Panamoka_Bassin

My name comes from where I live, Lake Panamoka, and Bassin' is what I like to do best. As for the avatar, I am a bartender on the weekends, and Moe just seemed to be a good fit...

Okay, so why do they call them bass? I would think there's got to be some kind of similarity between the two... I know I can see it with Stripers and Large Mouth...

Most people tell me my priorities are screwed up, but I don't care, they're my priorities! Here's about the best day I had this summer... 8:30am- met buddy for breakfast 9:15am- On the golf course, shot my PB (92...ok, so I'm not a very good golfer) 12:30pm- Home again, getting lunch and beers 1:00pm- On the lake, caught 15 fish to 2 lbs 5:00pm- Home again, showered 6:30pm- At girlfriend's house for dinner (kids are at g'ma house ) 8:00pm- Done with dinner and into "extra curicular" activities 11:30pm- Fall asleep watching Simpsons Now if I could get EVERY day like this, I would be an extremely happy man :) :)

There was a time in the not too distant past when if I heard the term "black bass" I would immediately think sea bass (They're actually named Black Sea Bass). If you've ever seen Chillean Sea Bass on a menu, this is a very similar strain (ala LMB vs. SMB). Nowadays, though, any time I hear bass, I think freshwater first and salt water last. I finally got my priorities straight

For myself, I can't let this thread go without saying something for Hot Chillis. I wear them when I ski, which is sometimes well below freezing, with only my ski pants and jacket over them. They're lightweight and wick away moisture, but I'll tell you they will keep you warm! For gloves and socks, there's a couple different brands of liners that really do the trick, but unfortunately the brand names elude me at 6:30am. Basically they're thin and have some sort of reflective material in them and will barely make a difference for bulk under regular gloves or boots. Otherwise, I like things made of "turtle fur", but with the activity of skiing, they tend to be too warm.

I am constantly baraged by people being late, and it drives me nuts. I am one to always be early, or at worst, right on time. Lately, thought, it seems my girlfriend has been making me late for things and I am close to blowing my top with her. I have repeatedly told her we need to be somewhere @ such a time, and she shows up to my house at that time (or generally later). She made us VERY late to my best friends b-day party (over 1 1/2 hrs late), and I let her know how dissappointed I was. For a while she was very good about being on time, but lately she's been sliding back to old ways. I don't like to get mad, especially at her, but it seems like its the only way to get her to understand that I don't like being late. Rather than whining and fighting about it, though, I think that there has to be a way to teach her to be more ontime that doesn't result in me sleeping alone. I've tried being patient, and if I leave her behind like some of you guys have, I'll be sleeping alone for a VERY long time. I think I might need to find that happy middle ground. Anyone know where that is?

Well, now we're talking about something I really do know about...BEER! A short list of my faves: Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout (I'm right there with ya fishinyank!) Sam Adams Cream Stout, Double Bock, Octoberfest, Boston Ale (My alltime favorite SamAdams Honey Porter hasn't been around for years ) Newcastle Brown Ale (Maybe the best all around beer there is) Stella Artois (Not bad for a green bottled Belgian style) Beck's Oktoberfest (Nice beer with none of that "skunky" green bottled taste) Saranac Black and Tan (Maybe the tastiest "combo" beer ever!) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Just about the best Pale Ale out there...Blows Bass away) Fat Tire (Only available west of the Mississippi, which bums me out here in NY) Now, if I'm just hanging around the house watching the ball/hockey game, more than likely I'll be drinking Bud, its what I consider a "light" beer, but if its an occasion or if I'm feeling good, then I go to the good stuff...

Yeah, man, be safe and come back home soon.

While I do agree with the idea of drug testing, I don't really believe that "peformance enhancers" are the right drugs to be testing for. Truly, if someone takes HGH or 'roids for the purposes of competitive fishing, how much of an edge will it give them? Its not like they're Barry Bonds trying to break a home run record or Lance Armstrong peddaling up through the Alps. Yes, fishing is a gruelling "sport" when you're on the tournament trail, but I think drugs like amphetamines and other "uppers" would be more of the choice drugs than steroids. My concern is more of a safety issue than an edge issue. These guys are opperating boats that go 40 MPH without brakes. Being a bartender, I can tell you that while someone all coked up may think he's great at everything, chances are he's gonna bumble and fumble around just as much as someone who's had 5 or 6 cocktails. Fortunately, there has never been a problem with this as far as I know. If they say a fisherman is taking amphetamines to stay alert, what's to say he doesn't take some "No-Doz" or drinks a six pack of Red Bull for the same basic affect? Do those give a guy an "edge?" What if he was working out on a regular basis and taking legal supplements? Does that make him a cheater? I don't think so. The problem, it seems, would be in the fact that they are illegal drugs, which is the job of DEA and law officers to enforce, not FLW or BASS, or even the IOC.

