"hamma"

a spinnerbait, you can fish it just about everywhere

I never would have thought a kayak had that capability, at least I've never seen anyone standing in one, I have a flatbottom canoe I used to stand in, but a kayak? learn something new everyday I just read my post and I think the transom mounted foot controlled trolling motor is called a bullfrog, not bulldog. And I believe its made by motorguide,... Guess Im just wrong all around in this thread,.... lol gotta love pain meds

Almost an exact replica of my tiller steered tracker deep v. I cant locate my pic, but there's one in the "check out my ride" thread

electric controlled trolling motors have a wire instead of a cable. also there is one called the bulldog that is designed to be a foot controlled transom mount. I think the point other posters are trying to impart is that kayaks arent designed to be "stand up" platforms. At times, even while standing on a large deck, when you turn on that motor your balance is thrown off. And you are grateful for that extra deckspace, saving you from a dip in the lake.

I dont go fishing without a jig tied onto a flippin stick. Period,..... And this is used for many applications, but its mainly for docks. That crayfish imitation is hard to beat. I can fish a worm, or any other lure for docks,.. but if I re-trace my path with that jig? It will out fish any other lure used, hands down. If you fish for bass, and choose to dock fish? I recommend that you brush up on jig fishing.

I dont think there's a better way to present a grub than on a jighead., The options available with this lure is almost endless and they all will work when timed right, you can hop it, fish it like a worm, swim it, burn it under the surface, suspend it over deep water, stitch it, noodle it, whatever you like. As for fly fishing a grub? I dont see why you couldnt, but i believe that if you are to put forth the effort to use a flyrod, use a fly.

I got alot out of several years of bassmasters magazine, Ironicly its mostly geared to southern fishing but I did apply and adapt to up here. Also, In-Fisherman and every tv show I could watch. But,...There were 2 books put out by Ted Ancher called Bass Bets. That were actually reviews of New England lakes and ponds, He interviewed tourny anglers about their favorite waters and provided a in depth report showing area's/spots, and what they used to catch fish. Quite valuable for any New England angler

A 1/8 oz jighead with a 3 inch grub, a carolina rigged 4" straight tail worm, on a light wire offset #1 hook, a do nothing worm, or my variation of it,...a thick stiff worm with the curly tail pulled off on a weightless texas rigged 1/0 offset hook

When you are in that moment?,.... your nerve's are almost fried as you've seen the fish , prayed it doesnt get off, and when you get your hand on it, its a different feeling than one can really describe, but I will take a shot at it. Your heart is beating a mile a minute, your shaking, your amazed at its shear size and cant believe at that moment such a thing exisits. Its in your hands and your thoughts are "OMG, omg, omg!" (I did make sure that I held it properly as to not break its jaw). You get that "ying, ying, ying" ringing in your head and your thoughts seem scrambled. Your doing all you can to make sure you don't drop it, but then yet, you think it may die if you keep it out of the water too long. All of this happens within a few seconds, Then Jay spun back around with the scale, we weighed it, and realized it wasn't the state record we thought it was while I was fighting it. Then we discussed what to do, bring it somewhere to be officially weighed, Nope we had no livewell and it would die,. and we had just started fishing. Plus,..i was prefishing for a tourney, Think it would be lunker,..LOL,... Then I decided "screw it, I aint killing this fish" and let her go. Reluctantly Jay agreed I did the right thing. We were both so ramped up we didnt even think of a pic til later in the day on the way home. All we discussed the rest of the day was,.."I wonder if there's more pigs in here" ,.."12.5 is gunna be hard to beat",.." should I have kept it? naw she was to epic",..."If I catch that in the tourney that would be awesome" was probably 2 hours before I started to settle down to a normal heartbeat. I was riding a natural high like never before., A feeling that I have acheived my goal in bassfishing and whats next was a sobering thought, but it was overshadowed by the sheer excitement of what had just occured. This was 20 years ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday, I may be missing some thoughts on the rest of the day, but this is the jist of it. Before that moment happened? I had imagined many times what I would do If I caught a huge bass. Believe me,..all that goes out the window when you are unexpectedly put in that situation, and your physical reaction, is one of extreme mayhem. Thought? is no longer a prerequisite. Ya know those nightmares that you wake up from that are so real that when you do wake up your sweating, and in full belief that it was real, and your hearts rate has skyrocketed? thats kinda what I went thru when I caught that fish.

