Hellbenderman

Went fishing in my drive way this morning, but didn't catch anything. I tried a senko and a jig.

If you look up to the upper left of this site, just under "The Ultimate Fishing Resource Guide" logo, you will notice the heading "Fishing Articles". I would start by going to "Bass Biology & Behavior" and reading the entire section. You have at your disposal a nearly endless, highly reliable, resource, and regardless how long you have been doing this, you WILL find information that will help you become a better fisherman, but start with the "Bass Biology & Behavior" section, first.

hmmmmm....so you want to sneak into a closed area next to a nuclear reactor where they have installed a hundred cameras so they can catch "whoevers" sneaking up on the reactor? Every time I go past that reactor it gives me the chills knowing they are watching me, have my description, and boat info. So, go ahead....maybe we'll read about it in the papers! Seriously, you have to be a guest of someone who lives on the hot side.

Hahaha...well, it is BECAUSE I went to GOOGLE that I am asking....GOOGLE's death merchants had me get off 81 at Buchanan and take 43 over the blue ridge...DON"T EVER, EVER, EVER do that! I am not exaggerating when I say it nearly killed me and the next week I had to get new brakes. I wouldn't trust Google to send me down to the corner. Ever since then I have been taking 220/460/221 to Bedford and over that way, but you double back on yourself doing that. Last year I went through Roanoke, but that was semi confusing with a lot of time on sorta residential streets.

I can't stand any kind of weather that attracts, ski doers, wake boarders, skiers in general, or kayaks. Hate that weather.

I can't stand any kind of weather that attracts, ski doers, wake boarders, skiers in general, or kayaks. Hate that weather.

I can't stand any kind of weather that attracts, ski doers, wake boarders, skiers in general, or kayaks. Hate that weather.

I have been to SML several times, but never thought I found the best way there. I will coming down 81...better to go to Roanoke and cut over or get off earlier and take 60/501/122....or...

I am trying where to mount the side scan transducer for a new Humminbird 898i C. Those of you who have mounted one of these things, did you transom mount the transducer or trolling motor mount it, and why? I'm sorta leaning toward the trolling motor.

I just wanted to say that during this time of joyous celebration for so many of us, it really doesn't matter whether you say Merry Christmas or Happy Chahanuka or Festivus for the Rest of Us, or Happy Holidays. No matter what your religious beliefs, it is still too cold to fish.

I'm no slouch as it is. I'm feeling that SI will give me an embarrassing advantage over the poor fish, but it is also a tool of knowledge that will fill in many small little gaps in my understanding...like why I can't pull much off a point that my every instinct tells me should be holding fish. I expect to find that fish were relating to the point in a way I didn't understand. I'm looking forward to watching schools of bait fish and seeing how bass relate. I'm sure SI will put me on more fish, but its value as a learning tool that could greatly advance your understanding of bass behavior may be more important in the long run.

I haven't bought a new depth finder in quite a while and am giving serious thought to getting a Humminbird 998C SI. I was wondering from you who have taken the jump, how SI has changed the way you fish. Do you look at the screen more, fish less, but catch more? Has it been what you expected? Have you learned anything about how fish are relating to structure or bait in your lake? Etc.

Went out to BH today. I don't think it got near the projected 65. Surface temp 53-55. Three dinks on senkos, three 3lbs on deep crank. Went to the left past park dock. I don't think the lake has turned over.This was probably my last trip to BH this year. Say it isn't so!

I figure you are about on the same temperature schedule as I am in Maryland. I fish a lake that is up to 60 feet deep and crystal clear, lots of submerged timber and weeds. I believe that as the water temp cools, the comfort zone eventually shrinks, and so the number of places you will find fish, and food, also shrinks. This can be good and bad. The bad is that fish are holding in more selective, condensed areas, and may be holding in areas that are now outside your fishing comfort zone. The good thing is, I propose, that more fish are packed into less area, and if you find one, you should be able to find a few. And, when you find some, take the time to really understand the circumstances and conditions so you can repeat the pattern at other spots. About mid October, I stopped getting numbers of hits on senkos, worms, etc., no matter how diligently I worked them. Why? I don't know...me probably, but whatever they liked about a 12" worm in August, they don't like now. I am not alone at my lake in discovering this...every year...hahaha. However, deep running cranks are doing nicely for me, and jigs & tails are still getting numbers. That said, I have to work these at a crawl, tediously slow, and it is a lot of work. I'm happy with one good fish an hour and really working for them...concentrating on fishing soooo slowly wears me out. Use a suspending crank, something that gets down 10-20, and stays there, and can be worked in slow twitches. As a place to start, go back to that point where you caught some nice ones this early fall and move out ten feet deeper, and more. The fish you caught on that point last summer/ fall are still on that point somewhere. They are just relating to the point differently. Conditions have changed, and this time of the year, deeper is usually part of that change. Monday, it's going to go up to 63 here and I'm going out. I'm going to use Rapala DT-10s and DT-16s and target 15-30 feet on all the same points I fished two months ago. Those fish are still there. You just have to figure it out the first time.

