Christian M

So I finally got a chance to have a face to face talk with my buddy about the matter at hand. I called him up yesterday and he invited me out on his boat. I asked him honestly what happened the morning of the tournament and he told me it was a combination of not feeling great from drinking and not really wanting to get up. I cursed at him a couple times and told him if he does it to me again we can't fish tournaments together anymore. I left it at that and we were back to having a good time catching fish. I could tell he sincerely felt bad because he checked the club site to see where I had placed and thats when he realized I didn't compete. Then he told me when he saw the weight of the winning bags on the club site, he knew we could have taken home some money. Bass Ninja thanks for understanding. Everyone else, I realize my first post was heated and over the top, but I was pretty upset. Not only because I missed a tournament, but because I felt like my friend left me high and dry when I was counting on him. I try to live by the golden rule and it back-fires on me a lot of the time. In saying that I realize blasting off on a public forum wasn't the proper way to handle it, but hey I'm only human.

We were allowed to fish alone, but as a solo angler, you are only allowed to weigh in a 3 fish limit, with two anglers you're allowed 5 fish. So if I would have fished alone I would have just wasted my money. Also you needed to have your registration form in prior to the event, so our names were already down as partners.

Ironically today, right after I signed off, I was pulling off my street when I saw him passing by my house pulling his boat. He gave me a look like he saw a ghost, 5 minutes later I got a text saying "Sorry I bailed out on you the morning of the tournament, I was sick from drinking the night before and I didnt realize that by me bailing out you wouldn't be able to fish the tournament either." I don't see how I'm to blame for him not showing up, I was 100% prepared, awake, and ready to go. As far as having "backups" I had two other friends who would have fished the event with me, but I expressed to him that I knew he's a higher caliber angler and I would rather have him as my partner. I will take this as a learning experience, not sure how it was my mistake though.

Now that im getting bashed, my entire point was that if you make a committment to something or someone, you show up. Its like the guy that calls out 15 mins before work knowing that his co-workers are depending on him to get the job done.

Who said I bothered him constantly for weeks leading up to the tournament? I told him about it a month before, thats it. The whole point is, if you commit to something you show up, you dont bail out 30 mins before its time to go.

He used to do it to me all the time, and its not a phone call just to say "tie ur knots" its a final rundown to be prepared for the morning.

Before I got my head bitten off I should have given you guys some background info. As far as him "realizing he bit off more than he could chew", this is the guy that taught ME how to fish. He has his own boat which I was helping him fix up along with mine in the weeks prior to the tourney. He has been fishing tournaments for a few years more than me so he was the one who got me in the habit of respooling my reels & retying all my knots the night before a big day of fishing by calling me between 10-11pm. I've known him since we were kids, I know when he's lying. The day before the tourney we were supposed to practice fish, he didnt make it but he CALLED early to tell me that there was no one home to watch the puppy so he couldnt make it. I was fine with that, I went and practiced for the both of us. When I got his text the morning of the tourney I said "I guess that means were not gonna make it, call me when you're feeling better." Also he lives with his girlfriend so if he was that sick she would have taken him to the ER. Its now 4 days later and I havent heard a word from him. I did have 2 back ups and I told him the day before, if he felt like he wasn't going to make it let me know so I don't miss the tourney, but its kinda hard to call a backup at 4am. If he was really sick don't you guys think he would have contacted me in the past 4 days? He has been flaking more and more recently, but I figured a tournament would be different. Not to mention I'm looking at his facebook and he was commenting w/friends on the new truck he had just bought the day before at about 1:45am, you guys still think he was really sick?

This past weekend my bass club was holding an open buddy tournament on a lake that I have experience on, so needless to say I was excited. I told my "buddy" about the tournament about a month in advance. The weekend of the tournament came & I had been busy fixing up my boat & trailer for weeks. I spoke to my partner the whole day before about what our game plan was as far as fishing, what time to meet up, how much money to bring for entry fees & gas. I gave him one last call at 11:30pm to tell him to make sure he re-spooled his reels & re-tied all his knots. Come 4am the day of the tournament I get a text saying "I ate something bad & have been up sick all night". Needless to say I missed the tournament & I didn't buy his story about "eating something bad". More importantly I'm seriously considering cutting this guy off. If you make a commitment to something and someone you be a man and honor that commitment, you don't punk out with a text message a half an hour before.

