Marty

Been thinking about getting a canoe. Wondering about storage. I have no good place to store one, just a back yard. How do you canoe owners store yours during the season? During the winter in a place that receives heavy snow? How do you secure it against theft? Appreciate any info.

Bass-n-bo, I do a lot of shore fishing. Why not read the articles in the links given in previous replies and if you have any more questions, I and others will be happy to try and help.

Start by going to this site's home page and looking down the left side for "Beginners." There's a good series of articles. I'd start with a spinning outfit if I were you. As to waters to fish, keep your eyes and ears open in your travels around town. Maybe go to some lake's launch and talk to anglers. And definitely talk to employees or other customers in tackle shops and departments. There will be some people who won't want to share their spots, but between talking and looking around in your travels you should glean some information. Another thing is to talk to people at the Austin office of the state DNR, although I think they have another name for it, TWD, or something like that. Good luck.

If you have visible cover/structure that you can target, fish it thoroughly. Otherwise, move a lot and cover a lot of water until you learn the characteristics. Go as often as you can and try to be there during higher percentage periods, like low light. Depending on cover, time of year, etc., the full range of lures can be used. You don't have to rule anything out just because you're fishing from the bank. Good luck.

N2, thermometers are cheap. Lots of guys use pool thermometers, I use a "stream thermometer", which is about the size of a ballpoint pen and can usually be found in stores and catalogs in with fly fishing stuff and cost less than $10.

I recall when she and her son were a hot topic a year or two ago, but I don't remember the details. However, I seem to recall that there was some funny stuff and it wouldn't have been accepted regardless of gender. I also would like to see the record broken. From what communication I've had with some of the California trophy hunters, the worst nightmare imaginable for them would be for the record to be caught by some guy who was drowning a worm looking for crappie. Ouch!

I've never counted. Probably be too depressing to know how few fish I got per "x" number of casts. :'(

I don't mean to be rude by any stretch of the imagination, but then why are you still reading and posting to this thread? ???

Ceph, your first three suggestions sound pretty good, but the plug-knocker is very unlikely to help, but it's worth a try. I fish a lot from shore at a canal which has wall-to-wall crankbait-eating rocks. I tried a similar commercial product and it was worthless to me. It was obvious that these things work best from a boat where you can get directly above the bait. I then bought a pole that telescopes out to 20' and that has saved me about $200 already, but that's only because I determined before I bought it that the vast majority of the snags were within 20'. His bait would be too far away for a pole.

I'm not familiar with catch-and-release ponds and lakes. There's just one small pond around here that's C&R that I'm aware of. I'd be curious if, technically speaking, it's even legal to weigh the fish. Is it possible that on these waters it must be unhooked and released immediately?

I do a lot of pond fishing from shore and I will give you some generalities of what works for me. If you have visible cover and/or structure that you can target, fish it thoroughly. If you don't have targets, move a lot and cover a lot of water until you learn where the action is. Get out there as often as you can. Try to be there at higher percentage times, like dawn, dusk and cloudy days. Be stealthy; don't go stomping around right at the shoreline. Don't rule out any lures; just about any category of lure will work under the right conditions. Good luck.

It should count. It's a largemouth It's living in the wild It hasn't been genetically altered

Go with confidence or a few of both. Personally, I'd go with both, because crankbaits are just too good a fish attractor not to have at your disposal. You talk about a low budget, but how low is low? $10? $100? You don't need to have a load of cranks to cover various depths, a few will do you fine for openers. Good luck.

Can't help with your question about that company. But don't forget that grubs on jigheads are great for smallies, as are tubes with an internal head.

Just my personal opinion that which specific plastics you use is not nearly as important as finding fish. I don't know anything about quarries. But for regular lakes and ponds I would say to thoroughly work any visible cover/structure that you can target. Otherwise, move around and cover a lot of water until you learn by trial and error about that particular body of water. In many bodies of water, you're better off casting parallel to or at angles to the shore rather than heaving your lure way out there. But don't rule that out if close to shore is not producing. Good luck.

I use 6'6" medium as an all-purpose rod and it works out well with a full variety of baits.

Welcome Allen, I hope you pick up some good tips here that will help make your return to bass fishing more productive.

Welcome Adam. Are you positive they're bass that are jumping? At any rate, put in as much time as you can, thoroughly fish any visible structure or cover, and if there is none, move around and cover a lot of water. Use a variety of baits and try to be there at higher-percentage times, like low light periods. At many, but not all, shore fishing locations, you can do better by casting parallel to or at angles to the shore rather than casting straight out. Good luck.

It's not very clear what you're after, so may I suggest that you check out the articles section of this site. Also, scroll down the left side of the home page and check out the Beginner's section. There's lots of information here.

Perhaps wasn't trying to eat, but hit it for reasons of territoriality, nest protection, etc.

F.O.M., I don't have a whole lot of detail. But NY advises nobody to eat more than one meal (1/2 pound) per week from any water in the state. There are advisories for specific bodies of water and there is a list of waters from which no fish should be eaten by women of childbearing age and kids under 15.

Welcome!

I'm mostly fishing shallow, weedy water. My tubes are Texas-rigged with an internal weight and lift-and-drop is my most frequent type of retrieve.

I love pads, but don't get to fish them as often as I used to. Soft jerkbaits, plastic worms, Senkos and topwaters. Bring the plastics over, across, between and through the pads, and let them sink into holes and edges. Also fish the edges with cranks and spinnerbaits if you can get away with them.

If I could have just one, it would be Rapala original Shad Raps. I've caught fish on many, many cranks, but for some reason, I have more confidence in these than any other.