Sam

I reorganized my jigs on Wednesday and used a scale that weighs in parts of ounces. I was surprised to see that all of the 1/4 ounce jigs weighed 1/4 ounce; and the 1/2 ounce jigs weighed 1/2 ounce; and all in between weighed the same no matter the manufacturer. As for throwing jigs, I always thought the lighter weighted ones were to be used in cold water and the heavier ones in warm water and then you change around depending on the bite and water (lake, pond, river) and the cover (grass) and structure (wood). I also plan to experiment with the plastic and pork trailers. Thanks for the post.

Nice fish. Next time how about smiling? And those red eyes. Spooky! Go out and try to top the catch this weekend.

Beautiful. So where are the pics of the rest of the ones you caught? And just how cold is it up there in the morning? Looks like you are dressed for a snow storm. ;D

Always release the fish. May I suggest taking a camera with you and taking photos of the bass next to a ruler lengthwise and then again grith wise. You can send the photos to those companies that can reproduce the fish, have it mounted, and send it back to you ready to hang on your wall. We need big fish to repopulate the population so you did the right thing by letting her go. Now the challenge is to catch her again.

Zel and Surfer are correct. It is usually gas escaping from the bottom muck. Second, it is a turtle. Third, it is from all the lures I have snagged as they decompose. ;D

May I make a suggestion? Do not mix bass with bream in your live well or cooler. The bass may not survive with the bream, especially if you are transporting them or keeping them in the live well or cooler for a sustained time period. I would think you would stock the pond with bream, minnows and crawfish now and then if they survive over the winter start putting some bass in the pond next spring after the spawn. Of course, if you could make sure the bottom of the new pond is sufficient for a bed you may be able to tansfer a pregnant bass to the bed area and have a bunch of baby bass after the hatch. Just my thoughts. But remember, the bass have to eat something as they are on the top of the food chainand it would be nice to have the minnows and bream living in the pond before the bass are introduced.

My wife bought it for me for Christmas. I have not really used it. There was a problem getting the unit charged as the original 400 amp charger would not charge the unit. So they sent me a new 800 amp charger which works fine. Have tried it only one time and really did not pay much attention to the unit other than to turn it on and off. Went to Lake Chesdin where the water is down about 4 to 5 feet. Guys in bass club fished Lake Chesdin and two came in second in the B.A.S.S. tournament (no BSX) while all others had a very difficult time catching anything. I told the guys John Kook boated 3 bass and lost two and I got one and lost one and they were amazed as they are not catching anything on Lake Chesdin and they said to forget Chesdin until it gets some water in it later this year or in the spring. So was it the BSX or our skill? I think the BSX unit had something to do with it but I have no proof. John had no idea it was on since it is "hidden" in one of my compartments an i did not tell him it was on the boat. I wanted to see if it did bring fish to the boat but I really do not think it did under the Chesdin low water conditions. We were getting hit ont eh grass lines using John's Senkos and a Junebug finesse worm. No other hits on any other baits, including crankbaits during or outing. And if the unit was mimicing the sounds of baitfish in distress I woudl have thought the bass would have hit the shad colored crankbaits. Of course, the bass were eating at night with the full moon on all of the balled up shad and that could have turned them off to eating during the day, too. I will be prefishing a local river in the near future and will use the BSX unit so maybe it will work on a tidal river system. I also have to read the directions and set up the machine so it will play the sounds in the order that I want, like baitfish feeding-baitfish distressed-bass feeding on baitfish, in this order with a few seconds pause between each section. While on Chesdin I had the unit just run constantly with distressed shad sounds. And I have to play with the volumn, too, to find out how loud it should be. I had BPS install the mike on the trolling motor and running the cord under the deck. No one knows I have the unit. I have not used it in any tournaments as I want to play with the machine to learn it, first. I will let evryone know if it works once I start using it on a regular basis.

Big fish hit me twice on Gaston. Two years ago we were trolling our Carolina rigs over a rock bed and something took my lizzard and he is still going west with it. Probably near Chicago by now. I could not turn him or stop his run. This year, at the mouth of Popular Creek, something hit my favorite crankbait, ran right at me and went under the boat, and the line snapped. I guess he is still going and going and going and going.... Gald to read that you got some on a LC Sammy. Last time out of Gaston my friend hooked a beauty on a Sammy and she threw it back at us on her second jump. What a bummer. So you all are the newest members of the "Lake Gaston What in the World Was That?" Club. No dues; just a bunch of funny stories about the ones that got away.

