j-bass

I think the new system will probably work fine. As it is, the other system has showed some minor flaws that should be corrected with these new changes. Reason saying: as it stands LBH chalenged Gloomis who challenged Alhuff who challenged Basser89 who went right back to challenging LBH. The cycle has gone full circle while the majority of the folks who signed up have heard nothing yet. Also, LBH, your right on how the signup posts should be formatted, right now, I will go back and modify my post to provide a better understanding of what I have to work with......other members should do the same.

You can, but I wouldn't recomend it (of course, though, my experiece lies mainly though erranty catching lots of hardheads and gaftops while saltwater fishing, especially when surf fishing and there are less options as to what you can do with he fish). What I do is grab them by the body, letting one barb run between my index and middle finger and the other barb propped up by my thumb, this way, even if the fish tries to flop around there is no where for the barb to go (of course, I guess this wouldn't work to well for a 20lb cat).

This will also let you know exactly how many cuts and knicks you got on your hands that day ;

with a girl named Linda Lou Lynard Skynard - Give me Three Steps you don't know how wierd that is, me and our singer were outside after practice earlier trying to rember the lyrics to that song. Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain...............

You're right, Bigtex. It doesnt seem right for someone to chastize you about keeping some bass when they turn around and post a pic of a pile of dead panfish (or carp, or whatever). It is all a matter of where you are fishing. If you fish a small, isolated body of water, well then you wouldn't want to keep everything you caught, because sooner or later the fishing is really going to start to suck. If it is a larger body, especially one that is fed by other bodies, then you might not have to worry about it so much. The best thing for people to do is be concientious and observant of what they are doing and how it will affect future fshing there (i.e. I have no problem loading an icechest full of snapper because, there is no way I'm going to deplete the population, but at my local watering hole, I will only keep once every couple of months because there are only so many fish in there). If you are using your best judgement, then don't worry about what other people are saying, because you know what you are doing.

One of the biggest problems with the flesh of big fish is worms. This goes for both fresh and saltwater. It seems the best meat comes off fish that are not much over the legal limit. Working on the boats I've done my fair share of filleting fish.......and some of the really big ones can get pretty nasty.

Semper Fidelis! And God bless America!

I won't say much for the rod and reel, because I have caught as many fish with crappy rods as good ones......the bait (or lure) is what usually makes the difference. Given the idea that this a limited time deal, I would stick to a T-rigged creature, a vaition of green or green/white, or pumpkin seed (or crawfish, in watermelon flake or the grey/orange - yum craw bugs are awesome for getting strikes, but many of the times they are only taking the claws). While some of my go-to baits are lipless cranks and spinners (especially for covering more area in a shorter amount of time), soft plastics are much more strategic......you can pinpoint spots where you think there might be bass, and be able to spend more time coaxing the bass out of that location. For the more, power-style, bass fishing you throw out a hunderd lines and hope-to-god you get a strike.............more of a crap-shoot if you ask me. I will admit that I have caught my biggest bass off of spinners and lipless cranks, but I get far more dinks on soft plastics (remember you didn't ask for a record, only a one pounder).

The key is to keep trying, and to vary your technique. I was always, and foremost, a saltwater angler. With the beach nearby and the fact that, for a while, I worked deep sea fishing. I had always thought it was a waste of time to fish these local resacas (oxbow lakes left by the Rio Grande). I didn't know the first thing about bass fishing when I started. Now I'm hooked (sorry for the pun). For me, it was one thing at a time. I began with lipped cranks....once I started to get that down I moved to lipless cranks...then spinners....and eventualy I became comfortable with softbaits (not that this is any recomendation of the order you should learn in, just the way I happened to go about doing things). Basically, what I'm saying is not to let it intimidate you.......have confidence in what you are doing and eventually you will posting pics of your new PB in no time. Browse some of the topics in the Tackle section, it will give you a decent idea of how to work various baits (I just wish I would have known about this site when I started). Good luck, and good fishing.

Thomas, I am a former machinist and I think you may have something going. There was another post, I cant remember right now, from a guy who is into CAD. If you can get your design plotted in CAD you can mass produce your moulds with an astonishing degree of accuracy as well as each mould being identical. CNC machining is great for that, but it takes jobs from the real machinists. Just a thought.

