RockvilleMDAngler

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AMEN I had this very talk with all my kids. (All of us should before PETA dose) my oldest seen a stray cat eating road kill. She was mad at the cat. I explaned to her and my youngest two thats how the world works. Animals are animals and thats what they do . Its not wrong and that animals have no real sence of life and death love or hate. Just eat, survive and reperduce. I hate PETA like most sportsman do, but why do dogs wag their tail and go crazy when they see their owner if they can not feel joy or happiness? I love dogs and would have agreed 100% with you except that I just finished reading "Cesar's Way" by Cesar Millan (aka the Dog Whisperer) and an enormous confusion on the part of dog owners is that their dog is "happy" to see them. In reality the wagging tail and panting etc. is a result of EXCITEMENT, not joy, we humans reward the excitement with "Ohh how's my baby you are so cute come to daddy..." so the dog becomes trained to react that way. I still love it when my dog is excited to see me but you have to know that the dog is "excited" and not "happy." If a dog is to be "happy" it has to be balanced and get TONS of exercise and feel like it is in a pack. If you have a dog I HIGHLY reccomend "Cesar's Way", in three days I turned my 60lb American Bulldog from a crazed old-lady-scarer into a calm-submissive well-behaved dog that recognises me as the leader and doesn't question my leadership. I wasn't able to walk my dog without having it pull me and chase bikers like they were satan, but now she walks next to me and doesn't even react when a biker or rollerblader comes by. BTW I don't think fish feel pain but if they do the pain of a hook in the mouth is no big deal, I usually have the hook in a very soft place in the mouth anyway.

For me there are certain lakes where I get skunked nearly 50% of the time and others where it never happens. I would say overall I get skunked (no fish at all, I never switch to bluegill) on 25% of my trips but I will be the first to admit that I have a lot to learn.

I live in a Washington, DC suburb called Rockville. I am 26 and have been married for two years. I fished a lot as a kid but stopped in my teen years and didn't pick it back up again until about a year and a half ago. Now that all my buddies are still single and want to spend their free time chasing women and spending tons of money at bars and clubs (things that don't interest me anymore now that I am happily married), soon fishing became my recreation activity. My wife and I fish from my Sea Eagle inflatable boat (not a bass boat like most of the guys here, but it has a motor and depth finder and is quite easy to fish from). I fish several lakes within a half hour of my house and I sometimes venture an hour to the larger Baltimore reservoirs. My parents recently purchased a farm in Hume, VA and there are a lot of amazing farm ponds in the area with monster bass so I fish those often as well.

my biggest hinderance with going to other lakes right now is I don't have a boat... and the wife won't let me get one either... she is making me wait till I retire... or sell my Camaro... which AIN'T happening!!! hahahahah so its either go to this one lake where I can rent a row boat for $5 for 4 hours... or go fish off a pier... This is a great thread! It makes me feel better for so many fishless hours out on the water! In regards to the wife not letting you have a boat, I was in the exact same situation. We just bought a townhouse without a garage and with two assigned parking spots (no room for a boat or trailer) so I bought a Sea Eagle SE-8 Fisherman's Dream Package and it made me the happiest angler around. The thing fits in my backseat, has a wooden floor for stand-up casting, has a trolling motor, sets up in under 15 minutes, and can be outfitted with a depth finder (which my wife bought for me for my birthday to go along with a new G Loomis rod, man I love that woman). It has made my fish #'s increase but I still have those frustrating days just like everyone else. I like the boat better than fishing from shore since I can cover more water and don't get eaten alive by bugs as much. For the money (I spent under $500 including motor, thank you EBAY!) it is the best fishing purchase I have ever made. http://www.seaeagle.com/motormount/SE8.asp

Go on with your bad self!!!

In regards to warranties they get no better than Loomis. Just send the rod back with a $20 check for shipping and they send you a brand new one no questions asked. I have a Shimano Convergence rod and a Loomis IMX and there is no question that the Loomis is a superior fishing rod (although the Convergence is a lower line than the Crucial). Loomis rods IMHO are the best rods on the planet, they are incredibly sensitive and just feel right in your hands. That being said Loomis rods tend to be very use-specific, meaning that some are worm rods while others are crankbait rods etc. To use one as an "all-around" rod might be tough since they have very narrow lure weight specifications, that doesn't mean you would be unable to fish a spinnerbait with a worm rod, but the sensitivity will not be as good. I recommend getting a 6'6" MH action GL2 if you want it to be an all around rod.

It seems to me like 5 days is an awfully long time to keep bass in a penn without food. What was the DNR thinking? The article doesn't even mention what the study was for, why were they keeping this many bass for that long of a period in that small of a container?

I have watched my fair share of televised tournament fishing and rarely are there more than 200 people at the weigh in. At the Classic I have seen many more but that is a once-a-year evet. I don't see why a montage of the fish BEING caught along with an official weight is any less appealing than some fat guy holding up some fish. Anyway I could honestly care less about the success of the FLW organizers. Wal Mart needs the funds from the tour like they need a hole in the head. Bass fishing is a great activity and one of my favorite things to do, but it is not a competetive sport and should not be a money-maker for anyone except those that sell and manufacture the gear, especially if it means that hundreds of fish die for no reason.

Why is catch-weigh-and-release not practical? The tournament fisherman already have camera crews on their boats, why not add a ref and let the camera crews act as proof that the fish were actually caught and not hidden and picked up? In regards to catch-and-eat there is little doubt that selective harvest helps the size of fish population. Tournaments cause far more damage then eating a few bass.

Long time Lurker first time poster here. To me the massive die off only enforces what I have thought for years after seeing tournaments in the Potomac River and other local reservoirs during extremely hot months: tournaments kill fish. It is obvious to me that keeping a bass in a small container in extreme heat will harm the fish, even climate controlled live-wells with aerators are not natural environments for fish. We all spend hours on the water trying to figure out what these sensitive fish are biting at a specific depth/temperature/time and then we catch a big one and expect it to survive in a small cramped box with a vibrating gas engine a few feet from it so it can be weighed and eventually returned, it makes no sense. If the bass are that finicky about what they eat why would they be tough enough to survive hours in these conditions? I understand the desire to make fishing competetive, it is in our nature; however, fishing should be relaxing. We shouldn't care about sponsors/prizes/exposure when the real reason we get on the water is to have fun and forget the rest of the world for a few hours. I hear people saying that the big weigh-ins are required in order to spread the popularity of the sport... well who wants more boats on their favorite water?!?! These tournaments are doing nothing to improve the fishing in our country, they only serve to stroke the egos of a select few and help the sales of the lure manufacturers. If tournaments HAVE to continue, why not put an unbiased ref on each boat to weigh the fish with a certified scale and then have it returned immediately to the water? No harm done to the fish and tournaments can continue. The weigh-ins can still be done but with pictures/video of the fish and a scorecard. Finally the results from tournaments not only affect the numbers of fish in the water, it affects the attitude of the anglers on the water. How many times have you seen guys fly in to one of your spots moments ahead of you only to "claim" it as their own? How many times have you seen guys with big bags of bass who refuse to tell you where or how they caught them? Fishing is a joy and we should share that joy with everyone angler on the water, we should not view them as someone who is trying to nab your fish. Sorry if I am too opinionated for a first-time poster :-)