Kansas City, has been frozen in many spots and it's a 7200 acre lake with a maximum depth of 50 - 60 feet. When its frozen I know all the ponds and small lakes are frozen. I have cabin fever bad. I need to wet a line. I could pay to fish off the marina docks at Smithville. The water at the deep end of the marina is not frozen.

I wasn't aware of this. My Wal-mart has a lot of Zoom Brush hogs. If there is a clearance sale, I'll have to drop in and see if I can clean them out.

It was a great effort. Thanks for spearheading this, LBH. I guess I should appreciate that we received a reply. I just thought they could have given more logical reasons for not doing this.

No bashing from me . . . just the facts to answer their reasons for not meeting our challenge. 1) The challenger and Charlie come up with their own stakes now, instead of $5000. Great!! He and BassResource.com representatives can determine what the stakes are, which would obviously include monies for CAST. 2) ESPN wants Charlie to fish for other species as well as bass. Fine. Some of his challenges will still be for bass, correct? So he could still meet our challenge. eventually. My point isn't to bash anyone. The point I'm making is that the reasons given for not meeting the BassResource.com challenge don't hold water when held up to the light of the truth. Neither one of these reasons given should prohibit Charlie from meeting the BassResource.com challenge. It just might take longer but that's it.

During the warmer months I wear sandals while launching my boat. Once on the water, I take them off and go barefoot. In the colder months I wear New Balance sneakers. I hate shoes and I really won't vouch for any brand. I have a problem with the toes in my left foot. After an hour or two, they go numb and hurt when I wear shoes, due to the way shoes squeeze the top of the foot. It's like hitting your funny bone and having the burning pain in your toes. If I wear shoes that are too big this doesn't happen, but then there are other problems.

Yes, Russ is a great asset for BassResource.com and this forum. I wonder if the guy ever sleeps. He has 7102 posts. By the time, you read this he'll be over 7200. To steal from the movie, The Big Lebowski, . . . and I mean this with ultimate respect, LBH, . . . . you are "The Dude."

Check out this thread, Mid-Mo. A few of us discussed this flyer and these rods just a day or two ago. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1169782594

How in the heck did you learn to talk?

The letter says that these are 24 million modulus graphite. An article by our own Craig Baugher, written in 2003 states that an intermediate graphite rod modulus would be in the range of 33 - 42 million. I'm no expert on these strand counts, but I believe the higher counts result in a lighter, more sensitive rod and this article seems to bear that out. (Link is below.) I don't think these are quality products. I think they're trying to get the business of all of the Shakespeare Ugly Stick users. http://www.flwoutdoors.com/article.cfm?id=141123

I obviously haven't tried all brands of fluorocarbon line, but I have yet to find a pure fluorocarbon line that doesn't exhibit noticeable memory. If your going to use it I would change my line out more often, or I would use one of the copolymers. The P-Line Fluoroclear that many have mentioned has a copolymer core and a fluorocarbon, silicon coating so you get similar invisibility to a pure fluorocarbon line. I use Yo-Zuri hybrid myself. You could tie a fluorocarbon leader to a main line of braid, but braid floats while fluorocarbon sinks faster than other lines, so it depends on the techniques that you are using with this combo.

I see your point Senko77, but I like the pause. I catch numerous fish on Spooks after a long pause. You park it in a bass's area and let it sit. The bass is getting more and more irritated because it's in her territory. Then suddenly you give it a twitch and she smashes it. That's a reaction strike too and it works. As for longer or shorter side-to-side dog-walking, they both work too. It depends on how active the bass are and what they are looking for. Mix it up. Like any lure the Spook can be fished more than one way. It depends on what the bass want and what works for you. Whatever you choose to do, the retrieve should always involve a rhythmic walking the dog technique.

Welcome, catfish david.

Funny. I got the same thing in the mail. I really didn't read it but after I saw your post I googled Acadia Sports rods, Acadia fishing rods, etc. and I can find nothing. If I can't find any information about the product, I won't even consider it.

Sounds like memory. How often do you replace the line on the spool?

Nice tip, fivebasslimit. And as Burley stated, it will even up after a few casts.

Sharing the water to encourage others to enjoy fishing as a pastime is one thing. Sharing a "honey-hole" with someone who can't be trusted to take care of it is another. We all have buddies that we know we can trust, and with these people we may share every detail of the hot spots that we fish. To share the exact details of a spot with some other people could be very naive. To share with those who may abuse a resource (any resource) is an error in judgement. That's why I have to know someone well before I give them every detail of the hot spots I fish. If I don't know them, I will gladly tell them what I'm using and what types of locations I'm fishing (i.e. channel banks, rip-rap, secondary points with drop-offs to deep water, etc.). But they will have to find this type of location.

No one ever asks me about my honey holes. I think they just assume that if they fish places other than the ones I'm fishing, they'll be miles ahead.