Jaderose

Yep.....twice. Weirdly, both times were with brand new chatterbaits. They both landed on the moon.

Lol...My apologies. I simply did not notice, either your picture or your name. And it doesn't matter a single bit to me. Still welcome. Always room in my boat for ANY fisherperson.

I'll drop these things into anything. Rarely lose one.

All are welcome, Brother. It ain't a big lake but it's my happy place. In my info down at the bottom it says Happy Holler....out in the boonies. This is the place. About 100 acres.....has stumps, flats, shallows, creeks, points, cover, structure, etc. It's got it all, including some nice bass. I've been going here almost exclusively for about 10 years now and am still not tired of it. It's not a big numbers lake but it has some NICE bass in it. Best part is it's out in the middle of nowhere so not a lot a of pressure. I'd say at least 65% of the time I am there, I am alone. The rest of the time there might be another boat or 2 on the lake and it's almost always just another one of the regulars that all respect and like each other. It's my little paradise on earth.

Meh......Do what I do......fish lakes that look like this. A pleasure boat would be sunk in 5 minutes on this lake. All those trees in the fog are IN the water. And where there is still a tree standing, there are 5 stumps around it that you may or may not be able to see. No gas motors allowed...not that you'd want to use one anyway.

Rehabbing Vintage Stereo equipment and my 1968 Ford F100. I also used to be a chef so I still like to cook.

Hard to beat a black neon tube bait....however you rig em

OP...I'm curious about something......what happens when you accidentally kill a bass? It happens. I feel bad but it doesn't stop me from fishing. It has made me a better, more attentive fisherman to try to eliminate those incidents but it DOES happen. I'm surprised a person that feels bad about eating a cheeseburger even CAN fish. That is not criticism. Just seems surprising.

As long as a person is fishing and harvesting legally, my opinion does not matter. I have asked people to put back a large bass from the little lake I fish most of the time but if the fish is legal, that's all I can do. Ask. For myself personally, I do not like to kill things. Period. This is why I don't hunt. I simply don't enjoy it. I am not anti-hunting, anti-gun, or a vegetarian. I have killed for food and would again if I found it necessary but I am lucky enough for it to not be necessary for my or my families survival. The only people I WILL argue with are trophy hunters. People who kill large predators for sport. I think that is just wrong and I will always say so. Even with that, as long as the person is doing things in a legal fashion, there isn't much I can do.

New screw and nut?

I'll second this. If you wanna REALLY get it going..to the point that you can "walk" it in place...cut the legs OFF. I've got a couple like this and they really raise a ruckus.

This is your answer. In shade under a mat with some decent water beneath them. My only very slight disagreement with this answer is that I always throw on shaded thick mats during the hot parts of the day. The key is that AT LEAST a foot of water under them.

If you make it that way, yes.

Froggin. Nothing else is even close. When the frog bite is on, I can sit out there and throw until my shoulder gives up and I'm on Advil for 3 days. Nothing like picking apart a stump filed mat. Just KNOWING where they are at and working it to them. I can sit and work the same mat for 3 or 4 hours until I move and be pretty confident that I got every last bass outta there. I love it and I'm obsessed by it. The good part of that is that the obsession has made me pretty d**n good at it. I would go head to head with anyone with a frog rod and that includes any pro. My casting is deadly accurate and that includes windy conditions and a natural high casting arc. I typically WANT the arc because I want the *plop* at the end. I can curve frogs around standing timber and get it just where I want it. Once again..this is hour after hour after hour of practice. I've definitely earned my chops on the frog and have to re-earn them every year. That timing is a *****.

You're good to go. All the right gear. Now you just learn your timing and get deadly accurate with your casting. Take the wind into account when you're really launching one across a mat.

This one is simple for me....if I am trolling a bank and meet someone coming towards me and open water is to my right, I give passage. If shore is to my right, I have right of way. If I come up on someone working an area (as opposed to just trolling) I give wide berth and I expect the same. I always give hand signals or just speak to let them know my intention. I'm not tournament fishing so I have no problem giving way when I need to. Plenty of lake for all and the lake I mostly fish has no pleasure boating. Only fisherman and the occasional canoe or yak-er. No biggie. I DO expect non fishing yaks to give me room but doesn't always happen.

BTW...in case you were wondering....that is 3.5 MILES of line. I sure as hell hope he ain't leaving that or even 1/4 of that in a lake

What the hell does he do to destroy 5 setups and go through 6000 yards of Big Game? That is almost impossible. In INDIANA? I stand by my first statement...lol

No offense, but your friend sounds like a lazy moron. I have 10 year old PQ's that look like hell and have abused mightily that work better than when I got them because of some pretty simple maintenance that I do in season and then a deep teardown, clean and lube in the winter. Not hard..takes an hour.

I would second Bubblegum and I always have a bag of white that I can customize with JJ's. PB&J is always in my bag, too. Along with Fire and Ice. I like a Culprit Fat Maxx called Grape Shad, too

Heard nothing but good. If DVT says it's good, it's good. One of our resident stars Bluebasser has also raved about his Pflueger BC's. They will definitely be on my radar when I need more.

My answer to this used to be simple. The last gen Pro Qualifiers were built like tanks (I have 4) and could be had for peanuts when they went on sale...which was often. I don't know about the PQ2 and it's ALWAYS $100. Seems like everyone else has caught up with the PQ in terms of offering a good quality $100 reel.

There will always be idiots. I contact MDC when I need to, educate if I think I can, and otherwise try to be a good enough steward to offset the stupidity of others as much as possible.

I always fish alone. No cell phone. No camera. No radio. I'm not antisocial, I just find too much human interactive exhausting and my fishing time is "me" time. If I need to talk to someone, I'll shoot the breeze with one of the other old timers at the lake that's doing the same thing I am.

I watched a guy walk up to a pond I was fishing one evening a few years ago with a container of worms in his hand. He had nothing else. He obviously didn't have much money and was deaf. He asked me (he could speak and read lips) if I had some extra line, a hook and a bobber. I had all three and gave it to him. He tied that all on a STICK and proceeded to out fish me by a wide margin. Fish don't care what gear you got. As long as you have the skill to pull them out with what you got, it's all good.