toni63

Funny, I edited it down thinking I was doing exactly the same thing but you quoted me before I could. ?

Amateur instructional video makers on Youtube who intro every single video with "hi guys" and then proceed to throw in "guys" "hey guys" "look guys" "what I mean guys" and any other form of "guys" to address their audience over and over and over. That and taking too long to get to the actual meat of the video. Glenn does a great job of not wasting time on what isn't necessary. We liven an age of the 1 minute attention span, some would do well to remember we are all ADD now. lol

Lets see.... There was this guy who first thing in the morning went and offered a days wage for a days work and some folks took him up on it. They went and worked. In the afternoon, the guy went and offered a days wage for workers to come and finish the day working for him. They took him up on it, went and worked. At the end of the day, he paid them all what he promised... a days wage. The workers who were there all day complained that they worked all day and it wasn't fair he was paying the guys who showed up for the last two hours the same as them. To which they were told, "you are all being paid according to what I promised you. This is the only fair thing to do, you entered into the agreement, you met your end, I met mine, you all received what you agreed to work for. I can do what I want with what is mine, why do you begrudge me being generous?" Sounds to me like you and these other people all enjoy the same rights to fish at this place as granted by the landowner. If he doesn't set restrictions, you certainly have no right to, nor do you have any right to be upset when others behave within the rules set by the landowner, who has the right to set limits, or no limits, as he sees fit. I will abide by your request to let this thread die and won't post again.

For somebody mentioning multiple times this all revolves around your church folks, and quoting a scripture in your signature, it seems odd you're getting worked up over this. Forgive the guy and move on. Honestly, my first thoughts when reading all the comments were that everyone is assuming this guy who did this actually knew what he did in the grander scheme. My thoughts, based on your comment "Now he's there pounding it all the time" kind of looks to me like he is just some seriously clueless amateur who doesn't have the foggiest idea that a 10 pound bass is a Unicorn in the bass fishing world. Be glad you had your chance to catch it. Most of us will never see a bass that size on the end of our lines in our lifetimes. And you have the picture. (oh, and on a side note, I will be staying overnight in Macon on Friday May 25th, and thats kinda in South GA, so if you'd like to take me to this secret location I'd be more than happy to buy you dinner and/or breakfast..or both.... )

Went up to Newton last Saturday. Got a PB, heaviest bass I have ever scaled on my digital scales at 6 lbs even. Couple went 3 plus, 2 in the mid 2 lb range. Had a fun day. It was kinda weird, you had to be in the right temp range, too cold nothing, too warm nothing. There was just this one section where I caught all these.

Interesting topic, I just read all the previous responses to see what others had to say. I think I might let him know that if he continues to blast away, all speed and no control, the days of going fishing together may need to come to a close. Either you are going to listen and learn or I am just not coming out here as it really ruins my day of fishing when you act like this all day and refuse to listen and then get mad that you don't catch fish. I like hanging out with you and yes, we are friends, but as your friend I think we should find some other activity to do together because you just don't seem to enjoy this. I reread your initial post a couple times and it seems you have done all you can and if this is really ruining your enjoyment of fishing, maybe he just needs to go his own way and you go yours when it comes to fishing.

Maybe talk to a Bass Pro shops or some aquarium somewhere that needs some freshwater fish. I agree with your sentiments that it won't be scared of other fish and probably would just end up in the food chain pretty quickly.

All of them. Some I don't personally care much for (Ish, Ike to name two) but I still listen to what they say when they pass on tips and advice and watching them be successful doing it gets me itching to go fishing. Regardless of personality, you don't get to that level without knowing a thing or two because you've done a thing or two.

Got out yesterday afternoon from around 2 til dusk. Mid 40's rained all afternoon. Water temp was right at 48 degrees, the low end of the prespawn. Caught 7 fish, 6 of which were the size of my phone lol. But the one that was over a pound was a fat full of eggs near a laydown and she nailed a round billed red craw looking crank bait getting drug on the bottom. I'm thinking its only going to take another degree or two of warmth and things might get interesting around here. Really trying to get out prespawn this year, seems like most years its over before I know it has even started. I am always guessing the water is colder than it actually is and when I do figure its warmed up enough to get the fat girls moving I am always too late. Hopefully this year braving some of the colder nastier weather pays off with some bigger catches.

