hooah212002

How does a plano box all of a sudden become a waste of space?

Yea, it was kinda funny seeing a pack of monster carp roam around and bully the bass. They seriously looked like a pack of wild dogs. Except they were ugly carp and they just made a mess of everything.

Why not get a plano box for them and give them their own individual spot so they don't ever touch each other and you don't have to worry about it?

Please, please please, next time, don't set your fish on the ground if at all possible. Especially on dry as heck pine needles! Also, your hand looks awfully dry to be grabbing it like that. Second, I'd go with your actual scale because that doesn't appear to be over 4 pounds. 2 something looks right. Nice fish, by the way. I'm not trying to be rude or mean, it just kinda irks me to see gamefish being improperly handled. I was fishing near a guy today who initally seemed like he knew what he was doing. Then he caught a fish and I realized he had no idea how to properly land one. Laid it on the ground, then messed with his crap looking for a camera, then picked up the fish and walked 30 feet to yet another person and had them take the picture. THEN, he just threw the fish in the water from maybe 6 feet high. Ok, rant over. Nice fish again. congrats.

Now there's an idea I can use! Awesome stuff. Thanks!

Dick's has a better rod with the Black Max combo than does Wally World. Also, Dicks regularly has their 97 cent sale (anything with a price ending in 97, 47 or 43 cents is an extra 25 or 50 percent off). That is how I got my Veritas for $45. The one by me has Black Max combos right now for I think $69.99 with an extra $20 rebate (could be off a bit). The rod you get with the combo at Walmart is a Black Max rod (not really the greatest) and they only sell Medium action, whereas Dicks comes with a Vendetta and a more action choices. You can also get lucky and find an ok reel discounted heavily (they have LH Caenan's for like $30) and get a discounted rod at Dicks. Just stay away from Shakespeare and Pinnacle for cheap stuff. Their cheap stuff is utter garbage. It's cheap and good enough to get you on the water, but you will hate it.

I was fishing my spot today and there was a small bass just hanging out right in front of me and he didn't move the whole time I was there. I figured: "if I can see him, he can see me" so I didn't bother. Over the course of a few hours, I got a few strikes on my frog but missed them, so I wanted to see how this guy would react. I worked the frog over top of him and he eyeballed it. AHA! He's not so shy. I switched rods and ever-so-gently plunked a 7" pumpkin green senko by him (he was under the muck and I dropped it in the opening). I watched him come out from underneath the mat and gobble it up. I was amazed! Shocked! I let him get it in his mouth, then bam! set the hook. I pulled him out and he was covered head to tail in moss. I didn't get a picture because as soon as I took all the crap off him, he shook out of my hand. It was seriously like watching one of those underwater cams of a fish being caught. It was surreal. Fishing crystal clear, heavily fished water is a MAJOR pain in the rear, but can be rewarding when it finally pays off.

Dang. The only one that comes up in Wisconsin period is like 6 hours away.

Will a poor job effect the sensitivity or integrity of the rod in anyway?

Because I wasn't aware it was that easy. I thought there was some sort of wrap around the feet or something.

I honestly have no idea. I pulled it out to get them ready for the year and it was like that. My guess? It got pinched in a door being closed or stepped on.

Tell him not to kill off the lillypads!

Ahh, thanks guys. I imagine the bait shop is getting a cut since the actual repair tech (a local rod builder whom I don't know) is the one to actually do the work and doesn't work for the bait shop. I didn't even speak to the rod builder, nor could I get his number. Shop around I shall.

that is kinda what I was thinking too. The bait shop in question also has refurb St. Croix Mojo's (usually just a replaced tip) for $40. I just thought if I could plunk down $20 to repair this rod I wouldn't have a nice rod sitting there collecting dust. That is assuming $35 is on the high side.

Much to my chagrin when starting this season, I notice that one of the guides (3rd one down from the tip) on my Veritas is missing the insert and is bent out of shape. It doesn't cause any issues when fishing that I can tell. The thing is: I bought it on clearance at Dick's for half price (like $45), so I don't want to spend a whole lot reparing it. I have contacted Abu and they need a proof of purchase, which I don't have. Also, they will only replace it if is manufacturer defect, which it is not. They want $9.95 for the handling fee and who knows how much to actually repair it. Abu is out. So i called the local bait shop and he has a guy that will do it for $35 with a turn around of maybe 2 weeks. The question is: is $35 a good deal for a guide replacement? Where else could I look?

Can you get a topo map of the lake? If so, find any points, humps, submerged islands, ANYTHING that the fish might cling to. Still no structure? You'll need one of them fancy fish finders with the cameras or what have you and go out and find the fish. Look for submerged vegetation, submerged trees, channels and things of that nature. bass don't hang out in open water, so they will cling to whatever is our of the ordinary.

Don't rule out a Powell Diesell for $69.99 at TW. BassPro has rod socks that you (should) could use to easily identify. That way you get the added bonus of having your rods protected. Not sure off hand how many different colors there are, though (basspro.com and my work computer don't mix well).

Doesn't it depend on what state you are in? or is there a seperate governing body for the Great Lakes? I would imagine if you in a harbor in IL, you are subject to IL laws/regulations. I am ready to be wrong, though.

HA! 55 is shorts and t-shirt weather. Flip flops, even. It's not cold unless it's sub-zero.

Indeed. I found that out and will have to wait until I get home because I can't install Google Earth at work.

1: no springs that I could see, but I did not look very hard. It is surrounded by farm land. The road leading up to it splits off into a gov't run area that is gated off. 2: I did look for no trespassing signs and found none. There is a road leading up to it (you can see my little Aveo there in the picture). This body of water is as far as cars can go, then it is barricaded off for a walking trail that IS owned by the state. 3: I do see it on google maps, but I did not know you can go back to see the history. i will do that. It is not named on the map, though.

I found a pond that looks perfect for fishing! Except...I don't know if it has fish, if it is anything more than a big puddle or just what is left of a flood. It is out in the middle of nowhere, away from traffic and away from most civilization (a rarity around here). It is just off of a nature trail, but not marked for fishing (there is actually NO signage whatsoever). It is full of shoreline grass to give decent cover. It appears to be fairly deep. I stopped today and tossed a few baits for maybe 30 minutes (jig, fluke and spinnerbait) and even though the water is pretty clear, I didn't see a single fish. Not even a minnow. There were turtles, though, so that seems to say the water isn't too awful toxic (unless those turtles were named Raphael and Leonardo). The only explanation I can come up with is that it could be just a hole that was dug for dirt. My question to you guys: what are some key things to look for to detemine if a body of water has fish? I am in a never ending quest to find "off the map" fishing holes because the top quality lakes around here aren't friendly to shore fishing, so this info would go pretty far. I want to stop and aska few farmers to fish their pond, but I would rather not get laughed at. Or worse: they let me fish there even though they know it's just runoff. here is a panorama:

I had to go to a swivel because I got really bad line twist today even though I had braid (with a fluoro leader). As soon as I tied on the swivel, I had no more line twist. And for the guy(s) that said "if you get line twist, you're working it too fast": that's how they have wanted it. I tried everything today and they wanted "pop-pop-reel, pop-pop-reel" quickly. I tried a bunch of retrieves, but that's what worked. It twisted up my line, but it worked.

Dang man. This right here has been money for me this past week since you told me. I already had shad color and baby bass, but not a green type color. I've caught more fish this week alone on watermelon flukes than all of last year (although what I gain in numbers I lost in size. All of them have been dinks.). Big thanks man!