bassnleo

A brief explanation of my question...... Lately I've been having a bit of lower back pain. It's not uncommon for me to have it during fishing/tournament season when I'm on my feet for 8+ hours at a time. It's winter now and I haven't fished like that for months. For about the last 2 weeks I have been having trouble sleeping and that SUCKS because I'm working nights and sleep is absolutely necessary, especially in my line of work. I cannot afford to be tired at work. The pain just kinda came on, no significant act (like lifting a heavy object) triggered it. Oddly, it seems that it's worse when I lie in bed. Now, I thought maybe it could be a mattress issue but we have a good bed, a Tempur Pedic space foam one. On my days off in the last 2 weeks I slept in my recliner, not much pain when I woke up, alot less than when I slept in bed. My wife thinks I'm nuts. Anyone have suggestions or experiences that may help? I don't think I'm to the going to the doctor point yet. Tried that a few years ago and he couldn't find an issue and pain eventually went away. It just stinks while it's on...... Thanks

2 Kistler Magnesium Series Rods (Carolina Rig/Jig/Heavy Spinnerbait) 2 Quantum Accurist PT reels $50 in BPS giftcards Those are great but my favorite gift was seeing the reaction on my daughters face (almost 3 years old) when she woke up and saw that Santa came!

I also consider it to be fact the more I ponder it. As far as multiple casts with one finally triggering a bite because it got into the fish's strike zone......I have proven it over and over again. On some days you just have to put it where they want it. Tony.....you fish for steelhead........you have got to see that on some days a bait has to be presented PRECISELY for them to eat it. On other days they will move and strike a bait. I have see that hundreds of times from Lake Erie steelhead. IMHO bass are no different. As far as an angler being negatively affected by believing that fishing is tough on some days, I think that has made me a BETTER angler. By figuring out that the bite is slow or off, I'm able to to prepare myself and really bear down and fish thoroughly. I also believe what Catt said, many factors affect what size a strike zone will be on a given day.......

Muddy, I absolutely believe the theory. I also believe that we influence what size the strike zone is meaning fishing pressure, boat traffic, and other factors. My example....In the months of April, May, June we out in this end of the PA fish numerous tournaments on Pymatuning. It's a very large lake by PA's standards but on the weekends it may have as many as 10-15 tournaments going on plus recreational bass, walleye, panfisherman. I often practice there during the week when boat traffic and fishing pressure is much lower. The bass usually bite very well and on baits such as spinnerbaits, cranks, swimming jigs. Come Sunday, things sometimes drastically change. It's my belief that it changes because the fish are getting pounded on Friday, Sat, then Sunday. How do I adjust? I will start with the fast moving baits early on and let the fish dictate to me what they want. I can usually catch a few on the movers because they are feeding at the prime time, but then things go stale. The lake has an abundance of shallow cover. These fish will bury into thick cover and you literally have to drop a bait on their nose to get bit. My best examples.....I have a stump GPS'd that's off the bank in about 3 fow. It sits where guys usually have their boats. I have run to it first during low light and immediately caught fish on a moving bait. Mid-morning or mid-day I usually go back to it. I usually cannot get bit on it with a moving bait. I believe that the constant boat traffic makes these fish hold tight and not bite. How do I adapt/adjust? Multiple casts with different presentations. On one occasion I made 17 casts to the stump with a spinnerbait, banging the bait off the stump in various directions. Cast number 17 produced a keeper smallmouth. I moved around the stump and started over. 15 casts later I boated another fish, a keeper largemouth. 32 casts to one stump for 2 fish. On other occasions I've had to make multiple pitches with a vertical baits like a tube to get bit. I firmly believe that boat traffic and fishing pressure changed the strike zone and you had to make the fish bite. IMHO sometimes weather conditions do the same thing, high skies, drop in water temp etc...... I have other examples but I've been long winded enough already.

Whelp, here it is 4:21 AM, BORING night. Freezing rain all night, roads have like 2 inches of ice on them, ZERO crashes so far, nor much else for that matter. Currently sitting dispatch for 2 hours cause our scheduled dispatcher called off sick :-X.....I hate sitting here >, would rather be on the road. Got about 35 minutes left till I'm relieved by another road guy, 5 of us working tonight rotate through dispatch.

Just thought I'd see if anyone else is working nights right now? LOL, it's kinda crazy, most of you will be preparing for bed soon if you haven't already. I just got up Sitting here drinking my coffee and in 15 minutes will get ready to go to work. 8-) I generally work shifts for a month at a time. This month is my night shift month. I also start off the new year on nights, sooooooo 2 months straight of 11PM-7AM. Haven't been sleeping too well, even with my room totally blacked out. My back has been in one of it's moods. It's tough to sleep when you ache. Guess that's what I get for wearing body armor and a gun belt plus driving around for 6-8 hours at a time. Enough rambling, time to get ready for work : Merry Christmas, I'll be watching for Santa

What type and size of line were you throwing then on?

