Matt Fly

I saw an ad in the paper. He allowed construction sites to dump on his land. Old concrete foundations, big rocks and other debris. He used this stuff as a filler I guess. He allowed dumping for a couple of years. Then rented the bulldozer and operator to complete the new dam. The dam and tank was built to stop the soil errosion on the lower half of his property. The tank is approx 4 acres and 20ft at the front of the dam. He has left an area to the right of the dam to be utilized like a spill way to relieve pressure. That is the only area he poured concrete. A friend who owned the dozer did all his dirt work. He pushed the dam and contour. He made about $38,000 clear for three weeks of work. I think the owner (rancher) supplied diesel and hydraulic fluids. Larry said he usually makes about 50k for building the earthen dam and giving it a depth of 20ft for 4 acres.

May I ask what other tournaments yield on these same waters. Are other fishermen consistently weighing good stringers? What is considered to be a money stringer? 8lbs, 10, 15, 17, 20+? Slot lakes are created for a reason. What is your slot? With a few more pieces of the puzzle, maybe we can figure it out. This is the time of the year bass love to feed.

Riverside products have changed their name, and changed their products. They were very popular out west thru the 80's. What has changed is: the western influence on the present styles on the tournament fishing patterns. I have certain features on lures that makes them appealing to me. Not an actual TV ad. The "AD" that gets me is acutal usage by someone else or seeing it used.

Whats the numbers now Glenn?

Due to the fact that me and sun glasses don't have a long life expectancy, I use the FLW renagade series for 14.99. I lose or brake about 1-2 pair a summer. They don't block out the light, they do knock the glare down, and I see under the water real well. I have had glasses upto 175.00 and couldn't tell much difference. Would I say these glasses have cost me a fish or two? NO. A lot of my waters are always stained and glasses aren't as beneficial until the water is clearer.

3.25-3.75? Bad angle for guessing. Nice chunk!!!!

The Forum that never has tight lips.LOL ;D ;D ;DWelcome.

Common senses would say back it up a little and re-build. Technolgies and building materials are stronger today. I haven't seen anything as powerful as mother nature though. As for the bass fishing industry in La. Mother nature and the human race is very capable of rebuilding what was destroyed. All the set backs our waters have endured over the years and we still have weekend pictures of our catches to display. The Exxon Valdez, golden algae blooms, japanese grass carps, LMBV, mercury levels, pollutions, red tides, and droughts. We the outdoors men, in order to reap the blessings of nature, must undergo the fatigue in supporting it. Do your part for the future of the sport.

I use sospenders (manual inflation only )for all My tournaments, providing we aren't having bad, rough weather and specially when water temps are frigidly cold. It don't take long for hyperthermia to set in making it harder to find and pull when thrown into the water. COMMON SENSE SHOULD PREVAIL ON WHEN TO USE AND NOT TO.

Getting a school board to pass fishing wouldn't be the biggest problem in some parts of Texas. Finding water would be.

Terminator has replacement skirts like you want.

When I get hits on the fall, bass are in a feeding mood, aggressive. If nothing on the falls, but i get hit on bottom. Was I next to the cover, on the edge, in the cover, the positioning of the bass tells me its mood. This time of the year, I expect the fish to be aggressive. I like a quicker movement on bottom. No bites, slow down, After two or three fish, you should have an idea on a pattern forming. This is the time of year that when a bass is hooked, I'm always looking under the for other bass following. That tells me their very aggressive. I vary my approach on similar targets. I go to the center of a brushpile first where I've caught better kickers, and work out wards. If I picked up more on the outside, again, the fish are positioned in an ambush mode. A key is having a piece of structure you've had success on, and knowing where to probe to determine the positioning of the bass. Its only painfully slow if the bass wants it that way. I think we say bass are in finicky mood. Bass dictate the pace. Seasons and weather dictate to the bass.

Muddpuppy, There is some rip rap along a long bridge and the dam. The wind usually is amplified along those areas. I bought the drift anchors but havent used them yet. I like your ideas, One of my worries was fighting a fish with lines coming from the boat. The floats are a great idea. thanks.

