Brian_Reeves

Hey, good to hear from you Chris. I was wondering if you had gotten abducted by bass. Hope Ford quits messing with you and you can get out on the water soon. Everyone here misses those pics of your sea monsters. I used some live craws the other day looking for trophy bass and caught a 30lb flathead (spotted) catfish instead. ;D

For the last 5 years and 10 months, my job in the army was to sit quietly with a gun. 27 months of Iraq time taught me that I was very, very good at waiting quietly with a gun. I've got nothing left to prove with a rifle, I don't think. I've already given up hunting. Too much like work and deer aren't as smart as humans :

When I was younger, I would save my allowance, save money from my job, and steal from my dad's tacklebox ;D Of course, when I was young, I only NEEDED two baits, since I only fished for speckled trout and redfish 99.9% of the time. Top Dawg Jr and an H&H Cocahoe Minnow (Queen and Regular sized). But still, I would raid tackleboxes for one top dawg every now and then. Probably not the nicest thing to do, but I had one heck of a collection. Top Dawg Pup and the She Dawg owns all other walk the dog baits, by the way...for fresh and salt water. There...the secret's out. :

BlackJack in a real casino is almost always sure money if you know how to read the cards right. Not that hard really. Poker is too risky, espeially texas hold'em. It's not based off of simple math. Blackjack is much easier to master. I won 900 euros back in Amsterdam a while back. That exchange rate rocks I might give this site a try and see what it's all about. Not really sure about it though. I need to read more about it. Thanks for the heads up.

You fish any other plastic worms? If so, fish them the same way. If not, research texas rigs, carolina rigs, and summer time fishing in the articles.

As soon as I can afford a new melting pot to replace my broken hot pot II, I'm diving right back into making jigs. I'm almost out of my own stuff and had to break down and buy some Oldhams trailer hitch jigs and football jigs today. At least I like those. At the end of the summer when I move into my new house, I'm going to start screwing up perfectly fine cheap blanks in hopes of one day making my own, perfect flipping stick. Looks like we're thinking alot alike The_Natural. I don't know about painting cranks, though I might start etching and staining some and see what happens.

I went with never. I use customized skirts or Strike King perfect skirts on many of my spinnerbaits. Those look like a "tail" and that suffices for a trailer. On some spinnerbaits, I just leave them like they are. It all depends.

You should also make sure that you never, never hang into a 50-60lb spotted catfish (flathead cat) when fishing a mattlures on 30lb braided line. It didn't work out too well. He took my baby bass If I had gotten him in, would you put a pic of that on your site Matt? lol ;D

Most of my jigs are sunfish colored and tipped with matching, action trailers. Just because a jig can be a craw imitator, doesn't mean it has to. I rarely use craw colors on jigs.

Thanks! I went fishing today and caught a few on a football jig. Never a bad day when that happens!

CJ, even if I do have a boat and I drag it up there, I'd still want to go fishing with you man. It's not often that I get to fish with people that fish jigs and I could definitely learn from watching other people work, especially in bodies of water I've never seen before. I'll bring a ton of my homemade jigs up there. There isn't any reason whatsoever that should prevent me from making it that I can foresee from right now. I'll be in the Guard and I have an...interesting and unpredictable job lined up, but I'll give both of them about 6 months of advanced notice ;D As long as gas hangs around where it's at or isn't completely unreasonable, I'll make it. LBH, you're absolutely right. There are guys still over there. I've been there twice, but some will end up there three, four, or more times. The actual job doesn't matter. Infantry like me, tanker, mechanic, cook, clerks...we all have a part over there and each part is appreciated not only by fellow soldiers, but most of the nation as a whole. From what I can say though, is most guys appreciate the gratitude of citizens, but most don't expect it. Many of us do what we do because we have some sort of love for the fight. What that love spawns from is hard to say, but there is passion in each soldier, and it differs from person to person. I will say this though, that the passion is fueled when soldiers see events like this one, or when they recieve 150 handmade cards from a kindergarden class. Or when some random organization sends care packages over there. Of the 27 months I was over there, I stayed overwhelmed by the generousity, support, and pride of the American people. When I was approached by LBH about this in November or so, I didn't know what to say. Several months later, here we are and I still haven't found words to express my gratitude and pride to be a part of this. And LBH, you're right. When I got back from a mission, I was generally hot, tired, dehydrated, fatigued, and a little wound tight. I'd go to the phones and hear my kids playing in the background and listen to my wife tell me about some jerk at wal-mart, her dad's 5lb bass, or that my kids spilled tea on the carpet and I couldn't grasp the concept that the world was still turning. I guess that's why that little bracelet became a symbolic piece to me. It not only reminded me of my new son, but it would also remind me of normality. And now it is even more treasured.

