Nitrofreak

NICE FISH !! congrads!! What is hanging on your hat? a good luck charm perhaps? lol.

X2

I like to throw deep cranks in the dead of winter IF the conditions are right for it. Is it better than some other applications? not really sure it depends on what other applications you are thinking about.

If you are right handed the crank should be on the left side of the reel,the same applies for left handers the crank should be on the opposite side. This keeps you from having to switch hands after a cast, the more you practice with one the better you will get just don't forget how to use your spinner once you get good with the bait caster.

I knew what you were saying about the artical, I just found the topic interesting and wanted to read the discussion about weather they did or didn't. Sorry if I came across differently. Thanx for taking the time to get me the name of the mag.

I think the minnows are attracted to you, they are looking to you to provide something be it cover or something else, I honestly don't think it has anything to do with what you have kicked up. I can launch my "port ah jon" boat with out kicking up anything and within seconds have minnows swimming all around it in the river's over here. There have been a couple of times that like you stated the fish will be close, on two seperate trips I have had fish thump the bottom of my boat from rushing up and grabbing the bait fish. Nice post ! it shows you have good observation when your fishing.

I do not know of a "warning system" that is a first for me as well, I do know they learn from their mistakes and can process some information like when preditors are close or when a food source is around. I am interested in the artical however do you by chance know the name of the magazine ?

I have to agree here with Rhino, my favorite lake is 95 miles from home, the lake is 17 miles from top to bottom, I will use roughly around 5 to 8 gallons of fuel for the boat. The initial expence of owning a smaller boat is what is going to drive you crazy, so get one that you will be able to sell for close to what you invest,( what I mean by close is roughly half to 3/4 of what you invest, boats have a tendency to drop dramatically in value ) if you take really good care of it you will be able to get a great deal back from it. Once you know how much personal property taxes are going to cost you etc... then you can decide if this is the right investment you may find that you can own a larger boat for almost the same money, make sure you read up on the rules and regulations for your area from the game and fishery's dept. so there are no suprises when you get checked on the water, a fine from one of these guys can set you back a good chunk of change. Good luck with your decision and send us some pic's when you do get it.

Sam and Goose, I can not speak for geese but I can attest to duck. I have been on lake Anna when duck season is in full swing, and I can say for a fact that fishing with the hunters and ducks near have not changed the bite for me, there have been times even in the summertime when waterfoul have been swimming close to the boat (with-in 20 yards) and caught fish, I am not sure that it changes anything at all other than disturbing the bait fish which might have to make you move a little. In the spring when most fisherman follow the gulls in search of the schools of bait fish there are so many birds on and above the water looking for an easy meal that if you can avoid having your bait snatched out of the air or being crapped on the chances of having a good day of fishing are really quite astronomical, but it does cost you a lot of elbow grease at the end of the day due to the simple fact that you will have to clean your boat. For me fishing around the birds is a good thing, if the gulls, cranes, ducks, eagles are close so are the bait fish,and if the bait fish are there so are the bass, its during those times I spend a lot of time fishing under the boat instead of in front of it, if you think about it your boat is a floating cover the bait fish will use for shelter from above preditors. This has been my experience in the past and if anyone else has done this or tried this they may suggest the same thing I am about to...If you fish around a lot of gulls what ever you do, do not look up...especially with an open mouth...lol.

Where we fish in and around Va. a 4 lb fish is a good fish, a 5 lb fish is common to see on my favorite lake, it seems every tournament two to three boats have at least one or sometimes two, so my big fish would be multiple 5 lb fish anything above that to me would be reguarded as really big fish. I have to agree with WRB in his statement about Bill Murphy's book. Fishing lake Anna here in Va. I was at a loss when I first started fishing there, then I found this web-site and learned about how to fish, once I applied what I learned here to what I know about the lake it all started to come together and made perfect sence. To consistently catch big fish is not something I have mastered yet and most likely never will but by reading these posts and articals in this web-site I am begining to understand what it takes to get better at doing so. To consistently catch big fish one must first find the fish and learn of their travels and habbits throughout the whole season which equates to a LOT of time on the water. I for one can tell you for sure that fishing a pond that has monster bass in it is NOTHING like going to a large lake and fishing for big fish, while fishing a pond gives you the experience you need to build confidence in your abilities the larger bodies of water will put what you have learned to the test along with your confidence. Homework, experience on the water, more homework and more experience on the water finding out those places where they live to hunt and feed any given time of the year will net you consistently larger fish, does this mean all you will catch is big fish? absolutly not but your chances of catching multiple larger fish will only increase each time you venture out IF you learn from each session on the water.

Now there is a man who knows how to fish and look good doing it too lol !!!! By the way thanks for the pic NICE FISH !!!

