Zel

Your very welcome Muddy, hope the mojo continues for your Mets. I just wish I could find some good mojo for my Phillies. It was great meeting half of the "mooks" for our initial CAST meeting. If anyone ever wonders if The Muddy Man is for real with his kindness and generosity I'm here to tell you he not only talks the talk, he really walks the walk.

I liked Guinness Stout on Tap. But about 5 years ago I became allergic to beer. Guess that's proof enough the big guy sometimes has a warped sense of humor.

If you do take the business classes, but sure to take some marketing classes and at least one speech class. It weill help you to market yourself and will help you to gain confidence.

I fish a variety of lakes in NJ. Below has been my successful lures for targeting Jersey Smallmouth in the Fall, and in all types of lakes. In the Fall I look for Primary: all submerged rocks down to 30', and riprap; Secondary: points primarily the ones that have some rocks; Everything else: sharp dropoffs, tops of submerged trees, edges of weedlines. Many of the lakes in NJ I've noticed LM & SM share much of the same areas. First thing in the mornings you might hit a topwater bite on the points (Zara Spooks, Bass Orenos, and Buzzbaits work well). If you see bass busting shad in open water, throw a jigging spoon just beyond the action, and pump the bait on the retrieve; or a Finesse Fish (4 is right size to match baitfish in the fall) and work it through the action. The colder it is the deeper they are, but smallmouth will come up 20' to get a lure. In clear water in the fall, I catch most in the 15' - 30' depths. Spinnerbait chartreuse Lunker City Finesse Fish (4) shad 4 Power Worm natural colors (black, pumpkinseed, plum) Tube Bait shad Jig & Pig - natural colors (black/blue, brown, purple) Silver Buddy & Jigging Spoons silver (sunny) & gold (overcast)

I guess I'm the oddball here. I use jigging spoons in all seasons except the spawn, as long as there is some visibility in the water (although I have caught bass on jigging spoon in the middle of the night). I start in the shallows and move to deeper water if there is no action. I believe there are bass that live in shallow water and those that stay deep. I don't think the deeper water bass are as susceptible to the changes that would normally put shallow water bass off the bite. I look for structure in deeper water with close access to shallow water. Note that structure could be as simple as a sharp change in dept of a foot or two. If there are baitfish holding above the structure, then I've got the ideal condition. The bite of deeper water bass is much more subtle than shallow water bass, so you've really got to practice with the jigging spoon to become proficient.

When on an overnight tournament or fishing trip where you need to stay at a motel, I found a great way to help keep the boat and tackle safe. Take along one of those baby monitors. Make sure there are batteries in the transmitter. Place it in your boat where no one can see it. Keep the receiver next to your bed. If there is any commotion near your boat you will hear it and can investigate. A cheap way to keep the crooks at bay.

Hey LBH... why not go for broke! Here is a model that will increase your catch ratio tremendously with your lookout person located beneath in the mini sub. Just think about it. CAST A LITTLE TO THE LEFT OVER! And let's not even discuss the underwater videos we'll all start to see.

If its the one I'm thinking about, and if its located in Northampton County near the MooreTownship/Lehigh Township boundary, then its got some of my best largemouth catches breeding in there and I want them back!!! I'll catch them myself if you don't mind.

I know a little about skiing and heartbreaks. I really loved to ski and was a ski instructor for beginners at a resort. Three years ago I bought a house at the base of the Blue Mountain Ski Resort. Two months after I moved into my new home I was rear-ended by a truck. The doctors discovered the collision activated problems stemming from a bad accident I had as a child (you may not believe it but I was charged by a buffalo). The MRI results indicated I now need to live a sedentary lifestyle or risk paralysis. I am not allowed to ever ski again, or go on those fun 60 mile-an-hour bone-crushing bass tournament boat rides. I still fish for bass, but now it's out of a 13ft aluminum with an electric trolling motor which I leave at the local lake, and only fish tourneys on the electric-only lakes as a rider. Life is filled with heartbreaks we've just got to make the best with what we've got.

If you can't find the manual, some of the fish finder manufacturers provide their manuals on their websites under support or other areas on their site, which you can download. Some also provide tutorials for their fish finders. Good luck.