I just bought a new bow mount trolling motor for my boat, its a 55lb MinnKota Powerdrive V2. I have a battery with a few seasons on it that powered my old motor all day no problem. My first outing with the new motor gave me about an hour of good performance before the battery indicator read re-charge. I have 4 batteries on the boat all together. One for the bow mount motor, one for the transom mount (55lb Minn Kota), one for the accessories ( fishfinders, radio, lights) and one for the live well. I really need a new battery for the bow mount motor, the rear motor is optional as it's just a kicker. The accessories can run on the batts that they're already on. My question is what do you guys suggest I do? Money is tight, so Im thinking I can replace both motor batteries with standard deep cycle marine batteries, or spring for a dry cell just for the front motor. Do you guys know of any websites or companies that make good batteries at decent prices?

I've been out a couple times, first bass of the season came off a black worm shaky head on a drop off, just a 2lb dink tho. Second time out I caught a nice rainbow trout off a gold trap, then 2 good sized pickeril trolling the gold trap. I haven't hit any of my good holes yet tho.

Great color, I like the 4" lucky strike twirl tails for drop shotting, one of those colors thats productive in most water colors.

I got off work Friday & rushed home to hook my boat up to the truck. I hightailed it over to the local reservoir where I heard there were some nice Smallies being caught all week. I got there, bought my season launch pass, dropped my boat in the water & headed to a cove across the lake when I felt the foot control pedal on my trolling motor lose tension. I used my transom mount motor to get back. I got it home & checked it out & the steel control cables had broken, the motor was shot. It was a 40lb Minn Kota All Terrain (old model). I got on craigslist & I found a Minn Kota Power Drive V2 55lb thrust w/the Power Driver foot pedal & quick release mounting bracket. I went to check it out and it didn't even look like it had been used, not a scratch! I got the guy down to $350 & took it home, what do u guys think...??

Here is a pic of a LMB with the same type of spots that I caught with a buddy on a small local lake. I spoke to a local bait & tackle shop owner & he told me pretty much the same thing, its a type of genetic trait, or defect as he put it, that pops up ocassionally in fish. In Florida strain LMB there is another genetic trait that pops up occasionally, they call them "Stubnose Bass", they have a stubby upper jaw with their lower jaw protruding. Both pretty interesting.

Man what a time we had yesterday. I got a call from my best fishing buddy yesterday, "Wanna go hit some stripers"?? I looked outside & noticed that the overcast that was looming overhead all day had turned into a fog and replied "Heck yea". We decided to take a gamble and go down to a hydro cooled power plant with a U shaped canal where the water goes in and comes out 10-15 degrees warmer. Its perfectly legal to fish the side of the bridge that faces the bay, but not the side facing the powerplant, and guess which side the ALL the BIG fish are on! So we crept under the bridge to the other side and started launching our topwater chuggers up & across the canal, we both landed fish on our second casts. After that it was fish on almost every other cast! My third Striper had to be at least 25lbs, his first was over 30. One fish slammed his popper so hard that it came off the 50lb leader like it was tied to a piece of thread. About 30-40 minutes and over 15 fish later the security gaurd came and asked us politely to leave. I think the fact that he was holding an M16 helped lol! My arms and legs feel like Jello, but either way it was worthit.

So I had a chance to put the livewell to the test and it worked great! Putting the pump on the other end of the hose was the key. I also shortened up the hose so that the pump doesnt have to work so hard. I just put the pump right overboard and it pulls water up about 3 feet of hose. I changed the water out every couple hours, added a few 12oz bottles of frozen lake water when the temp started rising, and put in a few capfulls of "catch & release". I kept a couple nice fish alive for over 6 hours until they were released live & well. I definitely will go thru the hull first chance I get.

