Sam

Fantastic! Welcome to the Forum. Happy New Year!

About time you came back. Welcome and keep those posts coming. Happy New Year!

Sent to me by a Facebook friend. Enjoy.

Great post, Catt. Now, about cover..................................

9 Here is a fun one that says it all! Now that gets a 10! Here is one of songs I want to be played at my funeral.

Championships are won on the defensive side of the line and I think Bamasux has the superior defensive unit. Will be a fun game to watch.

I just finished listening to a book on tape, Outliers, The story of Success, by Malcom Gladwell and I found it extremely interesting. The book studies successful people in different lines of work and sports and comes to some interesting conclusions as why these people are so much better in their chosen fields than the rest of us. An "outlier" is an individual outside of the norm. Usually a person who excels in a business, sport or other activity. The first, and most important finding, is that the more time you put into your career or sports the better you will be. Us bass fishermen know this and we do as much prefishing or studying of our favorite bodies of water as possible, but we really don't put in enough time. Not even all the pros put in enough time on the water or studying maps to make it to the top according to the book's premise. So what separates the top bass fishermen from us and why do they catch beautiful bass all year in all types of weather conditions all over the country when 99% of us struggle under the same elements? Well, if it is not the hard work and time you put into your career, school, sport or bass fishing, what could it be? Seems it is based on birthdates and birth years plus a lot of hours within the activity. A study of the top soccer players showed that those born between January 1st and January 14th, are the top soccer players in leagues and professional teams. Same is true for ice hockey and their top players' birth months. And the year of your birth has an impact on your top ranking as shown by the Microsoft guys who are all born within three months of each other in the same year. Also, the "KIP" school program in NYC, which has been a tremendous success especially for those kids who did not cherish education, was studied. No way other cities would even think of using the "KIP" program as the parents would probably revolt against the school boards. But if we used the "KIP" system we all would be just as good in math as our Asian counterparts and do much better in school. Check out their web page: http://www.kipp.org/ So what does this tell us about bass fishing? I have no earthly idea other than I am going to try to find the birthdates and years of the bass pros and see if I can find any correlation between months and years of birth relating to their fishing success. I don't know when I will complete my study or if I will ask the BASS Magazine people for assistance with an article on the subject. But I will try even though January 1st signals my busy time of the year through July. Disclaimer - This will not be a scientific study. And anyone who wants to give it a try please do so. Remember, time put into a sport or an activity will yield higher results than weekend warriors which may trump birthdates and birth years. Take Pete Maravich in college basketball as an example. He was fantastic. But Pete slept with a basketball, would ride his bike and dribble the basketball, would practice for more hours than you or I would even consider each day and would dribble the basketball everywhere he went. He still holds the NCAA scoring record, which he accomplished before the three-point shot and shot clock was introduced. You can read about Pete here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Maravich Should be an interesting study. Can't wait for your feedback as to why I am crazy to do this or maybe....you know a few top guys in high school, college, the pros in bass fishing or other sports who share the same birth month or year. Happy New Year!!!!

No, never heard them at night. But will listen for them in the summer months when it is warm.

Bait Runner, where do you live? It would help if you can add your location to your avatar. As for waiting for spring, join the crowd. In the meantime, have fun organizing, reorganizing and then reorganize your tackle again. Practice your flipping and pitching this winter, inside of course, or in your yard/street. The more you practice the more proficient you will be with the technique and you will clobber them with your Senko set up. And speaking of Senko's, do you have any "mend it" type glue? If not, get some type of glue so you can re-glue your Senkos back together. To help your Senko's last longer, study how to rig them "wacky" style. OK, time to watch Glenn's videos and the others on YouTube to note new techniques, baits, tackle, places to fish, how to fish big lakes, what are points and why are they so important?, how to master the drop shot, etc., etc., etc. Good luck. Happy New Year! And please post some pics of your catches this spring.

I saw the red fox that lives behind my house this summer as it ran across the field at dusk. Beautiful animal. So I set up my field camera and sprinkled some chicken in the area where I saw him run into the woods and sure enough, I captured a bunch of pictures of him at night and here is the best one. Hope he has a mate and has some pups this spring.

Yes. Good flipping and pitching practice.

Money tree for son and daughter-in-law.

Nothing associated with fishing but a beautiful dress shirt; new jeans; a super tie; sox; new cell phone holder for use in mywife's car to keep seeing WAZE easier; Killing the Rising Sun book on tape; and a sensational sweater. All in all, a great Christmas. But wait? What about fishing stuff? Well, my secretary got me a $50 BPS gift card so I am cocked and loaded to hit BPS for the January sale. Merry Christmas to all. Be safe and enjoy the bowl games!!!!

KISS. You have to keep it simple and compact. I have one small tackle box when I pond fish, other than loading the SUV down with all types of baits and tackle when I go to my double secret pond. Otherwise, it is one bag of three types of trick worms; one bag of two colors of finesse worms; some moving baits; and my hooks, needle nose pliers and fishing license.

