Sam

Love 'em both but I don't have a torn up finger after using a baitcaster as I do with my spinning reels. I use my finger to feel the line and to cast so my first finger on my right hand takes a beating. Each has it's own advantages and disadvantages and it depends on how you like to fish as to which one you will prefer.

Heaven! Sounds like heaven.

Check out the Fishing Articles at the top of the page and go to Summer Fishing. Great information you can parlay into catching bass. Can you find any humps, holes, creek channels, structure or vegetation in your lake? If so, the bass will seek cooler water and stage in these areas. They will hit the shallows in search of breakfast and dinner so you can fish those with topwaters or Mann's Minus One's in the early AM or late PM. Try to bulk up your baits, too. Try a creature bait or a tube or an Ika or a 7-inch worm or a 6-inch Senko to see if they will take them. You may want to check out the web sites of the pros, too. See what Woo Daves says on his web site about summer fishing. Everyone does things different so hopefully you will receive a lot of suggestions.

Welcome to the forum. We sure could use another guy with fishing experience.

Any jig head you want to give the bait weight. I sue weightless wacky presentations as I want the Senko or other sticks to "float" down slowly, like a bird flying in the water. I also use weedless hooks so I do not have to be concerned with the submerged structure, grass, weeds or pads. The weedless hooks give me the weight I need for wacky presentations. But if you want the bait to fall faster or you want to cast it further, then I would suggest any type of jig head or weight you want to use. Just experiment and see what happens and let us know.

Catt's post has some valuable information. First, many people use crankbaits as their "search" baits and they run, usually fast with the trolling motor on high, by many interesting places to fish. They make one cast and if nothing hits they keep on moving along the bank passing up great locations that could hold bass if they knew what the bass were looking to eat. Second, it is not the "number" of casts but the type and targets you are casting towards that are important. I try to fan cast to trees and wood, going to the deepest part first and then working back towards shore. After fan casting the area twice, left to right and right to left, I will change up and use another presentation and fan cast that one from left to right and then right to left. Sometimes I have been known to throw my Senkos or finesse worms back and forth, in the cover, around the cover and over and under the cover many, many times. If not bites on the T-Rigged Senko, then go to a Wacky Senko and then to a finesse worm and then to a creature biat, etc. I also have looked at the maps; read about the fishing at the location on this site, blogs and other web sites; spoken to people about the places to fish; studied the weather; looked at the tide charts if a tidal river; and have segregated about two to three miles in each direction from where I put in unless I really want to run down the river or lake to fish a specific location. When fishing the upper James River last month, I started fishing the wood with Senkos; then went to a finesse presentation; then threw some crankbaits. All at the same target! The target? Dropoffs about 20 feet from the northern bank as the bass were following my crankbaits back to the boat and I saw where they were starting to follow them up about 15 to 20 feet off shore. Caught four smallies and four bream. All on the crankbaits fished 20 feet off shore on the dropoff. So now I had the pattern had I wanted to continue fishing but it was getting hot so I went home. YOU HAVE TO FIGURE OUT THE PATTERN. After you have the pattern you can then count your casts! ;D So don't worry about the number of casts. Worry about the territority you can cover with a specific bait and then change the bait and cover the terrority again and then change your bait and do it again and again until you find what they want and the PATTERN. Have fun hunting.

Check with your B.A.S.S. and FLW/TBF state organizations and they can give you the names of the bass clubs in your area. You may have to search the web to find them. Or contact the national offices via e-mail off their sites and they can then give you some information. Good luck.

Super tip. We can find these intersections on topo maps. Catt, its 6:30 in the morning where you are. I thought I was the only one up this early on a Sunday morning who is not going fishing. ;D

It is just a picture of what a bass sees before his next meal.

According to the September, 2008 issue of Consumer's Reports, pages 28 and 29... Files Leaked Department of Veterans Affairs - 28 Million Internal Revenue Service - 2,359 Transportation Security Administration - 100,000 City of Savannah, Georgia - 8,000 State of Ohio - 1.300,000 Veterans Affairs wins! ;D And did you know, according to CU... You have NO RIGHT TO BE NOTIFIED ifsomeone is uising your SSN under another name. Sleep tight.

