SkeetyCCTX

Sorry, but your not very bright are you? I dont understand what you are trying to do here and shouldnt have to explain myself, because my quote was very understandable to educated people but I will break it down for you so you wont have to LoL! Here goes: I said that I thought that some of the public words used by some of the men during the classic, about the lady, were very distastefull! Now, I watched all of this and alot of them claimed they did not like the way that she qualified because it was not through the same trails that they have to fish. Now, later in my post I did mention that there was a good argument for their stance on the way she qualified! I also said that I would like to see women qualifying the same as men at some point in time! However, you just picked words, mixed and matched, and took things out of context to try and make me look bad when your the one that is ignorant! I clearly stated that though the guys had an argument, it wasnt like they took a spot away from the mens field to make room, they created an extra spot! Though they had an argument, I stated that thier feelings seemed to stem more from the fact she was a woman, and that was just an excuse. This argument could have been pushed in a much better manner than which they pushed it. Now, when I stated that I somewhat agreed about the qualifications issue, I do! However, that in no way puts me in the same category as the guys I am talking about. All that means is that I understand different points of view surround the issue. However, I clearly implied that the way this woman was selected was necessary due to the circumstances. Woman are at a disadvantage in this sport and certain things must be done to bring the situation to an equal level. So yes, one day I would like to see women qualifying the same way as men, when the playing field is equal though! For right now, however, I agree with the way it was done, though I do understand the point of view of people wanting the same qualifications. But, I will tell these people to sit back and look at the big picture, it has to be done this way to give women a fair shot untill things are more equal for them! Having a femal presence in the classic may now encourage more women to try and qualify, and it may make others more accepting and encourageing to them to do so! Understand? As for those guys making us look like rednecks, thats on them! KVD didnt make himself look like a stupid redneck and he got asked the same questions. There words were inappropriate, foolish, and their message clear. They did not want a woman there! P.S. I do not know you or mess with you! Before you try and call me out again to make me look bad, make sure you know what the heck you are talking about! Better yet, just keep quite cause you dont have good comprehension skills!

WOW! I cant believe the good guys actually won this time! I spend a bunch of money tourny fishing, as do many others, and it stinks to loose money to cheaters! This guy has apparently won hundreds of thosands of dollars $$ bass fishing. Dont tell me that this was just a one time thing, nobody jeperdizes that kind of money unless they have been doing it all along! He should have to repay the people that lost to him in the past! Anyways, I think the penalty is still pretty harsh. I dont know what I would do if I got my fishing license taken for 5 yrs. Man, that would be the worst punishment you could put on me! Hes gonna go crazy!

Yea, but sometimes you need to get them up, especially down here in south TX where the lakes have thick vegatation and cover and the bass are big! My home lake Choke Canyon has heavy hydrilla. In some areas you want to get the fish up near the surface as quick as possible to avoid them burrying down in the stuff! Ive been broke off by 2 lbers on 50 lb braid because of thick drilla. Now the trick is to then lower rodtip to keep them from jumping once they get to a certain level. Its a fine ballance that you have to play, especially with good fish! You constantly have to be adjusting cause your not just fighting the fish down here, your also fighting the environment!

First off, nothing I said to you should be taken personally! We are just talking about our opinions on tough issues and I dont judge you for yours! I like these kinds of arguments and I dont take them personally or make character judgements based on them. That being said, I will say if I disagree with you or if I think your point of view is misguided. That being said, I have no trouble with you doing the same, though I might then try to back up my reasoning! Yes, I do believe that there is reverse situations in which every type of person will face some sort of disadvantage based on the situation. Like I said, a lipstick company probably wouldnt give a man a chance at advertising their products. This is just a crazy example to push my point across! You dont have to explain yourself to me cause I just dont take this stuff personally. I think its kinda fun and I like that the people on this forum dont get all worked up over various opinions like this. I have been on other forums where this would have broken down to name calling and personal attacks a long time ago. So, In my book yall are all pretty good people. Dont worry, we're cool and I respect your opinion though I might not necessarily agree! Have a good one!

