Matt Fly

This happened almost two years ago, and Jimmy is doing fine. This isn't news, it happened long ago and Peta webs are pushing it again. Last time I checked, your innocent until guilty. Anyone see him shoot anything? I admit it doesn't look good, but the owner has been convicted of this last year. Over half millon in fines. This is more PETA pushed than anything. Anybody go to Jimmy's busy web site and look at the responses. http://www.tristate-media.com/articles/2005/01/20/warricknews/editorial/01crowley.txt http://realindy.com/canhunt.htm Notice the date is over a year old on this report. In the second site, they actually call jimmy as an witness along with Ronnie Dunn of Brooks and Dunn.

I like night fishing in the summer months, the bass seem to move shallow to feed in the hydrilla at night and move back to deep waters as twilight appears on the horizon. Bigger baits do well for big bass through the winter and early spawn here, as summer comes about, the best baits for numbers which produce some big bass also are smaller baits, french fries, tubes, flukes and the rest of the small profile bait fish baits because the shad have had their spawns and the bait is tiny at this time of the year, "match the hatch". But the rule is still in play, "If you want a treat, you gotta throw some meat, BIG,BIG,Big, just don't expect the numbers in the heat. This is the time of the year, the water temp is getting close to have the fish staged consistently in 10-18ft, a large spinner bait, depending on light penatration, large colorado, or willow leaf or combo of any, slow rolled on bottom with fish staged early or on the beds in deeper water were the beds aren't seen can catch some of the biggest bass. Trophy bass over the years have seen the pressures and now spawn earlier and deeper to avoid the angling pressures. Call that conditioning! 1 oz spinner baits slow rolled will put the hogs in the boat. Its a big bait with a large profile that can be crawled slowly along the bottom, and when a hit occurs, my first thought is I'm hung for a brief instant until I feel her head shaking and I realize I got a good one. Truth is: We as anglers only see maybe 15% along the shallows spawning, and the rest are deeper and less pressured on lakes with stained waters.

Matt, I don't care what state hits the lotto on the next World record bass. I would just love to see it broken before I pass on. The next record most likely will not need to be justified 40 yrs from now. The current record leaves one to wonder. I have always thought that Mexico could be the next to own that record. Matt.

Birds of a feather usually flock together, most of the time, but not always.

Folks, shallow vs deep bite, there are times when big fish are caught shallow and deep. If you go back and read Tom Reddingtons reports, Why would he bother to mention the deep bites between 25-40 ft. Its is a fishing report, and obviously he fishes that deep or he wouldn'nt make that up in his reports.

rattletrap, you get off in the wrong ox bow and a moonshiner has been known to shoot at you in the south, so that ones even.

I will say this, if I spent $10K on a trophy hunt, I know I wouldn't shoot anything like the scenerio has been painted. How many people would pay $20,000 dollars to shoot a sick buck laying on the ground as reported. I don't know famous celebs, but the hunters I do know would not even think of such a hunt and would take a few of those guys teeth out pretty quick to pull some of that crap off. If you want some more reading on this, google: Jimmy houston and canned hunts, that will do it.

Does everything Jimmy is being accused of on tape? No editing. Because this was brought out a couple years ago also. The same scenerio, its not new, and I believe he answered the critics then as to say it was a PETA person who accused him of it after a video was edited. There was the original video, and the altered, and Jimmy showed his original video, then showed how the original was altered and posted on lots of sights. This was 2 yrs ago, jimmy said the man was convicted, but his hunts were not as bad as press was being written. http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/05/5/tsg.judgesraphunts5.05.htm http://www.tristate-media.com/articles/2005/01/20/warricknews/editorial/01crowley.txt

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/visitorcenters/tffc/budsharelunker/archives/lunkerdetails.phtml?fishid=396 How many states have had 13 and 14 lb or a 15.5 lb bass being caught this year already? Havent seen any from Cali being reported, did see one 13 out of Fla. We may not make the top 20lb list, but we kick out just as many toads as any state. Remember, #400 is worth $400.oo per pound so that is $5200.oo in cash and prizes.

Its not disrespect, what has Cali done to earn the souths respect. Your gas prices scares most of the other states, the fishing guidelines are different from county to county, the lakes that have good tournament populations of bass cant support 200 boat trailers to park or lakes are too small. The delta is the best, but its like being on a small river, small in the width in some spots, try 200 competitors boats with 1000 fans following behind, one day okay, two days, the fish are gonna shut down with all that boat traffic. California will earn that respect, not by some one giving credit to an angler because he fished home waters his whole life in general. There is a system in place to find out who the best is. Talking about it want get it done, maybe out west you have that respect, but we have guys that have demonstrated their skill by the system that is already in place to earn their respect. A good example is KVD, a northern boy who certainly didn't have BASS knocking on his northern lakes. He had to travel to earn his respect, and earn it he did.