It really does no good to get over-reliant on one type of bait...and I found that out the other day. I've been using, and doing very well with, Berkley Power Hawgs (minor powerhawgitis........d**n that 'itis). I went out and threw that bait for about an hour or so....got a few nibbles but no hook-sets. It was about that point when I remembered that I hadn't thrown a spinner in almost a month. First cast, and on the fall, hooked and landed a nice 3 lb'er. Poor 'lil spinner, all the neglect.........I beleive it was a case of acute spinner deficiency. The doc says I'll be better soon (after a weekly 12 step w/ powerhawgaholics annonymous).

I'm not sure which is the pb of the year. I know this one was 6 lb 1 oz (I finally got a digital scale that I can trust) taken on a Berkley Power Hawg on the fall (04/16/06) I got this one on New Year's Day with a Firetiger Rattlin' Rapala on the fall, scale said 8, but I don't know if I want to trust that old scale too much

Thats the problem, don't start fishing until your bag weighs at least 45 lbs. ;D

Similar to the previous post, but easier to see. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5614347245920734972&q=bass+fishing

Scissors are a must in my tackle box...............oh yeah, SFC nice Python reference.

I usually get mine when I'm pulling extra line from the spool, if the drag is set too tight, and my hand slips, I normally get sliced on the second joint of my right index finger.....I've done this more times than I can count, you'd think by now it would be scarred over enough to be impermiable, or maybe I would just learn my lesson.

I know what you mean about no structure, the resacas that I fish in have cover everywhere, but the bottom is flat mud, no rocks, no drop-offs, the deepest part of any of these resacas (that I have found so far) might be 15 ft., usually more shallow. For this, I just stick to the cover, thats what seems to be working. The best I can hope for, in the middle of these resacas, is clusters of underwater vegitation.

Welcome to the forum, if you are looking for advice on bass fishing, you've come to the right place. Just explore the posts, you will probably find answers to most of your questions.

Bait monkey had a spell on me yesterday when I got out of work.........there is an Academy on the way home. Well, the monkey got shut down by a rent-a-cop at the front of the store who told me that "I had one minute to get what I needed and to get out"..................I didn't know Academy closes at 7pm........and they also must not care about sales that much to let a few last straggelers in to make thier purchases. Which sucks, 'cause I don't have a choice; no BPS, no Cabella's,........although there are about 8000 places here that sell saltwater tackle, all we have is that one Academy.

There's always a few like that, the bassist in our band, CB, is about 6'4" and weighs about 300+ and is scared of even a 1 lb bass. Another friend of mine, Eric, is afraid to get his hands dirty, when we go saltwater, he always takes a pair od scissors. The dude cracks me up, you look over, and he's very carefully removing a mullet from a plastic bag (being overly cautious not to touch the bag) with the tip of the scissors, cuts the bait with them, and uses them to put the bait on the hook. These guys should be housewives not fishermen. (well nevermiong, they would make some pretty butt-ugly housewives ;D).

Someone else had posted that vid, and up until now, I thought that dude got his hand sliced by a gill plate or something (I've been torn up by large snapper when I used to work deeps sea fishing). Of course I had no idea what those captions said. Thats weird as hell. Well, that guy should switch to a different bait (and maybe a different pair of jockeys) ;D.

I couldn't think of anything else.

Two words, Blackend Bass.........(although I am all about conservation, once in a while, as long as its not the hawgs)......take your bass filets, dredge in unsalted butter and sprinkle with Chef Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish Magic throw on a well seasoned cast iron skillet on a Coleman-type LP grill (heated thoroughly outdoors...too much smoke to be done inside) and cook for about 1 1/2 min per side. You can do any thick-fleshed fish like this (i.e. snapper, redfish, grouper) and shrip/scallops (if you are patient enough to be constantly fliiping the meat). Bon a' petit.

It depends on what you are fishing. If you are woking weeds with a crank, I would suggest zooming the crank over the weeds, if you are working structure I would recomend that you bump the crank off the bottom, if you are working cover, I would suggest that you use a square lip crank (they deflect cover better) and bump it along the branches. Cranks are a good go-to bait if you know how to use them.

Pretty much the only sunblock I use are my clothes, shades, and hat. I usually have some wicked farmer's tan going on with some raccoon eyes and a stripe across my forehead where I had my hat backwards. Its a look that really impresses the ladies.