This has been deadly for me lately in a very similar pond tejas style 1/8 bullet...

I had a similar problem on my home lake, until I spent the time out there and learned the contours and niches etc. Like everything else in bass fishing, the more you do it, the better you'll know it. One thing I will suggest that has yet to be mentioned is getting a good pair of sunglasses. This may seem like a trivial thing, but I found that when I got a good pair of polarized (the real thing, not that crap they sell in the 7-11) I could see so much farther down into the water that I could see a lot more cover and structure than I could before. Also, realize that the higher your eyes are above the water, the better your chance of seeing farther down (imagine the difference in angle from sitting in a canoe and standing in a row boat...). Hope this helps.

I'm not sure as to the specific differences in strains of goldfish, but I know that common "feeder" goldfish (like the one you'd get at a carnival for getting a ring on a milk bottle) won't cause problems for bass. When my neighbor and I started stocking our pond, we threw a bunch of those little buggers in there for the bass to feed on. Since then, I have only seen 5 or 6 goldfish out of the hundreds we put in, and since there are still plenty of bass in the pond, I can only assume that the bass ate them and have not suffered for it. Like I said, though, different species of carp may very well be problematic. So, in a nutshell, I guess I can't really help ya...

You might not get as much extra distance as it would superficially seem. That's because XL is thinner-than-normal diameter, while XT is thicker than normal. I don't have actual diameters for XT, but it might be more like changing from 12# to 10# of the same line, not as much as 14 to 8 sounds like. Check those diameters; they're printed on the packaging. Your right! The XL 14LB is .014 where the XT 8LB is .012 I find myself fishing heavy cover lately and wouldn't want to loose a "keeper" due to insufficient line strength. Here is the 6Lb'r I caught on Monday with the 8lb XT. Thanks for the info! I have the XL on my main reel right now, but that's only becaue I couldn't get any Vanish. I think the XL is ok, but the Vanish I think moves through the guides even better and seems to stay straight a little bit longer. Just MHO...

I've been playing EA's Championship Bass for a few years now, and I think its great. I don't know if you can still find it since it came out in 2000, but I found it at Wal-Mart a few years ago packaged with Deer Hunt Challenge (which is ok). I also have Trophy Bass 2 from Sierra, but I haven't installed it on my new PC yet. I think its a better game for realism as you don't see the bait underwater, rather just the fisherman on the bow of his boat. I don't even know if it can be found at all, though, as it came out in 1998 .

My neighbor and I have the same kind of scenario, except there's a lake, not a stream, on the other side of the yard. In the past 2 years we've put about 50 bass from the lake into the pond. Generally speaking the bass in the lake range from 1 1/2 to 2 lbs, but the bass in the pond have grown to 3 1/2 lbs over the last 2 seasons (We attribute this to more forage and less competition). The problem that can arise, though, is that the fish can become "lure shy" after being caught. Sometimes they don't. I know there's a big fish in the pond, I've seen him under the lilly pads, but this fish will not take a bait, not a worm, crank, topwater, or even a spinner. I think this bass just got smart from being caught, and I think that you may have a similar problem with your big bass. Give it some time and maybe both our large basses will forget how the hook felt in their mouth and come back to be caught again. Or maybe not...

I have a small 3/4 acre pond right out my back door and fish it every day. For the last 2 weeks the bite has been really slow, but up until then (just before the water started getting hot) the fishing was outstanding. I only catch and release, and the only other person fishing the pond does the same. He seems to think we've overfished the pond, but I think the slow-down is more of a weather issue. I've checked my log from last year, and the same basic thing happened last year. If this pattern holds true, I'll be catching fish like crazy in about 2 more weeks (maybe less if the water keeps cooling off like it has been). Keep you all posted...

