Hyrule Bass

atleast you have the power to run a fan right now, i cant even do that at home. i was looking forward to coming to work and dreading going back home today. atleast i got a/c and internet here at work. i seriously doubt im going to have power when i get back home though...

Berkely Powerbait Red Shad Shakey Worm in 7inch and 5inch Rage Tail Baby Craw - Summer Craw color both texas rigged... oh, and if fishing a pond i can add the Rebel Crickhopper in green color

yeah, i got lucky saturday after work, was riding around to stores looking for ice and happened upon one with the ice truck there dropping off a fresh load of ice. sunday wasnt too hard, found it at the grocery store while getting some bottled water and a fresh bottle of propane for the grill. i didnt have a clean enough bucket i was willing to use and the cooler was filled with milk and insulin and stuff, i had to use a plastic rubbermade storage tub lol... nice to here everyone there is ok too. all day sunday i heard ambulances every 20 minutes. i can only assume it was older people, people with asthma, and heat related issues that caused that...

i always heard they lose a their mind a little bit at a time every month...

I live in WV now, just across the VA border, in the eastern panhandle. but i still drive to VA for work everyday. thank goodness the stop lights and such are working, its already bad enough for traffic in NOVA. still no power at home though...

Lost power at 10pm Friday night and still dont have power, posting this from work. What sucks is everyone and everything around us have power, just the street i live on. there are two downed lines. the trees were cleared early saturday, but the power company says it could be a week before they restore power. didnt even see a power truck in the immediate area until yesterday evening, so im hoping today they can get it done. it was horrible sweltering all weekend. it was hard to find ice to keep my budweiser cold lol. next thing on the list to buy is a generator, cant find one now though lol. but it couldve saved a freezer full of food. been cooking every meal on the grill, even "frozen" pizzas which turned out pretty good actually. Did eat out once. No damage to the house, though some of the neighbors shingles flew off the roof and scratched up the hood of my car. i spent most all day yesterday outside because it was not as hot there as in the house. saturday i had to work some overtime so i only spent half the day sweating like crazy. i was greatful it cooled down outside yesterday evening to where you could sit outside and not sweat just from blinking an eye or lifting a finger. the worst part for me was trying to sleep, i just cant sleep when its that d**n hot...im dragging at work today if power aint back on soon, well, im atleast leaving for smith mountain lake tomorrow night or wednesday morning...

^^^this. plus killing one bass isnt going to destroy the population...

wow, those are some really nice cats. i would love to fight them. way to go...

When i go up the hill i want my remaining budweiser with me lol walking down to get another one isnt so bad, but walking back up afterwards is killer lol. years of smoking dont help either i dont always finish what i buy that day, but i usually dont let myself run out, i usually wont even start without enough to get through the day lol. of course add a friend or two and what once was enough turns into another trip to the store lol...

it takes a certain threshold to get to that stretch point. setting the hook into a bass isnt going to do much to meet that threshold on larger line imo. just because the line is tight doesnt mean its stretched. i throw lines way out and leave them sit till i get a bite while catfishing. i do plenty of long hooksets with mono, never been a problem for me. if i can easily set the hook in a 40lb flathead with 8lb mono right after a long cast then line stretch isnt really that much of a factor on the hookset as you may think it is. if you have problems setting the hook on a 4lb bass with 20lb mono, i dont think line stretch is to blame, sounds more like operator error to me...

ive seen pros on TV miss fish with expensive equipment too. and i dont mean they got bit and missed the hookset. i mean there were under water cameras and the camera man is yelling set the hook while the angler doesnt even realize theyre getting bit like crazy. seen that on Zonas show and on Hook N Look

in the case of the line stretching on a hookset, i dont see it being much of a factor at all, maybe if youre setting the hook into a chevy truck or something. a hook set is a quick swift action. setting the hook into a bass with larger mono the line probably doesnt or just barely reaches the point to where it actually will stretch. setting the hook in a bass isnt going to stretch the line the same as pulling on one end while the other end is snagged. now, i will say that with smaller lines like 6 or 8lb stretch could be more of a factor, but the OP is talking about bigger line(20lb)...