I replaced the carpet in my 12 year old 20' Lowe Deep Vee last spring. It has all aluminum decks. I had to remove all the rivets on the decks, and pull up the old carpet. Used a belt sander to remove all the glue, It went very quickly. I then replaced all the rivets, and glued new carpet down over the rivets. It took most of two days to do this, but it looks great and shows no signs of coming up. You should be able to do this. Be careful because you can get the glue on everything when it comes time to drop the new carpet down on the freshly spread glue...you will need some extra hands at this point. Contact me if you want to know where I got the carpet, etc.

My current engine is a 1999 Evinrude 90HP Ficht Ram. It has been a good engine, but finicky on occasion. I am thinking of replacing it with either a Honda 90 or an Evinrude E-tech 90. I am aware of the torque and weight issues with the Honda, and I can live with them, and I have heard some great things about the Evinrudes. However, I read a constant drone about problems with both engines, and what are the real issues with methanol? It seems you can't find gas anymore without methanol. Some opinions about this would be appreciated.

All of the above, especially providing currents around structure, stacking up bait, and making light less direct. For me the most important thing is that the choppy water breaks up the light under the water. Check out a swimming pool on a calm day and on a windy day. On the calm day, the bottom is uniformly blue because the light is not refracted much, but on a windy day the light is broken up and patterns form on the bottom as the light goes through each little wavelet. This pattern also appears on your lures and makes it generally less "lure looking". A calm day on my lake is the kiss of death, and a day of fishing very slowly in 20 -30 feet.

Long ago, in my jurisdiction, before my house was built, they stopped using lead in plumbing construction and repairs, as they have done in most of the country. Even Washington, DC recognized the problem! But, I suppose you are right. A little lead here and there won't hurt anything, or a little mercury, or a little radio active waste, or a little PCB, or a little...makes me wonder what "a little of what" is in the Potomac River causing bass to change sex or become androgynous? Poison is poison. I sincerely doubt that not using lead in fishing equipment is going to bring the fishing industry to its knees, and prevent anyone from going fishing. This is just another scare tactic and Cabelas should be ashamed for employing this sort of trash.

Sheeeeesh....I just checked the Constitution and right there under the section entitled, "Our Freedoms", just after "Our Stupidity", it clearly states that " Americans are so stupid, they should be allowed to poison the very water they need to drink at their tea parties, and fish in. Cabellas should be ashamed of themselves, and I will certainly question whether to use them in the future. The real question here is why the ammo folks got off the hook. If you think lead is so safe, suck on a sinker for a year and then go check your levels, sprinkle some on your salad, put some in your kids cereal. Thank God the FEDS haven't attacked my freedom to be stoopid, eh?

A few years back, I broke both my much revered very old Eagle Claw fiber glass cranking rods. Sniff. To replace them, I first bought a Loomis MBR 843C IMX, and immediately started losing fish, too stiff. This was not the fault of the rod, which I now use for heavy jigs, rippin weeds with lipless, etc., and it is a great rod, but too stiff for cranks. When Loomis came out with their specialty rods, I bought a Crank Bait Rod...CBR-843, medium, 7 foot, and immediately stopped losing fish. I found the "medium" to be a bit light for some of the deepest running cranks with a lot of resistance, so I bought a CBR-906, Med-Heavy 7'6". These are great crank bait rods. I will never go back to a glass rod. You can't go wrong with one of these, period. Yes, they are expensive. That's what Christmas and birthdays are for!

It is very interesting what people use given the same conditions. Yesterday, there was not a cloud in the sky, and almost no wind. Normally, this would be the kiss of death on the lake I fish in MD, which is up to 60 feet deep with gin clear water and heavy weeds, and standing submerged trees. However, I was picking up bass on drop offs at the edge of weedy flats using a 12 inch Culprit worm on a 5/0, 1/8 oz. keel weighted EWG hook....fished very slowly, very slowly. I throw up onto the flat in about ten feet and work down the weedy drop off to about twenty five feet. The biggest bass was, 6lb 1oz, (see Who's Who in MD on Northeast forum for pics), as well as a really nice Tiger Muskie caught trolling over submerged standing trees twenty feet down on a 60 year old 900 series Hellbender, about 5 inches long. I know there are a lot of folks who adhere to the go small approach in the heat of summer, and I employ that tactic on occasion, but I have been doing very nicely, thank you, all summer on huge worms, and big, deep running cranks. I still say, "where" you fish is more important than "what" you fish. If you are confident there are be fish in a given area, but aren't catching them, change tactics, and try something BIG!

Are you in the Virginia Woodbridge?

TIGER!

Went out on BH today and had a nice day. Five bass including the 6lb 1oz below and that nasty toothy critter with the stripes all over him!

Those tubes! Every time I go out I hit those trees in the middle, down from the tubes a hundred feet, and I haven't caught anything in that entire area since June.