Valascus

There are a lot of peeps I think that suspect Roger Clemens is on something. He is going to be 44, is in great shape for being 44, he is the BIGGEST in size that I have ever seen him, and he seems to bounce back awful fast for a 44 year old from injury. Something doesn't smell right, I am not saying he is using for sure, but it looks fishy. I don't know if he has been tested recently or not, but even if he has and something came up, I am not so sure MLB would do anything publicly about it. I don't think they can afford another big name player who is perceived as a Golden Boy in the sport and one of the all time greats in the sport to be involved in a banned substance scandal.

My two favs are through Yahoo! Sports for the rotisserie style of play and Sporting News for the salary cap style of play. The Yahoo! one allows for a draft and points can be set up based on certain player stats. Both are free.

It may not be an easy question to answer, but the fact of the matter is that these folks cheated. Plain and simple. They have used substances that are not only banned in MLB, but are ILLEGAL. There is no place for cheaters in the Hall Of Fame. How you determine who was using and who wans't...well that is a pretty hair can 'o' worms. I almost think you have to assume that most weren't using since there is no way to tell. Players who have been strongly believed in the public eye and have some credible evidence of usage of these substance, however, should not only be denied the Hall of Fame, but also prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Now random steroid testing can help keep those kind of players out of the Hall. The bigger problem is HgH. Aside from the huge increase in size, there is no way to even begin to figure out who is using or who to even suspect...yet. Players who are clean need to help rebuild the credibility of the game by volunteering to be tested more often to show the fans that a true effort is being made to clean up the game and that not every player should be placed under suspiscion of usage.

I am game for some Fantasy Baseball. Better bring your A game...I'm pretty good at it. Do you play salary cap based games or rotisserie style play? I am up for either, as long as it's free. And as far as Carlos Lee goes with 40 bombs...he couldn't hit 40 playing for the Rangers. They have one of the BEST hitters parks in the entire League. Arlington literally eats almost ANY pitcher for breakfast. Unfortunately, we are stuck with Izzy for now. Trading him would be tough with that arthritic hip and he is owed more than any team would probably be willing to gamble on him for a shortened season. I don't think we need RP. We have quite a few young relievers that have proved themselves in the biggest pressure situations. Don't we still have the other Reyes...Alan Reyes I believe? If so, he is due back this year as well as Ricardo Rincon. We have plenty of relievers. I kinda wished the Cards would have gone after Dave Roberts. He swings a decent bat with a little pop, and would have better power numbers outside of Petco. He is a threat on the basepaths with some good speed. Plays good D too. Unfortunately I believe he is San Fran bound. I hope the Cards target either Mark Loretta or Adam Kennedy to play second for us. Kennedy is a better fit having come up through the Cards farm system and would probably be cheaper than Loretta. Gil Meche has some nasty stuff. He suffers from some mechanical problems. So did Weaver...look what Dunc did with him.

Not only does Boras want 15 mil a year, he wants Matsuzuka to be able to become a free agent after only three years. That is a load of bull. Let's get this straight right now. I don't care how good this kid is, he is still a rookie in the MLB. Every other player had to take their lumps on a "crappy" 5 year or 6 year deal before being able to become a free agent and really cash in. He should too. Boras is just seeing the potential for $$$$ and trying to take advantage. As far as awards go, yup...Pujols got burnt, Jeter got burnt, and quite frankly, so did Trevor Hoffman. Not everyday that a relief pitcher SETS A NEW ALL TIME SAVES RECORD. Jeter and Pujols both carried injury riddled teams on their back to the playoffs, Jeter more so than Pujols, but if Pujols doesn't miss those 19 when he was RED HOT he probably has pretty darn close to the same numbers as Howard. Not only that he plays Gold Glove caliber D. Don't get too far ahead of yourself their Muddy . The NL Central isn't going to be as big a dogfight as you may think. The Cards are working on resigning either Jeff Weaver, who will be much better with more time with Dave Duncan under his belt, or Jeff Suppan. They are also targeting mid tier pitching such as Gil Meche and Ted Lilly who are both on the verge of breakout seasons if they come across the right coaching staff to give them that little push in the right direction. That would give us Carp, Meche, Lilly, Weaver, and Reyes as our starting rotation. That is not a slouch rotation if the Cards do what they need to do. The Cubs may be loading up offensively, but their pitching is STILL very very much suspect. Yay...another year of Kerry Wood struggling to return to form, Mark Prior injuries, and Carlos Zambrano trying to carry the staff on his suspect back. Their bullpen is bad outside of Howry and Eyre. They are a suspect team defensively as well. Aramis Reamirez is not a very polished defensive player and has had some injury issues in the past. Don't get me started on Soriano's D and his "me me me me me" attitude which WILL NOT sit well with Sweet Lou. The Cubs mat be spending the cash, but it seems to me that they are spending it in the wrong places. The 'Stros haven't done much...they WILL lose Clemens. Pettitte may not be back either...and even if he is, he isn't nearly the pitcher he used to be. They have signed Woody Williams who is not an adequate replacement for either of those pitchers especially if the 'Stros still struggle offensively. If the 'Stros lose both those pitchers then that leaves them with Oswalt, Williams, Backe, Rodriguez,and Bucholz...not the most imposing of rotations with a crappy offense. Imean, if Roger Clemens can't win their how are those guys gonna? Carlos Lee will not solve any offensive problems. He has yet to hit more than 40 dingers, doesn't bat for good average, doesn't take enough walks, and has a bad OBP. On top of that he plays horrible defense at ANY position. Stack this on top of the fact that the 'Stros could quietly trade Morgan Ensberg if any of the rumors I have seen are true, and the 'Stros offense doesn't look any better to me. The Cards are by no means going to be "handed" the division, but as long as the brass makes the right moves, they can still win it comfortably by 5 games.

