Sam

Thanks for the info, Paparock. Super post! I think the Dems have tried to pass the same type of legislation in the past but failed. Please keep us posted on the various bills and their progress. I don't hunt anymore (knees gone bad) nor have a handgun due to the kids that visit our home, but these changes will impact others and it will be interesting to see if the do pass will the President sign or veto them.

I know people who always UPS their luggage and gifts to their hotel/motel so they don't have to check them in with the airlines and you know that UPS does a better job securing and protecting the property. These individuals have NEVER had any problems shipping their belongings via UPS. When I go down to LSU for a conference this summer, I may use UPS, and do the same. I always have all of my LSU stuff that I buy shipped back to my home via UPS and have never had any problems. Everything arrives within three days of my return home and in excellent condition. I only carry a book with me and check my luggage which makes flying much easier and simple. I have been known to leave notes in my suitcases written to the inspectors asking them not to steal any of my stuff. So far, no problems.

Burley, What's the problem? I think your situation is that of a very good fisherman. Carry on and may the Bait Monkey be your best friend!

Jig heads for tubes: Get Tube Jig Hooks. These are the ones with the weight along the hook's shank, beginning right after the hook eye and going back towards the point. Have them in various weights, starting with 1/8 and going up to 3/8. Select the jig hook size based on the current and wind and wet the hook. Slip the wet hook inside the tube and force the eye out of the top front of your tube. Slip the hook's point under the tube's skin to make it weedless. You are ready to fish your tube. Buying a box of jig heads is a waste of money. Select the jig hook, or jig head of your choice, in various weights and use them. Even the ball jigs can work but if you use the jig hooks with the weight along the hook's shank the tube will fall in a more attractive spiral to the fish.

I know R&O's is open by the lake but I don't recall seeing many other resturants open by the lakefront and yacht club when I visited NOLA in November. And you know you are from Louisiana when at lunch you talk about what you ate for breakfast and what you are going to eat for dinner. Come to Louisiana As You Are and Leave Different! Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler. And I love to eat fish bait, too!

Contact Reel Mech from this site the next time you need reel service. He cleans and repairs reels and the guys say he is fantastic. I plan to send my reels to him after this year's season is over.

I enjoy fishing the Chatterbait. I have caught bass on the colors of yellow, white and chartruse and blue and black using mono. I lost a beauty in a tournament on the Pamunkey River last year as I was using mono and threw the bait just to see what would happen. Well, she hit it, jumped clean out of the water, took one look at me, and was gone. I will start to use braid when I throw them. Thanks a million for the tip.

Nothing leaves the boat without a scent being applied. Probably more mental then reality. Mega Strike, Carolina Lunker Sauce Jack's Juice And I "marinate" a few plastics the day before in a scent. Does it help? I really can't say. But at least it can't hurt.

Age is relative. Age is how you feel. I know some 30 year olds that act like 60 year olds and some 60 year olds who act like 30 year olds. The major difference is that the 60 year olds have money! Happy Birthday and may the Bait Monkey bite you on your fanny as you enter your favorite tackle shop for your birthday.

Van Dam is using double bladed buzzbaits. I have no idea if they are side by side or in line. If you put some holes in the blades or scuff up the rivit you can change the sound. It would be interesting to find out if the guys have had success with the double balded buzzbait. For me, I have not caught anything on the double blades so I will stick with the "holes in blades" buzzers.

At our next meeting after our tournaments the top three guys tell us what they used and how they fished it. We don't care where they went as there are fish all over the places where we fish and we all have our "double secret" places that we don't tell anyone but that we all know anyway. The top place finisher will tell us he fished the pumpkin seed Senko wacky style along the bank or in the wood. The second place finisher will say he fished his spinnerbait parallel to the grasses. And the third place finisher will add that he used a Zoom Red Shad 4 inch worm and fished the shoreline. And that's about it. If you want more details then you go up to the guy at the end of the meeting and talk to him about what he did and where he went, etc. Then, if you are smart, you write it down and put it in a folder for that body of water for next year.

1. Bassin 2. Bass Times. 3. Bassmaster Magazine. 4. FLW Magazine. 5. In-Fisherman.

Avid, I did this post because of all the outcry when gas prices went up and we had the hearings in DC. So now that the gas prices have fallen why not have more hearings. Whats good for the goose should be good for the gander!