Otey, I understand that you think you have an example, but it is purely anectdotal and does not represent anything on a large scale for women. Danika Patrick is the only Women out there and the only example that most people can give, thats sad, considering that she also competes in a sport were a man's advantages in physical qualities dont matter! After, Danika there is no other woman in that idustry that you can mention! You just cant point to one example and use it as the basis for an argument on a issue this large scale! Furthermore, all of Danika is at the highest possible level of her sport and all of those sponsors are huge fortune 500 type companies that can take a risk on sponsoring someone that will target an untraditional audiance with and un-traditional approach! Trust me, the avg mid level woman bass fisherman has a very tough time finding sponsorships from fishing companies that are way smaller than Honda, Chevy, Goodyear, and other business Titans! I garuntee you that a Tackle company struggleing to make it in this economy would be very catious on taking on a woman because their target base is largely male! In fact, many of the top name male anlgers on the FLW and Elite series lost their sponsors this past year! Now, if there was a large population of women anlgers out there, then things would be different. Just like in Surfing, where woman are flourishing and getting lots of sponsorships! But, bass fishing is just not that diverse yet My point is that you can not point to one example and use it as a reason to base an argument on an issue like this. This is not the norm and does not represent what is going on as a whole!

I first saw the big black splotches on fish when I went to Conroe last summer! The fish looked healthy but it freaked me out! I thought maybe it was a pollution thing from run-off or something! However, my cousin told me they were caused because of their diet! He said it means that the fish are eating lots of crawfish! I dont know if the crawfish thing is true, because I have never seen this at my local lake (mathis) which is a primarily crawfish lake, but I do think it is a diet based thing which is harmless, becuase I am starting to see it in other places and all the fish look very healthy! Recently, I have seen fish at both Choke Canyon and Falcon with these spots, though not as many of them as that day at Conroe! These spots are usually the size of a quarter and very black and distinct. Its like they have been touched with a magic marker! I do feel it is something in their diet and a sign of lots of protein, considering the state of the lakes in which I am seeing it! I am interested in what it really is though!

Good point, but think of it this way! It is a business! Even though the business owner may be an equal oportunist, he/she is still going to to what is best for business. Now, it is a fact that fishing is primarily a "male" sport! Your consumers are males, and many of them are from the "good ol boy" type! These are the people that must be targeted. So, if you have a man and a women vying for a spot on your team, to represent your products; it is a no brainer! You have to go with the male if you want to advertise to your target audiance! For instance, you would not sponsor a man to promote "lipstick!" You would go with a woman because lipstick is a womans product! Now, it is going to take a big, financially secure company to go out and start giving women more sponsorships. It would take time, but maybe a larger women target audiance could be attracted, then it would be profitable for other companies to start sponsoring women. This is just a business point of view of the argument, but it still has roots in the main issues of stereotypes, prejudices, gender roles, and society!

Those goes back to gender roles in society, stereotypes, and other society based attitudes about "who" should fish and who should stick to cooking, basketball, or some other endevor! There are also some socio-economic barriers for minorities! For women, there is a huge problem with gender stereotypes and expectations. Many people, men and women, believe that women "cant" fish; making it hard for them to get sponsorships and support needed to fish major tourny trails. On the flip side, our society discourages women from fishing from birth, based on the "accepted" idea of what women "should" be doing! Society says that fishing is a man thing! Women are supposed to be cooking, cleaning, raising babies, cheerleading, or partaking in feminine activities that dont involve getting dirty! This society based view is so deep that even women think it! This is why most women never get involved in fishing, even though they may have loved it. Nobody wants to be the oddball, so they just go along with what society says they should be doing! Its ugly but true! As for minorities, they face a different but similiar set of stereotypes and race based expectations, as well as socio-economic disadvantages! You know as well as I do, that most white anglers think that most minorities are pot-lickers and meathunters, not skilled fisherman! This stereotype is based out of a socio-economic need for minorities to meat hunt, not because they necessarily dont want to sport fish! Never the less, the stereotype is there and I garuntee that it shuts down doors for them. Then, you have society expectations about what certain groups of individuals are suppossed to participate in. For instance, blacks are not openly encouraged to get into bass fishing because of their tremendous success in more athletic based sports (football, basketball, etc.)! Therefore, they are pushed more in that direction! Then, there is an inner-cultural thing that says that bass fishing is not cool! It is a fact that the black pop is heavily influenced by the hip-hop movement, which revolves around sports such as basketball and football! So, their more gifted individuals persue things other than bass fishing! I used the black race as an example but Im sure you can apply this to other races, but with different situations! The bigges factor minorities face, however, is that of socio-economic! It is a fact, that the majority of minorities in this country are historically poor! That is not an opinion, it is fact, look it up! Now, lets be honest; competitive bass fishing is not cheap! I make almost $70 k a year and still have a hard time keeping up with my tourny expenses. Now how do you think that a poor black or Mexican kid is going to be able to participate without any money? If there is a little money, how do you go off and spend it on sport fishing when there are other more crucial needs? This is why most of their fishing is generally potlicking from the bank for meat fish! Its not that they dont like sport fishing, but rather it is more benificial for them to get dinner! Furthermore, with a low economic status also comes things like drug use, lack of education, and more importantly; single parent families. Usually the one parent is the mom, who doesnt fish for reasons already stated. So, who then is there to get them interested, take them, or teach them to fish? My point is that there are deep reasons why we dont see more women or minorities competing in bass fishing! Its not that they dont have the skill sets, its largely due to society based restraints, which is sad! Now I am a conservative but I do see the flip side of things and have a deeper understanding of a lot of issues. Things are not always cut and dry. These people simply are not given an adequate chance to participate and thats why we dont see more of them. Hopefully it will change, but I seriously doubt it will on any large scale level!

