StinkyBass

sometimes experimenting leads to finding the key to your fishing spot! Nice catch, way to keep your mind thinking and thinking outside the box!

I always take a high protein snack with low carbs. Nuts, beef jerkey even bacon! protein sticks with you and generally wont give you a crash like a high carb snack could. time spent snacking is time not fishing (unless youre running to your next spot that is!).

I agree with a lot of the previous posts. He's fishing for a paycheck, yes, but he's good at what he does and it works for him (In the amount of total net worth in the millions!). though I'm far from being a pro, I've fished long enough to feel whether I can horse a fish in or not. if I start losing fish after hook up, its usually something else that I'm doing wrong (i.e. bad knot, poor hook set etc.). so if you're hooking bass and getting them in the boat consistently, DONT CHANGE A THING! your doing good.

I used to run up to Richmond and fish Salisbury Golf Course on Mondays with "Sam" and "woodycrankbait". There are some hawgs in the last pond with the mini bridge! You should check them out if you get a chance. I think Salisbury still let's people fish their ponds on Mondays.

Nice bass! Salsbury?

Definitely been swimming a few times to retrieve a rod and a few high dollar lures! I've been known to show up late to work after bagging a few. I try not to do that one often though.

i used to pound the shores before i bought a kayak. let me say, i love kayak bass fishing, relatively cheap, easy and deadly quiet. but to answer your question, i usually try to find a dock or a point where i can fish from. 2 main reasons. 1 its a dock, most of the time you have access to deep water and shallow water, thus you have more water to fish from one location. i caught my PB off a dock! 2, points usually offer structure like drop offs or even some current depending on the body of water you are fishing. depending on where you live will determine what baits to use. if im unsure of what to throw, i always texas rig a purple worm to see if there are bass, then i explore my other bait options. start off with your go to bait. dont let fishing from the shore discourage you, ive learned alot from the shore, so can you!

I recently started fishing bass tournaments with a buddy of mine. We're pretty good friends so he's easy to fish with and we understand each other well. i am the non-boater and am looking for tips on how to be effective from the back of the boat. things i do do include, assist with any fish my boater catches, watch the depth finder on the console, keep quiet unless i have valuable input and keep my tackle to a minimum as to not clutter up his boat. Im looking to be an asset rather than a glorified bystander. Thanks for the help...

My first tournament really put me and my buddy to the test. His boat motor was too big for the lake we were fishing so we had to borrow a friends ragged 9.9 hp 14 foot jon boat. and when i say ragged, i mean ragged. Blast off (not really blast off in a 9.9 LOL) was at 7am, we were in the first set to leave. we got the trolling motor going to get us into deeper water but my buddy couldnt get the 9.9 to fire up. everybody was given the signal to go and our motor still hadnt started! 20 minutes later with the trolling motor on 10, and after the last set of boats passed us, i noticed a small can of engine starter... 5 mintutes later we got it to fire up. needless to say rough start. the day was rough all the way around. it was late march and the day after a massive cold front. it was 38 degrees with a constant 10 mph NW wind with gusts up to 20 mph. I kid you not, it started snowing! i caught a fish around 9:30am only to be disappointed by a 2.5lb pickerel. with 40 minutes left in the tourney, by buddy hooks into a scruffy looking 2.4lb bass. with our tails between our legs we motored back to the dock. come to find out, our 2.4 pounder won the tourney AND big bass as it was the ONLY bass caught that day! i learned to stick with it and sometimes you just need to shut up and fish!

One summer night my wife was fishing for grass carp while i was fishing for bass in a ditch behind some houses. the ditch was 1 foot shallow dropping off to probably 6 feet. she hooked a carp and fought it to the shore. she grabbed the line to lift it over the tall grass and the line snapped just above the bobber. she was so disappointed to see the bobber swim off to the middle of the ditch. it swam right past my tx rigged worm and actually bumped into my line. i quickly reeled in my worm, removed it and cast the bare hook and bullet weight towards the bobber. 2 casts later i was able to foul hook this carp in the middle of the ditch and bring it in! needless to say the only skill involved was casting in the swimming bobbers direction, the foul hook was just luck, but to this day my wife and i laugh at the memory.

I need some help if youre willing to give it. I am getting ready to fish the James River for largemouth (near Henrico County). we are putting out at Deep Bottom. I've never fished the river for large mouth. I've lit up some small mouth last year thanks to 2 good friends. I live in Va Beach, VA so I don't have a clue where to start. Any ideas for lures, presentation? i'll be heading up there 3/21/15. I appreciate any help!