Its a shame about that, but the way I see it, the law is the law. Up here in NY, the DEC is an absolute tight-wad about legal sizes. When I was a commercial fisherman, the boat docked next to us brought in some under sized fluke (summer flounder). The warden just happened to be down at the dock and asked to see their catch. When he started measuring fish we all knew the boat was in trouble. The warden made a couple of measurments, found some shorts, called up the office, and within an hour the boat was chained to the dock and they were fined an outrageous amount of money (not sure how much, but I know it was in the 5 digit range). That boat stayed chained to the dock for the next 6 months, the captain lost his job, and the deck hands all found new berths on other boats. The short fish they brought in were probably worth less than $500, but ended up costing much, much more for all involved. Moral? Don't keep short fish.

I think with age comes wisdom... I used to fish salt water exclusively, even to the point where I would "pish-posh" on the very thought of fresh water fishing. Shortly after my Dad died, I inherited all his fishing gear, including the fresh water stuff. I thought it might be a nice memorial to him if I actually used the equipment. From there, its all about fresh water fishing for me. I do still fish salt water, but its a ratio of about 25 to 1 to fresh water fishing. Like I said, as we get older, we get wiser...Go figure... Oh, and welcome to the forums, broncoboxer

This is VERY true I caught a baby largemouth no joke it couldnt of been more then 4 inches long and it fit a whole 3-point hook that was on a torpedo in its mouth just the other day. Even small mouth can take more then you think. Thats not uncommon, as it has also happened to me twice this year...those little suckers can be voracious. And once again, Avid is absolutely correct (ooo it hurts to say that ). Confidence and experience are the best fishing tactics I know of. (BTW, with this post I became a full member...whoo hoo!)

It depends on the weeds...Are they grass or lilly pad stalks or reeds or just bottom junk? If its grass like milfoil or hydrilla, try running a shallow crank just above the top of the weeds, or along the edges if you can. If its lillies, make sure you use braided line and try using a t-rigged senko and make sure you bury the barb so you don't snag so much. Also, if you're on lillies, try using a frog... Another little tactic I've found helpful is giving the bait a couple of shakes when you feel it bogging down. Sometimes, not always though, this will knock off quite a bit of the stuff hanging onto the lure. Hope this helps...

Not to overwhelm you, as can happen when all of us bass fishermen chime in, but I would also try using some watermelon colored tube worms (also available at wally world), and rig them weightless so they can slide into the brush. A tagged fish may want to just go and get into cover and hang out for a while as it recovers from the experience. Yet, they will still want to eat... BTW, this sounds like a great way to get money for college. I wish that my school had done something like this 15 years ago...I might have been able to afford to finish school...

The bass in my pond do that all day long. It drives me nuts sometimes, to the point where I will put off doing other chores to fish for a little bit. Unfotunately, I haven't been able to use a topwater because of all the foliage, which is where the bass are burried, but, there is a solution I've found... Try using a weightless tube worm. I find I'm able to pitch and flip the tube very close to the edges of the plants and the tube tends to sink into the bushes and the WHAMMO! It takes a little practice, but you'll see its a very helpful technique...at least I do...

I have a little pond right next to my house that I fish every day, usually from the same three spots. I thought that I had been "over fishing" the area, but the last few days I can't say that's been affecting the bass. I've been catching 5-10 fish a day since Sunday, and it doesn't seem to be letting up. I am 100% sure that many of these fish have ben caught before and yet they'll still take a bait. My advice is find something that works, use it for a couple a times, and when it slows down, change your lure/presentation. For instance, I was catching very well but I got caught in a tree limb and had to cut my line. When I went back, I used the same lure (3" zoom tube worm), but in my haste I tied the hook without a bullet weight as I had been using. The result? More fish, and at the same time, better sized fish. In a nut shell, if you change things up fairly frequently, I don't think the bass will get too much of a chance to get used to them and you'll be able to catch there for the whole year.

Personally, I would have told him the truth. If there's just you fishing these ponds, then adding one more fisherman probably won't really affect the fishing all that much. I know you'd like to keep these ponds "private," but truthfully, he has as much of a right to fish there as you if he goes through the channels to get permission. This may not be the answer you're looking for, I know, but there's lots of ponds and fish out there. Who knows, if you were to invite him along one day, he might turn out to be your best fishing buddy...

Oh whoa whoa Jamie's Cryin' -Van Halen Good ole Sunday morning Bells are ringing everywhere Gone to Carolina Won't be long til I'll be there