Also, about 99% of the time I garuntee that the guys cashing checks during windy day tournys are not the ones only fishing areas where they can "hide" out! Get out there and battle, dont let the wind dictate how you will fish. However, be safe first, there is a point where it can become dangerous!

I live in south TX, where 30 mph winds are not uncommon. That being said, the only problem that I have with fishing under strong winds (20 mph plus) is that it can put a beating on yourself and equipment! I have lost and broken alot of stuff whiling powering through chop! Recently, I went to Amistad for a tourny! Both the pre-fish day and the tourny day saw 30 mph winds with gust over 40 mph. Two boat had to be rescue by chopper! Now, I usually dont let wind dictate my fishing but you had to out of safety this time. We picked a boat ramp in a shallower more protected area of the lake, that way we could fish how we wanted with out fear of huge waves! Now, we had to stay on the trolling motor all day but the fishing was pretty darn good. It was only my second time to the lake and I put up a 20 lb sack, which could have been better due to a break off and few misses! I fished C-Rigs the whole day, as they are a good way to fish when it is windy. Use a large weight to get to the bottom and to help when casting and keeping line tight! Also, use a bait that gets good action from moving water, such as a senko! Fish the bait fairly fast, dragging it along and covering water untill you find where fish are grouped up! As a rule of thumb, I always use the wind to my advantage and dont get scared and go looking for cover! I like to fish penninsulas with mainlake on one side, and a creek/cove on the other if possible. I position myself right on the points, where the wind is blowing down the mainlake shoreline and meets the protected water by the backside creek. Bass will tend to stack up right on these break lines and nab bait that gets blown down the shoreline into this area. It is also easier to hold the boat bcause a bit of protection is offered! This is where your electronics come into play. Run to different areas like this and do a check! Look for bait balls with bass below on these break lines. Use wind to your advantage. The wind is your friend! Some of my best catching days have been extremely windy. It is just a pain in the but technically and on your equipment. Be safe though, its not worth losing your boat over!

I like the concept of BigBass tournys and would like to see more like this in the future. They are good for two major reasons! First, and foremost; they cut down on bass death due to over stress from being kept in a cramped livewell all day. The hourly weigh=ins are great cause most of the fist weighed in do not have to spend so much time in human captivity! They can be caught, weighed in and released, all in the matter of an hour or two! Second, the hourly weigh in setup gives anglers of all skill levels lots of chances to cash some type of check! I dont know how the Splash is formatted, but I fish the BassChamps BB Bonanza at Choke Canyon and you can weigh in a fish every hour and win as long as you are in the top spots! You just cant have more than 3 fish in livewell at any given time and you can only weigh 1 an hour! I think it is a pretty sweet format, in which a lot of money is paid out, and very few fish die at the weigh-ins! Plus, the top prize always gets a nice boat, usually skeeter! Just my 2 pennies!

Down here in TX we have a native bass called the Guadalupe Bass!! It is a whole lot like a spot and I kinda thought it was basically the same thing, just a TX version! IS it a subspecies though? Also, I saw one of those Mean-Mouth bass the other day in a pic. Thats a spot-smallie hybrid! Looks pretty freakin cool! Anybody ever caught one!

