Sam

To avoid snags as best as possible, try to locate some Eagle Claw weedless hooks. Use them when throwing Texas or wacky style rigs into structure. I like the Eagle Claw as their eye is so much larger than the Gamakatsu's. But both work and they can save you a lot of lost tackle. You can throw your Senkos without any weight which will help reduce snags using these weedless hooks. You can do the same with your finesse worms but you will not get the distance so use a small bullet weight, pegged, to move through the structure. Those weedless hooks are a staple when I pond fish or fish among structure on a river. Gamakatsu has them in a finesse wide gap weedless verson for wacky rigging but you can use them for Texas rigs. Give 'em a shot. Now, that bow and arrow trick works. However, if you are like me and set the hook very hard when you feel the "strike" which turns out to be a snag this method may not work. I am taking my raft into my local pond this afternoon to retrieve as many rigs as I can since the pond is so low on water. I can see one of my crankbaits still hanging in the bushes and I know where the underground tree that ate a lot of my Texas rigs is sitting. I now use the weedless hooks all the time when fishing this pond and I have cut back on my snags by 90%. In fact, getting a snag now is very unusual. Sometimes it takes a while to figure things out! ;D

I had the Tracker Service Center at the Hampton BPS "detail" my Tracker Pro-185 this spring and the boat looked like it just came off the showroom floor. All of the carpet stains were gone and the boat looked like new. I asked the Tracker techs what they used on the carpet and they told me it is Commodore Sales carpet Stain Remover in the spray can. Commodore Sales P.O. Box 35688 Richmond, VA 23235 804.794.1992 As for the hull, Jerry Cooper of Cooper's Marine told me to use Marykate Aluminex Pontoon & Aluminum Hull Cleaner #3132 on the hull. The hull looks just like when I bought the boat four years ago after you clean it with the Marykate product. Marikate Ship Shape, Inc. P.O. Box 150 Bohemia, NY 11716-0150 Read the directions before using the Marykate product as it is some strong stuff. But your aluminum hull will sparkle and your carpets will look like new.

I wanted to change my 2003 PRO-185 by installing a longer rod holder compartment and I spoke with the techs at the Tracker Service Center at the Hampton BPS and they said it was not advised. There is a lot of foam in the Trackers and they suggested that it not be removed for the creation of additional storage. So my suggestion to you is to call or meet with the Tracker Service Center techs and ask them for their input on what to do to create a rod holding compartment. Let us know what you find out and what you decide to do.

That's all you caught?

Boette43, You will never believe this bait will work until you catch your first bass on it. Or a catfish, bowfin or pike. It is one of the silliest looking baits on the market, but it works. May I suggest you locate and purchase a copy of Kevin VanDam's Proven Spinnerbait Techniques from the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World Video Library? Great DVD with a lot of information and explanations on what type of spinnerbait to use; when to use it; and how to fish it. Hank Parker has good video out, Hank Parker's Ultimate Guide to Spinnerbaits. It has a lot of dumb filler in it but overall the spinnerbait information is excellent. Teaching Success with Spinnerbaits by Gerald Swindle is a good one, too. This Eagle Productions of Jasper, Alabama video is also packed with a lot of information. Last time on Kerr (Buggs Island) I threw my spinnerbait (white and chartruse) into the brush piles and tagged a bass and then the line went tight and nothing moved. My partner said "no, you have a snag." I replied that I thought I had a hit but since I was stuck on a small tree branch uner the water I thought I had lost the bass. When we went over and pulled up the small tree branch, the spinnerbait was nailed to the branch, along with a small one pound bass. When he hit the bait and I set the hook I rammed the bait into the tree branch along with the bass. The bass was fine and we released him. The fun of spinnerbait fishing is that you can throw it almost anywhere (other than for slop and some heavy grass or pads) and the bass, and other fish, will hit it. The problem with spinnerbait fishing is that when you start to catch a number of bass or a large bass or other species the bait will get torn up and you really hate to replace it as it has som much "luck" attached to it. I have continued to throw torn up spinnerbaits as I have refused to change the "good luck" one I was throwing. Be sure to put a trailer hook on your spinnerbaits to increase your catch ratio. Let us know how you do.

Sounds like a great pond. I love my "personal" pond near my house and always am on the lookout for other ponds in office and apartment complexes as I travel on business. I fished a client's pond for an hour yesterday, in my business attire, and decided to fish along one of the other banks that I had not fished before. Caught them on a black buzzbait and a Senko. Nothing big. One and a half pound bass, which the pond has many. I decided to throw only a buzzbait and a Senko to see what they wanted. Seems they were not that interested in the buzzbait but hit the Senko pretty good. I made sure we are having another meeting in October or November so I can go back. Only problem is that I want the meetings to start at 10 AM so I will have more time to fish but the client wants to meet at 9 AM which cuts an hour off of my schedule. Keep letting us know how you do and what you are using as bait.