I learned that fishing reel makers should come up with some kind of full spool/half spool version of their reels so we don't have to pack the first half of the spool with line just to put what we want to fish with on the second half. If someone wants to troll 100 feet deep and needs that full spool to do so, then use the full spool. If you are just casting 120 feet or less, then use the half spool. It shouldn't the hard to design a spool that is the same size but a bigger diameter in the center to eliminate line packing like most all of us do. Who knows, maybe somebody already did this and I am just late to the game. That said, I learned watching an Aaron Martens vid on youtube to pack the center of the spool with light braid packed as tight as you can get it, then spool the second half with whatever line you want. So I did some looking and found the lightest braid with the thinnest line diameter I could find and packed my reels with it. I also adjusted the brake off to just one pair on and threw a 1/4 jerk bait a country mile with no backlash first time out using it. Gained all kinds of casting distance on my bigger lures too. I used to think that spinning gear was the only way to get distance with a light lure. I was totally wrong.

Cleaned, lubed, respooled and ready to go. Does it take you guys an hour for each reel too? This year I even coded each on the butt end with a piece of tape with the LB test of the line on it. I always think I will remember what I spooled it with but then forget. So some tape, a sharpie, then some clear tape over that hopefully will keep me organized better this year. Couple these Bass Pro Qualifiers I didn't do this with last year but they cleaned up real nice anyway. I gotta say I am very impressed with how easy these reels are to clean and maintain, its like they built maintenance into the design to make it easy.

Instead of letting the line loosen up over multiple casts then spooling it all out at once and then reeling it back in, keep some tension on the line with your fingers of your non reeling hand. I usually have my left hand cupping the side/bottom of the reel and keep two fingers kind of pinched on the line as it spools back in, keeping some tension on the line so it feeds without slack back onto the spool. This also keeps your fingers in contact with the line and with some lures/plastics you can feel gentle tugs on the line that can be bass grabbing the bait. Its something my grandfather taught me when I was a kid with the old closed faced reels. Not telling anyone what to do, but that is what I do and it does help with reducing backlash. I can cast for hours without a problem and only get backlash for the most part when I cast into the wind or my lure gets stopped mid flight abruptly and the spool keeps spinning. I think I will try the tape trick too though. That would keep some of the wicked birds nests from being as bad. Good tip.

I have Carharrt Artic Gear bibs and jacket and put maybe one layer under them. I wear a Afib headsock made for winter cycling to keep my head warm. Not the most stylish getup on the water but I can go blasting around on my 4 wheeler in 15 degree weather in that getup and never get cold. I like the zippers/button flap over the zippers on the bib legs that run from the bottom to the top, so if i do start to get warm in it as the day goes on, I just unzip and let some air in to cool off. Also great for working out in the cold at home. I also have the World Sportsman bass pro own label rain suit. It was $100 for both the jacket and pants, and quite frankly it is the absolute best value for money purchase I have ever made. I can fish with layers on under it and it breaks all the wind (lol) and stops all the rain and when I take it off, I am dry. Even after full days of raging downpour and constant rain, I can take it off and be dry. It is also useful year round, so its not just something I use in one season only. I like both because I am never worried about damaging them. The Carharrt stuff is darn near indestructible and the World Sportsman stuff didn't break the bank. I have had both for the better part of 8 years now or more and both still work perfectly, with a couple nicks dings and stains here and there. Not fancy, but it does the job. Got both for under $300 total, neither is just fishing only gear, and both have proven reliable for years.

