ClackerBuzz

it's not weird if ur talking to a fellow angler. but don't sit down on a park bench and tell a random stranger.. "I like playing with my dawggies more than my froggies."

think of july and august like fishing in a bowl of soup. hot water with low oxygen levels. it's a good time to learn how to finesse fish...or get skunked every year!

yup same baits as during the day. also i'm: 1 far more likely to cast topwater lures while night fishing. they just produce. doesn't matter if its a buzz, popper, frog, spook etc etc etc. 2 i'm far more likely to cast reaction baits on an august night than during the heat of the day. if these 2 fun styles work i'm quick to slow down and slow drag a weightless plastic

i'd put away the spinnerbaits, cranks, reaction baits and slow drag weightless soft plastics of ur choice (except keep using reaction at dusk/dawn/night fishing). http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/126667-bank-fishing-forum/page-9#entry

use do-it hitching posts. not only are you weedless but it stops ur plastics from tearing up while battling fish. i now use them on 60 deg jig hooks for my T rigs instead of off set hooks. you can easily catch 10+ fish on the same T rigged senko. and also for punching. you can punch nasty stuff and land multiple fish w/o the beaver tearing. http://www.***.com/Do-it_Hitching_Post_25pk/descpage-DOITHPS.html

i've melted so many things its ridiculous. even the skirt bands from skirt unlimited melted around my skirts. senkos melted to non senkos. river2sea frog legs melted on themselves (they did back their product and send me a new frog). i'm fascinated when guys tell me they never melted anything. i've even had a senko on the floor literally melt into the bottom of my nike shoe. now i'm careful to keep everything separate and/or in their original packaging. fyi it's not the heat as much as it is a chemical reaction.

8 yr old senko http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/142538-the-secret-to-not-losing-so-many-senkos-heres-the-solution/page-2

well said jungle cat. i used to use a fast action for my topwater b/c i liked being able to pop them free of weeds. but my hook up percentage went thru the roof when i switched to a crankbait rod. i also have fast reflexes and to add to the problem i use braid as mainline. i was literally pulling the bait out of their mouth before they had a chance to get it. i learned to slow down my hook set with a fast action. you can absolutely do it but you also have to remember not to put too much pressure on the fish. one day i ended up throwing a buzzbait on my crankbait rod by chance b/c it was the only rod i had along. the results were amazing and i learned why everyone recommends it. you don't have to be so precise with ur hook set timing b/c the moderate action allows the bass to engulf the lure. AND once a fish is hooked he's pretty much pinned till he's in the boat b/c of the parabolic bend. Or a fast action rod with mono line would pretty much give you the same excellent topwater results.

trying to find fish or a limit=smaller profile=no skirt. trying to cull or hook a lunker=bigger profile=skirt.

you'll have ask the other guys about map cards b/c i don't use one. the 598 only has one SD card slot. i really don't know if that forces you to make a decision between using a map card or recording video on a blank SD card. there are no lake maps available for my area so i don't have to worry about it. i can tell you that the unit comes with a generic map program loaded. the software is cheap and so the shoreline is not accurate (i don't know why or when they are going to collaborate with google maps/earth). the unit does have a "Map Offset" feature to allow you to move the shoreline/lake 100 ft east etc to make it accurate. my experience was it still wasn't accurate. i took my eyes off the lake too long while looking at the unit and almost ran into the shore. luckily i was only using an electric trolling motor while going 4 mph in a canoe. i learned never to trust a unit. map card or no map card, map offset or not offset you have to keep ur eyes on the water. now i just ignore the map. it doesn't have contour lines so the only reason i'm looking at it is for GPS/way points. and the cheap map software still has accurate GPS points. SI allows you to find good spots w/o a map card. 2D lets you troll over them slowly to analyze it in finer detail. GPS gets you back to the general area. finally marker buoys allow you to accurately fish the spot. if you live on a big lake and you are a structure fisherman...and a map card is available..then it becomes much easier to fish/troll 400ft of ledges or contour lines w/o having to scan first with SI. but SI alone is fine for smaller lakes, lakes w/o map, finding baitfish, marking GPS points etc

get the SI 110%. DI is like looking at the bottom of the lake thru a microscope. SI is like looking in 180 deg panoramic vision. my 598ci si was $550. the screen size is fine and the clarity of the standard transducer is amazing ie no need to spend more on HDSI transducer

big enough to ask out on a second date

braid all the way for me. fishing with anything less is like fishing with a slinky (fluoro is nice but too expensive and requires too much treatment). braid has amazing sensitivity, zero memory and stellar hook sets. use leader for finicky fish or remove it to be more versatile and confident around cover. i even use it for my deep crankbaits...just tie a 25ft fluoro leader so they dive better.

