Matt Fly

Boat manufacturer's need to go back to the 3rd livewell on the front deck and or increase the capacity of the other two. Set a limit of 3 bass for the co angler when needed. Pro has two wells when needed, and we don't eliminate the co boater. Again, numbers like this have NEVER been seen before, just look at the number of limits brought in compared to all other tournaments. Thats alot of fish coming across the scales. I like the Redfish Cup weigh-in system also. Fished weighed in water, don't know if that would work for 5 fish, but worth looking at. Equipment including holding tanks and all needs to be upgraded, the rest will fall into place through better education on being prepared.

In-line spinners have passed the test of time. They caught fish back in the days and still catch quite a few fish. Try a 1 oz in-line spinner for better fish. Love the white bucktail w/ red trim. Love Mepps, Panther Martins, Roostertails, and the old standby, Shysters.

That was that way at all San Diego City lakes which is alot of the big name lakes. 5 to fish, 5 to launch a boat, and 5 dollars if trout are stocked. And thats with valid state license. Used to be in the summer, that the lake was open to ski only on certain days and some days both, but you could only go in one direction on the lake. CCW. Back when I spent 15 years in the Navy out there, those were the norms, if thats changed any, I see fees going up. Oh, and you could only fish from sun up till sun down, no overnight fishing allowed and you had better be off the lake by sun down or else. Only one rod was allowed to be used for fishing, even cats and crappie, but now, with some extra fees, you can purchase an extra rod usage stamp when renewing your license. No landowners, thus no dock patterns, dogs not welcome to swim. It was that way in 1980 and was in 1995. Wonder how time has changed all that.

Welcome to Texas and the forum. You have some great bassing around Waco. And some Super Bassing 3 hours away at Fork, Rayburn, TBend just to name a few. Hookem

Never noticed posts counts on most members. I didn't even know they were gone.

First step in winning a couple is to win one, now we can concentrate on the second.

I officially made my first cast or as my Dad called in 1967, I did some of my first pluggin on Lake Amistad. We lived in Comstock Texas which is just north of there a few miles down the road. My Dad actually ran a bait shop at the grocery story back then as well as coached. Some great pictures.

Its already been said, its not like they picked her out of rush hour traffic to drive their car. She's been racing since she was a little girl. Say what you want, 220 mph speaks for itself.

Wave worms are great baits. I hear its 50/50 around my area. Wave worms are made nearby Fork, so we have alot of locals using Tiki Sticks and such. Love their lizzards as well. Both great baits, both catch fish.

The Stars are moving on, and the Ducks will have to quack another year. No Re-peat for them this year!!

Mythbusters did a show on hanging dead animals to detour others. Google it and find out their results. Myth or does it work?

Time of the year and whats stuck in there mouth plays a big part if they jump or not. Some of us don't raise our rods way up and try to keep the rod lower as to keep the fish restricted from jumping. Lots of factors determine if they will or not. Never had alot of jumpers in the dead of the winter, and thats probably due to metabolism as much as any other factor. In winter, I find most fish to fight sluggish as opposed to when the temps have risen to the 60's.

Long time ago, coyotes were a controlled population, one being a fur bearing animal, and the other was to aid ranchers. Most ranchers in question raised the Angora goat for Mohair and the other was sheep. Coyotes affect the population of these more than cows. Most of the time coyotes only persues a cow when she's gone into labor, its the after-birth the coyote smell and seeks. The statement to hang coyotes is practiced amoung Tx Cattlemans Assoc. after the state imposed a sanction protecting the coyote long ago and numerous times since those days. Which eliminated trappers controlling them. Its a statement to politicians and the government, We'll protect our assets as we see fit! Never heard of using them as detouriants, but as a statement, yes!!!

INDY lost its appeal to me long time ago. I enjoy the INDY 500 and thats about it. Danica is the reason why I have caught some bits and pieces of other races. It wasn't just sponsors who used Danica's looks to boost spectators, it was the whole racing league who let her put the troubled sport on her back and bring it back. If it wasn't for Danica, the boys wouldn't have many journalists to get their story in the paper. Even Ashley Judd being married to Dario helped the ratings. Go Danica!!!!

We have seen the large sacks before, but never 4 days straight. Look at all tournaments across the country. Good first day catches, some on the second, but pressure normally curtails the weights as evident by the majority of tournies results from every year. Few anglers are on them, key word, a few anglers are on the them, There was not one fact to show that Falcon would substain those numbers for 4 days straight. Not one shread of evidence to say that all 12 anglers would threaten 122 lbs. Big sacks have been caught in prefishing before, but weights have always tappered off for the majority of all anglers. Even the FLW pros during spawnthis year didn't come close to those numbers. Some of the same pre fishing sacks there had the same rumors. Those rumors didn't pan out. New record was set on the FLW. 110 pounds. As for using citycouncil members to quote one day, then to saying they aren't fishermen the next is very convienent. I took what they were the first day you mentioned them, politicians! Common sense will tell us that there are no numbers set in stone on the numbers of dead fish floating. How many pictures have flooded the web on the dead fish. Fishermen on that lake would have cameras. Politicians would want pictures. The only thing we have is a bunch of fishermen and fishermen like to tell tales, politicians that willl say anything for a story, and a bunch of experts that relied on others for their info that are speculated at best. There will never be any hard numbers, as with most storiers, the numbers will be inflated to assist in selling the story. WRB, AS for predictions, most of the country predicted the Patriots to win the SuperBowl, and howed that work for them? I live in Texas, heard the storyies before the first BASS tourney showed up. Never lived up to that hype. Heard it for many years. Its like crying wolf for years and she finally got it right once. Same was said about Amistad first time by the pros. And we didn't see it happen. Good enough to make pros buy land, but the predictions didn't come close, and those are the same guys who said it this time too! So if your gonna give credit to when it holds true, you should mention how many times they have mentioned records "could fall" that never did. According to rumors, they have been wrong alot more than they were correct.. Time to educate the pros on fish care. They had possesion of those fish longer than a BASS biologist' did. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!!!

