Hot Rod

6" PB for me

Just be the guy that knows when/where and why to use them, and you'll catch them. This happens every year. 90% of the people running out to buy them will toss them for 15mins in the worng place, at the worng time and blame the lure. Keep your eyes on the flea market in the next 3 months. Very true! Think I'll stick with my Fat A's for now, they've always been good to me at the appropriate season.

Enjoy that while you can. You won't be able to do that once you hit 40 or even 30. I speak from experience ;D

If your credit rating is good and you have a job you can finance a new boat for up to 20 years. So with 5K down you could probably buy a new boat at $90/month from many dealers. Used boats (and vehicles in general) are often harder to get financed. You can Google "loan calculator" or "mortgage calculator". Choose one of the calculators and you will be able to figure out how much boat you can afford. You just put in the variables (down payment, monthly payment, interest rate, length of term). Here is the one I used: http://www.townemarine.com/calculator.asp?nav=116677& Cause its where I bought my boat

The easiest way to get a jig out is to "pop" it. If the lead head of the jig is on the outside of the fishes mouth you can do that. Most often times with a jig you hook em in the top part of the mouth where it is all "bone" and can be difficult to get out any other way. Hold you hand flat. Use your palm in a quick sharp motion to quickly punch the jig back into the fishes mouth by hitting the jig at the line tie/head area with the base of your palm. Usually the jig will pop free.

Why not give Chuck Whoolery a shot at MC? He's used to being on camera with all his game show hosting. He loves to bass fish! He can tolearate Charlie Moore, (he was on his show twice) so he obviously is a glutin for punishment. And he's one cool cat, in a '70's Tom Jones "shooby- do-wa" kind of way. ;D

After looking at all the new 2011 offerings by the bait companies, I had in my mind two or three "new" baits I wanted to buy to try this year. I'm not one just to go buy the new hot bait but I thought these were promising and filled a void in my tackle arsenal. Dang it if that KVD 1.5/2.5 wasnt two of the baits I wanted. I was going to get each in two colors: sexy shad and chart/black back. Now it looks like just about everyone will be slinging one of 'em this spring. So much for good intentions

Boyd found that hump in practice but they were not quite pulling up on it yet. The hump he wacked them on was not a migration route to the area where KVD was although it was further east in the lake a little closer to deeper water. The hump itself was a place for them to lock down and spawn and they did not start pulling up there until Sunday. The area KVD and the bunch was fishing is more of a migration or transition area that the fish come in through to get to the very shallow west end of the lake. Some drop right there and spawn around stumps and some keep heading further west and spawn on the shell flats and banks on the west side of the lake so they were in an area where they could hit spawners and transition fish at the same time. I do not think many of them knew about the hump Boyd was fishing. It was only 40 yards or so wide and stepped up to 1.5 ft from 3-4 ft and was solid rock/clam shell bottom. Hope this answers your question.. Yes that does. Thanks

I'm not trying to be a wise @$$ just have a question. Did Boyd know about that area he fished the final day prior to the tournament? Or did he locate it as a reult of the higher placing competitors fishing near by? Just wondering because the BASS announcers/bloggers made it sound like it was pretty common knowledge that the bass spawned hot and heavy in that area in Cat and that if the weather warmed up the biggin's would be there and thus would be the best spot to win. (If it would have stayed cold then Venice would have been the place to be.) Here is my question/point, why wasn't anyone fishing the area those pre-spawn fish were comming from before they got to the spawning stump filled area that KVD, Martins, Rook, Palanuik, et all were after? Seems like Boyd was the only one to focus on those fish staging in the area before they moved up to where KVD was. Hard to tell from the live coverage or lack there of, maybe there were some guys fishing that early pre-spawn pattern but no one mentioned it until Boyd whacked em on day 3. I just find it hard to believe that no angler got a bead on the pre-spawn fish that had yet to move up to KVD's area because someone could have had them all to themselves.

When KVD said that he, didn't mean he pulled back on his fishing against Kriet the last day. He meant he didn't make as big of an emotional all out over the top celebration because he felt bad for Kriet. When he first responded to the question it sort of sounded like that but at the very end of his answer he clarified it a bit more saying he was talking about his celebration not the fishing aspect. I think the question he was responding to was related to why he seemed to show more emotion on stage this year than in previous Classic wins.

To expand upon what Wayne and JF said, that first row of information at the right of our graph or "RTS" is similar to the old flasher units and is the most accurate in real time. I utilize that feature when I am fishing over/for deep suspended fish to locate my bait in relation to the fish/cover. You need to understand what the graph is actually reading. Remember the cone is covering in 3D but it only shows on your screen in 2D. What shows on the screen is a return relative to the transducer. That return could be dead center in the cone or off to one edge. If it is off to one edge of the cone the return will show up deeper (i.e. farther away from the transducer) than it actually is in the water column. Only when something is straight under the transducer will it show up at the exact depth it is in the water column. For example take a fish arch. The reason it shows as an arch and not a dot is that when the sonar first detects the fish it is farther away so it shows up on your screen as a "deeper" and weaker return. Approaching and passing over the fish the return is closer and stronger so it shows thicker and "shallower" on your screen. Then as the transducer passes the fish the return is weaker and farther. Fading until it is completely outside of the cones detection. So the arch turns down, thins out and dissipates. A fish arch may show up covering several fee of depth on your screen. It doesn't mean the fish is several feet long or thick. Its just showing the relationship between the transducer to the fish as it passes. Hope that helps. It is a difficult concept to convey and understand.

