Matt Fly

Finally found a good picture of a crawdad in "berry".

I like to know the conditions. Depth, Wind, none, little, or alot? Sunny? overcast? Time of day, morning, midmorning, noon??? Conditions position the bass, no wind, bright days, I'd like a bait I can get into cover as tight as possible. Windy days, with bait present, I'd like a moving bait to emulate the bait source. My search is for bait presence most of the time. Some quick indicators without a map for bait. Look for coots, they'll always show you were green vegitation is located, find grass, you'll most likely find bass. Even in winter. Coots are great indicators. Look for where the birds are. Birds will always be near schools of bait. What part of the lake is the majority of birds present. Search the wind blown banks with birds present. Its hard to give advice, when one doesn't know the conditions you face. ON blue bird days, no wind, do you put that spinner/crank bait in the cover? Lots of factors to consider. Weather, water clarity, line, type of crank, size of crank, color of crank, and how you are cranking the bait. Do you vary your retreives?

Post spawn. When bass are just about finished up spawning, its time for brim, perch, and bluegills to enter the shallows and do the same. This is nothing new, this cycle was happening before the term bassfishermen was coined. Bass know thy prey, they know they are shallow, EASY, and protecting their nests. Bass seek these meals. They are tired, and recovering from a long drawn out process and chasing prey is the last thing on their minds when they know where the easiest prey is. Our bass will enter the shallows as early as Feb and will not set up deep until the begining of June. This don't mean a bass won't go deep, just they aren't far from prime EASY feeding areas during this time frame. Those areas are the shallows where multiple species have already spawned and fry are all over the shallows. I'm a firm believer that bigger female bass cruise the shallows at night looking for the easy targets during post spawn, the perch. This period can be a 2-3 month period depending on mothernature. To me, this is the second easiest times of the year to pattern bass. The easist pattern in my book is summer. Why summer? Summer is when the weather finally stabilizes. Fall and winter has the winds, temps, and barometric pressure changing frequently, this makes for changing conditions which leads to tougher fishing as far as stable patterns goes. Summer also brings shad into my equation as well. Shad are creatures of habit as well. As mentioned, shad seek cover in low light conditions. Shad don't adjust to those low light conditions like a bass does. A bass would rather ambush its prey from a low light position, like shade from a tree for example. Why are topwaters conditions prime in late evening and early morning? Because shad are present most of the time. When the sunrises, the top water bite fades due to shad leaving for deeper waters for the day, just as evening arrives, shad move back to the shallow cover for safety and the evening topwater bite turns on. The summer pattern is normally good from mid June until Sept. What changes in Sept.? Two things, one, the weather starts changing, fronts and such. If mother nature is slow in signaling the start of fall through temps and fronts, the bass still know fall is coming due to the amount of daylight. As fall approaches, there is less daylight , and the water will start to cool on its own due to less daylight and longer nights which signals fall and winter are soon to follow. Crawdads do not hibernate, they go deep in winter, but are still available as a food source. What I have observed is: I see smaller crawdads in daylight hours, I see larger ones in low light conditions or dark. Nocturnal? I just think the larger know it safer to feed when its dark. Crawdads are good at adapting its color to its surroundings. Females will carry the eggs under their tails attatched to the "swimmerettes". When they hatch, the young will still cling to the underside of the tail for about 2 weeks, they will start venturing off after a few days, but will return to the mom for about 2 wks, by 2 weeks, they are normally on their own. It takes about 7-10 days for the newborn to molt for the first time. Once they molt for the first time, they are ready to leave for good. Growing up, I observed more mud holes during low water conditions along banks, when water levels stayed high, I saw less. Most of the time, I encounter the mud holes during late summer when water levels are known to drop. Crawdads live for about 2 years, they mate in the fall, Oct-Nov generally, the female will lay her eggs in the spring, 2-800, when she lays them, she will collect them under her tail to carry them. When she has collected them, the female is said to be "in berry". When in "berry", the female has all her eggs attached to the "swimmerettes". A female will hide, she will not eat most of the time she is gestating. Depends on temps, but normally its about 3 weeks to hatch. Most hatches in Texas occur from the middle of May south to mid/late June, again, water temps dictate that. Example, Toledo Bend normal has its annual mudbug hatch some time in June, more in the middle to third week, the mudbug hatch is on. Did you know crawdads will grow new legs if they lose one? Male grow bigger, has bigger pinchers. Crawdads are like Buzzards of the roads. I call Buzzards, the Texas Highway Road Crew, they work 7 days a week, for free, and they keep our roads clean of roadkill. Crawdads do the same for our streams, lakes and rivers, they eat anything. I think the jig and texas rigged craw are two of the best baits for better than average bass. In winter, I'm gonna say after 3 nice days of warm water, the jig and or craw is the best ticket. I think the jig bite gets better as the water warms. Hope this helps.

