BASS fisherman

First I start by rigging up the night before with lures that according to the weather conditions, should work well on the water the next day. After I catch one bass with a certain lure, I will look at how I was fishing the lure, and were the fish was when he hit it. If the same retrieve was used in a similar place to where the first fish was, and I catch another fish, then I know I have established a pattern. Usually if you catch two fish the same way, you can almost bet that you will get some other fish with the same lure. Unless the pattern changes due to weather or water conditions. An example would be if I was throwing a black spinnerbait into the "Y" of a submerged tree, and retrieve at a med pace and hook a bass. If the same thing can be done repeatedly, one of the current patterns would be throwing a black spinnerbait with a colorado blade into the "Y" or next to a submerged tree and retreiving at a med pace. Not just throwing a spinnerbait as some anglers believe the pattern would be.

Welcome to the forum!

Oh NO, the sky is falling, the sky is falling! Everybody RUN!!

I agree K_mac, chances are Avid would bash the gator with his rod, and then take a chunk out of it's face. ;D I don't know if I could fish around gators, not something that could and would eat you at the first chance. No thank you.

Liquid soap, I absolutly agree, but the issue here are lakes that are under Big Bass regulations. Not all lakes in Pa are under the regulations. But those that are only thrive with high numbers of smaller bass, whose growth have been stunted due to the high numbers, and competition for available forage.

Two Fathers and two sons went fishing they all caught a fish but at the end of the day they only had three? Why?

Wow, 30-40 mph? Thats screamin : fast! ;D

I talked to the guy today. On his way back from Texas with his new bass boat, he had tranny trouble with his 4 runner. So he was unable to bring the old boat out to me. He set up a time at the mechanic on Friday, so hopefully Saturday or Sunday I will finally have the boat. He is also throwing in a 40# trolling motor which only needs the mounting bolts, and rubber washers that go underneath of the mounting rack, or whatever it's called. Pics will be up the moment I get home with the boat.

The Norman Speed Clip is absolutely the fastest and easiest way to attach a lure to fishing line. A circular design allows lures to run true. Speed Clip works great with braided lines. It takes only one hand to use. A buddy in my fishing club told me about them. I think you can get them from Bass Pro.

I believe that you do everything in your power to present yourself well and it is meant to be in the grand scheme of things, you will get it. If not maybe a better offer will come along next week. But I do wish you luck at the interview. Keep your head up, be polite and respectful, and answer all questions to the best of your ability. Good Luck!!!

Everybody has bad days on the water, he just had a whole 365 bad days on the water. I like to get as many opinions as possible, and then figure out what works best for me. I still value his abilities. I think bass angling as a sport advances every year a great deal. Keeping up with that advancement is not easy for an older man. Maybe that is part of the reason he has done so poorly, maybe he has other issues that we don't know about that are distacting him while he's on the water.

Take some advice from me, Drop It!!

Come on guys, all this talk about salmon and beef is making me hungry! GO, Those are some nice fish. The one in the bottom pic has a look on it's face like it just saw a ghost or something scary. Is that you in the pic? My brother has that same scully. And IMO 4biz is right. It would technically go in the "other species" forum. If you look in that forum, alot of people talk about their catches of "other species". But I think if it really mattered, the mods would have moved it. Oh well, no big deal.

Thanks for your input Dink. I do not have a doctorate, but any one can study productive fisheries, and what makes them productive. And a couple of the guys in my bass club have also noticed the same problem with the high numbers of small bass. In the first email that Mr. Lorson sent me, it states that the state uses the program to "Improve the overall bass catch rates including catch and release fishing". Meaning that the lakes in question as I previously stated, are over run with tiny bass which in turn makes any available forage more scarce. Thereby stunting the growth of all the bass in the said waters. I mainly fish 2 lakes that are under the Big Bass program regulation. I have logged in over 50 days, and app. 400 hours of fishing on each of those lakes, and only caught three bass over three pounds. The big bass are there, but the numbers are so small, you could count them on one hand. And both of those waters have been under the regulations for nine years, and ten years respectively. Which according to Mr. Lorson, is three years and four years longer than the regulations require to take a noticable effect. The only noticable effect myself and other serious anglers have noticed so far are lots and lots of tiny bass. And these guys are like yourself, they have been fishing for years, so they know what they are doing. They also catch lots of small bass, but only a few each year that are "picture worthy". These guys are members of the bass club I am in, and not to brag, but we are one of the best in Pa. The big bass just aren't there in good numbers, mostly due to the fact that uneducated anglers are keeping the big bass that they do catch, simply to mount on the wall, rather than releasing them for another day. I believe if the state puts into place a slot limit of smaller bass, the remaining bass would have more forage, and therefore thrive in the regulated waters. Supposedly the bass that grow to record size will pass those genetics down to their fry, making for better genetics in said waters as well. Such states as Texas have proven this by instituting the "share lunker program". It is a complicated matter, yet simple at the same time.