Any color is good as long as it is black with blue. That is an over simplification but like other said don't over complicate color either. I'd stick with two jig colors: - Black or black w/blue - Brown or green pumpkin For trailers I'd suggest black, blue, green pumpkin and pumpkin. I use a die pen or dippin' dye to add chart, red or orange accents to the green pumpkin and pumpkin trailers as needed. JM.02 thats what works for me. I tend to follow the K.I.S.S. principal finally after years of buying too many different colors I didn't need/use.

I'd be afraid with the rice that if you went fishing for the weekend and it rained by the time you got home you'd have a mushy mess of bait fried rice. ;D

I clean the rust out and continue to use them (I assume you are talking about the plastic plano style boxes). Wash them out with mild soap/water and let them dry thoroughly. Then wipe the inside with a very light coat of real magic or the like. The best thing to do is to prevent the rust from getting in there in the first place. Since I've done the following, I don't have any issues with rust: When you get home from fishing, open all the boxes so they can dry out. Best to do this in the driest environment possible. If it is humid/rainy I move the dehumidifier from my basement into my garage where all my gear and boat is to facilitate drying. Don't store plastic baits rigged or in the same box as hooks. The salt in them attracts moisture and will rust a hook faster than anything. I put the little desicant/silica pouches in planos, one for each divided section. The kind you get when you buy a new pair of shoes and such. If you don't have enough of those pouches, cut a Q tip in half and put a Q tip end in each compartment of the plano. That absorbs moisture and prevents rust. Change the Q tips if you fish in the rain or they get damp. I have one box that has all my unpackaged hooks sinkers and terminal tackle in it. (hooks still in original packaging are separate) I spray a very small amount of reel magic on the loose terminal tackle. This really helps keep it from rusting. I try to keep any spare hooks, jigs, etc. in their original plastic. For example I may only have 4 or 5 3/0 EWG in my terminal box loose. The rest will stay stored in plastic. I'll get more hooks out of a particular size/style at the begging of the fishing day if I think I'll need them on hand, like for a tournament.

I too was impressed with how all the runner-ups handled the loss. True class and professionalism. One thing though, there is no shame in loosing to KVD. Though that doesn't make it less heartbreaking for the other guys they probably realized what they were up against. It was a stunning performance. With the top finishers all on the winning fish/pattern (only Chapman was not in that area) they had to be somewhat in awe of how KVD pulled the fish he did from the same water. His dominance is just uncomprehendible.

I just use plano boxes too. I put one of those little desicant packs (I get lots of them because there is a couple in each box of new shoes my wife buys) in each section to keep the hooks from rusting. Also to keep them from rusting I leave them in the plastic until I fish them.

After seeing Dave on Zona's show I expected a bit more "personality" from him. He showed more of it with Z but maybe he's been told to tone it down on stage. Could also be that Z just brings out that side of people. One thing that annoyed me a bit was when he announces an anglers weight he does it with about the same enthusiasm, whether it was 9 lbs or 16 lbs :-/ Something is certainly off with the A/V for the weigh-in.

Only way to know for sure is to go flip some rocks in the shallows and have a look at 'em

Well now I think I know what happened to Keith Allen... The new guy swallowed 'em ;D Dang he's a 'big' guy!

I think he is O.K., not real impressed and thought he'd be better but I think that a change was needed. Thought he and G-man were going to start throwing on the stage last night

I had a Lowrance X52 upfront and now have a LMS520C, both outdated by todays HD standards. I could/can see my bait with either of them (even with a light drop shot).

I apply the "two cast" rule. That way if the other boat and I cast toward each other we don't get tangled. Plus it is a reasonable distance. I never pull in front of another boat while they are fishing. I follow by a minimu of the "two cast lenghts". Nothing POs me more than when some jerk see's you catching fish then cuts you off and starts fishing right in front of you or tries to horn in on you. Yes it is public water and no I don't own it, but come on man don't be so rude and inconsiderate. Go find your own fish or wait till I leave. I wouldn't crowd in on someone else either. Still, I usually don't say anything unless it is a tournament and it is a fellow copetitor pushing in.

So what's next? Force Fields to protect the boats from other boats and obstructions? ;D I can see it now; blasting off, racing down the lake toward the first spot through the fog and me shouting to my co-angler, "Hey partner, divert full power to front deflector shields!!!!" Heck I might say that at my next tournament just to see what kind of crazy look my co-anger gives me ;D

Here is a great site to help ID aquatic veg: http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/plant-identification/

Hmmm... must be lunch time. The blog hasn't updated for about 1/2 hour. Still don't understand why they can't have more video coverage/updates. At least we have the blog. Heck, BassTrakk still has several units/anglers "unspecified". Trip told the marshals this morning from the dock they needed to key that info in if that hadn't already done so. Technical difficulty or user error?