lmoore

Hop on 90, Owatonna, Minnesota should only be 2-3 hours from Okiboji. Geting a chance to try them out would be a big help. Besides, you should have plenty of time between now and spring to get there and try them....assuming you aren't one of those crazies that spends all day staring at a 6 inch hole in the ice.

^that's the one, sorry I was doing some "illegal" surfing at work and didn't want to search for the link. If you type "depth finder" in the search function on the main page, there a couple other good how-tos.

I am far from an expert on the subject, but I'll chime in. 1) Depends on the time of year. In the spring, I look more for structure and likely "pathways" for the spawn. Bait is a bonus at times, but not something I actively seek. 2) Depends on the situation, but usually I would fish it, especially if using traditional sonar. If the cover is espacially promising, it's possible that there are baitfish/bass nearby you just aren't picking up on your sonar. 3) If there's food, there's probably fish, so I would generally stop and fish the area. That might not mean fishing right on the bait ball, but maybe on some nearby structure/cover. 4/5) Simply seeing marks on the bottom or suspended doesn't necessarily get me to stop. If I'm in an area where I think bass may be, I'll probably stop and see if the marks are indeed bass. I also might stop if I'm not just fishing for bass, and want to see what the fish are. All in all, no substitute for experience. There is a pretty good How-To video on here at one point not that long ago, although I can't remember exactly what it was called. Maybe search the video section and see if you can find it.

Hour south or north? I'm in the process of moving to the Dubuque area.

Adjusting to the fish. I have a tough time letting go of preconcieved ideas. Essentially, I'm just as stubborn fishing as I am in everything else....who woulda thunk it?

I've fished as a co-angler for a few years on the Great Lakes Division. Fun times, some great boaters to learn from, but I think I've about had my fill of te co side after last weekend. Was sitting 44th in the standings after an atrocious start to the season and then working my way back to within reach of regionals. All I really needed to do was finish top 50 or so and I owuld have a good shot at the regional. Long story short, I had the fish in the boat to place about 38-40, but we broke down and couldn't get back to the weigh-in. I don't blame the boater for what happened, but it just goes to show that you really have to count on other people to have success on that side. That being said, I've also learned a great deal from some of the boaters I've fished with and, even with some of the disappointments, I think having the co-angler side available is a great way to promote the future of the sport. Wish I could be competing at the regional on K-Lake with a chance to see some of you guys at the All-American Good luck!

My best guess is money. In February, most of the country is overcome with cabin fever and can't wait for fishing to get going. With the classic being one of the first events of the year, I imagine they get more viewers than if it was held during the middle of the tournament season when people had all sorts of other stuff going on. I don't know that for sure.

1) Consists of anybody from outside the top 40 in all of the divisions (1 big event) 2) Not sure on this one, you could give FLW a call at 1-270-252-1000

Traits also shared by some young Coppernose BG and Warmouth

Seems like a lot of the species confusion around my parts comes from the ramnpant stocking of hybrid BG (not complaining, I love catching them). The confusion comes several years later when the hybrid offspring have reverted back into almost complete Green Sunfish. I'm not sure why that happens, but for some reason Green Sunfish traits are more dominant. Anyway, quite a few casual pond owners around here would call that a Bluegill and have no idea what an actuall bluegill was if you held one up to them.

I made a personal rule about making changes to my lineup after screwing myself a couple times this season. I broke it for the last tournament over on FLW FF, switching out Powroznik for Yelas. I was in 74th overall and 11th in the Tackle Warehouse one and needed to get like top 40 overall and top 10 TW to win prizes, and that move cost me like 150 points. They haven't released final results yet, but I'm just sure I'll finish about 100 points out of the 10 spot in TW.

No, you do not. The membership fee is paid to FLW and allows you to fish any open event on their schedule for that calendar year.

There is a bassresource.com league for ***tasy. Top 5: Bassin31 apmccarty lmoore Bassninja Sore Thumb Bassin31 is actually 156 overall, which is pretty impressive given the number of people that play FF every year.

