senile1

He was also frustrated that they didn't offer life insurance.

Excellent video, A-Jay! Thanks for the tips.

You were really sticking them! Solid fish all the way around!

Congrats on the PB! She appears to be a long one.

Nice write-up, Kent, and that's a nice healthy smallmouth too!

Congratulations on the PBs!

The wind is your friend, right? It looks like a spinnerbait day. LOL

Fishing pressure can affect the degree of difficulty in catching them, but the movements based on the seasons are similar for all waters. (Exception: In tidal rivers, fish position themselves based on the rising and falling of the tide.)

With the ideas here, maybe we can ease our bait monkey afflictions.

Deja vu. Where have I read similar posts before? I think we can all agree that as long as people follow the creel limits what they do with their fish is their business. And if they don't . . . . that bothers us. I'm so caught up in my own fishing I rarely notice what people are doing on the bank, and I definitely don't watch anyone long enough to ascertain if they are exceeding the limits.

I was somewhat surprised by that statement too, but he did say 17 - 20 lb fluoro so maybe the size of the line counteracts the tendency to sink enough that it works with this buzzbait. Nice video!

Funny. He will probably be buying a bigger boat in the near future as well.

I agree that Bill's point has been made, but I don't think Glenn's point has been fully fleshed out. So, though he may wish I would shut up, in defense of Glenn . . . . If an individual wants to give a reel away, and he accepts it and then gives it away, he has actually shared something that belonged to him. The time and expense of shipping to someone else is on him and is truly charitable. Asking BR to change the process they have in place in order to ship the reels to two different people requires nothing of him. That is just the forgoing of receiving a reward, and it creates extra work for the original giver while nothing was required of the person forgoing the reward. He just refused to accept the second reel and nothing more. I think Bill's consideration for others is commendable. I just don't think the idea above occurred to him. I'm not trying to be negative, but I just want to show that this can be looked at in different ways with good intent on both sides.

The only way to truly know the depth of a particular lure is to do as Tom (WRB) said and determine the rate of fall in a known depth of water. If you find that a 3/4 ounce jig dressed with the trailer of your choice falls at 2 feet per second and it stops at a count of 5 in 20 feet of water, your jig has only reached 10 feet and either a fish has it or it has landed on some type of underwater cover. (Often, with a decent rod you can feel if the lure has landed on cover.) The same holds true if you are fishing a swim jig, spinnerbait, swimbait, or any other lure that can be fished at any depth in the water column. It is important to have an accurate approximation of how deep the lure is.

Like others, I have followed the mantra of using rattles in muddy water; however, I can't say I have seen a noticeable difference between rattling and silent square bill baits. The square bill baits I use move so much water that I think the bass have no trouble finding them.

Missouri's Department of Conservation emails a fishing report that you can sign up for on their website and it provides surface water temperatures from early Spring until mid-Autumn for a great number of lakes and rivers in the state. I checked the Illinois DNR site and their fishing reports don't supply that information. Some local newspapers (and their websites) will provide the information once a week. Also, major lakes controlled by the US Army Corp of Engineers should have their own websites that provide daily lake information, including the surface temperature.

Beautiful Fish. Congratulations! This is possible, but there is a reason Boga Grips cost so much. It is very rare to find one that isn't accurate, even after years of use.

Congratulations!

Is raising it to three or more an option?

Yep, if you're a 15 - 20 inch bass and a bunch of 36 inch fish with razor sharp teeth start hanging around, you're going to find a different hangout.

Some lunker hunters place the fish in the livewell, and then make sure the camera is ready for the pic. Then the fish is removed from the livewell, the pic is taken, and the fish is released at the same place it was caught. From the descriptions I have read, I don't think those fish ever spend more than 5 minutes in that livewell and probably less that that. (Fish Chris comes to mind.) With proper livewell preparation, I can't say I have a problem with someone doing this. Logic would see seem to indicate that keeping a fish in a livewell all day and releasing it back at the dock is probably not the best thing for the fish. Some other methods of getting the weight for fish have been mentioned elsewhere that allow us to release the fish immediately. Of course, the "show" aspect of displaying the fish back at the ramp disappears for the really big tournament series and that's bad for business, right? But I don't think dollars and cents should always be the first priority in deciding what is best. Keep in mind though, that we are fishing. Jerking a hook into a fish's mouth and fighting it back to the boat all create stress for fish. Break-offs leave line, lures, and other hardware in our waters and could cause issues for other species. No matter how much you try to clean up after yourself, there are always some things you can't retrieve. Our sport requires us to accept some trade-offs.

Ah yes . . . . Late Lament by the Moody Blues, or as some would call it, the end of Nights in White Satin. "Breath deep the gathering gloom Watch lights fade from every room Bedsitter people look back and lament Another day's useless energy spent Impassioned lovers wrestle as one Lonely man cries for love and has none New mother picks up and suckles her son Senior citizens wish they were young Cold hearted orb that rules the night Removes the colors from our sight Red is gray and yellow white But we decide which is right And which is an illusion" But I digress . . . . OOOH that smell, can't you smell that smell . . . .

Smart move, A-Jay. I've definitely hurt myself a few times. Remember back in the day how Muscle & Fitness and the other mags would state that weight lifting could help to strengthen connective tissue. Those statements were a bit misleading as it all depends on what type of lifting your are doing. I still do some free weights but I don't do any lift that has the potential to hurt me anymore. As for maxing out, I haven't done that in years. Those days are behind me. And even when I did, it was only a couple of times a year. But to reach maximum weights, one has to do some sets with medium rep numbers (5 - 8 per set) at 75 - 80 percent of max. I always did an altered pyramid by working up to the 75 - 80 percent mark and then I would do three sets at that weight. That is a lot of joint stress and something I just won't do at this age.

Not to diminish your accomplishment, but a true deadlift begins with the bar on the floor, right? Getting your lower back to survive those first few inches off the floor is the most difficult part. Having said that, I can't do what you are doing and I am 54. Up until around age 45 I could still max 315 on bench, 415 on squats, and 415 on the deadlift from the floor. I had to stop though. I am very small boned and my joints really started hurting with age. It occurred to me my joints might be so bad in my 70s and 80s that I couldn't fish so I backed off. I still lift but I keep my bench in the low to mid 200s with reps, and I don't squat or deadlift anymore because of very bad knees. I hit the lower back with bent over rows at 135 and do leg presses instead of squats.

Handcuffs for your dolls?