Hyrule Bass

i wash my hands a bunch. every time i use the rest room, i wash my hands. before i eat, i wash my hands. after fishing i wash my hands. after touching some sort of trash can lid or whatever, i wash my hands. after touching animals(even my own animals) i wash my hands. after shaking someones hand, i wash my hands as soon as possible(dont want to offend someone by running to wash them right afterwards). sometimes i wash them just to wash them.

yeah, ive caught bass on it as well as panfish. never got a catfish on artificial yet though. it does take small line to get it out there though. when i first got it, i started throwing it on 8lb trilene xt as it was the smallest i had at the time. ive since changed that line with 6lb sufix siege, havent thrown the tad fry yet this year, but i probably will this weekend when i go to smith mtn lake. the thing is though, most people would probably look at the lure and laugh thinking what am i gonna do with that, fish seem to love it though. the trion is what i throw my rebel tad fry and other small lures with. i have it on a 5'6 light rod, its a great little combo and ive handled bass up to 4.5lbs with it, and 3lb channel cats. one of my favorite little reels right there... i believe i got mine at wal-mart if you want to check there. do you go to the BPS in Hanover at Anne Arundel Mills? i met Roland Martin there once signing autographs. me and my uncle go there 3-4 times a year. We ate lunch at the DuClaw Brewery there, food wasnt that great, but the beer was pretty good...

ive literally fell asleep while fishing before, but not bass fishing, just soaking bait for whatever wanted to eat. it was last year and i was night fishing off my uncles dock at Smith Mtn Lake. i guess between being tired from the half a days work before making the 5 hour drive down there and the beer i was drinking(not while driving down there), it all got the better of me. its why i always position my chair center of the dock, id hate to fall asleep and fall over in the water and bust my head on one of the many rocks in this area. atleast i had two catfish on when i woke up, my other two lines were knocked loose and stripped of bait lol...

this is what i was going to suggest, the current moving through there generates a lot of oxygen and may lower the water temp a few degrees in that spot. plus current at a dam will attract bait fish which in turn will attract bass. one thing ive noticed at Smith Mountain Lake in VA where i fish mostly is when they are pumping water back into the lake from the dam, it starts the fish to feeding. or it could be the OP just hit the right spot at the right time. the next 5 trips there could all be skunks...

i think the release comes much later in this situation ------------------- congrats on the new baby, reading this and then seeing the picture brought a genuine smile to my face

ok heres how i would explain this. I too am right handed. i am much more comfortable holding the rod in my right hand as you say you are. i am also much more comfortable reeling with my left hand. so when i decided to get a couple baitcasters, i got left handed models. with the left hand model i can hold the rod in my right hand and reel with my left hand which makes me most comfortable. Simply put, if youre more comfortable holding the rod in your right hand, get a left handed model baitcaster... also, as mentioned above, you should just slow down for a minute. we all realize its exciting, ive fished most of my whole life with some breaks in between, and i still shake after catching a nice fish. if it didnt excite us we wouldnt be here learning and discussing fishing. youre going to get a lot of repetitive answers saying you need to read and read some more. its not because people are too lazy to answer your questions, its because it will truthfully help you to learn more. read the articles here(watch the videos too) and read the old threads, go back into the archives. youll find the answers to your questions and much more. this is the best bass fishing site on the web, no doubts about it. the members here are first rate and theres a lot of experience going around. focus on a couple techniques and get good at them, then add another and another as you go along and get good at them. dont over think when youre fishing. it seems youre doing ok with that xrap, learn it and other similar jerk baits. then maybe add in spinnerbaits. you should definitely learn to fish plastic worms/lizards and stuff on a texas rig. oh, and be prepared to spend lots of money on lures and stuff

are you planning on catching the bass by lure? until you have a collection of them to transport? are you removing them from a private pond you own to a private pond you own? are you crossing state lines? i mean it could be done but doesnt seem worth it. why not just stock the new pond? whats wrong with the fish currently in there? it just seems you could really stress the fish between moving them and putting them in a different environment. they may survive the trip there, but some may not survive after being introduced to a different environment. everyone is right when they say you need to check your states laws regarding the transplanting of fish. its possible you could ruin two bodies of water(or more if creeks flow through the ponds) trying to improve one....

nice, you should try the rebel tad fry as well. when the bass arent participating i have no problems going after bluegills, the tad fry is an awesome bait for them...

im a fan of the crickhopper, bluegill will eat it off top or hit it on the retrieve, plus bass love it too. but theres also another lure that Rebel makes that i like for bluegills even better. Its the Rebel Tad Fry. i kill the bluegills on one. but honestly, live crickets are probably the best bluegill bait ever, even better than night crawlers which is what i use most frequently...