Avid, You are not dumb. You are logical and smart. The people within the beltway are dumb. The USA is going to go down in flames from all the social program spending we do and I hope you and I are gone so we don't have to see it happen. As for me, I am planning to take my Social Security and retire in a few years and go out on the water, enjoy the beauty and have some fun fishing up and down the east coast and in Louisiana. I no longer watch the ABC, CBS or NBC news as I can't take it anymore. In the words of Grisham's insurance guys when they wrote the letter to the family of the boy who died in the book (sorry, I can't remember the title)...the people within the Washington DC beltway are "stuipd, stuipd, stuipd." We need more people that think like you in DC. But that will never happen.

I want a Congressional inquiry and investigation on why gasoline prices are declining. It is time to stop the madness and control gasoline prices before they go even cheaper. Look at the gready oil companies not making those big profits and we need to find out why. Please contact your Senator and Representative and demand a Congressional hearing and investigation on why gasoline prices are falling. Thank you.

Glad to hear you met Tony. He is a class act. I have been watching for his name in Bass Times and I sent him a letter asking if he was still on the tour. I am so glad Tony is back on the water. And his products are excellent, especially the crawfish boil seasonings! Happy New Year and keep up the good work and fantastic posts. Sam

If you fish it Carolina style, use a 2/0 or 3/0 EWG hook. If you fish it Texas style, the same is true but you may want to change to a straight shank worm hook. Warm water you want a fast fall and in cooler water you will want a slower fall so experiment with your weights. Be sure the pinchers face backwards so the bass are looking at its face and pinchers. Bury the hook point under the skin to make it weedless. Fish it as you would a plastic worm. You can also use it as a trailer on a jig or a Chatterbait, etc. The lure looks realistic, too. Nice choice. Let us know how you use it and your results during this year.

I purchased the Banjo Minnow kit as my friend swears by them. I have never used them so please give us some information such as the water clarity, temperature, weather conditions, wind, etc. you had your success. Any help you can give is greatly appreciated.

Cut shad.

Looks a lot like the guys in my bass club blasting off for another tournament! And I thought they are crazy!!!!! Thanks for sharing.

I went to your profile and sent a test e-mail and it was blocked so you did not receive any nasty e-mails from us normal guys. The e-mail should have had a return address. If not, then I am baffled at how they sent it to you. I enjoy your posts and please keep them coming. Sam

You are fantastic! What a story! Keep 'em coming. How much did the fish weigh? 10 or 12 pounds? Did he fight hard????? Did you catch him in your private pond? Let us know. Guess Who?????????

LSU finished behind Arkansas which shows you just how good LSU is in the eyes of the BCS voters. I think it is funny and this fact drives my Auburn friends up a wall since they say LSU finished 3rd in the SEC west while finishing 3rd in the country. Does this make any sense? Only when you relaize that the polls rank certain teams on how they played that week and not their full schedule. With Arkansas blowing their bowl game, the Hogs drop in the polls. With LSU winning its last games and blowing out Notre Dame (it should have been worse) then LSU rises in the polls. I hope it makes sense to you as I am still confused. As for your daughter at Tulane, I am glad for her. Get that degree and then go out and parlay it into a super career. You would be surprised at the amount of reasearch and scholastic work that Tuland and LSU does together. Other than for sports and taking shots at the Green Weenies, Tulane is an excellent school and I am glad your daughter is attending. Just tell her to get that degree and then go out and start paying a lot of F.I.C.A!!!! Geaux Saints!

Here is the deal on American oil. We pump oil out of Alaska and send it to Japan. Japan pays us for the oil and we then purchase what we need to refin from Venezuela. Why? Because it is closer for Japan to get their oil from the US and closer for the US to get our oil from South America. And since Japan and South Korea are such strong trading partners we work this deal. As for drilling in Alaksa and off the Alaska coast, there is an abundance of oil up that way but so far the Congress has refused to allow drilling. As for the Alaska Pipeline killing all the reindeer; the reindeer snuggle up to the pipeline to keep warm so that is nothing more than political BS to sway the uninformed American public to be against domestic drilling. And as for oil prices; you are correct. Oil companies price their current stocks of oil based on current pricing of the oil the must pay. It is similiar to the LIFO accounting technique of last in first out. And don't forget that the majority of what you pay for a gallon of gasoline is taxes, both state and federal. Remove the taxes and see the price drop down to under $1.00 per gallon. Don't you just love America and our politics?

Hawgin has it correct. The nail can cause the bait to fall backwards, towards the fish. It can drive a bass nuts and he will hit it as it falls towards him. This is another presentation that the pros use but don't tell us about. And one more tip...use a bait with a FLAT bottom, like a French Fry, and insert the small finishing nail into it's rear end and fish it just as you would fish a plastic worm. The flat surface makes the bait swim better backwards.