Chris

I had never really considered that there would be a difference between the work week and the weekend till i fished tournaments. Im telling you on some lakes its like night and day. Boat traffic is high, jet skiers get on your nerves, weekend fishermen, oh yeah night and day. I have found the same thing skipper found that if you cast to an area 20 or 30 times it produces fish. What i do is run my boat right up against the bank if i am fishing a rock bank and run my crankbait down the rock 20 or 30 casts then move my boat up about a boat length then cast again. I do that all the way down the rock shore. If i find wood or brush i might pitch into the spot many times or let it soak longer to get bites. I took a guy out fishing one time and he wanted me to show him how to fish a jig. We pulled up to a brush pile i told him to fish the wood like you would normally. He did the mistake that most do he fished the outside then fished the inside then said there was no fish there.( I was having a jedi moment )I said now see the power of the jig. I pitched it into the thick stuff and hulled out a nice 5 or 6lb bass. then the guy told me that the fish being caught messed up the spot. i said wrong young jedi then pulled two more nice fish from the same spot. Then i told him the problem with most is they don't give a place time to produce or they don't fish it right and by making the fish aware that you are there most of the time will cause them not to bite. weekends i tend to try to fish with no splash and put the bait on their nose. ;D

I think its amazing how shallow fish can get when the water turns muddy or how deep in stuff they will burry up in. I feel if there was ever a time to flip, its when that water turns muddy. Other techniques i have used and done well with is cranking wood or slinging spinnerbaits ;D

use modeling glue, Walmart

I agree i have a golf ball retreaver that i attached a old bed spring on the end that i carry around in my boat. There are many out on the maket today that work great. Im kinda lazy at times so i try to pop the bait out first then dig out my lure retreaver if it didn't work.

I have this booklet that came with my Temperature Plus Oxygen Meter made by Environmental Concepts in Ft Lauderdale Fl Thats where i came up with the color thingy

What do you do when the water gets kinda dirty? How do you fish for dirty dog bass?

ESPN January all bass fishing shows how bout that i guess ESPN is going to take the lead THANK GOD. Sunday morning what does oln have to offer? Bill Dance, Roland,and angling edge. Thats it? that is all thats on about bass fishing the #1 american sport fish. Oh yeah your guy your asking about it was nice of him to hit a deer that he knew was not a humaine shot and lost the dang thing and then said well thats hunting. The bad part is that you showed it on tv. Then he shoots a doe thats bedding oh yeah thats skill.

Now if your trying to get a bigger fish than a dink then you can crank them or jig them whatever you just gotta fish. Your already on fish you just need to find something different that the larger fish are hanging on. It could be a larger rock, smaller pea gravel, wood, weed, just something different. maybe a few rocks that had fallen off the dam into the deeper water, sometimes they put a lip under water that jets off before it drops off. Fish the corners on either side of the dam. it has to have a channel if its a creek dam that was put there to back up the water to make the lake. That in itself is something different. You might be using the right lures or might need to change a little and find these key features. You can fish faster slower bigger smaller whatever but if your not in or around a key feature its kinda hunt and peck. The larger fish will always be in the best cover or structure available in a given area. You just gotta find it.

What you do is leave about a foot or two of slack in your line while your reel is engaged. Now pull the line with your freehand kinda like your going to make a flip. now raise your rod till its tight and it bows your rod. now let go of your line like your shooting an arrow. After you do it a few times your crankbait will shake free.

Have you ever been on a lake durring the week and catching them like mad then weekend comes around and the fish just shut off? It seams like it happends every weekend. How do you adjust to the weekend shutdown?

I shouldn't have posted it i knew it would stir up some ____ but since i did.... [in your first statement about red use a red line red bait bass can't see it because it blends in with the red surrounding. So, you are saying, if I used green line Green Bait in green cover. Bass are not going to see it because it blends in with the surrounding.] -true a green lure will blend into the surroundings if its weeds. thats when shade of color comes in if you change the shade of your lure to a lighter or darker shade the fish can pick it out from the weeds better also green lures that have color glitter in them will help the fish see it in the weeds better. Like watermelon black flake, or watermelon red flake. most of the time fish see movement or hear the bait and hit it even when they don't see it. example how many fish see a rat before they hit it ontop of moss? few but they still hit it because of movement. [in Clearwater use any color. Pleased defined Clear water and just what color is Clear water.] Clear water would be tap water 100% visiblity. I would say if the area you are fishing if you can see the bottom or your lure on the bottom that would be considered clear. For the purpose of color selection would be the percent of light that penatrates the water at a given depth. 80% would be like weak tea color. Its still clear but has a tint of color to it. but its not considered clear or stained. I just broke it down further than clear,stained, and murky [Please translate visibility percent as to how far down You can see a bright lure using the visibility percent.] -Yes- 0-20% is 0-1 ft deep 20-40% is 1-2 ft deep 40-60% is 2-4ft deep 60-80% is 4-6ft deep 80-100% is 6ft or beyond

