senile1

That is a sweet boat. It looks like a nice fishing platform with plenty of room for body storage, smuggling, and other nefarious activities. I'm looking forward to your pictures.

I remember when you posted that one, RW. And if you never catch that world record smallmouth you will always be haunted by that one fish that got away. We all have lost fish now and then but I'll bet that one really gave you a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach.

I'll have to catch it with DVR. Thanks.

Thanks, John. (Or is it Jon. Sorry if I am spelling your name wrong.) I hope I am not coming across snotty either. I know this can be a touchy subject and I am not against tournaments at all. I follow the Classic every year. I truly believe our professional angling brethren do all in their power to protect the resource, but I also believe that asking the difficult questions and revisiting the actions we take to protect the resource are how we improve and keep something like Falcon from happening again. I would rather ask these questions here where all of us understand that some fish die no matter our efforts, rather than asking it in front of people who don't understand why we do what we do. We are all in this together and a black eye for any tournament is a black eye for all of us.

That settles it, then. One guy in the article I posted says that 100 percent will survive the return to the lake. I see no reason for anyone to seek more information to support that statement. That is an excellent question. I have never really concerned myself with the distances or methods involved in protecting the resource before because I was never aware of anything like the distance factor where Tulsa and Grand Lake are concerned. In most cases, I think the chemicals used and the temperature control in the livewells is more than enough to protect the fish. In this case, however, an angler could do everything in his power to keep the fish alive and, possibly through factors he can't control, the fish could still end up dead at the podium.

I have read about this, but to me, these are anecdotal facts, not scientific facts. To be scientific, the percentage of fish that died in the transports noted above should be included as well. To just say that fish have been transported and survived does not answer the question. Everyone has a right to his or her opinion. I just want to know what the expected rate of survival is, and again, I think that is a valid question. Some of you may accept any rate of survival while others may expect a more stringent requirement.

Any effort is better than automatically killing the fish. The question in my mind is, "Is this effort good enough?" Maybe it is. I just would like to know the survival rate. We all know that some fish die from any tournament and that is just a part of the sport, but, considering the distance involved here I think this is a valid question. I'm sure someone involved in the event probably has a statistic indicating the expected survival rate of fish that are returned to the lake. I would like to know what that expectation is. If the survival rate is not what it should be, then I would say the Classic should be planned in a way and at a lake where the weigh-in can be as close as possible to the lake. And in that case, having the Expo and weigh-in at Grove or Miami, OK might not support the crowds attending the event. If that were the case Grand Lake would have to be ruled out as a "Classic" location because of the distance to a large enough arena.

My position is Network Engineer III with Sprint. I design, implement and configure Cisco routers, switches, firewalls, SIP CUBEs, and Cisco VoIP application servers to create converged enterprise networks for external customers. I also configure Acme SBCs (session border controllers).

In this case it is somewhat different. The fish will be in the livewell for whatever amount of time it takes to get back to the ramp, plus the amount of time to remove the boat from the water, drive to Tulsa, and remove the fish for display. Then you add the time to place the fish in the truck (or trucks) that will transport the fish back to the lake. Those trucks won't leave until the weigh-in is completed. I don't know how much time this will be but it will easily exceed two hours, and I suspect would be more in the neighborhood of 3 - 5 hours.

It is that time of year again when many of us are excited about the Bassmaster Classic. The locations for all of the events prompted me to think about the distances involved in moving bass to the weigh-in and back to the lake for some of our tournaments. Oklahoma's travel guide states that Tulsa is 65 miles from Grand Lake o' the Cherokees. According to information for the "Classic" the weigh-in will be at the BOK center in Tulsa. I can't imagine that the distance involved in transporting these fish to the weigh-in is the most conducive for bass survival. The information in the article below seems to indicate otherwise, however. I was just curious what everyone else thought. http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=25&articleid=20130217_25_BC12_CUTLIN401398

Brand loyalty based on empirical evidence of consistent quality, or filling a niche, is logical. Brand loyalty based on a product's quality at some time in the past is not. There are numerous examples of products that were top of the line at one time but have been surpassed in quality by other manufacturers. I may be brand loyal for short periods of time when a product is either top quality or it provides good benefit for the cost incurred, but I continue to research anything I buy so that I am aware of changes, and I act accordingly with future purchases.

Scratches on the underside of the hull are normal. Anyone who fishes lakes with standing timber will get scratches on the bottom of the hull.

We have some awesome hawg hunters on this board. WRB, Big-O, and Fish Chris come to mind but I am sure there are others. I wouldn't venture a guess as to who has caught the most DDs nor is that really important. They all have caught a great number of large bass and they all know how it is done. This is a perfect opportunity to just listen and learn. As WRB stated, "there is more than one way to skin a cat." I look forward to Big-Os take as well.

For the past few years, I have caught the most fish and the biggest fish on two classes of lures: jigs and lipless crankbaits. I feel very confident fishing these lures as well as some others. Having said that, I think there is always something to learn no matter what lure I am fishing and I never think of myself as having a specialty, or being an expert at any of them.