Rogers 310, you obviously have west coast biased opinions of tourney anglers. Research this before you answer, remember, I am a tournament fishermen sometimes, but lived in San Diego for 14 yrs, and have seen cali tournament results. What are your limits in Cali? 2 fish, 5 fish, what is the norm? What is the winning stringer weights to get a check? 1 day tourney, or 4 day tourney? You say small fish and go look for kicker. 20lb stringers to win in texas on 5 fish is a 4 lb aver. that not small fish, but if you look at the numbers in cali, on 3 day tourney, unless its spawn, very few tourneys could support 20 pound bags every day. Thus, no 60 lb stringer after 3 days not too mention 4 day BASS tourneys. Its happened a few time, tourney results shows that. But it happens on certain bodies of water every year, repeatedly through out the south. You said its not your responsibility for logistics, You are correct on that, thats why i pointed it out for ya. BASS has done the math that you failed to do, but still ask the questions if we are scared to come west? The best lakes and majority of best fishermen are from the south. Why would BFL/BASS have a tourney trail in texas alone if we didn't have the numbers and lakes to support them? Given, you may have numbers of fishermen to support some pro tours, but each body of water has its own guidelines, and Cali is screwy when it comes to fishing rules and regs. your gas prices along are enough to keep most out.

The 25 west would be watered down version. East numbers are far greater than the west, and we texans don't want to fish your waters with out the rest of the east boys either. We want to qualify against the best, on the best waters. The water down version would be 2000 west coast anglers competing for 25 spots and 20,000 other anglers competing for 25 spots, whats sad is: most of the west spots could be won by east anglers. Thus watered down version.

It took Nascar lots of years to go west. Nascar is a southern sport, bass fishing was a Dixie sport also. You don't hear us Texans crying about the US ski team not every coming to Texas, why, we have mountains or hills to ski, just not much snow, well, Cali's restrictions, droughts, parking at some of the lakes can't support boaters, much alone fans. No excuses, just facts.

Could Castaic's parking lot hold more than a thousand people? After all, Castaic is not one of the San Diego County lakes, most of those couldn't support the parking alone, much less a stage area. Back to Castaic, now this may seem like another excuse, could you get the max boats on the lake to be lifted for the tourney, because the 500 spectator boats wants to watch also. Okay no excuses, you can have your tourney, the fans can't be on the water though. 2500 acres only for motors, yes she has a combines acreage of close to 9000, but all that has off limits. The last one is the 2 fish limit and 18" minimum. Doesn't make for an exiciting weighin does it? Remove this restriction for the pros and the regular guys gonna call foul.

I can't say yes, because I use a little of everything. I use falcons, all except one, castaway, I have curados on most, Garcia on one. I use different brands of cranks, spinners, hooks, and worms.

Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisana are not east coast. We don't get as many BASS tourneys as we used to. When they have came out west, alot of the big draw names didn't travel to the west, its not because their scared, because of the expenses occured in travelling. California has more lake restrictions than most states, some of those would have to have waviors to hold tourneys on, as to not upset the pleasure bass fishermen who can't brake the rules but BASS can, so nope, not in our county! Some of the lakes, you don't have enough room to hold a weigh in at. Just a guess, I bet the numbers of western pros on tour, FLW/BASS are less than 10%. What is the percentage of good bass lakes in the west, as to the rest of the country? Big bass lakes don't always support 5 fish limits either or a floatilla of 500 hundred boats. And the best tournament venue, one of the best is the Delta, could you see Mike IKe with his 100 fan boats trying to fish the delta? Or trying to run somewhere else with 100 coming one way and 100 boats with KVD coming head on? Accidents waiting to happen. Its not respect or lack of. Its length of travel, expenses, big name turnouts (no shows), percentage of bass fishing revenue from the bass fishermen in that state, lake restrictions, enough space to hold weighin, space for fans and sponsor booths. Not all big bass lakes support good stringer weights for weigh-in, but anything is better than Pittsburghs dinks. Not too mention motor restrictions, no boats on the water prior to sunup, and waviors needed on some to hold tourneys.