I'm not familiar with Manasquan... never fished it. What I did at Round Valley was to learn by seeing, how the electronics worked and what they represented. That way I could go to any lake and understand what the graph was showing, without being able to see into the water. I looked back at my notes and our club fished there a couple of years ago, but I didn't get to fish that lake. My notes (I take notes at the club meetings because our club shares information) My notes say to go right out of the ramp to find the timber. Timber is not far from the ramp. Also to fish the riprap between the timber and the pump house, if any of that makes sense to you? Senkos and crankbaits caught the majority from our club. The timber will probably show as a sorta dark "bell curve" that you might remember from school.

I had the same problem at first. There are instructional videos which you can buy on the internet. But the best advise I got was when I was told to take my boat out to a particular lake (Round Valley Res. in NJ) that is ultra clear. You can see clearly down 20 30 feet. I took the advise, and spent most of the day just traveling over various types of structure like weeds, rocks, stumps, breaklines, etc. It was so helpful to be able to see into the water exactly what the graph was showing. The thing that surprised me the most was how narrow the cone of vision was. The previous post of throwing marker buoys is exactly what I do when I want to fish particular structure like fish ladders. Personally, I don't try and target individual fish I see on a graph (it won't work and will frustrate you), but key on structure (with or without fish holding on them because the fish will move in on structure) and also to look for baitfish.

Here is a list of District 1 of the PA Federation Inc.'s clubs (several are in Lehigh and Northampton counties). These clubs are affiliated with the FLW. I belong to Backlash of PA, but have taken a leave for at least the rest of the year due to knee surgery and other problems. Here is their website. http://www.pabass.com/membership/joining_dist1.htm The PA BASS Federation Nation is affiliated with B.A.S.S. Their website does not list clubs or locations, but they do have some contact information. So if you contact them, they might be able to direct you the local clubs. http://www.pabassfederation.com/ Hope it helps.

A fisherman is a jerk on one end of the line waiting for a jerk on the other. A reel expert can tackle anything. There is no such thing as too much equipment. Fishing isn't a matter of life and death.... It's much more important. Give a man a fish And he will eat for a day... Teach a man to fish And he will sit in a boat And drink beer all day... Men and fish are alike.... They both get into trouble when they open their mouths. Old fisherman never die, they just smell that way! There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot ! To fish or not to fish... NOT TO FISH ?? Yea...like that's even an option ! A man and his boat do not need to be justified Early to bed early to rise-fish all day and make up lies If fishing is wrong, I don't want to be right Big fish are just like women they'll take you hook, line, and sinker I got this boat for my wife GOOD TRADE! In a boat is the place I want to be, always fishing is the life for me I live with fear everyday, but sometimes she let's me go fishing I fish therefore I lie

Yeah the Bait Monkey seems to get my money one way or another. Last week I captured this shot on my Aqua-Vu. Looks like he's hard at work taking steps to insure a good Christmas for himself.

I see my post was removed regarding baseball. I guess some did not understand the post as humor, and not as disrespect for nationalities. For anyone who saw my post before it was deleted, and took offense, here is an explaination. 1. Many people associated with baseball know about Chicago Cubs infielders Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance formed the most memorable double-play combination in the history of baseball. "Baseball's Sad Lexicon" These are the saddest of possible words: "Tinker to Evers to Chance." Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds, Tinker and Evers and Chance. Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,* Making a Giant hit into a double-- Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble: "Tinker to Evers to Chance."** 2. Major League Baseball is referred to as America's Pastime. 3. Last night on BLUE COLLAR TV, which airs on the WB network, there was brief comedy skit about baseball by Larry the Cable Guy. He used the same line as I did, except I used 3 Mets players because the thread was started by a Mets fan. The post combined a parody of famous line Tinker to Evers to Chance, along with a play on America's Passtime because many players in the MLB list their hometowns (and I repeat hometowns) are from places not in the United States. And the three players I listed were infield players who state their hometowns are located outside the U.S. It was not a disrespect of nationalities as the players mentioned have hometowns from various counties, none of which is the U.S. As a matter of fact my uncle played in the MLB for over 20 years and he was not born in this country. Since it was removed, I guess some people didn't quite get the humor, so I decided to explain the post. Sorry if anyone took offense.

