Violinguy

DO NOT just walk onto the course and fish with the hopes that nobody says anything. This is trespassing. Golf courses are private property. Just because there is no sign that says "no fishing" does not mean you are allowed to access the water. If you (the general 'you') had a lake in your back yard and didn't post signs, that would still not give anyone the right to walk back there and drop in a line. If you get the owner's/general manager's permission, then knock yourself out. But don't just walk on out there. Another poster talked about how upset golfers might be if they had paid their $50+ only to have to hit around anglers. I am as avid a golfer as a fisherman and I would be a little cheesed off if I saw anglers on the course. I would be mad that it wasn't me first but it is also a safety issue and a distraction to golfers, who paid a lot of money to stink at golf and don't need to worry they might hit you.

I hit the banks of my local pond yesterday and caught only one fish. And I felt lucky to get that one. I figured the bass went back to school with the kids around here. No pun intended. I'm guessing the heavy rain for the last 3 days had something to do with it. When you can't catch fish in your normal spot with Senkos, something is up.

At the small lake I fish at from the banks, I always catch one fish in the same area each time I go. Then nothing else in that area. There is another area I can catch many bass in an hour. I usually fish this area first for about an hour or so then move on and catch my one fish in that one spot, then move on again.

Hmmm. Florida, New Jersey, Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, and Kansas. I think that's all.

Hasn't this been addressed, like, a million times?

A simple, "No problem. We'll move on." would suffice. Instead, the response was more like "we can fish here if we want to, the water is public property." I'm trying not to accuse anyone of being a bad person, but that is the attitude that bugs the @#$%! out of me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my front lawn to chase the kids away.

There is an attitude that too many people have these days, and that is if I am allowed by law to do something, I'm going to do it no matter how annoying or inconsiderate it is. Kind of like the guy walking around the streets in CO with a shotgun simply because he can. It is freaking everyone out but it's "legal" so he's going to do it. Correct, the water around the dock is public, and by law anyone is allowed to fish there. Just like the parking lot where you park your new Porsche is public property. It still wouldn't make you feel very nice to see kids playing baseball in that parking lot. Do unto others...etc. seems to be lost these days.

New state record brown trout, caught just down the road from me. If only.... And no, Brown Troug is not a new species.....@#$%!

Number 11/19. Number 11/19 is probably the most important because a bad sunburn will ruin your day no matter how many fish you catch. And over time, a bad sunburn will kill you.

Ugh, that's what I thought. I just paid $3500 for septic system repair and another $1100 for a new fridge all within the last 6 weeks. And my PS3 is busted (this is the worst lol). What's another couple hundred I guess.

OK, I snickered a bit at the thread title, but this is serious business. About a month ago I was hedge trimming and got stung. Ouch. I sprayed the bush with bee killer and went on my way. A week later, I'm cutting the lawn and stung again, from the same home base in that bush. Went out and got a can of that awesome bee killer that you can shoot from a mile away, and I completely douse the whole @#$%! thing. I can't see the actual nest but it's in there somewhere. I go on vacation, and when I get back, wham! Stung again doing the lawn. I'm starting to get a little cheesed off now. So, I spray the thing again. Today, I take the hedge clippers to the bush next to it, and then just for fun, I lop off a bit of the hornet one. Hundreds of the little #@%!ers come flying out. I'm obviously not getting the nest itself when I spray, but I'm not sticking my head in there to look around. It's not a very dense bush, but I can't really see inside. Any advice on next steps would be awesome. It's 10 feet from my front door.

Yep Been using them for years.

Plastics = Senkos, yum dingers, and other assorted finesse worms. All un-weighted. I have had no luck yet (yet) with normal worms or tubes. Cranks = square billed have worked recently. A couple weeks ago I was catching them on a lipless rattle (BPS xps shad).

I refuse to believe there are baits that won't work at all during the summer, or baits that will only work in spring/fall. However, there are baits that work better than others during certain times of year for sure. Summertime for me has always meant slowing down and finding deeper water if available. Hot water can make bass sluggish. With that in mind, I don't usually use spinnerbaits in the summer, but that doesn't mean I've never caught a bass with one in July. Heck, I used to use them almost exclusively when I first started getting into bass fishing as an adult because it seemed like the only lures I had that caught fish. Until this year, I have hardly fished jigs at all. I don't see myself starting until fall since I'm having plenty of success with plastics and cranks this summer and I don't see why I would change that. I read fishing mags/sites for advice and most of the time the advice is good, as long as it's not taken as the be-all/end-all holy scripture.

