Red Bear

doesnt bother me one bit. bass are a lot tougher than many of you give them credit for being. their not fragile little glass figurines or RG3, they dont come bubble wrapped. im not saying i advocate blatantly mistreating fish either, dont confuse, im saying it aint really hurting nothing. these fish dig holes in the dirt every year and survive it, simply laying them in the dirt isnt going to cause them damage. the real problem is people treating bass better than they treat their fellow man...

without blaming the line, id also think of a couple of other things. perhaps you overspooled it/put too much line on it. when putting on line i try to leave an 1/8th inch of lip minimum around the spool(or as youre calling it, the "bell"). so maybe pull a few feet of line off and see if it still jumps off the spool. another thing to check for is line twist, if the line twisted while spooling it on, it may jump off as well...

i actually like a slot limit that says you cant keep fish between whatever lengths over one that says you can only keep fish between these lengths. though the example i have pertains to stocked striped bass, the same can be applied to large mouth. at Smith Mountain Lake in VA, there used to be a minimum 20 inch length to keep a fish, and it was considered a trophy striper lake. but then they had a fish kill from copepods. a lot of the big fish died. soon after they instituted a new policy. stripers 26-36 inches had to be thrown back from october to april(i believe thats the months) and in the warmer months the limit was removed due to warmer water temps and higher mortality rate of releasing stripers. next thing you know as the fish population began to rebound there were a lot of fish in the 26-30 inch range being caught and had to be released. there were too many fish in the same age/size range in the lake, the slot limit was recently raised, 30-40 inch fish must now be released during the cooler months. this promotes the removal of fish 26-30 inches and is preventing them from becoming stunted while also protecting the lower population of big fish. this method allows protection to a class of fish as it grows, while allowing the harvesting of smaller more abundant fish, and prevent stunting at the same time...

youre missing the point. its not about bass overrunning a lake. its about bass not growing to the size they should because there are too many bass competing for the same food sources. too many bass + not enough food = small fish. and bass are not only competing with each other for food. they are also competing with crappie, catfish, striper/hybrids, etc...also, those other fish, otters, birds, snakes, etc. also go after more than just bass, theyre also competing with the bass for the same food sources. having too many predators and not enough food is a real problem in some bodies of water, thats a fact, not just hearsay...

i dont even eat fish at all, but i will defend a mans right to legally keep fish. A couple things i see that i dont like or agree with are the crowd that are naive enough to believe removing a few bass from a large body of water is ruining the fishery. The other are those who get mad at people who legally keep bass solely because they catch and release themselves. You really have no right to be mad as long as no laws are broken. Just because one is a catch and release fisherman doesnt mean you need to try and force your ways on other people, and doesnt mean that others are wrong for keeping bass either. but that is the attitude you portray. its not a good look...

fish the same way you would fish before the rain, dont overthink it...

Some good recommendations above, and theres some good bass fishing in NC, but youre not likely to see those numbers you posted daily. But you are likely to catch more bass bigger than youre used to. There is more double digit potential in NC too, compared to Maine. NC is small town central, with bigger cities surrounding them. I grew up in the Halifax County/Warren County area down there. I've fished Gaston and Kerr/Buggs Island for the bigger lakes. Gaston more so, I love Gaston. Where i grew up though, there were several lakes all within a 2 hour or less drive. Gaston being the closest about 30 minutes away. Plus theres a little town called Weldon, striped bass capitol of the US, or atleast the east coast if im not mistaken. they come up the Roanoke River there. Plus there is some great catfishing, big bluegill, and some good crappie fishing too. Small creeks can be very productive as well. Great early spring fishing too. I just caught my PB down in NC back in March, from a pond. Did i mention there are lots of ponds, and people are nice enough to let you fish them. Also, theres lots of ponds you can just go to, like its abandoned land, and unposted. Like small rugged dirt road leading to a pond, and nothing else around but woods...

glad to see im not the only one who does hook sets in their sleep while dreaming. woke myself up during one once and caught myself cranking in on an imaginary reel too lol

interesting, gonna have to try this method...

other than just telling you to throw the whole tackle box, here is some other info you may find helpful. while SML is notorious for boat traffic, remember youre going before memorial day so it could be a lot worse. there may be a lot of tournaments going on that weekend, but you wont have to deal with the many pleasure boaters and jet skis that you will see a month after youre there. also the lake is very huge, so maybe it wont be as crowded as youre picturing it, you have the main lake which is usually clear and you have 2 river arms which can get muddy at times. the further you get up the river arms the more you need to watch for debris in the water and the more dirty its likely to be. expect water temps anywhere from the high 50s to mid 60s. largemouth outnumber smallmouth 10 to 1 also. one of the most productive patterns on SML is the docks, i would definitely spend some time throwing weightless senkos and shakey heads at them. or other weightless plastics if its not too windy, if windy then add a bullet weight or split shot. I also like to throw cranks like the 5xd or 6xd around the treestumps and on points. But for the most part i would stick with slower moving presentations. the fish at SML can be real finicky. my best colors for plastics seem to be shades of green, and whites...for crankbaits, black back with white/chrome/gray bellies... the stripers are also spreading apart and will be all over the lake, so its possible you may pick up a few of those, possibly with bellies full of eggs, as theyre going through their "spawn"....

