Loop_Dad

I live in big metropolitan area where local lakes are so high pressured. I used to be shore bounded and fished only locally. My catch ratio was horrible. One point it was like 5 fish / 25 outings. It was okay first, because it only takes me 10 min from my home to the nearest lake, and each outing was short, as short as 1 hours. But eventually I started getting tired of not seeing fish. I decided to go to a place many people say good thing about. One negative about the place was rather far, little less than 2 hours from here. However, I decided to try that new water. Being shore bounded, the water access was limited. That's the second negative part of the water. However I found a handful of locations with shore access. First two locations, I got skunked. But the third place I went, bam!. I caught 5 fish in a couple of hours. What I am trying to say is that if you don't catch fish, it might be not you or weather, but the water you fish. I know serious fishermen, like you and I, tend to over-think about techniques and stuff, but the answer could be simple. Now I don't fish local lakes much. I save money and energy for less frequent but productive fishing trips. I am much happier that way. If you have a water people say good thing about, you might want to give it a try. Hope this helps.

Sam, I've got a couple of questions for you. What do you mean by 'Cross bass' eyes when setting hook over your head.'? Why do you retired jig head every 3-5 fish?

After recent discussion on this forum, I've gone barbless! Out of 8 fish I hooked today, one got away. It is not effecting my landing at all. And I was a bit slow this morning and gut hooked one fish. However, with barbless hook and the hook removal technique I've learned here (the one to turn the hook eye to the gill to remove it), I was able to remove the hook and release fast just like any other fish. I'm loving barbless. Thank you folks!

Grad to hear you are liking your new pontoon! As Frog Turds listed above, the Minn Kota box has few extra features over a box. However, for me, I don't need the battery meter, because Traxxis already have the built in battery meter. And I do not need the the extra accessory plugs. Only thing I am interested and every trolling motor user should be is the circuit breaker. So I just bought one and connected between positive terminal of the battery and the positive cable from the trolling motor. You want to get the one with the manual reset switch as opposed to auto reset switch. This is similar to what I got. http://www.walmart.c...reaker/16401755 This is how I attach it. For battery, I was advised to buy AGM battery (no leak kind of battery) and I bought one. These battery are expensive like $200 for 100ampH. The reason these were recommended to me was because they thought the battery might be tossed around on the boat. However, I had installed a custom hard floor and battery are very stable even when the wind is up and the water is choppy. So spending extra money on AGM battery wasn't really nessecerly for me. For second battery I bought $90 Marine battery (wet cell kind) from Walmart. One battery can go about 4-5 hours depends on the water / wind condition for me with my 55 lbs motor. I carry both on my boat so that I can go all day.

The process of getting your scale certified appears to be pretty simple for IGFA http://www.igfa.org/...IFICATION-.aspx The cost is $30. I found it interesting that you can ask for certification after you catch fish. Also I noticed digital scales are harder to get certified because they have to read the exactly the same when they test three times. With analog ones, a little variation would not show up. Not sure how state one works, but I am guessing somewhat similar. I wonder one must get certified twice if you are going for both State and World record...

Thank you, Wayne P. Some reason your reply doesn't show up on this thread (or removed?) but I got it. Very helpful!

Now, op's questions have been answered completely and he's down, can I ask what your thoughts are on less than $400 range? I was looking at Lowrance Elite-4 DSI & chart plotting for around $350. I was not sure if the small screen is difficult to use on the water or not. I was also looking at Lowrance Mark-5, but didn't have the chart plotting. I hadn't researched Hummingbird.

I was seriously thinking about buying Foldcat. Let us know how it is once you take it out! x2 on getting one with digital maximier. Without gas engine, you want to conserve your battery juice as much as you can. If you get the ones without digital technology, then you'll end up spending more money to buy bigger or more battery to achieve the same amount of time on the water, unless you only fish for a short time or not move much when you fish. Traxxis comes with battery indicator. I bought $7 manual circuit breaker and that's all I needed. I bought battery boxes as well (not the minn kota one, too expensive for me), but not using them. They are just in my way.

Some local fisherman mentioned that he used hotdog, I thought he meant he used a lure called hotdog from Damiki. http://www.histackle...miki-hotdog.htm But maybe he meant one from grocery store. He even mentioned about dipping in ketchup, now all started to make sense.

I don't know if it is technically swim bait, but I also like Swimming Super Fluke for fishing on top of weeds with weighted hook, fished like other folks mentioned above. I feel it glides on top of the weed better because of the body shape.

Hi scrutch, when you use this slider thing, do you embed the weight part in the worm? I also do split shot, and weighted swimbait hooks on both swimbaits and worm.

I am not thinking I could catch the next record, but hey things happens when you are not expecting, right? I got curious as to how to get my fish certified in California. Seaching with "how to get your fish certified in California" got me bunch of hunter certification programs. What term should I look for to find this out?

Had no idea meat market let anglers weigh the fish. Interesting. And I feel for the guy. Just a fisherman entered the contest, got the fish but the prize and record slipped away. Nobody to blame, rule is rule, but man I would also buy him a beer.

Thank you, BasHunter_Hunt. So Bass are more like my cats than goldfish The last time I tried to fish at night was when I was a boy. Near by lakes are mostly no night fishing lakes, but I should try once.

Do they sleep at night like my gold fish do?

Sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn't. Think about how hard it is to get the hook out sometimes, even with pliers. (I'm moving to barbeless.)

I'm the human version of the first bass. I wear XL helmet (motorcyle and ski). I personally never hold the fish by gill cause I do not want to hurt the gill. ( Bleeding from gill is deadly.)

The scam artists actually use the ebay / paypal to their advantage. Pay attention to your seller's rating. I don't go anyone less than 95% positive, I don't want to deal with problems. I also pay attention to how much transaction they have done in the past. Scammers open new account, and scam and disappear. I also pay to Paypal with my credit card, instead of withdraw from my checking account. Paypal didn't always protect me and I was grad that I had credit card company's protection on my side.

I would also throw small swim bait rigged weedless with lightly weighted hook.

Right when I started using Flouro, I've experienced a series of break offs. I was using improved clinch. I did a bit of research and switched to San Diego jam knot, then the problem went away. Only negative about this knot for me is it takes a bit more time.

I bought Saros 2500 this year. It is so smooth. Even my daughter noticed it and she is using it the most of the time now.

You can pretty much go to the bank that there is open water underneath. It's pretty easy to tell, once the bait breaks through the mat you will feel the bait free fall. You could start by one of the holes in the weeds. Drop your punch rig in the hole and you can get a good idea of the depth. Then punch it through the weeds next to the hole that way you will know what it feels like to get it through the mat. Sorry it wasn't clear, but my question was about the association between the type of weed and the way they grow. Not about the way to find out. For me if I see a water pictured in OPs post, I would have thrown unweighted or rightly weighted worm or swimbaits, adjusting the weight based on how much water I see above the weeds.

Questions to folks suggested punching, is there any way to tell if there's space under those mats based on the kind of vegetation? Don't certain kind of the grass goes up to the surface quick then spread horizontally leaving the space underneath, while other kind just keep growing from the bottom like bushes without much space under them?

I was wondering about wire / connecter getting warm / hot. I've noticed my connector was hot, but I had loose nut at that time. If everything is done correctly, are wires supposed to be cool to touch? Or can they be warm? I was assuming they can be warm with 55 lb trust.

Looks great! So does the tube go through the weight? The tube looks pretty big for the hole of the weight... I tried to do with a straw came with juice pack which I asked my daughter to save. The straw was very small diameter, so that I can put the skirt over it easily.