Nitrofreak

You obviously have not met Jig Fishin 10 yet LMAO !!!

We do have a tendency to over complicate things I whole heartedly agree , but when I look at things in a different light , what I see is me , simple ol' me , and then I read some of the post's and get lost all over again , and think to myself , when has catching a little green fish become so dang complicated that the rest of us are left so far behind ? I caught on to you catt , your simple yet sometimes questionable methods made me think for myself , made me a whole different angler all together , as well as a different person , when I look at these scientific facts , studies , data , in these posts , I think WOW , we really are all different , there is some good in the posts in the fact that we learn from people sharing such a wealth of knowlege with us for free , it may not apply to me , but it does touch someone somewhere I am sure , just as you did with me my friend .

Ya know , I thought I needed to get away from fishing and all aspects of it , it is driving me absolutly insane that I am not able to get out on the water , you have no idea how much fishing means to me and what it does for my soul ... well maybe you do . Anyway , I finally had a chance , correction , I made myself take a break from everything and read my e-mails , most were from this site and the friends I have made over the years , it seems that no matter how stressful life gets , there is always an interesting read or something to learn in here , in here I find laughter , I find brotherhood , I don't see lifes problems , I see people trying to find little green fish , and having dicussions of lifes little journey along the way , I see waters that I will otherwise never see , I meet people that I will otherwise never see in person , Teachers , Dr's , Lawyers , Technicians of all kinds , Cooks , Pro's , and even a few squirrels who have lost their nutts are in here. All in all , I find that sometimes we do need a break , but I have also found that there is no place like this place .

If I remember your teachings , basically a thermocline is the cooler water layer under the surface layer , it is the place where there is a rapid change in water temp. Turnover is when a lake or body of water mix's , the thermocline sinks as the surface water cools , basically , in a nut shell so to speak , the bottom comes to the top and completely mix's the lake , bass have a tendency to more often suspend .

I am pretty sure I will not be participating but I will be more than happy to offer any assistance that I can. One thing that I had found out was that areas of interest , some have a fee to use their facilities , ie, picnic areas , sheltered areas , and so fourth , depending on the group size the fee also went up as the group size went up , be sure to call ahead of time when you choose several locations and have all of your options on the table before you decide on a location . Anna was free from all of these charges at the state park .

The limited experience that I have , Generally speaking , I have learned that bass have a tendency to move toward more shallow areas as water rises , In Va. the potomac river system , this is key , I have also found this to be true as lakes often drain and refill , man made or not , this is not to say they all will move miles or any truly great distance , yes , to your question that some will follow a school of shad , but most will stay in or close to areas that allow good ambush spots with the correct water conditions , as the water rises these fish that cling to structure may only move a few feet in any direction or they may join other bass to help push a school toward a more gental sloping bank to pin the bait fish or a group of bait fish in a shallow area for an easy meal , allow yourself some time on the water to just follow a bait school around , you can learn so much from just watching your sonar . Good luck and be safe !!!

It's all up to you as to how successful you wish to be , invest in good quality electronics that will help you navigate as well as show some fish , your season starts in the dead of winter, depending on your location , use that time to get a good grasp of maps and what to look for , if you primarily fish lakes , your map studies should be all about looking for migration routes in the very beginning , looking for more vertical type structure that's gonna feed back to flats as a general rule , take your boat out and go over the whole area you have chosen as a starting point with a back and fourth motion , scan every bit of that area you can, you will find fish , mark those locations on a map , if at all possible get out there as much as you possibly can and do this for each part of your lake , make greatly detailed notes of everything , soon enough you will start to put a lot pieces of the great puzzle together , do not expect this to be a big success anytime soon , patience , patience , patience , is going to be key , use your boat for what it's intended , get out there and find what you want to see , experience everything with an open mind , the more you explore , the more you will learn ! Good luck and be safe !!!

Ghoti , there are so many I still wish to meet and have some fun with , you being one of them , most of the Roadtrip crew and quite a few others , I will work hard to get back , I promise , I have an address for FD so I am about to get off here and focus on things that I need too , I have one more trip left in me that I will share with you guys and gals in 2 weeks , there were a lot of laughs I enjoyed from your posts between us , thanks Gohti !!!!

Absolutely , keep a lookout for WWP when it comes to your neck of the woods , there will be lots of contact info for you , I will shoot you a text tomorrow afternoon about a few details , but they offer it on the Potomac as well , one I did not get the chance to make this year as I had hoped , I will get in touch with the guy who has been putting this one at Anna together for the last 6 years now and get ya hooked up for next year !!!