Just throw whatever you think is best based on the water clarity and depth. Just throw all sorts of baits to see what they want and to learn how to fish various baits and presentations at the quaries. The fish will tell you what they want. Have fun and let us know how you do.

Be sure to get home in time to see the Bama-Arkansas game. And let us know how you did and what you threw. For luck, after each cast, you need to yell "Tiger Bait" at the water. ;D

Hey George, Glad you are feeling better. What is your ETA for getting back on the water?

Glad you are OK. I was going to call my nephew in New Orleans and tell him the leeves are going to break again and for him to leave town but I just could not do it. LBH, loved your reply. P.S. I hear the storm did another million dollars of improvements to Tulane's campus. ;D

It goes back to the Romans in the Coliseum and the gliadator fights in front of the crowds. We can sit back and watch others get hit and injured and play well without putting ourselves in jeopardy. We also get a vicarious thrill by having the team we support win the game. Or...like a young lady told me once, she likes to see the big butts with their jockstraps showing through their pants!!!!!!! For me, it just makes me happy to have my team win and your team lose.

Gulp! can attract bass. Gulp! will attract catfish. And bream. I fish it Texas rigged; weightless; and wacky. Caught some nice bass on it but the bream hits will drive you nuts. Have a face cloth or a clean rag so you can get it wet to store the bait when not in use. Otherwise the Gulp! will get very hard and it can be useless. I throw a Gulp! when the bite dies or just to see if there are any catfish around.

Catt, Are you OK with the hurricane passing over your head?

Definately running from a preditor. Definately not having sex. Throw past school and reel back and look for the reaction strike. No telling what is underneath the baitfish. If you have ever seen stripers rounding up a bunch of shad and then feasting you will have seen a memorable sight. Lots of water splashing and the shad flying out of the water. It is spectacular. Sometimes the bigger fish will hit a crankbait or a topwater or even a spinnerbait as you pull the bait through or near the school. Look for the bream swirls from small bream schools on top of the water and throw to them, too. Sometimes the bass will travel with the bream or the bass are getting ready for lunch and are eyeing the bream.

Fished the Nottoway River on Sunday and my buddy threw a buzzbait and topwater frog and caught three. We had a tropical depression flow through the area as we fished so we were in the middle of a cold front and a strong falling barometric pressure. I caught one on a pink trick worm fished on top of the submerged pads. The bowfin tore up all plastics we threw. It seems the bass wanted "reaction" type baits so they were hitting the buzzbait throught the day. Some days they want a topwater; other days they want a bottom rig; and some days they want their dinners moving. When anyone figures out the answer to this question please let me know.

This is good information regarding positioning your boat. This weekend on the Chowan my front depth read 12 feet and the rear depth was 5 feet so we decided we were going over a drop off. Are we smart or what? Thanks for the input.

From what I am hearing out of Tuscaloosa, if Saban fails to win at Bama the school is going to dig up the Bear, dress him in his sport coat, trousers and that houndstooth hat, and put him on rollers along the sidelines during the games. All plays will be made by a panel consiting of five Bama fans, students, faculty and high school coaches. This should put the "bang" back in the Bama football program. The University is in negoitations with the various states so the Bear's body can be transported across state lines and back to the school for game,recruiting, TV and radio appearances and alumni meetings. Otherwise, Bama's football program will continue to be in the toilet.

Can anyone help me with my query? What size buzzbait blade do you need to allow the buzzbait to go slow and not sink? Is there a specific blade design that is better than others to attain the goal of a slow moving buzzbait? And does the blade have any correlation to the size of the head (weight) and length of the shaft? Thanks to all who can give me some insight into this question that I really never have had an answer.

Cory, Reaction strikes. They bass are getting ready to "fatten up" for the winter and they will hit reaction type lures. Buzzbaits and frogs are two type of reaction baits. Swim a shaky head rig, bouncing it along the botton and making a disturbance. Crankbait season is right around the corner so get your crankbaits out and get ready to do some cranking.

