senile1

The First Edition had some good songs. As soon as I saw the name of this thread I just knew it had to be ""Just Dropped in to See What Condition My Condition Was In."

Buy some bigger jigs. I use 3/4 and 1 ounce for the thick milfoil beds that I fish. Even if you pitch a 3/8th ounce up in the air to punch through with momentum, the accuracy of your flip or pitch will suffer.

I own an older model of this rod. It works pretty well with lipless and 0 to 6 foot crankbaits. The action of the rod is slightly on the soft side of medium which gives it a good whip when you cast allowing it to cast pretty far for a 6'8" rod. It is a great rod for hooking the fish. You won't rip the trebles out of the fish's mouth with it. I wouldn't use it for deeper cranking though as it's action is too soft and the rod is too short for this application in my opinion. Get a longer rod with a little stronger action for deep cranking.

Smithville Bassmasters Club. http://www.conservationcafe.com/fishing/club_detail.asp?cID=35 Or Check here: http://www.bassresource.com/bassfish/bass_fishing_clubs.html I see one in Raytown and in Pleasant Hill.

Welcome to the BR forum. If you fished 20 to 30 hours a week last year you gained a lot of experience. I wish I could find that many hours to fish.

Nice. Thanks for the laugh.

Go to this link and enter your boat information. This should get you in the ballpark. http://www.nadaguides.com/Boats

Actually, I didn't describe that properly. When using the standard pitching technique one holds the lure in one hand while pitching with the other. With a longer rod there is more line beyond the tip of the rod which can result in the lure hitting the side of the boat, not the rod. With a shorter rod there is less line out and it won't hang as far down when the lure is released from the hand. This is easily resolved by standing closer to the side of the boat or by using a roll cast as John suggested.

Huh? I pitch with an 8 footer, and I'm 5'7". What would height have to do with it, please explain. I think it depends on how you pitch and what type of boat your are pitching from. If one pitches from a jon boat a shorter person might have issues with hitting the side of the boat with the rod when they dip the tip to make the pitch. I have ran into this but I have always been able to adjust my pitching technique and my position in the boat to work around it. I'm 5'11" but I use a friend's jon boat with really high gunwales at his pond.

Welcome to the Bass Resource forum, Keigo.

Just when it was starting to get interesting you have to spoil the fun. I hate you, Goose! Seriously though, I agree with Goose on the hook keepers. A little re-design would help in that regard. I also agree with SirSnookalot. Right now I am anxious to wet a line but the snow and ice will not relent. I would gladly trade this weather for the worst equipment available if it would get me on the water. There's not much to complain about in fishing and fishing equipment when you consider the alternatives.

Welcome to Bass Resource, Tim. Since you are new to bass fishing you will want to check out the fishing articles and instructional information on this site. On the bar at the top of the web page to the left you will see the tab for Fishing Articles. Click on that and you will find a great deal of useful information.

Welcome back.

Welcome to the forum, Tyler.

Yes, those are nice pictures and some cool birds. Keep on giving us the birds.

That's simply beautiful . . . . a perfect mix of nature and fishing.

I think I've seen this before but it's still funny.

I don't have a favorite but I have some I use more than others. I pitch, flip, and two-hand overhead cast more than anything though I would say my overhead cast is more of a 3/4 overhead cast. As Sam said, everyone should learn all of the casts for maximum effectiveness on the water.

Nice work, Kent. Give us an update on how it went.

You had me going there with the title to your thread. Nice catfish by the way.

Keep watching and learn. This is the best instructional bass fishing show on television IMO. The next episode has a nice 5 minute tutorial from Brian Snowden on Winter fishing. It's amazing how much information he fits into his five minutes.

I have but it was a long, long time ago and the details are difficult to remember. I was fishing a small clear-water lake and the shallow area was adjacent to the deepest holes where the bass generally lived during the winter. We used original floaters and countdown rapalas to catch the fish. I also lived further south at the time but water temperatures were definitely below 45 degrees. Otherwise, the shallow areas in the lakes I fish now are usually frozen over much of the Winter.

I have tried to limit the number of rods I carry and right now I take seven. However, I always wish I had more. It's just handier than cutting and retying when I want to switch lures. I suspect there will be more in my future.

I experienced the same thing when I looked at this thread, Chris, though the fish I catch are "just a tad smaller" than yours. There are techniques I could improve but I don't get to use them often because of conditions on the lakes that I fish most often. One is the Carolina Rig. A few years back I made a concerted effort to fish the Carolina rig on a regular basis and had some success with it. However, the conditions on the lakes I fish aren't conducive to using the rig that often. Most of my lakes have a lot of wood or weeds and the water clarity is dingy to muddy most of the time. The fish tend to hang close to cover and fishing the Carolina rig around this cover results in a lot of hangups. Another is the drop-shot. I've used it and had success as well but, again, most of the time there are better techniques to use on the lakes I fish regularly. When I take trips to clearer lakes with less brush (Stockton, Table Rock, Norfork, etc) I find that I have to make sure I don't forget to use these techniques when necessary. I'm sure I could improve my skills with these techniques but the opportunity to do so doesn't present itself on a regular basis.

Speaking of over statement, if that were the case, Mr. Yamamoto would be selling three packs of senkos for $79.95. Seriously, there is no magic lure that will catch fish on every lake under all the variable conditions that fishermen faces throughout the year. In many tournaments, there are guys qualifying for the final day cut that fish something completely different than the pack. I learned long ago that I don't concern myself with what others are throwing. I simply try to look for where the fish are located, and then go through the baits that I have confidence in. Location is about 90% of the game, what bait you throw takes up a small part of what's left. I politely disagree, I believe most baits would catch a fish on any given lake in the country, given the proper presentation and time of day. Minus of course the huge trout swimbaits and things of that nature. I'm not saying you could literally ALWAYS catch fish on ONE lure anywhere in the country, but I do believe that every bait has it's time and place, and can catch many different types of fish on many different bodies of water. Sorry if my post confused you, but that's what I was trying to say. Any lure will work if it is used under the proper conditions. The problem is, conditions always change. Therefore, it only makes sense to change lures to match the conditions. Did that make sense? Your original post made perfect sense to me, Lundy. Fat-G said the same thing. I guess I should participate more in the forum but on questions such as this I know we have members who will answer the question in a more understandable and interesting fashion than I. To me the response is really simple. Use lures that work under particular environmental conditions whether the crowd uses them or not. On a highly pressured lake it behooves one to own some lures that aren't being used by the crowd but that still match up well with the environmental conditions encountered.