Will

2 of them, this message board which is great and then a Kansas Federation board which is only whats going on in the state, and major issues with tournaments. I also did some looking when this board was down, and it was bad.

If you do go with Lowrance you will want the little chip. Go to the link below and you can check out the different regions and what lakes are all on it. You simply put it in your gps/depth finder and you can have a topographic map of that lake. This does not come with the unit. You can get Map Create, but I have heard it doesn't show the lakes contours and depth changes. It would be your choice if you want one or two, you will want one for driving and one up front would be great if you are fishing open water.

I would recomend looking at the Lowrance LMS 332C. You would also want the Hot Spots Elite map chip to use with them for your division.

For drop shot... http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/drop_shot_bassfish.html For stick baits http://bassresource.com/fishing/senko.html At the bottom of articles are links to similair articles.

It also depends how long the tournament is. If the tournament is a 3 or 4 day tournament and I catch 5 fish from my first spot in a short period of time then I will leave and look for new spots for the next couple days. Consistency will pay off, especially in the first half of tournaments. I may not be able to catch the biggest stringers daily, but I will 12 pound you to death over a series of days.

It all depends on how the bite is going. When fishing a tournament we had a strong topwater bite, especially around a single roadbed. We ended up fishing a single 150 yard stretch of bank the whole day with the same bait, and ended up catching 6 keepers, and then 4 small fish that weighed 13 pounds. If the bite would of ever died then we had other spots that we would have hit, but if I am catching fish I will stay.

Going to go for the plain old texas rigged plastic worm. I used to catch alot of fish with it, then this year I just never really fished them much. Its still a deadly technique and fewer people are thorwing them anymore.

Yep, I do that. I write down what I did, what my boaters did, and then I write down what the winner did although I usually use little emphasize on the winners pattern. Right now my collection is pretty small, but it is interesting to compare my fishing logs to results from other tournaments.

If the fish are biting its fun, if the fish are not biting then it can't get boring and miserable.

Well, the biggest thing that I have found is to buy bibs. With bibs your coat will overlap your lap, just using pants your waist will be vulnerable to water seeping through.

Vertical techniques: dropshot, jigging spoon, float n fly. I have caught lots of fish on the drop shot, but maybe 1 keeper so I guess bigger baits and be patient. With the jigging spoon I think I am fishing it right from all the articles I read, I think the problem is I need to find more fish, without a boat I just do it off docks. Float N Fly, lets not go there lol.

Ya, I also seen that sucker and thought maybe it would be a little boat or something. After looking it up on the internet because I was bored, it's actually pretty big. I would think that if any fish were in the area this boat would scare them. I don't know how far into some cover you can drive the mammoth. Below is a picture showing its true size, and its from the wesbite so its not me carrying one around. I like the tool just above the prowler cat, a pair of pliers with a built in light.

It probably all depends on pond management. If you don't put the right amount of fish in per acre then the predators can eat up all the prey.

Well it was not texas rigged plastics. For me it would be crankbaits. My favorite though was frog fishing, which I plan to improve on next year.

You can also count. Say you are dropping a jigging spoon along a bridge piling, and you are fishing along the bottom which lays in 20 foot of water. With line diameter and lure weight the spoon drops at 2 feet per second, so it should takes 10 seconds to reach the bottom. By counting you will know something "fishy" is going on if you only counted to 8 seconds which would mean a fish may of taken it at 16 foot.

Rip rap is going to be productive all year long. Look for places that another piece of cover is with the rip rap, say a log is laying down the rip rap, that should be a productive area. Another thing to look for is places the rocks point further out into the water or cave in. You will want to be casting parallel with the bank so you can be in the strike zone longer. If you have a depth finder or using a carolina rig you can find some of the bigger rocks or areas that some rocks formed under the surface in piles that most fisherman won't find. A square billed crankbait could be the best bait, you will get that square bill to bounce of all the rocks tempting the bass to strike. Another great choice would be jigs and tubes imatating crawdads, which thrive in the rocky situations. Don't forget the senko it makes another great bait fished texas rigged weightless. Whenever the season be watchin the sun. If you are fishing early spring or winter you can be fishing shallow when its sunny since the bass will move up to absorb some heat. Then when you are fishing the warmer times of the year be careful how deep you are fishing on a bank that gets beaten by the sun all year the fish will move deeper unless there is vegetation, especially around rip rap when there is little shade. Rocks are not going to produce oxygen, and the rip rap is going to warm the water, so fish will be there just look a little bit deeper. When looking at fishing lines go with monofilament such as Berkley Big Game or fluorocarbon such as Seaguar. The braided line will break easily among all the rocks. Also be prepared to loose lures, the rocks will eat them up. Will

When its cold it doesn't matter how deep the hook goes, it hurts.

Supsending jerkbaits have done fairly well while drop shot and mojo rig (split shot) do work.

Zoom Chartreuse Marker

If I knew the fish were there and lots of them then I would use a fast or crazy acting lure trying to get a reaction strike such as lipless cranks, suspending jerkbaits, or burning any other crankbaits that go to the depth of the fish. If none took the fast moving baits I would slow down alot. Back off the fish and throw a senko texas or wacky rigged or a jighead and worm and just shake it.

It sounds like some fairly dirty water, so use the darker colors such as black, purple, and chartreuse colors. You can catch fish all year long, you will just need to slow down your presentation.

When on beds I have also heard to use oversized tubes and big swimbaits to irratate the fish but don't use hooks on them. Once the fish gets mad flip a smaller tube in that you can get a good hook up with.

If you know a fish is positioned on a particular stump or rock pile throw at the object over and over and over until the fish bites. You can do this by chunking a buzzbait or spinnerbait 20 times or more at the same laydown.

Here is the Michigan BASS Federation http://www.michiganbass.net/ . You can fish the youth or wait a year and fish the adult club. This is the youth tournament trail that you fish to go to the Jr. Bassmaster Classic, while the adult club leads to the Bassmaster Classic.

By far adding a deck to any little boat will make it pretty shaky. If you do make the deck have it at least 6" below the top of the boat.