You have more lures than tools, and your an auto mechanic You have one truck, but three boats Your phone has more bassfishing apps and sites, than phone numbers You can get lost driving in one town over, but any lake within 300 miles are no problem Your wallet pics went from your kids to your personal best. Your xmas presents went from sox and ties, to bps gift cards Back to school time costs less than that months tackle warehouse order

My pb was 12.5 in sept 1994, the next spring a guy weighed in on a certified state scale a "skinny" 11+ from the same lake,...on the so. shore somewhere. As for a pic I dont know if they took one. I didnt, I was so freaked out i was hyperventilating, remembering to breathe was a issue,...lol

Big pike in attitash lake in merrimac. Take big shiners and head straight across from the ramp and off to the left some,,, Congrats on the pb's guys thats always a awesome day.

First off?? what is this motor to be on? a fiberglass 18 ft bass boat?,..or a 16 ft tin multi rig?,...this makes a big difference. I have had a cable steering trolling motor on my boat, then went to a electric steer. To be honest, the cable steer was kinda easier to determine direction as the angle of my foot told me where the motor was being directed without having to look down at it, whereas the elcetric steer you need to look at the motors head to determine direction,..but,...the electric steering doesnt take much strength to move it, and the cable will wear you down after a day of fishing. So its kind of *** for tat, as far as power and speeds I think both have the same offerings.

You may have been drawing to much off of that one battery at that time. . My batteries are set up the same way yours are and when I turn on to much stuff, my boats electronics act up too. Im thinking of going to a bigger and better battery as I get the cheapo walmarts. Because they are under warrenty and theres walmarts wherever you go

Although the consemite pro would bring over a dozen rods and half a tackle shop. You really dont "need" it all. Four rods and a smaller tackle supply is what most co-anglers take for a tournament. And they make it work. Id image you could get away with four rods with some changing anticipated. Even though the basic original 6 bass lure categories are: Jigs, worms, spinners, crankbaits, topwaters and spoons. The idea that you "need" dozens of each, to cover all situations is a farse. You can set up a smaller tackle supply to cover the bases. Instead of twenty different zara spooks, take two.,, instead of bringing thirty spinnerbaits bring 6, and so on This I hope answers your tackle portion of your question. As for being well rounded?,..time on the water, and utilizing techniques that cover the different depths, structures, cover and water types (clear, stained, muddy). And truly understanding them. Considering the countries different waters, there would be an awful lot of different prey. Therefore you will most likely have to consider the ones you know, and then brush up on ones you dont know. Whether it be online, or thru "local" input,... Id imagine this would do it. I kind of did the same thing for my 8' pontoon style puddle jumper Basshunter boat. I got tired of constantly having to go thru my Trackers tackle, to go for a day on it, that I decided to set up its own tackle bag, and designated 4 rods. It works great and saves me alot of grief. Covers the bases too.

That's one impressive day on the water! Congrats, (insert clapping here) ...still shaking? And trust me, you wont forget that afternoon, ever,;.... See why my favorite lure is a jig? I strongly believe when the big girls are biting nothing beats it, NOTHING. And here yet is proof again. I'm happy for you as I know that feeling, that, omg, what a day I just had, I hope to beat it someday feeling. For some time, you will reflect on it, and still be in awe. relish in it, you deserve it.. its definately an awesome accomplishment. Kudos to you! Get one of those collage pic frames, put those lipped fish pics in it. The memory will never leave you. But still, you have the opportunity,.. take it. I wish I did just this, as it's nice to reflect back on those days I had like that, memory serves well, but pics remind one more often. Again,.. congrats man,....thats awesome!