Is it a spinning or casting rod? What is the average weight of the bait you're throwing? What kind of line do you use? Sounds to me like you may be in need of a flipping stick. I have a St.Croix Rage thats 7'1" MH Fast. I really like using it to pitch Texas rigged, weightless senkos on Trokar hooks. However, when I start throwing creature baits & jigs I move up to my 7'6" flippin stick. I don't think the problem is with the backbone of the rod, you probably need a rod with a heavier tip. If you're using say a 1/2oz or 3/4oz jig, an XF tip just isn't going to give you the initial power you need to drive that hook home. Whats happening is you're probably pinning the fish just long enough to get a bit of a fight, but once they realize theyre hooked and really start fighting then they shake off the hook.

So I just fished my first tournament this past weekend with a small club and got my butt kicked! I was on unfamiliar water with no partner & to be honest I was pretty nervous. For those of you out there who currently fish tournaments, or have in the past, what was your first season or even your first tournament like?

Hey guys, so I fished my first tournament yesterday morning. It was on a lake that I had never fished before & I started off with a 2lber in the first 20 mins, after that nothing. I ended up placing last, (a few guys didn't weigh in at all), so I did get on the boards as far as points go. Either way I was ok with it. I know that fishing water that I've never fished before against anglers that have been fishing tournaments for years is ultimately going to make me a better angler. If any of you guys have any suggestions or advice I would appreciate it.

Congrats! Thats a great fish, what did u catch it on?

They are making a healthy comeback in Jersey too. The Reservoir near my house has a pair with a pretty big area of water sectioned off for them to fish. Once I saw one dive down & catch a healthy sized pike. There are also Blue Herring, Redtail Hawks, Woodpeckers & a bunch of other birds on the rise in Jersey. Two years ago I was fishing off shore near a Redtails nest and it dropped a half eaten squirrel between where me & my girlfriend were standing! Safe to say we took off & fished somewhere else for the rest of the day.

I went to Sports Authority later that day & got a brand new $80 life vest for $40! I got some lures that they don't sell anywhere else around here too, thanks for the tip off.

Yea it was a sweet deal, when I got there the manager was trying to sell me one of the new G. Loomis rods, its was a really nice combo but I didn't have the money for both, I picked up a Carrot Stix Wild instead. When I got home I put the Quantum TE HPT100 on my St. Croix Rage rod & put my Smoke PT SL100 on the Carrot Stix.

Wow I wish I was on the site when they were doing that promo. That's funny usually you hear guys say the exact opposite, They fish spinning gear & can't use a baitcaster to save their lives. I even have one buddy who has a casting rod with a spinning reel on it! I dunno what he was thinking but I just looked at it & chuckled a little. Later that week I gave him one of my old casting reels, hopefully he uses it lol. I was lucky though, when I was learning to fish for bass more seriously my friend who was teaching me schooled me on how to use both types of rigs along with their benefits & downfalls. One habit that I picked up from him that stuck which many people think is a little strange is fishing senkos on casting gear. If I go smaller than 4" I'll use spinning gear but for 4" & up I use my best bait casting rig.

Welcome, NJ too!

Ok so I tested the live-well for the first time this weekend and the results were 50/50. The recirculator pump worked awesome & started pumping water the minute I turned it on, but the freshwater pump gave me a little trouble. I had the freshwater pump attached to the side of the well with a 6' length of hose running to the back of the boat. Seems the freshwater pump needs to skim the water & can't just draw water up. I don't know why I didn't realize earlier, I see the same thing happen with the filters in my fish tank, I have to add water to the filter before the filter actually begins to cycle water. So I made a slight modification, I attached the hose to the cooler, and the pump to the end of the hose. Now I can put the pump in the water & let it fill the well, not as convenient, it'll work for now. Soon I plan to just go through the hull with the fresh water pump.