D4u2s0t

wow!!! i'm going to stand behind my car, have my friend hit me with it, and then sue chevy!! lol

when they're aggressively feedin on the surface will be the best time, but any time they are aggressive or actively feeding is fine. You can follow what most will tell you, early in the morning and at dusk, but then you'll miss out on the great topwater hits all day like most do as well.

Feeling the difference is somethign that takes time, and comes with experience. With a texas rigged plastic, I can tell if i'm on rocky or sandy bottom, when and where i'm hitting the weeds (which is great for finding the edges) if I hit an isolated rock, or stump, etc. I don't know of an easy way to teach someone that except more time on the water. But it definitely comes with practice. In the beginning, if you feel something "different' set the hook... and then with time, she'll start to feel the difference between a bit and bottom contour and cover.

I try not to say too much about it, because I don't like to start problems... but i've been members of a few car forums for years, and we had similar people on there... "well, i have this done, so i'm making this power, which means i can run xx time at the track, which means I can beat xyz car no problem because road and track says it runs xx". Scales are cheap, pick one up. Definitly a pet peeve of mine as well.

I fish creature baits often, mostly t-rigged and dragged or hopped along the bottom. My new fave is the rage tail smokin rooster. The action on these things is incredible, even with the most subtle twitch of the rod or twist of the reel. Since they've come out, i've almost always had one tied on with great success. I've also done well with assorted brush hog type baits. I've had the best luck with the hogs weightless, and just dead sticked on the bottom. Throw it out, hit the bottom on slack, and if the fish doesn't get it on the way down, just let it sit there. For some reason, they just seem to pick up the brush hog baits.

No it's not rocket science. Right now the bass are NOT spawning, so what is the harm in catching and releasing. Like I said before, I'm pretty sure keeping bass (whether they are in season or not) is obviously much worse than catching and releasing a bedding bass. A bass doesn't stand a chance at spawning if it's in your frying pan. The problem is, it's not like bass say to themselves, "Ok guys, it's april 15th, time to spawn!" There's alot of variables involved, so that's why they have the restrictions when they do. Bass don't spawn at the same time every year. To answer your question earlier about what's worse, catch and release, or keeping a limit? Depends on the body of water. There's plenty of water out there where you're hurting the fishery by putting every fish back. In many lakes, it's actually better to keep fish within a certain size.

I cary about 10 cranks, and don't see the need to have any more... I have all the bases covered, can hit any depth in the lakes I fish, suspending, floating, wide action, tight wobble, lipless, etc. I see no reason to pick up more, when what I have works, and I have all the situations covered... in short, my response is yea, you're nuts lol ;D

you have now learned why some people are skeptical when someone says "check out this 7 pounder" and it's really 3-4lbs at best... lol. definitely a humbling experience. Show how much we like to over-estimate our catches.

great catch! What did that pig weigh in at?

looks like they're trying to prevent people from fishing during the spawn... Like they said, if you catch one, just put it back like you would any other out of season fish.

So here's the update for my area, nothing has been biting except the perch that have come real shallow to spawn. Caught probably close to 70 perch on sunday, and a few gills as well between me and a friend. Was pretty much every cast, regardless of where you put it. Haven't had a bass bite at all this year until today... went down to the beach before work, saw tons of baitfish very shallow, and the gills had come in too... usually a good sign. Then I got the bass that i posted the pic of. Had a few bites, they were pretty quick and vicious, didn't hook up, i'm going to assume they were gills. With the warm weather finally here in my neck of the woods (it's usually about 10-12 degrees colder in my town vs. towns immediately down the mountain) i'm looking forward to fishing friday with my brother, and he's staying the night and coming to opening day on saturday (trout). So should be a good weekend. Maybe even get out in the boat for a while.

I was among the first "regular" people to have a rooster, and it quickly became one of my faves. I'll have one tied on plenty this year.

nice, looks like some solid 2-3 lbers there!

Like rolo said, I don't weigh unless it's a good one anymore. After enough time with the scale, you actually get good at knowing the weights, instead of never using a scale and thinking your 3lber is a "solid 7" lol.

The fairfield area has been pretty flooded, don't be surprised if the "lake" you're fishing is just a flooded parking lot lol So I should plan on sight fishing 3-eyed fish holding on parking stops and lamp poles. Got it. yep. if you want some nice, clean water, come to northwest jersey. If you've never been there, you wouldn't even know it was nj. Once you get away from the malls and the parkway, it's like a totally different world.

that's one of the reasons I use the keel hook... doesn't matter how fast or slow you reel, still has amazing action, and never spins.

Got my first of the season, hair over 2lbs. Felt great after pulling in the sluggish fish through the ice all winter. Got it on a t-rigged rooster.

The fairfield area has been pretty flooded, don't be surprised if the "lake" you're fishing is just a flooded parking lot lol

8.8-10.5 is about as close as you'll ever get with an estimate. next time just bring a scale, they're very cheap.

I like to use a 3/0 or 4/0 1/8oz keel weighted hook. The keel hook helps keep the bait straight under all retrieves, and I think it gives it a very lifelike movement. I wouldn't go any heaver than 1/8 oz though.

There are spinning outfits whose weight range "begins" at 3/8oz. and these outfits will throw 5/8 oz lures into the next county. Surf-casting spinning rods are designed to throw 4 oz lures to the far side of the swash. Roger I said your typical every day setups. maybe I should have more specifically said your everyday bass setups. In simple terms of distance, if you have 2 everyday rods (i'm not talking about rods specifically designed for distance. i'm talking about rods you would find in most anglers garage) and can't throw a texas rigged plastic further on your baitcaster, you're doing something very wrong. I've even tried the same rod, and the casting setup always wins in distance from my experience.

in your typical every day setups, baitcasters will cast further for anything over 3/8th oz from my experience. I can cast most baits on casting gear significantly further than on spinning gear. I do fine with anything as light as a weightless senko type bait wacky rigged, which we all know is not that aerodynamic. When i'm on shore, and need distance, wouldn't even consider a spinning setup.

keep bending them till they run right. The wires get banged up easily, like spinnerbaits.

backlashes are caused by the person holding the reel, not the reel. Your argument is like saying why drive a manual transmission car, when there's the chance to miss a shift. But most car enthusiasts would still prefer a manual tranny. Yes, if you don't know how to drive a manual car you will burn out your clutch, bang up your tranny, etc. But, if you DO know how to drive them, you have more control over your car than someone with an auto. Again, it comes down to preference, if you see people pulling line out after every cast, or even after every few casts, it's simply because they don't know how to use a baitcaster.

I use topwater not in a certain temp range, but when the bass have the bait fish boiling the surface. Throw it past the comotion, twitch it a few times, and stop it right in the middle of the mess. If you have feeding fish, and your bait is the easiest meal, can't get any easier to catch them than that. That's when I have the most success with topwater, and one of the only times I catch it. It's not because I don't think topwater baits are good, it's because in other situations I think other presentations will get the job done better.