Except for maybe The Sportsman Channel http://www.thesportsmanchannel.com/

ESPN is owned by ABC, who is owned by Disney. Disney does not have a great track record with direct entries into sports (remember their short-lived foray with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim). ESPN is getting back a portion of NASCAR telecasts, and they've made other commitments to NASCAR with additional programming. I fear we are starting to see the demise of BASS Saturday, and in a few years an end into their venture with the Bassmasters. It looks like we'll be relegated to once again only viewing Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, and The Fishing Hole on ESPN. ESPN brought real power to bass fishing, which in turn caused FLW to get big time serious. Without ESPN we will be looking at a giant leap backwards in the professional sport of bass fishing. I feel sorry for what the pros have in store for them.

Lost my personal best LM yesterday (prior was 5.4 in a state tournament) . Hooked it on edge of lily pads, jumped and shook about 10 feet from the boat before it took off for the depths of the lily pads well over 7 lbs - easy (big for PA). Drag was set good but it still pulled line off the reel like it was nothing. Note to self: Do not fish lily pads with 6 ft medium action spinning gear and 10 lb test eejit!

Was it heat related, or were they just TAXED to death?

Could I use this as mine?

I'll try to help regarding bass fishing, but it will work for some of the other fish you mentioned. I fish from the bank about 30% of the time. I like to do this because I believe it makes you a better angler as you are relegated to a small area, and have to figure out how to catch the bass that are in that area, rather then moving to another location in your boat. Some of the baits you picked up will be a little tricky for a beginner. I would have recommended the Rapala 4 Original Floating Minnow in the traditional silver pattern. You can cast it out and just wind it back, or just twitch it on the surface bringing it back slowly, or jerk the rod to the side a couple of turns of the reel jerk the rod the side a couple turns of the reel (keep repeating), or a combination of them all. it's a fish catching magnet, and it works from spring through summer into fall. When on the bank as ChugBug said, look for something different in the water. Bass like structure. It could be weeds, lily pads, rocks, stumps, a point, or even a sharp change in depth of the water (4 foot depth dropping into 6 foot) which is within your casting distance. Also, always try spots where other anglers fish, because if there weren't fish at these spots then the anglers wouldn't be fishing there (you can always find these spots by the garbage left behind). Plus, a lot of these anglers use live bait and lose a lot of the bait. That brings in the baitfish, which in turn brings in the bigger predator fish. But the best advise I could give you is to go out there with a family member or friend who is experienced in fishing for the species you are trying to catch (nothing worse than an expert who doesn't know anything), ask questions, and practice, practice, practice. This year I'm teaching my new son-in-law how to bass fish (he's never fished for bass before). He now loves it and has thanked me for being so patient in the beginning and for explaining to him everything I was doing while I was doing it, and why I made the decisions I made. Now after about 4 months he is teaching me a thing or two.

Brent, Interesting info. I guess I stand corrected. But I still think that not offering a proven staple color makes no sence. Personally, when I ordered from you, I would have ordered 4 bags of worms instead of 3. Also, of that order I would have gotten 2 bags of 50 in Black instead of 1 bag of 25 Black Blue Laminate. But as you pointed out, that is just me and my personal preference, which might not represent the masses. Guess which color I picked on the poll you created?

Brent, Good business question. Since I don't have industry information regarding percentage of color sales in soft plastics, I personally would have to make a business decision based on my limited experience and observations. I throw black Senko's over 50% of the time. When on a lake I observe other anglers who utilize Senkos, and by far I see black as the primary color utilized, followed by watermelon and pumpkinseed. In addition, when I go to local tackle shops that cater to bass anglers and go to the Senko area, I look at the color selections. Most seem to allocate the greatest amount of available space to black, watermelon and pumpkinseed. And by far the color that they seem to always be lacking in availability, or picked out is in fact black. So if I were a soft plastic businessman and wanted to add a new color to my offerings, I would pick BLACK, as it represents the lowest risk component, due to its proven historical success factor. I believe the draw to your company is primarily PRICE, not cool offerings. And "cool" doesn't always cover the bills, but would BLACK with BLACK FLAKE qualify?.

Senko Re-Treads 1. Get a 5 1/4" 4 cavity Stik mold from Del-Mart http://www.del-mart.com/shop/product.php?productid=16143&cat=306&page=1 2. Save all your torn/worn out Senkos 3. Melt old Senkos and pour plastic into molds 4. Save $$$ (if you can stand the mess)