FatBoy

Ummmm.....nope, sorry. There's no "karma" or anything else out there looking to get even with you. There are just choices and consequences. You made two bad choices, fishing a private lake and snagging a bass off a bed, and you didn't suffer any consequences. You were lucky. You made another bad choice, fishing in a lake with pickeral without your pliers, and suffered the natural consequences. BTW, sorry bout the finger. That sounds painful. Good story anyway!

I've had this happen plenty of times. Senkos are really soft and it doesn't take much to tear them in half. I've ripped them in half just getting them caught up in some thick weeds. After catching a fish or two on one, even a bluegill that gets hold of the end can rip them. I doubt that fish was 12 lbs A fish that big would have inhaled the whole senko in a heart beat instead of nipping at the end.

I'll throw in another vote for the Mann's 1-. I love those things. I killed them last fall on these cranks. The bass have to be in the mood for that W-I-D-E wobble though.

Sometimes I work a super fluke fast like bassnleo says. But most of the time the bass want it a little slower than that. Mix it up to see what they want on a given day. When I first started fishing these I was jerking way too hard (insert joke here). I get a lot better results with more subtle twitches of the rod tip. You can twitch it slow with long pauses or you can twitch it fast to keep it up near the surface. But the key is to twitch not jerk (usually).

Just going off of what I read in Bassmaster, etc. patterns can change quickly. It seems like in every issue you read something like: "I found such and such a pattern in practice. But then they opened the spillway and the water dropped a foot. By tournament time all the fish had moved off my best spots and I had to look for the fish on deeper structure." Or: "The first day of the tournament I was catching them in such and such a spot, but on the second day the wind picked up (or the wind changed direction, or a front came through) and that bite died." Seems like more often than not, the guy who wins is the guy who adapts the best. Sounds like you had a good pattern going on the c-rig. But the situation can change from day to day and you have to figure it out all over again. JMHO

I had some good times last year fishing a black buzzbait (from the bank) after dark. The great thing about topwaters during the day is seeing the strike. The great thing about it at night is seeing nothing. You nerves are strung tighter than Ted Nugent's bow (stole that from some one on here; sorry, forgot who) on every cast. When the strike comes, it'll just about give you a heart attack! Good times!!!

Well, here's my story: When I lived in Atlanta, me and three friends went on a canoe trip down this river right before they dammed it up and turned it into a lake. On the way there, we stopped for gas and met this weird kid with a banjo...but that's for a story for another time. On the way down the river, these two hillbillies came out of the woods with a shotgun. They thought we were G-men looking for moonshiners. One of em thought one of my friends "had a real purty mouth!" The two canoes got separated, and the hillbillies caught my two friends in their canoe. They made one of my friends strip down nekkid and then made him squeal like a pig......I'll won't bore you with the gory details. I heard they made a movie about us; maybe you saw it. BTW, I used to look just like Burt Reynolds. ;D ;D ;D

We've had a couple posts recently that recommend being stealthy when approaching the bank. This is obviously good advice. But I have a 2 questions I've been wondering about here lately. 1. Are bigger bass spookier than the dinks? That seems like a reasonable thing. After all, if a bass is easily spooked it seems like he/she would have a better chance of getting to that bigger size. 2. How far away will I spook fish when I approach the bank? In other words, if I walk up to the bank without trying to be sneaky, will I spook the bass 10 ft down the bank? 30 ft? 50 ft? Whadduyathink?

Try rigging a skirted double tail grub on a plain jig head. The skirt on the plastic is not exactly the same as the rubber skirt on a jig, but it's the same idea. Several companies make em including GYCB/Kinami (which youy can get at wallyworld).

If I had an endless supply of just one kind of bait....senko, watermelon/red flake. If I could only have ONE....I guess I'd go with the same thing. After it got torn up (2 fish later) I'd just have to sharpen a stick and spear em like Tom Hanks in Castaway.

DD on the t-rig...now that's old school! Like RW said, nice pic too. When you're holding a fish that big you don't have to keep it out away from your body to make it look good!

huh? :o I'll save y'all the trouble of running for your dictionaries: lagniappe [pronounced LAN-yap] -- a small gift given a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase; broadly : something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure ;D ;D ;D now that's a $10 word!

Chris and T-rig: those are both great pics (the close ups of the head)! 8-)

Bummer. I feel for ya, man. But Pocomoonshine lake...now that's a great name! ;D

Nice fish, man!

njfishinguy and s_self: You're way out of line here. You just made my crap list (and I'd be willing to bet I'm not the only one). bucketmouthangler: Here's a little free (unsolicited) advice from someone who's been there before... Don't buy into crap like this. Every time you respond, you're playing right into their hands. It's best to just grit your teeth and ignore, ignore, ignore. Sorry about the tough week. And I hope your mom's ok. Don't forget to do something extra nice for mother's day!

In Illinois the state DNR web site has all the info and forms you can download. I'd start there...

I had a day like that yesterday. I took the little kids and even the wife down to the neighborhood pond. The kids and the wife were fishing with hotdogs under a bobber (I know, I know, but it works good at this pond...usually). A front had come through earlier and they didn't get even a nibble. Not even the gills were biting. I didn't have much time to fish myself between putting the "bait" on the kids hooks and casting for them. When the kids got bored and went to catch some frogs I finally got a chance. I put a zoom trick worm on a spot remover and...started catching. I got 4 (small ones) in the next half hour. When the bite is slow, fish even slooooower.

It just takes one....but size DOES matter

I've wondered about this one. I don't KNOW the answer, but I have an idea. Bass that stop being spooked because they get used to people don't last very long.

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

In no particluar order: 1. senkos - watermelon, red flake 2. zoom super fluke - arkansas shiner 3. zoom trick worm - big texan (dark brown w/ gold & red flake) 4. berkely 7" power worm - motor oil 5. zoom horny toad - black (at dusk and on the dark side)

Holy cow! And they don't look the least bit concerned... I'd like to see the next pic, taken about 5 seconds later, to see if there's blood running down the passenger's top lip from where he smashed his face into the dash ;D

I'm a chemical engineer, not a physicist. But that's still kinda funny! ;D ;D ;D (You don't see references to the Schroedinger wave equation on BassResource.com very often!!!)

Well, I haven't seen exactly what you're looking for. But Gambler makes a lizard with "feet". And it's a 7 incher. No black with yellow dots though. http://www.***.com/descpageGAMBSOFTB-GLL.html