I'd like to read those words verbatum. USC also signed the rights away to the Rose Bowl didn't they? Not until a few years ago, and only if, they were part of the title game. More politics than football considering the BCS was dreamed up by the SEC old commisioner. We've had more arguements in recent years with the invention of the BCS than ever before. Playoffs have been mention more with the *** of the BCS than the old system that was in play.

Don't won't to beat a dead horse to death, but media day on ESPN for the SEC, just said. Only three players in the history of college football have ever entered their senior season with two (2) national titles and a heisman. Matt Lienart, Tim Tebow, and Doc ??? from Army. Seems to me, others recognize USC's AP title as well. lol

My cure for a slump is: go fishing for another species. I always need a few cat fillets, crappie isn't to bad either. Ocassionally, hit the stripers and hybrids. Usually a break is all it takes to get the focus back.

THe NCCA has never crowned its own champion. Its always been done by outside sources. The NCCA's record books list Florida as the 2008 BCS champion, AP Champion, I guess it counts in the NCCA records. Tebow maybe the best SEC QB ever, but there are plenty of other college QB's with resumes. I said he was in my top 5 this era. His last chapter is yet unwritten. IF Tebow whens. Big IF. Florida has lost to a West SEC team ever year this decade. I see no reason to stop that trend to end this decade. Tebow is special, on and off the field. He has a Legacy, how big is just yet to be written.

So says you, but the books say different. The AP is still recorded in the record books every year as AP National Champion. Just like it shows Florida as AP champ last year. Sorry, that year, they didn't agree with OU getting the BCS vote to play LSU for the National title after they lost the Big XII title to Kansas State. One thing you can add about the other QB's, they never lost 4 games in one season, something Tebow did as a first year starter.

What is at the base of all food chains? Water. Water sustains life. One day, this world will view water as the most precious commodity of all. A few facts, rainfall totals have been recorded for over a 100 years, and no matter how long the droughts we've been through lasted, the average rainfall totals are still ball park to this day. If you averaged 20 inches a year in 1918, most likely, your still averaging that same total in 2009. What has changed over the years? Population explosions and usage. The water demand grows every year. In reality, mother nature is still doing what she always has. We found frozen water on Mars. Maybe thats not a big deal to most, but water is key to sustaining life. Waste of time? I don't think so.

We'll see this year. Ken Dorsey is the all time winningest QB in college when he was part of the Canes 4 year long run as a 4 year starter. Tebow won't come close to that record. Tommy Frasier of Neb. comes to mind as well, part of the NEB Back to Back titles, and was just wide left on his third title attempt. No doubt Tebow and Matt Lienhart have the hardware and awards. Matt Lienhart carries alot of those same accolades and others as well. 2 national titles, 1 BCS, 1 AP, played for a third title. 3 year starter, replacing a Heisman Trophy winner, Carson Palmer. Tebow has 2 titles, he's won one as a starter. Fraiser, Dorsey, Lienhart all have equally impressive resumes. The only thing Pat White is missing as a collegiate QB is a title. Theres 3 QB of this decade that have the numbers, White, Lienhart, and Tebow. You can snicker about me throwing Pat White into the mix if you'd like. His numbers speak for themselves, and I'm not a WVU fan either. John Elway of Stanford has been given the title of "greatest athlete to ever play college football", and he won no titles in college. Tim is yet to write his final chapter. But so far, he's got a best seller no matter the outcome. He'd be in my top 5 of this era of college ball, thats for sure.