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. This is why we go fishing. To enjoy the beauty of nature. Keep 'em coming! And good striper, too.

Tin2win has it right on the money. I have some friends who fish almost exclusively the shakey head rig and they catch a lot of fish. As for the bait, Tin2win is correct. The only other thing I would suggest is putting some Mega Strike on your plastics and dip the end of the worm in either Spike-It or JJs chartruse or lime. And remember, if there is a lot of "muck"on the bottom your shaky head jig head will collect it for you.

Any time. Topwater in early AM and evening. Topwater during the day, like a buzzbait. Senkos, fished wacky. Finesse worms fished Texas rigged. Carolina rigged brush hogs and lizzards. Make sure tails are dipped in Spike-It or JJ's chartruse. Spinnerbaits, in white and chartruse during the day. Crankbaits and Rat-L-Traps in silver and shad colors or chartruse if the water is badly stained. In other words, throw what ever you want and experiment and have fun.

Is there any moving water in the pond that you can see? I agree with the other guys in that I have never heard of any smallies in a pond. You catch smallies in a lake or a river with moving water. However, with that said, nothing is impossible so keep trying. Can you drop shot or use a hair jig? What about a tube? Small grub? Silver Rat-L-Trap? I guess your will have to "swim" your baits to try to locate a smallie. Let us know if you are successful.

Three things you can do to put yourself in a bad position for life: 1. Get married before you are 21. 2. Have a baby while a teenager. 3. Fail to graduate high school. A word to the wise is sufficient.

Go to Fishing Tackle and see the post on Pitching. We just discussed it in some detail.

We have discuxsed pitching and fllipping a lot on this site in the past. We just had a discussion and I gave some info on how to pitch. So.... In the upper right hand corner of this page is a rectangular box with a magnifying glass by it. Type in pitching and then type in flipping and click on the glass to see the previous posts. Also, may I suggest purchasing Denny Brauer's book, Jig Fishing Secrets. It is also out in video. Denny explains all about pitching and flipping. You can also Google Pitching and Flipping and read about it on the net. Flipping and pitching need to be a part of your presentation as they are excellent techniques. I like pitching more than flipping but that's just me. Read, read and read some more and then go out in your yard and practice, practice and practice. Of course, get ready to pitch or fllip your lure in the trees or shrubs but thats just a part of fishing. Have fun.

Yes, Sammy's are really worth it.

Super! Reminds me of the one that asks what the New York Mets and Michael Jackson have in common. They both wear gloves for no apparant reason. This is when the Mets were not doing well. Sorry about the loss to Miami. But it was nice to see so many Hurricane players out on bond to field a team.

From the Spy Museum in Washington, DC... Deny Everything

Long Mike, You are doing what the new Trackers do. I have updated and improved my 2003 Tracker and one of the areas I investigated was the live well. Nothing I can do other than to make sure the pump switch is off so the pump does not burn up. I have a special switch to empty the well via a pump. It is located by the throttle. When I use the livewell I sometimes constantly run the aerator for a few minutes. It can cause an overflow so I use the bilge pump to pump out the excess water than accumulates in the boat. Although the Tracker is a "starter" boat it is open to many renovations and I have had a blast upgrading the boat. So have a good time and do what you want as this is a simple boat to make changes and improvements.

Let me tell you about my experience with a topwater in Penna. Went to a friend's private pond outside of Clymer, PA (he was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence) and caught one after the other on a black buzzbait early in the morning. Had a blast. Nothing big, just small bass up to about a pound each. But they leveled that buzzbait. They would never hit a spinnerbait or a crankbait. They would eat up a finesse worm or a Senko. Never did throw my Pop-R or Spook since I was having so much fun witt the buzzbait. I would think the bass in Penna would eat a topwater. If they eat Scrapple they will eat anything! ;D

Super! Gald the young man did well. Thanks for sharing. Going to Dick's today to get some Mega Strike as my current tube is almost empty. Great speaking with you this week and thanks for the information you shared with me.