i'm done with full moons and moving on to new moons. full moon night ops have given me virtually the same results as day time fishing. i've talked with several anglers who've had much better luck with new moons b/c of the low light conditions. it's not surprising bass still hold tight to cover and tucked in shadows giving the light a full moon gives off. the whole point of me going out at night is to gain an edge and easily catch roaming fish with a 20 ft strike zone. i can go after the tight to cover/ 2 ft strike zone bass any day of the week.

i'm not on a high horse about catching that hog. i too would trespass and catch it. and i'd weight it and take a good pix. i'm not even against registering it as an un-official record. but i wouldn't catch it and try to register it as the state record. which it brings up the ethics question: is it still a state record if you have to lie about how you obtained it? will they still register it as record if you tell the truth and say you trespassed and poached it from a golf course? probably not. maybe you don't want to register it but it sounds like you do

and the current nj state record is???! 10lb 14oz in 1980

ever walk the dog with a spook? jerks are the same thing. you want to snap them on a slack line so they jerk side to side. it's walk the dog but underwater. youtube has tons of vids.

wow talk about christmas in august!

and that was one of my smooth lines

not a lot of docks on my waters but i literally see the same situation daily with parallel parking. things get out of hand with yelling and fights. yesterday i just finished parked my car and there was space left in front of me. a girl tried parking there and literally rolled into my car going at least going 2 mph. i walked up to her window and said 'i'm ok with a slow inching bump but if u want to ram into me that hard you're going to have to take me to dinner and buy me flowers first". she was so embarrassed i saw what she did that she drove off even thought i was smiling and having fun. you should see some of the mayhem and fights that go down when someone even inches into their car. other people like me just accept that living in a city means their bumpers are gonna get scratched. if you don't know how parallel park without hitting another car don't do it or at least take ur time...especially if the owner is right there. if you don't know how to skip docks/boats w/o hitting them don't do it...or at least use a senko not a jig...and don't attempt it if the owner is right there!

the ability to psychologically rebound from mistakes and be back in the positive zone at a moments notice. all pro's at the top of their field have this trait. doesn't matter if it's sports, business, politics etc. a NFL quarterback must be able to throw an interception and 5 min's later be back on the field ready and optimistic enough to throw a game winning touchdown. years ago when i still worked in the corporate world i interviewed with american express financial advisers. they had a 200+ questionnaire which basically summed ur psychological profile. by far the reoccurring theme was how well you take and/or recover from rejection. for high level sales you gotta be able to have 99 people slam the door in ur face and still be positive/unfazed and ready to land that next huge account. if you have that trait even an average intelligence person can compete at the highest level

i've been a sonar student this season so i've been carrying a crappie rod at all times. those little lures make it easy to catch fish on the sonar so it's easier to identify what fish and baitballs look like on ur unit. i've heard pro's refer to the drop shot as a vacuum cleaner that picks up anything around but imo those tiny jigs are the true vacuums. its also ironic how much less fish and lure action you'll see from a 1/8 oz hair jig. fish aren't near as drawn to it b/c it falls so quickly. but they're down right hypnotized by the free floating/light jigging action of 1-32-1/16oz

no location but its safe to say ur pond water is nearing it's all time high of the year=soup bowl. all the lures you listed=reaction baits. it's mighty hot w/ low levels of oxygen so soak a rubber worm instead of asking the fish to chase a spinnerbait. but keep trying ur reaction lures at dusk/dawn/night and during rain/storms/summer 'cold' fronts.

spend LOTS of time idling around just looking. and dragging a 1/2-3/4oz jig on the bottom to learn what rock on ur graph feels like and how far away it is from the boat. GPS way points get you back to a spot. idle over it with 2D to get a detailed understanding of it. finally one drop marker buoys to fish it. and drop a second buoy once you catch a fish so you can cast the exact same angle. you'll be suprised how far and fast you drift off a spot just by using marker buoys. take an ultra light rod w/ small crappie style lure to cast so you can catch and identify fish you see on the graph. sorry alot of these are 'humminbird' b/c that's what i have but the same settings apply and all the same structure tactics apply. also spend ur time working from deep to shallow...not shallow to deep (from the creek channel up if possible).

no sense in carrying extra weight b/c bullets can't protect you from sleep walking sasquatch.