I would say yes it might catch you more fish to what degree i don't know. I do know that i have fished with guys and caught a truckload more fish than the other guy and i was using red hooks. Also i feel the shine of hooks don't look natural and red gives the fish a singnal that the lure might be hurt or bleeding

The top list is based on color contrasts the bottom list is based on color wave lengths and how water filters out wave lengths at different depths.

Let me show you something. Water by itself is clear its the things in the water that cause it to become colored or murky. Things like silt or algae bloom. If you have red lure with red line in red water around red cover can the fish see it? nope It blends in with its suroundings. The key to color is to use one that stands out from the colors that its being fished in or around. Blue water color use yellow or chartreuse Green water color use purple blue/green water use red Brown water orange is seen better Blackish water whites and silver Clear water use any color Here is another way to figure it out 80% visibility or greater use red 60% visibility or greater use purple 40% visibility or greater use orange 30% visiblity or greater use yellow 20% visiblity or greater use green,white,black 15% visiblity or greater use blue

What i do is look at the clearity of the water then the color of the water and the color of the cover i am fishing. I also consider if its cloudy skys or low light conditions.

Hey i am glad someone answered that i figured it would be a good topic

One tactic i use alot is skipping. I skip tubes, jigs, and spidergrubs under docks, trees, whatever. You can almost slingshot a jig way back there. Anyone else doing this technique?

I learned when to move and when to stay. I learned when to fish for beef and when to just catch fish. I learned that when its tough it isn't tough for everyone and i need to change. I learned sometimes you can outsmart yourself and put to much thought into it. I learned to stick with what brought me here and don't waste time on other things.

What are some things you do to overcome a slump in you fishing?

What new technique are you going to try to master or just try for next season?

Ugly, ugly, ugly! We where fishing another warm water discharge lake called lake Newton. Two weeks before me and a freind where prefishing and ran around looking at what the lake had to offer and desided that deep might be the way to go. We never caught a keeper all day. During the tournament i got teamed up with a guy who had won on the lake three other times before. So i felt good that he might know some places i didn't find prefishing. We headed north to where a creek dumped into the lake and pulled up into a north cove. The guy told me that the lake had big fish in it so i was kinda pumped up. We flipped and pitched all day and never caught a keeper of 18 inches. Caught a bunch of fish just not the right size. Then we pulled up on a point that had a creek channel right up against it. We noticed a 10 inch redshad worm torn up floating. So we dug in our bags and started throwing the same thing. No keepers. Then we took off to another area and right infront of me a guy that i was fishing against caught a keeper right where i was going to hit next on a redshad worm.lol It turned out that he was the only one that caught a keeper and won 1st,2nd,3rd, and big fish.

I have a trophy on my wall that was caught on a topwater develshorse 14lbs 8oz. I also have 7 more that where caught on top (they where turned loose and not mounted) . Sun up and sun down and cloudy skies big fish hit on top. Three trophy fish i caught where on spinnerbait, 8 on jig, 4 on soft jerkbait,3 on worm,6 on tubes,(trophy meaning 8 lbs or bigger) Now if your trying to get a bigger fish than a dink then you can crank them or jig them whatever you just gotta fish.

Im from the earlier format I think its great to see so many joinning!

I think they call a sand bass a striper but i could be wrong? Its like a speck or crappie or stumpnocker is a rockbass its just a local name for a fish.

Do you mean a place to lay your rod on while your working on it? build it yourself. You can make it out of wood. Your going to need a motor that turns the rod after you build it so that the flexcoat drys even also buy a torch lighter to get the bubbles out of your flex coat and to take off any excess.