j-bass

Since I was too young to remember, my mom and dad would take me to what they called "the perch hole" (a small water lock connecting two resivoirs). They would sit me there in the grass w/ a 5 gal bucket 1/2 full of water for grass shrimp and minnows, I'd have my trusty cane pole w/ bobber and I'd catch perch all day (called 'em perch then, but they were sunnies and Rio Grande perch)............ah, the good 'ole days.

All of us guys who live on or near the coast have to put up with this, it blows...........no pun intended. Here, there never really is such a thing as a calm day, I just have to deal with it. The most frustrating part is that I fish in a little jon boat......man when that wind is kicking up, it can be a nightmare.....constantly being blown into shore, orver prime spots, or away from them. The bottoms of these resacas are flat mud.......soft, soft mud (smells like a$$, too) so the anchor only does so much good. Oh well, se la vie. -J

Ditto on the boat plug..........stupid things you do that make you wish you had a hole to crawl into. Just watch one of those Bill Dance blooper reels, it will make you feel better about yourself.

I would consider myself a tactical angler rather than a junk fishermen. I might throw a variety of different lures w/ different presentations, but there is method to my madness. I always try to shoot for the precision cast w/ the proper lure and presentation for where I am fishing. 'Junk' sounds sloppy, 'tactical' makes it sound as if you know exactly what you are doing...........don't ruin my moment. :

Hey, I thought you were going to hook me up after the mullet pic you used the last time, j/k............good job there dude.

In the places that I fish, it is rare to see anyone else out there, but it is not uncommon to see an old-man throwing a castnet (called a taralla down here) for bass, gar, etc, etc. What I do find, more often, is remnants of past illegal fishermen, like getting your crank snagged on an old gill, or sane net that got stuck and was left in the water (I'm glad they lost it, but it sure does make things a pain in the a$$ for everybody else). The other thing I see all time is jug lines that have been left out there (I usually just scoop them up and throw them in the dumpster when I get home). -J

Just trying to figure out why this is happening. Time before last: went fishing, and when I got done, I was taking the power cables off of the batterey and the wing nuts were hot to the touch. This last time: same thing, but when I got done and touched that wingnut, it burnt the crap out of me. Is my batterey fried? (its not that old, 6mo tops). -J

my pb on wheat, grape jelly j/k I think it was around an 8lber (had a scale, but it was piece of junk) on a firetiger Rattlin Rapala

On the fall: 1. the time between impact with the water and contact with the bottom. 2. Time between impact with water and biggining of retreival (w/ swimming lures: ie spinners & lippless cranks not meant to get all the way to the bottom) hope this helps -J

Born and bred in deep south Texas. I fish anywhere I can find shade, play music in a local band Rip-Tide (www.rip-tide-band.com) going back to school for my masters, and I work at a dead end job. Life's great. -J

I'm down in the southern most portion of Texas, and the water is hot........very hot (hell, everything is hot). The vegitation in the water is just exploding. If anything, I think the hot weather encourages growth (there are certain portions that are just choked with vegitation and the rest of the water is bright green w/ plankton growth)

Got to be, these fish were at least 17-22" long. There are only a few types of fish in these waters that get that size: bass, gar, white drum, and carp. W/ the coloration and slotted dorsal fin, I don't believe it could be anything but a bass. I'm going out this evening about 5:30 or so (once it starts to cool down a little) and I'm going to take a push pole and my camera to see If I can sneak up on one and snap a pic.

A couple of times that I have been out Ive come across what looks like bedding bass, but i'm not sure. If I am creeping up slow enough and quiet enough, ive seen fish just floating near cover (almost always facing towards submerged brush just an inch or two away). Generally when I notice them, there is about 2" of the fish's back sticking out of the water. Sometimes they are still, sometimes they are slowly fanning. It just seems strange, its too hot and too late in the season for a spawn. Even when I get close to them, they don't spook too easily. If I get too close they just slowly slip away. BTW, Ive seen carp do something similar, but I know this is not carp by the shape and placement of the fins. Anybody else seen this before or know what the heck I'm talking about. Thanks. -J

This first thing you need to ask yourself...."is it worth it?" Are you noticing a lot of action in the slop? There is this one place where I fish (same piece of water where my Challenge Results pics were taken) that has this one section that is completely overgrown w/ hornwort (coontail). The stuff is so thick that almost nothing will work. Pretty much anything w/ a trebble is out of the picture........the only reason I consistantly fish the area is the sheer amount of action I see in it (it's just too d**n tempting). So far only three things have done me any good. when the water is up, it gives me about 2-3 inches of clearance above the weeds where I can either work a popper or a very slowly worked jointed rapala. During normal conditions, there is no clearance and you can see the slop sticking out of the water. For this Ive been using these Devil's Tounge (I believe that there are other brands that make similar models) floating worms T-rigged weightless. W/ a light enough line and hook, the worm will stay on the surface making it almost completely snag free (only drawback is that you cant cast the thing very far)...............just an idea. -J

Use the pilons to your advantage. Do these things attract bass? Not necessarily....it grows moss, or other veigation, which in turn attracts baitfish.....this is what attracts the bass. Plasitcs will work, but I would start by bumping cranks (lippless and lipped) allong the columns.

Should my eyes open for tomorrow's gain? Revolution is my Name - Pantera I'm gonna find me a hole in the wall, I'm gonna crawl inside and die 'Cause my lady, now a mean old woman, Lord Never told me goodbye

From a jon boat.....that will change your fishin experience completley (think about it........you can enter a tourny w/ that thing). < this is me being jealous >

darn skippy, I paid over $1300 for my set up (most of you who have real boats will laugh at this) and its not exactly top-notch. If everything is as good as it sounds you would be foolish to turn it up. BTW, if the Johnson motor is in good shape it is worth $900 by itself.

Yeah, its called an anchor.

Just because the bottom is nasty (and I'm sure I can relate to this........it sucks when every cast brings in 2 lbs of snot) does not mean you neccessarily have to go pure topwater. Try a shallow crank or zip a spinner over the slime, the point is just to stay off the bottom so you can get a nice clean cast. (It blows when you cast out 30-40 ft just to have it ruined right off the bat by a clump of weeds or moss)

I would normally say early morning or late afternoon, but that is not because the fish aren't biting, its because if it is 103F out there. Albeit, about a week ago, I went out mid day............sweatin like a rat at church, but I was catching steady. Whenever the fish are biting, that is the best time.

I don't really have any problems with my friends catching more fish than me (plus, that rarely happens ;D) because all of them are more than happy to practice catch and release. What bugs me is when I see some jacka$$ catching and keeping left and right. Karma is kinda screwy sometimes (one day, maybe the game warden will roll around and set things right). BTW, its usually the same jacka$$.

I'd find it a fine privilege to throw lines with any of you guys (or gals depending on the situtation). I don't think I could pick out just one. Crappy part is being sequestered out here in the middle of BFE probably never getting a chance to do that. Who knows, maybe one day.

It all depends on how you are fishing. If you are shore-bound and the wind is blowing against you at 25mph you might have some problems. If your are throwing with the wind.......well, that much further of a cast. For me, the most frustrating things about the wind: when it blows your line into a tree. and when you have a small jon boat like me and the wind keeps blowing your boat all over the place.

It doesn't become fun until they start rippin drag