Nope. He will not make it. Let me quote Rule No. 5 on the HOF voting rules that must be considered by the voters. "Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played." Mark McGwire's lack of integrity and character SHOULD be more than enough to keep him out of the hall. On that same token, Bonds, Sosa, Palmeiro, and any other "Hall Worthy" slugger sullied by the use of steroids should have absolutely NO CHANCE of getting in.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1164549776 There ya go. It wasn't a bad day, but the fishing was definately tough. awesome weather for late Nov. though.

Welcome to the boards. That's a nice feesh ya got there. Now you are addicted..the Baitmonkey will have your soul!!!

I think I got my bites more so off of a reaction strike with the Rogues. I tried many different retrieves with them, but found that a speedier retrieve in quick short jerks got their attention. The reason I thought it was a reaction strike was how they were hooked. They were all hooked with the front and middle hooks. They definately were not striking the Rogues half heartedly where I was, at least not early on. The last fish of the three I caught did not strike nearly as aggressively as the first two.

Yeah...kinda makes me wish I had snapped a few pics of the ones I did catch...instead of thinking I was gonna catch more, better fish. Oh well. Live and learn I guess.

That is one of the reasons I love the morning. That is a pic I took yesterday morning when I got to the fishin' hole. Sun is coming up over the horizon, the soft light reflecting off the mirror water as it outlines the trees, not a noise except the wildlife and a blip or two on top of the water, and nothing but great expectations and anticipation of a full day of fishing. That was exactly what yesterday morning was.

I am to the point where I can catch fish, but I can't seem to ever get the bigger ones. I am kinda tired of catching a buncha 1-3 lbers. I definately would like to catch bigger fish than more fish.

Went out yesterday to the spot I had outline in the "Late Fall Tactics Question" thread in the General Topics section. Got down there right at sunrise, and it couldn't have been more beautiful. Can't beat this in late November... So...I started the morning throwing topwater just to see if there was anything doing there. Never know unless ya check. Nothing there after about 15 minutes...so I switched to a Chrome, Blue Back, Orange Bellied Smithwick Suspending Pro Rogue. Ended up catching 3 fish on it within an hour and a half, but didn't take any pics since they were all about 1 - 1.5 pounds and 15"-16" long. But these fish were all important, or so I thought. Upon examining each fish I noticed that the crushing plates in the back of there mouths were red and inflamed. They were all caught holding pretty tight to the laydowns where chunk rock ran under the laydowns. I thought, "Hmmmmm...must be feeding on craws that venture too close to the wood they are holding on." So I decided to switch to a YUM! Crawbug with an inserted tube jighead. I checked the movement of the rig in shallow water and it doesn't get more realistic looking than that. I plugged every piece of wood on northern bank with it and came up empty. Not even a tap. I thought maybe it was the size or profile, so I decided to try a 3/8 oz. Jig X with a little more slim Arkie Craw Trailer on it. Same result. After that I decided to go back to waht I caught 'em on in the first place, but didn't get anything on it either. I think the fish had moved to deeper water as the day went on...water that I couldn't reach from the bank. So after trying everything I could think of for the remaining 5 hours and not even getting a nibble, I decided to call it a day. I was a little frustrated because I thought I had 'em figured out. But hey, at least I didn't get skunked and it was a gorgeous day out.

