preach4bass

Labron James just scored 48 points to lead the Cavs to a double overtime victory and to take the lead in the series 3-2. He hit a bunch of key shots, including a clutch three in the second overtime. He's good.

I went to the lake this morning and while I was unloading my boat you'll never guess who showed up at the ramp. KVD!!! While I was teaching him how to properly launch his Nitro, Rick Clunn pulled up. After telling Clunn the how getting in touch with my inner fish helped me become a better fisherman, they both challenged me to a mini-tournament. I explained to them that I normally don't mess with the small boys, but if the pot was big enough I was game. They came up with $50,000 a piece. I called my two main sponsors, Bass Pro Shops AND Cabela's, then my two secondary sponsors, Triton AND Ranger, and they all agreed to pitch in to pay my entry fees. When we came to weigh in KVD and Rick Clunn didn't even bother to weigh their puny bags of bass. I caught a 5 bass limit weighing 82-3. My biggest bass was 22-6 (Smallmouth of course), my PB for North Carolina. You can understand from reading my post how mad I was by this point. So, instead of accepting the $100,000 prize from those two chumps, I just loaded my boat and went home. > *I might have lied a little ;D ;D ;D

That's not necessarily true. I agree that for the most part tournament fishermen get the exposure, but GREAT trophy fishermen get their fair share of exposure as well. Fish Chris is an excellent example. After reading his posts on here and checking his web site out, I PM'd him and ask him a few questions about lures to use while targeting trophy bass. The lures he suggested are the lures I bought. Not only that, but after I had success with the lures he suggested, the guys I fish with bought some too. I know Fish Chris is sponsored by some companies, and I would assume some of the same companies he suggested I buy baits from. So, to answer the original question, yes, trophy fishermen can get sponsored, and they can do an effective job of promoting a company's product.

Look at the top of the "Everything else" section for a definition

There are two approaches you can take to this: 1. We can all tell you our go-to baits, and encourage you to go and buy them. However, you'll end up being told to buy spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, jerkbaits, lizzards, crankbaits, worms, senkos, jigs, swimbaits, Pop-Rs, and a host of other lures. 2. You can go to BPS and just start pulling stuff off the shelf that looks good. The end result will be the same

If he hired a guide, I'm guessing it would be a couple hundred bucks. Hiring a guide one time, might put him on some bass for a while, but would it help in learning some consistent patterns for all conditions (time of year, weather, water clarity)? I've never fished with a guide before, but if he liked the idea, would it be cheaper for two of us to go out together, or does that make a difference?

You seem like a very accomplished young angler. If I owned a local tackle shop, near you, I'd want to have my company's name on your accomplishments. Just make sure you get someone (your High School English teacher) to edit your resume. There are some corrections to be made, but I like the format and the content.

A friend of mine in KY and I were discussing this today. He has just moved to a new area and is going to focus on learning one lake (Laurel River Lake). He'll get to fish about one day a week. How should he go about learning how to fish it? What would you do if you were in his situation? :-/ BTW, I'm going to visit him in a few weeks and we're going to spend a couple of days on the lake, so I'm hoping he figures them out fast so he can put me on some bluegrass bass

As much as you win it wouldn't surprise me if you won one of the next 5

Yep, that's about right. However, I did notice how he didn't ask us to list the last 5 Classic winners ;D

You're off to a great start

I'm going to London, KY. We're supposed to fish either Cumberland or Laurel. Where do you fish?

Did the hook go into his arm, or was that a welp on his arm from the hook hitting him? :-? I'm headed to KY next month to fish with a buddy, but if I see you on the lake, I'm coming back to NC ;D

Hale, you're right. When I re-read my post it didn't come across the way I intended it to. Buckeye, sorry about that. I deleted my post. And once again, welcome.

Thanks

There's a guy who fishes a lot of local tournaments that I know has offered to buy a few bass before. Thankfully, the guys he's tried to buy them from have been as ethical as you. Thanks for not selling the bass.

Yea, 5 pounds sounds about right to me

How far off the coast of NC (or any coastal state) does U.S. territory extend?

Thats funny...I just got the same one today too. This catalog is much different than the 5 they sent me this month. You only got 5 other catalogs this month? You must be a bad customer. ;D

I got a Father's Day sale catalog from BPS today and on the cover is a guy holding a bass over the side of his boat. Underneath that is a picture of a grill that's on sale. It looks like the man is putting the bass on the grill. BPS is trying to subliminally get us to do away with "catch and release" and kill all the bass. It's a conspiracy ;D

In the divisions/circuits that you can't make the championship in, you can either quit or simply fish the tournaments to win (not just to get points).

Start throwing swimbaits and you're liable to turn into one of those annoying guys who comes to the weigh-in with only 2 or 3 fish (but good ones) and beats all the guys with fivebasslimits! ;D

I bought three of Matt's baby bass swimbaits in LM. They came in last Friday, and I fished with them (and swimbaits in general) for the first time last Saturday. I caught a bass over 5 lbs.. The guy who owns the pond I was fishing came up and I gave him one. He caught a 6-10, and later in the week a 6-14 off of the baits. We went fishing Thursday evening and I caught a 8-1 (the 2nd biggest bass I've ever caught). Then, this morning, I went for about 15 minutes and caught a 7-1. I also lost another big one who threw it back at me on the jump (I had my rod in the air like a dummy). Over 5 (didn't weigh) 6-10 6-14 7-1 8-1 All that in a week of fishing these baits. Needless to say, I've got another order in. I ordered three more baby bass in LM, and my buddy ordered some in SM and some of his bluegill swimbaits. I've been swimbaiting for a week now and I'm hooked! If you haven't broken down and ordered some yet, let me give you the link: mattlures.com

"2. Michael Vick linked to dog fighting supposedly on property he owns. If this is true, he is SCUM" Even if this aligation isn't true, Ron Mexico, I mean Michael Vick is still SCUM > I grew up close to Blacksburg, and pulled for VA Tech, but since he got to the NFL he's just been an embarrasment off the field. Of course, his on the field play hasn't been all that great either.

I just went through this with a catfish (false alarm though, wrong species). In NC we have to have the fish weighed on a certified scale with a witness that we aren't related to. There must be a side-view picture of the fish. And, it must be positively identified by a state biologist (either by photo or in person, but person is better). There is also an application that must be filled out. My advice is to find out who your district biologist is, call him and ask him the steps you must take in your state, and keep his number on your cell phone for when you catch it. As for benefits, you get the satisfaction of catching the state record bass!!! I'd PM Fish Chris and ask him too. He's got a lot of knowledge about this kind of stuff