I voted plastic worm too. I can put it on a carolina rig, drop shot, weightless, jig, texas rig, flordia rig, and I can chase my kids around the house with them. It's just too dangerous to do that with a crankbait.

I've been home for about 6 or 7 months now. I get out of the army in 2 days, lol. But I'm still going to be in the national guard for louisiana.

For sponsorship, you're going to have to list a bio, accomplishments, and current affiliations in a resume format. Trying to increase the popularity of the sport is a noble cause, but it's going to take more than a small statement to convince any tackle company to work with you. You could always buy a shirt to sport your favorite brand, but without sincere advertisement, it's going to be next to impossible to pick up any kind of sponsorship. They (companies) will want to see some sort of marketing skills (like LBH's videos) or tournament/guide fishing.

CJ, I worship you!!! When the event closes, I'm never taking that bracelet off. Already it has been passed to anglers that I have never met, but have gained a tremendous amount of respect for over the years. That's not counting the bass fishing king a few posts up. I hope that I can work it out with my new job to where I can personally thank everyone at Kentucky Lake. This event has barely begun and I'm already overwhelmed. They say behind every good man is an even better woman. That's definitely true. But also, behind every good soldier are people like y'all. We couldn't do what we do and fight as hard as we do if it weren't for the American people. You all are prime examples of what makes this country so darn great! So, all in all, thank you and I can't wait to see where the MOJO is headed!

Finding hawgs in matted grass...Catt is your man! He's the guy who I listen to when looking at grass fishing advice and it pays off big time.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll remember that when I say prayers with my kids tonight. If you get word from him, let us know how he's doing, LBH. Good looking out man.

I voted for her too.

For jig colors, my more consistant success has come from sunfish colored jigs (green pumpkins, watermelons, etc with hints of orange, red, and chartruse). I make my own jigs and tie my own skirts. I really, really, really need to order more skirts and fiberguards :-[ I'm not a big fan of jigs in heavy grass. That stuff looks pretty thick. I'd go with a 3/4-1oz tru tungston flordia rig weight (forgot what their name for it is) with a rage tail craw or a worm of one variety or another. Watermelonseed, watermelon red, red shad, junebug, or green pumpkin would be good colors to start experimenting with. You might wanna try burning that rage toad all through that area right at sundown again.

I like to cover open water with cranks and spinnerbaits when I'm beating banks. Usually there is nothing there, but occasionally I'll pull a fish or two off of a bare stretch of water. I usually just cast and reel in these situations. Not sure if that's what you're looking for.

Try stretching it out a little. Be careful because the tail can rip pretty easy. But stretching it at the U bend in the tail and at the part where it joins the body might loosen it up. The tail should be flopping from side to side pretty violently on top of the water. It doesn't really buzz I don't think, but it should be making quite a disturbance. Make sure that it's all the way on top of the water and keep your rod tip up a little bit. It doesn't take much usually. Big-O will probably be able to key you in on some other tips. I haven't had that problem and I've used a ton of these things. He is the owner of Rage Tail baits, so he might have a trick or two up his sleeve. Other than the above, I don't know man. The test on the line shouldn't matter, because the action is in the tail.

I'm not anywhere close to an expert on grass types, but it looks like some sort of hydrilla or milfoil maybe. I could be way off though. As far as water clarity, that's pretty darned clear water. If it were stained, it would be hard for a camera to pick up the grass, I'd think. good fish. Grass bass can be tough to catch, but usually the effort pays ten fold.

Mercury levels scare people away. Or you could try to explain to them how trophy bass ponds/lakes are managed and work out a sort of slot limit with them. That or teach them how to catfish. If all else fails, x2 on the claymores. Boy do those things work :

I'm only running two poles right now, since 90% of my fishing is done out of kayaks, canoes, or small pontoons. One has 30lb braid and the other has 10lb mono. I usually use the 30lb braid, which has a much smaller line diameter. Not sure what, but it works fine. If you're not getting a buzz, check to be sure you detached the tab that holds the tail to the body for packaging.

I think the shad is anything but natural. It's a buzzbait, really. I love it because I can fish it fast and cover a ton of water without any hangups like a regular buzzbait. It's got a more subtle sound than metal on water and actually throws around more water than some buzzbaits. It skips under docks and laydowns good too and comes to the surface fast. Works great in those situations. I use a 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG heavy wire hook.