For many years its always been a jerkbait, with a jig and pig mixed in there,...bomber long a in either gold or silver flash, til the waters temps start dropping hard. Then a rapala original floater till ice in.

No, it was in a South Shore lake, and we got no pic. Ironically,.. we did have a camera with us, but, I think we were both in shock because we didnt even think of a pic, till we were on the 2 hour drive home, and I caught it early in the day. I lived in Peabody back then.

Then by all means join a draw club. its worth it, fun, and will really give you the experience you will need if you ever decide to turn pro

Happened to me once with a crankbait,..but a topwater? Wow!

I'd put a tin boat at the camps dock, just auto-bilged or covered, etc. ,..and keep the skeeter out at home for "other" days on the water. Just a thought.

The tiller model looks an awful lot like my tracker super guide v16. the floor plan is a little different, but the idea appears to be the same. for the money? I paid alot less, and being aluminium I'm sure i get more speed from my 40 hp then they do with a 40 on fiberglass.. Dont get me wrong, they appear to be a nice looking rig. But, Im sure most savy anglers would steer towards a tin rig instead

I was prefishing for a tournament in a so. shore lake that Ive never been on before. It was early sept 1994, the weather conditions were to be perfect for the next week or 2. Barometer was around 28, and every day from then on was to be favorable temps, and as most New England summer days possible showers in the evenings. The tourney was to be the first of the next year so I needed to check this place out, as some springs the ice can deter fishing all together. We get to the ramp and the wind is a favorable westerly breeze, and we were looking at an Island just across from the ramp and gameplanned our course. We decided to start on the easterly sides point (sheltered from the wind) and progress on the windless side back towards the west, fishing that islands shore. I caught one decent 3 lberoff the point and as we slowly drifted west we came to another point which my buddy caught a nicer 4 lber right off. He taunted me about it and as we rounded the point there was a nice stump about five feet off the shore, and He says "watch me catch a 5 lber now" I said "yeah right in your dreams, Im gunna beat it anyways" he tossed in a worm, and I a white spinnerbait. We both hook up, he says "Ha Ha!,..told ya, this one feels better" I say "oh yeah thats nice" his runs under the boat, mine heads behind the boat for deeper water. He says "I shoulda bet you 20 bucks!" as he sticks his hand down to lip his fish, I say laughingly "I'd of taken that bet" fighting my fish with all I could" My rod is doubled over and I could feel a strong Thump,..thump of my fish shaking its head, as Im fighting my fish he is unhooking his, gets it weighed and releases it, and says. "Five point three, wheres my twenty" turns and looks at me and says "What the hell are you waiting for?" gets a good look at my doubled over rod with line peeling out and says "Did you loosen your drag or something?" Now, my hearts beatin a mile a minute, Ive caught some big fish, but nothing like this, I could feel the shake of its head again and its a longer time period than any other fish Ive caught, the flick of its tail would strain the line and peel more off, nothing I did was getting this fish to the surface, no matter how hard I tried. I say "No, my drags fine, I think I have a big catfish, this thing isn't coming up" Just then she finally turned upwards, I dip the tip of my rod into the water and keep pressure (instictivley) on her to keep her from jumping, and we finally get a look at her, I say "Holy S&$#!!!" he says, "You gotta be f'ng kiddin me!" we were in total awe, never had we seen a bass's mouth that huge. I think his heartrate caught up to mine as he started shouting instructions, "Dont loose it!, hold on Hamma!, pull the other way, ya gunna loose it, hold on" I say "Whaddah ya think Im doin! I got it, she aint goin nowhere!" all the while the fish is beggining to tire, shes under the boat and I feel her heading up again, so I pull and reel down dippin the rods tip in the water again and she surfaces, as quick as I can I grab her lower lip before she started thrashing and I got her now. I lift her up and cant believe it, we didnt expect this, shaking Jay turns around with the scale and hooks her up, I finally let go and we are anticipating beating the state record because she in simply huge. She weighs out at 12.5 and I unhook her from the scale and Jay sticks both his fists in her gaping mouth. We think of weighing it at a certified state scale but decided to let her go as I am prefishing and we had no livewell. I let it go and we just sit there both of us shaking as we light up cigarettes, I tell the storyat the next club meeting and no one believes me,. The next spring someone weighs a "skinny" 11 pounder on a state scale from the same lake. Club members looked at me in amazement, astonished that i didnt put it on my wall. I just say,."I didnt wanna kill it",..I just couldn't.