I appreciate your point of view but let me remind you, you cant point to the example of yourself and wife as the rule for everybody! Because you or her dont have a problem with societies expectations of your roles, does not mean that everyone else feels the same. Beside that, you have to understand why you, your wife, and a lot of other people dont complain about gender expectations. These expectations have been so engrained in our heads for hundreds of years, that we just except them as things that we cant change and make do with the hand we have been dealt. Plus, most people do not like to go against the grain and be labled as "weird" or "different!" If you were a girl, and most of your friends were playing with dolls, dont you think that you might just do the same as to not seem like the oddball, even though you might rather go fishing! Anyways, im not trying to lecture you, I just want you to think outside the box on this issue cause it is not as cut and dry, plain and simple as some people try and make it look! I think it is cool that you are going to take your little girl fishing and hope yall have fun! Target something that is easy to catch to get her hooked and make the trip about her. I had to do that yesterday for some customers that were 1st timers! Man. its hard to not fish yourself, but its still enjoybable to see them have fun! Good Luck!

Hey, I never said that the fish went anywhere! I agree, they are still there in full force. I even stated that the TPWD people told me that they had great fish counts! However, I am stating that the fishing is not as good as it used to be. I know that it is because of the big increases in angler pressure! The fish are more accustomed to lures and not nearly as agressive as they once were! I live by the lake and fish it every week, I know! When the fishing gets back to where it was, I will gladly say so! Yes rain, and other factors play a role, but so does a 100% increase in angler pressure!

Again, not trying to fight with you, but you are talking about things that you could never get a true perspective on unless you are a woman! The effects of stereotypes, gender roles/expectations in society, and the likes are very real! It is easy to say, "Just go out and do it," when you are not in their position. A rich white kid who went to prep schools and grew up around educated people has a much better chance of going to college than a poor black kid that grew up in the projects surrounded by drug addicts and violence! Sure, you dont want to encourage anyone to use their circustances as an excuse to not better themeselves, but to say that there is truely equal opportunity is just plain not right! Sure, there are Women in high positions around the world, but that is the exception and purely anecdotal! There is a glass ceiling for most women and it doesnt matter how hard they try, they just cant pass through it! Then, the ones that do, are usually treated with contempt by their male peers. Example, the fellow anglers at the classic. Or, have you ever noticed how when there is a male boss that is tough and demanding; people respect him and just say he has high expectations and no-nonsense! However, a women that manages the same way would be called a BI$%#! Think about it, Im sure it will hit home if your honest! As for saying that you dont need sponsors to fish tournys, are you kidding? Do you fish tournys? If you are on a serious trail, and not independently rich; you must have a sposor of some sort. Not only to be competitive but to just fish! Do you realize how much money it takes to fish the Bassmaster Elite Series. $40 k truck, $40 k boat! Then, you have thousands of dollars in fuel, food, and lodgeing expenses to cover the cross country trail! Then, think about tackle and equipment. Then, you got entry fees, which are thousands of dollars per event for the elite series! Then, you got break downs and emergencies! Take in mind that you cant have a job to pay for these things cause you are off fishing! Trust me, you need sponsors; or a trust fund untill you start winning! Now take this in mind! Who is going to take care of the children that you have left at home, which society expects you (women) to take care of! My point is that you cant just throw statements out there like that because you are not a woman and have no idea what it is like to live in the opposite sex's world! Be a little more sensitive! Im a conservative and am no feminist or anything, but I try to be a little sensitive towards the underdogs and I try not to open my mouth against things that I couldnt possibly understand!