Rapala came out with a DT20 this year which I will probably try. My favorites are the Norman DD22's but they only have a maximum depth of about 16 feet. Luhr-Jensen makes a crank called a Hotlips or brush baby, somethng like that. I had a few of them, they caught fish. The larger models would hit 15+ feet.

X2

Burley St. Nick

PA TBF

Hey man, not sore at all. I know things are different from place to place. All I was trying to say was that what happens in Dept A is not the same as Dept B. Your right, it's all good 8-)

Since I know your fishing some of the same water as me, here's my advice. About 7-8 years ago I was in the same boat as you. Alot of quantity, not much quality. Like already mentioned, a combination of LOCATION and the RIGHT BAIT and PRESENTATION is key. Spend more time learning about the seasonal movements of bass and what kind of structure, cover, the bass will be using given the time of year. In a recent PM you asked me about a local lake, I'll use that lake as an example. I used to struggle there, just like you are now. I could catch 2 pound or less fish till I was tired of catching them. I would see guys bring in limits exceeding 18 lbs, it drove me nuts. My response......I totally quit doing my normal thing, beating the bank. I would go there with only a few rods, and only fish offshore structure. I had trips there where I would do far more idling and studying electronics and looking than fishing. That was AFTER I studied what bass do seasonally. The result.....much larger fish. It also enabed me to further refine my bait choices and presentation styles to catch those fish. Hang in there.....spend as much time as you can on the water....once it starts to click you can apply what your learning to other bodies of water around here.

Like CJ said, number of waypoints would depend on my pattern or the style of fishing I was doing. I personally would fish ALL the waypoints I marked. If I only have 1 day to practice I would want to know which waypoints are worth spending time on and which ones are unproductive, that way you are not burning valuable tournament time PLUS, it will key in further on pattern. Honestly, if you have 24 waypoints in a 3 mile strech then your doing ok, if your on some sort or pattern that is...... Remember, 4 days is a long tournament, don't burn your best spot. Rotate through places you are catching fish. Save a few spots for days 3 and 4 if you can. Also, as far as practicing on your waypoints, I personally don't hook more than a fish or two. Once I kind of figure out the quality of the fish I cover the hook points or shake 'em off if possible. Good luck!

Your pension plan is plain awesome. Ours is plainly stinky, but I knew that going in, I'm not complaining, I love my job and at least I have a pension plan when I do retire. It has gotten a little better since I started 14 years ago. We just finally got awarded a COLA adjustment but we had to go to binding aribitration to get it. We are allowed to accumulate 1000 hours of sick time BUT we only get paid for 1/3 of it when we retire, we loose the rest. Our vacation and comp time is a yealry thing, use it or loose it (except for the comp, we get paid for it at the end of each year, we can only have 40 hours accumulated) Beside the 50% and the stuff I mentioned, that's it for our pension..... > Next contract talks we will continue to try to make headway but with todays economy arbitrators are not going to be too generous plus arbitration is very costly and time consuming. My point to Muddy post was to explain that what goes on in one dept/area/state does not necesarily go on everywhere. Maybe some places do try to bump a guys earnings so his pension increases, not here and not around here......

You know that your last year you will be dished all the OT you can work, 1/2 pay beats most jobs in America which is goodbye and we hope your 401 K is doing alright I have personally seen guys making 70 g's a year work 100 g's the last year on the force and retie at 50 a year, not bad. The money paid to police officers is never enough and I do not begrudge this at all. I just think we should keep things honestly in perspective WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?......HONESTLY???........in PERSPECTIVE? Dished out overtime, that's a joke......besides, our pension is based off of BASE pay, overtime is NOT included. Keep what in perspective???? What you have "seen" is absolutely NOT representative of what happens here nor is it representative of most Police jobs.. I have heard stories of places where guys somehow work extra their last year to gain a bump in their pensions, can't name one place in this area that allows that, and I've spoken to alot of cops at labor seminars and places where I learn about contractual and labor issues, I'm one of 4 barganing unit representatives for our dept. WE DO NOT HAVE THAT ABILITY NOR WOULD OUR CITY ALLOW SUCH AN ACT. Here's PERSPECTIVE............Like I already said, if I retire at 20 years of service, I will make about $20,000 a year on Pension. If I stay till around 30 years of service I will make maybe $30,000/yr.

Holy crap, that's a retirement plan....... If only ours could and would get just a little better, we fight and fight but seem to make very little headway. I've got 14 years in, could retire at 46 years old, but that probbaly won't happen unless our pension changes dramatically over the next 6 years, and I don't see that happening........

