Matt Fly

Once again, the Horns were over ranked, but I didn't make the polls. We had too many question Marks coming into the season. Sure wished we had Vince running the show. Gonna be tough game against TCU, I keep saying Patterson has earned his money and his job at TCU. I just hope Texas can put toghether a clean game with fewer mistakes. Colt needs a big game, and the running game needs to step up. Catt, I look for LSU to handle the #9 Hookies with easy, which will only bolster the #2 ranking you have earned. Hookem Matt

Welcome to the forum. You might try the Resume section for some excellant tips, located just under the tournament section I do believe. good luck and again, Welcome to the best information site on the Web. Matt

You will find some bodies of water that just won't produce for the big worms. Some lakes are just that way. Cedar Creek Resovoir, Tx, I always thought fish went deep in the winter, but 3 ft works all winter, and 10 inch worms, never seem to get the job done. You could graph a spot that shows nice fish, even caught fish there in the past. You could chunk a large worm all day and not get bit, but down size that worm down to 8 inches, same color, and limit out. Some lakes just goes against the grain. By the way, I fuse all my big worms, another words, I soldier (melt) them together to give me 15-20 inch worms. Matt

He's good, and has a trophy wife to boot, but him nor his wife will save soccer in America. Thats Hype for ya!!!! Matt

I really think FSU got its early ranking because of the new improved coaching staff and the QB is third year starter. Clemson has been like Penn State lately. They have been using young freshmen in the lineups that have matured the past two seasons. Clemson took FSU by surprise with their speed, and it showed early on. Speed kills, and Penn State and Clemson have been recruitng some speed. Matt

I like water that is off colored, stained to heavy. Bass still need to feed no matter what the water color. If I can't see them easy, then they can't see me easy. Matt

Good questions for Doug H. and Lane. I know that each LM strain acts differently.....ie, Florida and Northern metabolism rates vary with temp changes as the season progress to the next. Also, a bass know when its feeding for winter, thus it knows when to store fat for winter, and knows what nutrients it needs for energy and reproduction,. Remember a bass will Kill and eat just to eat. In short, a bass can eat, and eat, and eat, and puke it all up just to eat again. The larger females love crawfish in the winter, they are very nutritious, thus the Pig and jig works well for larger bass in the winter. Matt

Ideally, don't you think the anglers that are producing and making cuts have earned more exposure time for their sponsors? Past two years have produced the chatter about Ike and others getting all the camera time. ESPN was accused of shoving Ike and others down the viewers throats, and has seen by this years coverage, if you aren't catching, and making cuts, you don't get much air time. I still think BASS is the ticket because of limited practice time, where as the FLW doesn't have an off limits. To me, there are alot of anglers who can stay on fish the whole month, but to come in for short practice period and unlock pieces of the puzzle as conditions change shows me who the better anglers are. Good sticks on both, but BASS by their rules make for better challenging tourney. Matt

Sam, Not trying to rain on your parade, but if thats your basis and conclusion of the Mannings, granted, Eli hasn't done much, but Peyton has been nothing short of spectacular. There isn't a QB out there that can duplicate his play from the line of scrimage. And the loyalty that Archie showed a city that never was a contender is one that should be used as an example for others to remember. The examples that the Mannings have shown and set are the kind of players I want to play in the NFL. Hookem Matt PS, There are tons of guys who never win a championship, and I never confuse character with championships,

Threadfin shad will die wihen water temps reach about 45 degrees, and those that die are normally from the last few hatches of the season. They are the youngest and smallest in the school. Also remember shad will spawn starting in March every 30-45 days and continue to spawn until the fall. A few weeks ago, our surface temps were still in the high 80's, its the shorter days, less daylight that signals fall is approaching. A couple of things to consider when trying to catch open water bass that are feeding on dying shad. Water in the winter time is very dense, the denseness causes the water in the winter to be or can be the clearest of all year because it doesn't allow things to mix in the water as easily. Use tighter wobbled baits because bass are normally feeding from sight due to the ultra clearness of the water. A spoon just dangled over the side with no action is deadly when water temps are in the forties. The dense water will make a dying shad slowly sink, I mean real slow, thus, anybait you can get down deep, and present with hardly any action if any at all will work. Matt

One of the biggest I've ever seen. They got paid $400,000.oo to come play in the big house. I'm sure 95,000 fans was there to see Michigan, 5000 for ASU. Michigan gets blue chippers from around the country, three times the scholarships, 5 times the football budget to spend on facilities and coaches, and now gets to boast of the biggest choke in college Division I A football. Lloyd Carr will be jobless if they lose two of the three last games of the season. They play STATE, Wisc. and OSU. and could lose all 3. State has a new HOSS at running back, he looked pretty good, but then again, they wasn't playing top ranked Defense either. Matt.