If that is true Wayne then where are all the video's of you catching all of these fish lol. Just kidding I know you catch an amazing amount of fish for sure... im just thinking your shy and don't want the world to know how good a fisherman you really are.

Don't underestimate the power of a jig, yes it may be boring and the bites are slow but there is no better bite than the jig in my opinion. The color or colors that I use a LOT of are prodominately brown with green pumpkin and a small amount of blue mixed in on the sides of the jig, 1/2,3/4,1/0 oz football head jigs are the best, I personally like 1/2 oz for the slower fall rate and the 3/4 to 1/0 oz if I want to make sure I stay in contact with the bottom. I had seen a video on here that supports what I have always used for my jigs, and found out that there is something new on the market that strike king has just came out with for skirt color, it's called Blue Craw or you can buy the skirt kit alone it's called Magic Craw,this stuff is what it says it is and works very well in darker waters like your area or in clearer waters like my favorite lake. Swim it along the bottom slow to extra slow until you find what they want and you will find some big fish, you also owe it to yourself to watch their video, Mark has some awesome insite on jig fishing. Good luck and be safe!!!

2011 brought some great times and some really bad times as far as the pocket book is concerned, the expence of fishing has kept me at home more than on the water. I do not see it getting any better in the near future for 2012 but we will see, if it does change for the better my goal will be to keep youngster's involved in this great sport and to continue helping our wounded vets. GOD BLESS AMERICA and I certainly wish all of you a VERY MERRY Christmas and a happy new year, I hope the new year brings all of you joy and prosperity and whatever else your fishing dreams are made of.

True I agree, And I understood your post perfectly, nice job!

Correct me if I am wrong but hormones are what drives all of us to do things we were built to do, It's pheromones that give off different scents. Would the prey give off negitive pheromones if it were threatened? ask a skunk.

Just a guess but I would venture to say your lure may have gone cold just before that happened, Bass in my experience will not stick around if a larger preditor is anywhere close.

If you think about your post you have stated that this particular bait has caught multiple fish, I think it is just the right bait with the right presentaion under the right circumstances. Can they smell the other fish on that bait? yes, but is it enough to entice a strike? maybe? I think it has a lot to do with the feeding habbits more so than the smell of another fish. Does it negitively impact the bait or the fish? well if your catching fish off of the same bait multiple times then the answer to that question is no. other than a little wear and tear on the bait and the fish being on the recieving end of a good lip piercing.

My PB of 8 1/2 lbs came from lake Anna this past year. It was a father/daughter day and a tough day to fish but my teenage daughter was KICKING MY BUT !!! The first half of the day the score was 4 to 4 with her's weighing in at a respectable 14 lbs 2 oz mine was a little over 5 lbs, we set down had a couple of sandwiches and she is just hammering me with smiles and was not being too shy about who the better fisherman was so far...lol, the last half of the day continued to be the same for the next hour or so until the fish quit biting, after about an hour of no fish she decides to have some fun with me and starts casting her line right on top of mine and catching either my line or snagging my spot. The end of the day comes... which is something I wish would have never happened but she called last cast and she runs to the front of the boat cast's her line just to the left of where I wanted to be, she turns and looks at me with a s**t eating grin on her face and says to me awwww what's wrong daddy did I take your spot?...I looked over where her line landed and put my Texas rigged 6" pumpkin seed/chartruse lizzard just to the right of hers and felt a THUMP!! I dropped the rod realed the slack and set the hook turned and looked at her and said NOPE!! She still had the weight over me but I will never forget that day.

I voted for me!! Anyway im done can I read the rest of the posts now ?

As far as the fish and ski its AWESOME for family fun and not too bad to fish from at all. The only thing I would suggest is get the largest engine you can, a 150 is a great performer for lighter loads but if you get several people on while pulling a skier it does do ok but works a good bit harder to get up out of the water. You can change props to help aid with that at the time you place your order for the boat unless it already comes with the performance prop but if there is an option to go with a little larger engine package I would go that route, but if you know for sure that it will always and forever be just you and your family on board its a great package, once you get the boat you will most likely have some new friends too. Good luck the 189 is a fun boat for the family and be safe!!

I wouldn't bring it around my neck of the woods then...I know a few that would be proud to own that boat !! lol.

First of all if you are going to think cheap you will end up with cheap. There is a LOT of work just getting the boat ready for such a job, if you are going to paint your boat why not get the good stuff and take your time especially if you plan on keeping this boat, and if you do a good job on it the value will do nothing but increase. As for colors I have seen some for people who like colors of their favorite football teams or NASCAR teams, that may help you with a choice, sounds like you have already chosen a base color of white so that is a great color to have as a canvas.

It is most likely best that you take it to a good tech and have it checked out.

After it does finally start cold, does it run really rough for a few minutes? When you are cranking the engine cold do you have the throttle about a quarter of the way open?