Nope. I am with Marty here. I have never puchased a lure or "fishing system" I have seen on a TV commercial. Most of the time those lures are all talk a big game while having no game at all. There are plenty of lures out there that I can spend my money on that are proven to work instead of spending my money on "as seen on TV lures" and having to flush them, and the money I spent on 'em, down the toilet. :

Here is a pretty rough sketch of the lake. I usually fish it from the bank, however this time I am considering renting a boat as it only costs $5 at the visitors center of the reserve. I usually fish the northwest corner of the lake as it is closest to the deepest water since the entire north bank is the dam for the lake. I figure the quick transistion from shallow to deep and the presence of laydowns, chunkrocks, and weeds (if any are left) offers prime fish location. I haven't really fished many other parts of the lake in as much detail as that northwestern area. With the boat I am considered fishing the northern side of the larger island. The fish will probably be relating to it as structure, but I will still try my normal stompin' area. I will probably start out much like GMAN suggested in the cooler time of the day...the only difference is I may throw a topwater for a few mins just to test to see if the bit is on or not, then I'll switch to the jerkbaits. Hopefully it's a good day...if nothing else at least the weather is going to cooperate. 8-)

I am all for my DT crankbaits followed up by their shad raps. On a bad day when the bite is tough I can usually tie on a DT-4 or 6 in shad, bluegill, or firetiger and come up with something.

Boy that must be a whole different type of fishing experience. Fishing for largemouth or smallmouth must pale in comparison to fishing for peacocks and other native fish like the ones in those pics. $25,000...that's massive money for me...and I mean massive. It must have been great to be able to enjoy that much time fishing with close friends and family. Awesome pics and great story.

The Baitmonkey constantly screams at me to bolster my supply of this and my supply of that. Trust me...if I were a richer man...I would do it in a second.

Early morning guy here as well. I enjoy the absolute solitude it offers. Nothing like getting down on the water well before sun up for a nice full day of fishing. Seeing and hearing all the wildlife scurrying about, the fog rolling off the top of the water, with the expectations of a nice quite day of hopefully great fishing. Can't beat the morning.

Awesome post fellas. You ALMOST had it Vyron, but you did great nonetheless. So did your partners. Sounded like a fun and educating experience.

"Lazer Lures" seems like another expensive gimmick to me. If I can catch fish on lures without lazers then why do I need a lure with one? To make the fishing easier or less challenging? Where is the fun in that? Just sounds like another lure made to catch more fisherman than fish to me...probably ranks right up there with the Helicopter Lure, the Kicktail Lure, and all the other "as seen on TV" lures.

I can add some more to this as well. Forage for these fish are small baitfish such as bluegill, redear sunfish, small crappie, crayfish, and frogs.

All bass are of the green variety. Location: Saint Louis, MO.

Alright fellas. Here's the story. I am going fishing this Saturday. Around here the weather has been WEIRD. Since Tuesday we have had air temps in the high 50's and low 60's for highs and anywhere from the mid 30's to mid 40's for lows with sunny to partly cloudy skies without a single drop of rain. The pattern looks to hold up through thr rest of the week without a change until Sunday. Saturday is calling for low in the lower 40's with a high in the low 60's and partly cloudy. The area I will be fishing has grass, wood, and chunk rock close by and isn't horrifically deep (8-12ft...I think). I don't know what the water temp is, but assume that the unseasonablely warm weather will have the fish biting a little more aggressively than they normally would this time of year. The water is stained and the bottom transitions from chunk rock on a 45 degree drop from the shore to mud where the angle finally bottoms out with laydowns about every 15-40 ft at the same 45 degree angle to the shore. Now, I know some tactics that seem to work (or so I hear) around this time of year are slow fished jigs, hard jerkbaits, traps, and Senkos and Ikas fished super slow. I am sure I am definately leaving some presentations out seeing that I am bad at late fall and winter fishing. The key word in all presentations sems to be ultra slow. If anyone can maybe bounce a couple of presentation ideas at me to help me get a fresh set of brains on the fishing conditions I would appreciate it very much. Keep in mind that I will be fishing from the shore. Thanks again for any replies and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Good grief man...I see that...and am amazed...but have absolutely no desire to fight a fish that outweighs and is stronger than I am. Awesome clip...not quite a "world record" but a monster nonetheless. Shouldn't he have been strapped into a fish fighting chair or something to fight a fish that large?