Theres not one shread of evidence to point out that over 7000+ lbs would cross the scale. Reports of 45+ lbs sacks in prefishing. Wouldn't you think you would save some of those fish for the tourney? Yet Pros bragged about their huge sacks during practice. 218 BASS anglers on Falcon is small potatoes. Check out the 300 teams from Bass Champs, partners. Although locals, Falcon didn't start spitting those stringers out until she filled back in late 2004. FLW Stren series with 400 angler field didn't amass anything close to BASS numbers. Have we not forgot about Amistad the year before. Greatest lake ever, and we didn't see these types weights. Good enough for pros to buy land. There was no crystal ball to look into, who knew that the 122 lb record would be broken numerous times? Theres enough blame to go around. What happened can't be changed unless we learn from our mistakes. How would the state know? There has never been a tournament that produced like that. Strens series is capable of 200 boaterss and 200 co's, dont know the total entries, but they sure didn't give any clues to forseeing this happening with 218 anglers. When the FLW released those smallies in the shallow part of the river in Wisconsin, I never thought of blaming the state, but only how they would prevent it from ever happening again. City Council of Zapata approached the BASS with contract for two years. They saw dollars signs. One of the biggest boost in their little economy. I'd be willing to bet that the same City Council that is quoted in the article never called the States Biologists and asked their opinion. They got paid, and will get paid again next year. City Politics in a small south Tx town playing both sides of the fence. Nobody could predict what happened, Nobody!

Saw your post on the other site. No matter what the final tally is, it was a sad day that no one could have predicted. There has never been 7000 pounds of fish weighed in ever!!! Can't wait for your new DVD to come out. Thanks for the education that ya'll have dedicated your time and research to for the growing of the sport. I always have a bottle of Sure Life in the boat. And you know Chad makes sure he gives us a sample if we don't. And that sample was provided by Ya'll. Thanks for your time and efforts on a subject that is dear to me. Matt

I don't think the guy cares what others think as long as he's cashing a check legally. Neither do I. If I'm worried about Joe Smuckatelly, obviously i'm not giving my partner my best effort being concerned about someone else. I worry about my game. I think Carolina rigging is the biggest gut rig out there. I think you could protect bass by not using that method. I don't call anyone distasteful for using it to cash a check. That method harms more bass than any other artificial presentation. But then again, I don't bed fish unless its a monster or tournament fishing. This year, beds attacked. ZERO!!! So my passion for the green fish is not superficial. And I'm out every weekend and Forks in my back yard. Not one of my double digits ever came from a bed. So I don't worry about what others think as long as one is legal and state laws are observed.

Welcome home Abelfisher. Long time no hear from.

"FOR THOSE OF US WHO EXPECT TO REAP THE BLESSING OF PEACE, MUST LIKE MEN, UNDERGO THE FATIGE IN SUPPORTING IT" Thomas Payne

The last part says it all, rarely do you make it throught the dirve thru without something being screwed up! Yet you don't check, and you call them dumb.........Sorry Matt, thats just funny. LOL

When you invite a couple over for supper, do you expect them to pay for their steaks? Groceries aren't cheap either. I don't get it or understand it. If you invite someone how can you expect them to pay for gas and such, you ask them. I can understand telling a partner that you've fished with numerous times. "Hey, gas is getting expensive and to the point were the boat is gonna stay parked for awhile unless you'l like to help me out some." I'll tell you what a nice gesture to me is. Normally, without any suggesstions on my part, most buddies offer to buy breakfast and or lunch. Even if that don't happen, I'm cool with it all, I invited them as my guest to begin with, so I was gonna have those expenses anyway.

The bass wasn't on the beds or close to bedding late March. So those bass will be seek shallow for the spawn soon. I'm sure that the spawn in your region most likely occurs/starts in mid to late April dependon on the last few fronts that pushes thru. Blade baits are another term for spinnerbaits, inline spinners and such.

If I invite someone, I don't expect them to pay for anything. I'll tell them to bring some snacks and drinks for themselves, I also explain how big the cooler is. I was going with or without someone anyways, Also, I try to attack areas that don't require me to run miles. Trolling motors are easy on the wallet when it comes to the gas pumps. So there are ways to work around high gas prices once on the water.

Move to the newly flooded brush/grass in the backs of creeks. We used bladebaits on Lake Norfork. White/chartruese skirt and white/chart blade was good bait for most. We had luck on the SK Pure Posion Chatterbait as well.