Theres only one way to prove who the best are, and thats called a tournament. They already exist. To say Texas has more Classic wins than any other state is true, Rick Clunn was a Texan before he started moving from state to state. Try telling Tyler Texas that Jay Yelas isn't a Texan. Sorry about M. Long, $500.oo entries is semi-pro, and only cover handful of lakes. and that doesn't prove he's the best. Won bass is a stepping stone for Western anglers who want to step up to the real pro ranks. You can't win this discussion, Mike goes out, with out time restraints, no competition, 7 days a week some times, he picks and chooses his times, tournament pros don't, they fish off a schedule that was made long before the weekends forecast came out. They pay big bucks to fish professionally, Mike doesn't, they travel most of the season, Mike doesn't, he goes home every day. Majority of Mikes Biggest Bass are sight fished, found in the easiest time of the year, spawn, and it don't take a rocket scientist to cruise the shoreline and find big bass. Won Bass tournaments are no different than the FLW/TTT basically, semi-pro. To say it takes a special mentality to catch big fish, okay, but to say that just because these guys fish tournaments means they couldn't catch bigbass has no merit, because if you let the some of the pros pick the days, when and where they go, no pressure for the 365 days, they'll produce big bass just like Mikey, to say you can only be one type of fishermen is bull. Thats like saying if you bow hunt, you don't have the mentality to rifle hunt. Basically the same instincts find productive areas.

The key to taking the kids fishing is "patientence!!!!

Charts, in reference to water, are used to navigate, Maps are for fishing. I han no idea you were refering to a chart as a fishing map, I thought you had a magic chart for all contours of types of lakes. Thus my response, their are no magical charts! Some times even though lakes are located close by each other, have the same makeup, same cover, same water clarity, the same rules don't apply on both all the time.

Dave, I have never heard that reason before, but kinda sounds logical. I know I have released some that appear to be stunned for a few seconds, then they appear to wake up and tear off.

Congrats on retirement, I love tank feeding days at BPS. Matt

Brutal cold fronts in mid winter on East Tx lakes have a tendency to put the larger bass next to timber in deeper water, I mean they have their nose to the tree, a bulky jig with pork trailer, if the jig isn't falling slow enough, add another skirt. Bass that are staged or staging for spawn like stumps in the grass, the key factor is: how did the weather effect water temps. Cold fronts comes and goes all the time with out much effect on water temps, but occassionaly we have the front that stalls. With grass, the red trap is first choice on mild cold fronts, bass like to sun in shallower water after a few nice days.

Sorry Rolo, For every point mentioned , theres a counter point. Not all lakes are Resovoirs, In Texas we have only one natural lake, formed due to an earthquake, Caddo. Also you say when void of vegitation, they turn to the rivers. 80% of lakes and resorvoirs don't have a river running in. Most are low lying areas with good runoffs that fill most TX lakes. A lake is defined by being dammed that is fed by a river. A resorvoir was built to store water, thus a water shed, no rivers. Fork resorvoir, improperly called Lake Fork, has no rivers Rolo, does your hydrilla grow from 20 ft depths? ours does, why wouldn't you target deep fish in the grass? Why limit your self the shallow grass bass. Bass are gonna go where the bait is, if thats timber for 2 months, grass for 6, open waters schooling in late Sept thru Oct chasing migrating shad, or eating crappie under some guys dock whos has 50 xmas trees planted. If a lake is lacking structure, it will relate to contour. Where ever that may be. Middle of lake, banks, the dam, Rolo, there is no magical chart that proves anything. Each and every lake has its on mysteries. Some lakes have boat docks, some don't, some vegitation, some never did, some wood, some never did, some have rivers feeding them some don't. Some have good state programs, some don't. Some have had bass clubs planting brushpiles to counteract the eroding timber, some don't. So in the state of TX, we have only one lake that has happy bass. Caddo and the rest are sad. 39.66lbs, 5 fish 1 day total, ring a bell anyone, Amistad 1-21-06, the guys where fishing how deep to win this tournament, 18-25 on a point. For those of you that are bank beaters, how do you know theres no fish deep, your bank beaters!!!!!!! How can you argue with success when you don't give it a shot. Texas State record was caught at 40ft, 18.18 while crappie fishing with a minnow. That fat lazy bass was feeding on crappie most likely. Caught two miles from Dam, I said lots of lake records are caught in the dam areas because of the deeper water. On a 75 mile long lake, 6 miles from the dam is still the lower lake and in the Dam area. Don't think I said off the dam, I said dam areas, which if most kept track, you would find that a large number of huge fish come from deep areas.

It happens, and its not against the tournament rules at that time, in his boat. But you don't see it happen as much as the 70's. I'll go back and say what is so bad about any bass fishermen as a role model compared to what is available out their. Pros aren't advocating drugs, drinking, sex, money is power, and compared to what is on TV daily, they are mild, very mild compared to the afternoon soaps, Jerry Springer.

I was wondering how many of you guys read GQ? Will you admit to it? I don't have the time or desire to read GQ. Hate is a strong word to lay on someone, GQ should have used un-popular, disliked. You would think of the threads we go through talking about role models, and we think its okay to hate someone most has never met. Teaching our youth to hate, so early. Well this is our society of today. We debate one area and think its okay in others.