Sam

You mean the "other KVD?"

You really never know about an individual's health situation. Some people who are battling for their life can look normal with no problems. My best friend had his neck fused and back operated on and other than for not being able to move his head side to side or bend at the waist he looks perfectly normal.

Yep. The Potomac can be extremely dangerous when the wind kicks up. Great fishery. Good post.

When I have a "too long of a cast" my hookset power is really diminished that I miss more than I hook. The bass jump and throw my baits.

Keep going this way and you will end up in the funny farm.

Karl, unless you can swim in the water for 8 straight hours you need a boat. Or you need to be a nonboater. Most club's allow 16 year olds to join and fish their club and region tournaments. If you want to fish tournaments at 14 you need to subscribe to Bass Times. Go to Bassmaster.com and note how to order Bass Times or give them a call. Read about the high school tournaments around the country. And read all of the articles. https://www.bassmaster.com/author/b.a.s.s.-times I also suggest you consider joining B.A.S.S. to get Bassmaster magazine. You can also join FLW and get their magazine. Go to the top of this page and look for "Links." Then check out Bass Clubs for Florida. Contact the BASS and FLW federations about bass clubs in your area that may accept you as a nonboater. Have your parents drive you to the 2020 Florida fishing expos so you can meet the pros and the Florida movers and shakers in the bass fishing industry. You will also meet other young men your age who are members of their high school fishing team. Here is the link to the 2019 Richmond, Virginia expo for your information so you can see what you are seeking. http://www.richmondfishingexpo.com/ The problem you will have is that you need a boat. Either your own boat or a friend's boat that you and your friend can use in a tournament. In addition, you need your parents support as it is very expensive to drive to the tournament sites; stay in a motel for three days; food; tournament entry fees; updating your tackle for each body of water fished; and other miscellaneous expenses. You need to add your Florida city where you live to your avatar so we can give you better fishing advice for you geographical area. Good luck and get the Bass Times and start reading and dreaming.

Your set up is fine. What you need to do is know how the bait feels without a fish on it. Cast out and retrieve back while focusing on how the bait feels. If the bait feels different, you set the hook. This is the "rule" for all baits. The only "rule" in bass fishing that we all have to learn to follow. And as Hank Parker says: "It doesn't cost anything to set the hook."

Outstanding! This is why we need Bad to get his Ph.D. in fisheries biology so he can continue the study. Thanks for sharing the updated information. So the debate goes on......

The Bait Monkey loves you.

No Bad, we just read, read, read and then we speak with pros and we go to the Bassmaster Classic every now and then and we meet and speak with the Berkley research scientists and we see bass that have been attacked and have gashes on their sides and they swim like nothing is wrong. May I suggest you send some emails to some of the pros and ask them for their opinions. They will answer your emails. Or go to a B.A.S.S. Open and meet the pros and ask them about the bass feeling pain as you get their autographs on your cap. Until we have a definitive scientific study regarding what bass actually feel all we can do is rely on the current scientific data. It would be fantastic if you would go to college and get your Ph.D. in fisheries biology from a Sea Grant University and do some research for us on this topic. You can head down south where the weather is warm and the girls are beautiful. Start out at LSU, get your masters at Florida and then your Ph.D. at Florida State. If you can find a copy of Dr. Jones' book please get it at a library and read what it says about bass feeling pain. You can contact Dr. Jones and ask him, too. I think you can get a copy of the book for around $145 or so on ebay. And if you go to LSU you can enjoy some great food. See some outstanding football games. Have dates with very pretty girls. And hit the New Orleans French Quarter and see some things that you have only heard about. And fish everyday of the year, unless they are having a hurricane pass through, then you have to wait to the next day. Now start doing your homework and let us know what you find out about bass feeling pain.

One of my favorite stops when I visit New Orleans. Their H2O frogs are great.

They feel pressure and react.

In Catt's favorite book, Knowing Bass The Scientific Approach to Catching more Fish by Dr. Keith Jones of Berkley, Dr. Jones discuss the subject of bass feeling pain. Here is a recap of what Dr. Jones wrote about bass feeling pain. And yes, some of this is "painful" to read as it is science and not regular information that we discuss among our discussions. Enjoy and take it or leave it. "What we know is that human pain sensation is a product of the cerebral neocortex with its millions of nerves cells, humans have considerable range in adjusting their sensations. Pain perception is a function of the brain. Pain as we know it is the product of our sophisticated mind. So if humans feel pain why shouldn't fish? After all, bass show many of the same behavioral reactions to injurious stimuli as we do so doesn't that mean bass also feel pain? Not necessarily. Fish and humans have spinal free nerve endings that terminate all throughout their skin. These free nerve endings are known to be very sensitive to touch and temperature. They also have been implicated in detecting certain chemical irritants like acids. (Reason #1 to use scent) These nerve endings feed impulses into the spinal cord then up the cord through the lower brain into the area with our thalamus. The similarity between human and fish ends here. Fish skin contains only free nerve endings and their sensory modalities such as touch, temperature, and injurious stimuli appears to be minimal. Without these specializations fish are greatly limited in their ability to discern different sensations. Of course, this is still unclear in the scientific world and we will probably never figure it out. The second major difference between pain perception in bass and humans lies in the brain connections. In humans, this is accomplished in our large cerebral neocortex. But fish do not have a neocortex nor anything equivalent to it. Without a neocortex, fish cannot mentally construct complex feelings of pain like humans do. Fish cannot possibly feel pain like we feel pain. So if fish don't feel our kind of pain, can we conclude that they feel no pain at all? Not entirely. The possibility remains that fish possess alternative brain structures for pain generation. So all we can deduce is the possibility that bass and other fish feel pain. But not enough scientific research has been accomplished to make a firm call either way. Dr. Bob Reinert of the University of Georgia suggests fish feel a dull discomfort similar to what we feel under local anesthesia. And that is his guess. So no one actually knows if fish actually feel pain vs. feeling pressure. What is known is that fish do not have a neocortex so their pain level should be extremely low." Interesting discussion that we all can take sides and debate. I vote for the "feeling pressure" theory. What is your vote? do not have a