Photobucket has been my old stand-by for years.

There's a huge cold front coming to much of the eastern US starting tomorrow. Lows in GA will be in the 50s for the first time since early May and highs maybe reaching 80. For July, that is frigid around here. I had already planned on going fishing tomorrow, so I'll see what's what.

I feel awful when it takes longer than I expect to get a hook out. I had one just the other day where the bass had all six hooks on a crank embedded. I had just gotten one treble out when the fish squirmed out of my grip and proceeded to embed the recently freed treble into the lanyard on my line clippers. I got the other treble out and while I was still "wearing" my crank bait, I got the fish back in the water. All in all, the fish was probably out of the water for 3 or 4 minutes. It swam away briskly which made me happy, but I felt like the biggest @#$! on the planet for taking so long. I won't even take a photo or measure a fish that I feel I've taken too long to unhook. Am I being a little over sensitive about it? Probably, but if I can't hold my breath that long, the fish shouldn't have to

So I spent a couple hours at a local pond where I usually catch a lot of smaller fish. My day was a mixed bag of good and terrible. Good: Caught a fish on my first cast and with a new lure - Xtreme (Academy) Square billed crank Caught the biggest fish I've every caught at that pond - about 2 pounds, and on the above-mentioned crank. Caught a couple fish on big bite bait trick sticks that I just bought and used for the first time. All in all, caught 4 fish in 2 hours. Bad: Got very close to getting hooked in the thumb past the barb - was lucky. Lost more fish than I caught - bad hook set, bad strike detection, hooks were plenty sharp as evidenced above. Lost a hook and senko in a tree. Lost another hook and senko while setting the hook - line broke right at the knot - @$%! None of my usual bank fishing spots were in the shade = sunburn Funny thing - I have no problems with fishing today whatsoever.

So I never did get out the other day, but did get out this afternoon for a few hours. The fishing was not great, but the new crank caught a fish on the first cast, then about an hour later it caught the largest bass I've caught at that lake, about 2 pounds. I also tried out Big Bite Baits trick stick and it caught (and lost) two fish. Got a couple more small ones on senkos also. I followed some advice I read a long time ago which was to fish the shadow lines, and that seemed to work. The larger fish hit that crank about 3 feet from shore just inside the shadow line.

Hitting the banks tomorrow morning with two setups; light spinning with plastics and casting with a new crank I just bought. Looking forward to trying the crank - square billed Academy in house model. Will let you all know what happens.

Mine was a 7.6 pounder on a 3" pumpkinseed tube bait lol. I borrowed a friend's waders and waded about 10 feet from shore so I could get the bait to the drop-off and... It didn't hit the bait hard, but felt more like I got hung up in weeds. After pulling, I felt the fish on and started getting it in. When it broke water right in front of me, I almost wet myself. This was before cell phone cameras (before cell phones actually) so after I released it, I had a hard time convincing my college fishing buddies that it ever happened.

My PB was caught on a 3" tube. 7+ pound fish on a tiny bait. Likewise, I've caught lots of 5-7" dinks on large cranks that are at least 2/3 the size of the fish that hit it.. Yes, your chances of hooking a big bass instead of a dink on a big bait are greater than small ones, but I agree with the post above about bass not understanding their own size in relation to what they are eating.

It's why I love fishing by myself. The other guy catches more fish every time.

Has anyone noticed that local bait shops as well as big box stores (Dick's, Academy, Wally World) tend to stock colors that are popular for their location? In the last 2 weeks, I've bought a few bags of Senkos and Yum Dingers at both Wally and Academy, and they both only stock 4-5 colors. Years ago at a Cabela's store near Chicago, I asked an employee and he more or less confirmed that. As for muddy vs. clear, I have always taken the advice I've seen here and lots of other places; darker colors for stained water or at night, and lighter colors for clear, daytime. Last week, I stood at the same place on shore and threw Senkos and Dingers for about an hour. I caught fish on the following colors; purple, watermelon with and w/out flake, dark red, and blue. Color seemed to be of no significance whatsoever. I have not had that same type of success with hard baits though.

I direct tie everything except hooks for live bait, which I almost never use. I read years ago that swivels can affect the presentation of crankbaits and some other lures. Also the presentation is visually not as natural; again what I read. Therefore, I never used them. Now for the kids, they are indispensable. If they suddenly tell me they want to stop using live bait and switch to xyz lure, piece 'o cake.