find a new spot to catfish

sounds like a pond i fished yesterday. shallow, clear water, and a lot of algae. makes it tough to fish with anything other than weightless plastics and frogs. i pulled out between 15-20 bass in an hour and a half. i was using weightless rage tail space monkeys and rage tail lizards...

better than a groin pull....

there is evidence that suggests otherwise, but i wont hijack the thread...or perhaps you just havent had enough sweet tarts at once to see a bigfoot

another scenario could just happen to be that the bass are too small to eat those particular bluegills

ive never heard of bluegill chasing bass, sounds funny lol. what i wouldve done, is catch the smallest bluegill i could around 4-5 inches and thrown it out on a hook. the minute it bumped your line tight a few times and jerked, bass wouldve been all over it most likely...a lot of times i see them grab the bluegill its usually by the belly and then they try and swim off with it. ive caught lots that way. i was at SML one day fishing off the dock with my lite set up and a rebel tad fry, which is a small tadpole floater-diver with rattles and one tiny treble hook. i was having a blast catching bream off the dock with it. they were hitting violently that day. i hooked one while i had just the rod in one hand and the other hand was lighting a cigarette. so it was there jerking around and a huge bass comes out from under the dock and starts swimming off with it real slowly. i opened my bail and started thinking how i could get this bass while watching it swim towards deeper water. i ended up just closing the bail and the bass spit the bluegill when it felt the pressure off my line pulling back. it wouldve been hard to hook that bass with such a tiny lure that was already stuck in the bluegill pretty good. who knows what wouldve happened if i let it swim out of site taking my line the whole time. it wouldve been a personal best for sure had i hooked and landed it. but i was happy just thinking how cool it was to see this big bass swimming away so slowly with a bluegill it grabbed by the belly in its mouth

how come people can take this and a ufo thread seriously but not a sasquatch/bigfoot thread?

its going to happen at times, just learn the "through the gills" hook removal method for gut hooked fish...

id drag a big treble hook or something across every inch of that pond trying to get that combo back. and call me childish but LOL at you. sorry to hear about your loss, but if you can afford to have an iphone and a $200 baitcast combo then you can afford to have a bank fishing rod holder too

basic answer to your question, YES. you can use weights and lines and even baits smaller than you typically use. it doesnt have to be a heavier tackle technique though most people associate it as so its like many people think a drop shot has to be finesse with light tackle, i often use heavy tackle and have good success doing so...

i think id take having sams racoons around instead of that porcupine

thats what i have, is the stainless steel model, but the 5 burner model. have to light it with a lighter right now, as it doesnt self light anymore, but you can order the parts and replace them, which im going to do soon. its been an excellent grill overall and i would recommend them to anyone. after years of dealing with cheap grills like charbroils and what not, with their poor heat control, the ducane has been a god send... you know, after initially posting in this thread i went and looked up parts for my ducane and seen a picture of a weber/ducane grill and it made me wonder. didnt know weber bought them out though. if they did, they still make grills under both names though...

nice to hear youre having a blast. what colors have been best for you so far?

good luck there. its loaded with nice bass, think i even read something where its one of the top bass spots in VA a few years ago. but its a tough place to fish from my understanding. i havent been there but a couple times in recent years because im shore bound and you really need a watercraft of some sort to fish it effectively. it used to be very friendly for shore fishermen back in the 80s, but its all grown up now. when i was a kid we used to wade out in the water a ways by the church access spot and fish. other spots you could just drive right up to, park, hop out and cast right there. it would be awesome to me to see it like that again, fairfax and loudoun should team up to improve the place. atleast clear some of the trails better and perhaps make a nice public fishing area in a spot or two. i know many will disagree with that though. if i ever get me a small john boat or something, its one of the first places im hitting up. atleast there is some access although limited, i dont even think you can get in to fish goose creek reservoir anymore... ive heard there is good fishing up where beaverdam creek enters the reservoir and people usually catch some by the dam too...

i didnt get the impression you were trying to make him feel bad myself. but honestly, i see a lot of people constantly snapping and breaking the higher priced rods. its part of why i stay away from them, i hate having to deal with returns and shipping and stuff like that. CP, in the future, always save your receipts for stuff youve paid good money for. even if you just cram them all in a folder and stuff them away in a drawer some where. after a year or so you can clear out the older ones and throw them away...

i got the pflueger supreme mgx, but i cant really give an honest review of it. i mean it feels great and is real lightweight and smooth. i bought it earlier this year and just havent had much time to fish at all between being busy at work and swamped with stuff around the house. cant wait to get some reel significant time to use it, which should be in a couple weeks over 4th of july weekend.