Was glad to see Notre Dame, Michigan, Florida St. all drop their opening day games. Catt, I don't think LSU is gonna have any problems with the Hookies this next weekend. Texas is gonna have their hands full with TCU. KSU, Your team played hard for 3 good quarters, ESPN said Auburn would wipe the floor with them by the 3rd Quarter. Like I listen to every opinion they have, I haven't forgot them predicting USC as greatest team ever before UT won the Championship in 2005. RWHusker, Kelleris gonna work just fine for Nebraska, nice transfer form Arizona STate, now get your blackshirts to playing like the days of old and you have good team with Lucky and Keller. Now that the Big XII has had a chance to give some of the new coaches a chance to settle in after a couple of years, it looks like the Big XII is on the up swing. Tech, A&M, Mizzou, OSU, Neb, all look to be stronger than years past. As long as OU can keep the running game going, the pressure is off the freshmen QB. OU's defense is solid, and they'll be the front runner to win the big XII overall. Lloyd Carrs job is safe until Ohio State beats them for the 5th time in six years, and that will be the straw that breaks the camels back, if he survives the two games before that one. Ya'll Hookem, sorry if I left your team out, I did watch WVU, and alot of others this weekend. Matt

Welcome to the forum. Clear water can be tough to get bites in when they are visibile. Keep on pluggin at it. Matt

First off welcome to the forum. Summer is the most reliable season to pattern. Fish are not much different than us. They still routinely feed, and snack between main feedings. The reason patterns are easy to establish are simple. The weather is the stabilest for long periods of time. Summer time means high pressure systems, which effect bass the least of any weather patterns. Summer means setting your watch to the same bite at the same times every day. Depending on your lake and amount of pressure it sees, sometimes the better fish feed at night As fall appoaches, the fish already know the season is changing whether colder weather has arrived. Bass know the season is changing because the days are already getting shorter, which means less daylight hours. I also found shad have the same daily movements once the thermocline sets up which eliminates alot of water as to where to look. Summer should be the easiest month to establish patterns that hold up for a couple of solid months. Hookem Matt

YeeeeeeeeeeHawwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!! Michigan may go down on their home turf. That is embarrassing and I love it. Hookem Matt Catt, New butt seat is in, BassCat logo in burnt orange, and team Hook'em is also embroidered by the factory on the seat also. Matt

Tommy, You could use the same arguement for last season also, except they had two losses, and tough non conf. schedule. We can't control the strength of the conference, but can control the non conference games. Florida played no one out side the SEC. Since the BCS started, how many times has any of these SEC teams been a major threat to win the SEC? out of 12 teams, Kentucky, Vandy, Mississippi, Ala, Miss. state, and Arkansas, just how many times have they been in contention to win the SEC? Add South Carolina, when have they a major threat. Not very many times, half the conference has been cream puffs. Compare that to who Florida played last year and tell me if they deserved to play in the title game. Southern Miss, Univ. of Centtral Florida, Western Carolina. add in the regular cream puffs and you always have a winning season, and the old statement, We eat our own. This year, W. Kentucky, Troy, Miss, Florida Atlantic., then add in the normal 4-6 non competive divisional foes and you have the same recipe every year in most conferences. The only true test is to test the other notable colleges to see where you really stack up. Hookem Matt

Best advice I can give is to study the wind for a week out. I am firm believer that winds positions bait fish, and bait fish position the bass. Knowing the prevailing winds if any, what storms are approaching helps me make mental notes as to "WHAT IFS"....What if it rains, what if a cold front passes? Looking at maps, and having your tackle ready to go. Having confidence in your approach goes a long way. I start doing small things weeks out, clipping line ties off all cranks and such. Cleaning reels, checking eyes for dirt build up and cleaning them with Q-tips are just a few small things I do ever so often. I don't wait to the last minute to re-string, clean reels and such, that makes for a long night, and half of being prepared and ready is to get the proper rest the night before. Hookem Matt

Sorrry to break it gently, but Heisman means best player in college and don't matter what they did in the pros, although those three are getting paid rather handsomely. We will look at the caliber of non conference schedules for the Pac 10 and SEC. I already know that USC has always played a tough schedule on paper, and some years, ND is on down cycle. Also SEC always have 3-4 teams that just plain bite, another words, they are quaranteed wins for the other SEC teams. So you take cream puff season, plus the cream puff SEC team and thats over 500 before it really starts. And that can be said for lots of conferences, so I put a lot of salt in to non conference schedules. Look at TENN and CAL, one of those schools most likely will be out of the BCS title race the first game. I respect that. Good win Catt, congrats to your Tigers. Matt