I discussed Mega Strike with the president of the company and he is extemely knowledgable about scents and attractants. Mega Strike has amino acids that break down the secents so the bass can smell and taste them. Remember, almost all scents and attractants have a petroleum base and the bass cannot taste or smell these petro molucules. Mega Strike has a petro base but the big difference is with the amino acids. I keep lures with Mega Strike on them in my tackle box and have never had any slime or other problems. In the future, I may want to place the crankbaits in the dishwasher to get them clean and remove all attractrant. Read Dr. Keith Jones book and you will note how much a difference a good scent can make when fishing for largemouth bass and other species.

I hope it is Florida's plans. Geaux Tigers.

Video! There is a video? And I read the book. Darn. Wish I knew there was a video! Thanks.

Denny says in his book, Denny' Brauer's JigFishing Secrets: Pitching - Best method to get your plastics or jigs into a tight place. It is a soft-entry, sneak-up-on-em approach. Presentation - Line-in-hand or limited distance technique where the amount of line is fixed. The reel is engaged and you are working the same amount of line with each cast. You control the distance between yourself and the target with your boat. Keep distance the same, like 15 feet from shore along the entire bank. Rod Control - If right handed, keep rod in left hand. If left handed, keep rod in right hand. Peel off the line with the free hand. As bait enters water switch hands so you have rod in proper hook setting position. (I am right handed and keep reel in right hand and use left hand to control the bait) How to Flip - 1. Let out the amount of line needed to reach the target. With the hand not holding the rod, grasp the line and pull back about half the length of the rod. (Or whatever length is comfortable for you) 2. Swing the flipping lure back under the rod by lowering then quickly raising the rod tip. 3. When the worm or jig starts forward raise the rod tip and move the rod hand forward to increase the lure speed. At the end of the swing give a gentle flip to the rod. 4. As the jig or worm approaches the target, allow the line to slip through your fingers but do not let go of the line completely. Stop the worm, brush hog, lizzard, creature bait or jig, etc. just over the water surface. (Both hands by reel. Right hand holding reel and left hand holding line until I switch line into right hand. Or just let go of the line and put line coming off baitcaster between your fingers to feel for a hit) 5. Let fall and be ready to set the hook on the fall. 6. Repeat along the bank as you fish or by throwing to the target multiple times. Bad Habits - Hanging onto the line with two or three foot of slack in it after the lure hits the water; not having the hand that you are letting the line slide through go immediately back to the reel as soon as possible where you can have the line running through your fingers to feel a strike; making a flip too long; not having your rod tip high so you can lower the rod tip slightly faster then the speed the lure is falling so lure falls straight down; not turning off your electronics when flipping or pitching; and not sneaking up on the fish. Equipment - Baitcaster. 7 foot medium heavy rod. 10 plus test line depending on structure you are fishing. Plastic or jig of your choice. Hook and weight of your choice but I am using more and more of the weedless hooks, especially for flipping and pitching. Hook plastics Texas rigged to make weedless. Tactics for Longer Range - Use an underhand method to swing the bait in place. Keep the bait low to the water so it makes a nice soft entry and doesn't scare the fish. Turn reel to the inside facing down. Pitch underhanded as follows: 1. Let out enough line to grasp the lure. 2. Lower the rod tip, swing arm back to pull lure back behind you holding lure in your hand. 3. Snap rod tip upward, release lure and release reel allowing line to play outward. Also try the loop pitch: 1. Allow about two (2) feet of line out. Drop rod tip, then immediately snap tip up to swing line upward. 2. Allow line to travel in a fast loop around rod tip. 3. As lure straightens in front of rod tip, relase line from reel. Hookset for Pitching - Rod tip fairly high as want lure to fall on a slack line. Just a bit of slack, not a lot. Drop rod tip to follow lure and keep just a few inches of slack. Watch line at all times. Drop rod tip so you have a little more slack to develope rod speed. Then come back, straight up, hard, one time. Keep the line tight; start reeling; and move fish out of the cover. Get Denny's book and you can read all about pitching and flipping. Good luck.