Well....good news and bad news. Bad news first: I'd have a tough time convincing myself to meet up with a UW guy at the series. Good news: I clicked to get a better look at that smallie in your pic (awesome fish, btw), and accidentally saw your profile, which included "fine cigars, cheap whiskey." Well done, sir. I'll be over there Saturday and Sunday also.

I don't mean to derail your thread at all, but how well do those work? I fish in the muckiest of muck at times, but I've never bought one of the weedless props to try out.

In case you ever get over to Rochester, MN....you could pick the boat up there as well. http://rmn.craigslist.org/bod/3079329521.html Craigslist is great and I still use it, but it almost isn't worth the hassle anymore with all the people trying to make free money off others.

My belief has always been that you could put just about any bass fisherman in the winning spot and he would win, or at least do really well. There may be subtle changes in the day that the winning pro noticed and others may not, but for the most part, catching fish is catching fish. It's the same reason you can go out with your buddy who barely ever fishes and every, every now and then, he'll outfish you. The biggest thing that sets apart the pros from everyone else, in my mind, is 2-fold. Number 1 is experience. Those guys flat out understand fish and that comes form years and years of fishing for the better part of every year. Knowing where to start on a certain body of water at a certain time of year and how to adjust to the little things that change bass mood/behavior is the biggest key to making it as a pro. The second thing that comes with experience is the mentality and focus to compete at that level. We've all been out fishing and, after a few hours, missed a fish because we weren't totally focused on what we were doing. Miss a 5 pounder in an Elite tournament, and you've just gone from competing for the win, to sitting at the ramp on the final day wishing you had another shot at it. The second is work ethic and deication. This is one of the few things that can make up for some deficiency in experience or knowledge. This si the type of thing that sets apart a guy like say Randall Tharp. He may or may not be much more talented than the rest of the field, but he works his tail off day in and day out, and gets rewarded with pretty consistently being towards the top of the standings. This is also where the "average joe" would have to make up ground in the scenario from the OP. Long story-short, I think I (or just about anyone here, for that matter), could occasionally (maybe rarely is a better term) compete with the big boys, given they work hard enough at it, but theres just no substitute for the experience those guys have that enables them to adjust and understand what the fish are going to do.

Anyone who is going to be in La Crosse in a few weeks? I missed out on Marshalling way back in January, so I'm just going to go Friday and stay through Sunday. This will be the first Elite series tournament I've been to, so I'm pretty excited. Along the same lines, anyone have any fun stories from an Elite event they went to or advice on things to do while there?

While this thread wasn't quite what I was expecting.....I'd still like to thank everyone for the entertainment

So on bassmaster fantasy, I've had Palaniuk chosen for over a month. I went on the day before the tournament thinking maybe I should do something different since so many people picked him. Here were the 3 options" 1) Stick with Palaniuk (1st place after day 1) 2) Change to Cliff Pace (3rd after day 1) 3) Switch to Kevin Ledoux to be really different (49th place after day 1) Of course, I chose option 3....and the reason I don't gamble? I'm just plain bad at it. lol

So remember earlier today when I said you handled it wrong? I'd like to change my posts. Your "buddy" deserves one square across the kisser.

I agree with that 100%. I would also say that, if you have a problem with someone, you talk to them about it, you don't jump to conclusions and head to the internet. I'm just being honest with you about my thoughts here. If you want him to be a stand-up individual, wouldn't it make sense for you to also be one?

You've got to be about the worst "buddy" I've heard of. Not only do you bother him constantly for weeks leading up to the tournament, but you instantly assume the worst of him and then openly bash him on a public forum only days after the event, without visiting him or even talking to him about it.

Both have some great anglers, but it's hard to draw a conclusion based on by far the best FLW angler (IMO) fishing well against BASS Elite guys in MLF. I would say the top maybe 5 or so would be pretty even, but that BASS would have a stronger top 25.

Do they have a weightless model? I think that's what he was looking for.