What is a keeper on # rivers? 12 inches? math is not hard, 15 keepers= 13 lbs, thats less than a pound per fish. Just how much is the weights gonna improve from last time?

History sure does. Texas is 4-1 against the SEC Big XII is 5-2 ALL TIME against the SEC in CWS championship games. CWS Texas 5 South Carolina 1 CWS Texas 4 Alabama 3 CWS Texas 12 South Carolina 6 CWS Texas 4 Florida 2 Texas 6 Florida 2 CWS Georgia 2 Oklahoma St. 1 CWS LSU TEXAS CWS OU 3 Tennessee 2 That there is just the simple facts. Hookem, ya'll have a nice day. 8-)

Walter Cronkite passed today at the age of 92. He's done too much too list. His voice was distinguishable amoung many.

A dink fest is all the Classic was. Is the FLW launching in the same area as BASS did? We'll see just how off the fishing was in 2005 if they do.

Sure wished the fence riders would declare their teams. I remember the Miami Hurricanes. I remember seeing all their jerseys and hats around the country when I was in the navy. Fence riders and bandwagoneers at best. And where are they now? So, who is your team?

How does JV college ball even deserve to be in the same topic as college football? Ya'll need your own thread, this if for the big boys who have dogs in the hunt. Its like a thread on Pro football. We don't talk Canadian football either. Tradition is based on History, current and ancient.

Golf is the excuse I use to do recon on the sweet ponds a golf course has to offer, with very little pressure. I have a natural slice to the pond, I use my 7 footer to retrieve bass, I mean balls from the water. Love fishing the golf course.

For someone to put History down, you are quick to use it.

2010 Elites revised shows them on Pickwick as well from 4/29- 5/2. Should be interesting.

I like caps better myself, easier to read and easier on the eyes. Just my opinion. Always have.

The first year I fished Fork, I caught a 7 lber that had 3 existing hooking in its mouth. All 3 had different lenghts of mono protruding from her mouth. All at different stages of eroding. I do think old hooks and cheap hooks will rust eventually, but some of the new hooks on the market will take a lot longer than most expect. I have been lucky to retrieve a few lures once lake levels have dropped after a year or more. A year or more in the water and the hooks were on there way to rusting. What happens to a human when you get a splinter, it festers and the body tries to break it down. I think what chemicals a bass has in its body would do the same, I just think hooks are not as cheap when most opinions on hooks left in the mouth would do are from the 70's and less quality hooks.

;D ;D ;D Sportingnews rankings??????? Not gonna ask from what rock you uncovered this rag from. 8-)

Notre Dame.......................... OUCH!!!!! :'(

College football has peaks in each conference. Add up all the championships over the years. TX, OU, Neb have its share. I believe we are close to the top in NCCA titles. So the SEC has won a few more titles lately in the BCS era. Pretty much even throughout history. Running up the score, lol. Big difference when you leave your starters in and your up 35 to start the 4th qrtr. Thats running up the score. Instead, you could be adding depth and experience to next years roster. Hookem 8-) Sorry

If it wasn't for the fans, there wouldn't be a need to play the games period. I can assure you, I have friends across the borders who love college football as much as you and I. Heres some reality for ya. Espn has picked Texas and Florida to play for the BCS title. Thats great. If TExas didn't get through the door last year, how does anyone expect them to get there this year. Texas' schedule on paper wasn't rough, even though in reality, the weaker teams they played had super year. Two of those 3 cream puffs won thier bowl games, Rice won 10 games last year, UTEP was 5-7, but lost to seven teams that all went to bowl games. I think the other team to play in a bowl was the Rajun Cajuns that Texas beat badly. Texas went through 5 teams ranked in the top 15, not sure where Kansas and Mizzou was ranked at the time, but 5 top colleges in a row and didn't get the nod to get into the championship game. Well, that non conference schedule is no better than last year, and what makes you think the computers will be any different this year. Reality shows if they didn't get there last year, they don't have a shot this year. Mack don't run up the score either, so style points is hard to come by. As for what Bradford did with his arm was no joke. Okies can't catch. Someone helped Bradford win the Heisman. lol Hookem