Can you retire after 20 years at UPS with a pension and full benefits? How do your benefits stack up with the cops and teachers? Not trying to call you out, but just wanted to point out that the comparison in pay needs to take into account ALL forms of compensation and not just take home pay. Pension and full benefits........HA HA HA HA........sorry, that's a joke around here........Yes, we can retire at 20 years of service.....BUT Pension is a measley 50% of your last years salary (so basically that will be around $20,000 A YEAR for our dept members) NO BENEFITS UPON RETIREMENT, in other words, medical coverage goes out the window when I retire. Retirement plans vary GREATLY from State to State, Agency to Agency...

Simply put, with the switch on, you don't have to turn the handle to engage the spool. Soon as you let up on the thumb bar the spool is enaged. The flippin switch is one reason I buy the Accurists. I use it all the time. Once you get the hang of it (if you flip and pitch alot like I do) you'll like it. If your going to use the reel for casting, you may never use it.

The Glock is a nice touch Sure you have enough mags?

The tubes that Simmons ships rods in are really thick! It's amazing that they arrive broken, it would take significant force just to break the tube. Do they go through anything mechanical?

Taken off of Dave Lefebre's website: Dock Post 12/9/08 December 9, 2008 I just wanted to let you all in on the latest industry news before it hits the web waves. First of all, I'm very proud to represent the companies that are my sponsors. I'm blessed that I can honestly and passionately talk to anyone about any of the products that I use day in and day out. Having said that, I guess I'm fortunate that I went hard after the sponsors I now have, I started at the bottom in most cases and worked my way up, and in each case I used and believed in the products even when I had to pay full price for them. I pride myself in being loyal and never went where the easy and quick money was. I actually made quite a few frightening (at the time) sacrifices over the years and they're now finally beginning to pay off. I value the relationships I've built with the people who support me, I never take advantage of my sponsor relationships and I'm happy and feel blessed to say that all but one of my sponsors will remain intact for next season. Gamma has stunned the industry this past week by beginning to deal out pay cuts to its entire elite bass fishing pro-staff, including Greg Hackney, Alvin Shaw, Terry Scroggins, Jeff Kreit, Brent Chapman, Matt Herren, Anthony Gagliardi, myself and others. I personally don't know if I ever worked so hard to see a new company establish itself in the tackle industry as I did for Gamma over the past 5 years. I was there from the beginning and so were most of these guys, so to see it all go away overnight is pretty alarming as you can probably imagine. It's not about the small amount of money we were making, it goes way beyond that. Many of the team members, including myself had opportunities to make more money with other line companies, but again, it was a sacrifice that we thought would pay off in the long run. We all had a personal satisfaction that, although we still had a long way to go, we somehow managed to pull off the immaculate reception (Go STEELERS!sorry) by making an exceptionally over priced fishing line come alive in an already saturated market. All of our hard work has certainly paid off for Gamma but unfortunately not for all of us. Our intention was to grow with the company as they grew, I don't think anyone saw this one coming. I understand that things happen, the economy is tough right now, various companies are forced to make some cut-backs, but this case appears to be totally unrelated to the economy and has been brewing since Tom Ference, Gamma's former marketing Director, was let go several months ago. The people at Gamma did not attempt to contact the staff they intended to cut; instead they hid behind their desks waiting for us to come to them. It was really sad how this whole thing was handled as far as I'm concerned. Where they simply using Tom, others before him, and now us, who undeniably put Gamma on the map against extreme odds? It seems that way to me. It's a very good product, but I personally cannot work in that environment. It's just not worth it to me, so for the first time in my career, I quit. I worked my tail off for Gamma, and I think the pro's and other fishermen and women we had on board were all top notch, worked way over their pay checks and deserve better. It just blows my mind to think about what just happenedfoolish, again, just my opinion. I figure the news will break at some point, so before the rumors start flying, I wanted to at least voice my reasoning for leaving a company in which I was so visible and outspoken. Talk to you later, Dave Interesting.........wonder how this will affect GAMMA sales / usage of their products? If more of the affected professional anglers voice their opinions, who knows? Certainly can't be good....

Guys.......he's putting Trilene line on FIRST as backing then using a KNOT to connect the Trilene backing and Power Pro. Tape is ok for direct braid to spool........ Like already mentioned, a blood knot or double uni knot will do the job. Using a less expensive backing line is a good way to conserve some of your expensive line. One little thing I do, I take a red marker and mark the knot. I can then look at a spool and see that I'm getting close to re-spooling time. Works better for a mono to flouro connection or lines of similar color of course. With braid to clear line you can simply see your getting close .

We are definately in a tough positon here with all the different bodies of water and differences in allowed HP. Just another suggestion.....if your considering fishing Lake Erie at all, including Presque Isle, I would seriously consider an 18 footer with at least a 150 hp as a minimum. You'll appreciate a slightly larger boat on days where the wind is rocking up there. A 17 footer will be fine in the bay on most days but add boat traffic and wind, it's gets really rough, especially in the dead of summer.