Check with Bassboy15. I know he will have a few suggestions for your new avatar.

Bayoukritter, When doing academic recruiting for LSU up here in Virginia (no NCAA recruiting) I had the opportunity of representing LSU at the City of Richmond's College Fair two years ago. The City of Richmond's top high school sophomores and juniors attend the college fair. You have to be nominated by your teachers as college material to attend. One young lady came by my table, picked up some brochures and asked me where LSU was located. I told her Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She asked me where Louisiana was. I told her that Louisiana was next to California. She said that it was too far away for her and she walked away. And you are worried about having Louisiana in the Central fishing area? I think we have other, more pressing problems, to deal with. ;D P.S. We no longer recruit the City of Richmond.

Hey Slomoe, Catching catfish is a good sign. The biat is working. Now, the trick is to place it in the vicinity of a bass. I catch catfish on my crankbaits so I know they are working. The secret is to find the depth, color and speed retrieve to attract the bass, and not the catfish.

Drop dead beautiful. You did a fantastic job. Congrats! Any mechanical problems with the reel, itself, due to the paint? Next one just has to be purple and gold or Catt and I will haunt you. ;D

Congrats on the award. All I can suggest is that you get a G. Loomis catalog and put it on your boss' desk for future reference. ;D If you have any questions about your guides please send a PM to Reel Mechanic. He has forgot more about rods and reels than 10 of us together know.

Yo-Zuri Ultra Soft Hybird line is designed for spinning reels, although you can use it on baitcasters. You may want to use mono for treble hook baits and since Yo-Zuri is fluoro you may want to rethink using it. It is great line and I am sure you will catch fish when throwing a crankbait. Maybe you can consider purchasing a small spool of the Green Mist and give it a try and let us know what happens.

Sounds like you have found a piece of heaven. Go back and take a camera so you can post pics for us to see what you catch. Man, if I was going to a pond like that I would have wonderful dreams of setting the hook and fighting them, one by one by one by one by one by one, etc. ;D

I'll take five of those, anyday. Great story, pics and congrats on the catch. Now go out and catch her husband! ;D

Any idea where the hook was in the fish's mouth? Front, middle, up, down, side or just hanging on? You may not have had a good hookset in the fish's mouth and it just tore loose. Keeping the rod tip high when the fish goes deep is a natural reaction that we all do. You are pulling agaist the fish to keep him from getting tangled in structure, grass, pads or cutting your line on submerged objects. We don't think about it. Usually the rod is in the air as the fish tries to go deep with us putting pressure on the rod to keep the fish from diving. Some of my friends point the rod tip at the fish as it goes deep so they can have better leverage in pulling the fish towards the surface. I don't as I am afraid I will break the rod. So I keep the rod tip up when they try to go deep. To keep fish from jumping put rod tip in the water. Sometimes the fish throw your bait and sometimes they don't. It is a part of fishing. You probably did nothing wrong. The fish just lucked out. Now go back and get him, again.

Finally broke down and bought a Flooger President as all my reels are Shimano. I love it! That's all I can add to equation.

There is no such thing as a dumb question. What is dumb is not asking your question. We are here to give you advice and guidance based on our experience and education about bass fishing. So just keep asking those questions. Now...some of our answers are dumb but that's another topic. ;D

What Avid said. Any smaller compartments are a plus.

Try usstandardissue.com Google us standard issue

Or join the Coast Guard and fish all day and night. ;D Dave, did you do a search of the site on the forum? Maybe it will pop up and you can note the sender.

Rondef, Glad you have a Peckers up your way but be patient as the new BPS below Ashland is scheduled to open this fall and the ride down to the store once a week should be easy. At least that is what the Bait Monkey tells me! ;D And Jason can drive down and pick out what he wants and then tell you. Now, talk about being in heaven????