Nitrofreak

Wanna dead stick a bait this is a really good way to keep it right in front of them with the drop shot, I like this comment a lot, another bait I love to use is the suspending Jerk Bait, my favorite is the Lucky Craft pointer 100, either in Ghost or Ghost/Chart, also with a lot of patience.

BBF, look on the very first post of this thread, I have taken all of the info and stored it in one place, all the links you need are there. Can't wait to meet you and hope you get the chance to join us !!!

Not the hard bottom and the bait, the hard bottom and the bass, thats the correlation I am reffering to, hard bottom and hard cover provide a couple of different things, bridge pilings, boat docks, rocks, all will have algae growth which attract bait fish, places that have changes especially abrupt changes like a big rock or a couple of rocks in close proximity of one another create opportunities for bass to ambush their pray, silt bottoms don't supply enough food source for bait fish but however is great for plant life and bass love the 02 rich water that the plants help provide along with the cover, but if a dominate species other than bass already occupies that area, then bass will be hard to find in such cover. Yes I agree craws love to burrow themselves in the silt, but they will also find cracks and crevases in which to protect themselves as well. If you can find a grassy area in a litlle deeper water with a rocky or sandy bottom, thats where I would be working my jig.

WWWWWWOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOO !!!!

I honestly don't think it's your jig size but it just seems that you may be in the wrong place imo, the blue/black should work there as well as just black, but you keep mentioning how soft the bottom is, I think if you can find some harder bottom areas, the jig should be more successful and give you that jig bite you are looking for. Is it soft around the bridge areas too?

Anna? in a tournament? Are you going to be a partner to someone? in other words are you going to be on the back of the boat? Anna is something I will touch on later but first I want to offer advise as to fishing tournaments, it sounds like your just getting started with tournaments, you are going to have to get comfortable with fishing all kinds of baits, not just finesse, you are going to have to get out of that comfort zone of yours and open up, Cranks on Anna are very popular and perform very well if they are used in the right way, one thing that is the most important when fishing for money is that you first find the fish, you are saying you can find two or maybe 3 lets me know you are not giving yourself the chance to be successful, some days you can stay in one spot and be successful but those days are rare, when you are pre-fishing how many spots are you looking over to find what the fish are doing ? I have never fished the Potomac but I have been doing a lot of research on her, I will be there in August, so far I have found that 15lb bags or more require a good bit of travel, unlike fishing a place like Anna where you really don't have to cover the whole lake but still need to move around. There have been some really great suggestions and the one I like the most was suggesting to go to these other bodies of water, you need to really look for fish and figure out what they are telling you, and then start fishing, take up some of the offers and go fishing with some of the guys who have offered you a day on the water and learn from them, it's a lesson that will become some of the most valueable and most cost effective information you will ever get your hands on. As for Anna, your finesse fishing will play a huge roll in being successful, but you have to find the fish first, just like in any other body of water, cranks, jerk baits, drop shots, jigs and spinners everything works there and she offers all kinds of great fishing opportunities, I will give you a hint and let you know to concentrate your efforts in the upper portions of what used to be Anna river, depending on what time of year you plan on going I may be able to help you even more. Find the fish first, thats always going to be your key, take some of those offers and go fishing with the guys and take notes and give back as much as you can, open up and get out of that comfort zone, if your fishing from the back of the boat the speed in which the angler in the front fishes will determine techniques you will need to be comfortable with, a lot of times the front angler will fish much faster than you are used to fishing, last thing is stay ralaxed but don't loose focus, especially if you know the fish are there.

LOL !! Glad to see you caught the humor in that post. Have you tried any of the structure in that body of water, in my original post I thought you may have been tossing the jig where the more prodominate species were taking up house, if you know there are big bass in there and I know that you do, I was wondering if you tried targeting some of the more prodominate structure the bass like to be around, I know you know how to fish a jig, but do you think you may be simply using it in the wrong areas?

Na, I have been having some issues of my own, I was only out 3 times this past year, only once on my own boat, that was at the meet and greet over at Anna, the other two was with a couple of really great people I have met from here and they were kind enough to share their boat with me, I had a lot of fun though, learning some new waters and getting to know Zoff and his family and quanjig and the Res. Glad to hear you are just about to graduate, congrats !! and the best of luck no matter where you end up, I still want that fishing trip we had planned so call me when you can, I need to get a trolling motor for my boat first though lol !!