well the thing is, and i dont know if true or not, is that people say that fish have an enzyme or something that will help rust the hook out. so if its not in a fishes mouth it may not have started to rust yet. atleast thats something ive read here, yet its not anything ive seen confirmed...

and maybe i ought to be careful what i wish for, but I am glad Tom Coughlin is stepping down as coach of the Giants. he has been a thorn in our side for years...

i didnt say oline was their only issue for struggling on offense, i said i think it was more of issue than one missing WR and that Nelsons absence plays a role in it. The Packers offense was much better earlier in the season when their oline was healthy and Nelson was missing then, thats my reasoning for placing most of the struggles on the oline injuries and depth. Cobb is supposed to be your deep threat, Adams problem is he has no hands, and Jones is getting older. Also, the WRs do have trouble creating separation and the route concepts on passing plays havent been very good as of late is another thing i read recently. but despite all that, i also said my Redskins team cant afford to over look any team, even if its a team considered to be struggling. I expect a challenge come sunday...

i would say injuries on the offensive line and lack of depth on the offensive line are more of an issue for GB than one missing WR. his absence may play a role in it to, but i cant blame it solely on him being out of the lineup with injury...

Its nice that youre doing better. Not long after you, a month or so i was also involved in a car accident. I did not go to ER and had my mother pick me up at the scene, i also made sure i got all my fishing stuff out of my car and into my moms van before the car was towed away for the exact fear it would be stolen. it sucks that you didnt have a similar option, but atleast you live to fish another day...

it did not go over my head. youre saying the packers offense has suffered so horribly without him basically that he should be considered MVP because they wouldve been a lot better if he were playing, just like people were saying about Peyton Manning when he missed the season for his neck injury a few years back. It was a stupid reference then and its a stupid one now in my opinion...

perhaps i shouldve clarified my comments a little more further. those are just yard per game averages you posted. but the defense isnt making the same big plays it made earlier in the year is what im saying. your CBs, Harris and Talib who were playing at a very high level to start the season have been getting burned much more frequently lately while making less plays themselves. dont get me wrong, im not talking bad about denvers defense, like i said they served me well in fantasy football, so i have followed them this season and their trends. what im alluding to in my previous post was that their level of play currently isnt as good or consistent as their level of play was earlier in the season, which is why i also say a little more offense will help, it will offset that drop in play on defense.

actually, Williams gave up when Rex Ryan thought it was a great idea to drop him into coverage half the time instead of letting him rush the passer, which is what he does best and is known for in the NFL... every year someone says something like this about an injured player, and every year i think its one of the dumbest things i have ever heard even if meant as a joke, no offense but jordy nelson will never be league MVP... about that Denver defense, they started off on fire, but they have really collapsed lately. i drafted them in fantasy football and they served me well, but they havent been up to par lately it seems. I wouldnt count on Denvers defense too much, I would be more concerned with getting that offense back to being high powered in the next couple weeks, Peytons arm should be fresh this year with all the rest he got rehabbing his foot...

their offensive line is been banged up most of the year, as a Redskins fan i hope we can take advantage of that next Sunday. but even with GB struggling lately, i hope the Redskins dont think they can overlook anyone...

those dreadful Redskins have put the Eagles out of the playoffs the last two years, have beat the Eagles in 3 straight games as well. I thought Kelly would do ok after his first couple seasons, then he got roster power and it ruined him. He has to learn in the NFL its more about players and their talents than it is about scheme. He failed to build relationships with his players as well...

if its not going to receive heavy use, you may want to even consider checking out pawn shops for a used one. i got a great running little Poulan for cheap and the most ive had to do aside from keeping a sharp chain is clean the filter and change the spark plug in 4 years of having it...

actually he only gets about 31-32 million gauranteed which has already been paid. when he skipped a mandatory minicamp it voided the rest of his gaurantees which were in the form of 2011-2012 base salaries. ive also read its possible the redskins will pursue some of the bonus money previously paid due to language they put in his contract but its not clear if the CBA will override that. originally 41 million was the gauranteed amount. also the deal was reported as 7 years $100+ million total, but in actuality its a 4 year 48 million dollar deal with bogus years tacked on Grey Wolf, i would place fault on Vinny Cerrato and Daniel Snyder. They were running the front office when Haynesworth was signed. At said time the skins were running a 4-3 defense which he fit. New coaches, new scheme this year, the 3-4, and Haynesworth never gave it a chance. My point, you cant blame them for signing a player that didnt fit at the time of the signing...headcase, perhaps....

^^^^^ Brett Favre - Is that you ? Just Kiddin' A-Jay roflmao, that is friggin hilarious

^^^^^ Brett Favre - Is that you ? Just Kiddin' A-Jay roflmao, that is friggin hilarious

^^^^^ Brett Favre - Is that you ? Just Kiddin' A-Jay roflmao, that is friggin hilarious