Marty

Thanks for clearing that up.

That's the way I read it. See page 6 of the .pdf document. http://www.igfa.org/BookRule2004.pdf

I e-mailed Shimano a question about their reels and never received a reply.

The Lindners put in plenty of time, but there has to be more to it than that, because not everyone who puts in hard work gets to be as good. I think there are some natural aptitudes for fishing, like there are for golf, baseball, or whatever. Al is one of the very few who has won southern bass tournaments and northern walleye tournaments.

A thermometer should give an accurate reading at various depths, but maybe one of the board scientists will say otherwise. I read at the surface because that's usually the frame of reference. Like when people say spawning occurs when the water's in the 60s or that they start using topwaters when at 55° and up, they are talking about surface temps.

I read the temperature from the shore all the time, except I use a "stream thermometer" rather than a pool thermometer, but whatever works is fine.

I think if you don't slosh around loudly and aren't too close to the fish, you'll be all right. I used hip boots at this one place, but the fish were a good distance away. Most of the places I'd like to wade so I could fish some water not accessible from shore, I can't, because the bottom is too soft and quicksand-like.

I do loads of shore fishing. In general, if you have visible cover or structure, fish it thoroughly. If your water is nondescript (like mine), move around and cover a lot of water to determine any unseen cover or hot spots or other patterns. Any lure that can be used from a boat can be used from shore, except for the vertical techniques. Go as often as you can and try to be there during higher percentage times, like low light periods. It might be just the way I like to fish, but I catch a good number of my fish on topwaters, but also soft plastics, spinnerbaits, inline spinners and crankbaits. Good luck.

Like the others, I go whenever I can. I might start out with a lure, technique, color, speed, etc., that the conditions dictate, but I'll switch if it's not working. Fish don't always behave like they're supposed to and every day it's trial and error to see what will work.

Sometimes you don't need to know depth or sink rates. Say you're fishing from the bank and want to retrieve just above the weed tops. Count down until the lure hangs in the weeds, say, for example, your count is 7. Subsequently, count the lure down to 6 and start retrieving. Even though you don't know the sink rate or the actual depth, you've used the countdown method to fish your lure where you want to.

Good post.

As was already mentioned, read, read, read. Magazines, books, Internet articles and forums. Watch TV shows, rent DVDs, talk to other anglers you run into and spend as much time on the water (or on the bank) as you can.

I've used the Yum Dingers in just one body of water and I got the impression that they did just as well as the Senko would have. I have full confidence in them. They're about 15% less weight than the Senko.

Hey Raul, I mentioned in my post that I lost more fish than usual, a number of them due to "rookie" mistakes, even though I've been at it for 36 years. I'm not glad about what happened to you, but it's comforting to know that I'm not the only_______(choose your noun) out there.

I caught my personal best on opening day, but other than that, it wasn't a particularly good year. Probably the biggest downer was that I lost significantly more bass than in any previous year, a number of them due to rookie mistakes, even though I've been at it for 36 years.

Sounds like one of those old "Confucius say" jokes. I definitely like to keep my distance from Rottweilers!!

Sounds good but, unfortunately, it doesn't work out that way as much as I'd like it to. "Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish." --Roman poet Ovid

I can't imagine why a trailer hook would cut down on the number of bites. I use one all the time and it's not at all unusual for the fish to be hooked on the trailer hook only. I disagree with Fisher of Men's comment #2. Sharpen the spinnerbait hook, period, whether you use a trailer hook or not.

This is the site of an Alabama guide who I'm familiar with from another forum. He may be willing to give you some advice. http://www.anglingalabama.com/

In a word---topwater.

You can't assume they're bass. Carp are notorious jumpers and, yes, they're huge. By the way, welcome to the forum.

Who knows, but I don't think lures have to be imitative in order to generate strikes, as evidenced by the fact that every lure material, size, shape, color and action catches fish. The best anglers in the world, in my opinion, know HOW to catch fish, but they don't necessarily know WHY any more than you or me.

I use one of these so-called "stream thermometers." They're usually found in stores and catalogs with fly fishing equipment. They're inexpensive and easy to store.

I fish a huge amount from shore and can understand your frustrations. But you just have to forget about those out-of-reach spots, lest they distract you from the job at hand, which is to try and catch fish from areas available to you. You're using good lures from spring to fall and ought to be catching some bass. You might add some plastic worms that you can crawl along the bottom. However, are you sure these waters have a decent bass population? If you're fishing, say, buzzbaits in good water during warmer water periods and low light conditions, you ought to be catching some bass if they're present. I still think there's some problem which goes beyond lure selection. If you want to PM me, I may be able to put you in touch with a very good fisherman from your area of the state, although he probably doesn't know your specific waters.

They might not be attracted to it, but bite in spite of it. Or it may be masking some negative odors. Or they really might be attracted to it. I'm not sure we can easily get answers to issues like this. I use a garlic scent on spinnerbait skirts to mask odor dating back to an old, old problem, and I have much more confidence when using it. However, other scents would probably accomplish the same purpose.