Im not trying to fight with you but I want to comment and give a counter argument/point of view for some of the things you said! 1st off, to say that women have the same opportunities as men, in the sport of tournament bass fishing, is totally inaccurate! To start with, there is a huge gender stereotype in society that says, "Women dont fish!" There are probably lots of women that would have enjoyed fishing, and might have had the skills to do good, if only they got to participate! However, we live in a society that says, "Fishing is for men," which discourages women from getting involved! We are all part of this cycle in our society. Its not malicious or mean, its just embedded in our brains subconsciously! For instace, I like to do things to thank my business customers. Some are men, and a few are women. Untill now I didnt realize that I never offer to take the women fishing or hunting, like I do with the men. For the women, I always bring them flowers or give them gift certificates to get their nails and toes done! Maybe some of these ladies would like to go fishing if I asked? I could go on an on about different society based stereotypes that would discourage women to get into competitive angleing, but lets move on! 2nd, I garuntee you that women have a much harder time being taken seriously for sponsorships, based on the society views mentioned above! If you want to become a big time tourny competitor, it takes more than skill and smarts, it also takes lots of money $$$ There is a big correlation between the top anglers and who is the most funded! Now, if you have two people applying to a company for a sponsorship but only one opening, and one applicant is male and the other female; who do you think is going to get the nod? Your being naive if you think that they would give it to the women! 99.9% of the time it will go to the man. Third, there is a large group of men within the tourny population that do not want to fish against women for whatever reason. Go back and look at some of the comments made by elite series pros when the first woman was in the Classic. I cant believe that there was not a backlash to the sport because of this! If I was a woman I would not feel comfortable fishing along side people that did not want me there. That is a possible reason for choosing to create all-women events! Now, if fishing were a highly physical sport such as football, basketball, baseball, boxing, hockey, etc.; then I would agree that it is a lack of athletic ability that keeps them from competing with the men! However, fishing doesnt take hardly a bit of athletic ability. For pete sakes, there is a guy with no arms or legs that fishes awesome. They did an ESPN special on him a few yrs ago and he fishes high level tournys and does well! Tourny Fishing is about finesse, intelligence, patience, confidence, creativity, game planning, time management, and many other traits that have nothing to do with physical strenght or skill! All of these can easily be possesed by a women! The fact that women are not in this sport and succeding is merely a reflection of the ideas of our society!

Oh great! Thats all we need, another fishing show to bring more crowds in! Man, I am just praying that Mathis rebounds with the recent increase in lake level, and gets good again. I hate fighting these huge crowds on Choke these days! Its funny, everyone talks about how good Choke is now, you should have seen it about 3-5 yrs ago; before the pressure started! Sure, the fish are still in there, but back then they didnt know what a lure was. You could fish all day with nothing but a spinnerbait and catch 100 fish, many of which were over 5 lbs! The parking lots were completly full this weekend and most of the trucks had out-of-state plates on them! Trust me, the lake doesnt need any more publicity! I just dont understand why all the attention just gets focussed on a few lakes in TX; Choke, Falcon, Fork, Amistad! There are many awesome lakes in this state that regularly produce 30 lb sacks!

Yea, I try not to even worry about the clock untill the last hour! Like I said, in the past 3 tournys I have fished, the bulk of my limmit has been caught in the last 2 hours of fishing! You dont need but a few minutes to put a good sack together if you are getting the right bites. Big fish seem to stack together! Though it wasnt tourny, sticking to my game plan helped me put me and dad on some great fish the other day at Choke Canyon. The lake was very crowded so we decided to fish the entry areas to spawning grounds and staging areas, as fish are starting to move up! Most people were on the banks and in creeks, so I knew that these spots would be less crowded since they are generally a little more offshore and the fish are less pressured! We fished small creek mouths that were close to, or part of, larger creek channels! We dragged C-Rigs in about 6-15 feet! The bite was tough for us all day, but we stuck with it and in the last 2 hrs found the honey spot. The best five went right aroudn 25 lbs and I nailed a nice 8 lber! Stick to the plan! But, dont be too stubborn that you cant adapt and know when to change!

Actually i have not seen a lot of that in my area. We fish against and with women each week and they are as welcome in our conversations before and after a days fishing as anyone(More than some). In fact, if you look around, they are the center of a ton of bull sessions and when they speak most are paying attention. They handle themselves well and know what they are talking about. The ones in this area will flat put the hurt on you and can handle a boat with the best of them. I would just as well fish with one(And I have several times) as anyone out there. You just need a good understanding when it comes to bathroom issues, handle yourself professionally, and there is no problem. Fished a tournament last Saturday with one entered. She was the life of the weighin. Her name is Rena, and was great to meet her and have the chance to visit with her and her husband Paul. Great couple. In fact, it's never the women that stir up issues, it's always some hothead that has no clue and can't catch enough fish to satisfy being entered. I will fish with a woman any day. Never fished with one I could not learn from either. Wish we had more, it's good for the sport. FYI, I am 61, so most of my friends are in the 50-60 age group, and never heard a word from any of them as to what you speak. Jack ***They look a hell of a lot better in a set of bibs than any of us guys*** My wife is from Houston and I went to college a couple yrs up there, I will say it is a very diverse and tolerant city, but I would like to see any tourny anywhere where there is a healthy population of women anglers. Im sure there are a few women's leauges somewhere and a few club events that might have a good female presence, but I can not recall a woman in any tourny that I have ever fished! Thats not to say there wasnt, but not enough for me to notice! The fact that we have to make a big deal about women being involved, shows that they usually arent and that there is a problem! Its kinda like the racist guy that claims to have a black friend, so that he doesnt look racist! To tell you the truth, I dont know any women that are good fisherman except for 1, and she is a saltwater angler! Her name is Cpt. Billie Kocian and she is as nice a persona as you will meet! She fishes a pro redfish series and guides on Aransas Bay! To me it seems kinda sad that I only know of 1 good woman angler. Its not like fishing requires the strength and athleticism that only men have, its more of a finesse mental thing and there is not a reason why women cant succed, other than gender stereotypes! However, I agree! I believe it is only a matter of time before we see a dominant woman angler or two at the top of the sport with the boys!