KVD did not get to where he is at by luck, if he did he has one heck of a horse shoe up his a## !! There are tricks and secrets they all have that work for them, but when you get right down to it, it's how bad do you want it, how hard are you willing to work for it, how hard are you willing to keep it. Not one of the pro's are there because of luck, all of them have figured out something the next has not and made them hot enough to get a chance at making it big, Hard work and a dedication like no other, this sport changes day to day, if you are not on top of your game everyday you may not be on top for very long. We do this for the love of the sport, so do they, what seperates us from them, or even the collage circut for that matter, we don't have the everyday access we need to solely dedicate ourselves to doing what we love to do, we don't have the thousands of dollars it takes to work our way up to that chance, we have so many reasons we can't or simply just won't. Make the best of your time on the water, learn from your mistakes, don't ask what the pro's would do, ask yourself what are you going to do and simply make it happen.

I am sure that was a type of error on your part, I know you ment so say 1999, thats ok though your still a good guy and I forgive you LOL !!!

I saw one post this time last year from someone in Fla. complaining about having to wear a sweatshirt to go fishing in the morning LMAO !!! I ain't skeeerd !!! I don't mind fishing the wind, unfortunatly the last meet and greet did my trolling motor in, it was so windy down by the dam that my trolling motor batteries were used up within an hour, went back and had to get the battery off of my camper to try and finish the day, the motor went kaput and that was all she wrote, I need a new one before I can get her back out on the water.

I love what he is saying here as to working them, Thanks for letting me add my 2 cents, keep in mind a spinner is nothing more than a fancy jig, when you are "working" a spinner bait and the same goes for crank baits, make sure you are in contact with what ever you are fishing, cover or structure, you have to make these things change direction to be more successful with them, bump them then pause, then run it into something else, yes you will get hung up from time to time, fish them like you intend to do just that, yes you will lose one or two, but if your not working them as Ranger said your not going to be as effective as you would just cranking them back to you in a straight line, you will get bit doing that but not nearly as much as if you work the bait. Hope that helps as well and thanks again Ranger !!!

I am no pro either but may I add to your post?

One thing about all of this is that you seem to still have a positive attitude. I can't begin tell you how much I admire you for having such. You will get through this and things are going to get better over time, however, it sounds as if your surgery did not go as planned, I hope you get well soon, it does not sound good at all. Thoughts and prayers brother !!!!

Yes, Just fishing deep water may or may not hold bass, bass relate to structure in many different ways, creek channels, ledges, humps, points, rock piles, road beds, referring to depth is anywhere from the surface to the bottom, the fish dictate the depth, it does not matter if they are 5 feet deep or 30 feet deep, bass will always relate to structure and cover, the only time you will find them not relating to either would be when they are feeding on schools of bait fish in open water, or suspended, usually the bass are located under these schools or somewhere close if they are feeding on them, if not they are pushing them in a direction to make feeding possible and much easier by trapping the bait fish between some type of structure and the surface. The bottom of the lake or body of water is structure, anything on top of that like a brush pile, a sunken boat, a man made rock pile, tree stumps, trees that have fallen, are all cover. Fishing cover like boat docks is generally easy to do, fishing suspended fish is a good bit more difficult, fishing structure is not that hard if you know where to look, spending a lot of time on the water, you will find how fish travel from deep to shallow and the structure they use to get around from place to place, it's like their highways and byways so to speak, once you get into reading these books and going out on the lake it will open up a whole new world to you, it will allow you to locate structure that is used frequently in some areas, and in others not so much, they will help you fish the right cover and help you find ways to locate them when they leave that cover. Read all of the articals in here as well, there is a virtual library on fishing in the site on anything you wish to know.

Get out there and go get em !! Come back here and show them off when you do, I can't wait to see what you all can do this season !!

Welcome to the forum !!!

Welcome to the forum !!!

Welcome to the forum !!!

Welcome to the forum !!!

Welcome to the forum !!!

I can't remember when there has been a more exciting SB to get ready for since 1999, I wish you luck !!!

Funny you should mention that, I have a stream that runs through my mother-in-laws property where I hunt, it has some prime deer hunting too !! I go every chance I get, it's with in walking distance from my house and usually end up with one or two, but I don't fly fish, it does not look like something I would enjoy lol !!!

Why would they wait for that?

OMG !!! I can't take it any more !!! We get a real nice day today, but tomorrow is supposed to be warmer yet, I was going to play hookie tomorrow but the winds are supposed to be fierce, then down into the 40's again with the same winds and snow by the end of the week..... WHAT THA !!!!! IM GOIN FREAKIN NUTTS UP IN HERE !!!!!!!! Thank goodness for this place though !!