Zach Dunham

http://www.bassmaster.com/video/jones-side-story Jones interview.

THIS x10 At the very least he should have talked to Alton about it first and solved things between them.

I think Rojas is coming off kind of childish in this then. I also read something else that said Jones tried to talk to Rojas after day 2 and settle things and Rojas wanted nothing of it. Running away from facing your problems and then going on TV is quite unmanly.

From what I have pieced together on other forums and from other reports: Alton was in the same creek on Day 1 later in the day. If he knew about and used that spot before he knew the leader of the tournament was in there, I see no problem with him using that spot on the final day. It isn't really stealing the leader's spot if you knew about it and fished it beforehand.

Guess what? You aren't one of his sponsors. His sponsors care about making money and if they think this will hurt them then they will say something. Pretending like there are no problems between anglers, and people in general, is just as fake as creating make-believe problems in a reality show. Like it or not, this is reality. People get in arguments over things. For all you know, he did go talk to Alton first and things didn't go well. As I said above, no one was swearing all over, dissing families, calling names that weren't appropriate, or any of the sort. He simply stated the fact that he thought Jones stole his spot like a snake on the final day and expressed that he was extremely unhappy about it. I would love to live in everyone's fake world where everyone sings Kumbaya together.

Everyone is taking this wayyyyyy too seriously. He called him a "snake". He never called the man garbage. He may have used the term "garbage" to say something like "that's garbage" in relation to what was done. He didn't go on a curse-laden rant. Should he have said something man to man about it? Yes. And maybe he did do that before he got on camera. We don't know. Bottom line is: this is not a big deal. No one was insulting people's families, swearing, cursing, or even saying anything negative other than what was done on the water. Humans have disagreements in real life and people sometimes do things they shouldn't. Just because they are pro-fisherman doesn't mean they aren't human and it doesn't mean this isn't interesting.

I don't mind this kind of talk / beef / rivalry at all. I don't like fake beef that is created for reality TV shows and whatnot, but if this is a real problem between the two and they aren't kidding, well then use it to grow interest.

This is the league we fish all the opens with: http://www.lackawannabass.com/ I'm sure other clubs have tournaments there too, but these guys have the most.

Definitely listen to what everyone here is saying. IMO, when you start getting into lure-specific rods and lure-specific lines to go with them, you are talking about tournament fishing. A lure-specific rod and line is not going to make you catch twice as many fish (usually). If you get into competitive fishing, where every bite and every minute count, that is when lure-specific rods/line come into play. They might help you land that extra two fish during a tournament that will make the difference, or give you an extra few minutes of time fishing because you landed one quicker.

Mark Zona is the man. I met him last summer while I was a marshal for the Elite Series tournament at Lake Oneida. Friendliest guy. I also met Ike while there and he was also genuine and friendly. Zona's show is my favorite one to watch right now. Traveler, I believe you are referring to City Limits Fishing, which Ike was the host of. I never saw anything on any of those shows that was over the top.

Hopefully I will see ya out there at some point. I'm sure we will be there at least once in April and at least once in May.

If you go there a lot you have probably seen my friend and I out there. He has a white Triton Tr-186. We usually go spring and fall there. Summer is usually taken up with Wallenpaupack tournaments. Minsi is an amazing little lake though, my friend caught one that was 7 lb 1 oz out of there two summers ago, and we found out later at a tournament that his scale was light by a little so it might have been 7 and a half or so.

Is that Minsi Lake there Sun Fish? My friend and I were going to get out there soon since that is usually the first lake unfrozen.

What an amazing three days. Day 1 I was with Terry Butcher. He was cool but didn't talk that much. Day 2 I had Bill Lowen, much more fun to be out with. Day 3 I had Fletcher Shryock. He was awesome to hang out with being only 1 year older than me, it was like hanging out with a friend. It helped that he had a great day 3 and made the final 12 cut also. This was such a great experience and I learned so much in a short period. I will be doing this at the Elite Series event at Thousand Islands next season for sure. Worth the 100 bucks and more to do this.

Beltzville State Park is only 30-40 minutes or so from where you are. Not a bad place to fish. It can get bad in the middle of a bright sunny day when there are boats flying all over the place, but then again so can any place. It is heavily pressured and it is tough to master but there are big ones in there.

