jlew

I fished Moose Pond back in September. It was my first New England body of water. In 3 hours of rain I caught 15-20 largemouth with one over 6lbs. My best friend has lived there for 10 years and still hasn't caught one over 5. Maine is legit. But you have to be open to what the water gives you...

Aberdeen Bait and Tackle- Aberdeen, NC Okeechobee Fishing Headquarters- Okeechobee, FL Fast Break Bait and Tackle- Okeechobee, FL 44 Bait and Tackle- Inverness, FL Always something to buy...

Find brush piles deeper than 10' and throw shaky headed trick worms on them. Be ready to have your heart broken. That will hold up until Fall.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Is there any issue with clearing clumps of vegetation off the Ulterra? I'm a little concerned about the "stow and go" automated unit taking a beating with the weight of clumps.

Hello folks! I am outfitting a new boat and am interested in a Minn Kota Ulterra. However, I do have a few questions. I love my old foot pedal controlled MK. And I understand I can get a foot pedal with the Ulterra. I like the ability to move while I'm casting and I like being able to navigate narrow pathways through thick weeds or stumps with ease. Do I need the foot pedal or is the transition to remote pretty seemless? Also, I regularly have to pull up my motor to clear huge clumps of hydrilla or other slop. What do you folks do about this issue? Thank you.

Cape Fear towards Sanford. Also, there used to be a reservoir on the river called Buckhorn; not to be confused with Buckhorn Reservoir northeast of Raleigh. Some big bass in there and catfish the size of logs.

To me it seems a lefty is a natural born fisherman mechanics-wise. No need to change hands during that crucial initial fall time.

Thanks for the input Flip. I'll do that.

I used to do at least one tournament every week when I was back in North Carolina. That was about ten years ago. Now, between my work schedule and family, I get to do maybe 6-7 a year. I do fish at least once a week still, but my weekend is on Wednesday and Thursday. I don't know of any weekday tournaments around here. Every time I do get out though I measure my day as if I were in a tourney. Five best. I don't sit on schools of dinks. I don't fish with live bait. And I'm constantly honing my techniques in pursuit of being what I consider in my mind a better angler. The tournaments I do fish have the best local sticks. These guys know how to drop 25-30 pounds year round and they keep their lips buttoned. I can't blame them. Most of them have dedicated years to those weights. I don't need spots. I can find those. I just want to know how those big bag anglers think about what I'm encountering.

Shoot, I wish I knew! Lol. I don't have a circle of fellow anglers around me and I'm not in a club. So I don't get any "insider" info. I have to rely on what I already know and gleen this forum for any tips.

No, I'm not confident that I would be able to put five fat ones in the boat just by flipping. I'm decent at flipping, but I haven't spent a whole day down here with just with a flipping stick. Maybe I should just go out and do that for a few days to see what materialises...

48lbs thanks to a 13 kicker. I could see where some of these guys would have 55-60 in their best five. I wish.

Good point Team9nine. Thank you.

I think what I'm going to try is this... I'm going to go out and nail 10-12 pounds in three fish as quick as I can. Once I have that, spend the rest of the time flipping. That way, I'll have 5-6 hours to hopefully catch two over 5. That matches the weights I can do now, but gives me a better chance at much more weight.

Lol gardnerjigman. That happened to me several times up in North Carolina when I was starting out tournament fishing. I quickly figured out that offshore is where it is at for most of the year up there. There they certainly group to size. Down here in Florida, I've been told that the fish mostly stick around weeds for most of the year. For the summer a lot of them move out and school offshore, but most of the time they can be found elsewhere. I've only been fishing for a year down here and am trying to figure these big girls out.

Thank you Catt. It seems so obvious now after you point it out.

Thanks for the input Zach. I try to look for those subtle differences that trigger larger bites, but I'll make sure to focus on that more so.

I can usually scrounge together a 15-20 pound bag. Every once in a while I can throw down 23 pounds or so. The problem is that these boys consistently bring 25+ to the scales. Mechanics-wise, I'd consider myself to be a very good angler. But mentally, I seem to have a flaw in what it takes to get over the hump. For instance, when I'm working over fish that I've found. Say I'm catching a 2, five minutes later a 1, ten minutes later a 3.5, a couple 2lbrs, then a 4.5. I do this for a while until those fish quit. Then I move to another group I've located and do the same thing. Now each of these groups I'll work over with say a swimjig, spinnerbait, or swimbait, and then I'll go to flipping or pitching for about ten minutes. Like I said, this usually amounts to around 15-20 pounds by the end of the day. Would you guys say that I am probably moving spots too quickly? Do you guys think I should slow down and pitch/flip or worm each area more thoroughly? After catching a 2 pounder, should I just leave and search for a school of only 4+ pounders? Or do these winning bags come from culling through the smaller fish? I know those are a lot of questions, but I'm very curious about how you guys that catch those big sacks perceive those situations. ???

I was looking at two batteries on the Auto zone website and trying get to compare the two. The Duralast is $87 and the Optima is $290. I have the duralast now. I see that the Optima has some better specs, but really that stuff is like Chinese to me. I regularly drain my trolling batteries. Can anyone tell me if the cost difference is worth it?

Does anyone use it on shallow grassy lakes like in Florida?

Fished out of Okee-tantie from dawn to 3pm. Was able to find some fish on a variety of baits from skinny dippers to chatterbait to frogs to flipping bugs. Day started out cool and slow, but by 11am it got warmer and active. Best five went 18 or so.

No, I wasn't participating in the BFL. Any idea what won it?

Fished out of Harney Pond on 1/2. First time out to this area of the lake. Wow, this area gets crowded! What is the deal with everyone fishing the large eelgrass flat north of Bird Island? It must of had 20 boats beating it up all day. I mean, it's not a bad idea to fish that area, but are there really enough fish there to sustain that beating? Anyways,I was able to catch a few by flipping cattails, a few with swim jig around scattered grass, and a couple on flukes back in canals. Nothing over four and best five went a sad 13 or so pounds. Maybe I should have joined the crowd at the eel grass?

I'm starting to finally realize, when I call an audible, I always do better by sticking to my strengths. For me it is either working a jig, or cranking. I can vary both these techniques to match most conditions, and I enjoy fishing these ways. It is fun pitching jigs to small target areas and then swimming them around. It is fun working crankbaits around and through cover and structure. At least this way, I enjoy myself. And, for some strange reason I usually end up catching fish.

The other day, the partner and I caught a quick 9lb bag by 7:30. We then went to noon without another bite. We had long resolved to just enjoy the pursuit, and try to fish "clean". At 12:30 we pulled into an area, and within an hour we were up to a 21lbs sack. I guess after a few years of tournament fishing, I've come to realize that I can react to a slow day in two ways: One, I could start questiong everything, start bouncing around the lake, start speeding my presentation, and most likely still finish out the day ticked off and without a decent bag to weigh. Or two, relax, slow down, fish to your strengths, let the environment "speak" to you, and just enjoy it for what it is... a day on the water. Then, for some reason, the fish usually end up cooperating.