I hate to tell you, but I garuntee you that a large portion of the bass fishing world, namely tourny guys; do not like the idea of competeing against women. This is the old gaurd that I speak of and they dont even like younger males and minorities, let alone women! Being a younger guy (27), I have noticed a lot of flack from alot of my older peers. I am a talkitive friendly person and they are usually pretty cold towards me and I can tell that they think I am some young punk! It especially kills them when they see my sacks every tourny! If you have noticed, you see this negitive attitude the old gaurd has for the younger guys on the Elite Series and FLW all the time! Remember how much everyone hated Mike Icconelli when he first came on the seen? He's a very nice and polite guy and they just hated him cause he was "New" school! Like I mentioned earlier, I was shocked by alot of the public comments made about the female angler during last year's classic! The way I see it is that you shouldnt be worried about anyone else but yourself when fishing a tourny. KVD was one of the few guys that wasnt gripping about her fishing and thats because he was focussed on what he had to do and not worrying about others! In many ways, the old gaurd in competitive bass angleing is like that of Golf! Now, I know that this does not mean everyone is like this and I know that there are plenty out there that have no problem with different kinds of people entering the sport! However, there is an alarmingly large number of those that want to keep it the way that it used to be. That means 40-60 yr old white dudes named Hank! No offense to Hank Parker, he seems like a very good guy and not what i am talking about (LOL)!

By now I am sure that everyone has heard about the planned re-opening of Squaw Creek to the public! Over the past decade S.C. has becom a myth and legand amongst the bass fishing world in TX! However, how much of its appeal do you think comes from its actuall potential, or do you think that it is just hype based on the premise that nobody has been allowed to fish it for a long time. Well, as a kid back in the mid to late 80s I got the pleasure of fishing this lake on a regular basis. Let me tell you, the hype is well justified! I only got to fish it until the ripe old age of 8, but I still have vivid memories of how awesome that lake was! Crystal clear water, sand beaches, and all sorts of fish. Of course, SC is a great LMB lake. In the 80s when I fished it, it did not have tons of big fish like fork or monticello; but it had lots of numbers and plenty of 5 lbers! However, what was most appealing to me was all the different species of fish in catchable populations that it had! Im talking LMB, Smallies, White Bass, Stripers, Hybrids, Cats, a variety of sunfishes, and even Walleye! Yes, I have personally caught several Walleye out of this lake! Our typicall fishing trip at this lake consisted of catching several limmits of LMB in the morning(released), followed by filling the ice chest up with white bass around noon, then we would troll for stripers in the late afternoon. We would catch all of these species nearly every time we went out, including a few smallies and walleyes mixed in from time to time! I have one memory of my mother catching a 4 lb smallie while reading a book and soaking a piece of peeled table shrimp, while me and dad fished lures from the front of the boat! My dad was very jelous that she landed this TX trophy while piddle-farting around with a piece of shrimp! Anyways, this is a truely great lake and I am very interested to see what it fishes like now!

Well, like I said; I had a pretty good day on sunday. Caught some real nice fish, about 26 lbs for the best five! However, the fishing has been very bad for the past several months untill just recently. We are way behind schedule and we usually see fishing like this as early as Jan and early Feb.!! Fish are finally starting to move up, but I garuntee you that the imense fishing pressure will have them a little spooky. I would definately try and target specific locations and not just beat banks and jump into coves like 99% of people do!