The number of combos that I end up fishing depends on how quickly I determine a pattern. If I figure them out quickly I may only use three or four. If fishing is slow I can use eight, or even more. I always have 8 combos on deck with 4 more in the locker on my 2000 295 Pro Elite Stratos. These boats are narrower at the bow than some other makes so I wouldn't want to have more than 8 on deck and 6 is really better for moving around. In my 10 foot jon boat I will carry at least 6, and sometimes 8 and the usage is the same. If I'm on fish, I may only use three or four but I can use them all if the bite is tough.

Brent Chapman, the current reigning B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year, believes in them and uses their plastics extensively. I think the people who developed the product believe in it too. If they are correct about the bass ability to see UV light then maybe they are on to something. I bought a couple of the products two or three years ago and the action of the baits didn't thrill me; however, I haven't used them enough to give them a fair review and there may have been changes since then. I have included a link to their website below. http://www.uv-tackle.com/

It has been a long time since I heard that term. My first was $35 - 40 in the late 70s, but it rose quite quickly after that with improvements in quality.

That depends on geography and, in my opinion, the behavior of the bass. In Florida and Southern Texas water temperatures may never get much below 50 degrees. Someone from those areas can explain how their bass react. In areas where air temperatures actually go below freezing for extended periods of time, water temperatures follow a particular pattern. In the Summer and early Fall the warmer water is the upper layers of the water column. As Fall progresses, that water cools down to match the temperature of the water in deeper regions, turnover occurs, and the water mixes reaching an equilibrium with regard to temperature. From there the water on top becomes cooler than the water that is deeper. At some point as winter approaches, the deepest water reaches a temperature of approximately 39 degrees. The upper layer of water can freeze but that deeper layer remains at 39 degrees unless the lake is too shallow. Bass will tend to stay deep in that warmer water during the Winter. So, when you notice your bass are bunched up in the same deep spots over a period of time and you rarely find them shallow anymore you could say that they are in the winter season. In the latter months of winter and early months of spring (depending on location) the water starts to warm up. If you are finding bass along breaks and drops that lead to spawning areas (and much less in the deeper winter homes) the season has changed to pre-spawn. The calendar may say it is February, but the water temperatures and bass behavior determine if it is still the winter season or not. Keep in mind that nothing is set in stone. You could have an early warm-up in February and then in March Winter temperatures could come roaring back forcing the bass back into deeper water. Also keep in mind that you can still find a bass here and there in shallow water at any time of year. We are talking about tendencies for the majority of bass here. There are always rebels. :-) As for temperatures, bass start exhibiting winter behavior in my area when water temperatures reach the low 40s more or less.

Revo's are awesome reels and known for their quality. Having said that, the first Revo baitcasters were introduced in 2006 so it would be difficult to ascertain how the reels will perform after 10 - 15 years. I suspect, like any good reel if taken care of, they will last forever as long as parts are available. I would also be looking at a Shimano Curado in that price range.

Sir Bert, can you provide us with your location and if possible, the lakes/waters you fish on a regular basis? It's funny how it works but sometimes you will find specific lures that work really well at certain lakes because of that lake's characteristics. I can provide you with what works for me but I think you might get more helpful information from someone who fishes regularly in your area.

If you haven't tried Mike's jigs, I urge you to give them a try. A sale is a perfect opportunity to give them a try and see what you are missing. I love Mike's jigs. I don't think I have ever bought anything from him during a sale because I prefer to pay for the shipping rather than having him do it. I want this guy to stay in business. He produces good quality jigs at an excellent price.

Excellent post, Goose. I bend the end of the blade as well but I hadn't thought of bending the line tie. Good stuff!

WRB's posts are always difficult to follow because he usually covers everything of importance in a nice, concise manner. The only thing I would add is that sometimes bass will prefer the specific throbbing cadence of a large single bladed spinnerbait under certain situations. I like spinnerbaits with a single large blade when I am fishing deep. A single large willow leaf is great and when I want to go slower and still stay off the bottom a Colorado blade is the ticket. And there are situations where the double blades are preferred as well. I wouldn't fish without either the double or the single.

This may seem like a silly question but is it possible you may have accidentally tied the Jitterbug on a rod using fluorocarbon line? Fluoro would probably cause the nose to be down and result in the digging action, though I don't think it would lead to a Jitterbug sinking.

There are farm ponds with huge fish but it has been my experience in my area that many of them are not managed properly resulting in an over-population of bass and skinny fish. There is one pond I have fished for eight years. When I first fished it there were a number of large bass in the 3 - 5 lb range and occasionally a 7 lb'er could be had. The main forage in this pond is bluegill and green sunfish and back then the owner was actively involved in managing the fishery. The population of bass outpaced the population of small panfish for food and the pond has evolved into a poor fishery for large bass. I have made suggestions to the owner to restock the pond with more small bluegill and I and a few others that fish it have tried to selectively harvest the smaller bass. The owner has not added any more forage and all of the bluegill/green sunfish that I see are so huge they would be difficult for the small bass to eat. In just a matter of a few years this pond has gone from a big bass fishery to an also-ran. I rarely fish there now because I have a better chance at big bass in the public lakes.