Yikes! So I read this and what I take away from it is that 1-Bass that are immune to angling survive and reproduce more bass that are immune to angling, thus increasing the population of angler proof bass that can't be caught, ever and 2-bass that have been exposed to angling learn angling and tend to be harder to catch after they are exposed to angling. So logically taking that to its conclusion, eventually the waters will be filled with bass that can't be caught, or are rarely caught, if ever, with hundreds of boats and anglers spending millions of dollars to not catch fish. Sounds like there's not going to be much difference than the way things are now..... lol And the only thing we can, as anglers, do to prevent "fishing proof" bass for the future generations of non-fish catching anglers is to stop fishing now so the fishable bass populations expand and we don't teach the new bass to fear us.

Hope I am not falling foul of any forum guidelines, but the KVD six season guide is a pretty good basic guide to understanding bass movement or lack thereof based on water temperature. https://www.bassmaster.com/vandams-6-season-bass-guide

Friday was a rare 50 plus degree day in my neck of the woods. So I headed to Newton. Fished from about 1145 to 530, never went far down the warm arm due to the excess wind/waves. My jon boat isn't big enough to really do well in any kind of chop kicked up by wind. Anyway, didn't have a lot of luck until I switched over to a big square bill and then I caught a 3 1/2 and a 2 /12 in about an hour. No pictures of either, my phone was buried in layers when i caught them so I just weighed and released. But I did get some pics of a Bald Eagle and their nest up there, which was pretty awesome. Water temp was like, max of 50 near the main lake and dropping to 45 back deep it a cove. Had a good time though, was really great just to be on the water.

Nudge. ~Anonymous

If I ever get there, I'll let you know.....

I have had some luck with jerkbaits in places like that around my way. Might think about bringing a couple of those too.

A very Merry Christmas to all the Illinois anglers on here. Hope you and your families all enjoy the best of the season and have safe and happy travels! Todd Yes. I fish Newton in the winter, have had some decent days and some not so much, but it still beats just watching it on TV. I kinda look at 40 + degree air temp for a high on any given day to be warm enough for me to go. Power plant lake the water temp is always warm enough. But if its not going to get in the 40's, I'd rather not launch the boat. My fingers just freeze off.

Went fishing with a friend (who really wasn't much of an angler but enjoyed it all the same) in a 12 foot john on a small sluice lake. We weren't catching anything for about 4-5 hours, tried a bunch of different stuff, no luck. So we are sitting about 8 feet off a bank casting parallel to it when he decides the heck with it and rears back and lets fly with his mightiest casting effort all day trying to break the distance record and his lure ends up about twenty feet up the bank in some briars and bushes. So I look at him and say "yeah, that's where they'll be Art, up in the bushes up there......."

I have to disagree with some on here about the "fisheries biologist/game warden" career path. I just don't see a future in either these days. We don't seem to value the same things we used to in this society, so we don't put resources into things like managing our natural lands, preserving the ecosystem, etc. In this day and age that is all viewed as something to cut to save money. It would be a real shame (and I have seen this time and time again over the years) to invest years of your life and your money into a degree that you can't find decent work in. I agree with what others have said. Find something you can do, and do well, that also has a future and will provide you with the funds and time to pursue your hobby away from work. If you can find work in something related to fishing that fits that description, that is about as good as it might get. Just keep your eyes open at what is happening in the world around you while you pursue your education so it doesn't end up being what your passionate about, but has no future to pay your bills. Or funds for a boat, bait and tackle and time off. Good luck. If you are fortunate enough to be able to turn your passion into your paycheck, you'll never work a day in your life.

In my experience at my local pond, Florida to visit the relatives.....

Cookies and Cream Quest bars. Unsweet tea brewed from bags at home. And maybe a couple honey crisp apples. I love honey crisp apples.

Took my buddy Bill fishing yesterday. First time fishing in 28 years, first time ever bass fishing. He had liver failure and got a transplant earlier this year and is doing well. This was his first bass ever (the little one) and the bigger one he said was the biggest fish he had ever caught in his life. Anyway, by the time we got to mid afternoon he was asking how much money I had in the boat, trailer and motor and was thinking out loud about getting one in the spring. I think he had a good time. It was the best day fishing I have ever had.