senile1

I"m really enjoying this thread. These are the kind of conversations that will lead to solutions for whatever the problem was in this case. Let's hope the people who have the power and authority regarding these issues are having these conversations as well.

Go to Google groups, choose the rec.boats group, and then search for outboard oil recommendations. There is alot of disagreement on this, but it appears that the brand name oil retailers always recommend their own oil over cheaper oils. Also, I found this comment regarding warranties that states the Magnusson Moss Warranty Act prohibits manufacturer's from requiring a specific brand of oil to be used in order to maintain your warranty. I googled this federal act and this appears to be true. As long as your oil is TCW III your warranty should be good. You might want to research this yourself to make sure you feel comfortable with it.

If the wind or current was flowing in the uphill direction the baitfish would also be traveling that direction so the bass might turn their bodies to face the dropoff or channel bank to watch for the oncoming food. If you drag your lure downhill on these fish the lure will be coming up behind them. Usually, you want your lure coming from the direction the bass are looking. There could be other reasons. This is just an example.

I've just read it in a few boating books and heard it from some mechanics that I consider honest. I'm not saying these other guys are wrong. I'm not a boat motor expert by any stretch of the imagination. My motor is a 1989 Johnson 70 horse that I had rebuilt 3 years ago. I have a great mechanic and he said the motor would be fine with any TC-W3 oil, but this is an older motor and this might not be true for your motor. Newer motors are more finely tuned and more complicated than my old motor and there may be something to the manufacturer's recommendation. Try googling this subject to see what you can find. I'll do the same and if I find anything I'll post it here.

I use inexpensive oils that are TC-W3 rated. Everything I read says that you're wasting your money buying the expensive oils and that your motor will be fine with the cheaper oils as long as they are rated TC-W3. Having said that, I have an older boat. If I had a new boat and the manufacturer recommends a certain oil I would use it unless I was sure the less expensive oil wouldn't void my warranty.

Hmm . . . . . I'm a network engineer and I wouldn't trust a wireless connection through wireless access points on the lakes I fish. Truman lake is 55,000 acres plus and there are areas where wireless signals would be very poor to non-existent. Information would be lost and I can just see a tournament angler losing because his info didn't show up. However, if the information was logged on the fish finder, that's a good idea, but you would have to make sure no tech savvy anglers would manipulate the data. If you were going to send the info wirelessly to shore you're going to have to stategically place access points around the perimeter of the lake to make sure every location has access. Expensive!!!!

;D Well, I can't say I didn't think along those lines as well.

Some good points, Jim. When I read the comments in the article about having no finger pointing, etc. I was a bit taken aback. FLW should respond quickly to this in a manner that isn't defensive, but that shows the spirit of wildlife conservation. Otherwise, all of angling suffers. Contrary to what some believe, some bass do die from the stress of being held all day during a tournament, even when LMBV isn't involved. I have seen a combination of heavy tournament pressure, heavy pleasure fishing, and LMBV nearly wipe out a wonderful bass population at Smithville Lake in Missouri during the 90s. The last couple of years the population is really starting to come back with tournament stringers over 20 lbs again. As anglers, we need to be aware of how our own behavior affects the health of bass.

Agreed. I enjoyed the full access to all of the Bassmaster stuff before they charged for it. I think this website fills those gaps and its all for free. Thanks, Glenn.

I usually try to not do this, but at dawn and dusk on a smooth surface I have to fight the urge to always walk a Zara spook. I don't think there's a technique more fun than watching a big largemouth crush a spook.

ryanmah, There are many people on this forum with much more knowledge about bass than I, so I'm sure you will receive some good answers to your question. First, are you using a depth/fish finder? If you are, look for underwater points, humps, ledges, channel banks, and channel bends beneath the surface. A channel bend with cover such as stumps, trees, grass, rock, etc. is an excellent place to find bass that are deep. Also, you should be able to tell differences in bottom composition with your fish finder which will allow you to see those break lines where rock turns to mud, and so forth. You should also be able to see baitfish on your fish finder as well. So you're looking for changes in depth contours or bottom composition and you should prefer those that have some kind of cover like trees, stumps, or rock. If baitfish are present, you've found everthing a bass needs. Without a fish finder, you'll have to study a map and observe the bank to get an idea of where possible changes in bottom contour may lie under the surface. In addition, you can drag a carolina rig through an area to get some ideas of the depth and the cover in that area. And as you suggested you can sometimes see cover sticking up from the water as well as schools of baitfish. Oh . . . . welcome to the forum

If other people are catching just as large, and as many fish, on less expensive Yum Dingers, Tiki sticks, etc. as they would catch on Senkos I wouldn't call that skimping. I would call that an intelligent decision. I've had luck with Senkos, Yum Dingers, and the Strike King Zeroes (which seem to be despised by some on this forum). I can't say that one has out-performed the others overall. We all have our favorites due to the minute differences in the way we each fish a lure. For RW, Senkos may be the best for him and the way he fishes. For someone else, that may not be the case.

Agreed. And if I were in his shoes I would also suspect that you might not be exactly forthcoming regarding the ponds if the fishing was really great.

I voted yes. The lakes that I fish are large enough and have enough popularity that it wouldn't make much of a difference in the lake traffic. Truman Lake and Lake of the Ozarks are already known as places to catch larger bass in Missouri. And Smithville Lake is already covered with heavy traffic because of its proximity to Kansas City.

I agree. The o-ring does turn the hook sideways. A couple of years ago I started taking the tiny plastic sleeves that I use with trailer hooks and punching the hook through them, sliding them down against my wacky rigged senko type worms. This keeps the worm from flying off the hook when I cast and the tip of my hook is sticking out.

Hmm . . . . RoadWarrior's profile shows that he is from Germantown, Tennessee which I believe is either a suburb, or is on the outskirts of Memphis. He is also 53 years old. The Mississippi River has had two "once in a lifetime" floods in my lifetime, 1973 and 1993, not to mention "minor" flooding in other years. I would bet that RW has experienced his share of flooding living so close to the Mississippi. I know I grew up near the Mississippi and live near the Missouri river now and I've experienced flooding. I think RW's advice still rings true.

As suggested, a video of the pitching and flipping presentations will save you alot of time learning these. Also, I found flipping to be much easier for me to learn than pitching. I know each of us is different but you might start by learning the one that seems to be easier for you.

I guess if I lived down south, winter fishing would be sweet, but in Northwest Missouri the winter temperatures can be sub-zero at times. Last winter was a warm winter and the water temps were still down in the low 30s on the bigger lakes. When you can't feel your fingers it's difficult to fish, so I have more trouble with extreme cold than extreme heat.

I've heard and read similar information to what njoynlfe stated. As for the bucket, the fish will run out of oxygen quickly. As Flechero stated, if you have a really big bucket or container that is aerated and insulated, you could do this, but what a pain to be dragging that with you.

I've never watched the Bloopers tapes. I laughed until I cried when the trolling motor came loose from the bow of his boat.

That's one wild ride.

What size of Senko are you using? Try a 6 or 7 inch senko or senko knockoff if you're using the shorter ones.

This thread is from back in May but there are a number of suggestions on how to remove decals including the 3M product that GMAN mentioned. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1147112946

Maybe it was a diver with a sense of humor.

I wouldn't know the exact number. Since I'm not a tournament fisherman I never worry about adding the weights together. Over the years, there have been a few times where I've caught a group of fish where the top 5 were each over 3 - 4 lbs with at least one of them being a lunker over 5 lbs, so I guess my best would probably be in the 17 - 23 lb range.