I've been fishing my home lake and watching the water temp like a hawk. this week we had 5 days of 80-90 degree weather. needless to say, THEY'RE HERE! Finally i'm seeing bass! but they are just cruising. they are moving in a slow relaxed manner parallel to the shore line in 2-4 ft of water. not chasing anything, not reacting to my tx rigged craw noisily clicking against the bullet weigh (they cant stand that in this lake!). So Im new to fishing before the spawn and am not familiar with how to entice a cruiser. i know from stories, articles and experience they are difficult to catch but dang! no visible beds yet. still waiting to get that tell tale "tap, tap" Any suggestions? Thanks!

I've had this theory for a long time: If there is a pipe leading to or away from a urban pond, there's largemouth in there (at least in SE Virginia). So far i havent been wrong! a tx rigged ribbon tail always seems to do the trick when i have 30 minutes between places i have to be. I agree with the posts above, Nature has a way whether its through predator animals or highwater. Love it....bass everywhere i look!

ok...i know its not an expensive reel, but its been my go to spin cast reel for a few years now and i really like it. HELP ME FIX IT or just tell me i really CANT fix it and its a lost cause! its a Shimano Sienna 2500 RD. i was changing line when the spool just fell off and pieces scattered on the kitchen floor. i gathered what i could find but i feel like im missing a spring? something isnt right. the button doesnt hold the spool on the reel anymore. its the only rear drive reel i have so i dont have anything to compare it to. see the picture and help me out if you can. THANKS for your help..

Glad to have another VA fisherman on board...Welcome!

sounds like heaven! fish deeper...sounds like an easy answer but most of my big bass have come from the 6-10ft range...

the bass in my lake like "netbait, baby pacacraws". they absolutely kill the orange and brown color as well as the black and chartreuse. i like that they are hollow body and bathed in pig fat and salt! i love the action that the claws produce. when tx rigged, and popping off the bottom, the bait rests claws up (like a defense position). i've also burned these things on the top as a make shift buzz bait. the claws make good top water disturbance and work well in a pinch (no punn intended). Match the hatch in your lake, but i feel you cant go wrong with these...

'bout time you joined! welcome!

Good to have another Virginian on board!

What about fishing from the shore in a pond or lake with no current? Not everyone live on the James "Sam-I-am". i have recently figured that this drop shot thing is something i need to master... maybe next time im up there you can show me how its done... p.s. say hi to the grand dog for me

I dont know if he'll like fishing yet or not, but he'll be missing me on Saturdays if he doesnt! LOL, there's no doubt he'll be exposed to it! he's 3 weeks old in this picture, no one said that i couldnt bring his baby swing out by the lake! (and yes, he wasnt too close to the shore and was far enough away that i wasnt gonna snag him while casting...no need to call CPS )

okay, its the dead of winter and fishing has been expectantly cold and sllllooooooow! So when i'm not freezing my butt off Saturday mornings, i find myself inside watching all these fishing shows... (Say "No" to all the new bait monkey temptations!) Occasionally a saltwater show comes on and the guys reel in this huge tarpon or some type of bill fish and they just cut it off at the boat! other saltwater guys will pull 'em over the side (teeth or not) and celebrate. So the question is: "How do saltwater guys call it a "Catch and Release" if they dont pull it out of the water?!" (seems like a cop out to me) In my little freshwater world, "its not a catch if you dont get it out of the water and in your hands." plus to me, its a mental thing, if i cant lip it, then i didnt catch it... maybe some saltwater guys can help me out here? thanks for entertaining this seemingly simple question...

I have a lake behind my house and there are some monster grass carp back there! through ALOT of trial and error i have found that "chumming with oat meal" (or corn) attracts them with in 30-40 minutes if they are not in the area. if they are in the area, get ready with a small hook, and pre-prepared bread balls. they have small mouths so you dont want to use a 5/0, try a pan fish hook or a 1/0. next, put your bread ball on, but only enough to just cover the tip of the hook. i find that white wonder bread and a little spit make a good consistency that wont fall apart or get eaten up too quickly by the sunfish. i usually let the leader be 3-4 ft from your bobber so your bait lays on the bottom (b/c they are bottom feeders, as the previous posts have probably mentioned.) HAVE FUN! this is a great way to catch a large fight worthy fish!!!

i took the wife out fishing one night. i left all my lures at home and we went worm drowning. she lands this 3-4 pound bass on a night crawler and bobber. she gets it to the bank and the bass breaks off at the bobber! the bass shoots off to the middle of the lake but never takes the bobber below the water line. with the wife upset over losing her big bass, i quick rig a bullet weight and # 5 worm hook and cast past the bobber. i bring the t-tig back and i foul hook the bass, reel her in to the bank and she flips off! i repeated this 2 more times and each time i foul hook the bass. she flips off the hook again! i feel bad about poking holes in the side of a beautiful bass so we let her go, never got the original hook out or the bobber. for 2 weeks we could see that bobber floating around attached to the bass...good memory for us, not so much for the bass...

You'll like BR, welcome!