i wouldnt dump them all in the same pond though if a few of the ponds are fine water wise split them up. and later on when the ponds recover you can catch some from the other ponds and put back in the affected ponds

yeah it sucks they built the docks there. some people in the cove wanted to sue but it was too late and not much couldve been done anyways. i remember during the contruction of the docks, me and my bro-in-law and another friend paddled an old boat out there and fished off of it for cats one night. drank a case of beer in 2-3 hours lol and paddled back in later that night. the boat was a piece of crap and we had to bail the water out with a bucket before we even paddled it out with one wooden paddle LOL. fun times. my uncles house now is much nicer, but the view isnt as nice, boat traffic is heavy in the cove and its not a no wake zone. oh and the hill down to the lake is pretty steep, killer coming back up with poles, tackle bag, bucket, cooler with ice and beer, radio, net lol...

i dont know about where to launch from really, there are quite a few places around the lake though. my uncles boat stays in the dock on the lift since he put it in the lake, never puts it back on the trailer that is. the only thing i ever launched was a wave runner. that was at a ramp off smith mtn parkway up past the state park. theres a driveway with a little Pub in a trailer with a piano on the front porch there and the ramp is down there. of course it may have changed since they opened up a big boat dock there. i used to fish in that cove, my uncles house was there, it was real peaceful and quite, right off the main lake too, nice view of the mountains and water. then they tore down this old wooden boat slips and built this great big one out into the lake blocking the entire view, so they sold that house and bought a new one on the lake. its the cove where all the sail boats are near the lighthouse on the main lake. used to be schools of like 3-5 big bass together at a time cruising around regularly in there too back then...

ive never had a single problem with big game and i have spools in several sizes. I've never had a fish break my line since ive been using big game. casts well enough too. and i dont change my line out until the spool is near empty. ive had big game on some reels over 3 years and its just as fine as it was when i spooled it up. also i dont care about stretchiness in bigger sizes mono. it takes a lot of stretching to break 20lb mono. i know, i get snagged on the bottom when night fishing for catfish with 15, 20, and 25lb big game...

sensitive schminsitive, i dont buy into that. the difference is so minimal its not worth an extra $100. i have no problems detecting bites with a cheap rod

oh man, i wouldve been terrified to no end. i really really really hate snakes of any kind. i wouldnt have reeled the fish in either. all i could picture is bringing in this flapping fish and the snake going for it and biting me instead...

mornings and evenings is ideal to me. the boat traffic doesnt stop people from fishing or catching fish, just makes it a little more difficult at times to keep your boat in position. to beat the heat, mornings and evenings/nights are better too obviously. of course there are days in the middle of july where boat traffic doesnt mean much to the fish, last year the day before i arrived(go figure) an old man/friend told us that stripers broke all day long for hours over by the dam, the next day they were gone and probably full lol... oh, and weekdays are definately lighter on traffic too with all the weekenders gone...

i fish senkos just fine with a 7'0M Ugly Stik...no need for an overly expensive rod in my opinion...

nice pictures, hopefully ill be looking at a very similar view next week. im supposed to head down there next week for 4-5 days at SML if everything goes as planned. hopefully the fish are more cooperative this time around. last time was like one huge misadventure, though i still had fun...

i just assumed they were an unwanted species in florida due to the snakehead roundups of read about on here. to each his own though....

regardless, sounds like you need to take out all the equations and just fish. dont worry about weather, water temps, clarity, colors, structures, situations. forget about all the variables and stuff. just texas rig a worm, toss it out and fish, keep it simple and dont overthink. its ok to be serious about your fishing, but its also good to remember to have fun and enjoy yourself.

you should kill them all regardless. if you dont eat them some wildlife will. throw them on the bank, for birds, gators, skunk apes, raccoons, snakes, etc...

sounds like yall had fun. a good portion of the river you went through is catch and release only for smallies i believe, supposedly because its a trophy smallmouth area...