Couple of posts mentioning family, it's odd how "tight nit", I think that is how it is put into words, a group of people can be and still not have spoken a word to each other. RNF, dude !!, I feel your pain, the only thing I can tell you is that it does get better, there is a light, although you may have to travel a great distance to reach it, I wish nothing but the best for you and your family, god bless you and thoughts and prayers are with you all for sure. I have a Wounded Warrior Event Sept. the 14th, my first time on my boat in over a year, I think about problems all the time, like you and I have and problems like we have here in the US, 2 things I am very passionate about, Children and our Soldiers, visit a childrens hospital, talk to our soldiers who are going through something so different than you or I could ever imagine, and the bravery on both parts is incredibly profound, it really puts things in perspective for me anyway. There comes a time when for some we must unwind if you will, a way to recenter and refocus, and shed some weight , a time to set a goal and realize the sacrifices that one must make in order achieve. I will be happy to share my Wounded Warrior experience on the water with you all in a couple of weeks, good or bad, after that I promise to do my best to get back as soon as possible. Thanks to all for the well wish's and we will see you in a couple of weeks !!! Glenn, I never knew you were an Eagles fan ????

Guys , I really can't say what this place means to me and how special it really is , to be able to go from a bank beater , to boat owner, to bank beater again from a boat and then finding out what having a boat really means to bass fishing was to say the least one of the greatest experiences of my life , and one I will cherish for the rest of my life !!! I don't think I will be gone forever, however I truly can't answer that right now , I still have a goal that has not been met yet and that is to attend a Roadtrip , I don't see that happening anytime soon or at least for the next couple of years . When I am able to come back , I want to be able to contribute as much as I receive , a lot is going on right now , but family life is strong and full of joy , so no worries , as long as we all have that we will be fine . To all of you who have posted , thank you so very much , it means the world to me to know that I am thought of this way and I will remember that when I am blessed enough to get on the water again. I want to leave you all with a little something I learned from catt. Stop looking at the water with your eyes , open your minds to the deep waters and her secrets that they hold , see with your hands what your bodies of water can tell you , stop wondering if you can and believe that you can , there is a whole other universe , a completely different angle to being an angler . Catt, you are the one responsible for making me fish where no other anglers were fishing , I swear there was a moment on the bow of that boat that you could have been in the water , grabbed the boat and turned it around and pushed it in the right direction , much like a moment you would turn a child in a tube on the water , that moment was one of the most significant I have ever had as an angler , I will never forget that nor will I ever stop learning from it , thank you my friend ! Fly , the Redskins are going to the Super Bowl , the path goes through Philly , I hope your wearing your big boy pull-ups cause your gonna need em ! I will be thinking of you both of those games !! Sam , thank you !! You have got to be one of the most informed people I have ever met and one of the funniest !!! Quan, the best dang angler as a whole I have ever had the pleasure of fishing with , we will bend a rod or two again , next time I will try to be a little more prepared , and yes I think I still have your number but please feel free to shoot me a text since I had to get a new phone ! Traveler , I vow to make that trip someday , you can find out first hand just how mentally unstable I can be !! Lol ! St. Sloan , thanks for the blessing , I will be collecting by the way !! HA ! Jf10, there is no better guy that I have shared sooooo many laughs with and so much more , you are a great friend to have and one I hope to never meet , my god just think of the trouble we would be in lol !! Jeff, like I said , there is one more goal , I will continue to strive for that Roadtrip , maybe by then I can come back focused and sharper than ever , there is nothing more that I would like to do than to finally meet the man behind that great big smile you always seem to have !!! God bless you all !!

The time has come, I think it's probably a little overdue actually, shucks, my posts are not even making sense to me anymore, even after I re-read them, the past few years have taken a toll, financially, physically, mentally, fishing has been on the back burner for quite some time now and with no input to add to new things and or even some of the old, let's face it, i'm just lost, I think it best to say goodbye at least for now, I don't see me getting back on the water on any kind of a constant basis for quite some time yet so my contribution will be next to nothing, honestly, I do not like just being along for the ride if you get what I mean, thats just not how I am nor who I like to be. I can not say how greatful I am to have found this site in the first place, much less be allowed to be a part of it, everyone here is AWESOME !!!! The lessons that can be learned and the depth of the tallent here is nothing short of phenomenal, I owe a great deal of thanks to a great many people here, I don't know how I can say thank you all enough !!! I will be around long enough to get the Dicks Sporting Goods stuff to the right person or people. To all of you, Thank you for everything and I hope to be back some day in the next few years but if not, it was a great ride and one I had a lot of fun with. God bless, Good luck and be safe !!! Sonny