There is one small creek that flows into Minsi but it does not usually hold fish. Minsi is definitely HIGHLY pressured, but most of the time by trout fisherman. Most of the best spots are by the shore that people cannot walk to, or out in the middle flats. That lake has a lot of big bass. My friend (that has the bass boat I always go out on) caught a 7 lb 1 oz largemouth there last summer. If you have ever seen a white Triton Tr-186 out there it was probably us. Probably won't be going there again til end of summer though, we mostly go to Wallenpaupack for tournaments now. There are a few tricks to Minsi other than the spinnerbait, although that does work great in the early morning and late evening there. In the late fall and early spring when the water is under 50 degrees we have caught some fishing shakeyheads really slowly around the edge of the weeds where it starts to get deep. Most of Minsi isn't more than 6-7 feet deep and weedy, but there is kind of a bowl around the dam wall that goes down to 10+, right around 10ft outside the weeds is where I am referring too. When the water is 50-60 degrees you can catch a TON on rattling lipless crankbaits (we use the red-eye shad in the chartreuse baitfish color). There is no one way to fish this, each cast is totally different. We go to the shallower half of the lake where the weeds are (and where the lillipads will be in the summer), and just reel it slowly and when it catches on to some weeds just rip it and let it fall. This won't work to well in summer when the weeds are too thick. We caught 3 fish over 4 lbs doing this in about 5 hours one evening, along with a load of other lighter ones. During spawn you can catch them on any of the sandy flats using pretty much whatever bottom bait you want, we use senkos. My only advice for the summer is, fish early or late, because when it gets really hot in that small, shallow lake and there are people everywhere, it can be tougher than you can imagine. It can become a junk fishing type lake in the summer, pitch some in the lillipads, spinnerbait over or around the weeds, drop some shakeyheads in holes in weeds, throw some frogs around the cover. As for fishing after the rain, in the mid summer when the water in that lake gets to 85 degrees and up, rain can be the best thing. Not saying it magically turns them on every time, but it usually helps a lot.

I have had a lot of good days at Lake Wallenpaupack in the rain or shortly thereafter, and at Beltzville or Minsi as well. As someone above mentioned, in mid to late summer after a rain that is enough to raise the inflowing creeks a little, the mouths of those creeks are loaded with bass.

I live right near you in the Stroudsburg area. What lakes are you referring to? Sounds like one of them may be Minsi Lake.

That has to be one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. Was the lake private at one time? I mean, if it was always public, what person thought selling every inch of land around it to private owners would be a good idea?

I think it has more to do with water color than anything. Any time I have fished lakes with really dark water, the bass are always a lot darker than normal. Clear water lakes that I have fished tend to have a lot lighter than normal bass. I'm sure some of it has to do with genetics as well(how the designs on the smallmouth are or the stripe on the largemouth).

Anyone been out on Lake Wallenpaupack at all this year? It has been quite weird up there with the weather being so whacked out for the last two months. Water is nice and high right now and I have already seen huge schools of fry in the shallow, bushy areas. I can't believe the spawn happened that fast with the water temperature not getting above 65 degrees until 2 weeks ago. Also, has anyone had any luck using crankbaits for smallmouth or deeper largemouth here? I feel like there area so many good spots for it to work and I cannot make it work. I've had a little luck with Live Target crawdad colored cranks of all depths, but never a solid pattern.

Awful, AWFUL creatures. Nothing is worse than fishing a bass tournament and getting a solid bite and pulling it up only to find its a pickerel, it has damaged your crankbait, and you have to bring it on board to get it unhooked.

I am marshalling at Oneida in August. I cannot wait. I already know that I am a 3-day marshal as well. Really hoping that I draw one of the top 20 guys at least one of those days. Also hoping that I can get lucky enough to be with people that are doing totally different things. On Oneida I feel that is entirely possible.

http://www.basspro.com/UV-Buff-Headwear/product/97319/376129 largemouth bass one is on that page

The 2013 Classic probably will not be bed fishing. It is still pretty cold in Oklahoma in February.