I create one tackle box with the baits I plan to use and can usually use those baits all day without opening another tackle box. Nice to know that Glenn has his terminal tackle in one box, which I also do. And I have the Plano spinner bait tackle box and have extended it to include buzzbaits and Chatterbaits. Great video. Thanks for creating it for us.

Happy, Happy Birthday. Have a wonderful year and keep those posts coming.

Follow your dreams. Virginia State Police are seeking new officers, as is Henrico County outside of Richmond. If you don't follow your dreams you will regret it when you get to my age and your working days are numbered. Good luck.

Black and blue Bitsy Jig.

NoLuck, you have some research to do to decide what you want to do in life, with the understanding that it is OK to change careers later on. Have you attended any Bassmaster Classics? If not, you have to before you decide to consider the "fishing industry." And here is the reason: You can speak with the guys and gals manning the various booths and let them tell you their stories about how they got into the industry and if they like it or not. And then you have to decide what level of income you can make in each profession. I spoke with Dr. Keith Jones' Berkley staff at a Bassmaster Classic (sorry to say Kevin skipped that one) and found out that one of the guys was a Mississippi State grad (or was it Georgia?) that landed a job in Berkley's research department. He was not a scientist but he was hired by Berkley and placed with Dr. Jones. He told me he sent his resume to Berkley (Pure Fishing) along with a lot of other companies and he landed the job. If "Fred VA" is Fredericksburg, Virginia, please plan to drive south on I-95 to the Richmond Fishing Expo this January and speak with the people working that event. You will gain much knowledge and find out the prerequisites needed to enter the various companies and if the people working the industry are happy with their future. And before or after the seminars speak with the presenters. They are really nice guys and they will love to give you insight into the industry at various levels. Now, I mentioned above "prerequisites." What prerequisites? Well, do you need a college degree? If so, what is the best major? (Probably not history or social services but maybe English, law, marketing, accounting, management, biology, physics, math, mass communications, etc.). Do you have to be a world class fisherman? Do you need various citations relating to your catches? Do you have to be mechanically inclined and understand the operation of an outboard motor and its physics? Do you want to do research? Do you want to work for ESPN and help with the various fishing TV productions? Is a sales career for you? If you are single it means you can travel all over the country selling your employers' products. If you are married then this type of work can put your relationship under a lot of stress. Do you want to manage a Bass Pro Shop or Cabela's store? Do you want to work for a company and then start your own business? Lots of decisions to be made. So may I suggest going to the Fishing Expo this January; getting the names and phone numbers of the executives at the various fishing companies around the USA and contact them about future employment; get your college degree; dress professionally; hide all tattoos; shine your shoes; update your resume; speak proper English; and hit the streets. Now, as for being a guide. My cousin down in Louisiana has given up his guide business and moved to Atlanta. He still has his business and his web page but if you want to stay in his double wide's and then go out into the Biloxi Marsh and catch some fantastic redfish and specked trout you will go with another captain, using one of my cousin's boats. In other words, after all of these years being a charter captain he is burned out and is now having a blast renovating and selling houses in the greater Atlanta area. OK, now is the time to start your research. Go to the Richmond Fishing Expo or another expo in your area; write to the fishing companies executives; call and speak with guides and professional bass fishermen; get all the data you can. Good luck and all the best for a successful future in the fishing industry.

Redline, I can't see him leaving Michigan, where he is king and is doing so well.

Congrats. Wish I could use my raft in that pond as the big ones live along the tree line. Go back and post some pics of your catches. Merry Christmas.

Welcome. Now start posting your posts and adding to the threads. The more, the merrier!

Yes, David, there are a lot of guys from NOVA on the Forum and I am sure they will get back with you. Stay tuned.

Money. Follow the money. About ten years ago Skip Bertman, the former AD at LSU, told me that LSU makes over $8,000,000 for each home football game. That is why, back then, all four of LSU's nonconference games were played in Tiger Stadium. Today, there are "home and home" scheduling with the power conference teams. The non-power conference teams must travel for their big pay day. Football is a violent spot. Moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, brothers and sisters know that if their family member plays football he will get hurt. No doubt about it. The severity of the injury is always unknown. But it will happen. I used to go to a workout club and one of the guys I got to know played football for Syracuse back in the 60s. He told me that there are hundreds of cracks in his ribs from getting hit so often and there is nothing the doctors can do about it other than give him pain meds. And he was not a starter. As a population, we get a vicarious thrill when one player knocks his opponent to the ground. The harder, the better. If the money dries up then you will see changes in the way the games are scheduled and the number of boys who want to play the game.

1.5 to 1.75 pounds. Don't worry about the weight until you bring in those big ladies. The ones who give you a heart attack when you get them to the surface and realize you have a monster on the line.