Usually if I get any lure snagged, whether a jig, crankbait, or whatever, I will first try going to the opposite side of the snag and tug on the lure to get it unsnagged. If this doesn't work, and attack from different sides trying to get it back. If I know the water is at most 6-7 feet deep, I reel in the line all the way so the rod tip goes down into the water and is up against the lure. Usually a little push or pull with the tip will dislodge the lure. Now if the lure is up in a tree, I will try to pull it out as carefully as possible so that the hooks don't catch in the tree. To answer your question, I had made myself a topwater walk the dog lure. One day while fishing, I casted the lure aiming just a little to high. The lure landed about 12 feet up in a tree. At first I tried pulling on it, which made the hooks dig into the wood. So I get the boat under the lure, and about 5 feet to the side of it and I tried casting a jig into the tree with 20lb mono on, and pulling the small branch it was stuck on down. Well the line snapped, and I also lost the jig in the tree. I didn't care one bit about the jig, I just wanted to get MY handmade lure back. That week, I was unable to get my lure back. I decided on the way home to bring a saw and cut the whole tree down. That lure was important to me. Well in a weeks time, I decided that cutting the tree down was just not feasable. I ended up rigging up two- one ounce sinkers to a 32 ft piece of jute, or twine. We went back the next week, and I threw the sinkers over the branch and pulled the branch down, and got my lure back. I didn't see the jig though. I have used the jute to get back another lure that I could see up in a tree. I also use the jute as a po mans depth finder. I just marked the rope in 1 foot increments. Once a while back, I snagged a black jitterbug on a stump and decided to go in and get it. I got about two feet into the water, and couldn't bring myself to go any farther. The mud was thick, and probably would have been too hard to get out of by myself. So I went home with wet boots, and no black jitterbug.

Does it make sense to some of you more seasoned anglers? Does anyone have links to anything regarding anglers helping to make their state waters a better habitat for big bass? Any input at all is appreciated.

It seems to help with taking out the back treble first, and moving forward to the front treble.

I don't know why, but I have had better results with the cheapo walmary $1 spinnerbaits. Primarily the black one with the red throat and a colorado blade. I have alot of different spinnerbaits, of all price ranges, and colors, and blade styles. But for some reason, I catch the most bass with the $1 junkie spinner. I do however change the skirt to a silicone material, and sometimes I upgrade to a slightly larger blade depending on the water.

Sorry to hear you got ripped off. That sucks! Where did you send the money order to? I don't know how those things work. If you have his address, turn him in. Do you have a name? What about an app. location. It is amazing how much you can find out about people over the internet, if you go to the right place, and enter the right information. Send me a PM with any available info that you have, and I'll help out in any way that I can with tracking that scum bag down.

I think you'll be looking for the rest of your life Westpalmdude. They are ALL insane!!! No offense to any ladies on the site who read this. You all like to fish, hence making you completely sane.

Crap off of TV are most always just that, crap. It is all junk IMO. My mom was literaly addicted to buying junk off of QVC and it was all garbage. She bought these solar lamps, that you put in the ground along your driveway or sidewalk. They lasted around 2 months and then started screwing up due to water getting into the solar panels. We have some around our back yard too, and when we turn the porch light on, maybe 4 of the 6 turn off, and the other 2 blink on and off.

NOW, Do it NOW!! The club dues for the club Im in are due in November for the 2007 season. So if you want to get the most from the club, Id join now.

From the looks of your avatar your a bank beater. When I first started trying to walk the dog, I was on a wall which was about 3-4 feet above the water. It was surprisingly easy to walk the dog with a spook. My advice, if you can, is to find something to stand on that is at least a couple feet above the waters surface. Cast out your spook or sammy, hold the rod to one side with a semi slack line, and snap the line so the lure sashays to one side. And then repeat. I usually do 2 jerks, and then turn the crank handle. Bass will almost always hit a topwater on the pause. Usually I do 2-3 jerks, then a pause, 1 jerk, then a pause. Try different cadences to see what works best once you get it. Another tip to make it easier. Whichever hand you reel with, point the rod in that direction and down at a slight angle to begin your retrieve. I find the bigger and heavier the lure the easier it is to get a feel for walking the dog. A smaller, lighter lure will be the hardest untill you get the feel for it.

Welcome to the forum!

All of the above people gave excellent advice. I occasionally get mid-air overruns from whipping the lure out insted of a smooth, steady cast. When casting a BC, try to think of the rod as a hammer, and you are swinging it as to hit a nail. I don't know if that helps you, but for some reason that analogy helped me to become a little better with my 1st baitcaster.