BigEbass

Clearly that guy is really good - hard work, dedication, and determination likely play a factor. Also the lord jesus christ likely wispers to him where to put each cast? Hey Jesus, dont pick sides

I too am looking into buying this technology for my little bass boat - I am hoping it will help me target and learn the structure of my local lakes even faster than my current efforts Lowrance and Humminbird both seem to sell some type of one - I am not sure of the details yet, but hope some people give some advice here.....

hahaha, so since Mike finished in ? (what place again?) - he is inferior to the other 5-6 others in front of him? Cmon! Lets not forget and admire the people that earned qualification and even a top 10 finish - it is remarkable in of itself - I am pretty sure that Ike and the others that were "behind" the leaders are inciteful fisherman - furthermore - every single angler that even qualified for this classic deserves hardcore respect in my book - sure some made some better judements (god knows KVD has some darn good judgement apparently). But lets not shoot down the likes of biffle, Ike, etc - are they KVD, nope, they lost to him - he out gunned em, out thunk em - he deserves props, but so do the others biting at his heels

Yeah, I was rooting for Ike - I can see why people think he is cheesy or annoying perhaps, but I love the energy personally - he embodies the joy (or at least pretends to?) of fishing that I too share - but he is a unique "flavor" for sure.....I am glad he cutt the facial hair though - it looked silly (not that that really mattered much to me). But he was outgunned this time around.

That is a nice bass she has there Thanks for the advice - and like I said, I am a big fan of the pink trick worm, but only when used weedless as topwater - not sure if it will work in your neck of the woods necessarily....

I am happy to say we just got back from cruising around lay lake this morning - it was 60+ degress baby (water temp still 44-46 though) - blue bird skies. The Mrs rode along and read a book - we didnt pack a lunch cause we had to be back home anyway to meet some friends, but it was promising - she didnt fish yet - I didnt really want her to start fishing in such conditions - tough bite right now, plus she has not yet got her license yet. I brought a lawn chair and she brought a book and chilled out - I fished a few spots for 30-40 minutes - then we motored back and had lunch - it was fun - we will start doing a bit of fishing perhaps once spring hits for real 8-) PS - I use a pink trick worm for topwater A TON down her in alabama - it is actually my favorite topwater choice alot of times Thanks for advice so far everyone. Another question - AJays wife mentioned this, but what suggestions do people have about the wife needing to pee in the boat - I offered her today either to stop somewhere to go behind a tree or to bring a bucket in the boat.....I wonder if there is a product for such that wil make this easier - I simply hang it out there off the boat and go but for the women folk, doesnt exactly work does it

Ike lost the facial hair - I like it hahaha. I actually was out there riding around with my wife on lay lake - wonderful weather - blue bird skies - not sure how people were doing today - I didnt see anyone catch a fish while I was out - I casted out a jerkbait, spinnerbait, and a jig a few times with no luck - but didnt fish all that much. Water temp was still 44-46 degrees.....wonder what the standings are at the moment.... Thanks for the picks!

"I've spent quality time on the water with my wife, but I fish while she suns, reads, naps, etc. It's a couple hours to get away from the chaos of the house and talk. Maybe it's not serious fishing time, but it's pretty special nonetheless. " This will likely be what we will do if she doesnt take to the fishing aspect much....and I would be fine with that - in the end as long as we could spend some time out there and enjoy it, it would be cool - if she takes to it to become a fisherwoma, then all the more bonus IMO...we will see

I was asking myself the same question - I live in birmingham and will be going on next sat. or sun. to fish some ponds ans small lakes in marion.....hope it warms up enough to turn em on a bit more than the current 45 degree water temp - it has been so darn slow with this cold

HAHAHA - I do the exact thing many times "BAM I got you little bast#^d" but with the utmost respect of course ;D

Probably about 4 feet of water, but this pond is 7 feet at its deepest, so deeper than it seems relatively. I had just read an article on dead sticking so that's how I started out on 20 to 30 second intervals. But my patience got the best of me, and it turned to a S-L-O-W crawl along the bottom only lifting enough to get it over cover when it felt stuck. Long cast, well past an isolated stick up. Slowly weighed the line at the stick up and felt enough resistance to set the hook just to be sure. I still thought I might have pulled off some of the stick up, until I saw a small boil at the surface. This is the slowest I've ever fished and it was excruciating in the cold, so it's nice to get the pay-off! Well said - I didnt get the payoff last saturday :'(

I have only read 7-8 books so far as a beginner and some of the ones suggested may be better than mine. Homer Circle - Bass Wisdom was a great read for me as a beginner. Bill Siemantel - Bigg Bass Zone - I dont use such "big baits", havent tried, but the concepts of how to fish in his book seemed to make alot of since, and I have maded improvements since I think. I would like to read this book by buck perry, seems everyone likes it, and I am trying to become much more in tune with structure now (I am far from there).

This ruby tuesdays is in "five points" - it is a relatively short car ride from BJCC - I think maybe 10 blocks or so....definately not a walking distance anyway - there is also Jim-n-nicks right next to Ruby tuesdays in that same area in 5-points which I love. I am unfamiliar with food near BJCC personally - I usually eat more in south side and five points which again are short rides from BJCC - I think there are much less restaurants in that facinity close to BJCC in general....

