Crabcakes

One tip I would give you is to stay away from too much discussing fishing methods, buzzbait blades, the superiority of one line to another etc. To us that's very interesting to your teacher it very likely won't be. Stick more with the history, biology, ecology, conservation and social aspects. A section on pro bass fishing might be informative. You might want to consider a section on bass biology as that can bring you some scientific journals and accredited sources without having to look too hard. I imagine it has to be fairly long since its worth the entire class grade.

Only a few of my good buddies go fishing so If they're late I wait for them. Even if people try very hard to be on time things can come up (traffic accident etc.). I do get annoyed when no phone call or notice is given. Generally if a phone call is given I'm willing to wait as long as its not a common occurrence. I'm sure if these weren't my good friends i'd be stricter.

Depends on what size stripers you want to catch. My favorite bait for schoolies is a jerkbait or plug followed by a jigging spoon. For big stripers livebait is probably the way to go. Unfortunately I'm not a freshwater striper fisherman so I can't say I'm too familiar with their lake patterns. I would however stick to reasonably deep water with current if possible if I was trying to catch big girls. I'd look for bottom structure and drift it with live bait. Bridge pylings might work. I've never actually done it in freshwater but I don't see why it would be too different than saltwater.

I've caught some weird things. A seagull and a 5ft water snake among them. I also caught two flounder in 25 feet of water ripping a gotcha plug just beneath the surface. I would liken it to catching a catfish in 25 feet of water on a floating rapala. The all time winner is a very angry 500lbish sea lion who took a live mackerel i was fishing in Baja. He actually just came up and wallowed on the surface crying once he was hooked. We cut the line as quick as we could.

and he's humble too!

That's too cool.

I don't like salmon. Vermillion rockfish, king mackerel, wahoo, fluke, and weakfish top my list. Tuna is always tasty. Mako shark is probably my favorite. I don't eat freshwater fish - sadly the ones around me tend to be a little too ummm hermaphroditic for my tastes.

Sounds like endocrine disrupting pollutants. A similar problem occurred with gators in a florida lake after a chemical spill. I sort of feel bad for all the waterskiers in the river now... oh wait no i don't.

99% of the time I either fish alone, with my dad, or with my friend joe. I rarely fish with anyone else.

Weightless soft plastics, light t rigs, and topwaters are some of my favorite pond lures. I think you are right on with the senkos. Since ponds are usually shallow all around they match very well with senkos, flukes etc. I like t rigging with a 1/16 oz bullet weight and a 5 or 6 inch worm. Why would you need braid for the murky pond? If there is a lot of thick cover you might need heavier line but braid is not a necessity by any means. Target cover and structure like you would in any other body of water. Make casts parallel to the shore where possible. Just be sure you have permission to fish the ponds.

Why?

My grandpa really started it for me. He took me out fishing on the beach when we went on family vacations to North Carolina. My first fish was a spot out of the surf I caught with him. He'd always tell me "keep your line taut". I've been fishing ever since and in the last two years started freshwater fishing but the salt is home for me. I've now landed 46 species of fish which is pretty good for 18. He's passed on since then but the love of fishing and the outdoors he inspired will stay with me forever.

As several guys have pointed out the situation in Maryland is pretty bad. The Chesapeake Bay is so large it draws alot of the time and resources of DNR fish and wildlife etc. Most lakes in Maryland never see any sort of license enforcement. There are no rules requiring licenses to be posted on your clothing and we have some cheap licenses here so they make little money on license fees. I see poaching every single day when i go fishing. I've sent letters and such but i think they're stretched too thin. And, admittedly without any facts to back me up other than seeing quite a few stringers and bags full of 8 inch bass, I would guess that Other's estimate that 7/10 people fish illegally is true- at least at many of the lakes closest to us.

Depending on the lake or body of water- shad bluegill and other sunfish perch herring juvenile bass crayfish bugs and other crawly lake dwelling critters salamanders frogs hellgrammites gobies and theres more i haven't listed i'm sure but you could generally say that crawfish shad and sunfish make up a large portion of the diets of most typical bass

How many University of Tennesse hats he owns. They never seem to get dirty so i assume he must have a crate full.

What he said. I'd say this puts my average fish at a little over 2lbs because the dinks offset the 4-5lb fish.

Recently another member asked some questions about okuma reels and this got me thinking. Okuma is by far my favorite spinning reel manufacturer but i never seem to see much said about them on this forum. Any other okuma reel fans? If there are some other Okuma guys out there what reels do you own?

I have subscriptions to bassmaster and saltwater sportsman. I also get lots of other things in the mail from various magazines i never recall subscribing too. Saltwater sportsman is probably my favorite magazine as i can find all the bass fishing info i need right here on this site.

It seems i'm not the only one who doesn't do well with spinnerbaits. I know they work for others but the biggest fish i've caught on a spinnerbait is a huge shad i snagged in the side.