It is my understanding that fish do not feel pain. So if you drop one it will not feel pain as we feel pain. However, you can crack or break a rib or injure their internal organs, depending on the size of the fish, how far it drops, and what it hits when it hits bottom. I don't think you need to be concerned about dropping a bass now and then. What you need to be concerned with is removing the protective slime on their scales. That is worse than dropping a bass and can lead to mortality.

Read what Nolan pens but get Bass Times and look for articles about fishing tournaments. Bass Times covers the tournaments on all levels. Also test the Internet about the travels of professional bass fishermen and women. What you will not find in any articles are the secrets of the pros. For instance... did you know that when the pros hit an area they know where to get their favorite baits and tackle? did you know that some pros actually have others fish the waters while off limits before the tournament? did you know that some pros take their wives and girlfriends with them for fun and excitement plus setting up camp and sharing the driving? did you know that some pros do not actually tow their boats but use a professional towing company to move the boats from tournament to tournament? did you know that some pros will contact the local repair shops and put them on alert just in case the pros' motor, batteries, trolling motor, etc. fail before or during the tournament? did you know that some pros actually drive from tournament to tournament towing their boats and in some cases, their travel trailers? Fishing the professional trails is a challenge. Not only physically but mentally, too. Wives and girlfriends drive the trucks and equipment on the trips and set up their living quarters at the tournament site. Wives and girlfriends do the grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and listen to the stories of the ones that got away. Not an easy way of life for those ladies who travel with their spouses from tournament to tournament. Go to Woo Daves' web page and send Woo an email asking him about his travels from tournament to tournament. Woo is a great guy and he will answer your email. And ask your favorite pros about their travel adventures and what to expect if you do make it to the show. Call into Ike's show and ask Ike and Pete about their adventures. When you attend Iowa fishing expos next year ask the pros about their travels and who drives, etc. If there are no fishing expos in Iowa then drive to the closest one to you. What we see at the weigh-ins is only the tip of the iceberg of professional bass fishing. It is like watching a football game. All you see are the pretty uniforms and cheerleaders and good plays but you don't see the hard practices, film studies, strategy meetings, teams traveling to the games and then back home, and post mortems about what went right and what went wrong. Bass Times. Give it a shot. And it's cheap, too.

Give it a shot and let us know if it works. You would be surprised at what the pros do to their baits so you have an open door to experiment.

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15 pounds. No question about it. Just tell everyone the lady is 15 pounds of pure beauty. Who can argue with you?

Last Classic I attended I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Steve Parks. He is a true gentleman and an excellent ambassador for bass fishing. He gave me some of his plastics which blew me away. I did not ask for them. He just wanted me to have them. That was the Classic in South Carolina where I saw you for about 10 seconds to say hello. You were swamped by other guys and I did not want to get in the way. And yes, that Garmin trolling motor is really great. I thought it was the best of show when I saw it. Now for the other trolling motor companies to jump on what Garmin did and we have a trolling motor war. Sounds like fun to me. Take care.

Five inches is not bad. Memphis should do OK. Could be some good fishing when the rivers and lakes have all the new water available to the fish. Be safe and glad to read all is going to be OK in Memphis, home of Kotler pest control company and my cousins who are retired now. Uncle Lou Kotler. What a guy. You would have loved him if you met him.

Deer, maybe you can find something close in these catalogs: http://virginiaguidebaitco.com/vag_7_002.htm Look up the words plum or blue and see what comes up in each of the two big catalogs. Good luck.

X2

Outstanding! And you are now part of that Association. Thanks flyfisher for the input.

South Carolina gets a hurricane from time to time so you are not out of the woods.

Neighbors are your best bet. You can also do as Darren suggests, call Chesterfield County and try to find out who owns the pond. Or ask your realtor to find our for you. Remember, if it is county owned the county will take of it as necessary. If it is homeowner owned the costs of repairing and taking of the pond will fall on the property owners who have title to the pond. Good luck.