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I visit this and two others. One is in Australia. I found it by accident, and keep going back. There's something way cool about chatting with anglers half way around the world. It's a lot like this one; friendly people, free with advice and no hostilities. I joined BPS's forum when this one was down. I won't be going back there anytime soon. This is the best. With thanks and gratitude, I'll send a tip o' the hat to Glenn, Chris, RW and LBH for the work they do keeping this place clean, friendly and informative. Thanks guys!! GK

Greetings everybody. I stumbled on to this site through ReelMech's website. I was looking for some parts for a reel, and ended up here. I thought to myself, self, this looks interesting, let's bookmark this. I was lurking and reading for quite a while before joining. Don't know what took me so long to join in the fun. I'm a full-time community college professor and a part-time consultant. I know, two jobs, not enough time to fish. But, my wife and I manage to get out a couple of evenings a week during the warm part of the year. We mostly fish for bass, sometimes for panfish, but, I'll fish for just about anything that swims. Anyway, welcome back. Thanks, Glenn for all the hard work on the upgrade. I'm a former system's integrator, so I know what you went through. I earned all my grey hair. This is an awesome site. May it live forever. Good luck to all. GK

I had resolved that this was going to the year I learned to use a jig. So much for resolutions! Caught one fish all year on the jig. Overall though, I had one of my best years lately, using tubes, senko's and cranks. Between my wife and I, we caught 14 over 5lbs. I know, I use a rapala lok-n-weigh. My best was a 7.5 and her's a 6.5 Mine hit on a shad rap, her's on a berkley frenzy minnow. All the rest came on tubes or senko's. Last year, I discovered the senko and was nearly ruined. I fished that thing all year long. I don't remember ever tying on a crank all year. I had resolved to be more versatile this year, and I managed to do that, except for the jig thing. Next year I resolve to master the jig. HA! Like I'm going be able to put down the senko's, the tubes, cranks, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, flukes, spooks, power worms, lizards, salt craws, pop-r's, pointers, x-raps, grubs, etc. Not to mention the fly rod and the boxes full of bugs, poppers, sliders, wolly buggers, dahlberg divers, zonkers, bouface's, etc. Do I sound like a tackle junkie? Can I get an AMEN, brothers? I'm a card-carrying member af Tackleholics Anonymous!!. The bait monkey rides me like a chimp on a greyhound. ( Now that's a race I'd pay to see.) Anyway, it's been a good year for me, and, I hope for everybody here. Cabin fever is just starting to set in. Can't wait for warmer weather. I'll spend the winter cleaning up all my reels, sorting and arranging, and re-arranging all my tackle and hanging out with the good people on BassResource.com. I've learned a lot here. Thanks to everybody, and good luck to all. GK

I make money every time I go fishing. If I'm out on the water, I'm not in the tackle store spending money. ( I think I need to send this to my wife ) Good luck to all, GK

Chris, GREAT article. I believe fishing is 90% location and 10% presentation. You've stated about as concisely as possible the what, where and why of the location part of the equation. I'd like to add that on small waters, like the one where i do most of my fishing, the changes I target are subtle. I'm looking for 1' drops instead of 5 or 6'. But, that's just the nature of the lake I fish most. It's been there quite a while and the channels are pretty well filled in and gone. What's left of the structure is mostly very minor changes. The fish still use them. They will take advantage of what they can find. You made a great point about direction. I'll have to put the into practice. Thanks, Good luck to all, GK

Avid, you are right on the money. It's not all about catching. It's about "quality" time. I work two jobs, so, I don't have as much time on the water as I'd like. My time on the water, spent trying to outwit a creature with a brain the size of a grape seed, is all that stands between me and insanity. It's peace, quiet contemplation, magic and mystery. Slipping my little two-man boat out into the early morning fog is almost mystical. The joy of using fine equipment just adds to the mix. A wisw man once said "Buy the best, You'll never be diasppointed". Good luck to all, GK

On back to back trips, my wife caught the biggest bullforg I've ever seen, followed by a 4' copperhead. The bullfrog was kinda fun. THE SNAKE WAS NOT! Both were caught on a 4' senko. Before the next outing, I was compelled to tell her; fishing, dear, we're going fishing. Not reptiling. She was not amused. Good luck to all, GK

Try some fly floatant. It's a silicone grease. I use it on the first two guides on my spinning rods and it keeps the ice from sticking. The ice will still form, but will tap right out. Never tried it on a baicater. Might work. Put it on with a Q-tip. I have to agree with RW. When the ice forms on the guides it's time for a warm fire, a little Bushmills and an Avo. Good luck, GK

FltPhiser, That must have been a heck of a fight on a 5WT. I mostly use an 8WT for bass and a 3WT for panfish. I save my 5 &6 Wt's for the occasional trout trip. I'm gonna have to try the 6 for bass with a wooly bugger. I'm throwing BIG flies with the 8 for bass, and that will wear you out after 4 or 5 hours. For you guys that have not tried it, the fly rod will put one more tool in the old toolbox. I use baitcast, spinning and fly rods all year. At least until the water gets hard. The fly gives the bass a totally different look and presentation. And, if you fish a lake or pond with mostly small fish, the fly rod allows the smaller fish to put up a decent fight. Lot's of fun!!. Bluegill on a 3WT are an absolute blast, and a great way to get started. Good luck, GK

SLOW DOWN!! I can't tell you how many times seen somebody motor up to a spot, make three casts and move on. I've fished with guys like this, and it's frustrating. Not all the fish in the lake at doing the same thing at the same time, so, scout your spots and then work them over with different baits from different angles. Good luck, GK

John, Thanks for the reply. I used to totally agree with you on this subject. Until a freind and I conducted an experiment. He has a huge aquarium with one bluegill, one crappie and one largemouth. The fish were put in when very small and have lived there for about three years. The gill is about 9", the crappie about 10' and the bass about 12''. They're probably environmentally size-limited. Anyway, we took home a gut-hooked largemouth, about 10' long, and put him in the tank. We left about a foot of line attached, since that seems to be the standard approach. The fish seemed to eat little and moved much less than the others. He did not grow and died about 8 weeks later. When we disected him, we found the line and hook in his guts. The hook was a 2/0 fine-wire gamakatsu ewg and was in good condition. It showed no signs of rusting away any time soon. The point and barb were rather blunt and the finish was a bit dull, but otherwise looked pretty good considering where it had been. After that I started using the technique I posted earlier with good results. You can go in through the gill plates without damaging the gills if you pay attention to what you're doing. For more info, and a better written description, go to In-Fisherman's website and look through their backlogged magazine articles. You will find their research on this subject. It suggests that the gills are not as fragile as most believe. John, I've read several of your posts. Good stuff!! I'll keep reading Thanks and don't catch 'em all GK

I'm new to the site and have been reading a lot before posting. Seen this subject come up several places. Here's a method that works most of the time. 1. Lip the fish and stuff a wad of line in it's mouth. 2. Using small long-nose pliers or hemostats, reach in through the gill plate and drag the line down and out the gill plate. 3.If you have a partner along, have him (or her) pull down gently on the line. If you have no help, pull out enough line to step on and lift the fish gently. This will rotate the hook so it's positioned with the point facing down. 4. Reach back in through the mouth with your pliers and pull up and slightly to the side opposite the barb. The hook will slide right out almost all the time with much less damage to fish's guts. This ends up tearing up the baits just about every time, and nicks the line most of the time, but that's a small price to pay for saving the fish. I've used this method a lot. Particularly since I started using Senko's. I've had more fish swallow those things than all other baits combined. This is an awesome site. Lot's of good info, friendly sounding people, etc. good luck, I'll be back GK