I know where you were coming from with this post - I started fishing just under 2 years ago - started with mainly focusing on soft plastics which worked - my neighbor would intermittantly whip out one of these lipless cranks and work it....so I bough a few rattletraps, but failed to gain any confidence in using them....I tried to use them more consistently for a while here and there, but I was just like you - he would catch on em, and I wouldn't. I would vary my retrieve and such, but what I think I was doing wrong before was not paying as much attn to depth of the lure, proximity to cover or underwater grass or structure (that goes to say with any lure I think). I had my first breakthrough lipless crank day fall last year - we were on a small pond in west alabama - there is a large submerged tree - I thew that strike king lipless right next to it and just let it free fall around limbs the pick up on it gently, and I caught 10 bass in perhaps 30-45 minutes - it was a brown/black strike king - neighbor has the same lure in a shad color and he got aboslutely nothing while I hauled em in (one of the few times I skunked him ;D) - was is because of the color difference? Or was it my specific countdown or retrieve? I am not sure, but I now have much more confidence in them in my Alabama waters and manage to do pretty good with these on some days - I love them because they are so versatile and can eaily fish the entire water column with one. Stick with it, you will have the same breakthrough - but I would not stick to one all day necessarily - still switch it up, I use it on many spots as a fish finder - can cover alot of water in a good spot quick... Oh and I use small ones and big ones with good success, my neighbor the same. I have not done all that well so far with the tiger colors myself - but many other colors have worked for me - I think its more about finding the fish and the presentation. I am just a relative newB so take that with a grain of salt....hope you have that breakthrough soon

I live in hoover - would love to find such a place to fish locally - I bet you do have to be a resident or guest - if you live there call me up, I will go fishing with you there to try it out How big are they? Whenever I want to catch a few spot quick in the afternoon for quick thrills and not get my boat out - I go down to the cahaba below the d**n at 280 bridge - that whole area has some really quality spotted bass (caught 2-3 pounder there sometimes, mostly though fairly small but scrappy - rarely a largie - there are some largies above the d**n upstream, but few and far between). I go below the d**n in waders and work from about 600 feet from the d**n and work my way back up and can usually catch a bunch of those fiesty suckers. Not that you are into such, but if you havent tried that, it can be quick fun and low hassle. Have you all ever fished that pond there right off hwy 31 past galleria? I wonder if we can fish that lake?

I live in birmingham man and I feel your pain - last winter the fishing was very stable and water temps never got much lower than 54 - caught spots on the coosa all winter long This winter is very spotty, and we have had many slow days....I fish with my neighbor and my only criticism to him is that he does not slow it down enough in these conditions - I think when it is this cold, you gotta keep that bait in front of those lethargic bass and hope they grab it...but I went fishing on my own last weekend (saturday) and no matter how slow I fished at multiple depths, I could not get them to take at all - frustrating - tell us how you end up doing and what worked best - I may be meeting a friend over in Tuscaloosa next weekend to fish the warrior, and I have never fished it before....is there damns that control current there and the like?

This is exactly what I am looking for - it would be a nice arrangement just as it is for you and for A-jay

heh heh - good point However, we follow a very strict budget.....everthing I purchase that is relative to fishing or hobbies comes out of my spending portion of my personal income (5% - about 240 bucks a month) - when I bought my boat my budget didnt justify the purchase so I work an extra day a month to pay for the boat. If my wife gets into it, she will have to spend money out of her spending funds (about the same amt as mine, our income is the same) and she never spends any money, I think she has liek 1200 bucks in her spending at the moment - I keep trying to get her to transfer some of that into my spending ;D

I work for the VA too so I know what you mean - fishing is my escape! (although I like my job well enough). Soft plastics changed my life too - I was originally introduced into fishing as a kid by my own family, but they were mainly bank fisherman - my one brother got into some bass fishing, but he really failed to inspire me at first when I fished with him from a canoe - he couldnt catch them as regularly....met my neighbor who is 68 and a bass junky and went with him - boy that was a different experience - finally introduced truly to how to use soft plastics myself - I too love to fish em - down here my fav. is either a plastic frog or a trick worm fished weightless on top - the worm never fails when those bass are active. Anyway - my confidence in my own abilities are beginning to grow (this winter has been a setback on my confidence though) - hopefully with this, I can guide my wife well enough to make it enjoyable - I will be doing some pre-fishing by myself this spring to make sure it will not be a flop - most of the times so far I have tagged along with my neighbor and that has been sort of a crutch for me at times as I am not forced to analyze spots, structure, etc...I am doing that much more now... I like the tournament idea - probably wont start with that, but if she takes to us fishing a bit, it would be a great way to meet people and socialize - thanks for the advice.

I think that every relationship, every person is just different, that is evident based on these responses - some are passionate in fishing with their bass junky wives, some just fish with em casually, some not at all - but whatever works is all good with me.

yep, more cheeze please

I know, if you say tea is too sweet in this neck of the woods you should duck or something ;D

If we are talking about a 14 pounder on a given day, I would go with the 14 pounder - there are tons of people that rarely go over 10 pounds (I know my newB a$$ hasnt - biggest for me so far is only 4.5 lbs in the past 2 years so far). Having said that, I would rather more days I fish catch more numbers overall - you get that great thrill time after time - and if they are all quality 2-6 pounders, oh baby I choose numbers!

Oh just shut it

I find that a single willow leaf (without the tandem) spinnerbait gets deeper easier when you want to slow roll it real deep (others correct me if I am wrong). You really cant go wrong I would think with the worm or the spinner bait though - very versatile baits in my experience - you can cover the entire water column nicely with these! I am only a newB at this (for about 2 years) - when things get tough for me, my go to bait is a 7 inch dark colored worm texas rigged and probe the structure - it will eventually produce for me most days (exept for this winter man :-/). SB and the worm are my personal confidence baits I live in Alabama and it has been so darn cold (well, relatively anyway). Cant wait for our water to get to the 60's ;D Good luck and have fun - tell us how it all worked out!