We had our Nottoway River tournament on Sunday, Septemer 9, but my heart was not into it and I just really did not care. My good friend died this past week at the Medical College of Virginia after shoulder surgery. He had a blood clot to the brain while in recovery on Friday, August 31st and the family finally pulled the plug on him on Wednesday, September 5th. The funeral is today. He was 61 years old. We were planning a fishing trip at Langley Air Base for October and he was very excited thinking about retiring next year and doing some traveling with his wife. I should have been throwing frogs over the pads and small buzzbaits through the structure and pads but I just threw a screwed up shaky head rig and some Senkos. I had strikes but I just did not set the hook in time. I did catch one on a pink trick worm above the pads but that was all I got. Fishing was hard, anyway, due to the tropical depression that moved through the area while we were fishing. I just stood there, getting soaked and thinking that I could get soaked and that I was fishing while my friend was not, nor would he ever fish again. I did not socialize with the guys either the Saturday night before the tournament or the day of the torunament. I loaded my boat on the trailer and left during the weigh-in. I was not in the mood to joke around and poke fun at each other. I was not even feeling like boasting about LSU's crushing of Virginia Tech, 48-7. I guess the one moral to this story is to be close to your family and friends and do things, now. You never know what is around the corner.

May I suggest you suscribe to Bass Times and Bassmaster Magazine plus Bassin? Great publicatios and you can read about the national junior bass tournaments. If you do not know about the junior bass tournaments then post a query on this forum asking about them. We have had at least one teenager fish the last one and he got his photo in Bass Times. You will probably have to join a B.A.S.S. or FLW (TBF) affiliated fishing club and then work your way up the ladder into the circuit over a number of years to qualify. It is very difficult to make the tournament trail. My friend missed the Classic two years ago by one ounce and he has never made it back that close. I know you want to fish as a pro but you need your education and a college degree (or be independently wealthy) to fish as a pro. You need a good career as a base and then try your luck, a little at a time, in your club and Region and state tournaments. If you constantly make the 6-Man teams or win your Region and state tournaments then you can progress into the pro network. We have a lot of young guys on this site who can out-fish any of us on any given day. So just read the posts and ask questions and get that education and then try your luck. And try your luck BEFORE YOU GET MARRIED!

nec237, Yes, some suggestions. First, go to a real fishing tackle shop for your lures. Nothing against Wal-Mart but their selection is not what you can find at a good tackle shop. Nor can you speak with the salespeople or others shopping at Wal-Mart about what to throw and how, etc. There are so many Zoom worms that you can purchase whatever color and styly you wish at a real tackle shop. May I suggest the following? 1. Purchase a bag of Senkos. Watermealon is a good color. 4 inch for ponds; larger sizes for rivers and lakes. 2. Purchase a bag of Junebug 6 inch Zoom finesse worms. 3. Pick up some weedless 2/0 hooks. 4. Fish the Senkos and finesse worms both Texas-rigged and wacky. Yes, fish the finesse worms wacky, too. 5. Read every post on this forum and go to the top of the page and read those subjects, too. 6. Check out the section of each forum above where we post our questions and notice the hot topics. Read those, too. Then go out and let us know how you do and aks for help and you will be on the B.A.S.S. circuit this time next year.

Roadwarrier, this is exactly what my friend does. Drives me nuts. He just sits there, cigerette in hand, motionless, waiting. And waiting. And waiting. No movement. He reminds me of a mannequin in a department store. The patience of an angel. He fished the local bass circuit when he was younger and was a fishing guide on the Chickahomony Lake and River plus the James River. He has retired and has some health problems but when we pond fish now he still just sits in that chair and waits. And he still catches more bass than you can imagine, no matter what the weather conditions; water clarity; or time of day.

Cory, I fish a client's pond in Bethesda and do very well, even wiith the current low water conditions due to the drought. They love Senkos. Don't know why, but they just eat up Senkos like crazy. The wacky rig is the bet presentation. Some will hit a crankbait; have caught only one on a spinnerbait; have caught a lot on a finesse worm rigged Texas-style with a small bullet weight; hooked and lost three on a Rat-L-Trap and caught some too; and landed a large 19 and a half inch lady on a two-inch GYBC two-inch Senko. They will hit that Senko on the way down, too. On one cast I thought the bait landed on a submerged tree trunk as it did not sink so noted by the line not sinking. Then I realized that there were no tree trunks in the pond so I set the hook. Nice two pounder on the other end. If you have any aerators in the pond fish them. The bass love to hang out by the aerators. I am gong back to see the client on Septmber 14 and I will throw the Senkos but will try my luck with a jig and pig as I do not think they have seen that lure. I am sure the bite will pick up as we approach fall and the water temperature starts to drop and when you start to get some rain in your area.

And set that hook. I have lost many a bass on a Rat-L-Trap as they seem to throw it more than other lures. I put my rod tip into the water to keep them from jumping, too, which has increased my catch. I like the 1/4 ounce silver with a black back as my first choice and the blue back as my backup. They are good when fishing for smallies, too. I throw them all year long when the bite goes away and just to throw something they may not have seen in a while.