My concern in stained to muddy, is what vibration or noise to use. Color is not as important to me. I have basic colors I throw at different times of the year. With smooth waters, light winds, I'm looking for more vibration and less noise. With choppy waters, I want more noise with the wide wobbling type crank. Colors become more important to me as the stain get lighter, A bass uses sight, smell, and noise (sound) to locate its prey, If water is muddy, it relies on what? Color isn't as important cause visibility is zero. you must appeal to their other senses. Raul has posted some real good info on a bass' senses. Posted in two parts. Look through his posts and maybe this will unlock a few mysteries bass fishing has to offer.

I don't know the depth and size of the pond. But in Texas I have seen ponds that have an abundance of bass, but are only 10ft deep or less, I have fished on a pond that produces 8lb bass from 3 acres from fall until june. You might catch a few during the dog days, but no size. The Texas Parks and Wildlife said " The pond was, is defficient in oxygen. The heat has depleated the oxygen levels in the water. The fish are conserving energy and not feeding due to the poor water quality." he also said that all the bass are buried under neath the grass mats were the only source of oxygen is produced. There was no run offs, Their recommendation was to put an aerator in the pond.

Sounds like your approach is text book. Rivers and lakes that have current during different times of the day are the easiest to pattern. Release times are always posted by the core of engineers. Know when the current is generated is half the battle. the other is finding what the fish are holding on. Sand bars, grass, points, downed timber etc....

I keep a rod next to the door and a milk crate outside to stand on. I practice all casts as much as possible. I keep coffee cans, and differnt types of targets to practice with. I won't quit until I hit the 15' target ten times. Before my cat disappeared, I had a spinning rod and rubber mouse next to my easy chair. A cats attitude is very similar to a basses attitude. I got practice with my drag control as my cat would muscle that rat down the hall. Some days, she just laid there, the less action I imparted the more she wanted to pounce. Just like a bass, somedays they want the same bait hopping(moving), sometimes still, slow drag and pause. Point is : my cat didn't always attack it the same, it depended on her mood, as with a bass also. The one thing that has helped me learn my baits better. I have a motel pool no more 50 yds away. No one in the pool of course. I will throw every new crank to check its running.(if its tuned). I watch all plastics fall to see the action. I learn with different weights the fall rates of line classes. For suspened fish. If I want to hit 24ft. in 40ft of water with 17lb trilene big game. its 14sec. on my curado .200b with a 10in. zoom. If I can't tune a right running crank, I write tiny on the underbelly r-3, which means for every ten yards it runs 3ft right. I know with the upcoming wind is out of the east, I'll run into the wind and I have 100 boat docks that I can use this r-3 to swim under the dockon the shaded side for a better presentation. would have been parallel to the dock if true, now I go where maybe only 5% of the other anglers could target with the same crank or similar. I try to rig new ideas in the pool to see how it looks. Like putting a leader of 8in from a rattletrap, I tied an 1/8thoz in-line spinner from the top treble. This idea came from salt water spec rigs. Like two lead head bucktail jigs chasing each other. I have had great success in open water with this gimick, the chaser(spinner) catchs a lot of fish, rarely a keeper over 14" But if you took a kid fishing in open waters, they will catch fish. I also like to see how my extra long worms that I melt together look like in the pool. Knowing what your bait does, can do and how to impart subtle twitches can be learned in a clear swimming pool. Won't to know what dead sticking looks like. Know how to impart the action the fish wants that day. I can make a plastic dance the waltz on bottom with out seeing it. Last week it was the tango that turned them on, this week it should be a slow dance due to the cold front coming through. I have more on this subject. No time to write it. I have spent days and hours at that pool practicing skipping in to the 18"x6" bug trap, filter, chlorine dispenser, what ever its called. I learned that my round weights on a c-rig roll down to the 8ft end. granted lake bottoms aren't usually that smooth. I just never thought about my weight moving due to contour change on bottom. Knowing that feel without seeing it helps me understand the bottom contours better.

My vote is on the palomar and stren and trilene all year. Unless I punching grass, then braid is in. There are some links that have been posted before, not sure where their at. Sounds like you've got the knot.

A pair of slip on wading boots or water shoes for the ramps that might be steep or not steep enough for those days you mis- judge some phase of the load- unload. Some vehicles don't allow you to crawl around to get to the boat. When all else fails, there will usually be a couple of neat tricks to learn by watching others launch their boat alone also.