Tom , it's not that we do not believe in what you guys have presented here in this forum, between you and Catt and anyone who post these SIGNIFICANT facts but honestly , a lot of us these days are chasing jobs that will allow us the time to simply pay our bills, would we love the same opportunities to spend as much time on the water , duh ! But seriously , we are only trying to take advantage of our very limited time on the water and really make the most of what little time that is. I can't express how much these facts are appreciated , nor how much effort you guys put fourth , but the simple fact is we just don't have the time to fish like we wish we could , I for one can't thank you guys enough for putting this extremely detailed info out there for us to observe and learn by, but it's much more important for a lot of us to learn how to make the most of what very little time we have on the water any more . Things are tight , really tight for a lot of us , we can't just pick and choose our time on the water as we used to do , guys like you and Catt and a lot of other folk here are tremendously knowledgeable because of your time on the water , your studies and advice are second to none anywhere we look , this fast paced world we live in now is no longer allowing us the spare time we once had , and the things we care most about are also fading away , from the bottom of my heart I can't thank you guys enough !!!

Lots of interesting facts , lots of science and math, lots of writing , basically it boils down to water current and water levels that the fish use for their daily movement or movements , and the moon phase I assume allows us prime opportunities to advance our knowledge of how fish use these changes ?

FD I have no problem with anything you guys wish to do with them , as long as it gets to the foundation with DSG's behalf in mind that's all I am worried about big guy ! My cell number is in the post , you all decide and shoot me a text with an address . Thank you Dicks Sporting Goods for your participation and I would like to say thanks to all who have made a concentrated effort in raising money for a great cause , you guys and gals are the best and I am proud to be a small part of this web site !!!

Seriously, I can not believe there were not more votes for Eddie, SRV was awesome, Gains and others were banging for sure, but no one had an impact like EVH and his originality , never mind David Lee Roth, Eddie and Alex were in a group of their own. I grew up watching and learning from Steve Gaines, Allen Collins and all of LS, they are and always be my all time favorite group, but there are so many, like Jeff Carlisi , Don Barns, from 38 special, that also innovated, Southern rock is my first love, but EVH was and still is the best originator.

Jeff , if you could please get in touch with someone , I have noticed that the certificates run out Oct 31st of this year , so the sooner I get this in the right hands the better , and don't thank me , thank DSG's Good luck and be safe !!!

As stated before I do not get the chance to fish much any more, but I have been busy trying to get some support, I was hoping to do better and get some support from our meet and greet here in Va. but as things go, life happens, and our meet and greet just absolutely fell apart, but I did receive this from Dicks Sporting Goods just today, I do not know how you can use it to be quite honest, but here is some help from some great people at Dicks, I have been working pretty hard to save a few bucks and contribute to this foundation myself, but as luck would have it, it seems everything is starting to show it's age and every time I save a contribution, we need it to fix a vehicle, I do wish to make this pledge that by years end I will have $100.00 bucks to share with such a great cause. This is what they sent me, if someone could point me in the right direction as to where I need to mail this, I will be more than happy to ship this off tomorrow or ASAP ! I tried several companies and Dicks Sporting Goods was the only one to show any interest at all, I am proud that they gave recognition to such a great cause and I wish you all the best. Good luck and be safe !!! My contact info, 540-383-8184 this is my cell , best way to text me an address to ship this too.

Let us know when you get your boat back, with all the stuff you had going on, you really didnt need this either !!! Hope to see you again soon !!!

I can not begin to tell you how sorry I am, thoughts and prayers to you and your family my friend !! You least of all need to think you owe an apology, you know how I feel about that !!! I will be getting some dates together and I hope to spend some more time down your way soon, thanks for the invite !!!!

OMG !!! I need to quit talking to you LMAO !!!

Thanks man , it's much appreciated , if we do this again in the future I will have a better laid plan , this has been quite a learning experience !!

So is this a bust or are people still going to show up? J- This one fell apart , I have no option but to call it off , over all we have lost too many that we needed for support , this has been a really weird summer , I just could not get things to line up the way they normally do , but the only thing left to do is offer my sincerest apologies , I will say this , the Potomac showed a lot of promise , more than I was prepared for , trying to locate boaters among other things for this event, just took what extra time I had and I lost touch with the thread as well , nobody's fault but my own , Sorry guys !

I feel your pain endless, I have only been out once this year myself, had opportunities to go with others and funds would not allow it, family is always first , but dang it would be nice to get out more often , I hope things work out well for you and your family endless, thoughts and prayers for you all !!

Thoughts and prayers Sam , hope your wife gets better , I know she has been struggling with this for some time now , I will miss seeing you again and maybe recreating another folly at the ramp episode , God bless !