There have been women fishing in the "Classic" for the past 2 years. I cant remember if it was the same gal but there definately has been a female for the past two years. Actually, this yr that Women caught a quick small limmit and was actually in 1st place for a short while on day one, this was the first time a women has ever lead the "Classic!" Pretty cool I thought! Now, I remember last year that allot of the men were not happy about the woman being in the Classic because of how she qualified. She did not qualify the same way that the men did, she qualified because she was the top Woman fisherman for the highest level of Women's competitive fishing. This angered some of the men because they felt that the men's path to qualifying was much more difficult. Now, they do have an argument, but it wasnt like they erased a man's spot for the woman; they simply created an extra spot for the Women's Champion. In light of this, I feel that their problem was just that she was a 'Woman!" The negitive public reactions and responses given by many of the male anglers were very tacky and distastefull. In my opinion, it made our sport look very backward and further garnered the stereotype that we are good ol boy, racist, rednecks! This was a great chance for the sport to gain positive exposure and look very diverse! There are not too many sports in which size, shape, athleticism and race do not make a difference in terms of opportunity for success. Now, even Gender criteria has been eliminated as well. This could be very appealing to alot of people! Plus, the addition of women to events gives a larger talent poole to pick competitors from. This makes things more challenging. Who knows, maybe these women are just as tuff as a lot of the men! Now, that they have more incentive to compete, we may see some interesting things in the future! Personally, I have no problem with women fishing in any bass tourny! However, I would like to see some women try and qualify the same way that the men do. That is why it is good that they gave a woman a spot, I think it will encourage future women to try and qualify! Bass fishing is one of those sports where anybody in decent health can compete as long as they have competitive desire, instincts, fishing knowledge, intelligence, luck, experience, and other skills/traits that translate to tourny success. Couple all of this with a whole lot of practice, and you can make it!

Well just got back in from Choke Canyon! It was a hot calm day, temps were well into the 80s and the wind never blew more than 5 mph but was dead for long periods inbetween. There was good cloud cover. The water is still stained from all the run off we had a few weeks back and surface temps ranged from 63-64 degrees, maybee you could find some 65 and up in the backs of some creeks or coves but I didnt fish too far back today! The lake was absolutely packed crowded! By 7 am you could not even find a parking spot at S.Shore which is the secondary launching area (about 100 spots)! There had to be at least 250 boats on the water. There were not any major tournys, this was all clubs and recreation crowds. Half of the people on the lake were from out of state. All the recent Mag articles really have people coming in! We stay well away from coves, small creeks, and shorelines today cause that is were most people fish, and we knew that we had a better chance of finding un-molested fish if we backed off a little and looked for offshore staging and spawing areas! We concentrated on points that had flats running in to them, points that came close to the frio river channel, the mouths of big drains and moderate sized creeks, and the middle of creek channels that led into back water spawning grounds (flats, coves, creeks). We concentrated most of our fishing between 8 ft and 12 ft, though we did catch fish as shallow as 5 ft and as deep as 17 ft! We pretty much stuck with Carolina rigs the whole day! We C-Rigged Senkos, Lizards, Power Worms, Culprits, and Zoom Trick Worms! We fished for 7 hrs and landed about 20 fish! That thats not a whole lot, we did have some decent size; our best five fish went 26 lbs! I caught the big fish of the day, an 8 lber, I will ask my wife to post it when she has time cause I dont know how! My dad also caught a 6 lber! I will tell you that the fish are finally starting to show signs of life. Its way behind schedule but they are definately starting to move up into the spawning grounds. There are lots of small males roaming the banks, with a few females mixed in here and there. We caught all of our fish out of the same 100 yd area, and it was a little pocket o pre spawners, males and Big Females. I will not dare say where, but the area did have heavy grass and was a flat with quick deep water access! I couldnt quite tell if they were just staging in this area, as it was on the side of a creek channel that led back to a creek/cove area, or if they were actually getting down right there. The water was too stained to see. Some of the hits seemed indicitive of bed fish, but I saw no beat tails! My bet is that they were staging there in that grass and will move up into the creek area, or closer to the bank. We were a good 60-100 yds from shore and in 6-10 feet of water for most of the fish! Also, I got good news from the TPWD guys that were doing a creel survey at the ramp. The fishing has been so bad lately, but they told me that they shocked up awsome numbers and size this winter. They said that there was not even a need to stock! Its good to know that we still got plenty of fish. The huge crowds have just made them way more picky I guess! Good Luck!