Yes, It looked bad too. No luck, I try to use alot of the terminator quick change skirts, easier to change skirts than spinners in some instances. The ole grub is a good choice also, sometimes i like a tiny grub on my trailer hook.

Anyone ever use a drift anchor/sock? Was curios to know how much wind is needed to use a drift anchor? When using two, one up front and one off the stern cleat, Does the boat drift straight? Can you use the motor for a rudder to compensate for steering? or is the trolling motor easier? Any problems that could arise? I am aware of lines coming from the boat if trying to land the big one. Any expierence would be helpful.

I target what the lake has that is fishable, I target marinas and boat docks, and no wake zones. Fish are usually accustomed to boat traffic in these areas. A lot of fish stay under big deep marinas year around until time to lay their eggs. Enough bait and shade will keep fish from hardly moving out. If the lake is void of marinas and boat docks, I look for vegitation, jet skis don't care for that too much, patches of timber seems to slow pleasure craft down also. Fish will feed, their metabolism this time of the year will require them to. They might go on the night feed on weekends when traffic is down to minimum. Let me add some positive about boat traffic. I have found that the boat wave was hitting a clump(10yds long) of reeds in 8-14" water. with a drop off to 3ft. about 8ft out. The pounding of the reeds was washing crawdads out I was guessing. I have hit them before and caught a dink or two. But when the waves are crashing in on them the bite can last most of the day. Also, boat waves pound the banks creating a mudline moving out depending on the traffic. I target the edge of the mudline with success on points on a regular basis. I used what the recreational boats has created. I have targeted those areas in same conditions before with no luck. Thrown alot of worms. The reeds are now a go to spot with a craw worm texas rigged 3/16oz sinker grn pmkn on the drop off. The mudline, medium diving excalibur Tenn. shad. The right offering is all it took to make those patterns work in the summer. I don't hardly fish those areas unless the boat traffic is helping position my fish. It took me over three years of fishing this area to learn those secrets. The lake in question is Lake Travis in Austin Texas. All I need is to find the points with fish, make my casts into the wind is a must, its the difference in 10 fish or 35-40 and the mudline keeps the fish positioned without me having to guess. I learned a little each time out. But it all came together after starting a fishing log. I honestly think If I had the started the log in 1994 when learning that lake, I would have put it together in half the time.

One is better than the other when one is catching fish and the other isn't. Different tools for different conditions. I do think fish get used to one particular sound or brand. Like Bill Lewis rattle traps. I don't advocate paying 10-15 a pop for yozuri's but when you are throwing the same identical color as your partner but different brands and one is catching them 3 to 1. I invest. Its a different sound. I have found red traps to be effective in water that has the brownish stain and hydrilla during late fall/winter thru early spring. Clear water lakes haven't produced as many fish on the red trap as a firetiger or chrome blk back. From the 70's, I have 50-75 Cordell hot spots, when the rattle trap came out my numbers doubled on the same water. Now when in the dead of winter and I "trap" bass, ripping it above the grass, in the past 4-10 fish, With the Yozuri trap I double that 7-15 fish. I am a believer changing the sounds up.

When I see that fishy looking spot, my saying is "Time for a Money Cast" I just know she's at home. Then after I make the money cast, if I'm lucky, my next words are "MONEY". You can see those kinda spots all day long. But you gotta be able to put your bait on the money the first cast as not to spook the fish. Competive fishing is about "that Money". Yes I've called my shots many a times and scored, and also had plenty of three and outs and punted. My partners know if I say I got some change they know I have one on that is below the legal limit, a keeper is money alll day long.

Identify your strengths, what puts fish in the boat for you consistently? Identify your weaknesses. Map reading, Tournaments, electronics, boat handling, are you loud in the boat, finesse, light line, power fishing, and attitude. For those of us who fish not only for sheer pleasure, but competively also, needs to be versitile. Practice, practice, practice, and more practice on your weaknesses. One of my weaknesses is drop shotting. And this summer would have been great to practice with my fish being suspended most of the summer. Taking my own advice and becoming more proficient in that technique.