NaterD, Try Google, and PitBulls, you will find thses dogs have had that temperment long before they ever stepped foot on American soil. You can say we stereo type things, but we have nothing to do with the early breeds that these dogs came from. They are what they are. Just like trying to make a fighting dog out of a spanel, not their temperment, not saying they won't fight, but its not bred for that purpose, and pits were. People need to leave the breed out of this when referring to Vick, what Vick did would have been cruel to any animal. Matt

I hope A&M plays a better non-conference than they did last year. No matter who Stoops had at QB, the Sooners should have been loaded at each position, TCU shouldn't have did what they did at OU's home turf to supposedly one of the Elite programs in the nation. Stoops gets top 10 recruits ever year to reload. That whats separates elite team from flash in the pans. Thats what makes Pete Carroll program so much better. He reloads every year. How many Heisman's have been won with Pete at USC? 3 I think. Matt

Muddy, Pete is just trying to get his foot in the door on some of the recruits coming out of the NE states. Thats why he has USC playing for a title almost every year since he joined USC. If a Mook can run, pass, block or kick, he's a prospect. Matt.

USC is the team to beat, with that said, you have to look at all the intangibles. First, Pete Carroll has been in the top of the charts every season. Second, they already have the #1 to start with. Third, they are 3 deep at every position fourth, every starting LB will be playing NFL soon. Fifth, its USC's tradition, they expect to be near the top 6th, they have top 5 freshmen class to reload every year. 7th, just like 2005, they are already predicted to walk with it with out playing a game. 8th, USC has had a Heisman caliber athletes every year 9th, just what has changed in the pac 10 that makes other teams a threat to USC getting upset? Teams may looker better on paper, but most have not lived up to 5 years of straight pressure of being ranked in the top 5, thus the pressure of big game experience belongs to the coach and legacy the team has established under Carroll. I think they can be beat, but since Carroll has been their, it hadn't happened very often. And when it has, they bounced back stronger the next year, and this could be his best defense yet, even better than when Carson and the boys had a cake walk. 10th and last point, I hate USC, but again, give them the props, they play one of the most challenging non-conference schedules every year. You can knock your self out of the BCS by playing a dangerous team, and every year, USC plays the likes of Nebraska, ND, and others. Not to mention there are some dangerous teams in the pac 10, as seen by Cal getting closer, Oregon and UCLA upsets. Peta Carroll plays a tough schedule that does nothing but prepare his team by playing better caliber competition. This is why I have to respect a team like Tenn and Cal for playing each other, one of them is gonna have a early season loss that almost guarantees that one will not be the the BCS title game. Does your team test itself against better non-conference teams? Hookem Matt

I don't know how I ever caught a single fish with a cane pole. If my dad was alive, I'd.........thank him again, using those non-sensitive sticks made me a better fishermen. Learning to land 20 lb carp on a zebco 202 on 8lb test and cheap drags on cheaper rod that only had 3 eyes back in the days. We all know that boats, rods, and all the expensive tackle you can own don't make you a fishermen or gaurantee you a single fish. By the way, I do have pictures of alot of guys this year on Fork who was using your kids Snoopy poles. LOL They worked didn't they? Matt

What is exactly natures law you speak of, I'm curious to see how nature handles Mike. Matt

Heres the left field of all of this. Last nights Power of Ten, the question was asked How many Americans think that Pit Bulls should not be allowed for family Pets? Key words, should not be. If not pets, then what? fighting? 57 % of Americans think they shouldn't be allowed to have as pets. Here we are, part of a society who have burned people at the stake, hung them in public view, be-headed them at one time, Electro-cuted them in the chair, death by firing squad, and now death by needle, Whipped in public by slave owners, and on top of that, we sell a hunting license to a hunter that bow hunts with average kill rates of less than 50%, so an animal can crawl off and suffer to die, and thats only the bow and arrow part of that, not too mention that we fill birds up with lead and steel for them to fly off and suffer and die. I for one don't care about pit bulls, they were not breed for family dogs, and have exhibited great violence toward humans. If they were to get the death penalty, the breed that is, wouldn't hurt my feelings at all. If your child was attacked by a pit for no reason, you'd feel the same. They only serve the people that use them for what they are still around for, and that is fighting. WE as Americans, see homeless suffer every day, the average homeless eat about once every 19 hours, and thats a small portion. When we as Americans DON"T cry as loudly for the homeless, instead of how a Sick individual supposedly killed some dogs, then I might look at this different. Thats sad, we treat our homeless the same way. They suffer everyday, yet don't get the public's blood pumping like this does. Where are the values now days? Dogs get more attention that a homeless guy freezing and starving to death. I could careless about what peoples feelings are on dogs when humans are going through the very same pains. Just wanted to point out that there are greater travisties out there happening everyday to humans that don't get this kind of attention. Matt