The place noted on the states record page is incorrect. The record fish was caught in a different body of water. Actually the site it was caught at is even shallower than Sampsons Pond. Talk about is,...Walter didnt want the real site pounded by every bass angler around. He did catch it thru the ice, and he knew It was in there. He also figured Sampsons pond would handle the beating it was about to receive much better than the true pond. AGAIN, thats the "gossip",...and we all know how gossip is. But it makes sense tho ,...think about it,... If you knew where a record fish was, and planned on targeting it thru the ice, wouldnt you already have ideas and thoughts as to whats about to go down? As far as shallow vs. deep ponds holding big fish? both have the chance, as long as the forage/cover base is up to it. It takes longer up here than fla, of course. I have fished some exclusive ponds and lakes since I heard of the true nature of the record fish. And over those twenty+ years, I can say that there are many 10+ bass down here in Massachusetts.,.Much more than anglers would believe. As far as Ice freezing fish? All a bass needs is about five to eight feet of depth to survive a winter. Actually I know a small pond that isnt even 5 feet deep thats been holding fish for as long as I can remember. These fish aren't caught often as they are smart, exclusive, and don't hold up a white flag, showing themselves to anglers as their younger less intelligent siblings might. Another factor to it is , alot of the ponds holding such fish aren't accessable to everyone. A few have "ramps" but they are elusive enough to disguise themselves. Anglers wouldn't believe there's big fish in there, but there are. Due to these lakes cover and structure most savy bass anglers dont even "waste" their time thinking of fishing there. It just doesn't appear to be a good place to fish. Like Walter,...I dont want these places pounded either, hence my silence per locations and names. I personally don't "pound" these waters myself. Do I fish them? Yeah I do. But not consistently, or exclusively. I fish them occasionally. Do I know any ponds like this in NH? Yeah,..a few, and again,..places no one would even think there's big fish in there. I do beleive the NH record can be beat, and some day the Massachusetts one may as well.

Before you just decide to "jump" into a pro circuit, after fishing bass for a couple years, and watching other anglers. I would recommend that you join a draw club on the local level first. Get some live experience, some tourney know how, and learn from all the different people you get to fish with within that club. Before you start to drop the big money on a pro trail. Pro trails are quite expensive to enter for one, for two,.. difficult to prefish all those different water bodies as they are usually spread out throughout the states. For three,.. you would be fishing against pro's that have been doing this for many years,.. they have most likely fished these waters, have areas that are hard to compete against already programmed to their own memories,.. never mind their gps's. Also, there is alot more to tourney fishing than meets the eye. What would that be? the traveling, lodging, where are you to eat? etc. all these can be a major distraction from the fishing itself. If your distracted just one bit? say goodbye to your entry fee, time spent prefishing, lodging fees from prefishing,... etc. Tourney fishing on a club level can be alot more than what one would think all on its own.,.,. To start off on a pro circuit? how can i put it?,...oh, would you enter into nascar racing unknowingly with a stock 1973 ford pinto?? I hope not,...would you hit the salt flats for a motorcycle land speed record with a shwinn ten speed. I doubt it. Are you going to challenge Oscar Del Lahoya to a ten round fight after accidentally stepping on your neighbors toe? Not likely. Granted these are going extreme, but I think you get the point. "CAN" you enter a pro circuit? sure you can, They will allow you to put up that entry fee in an open,...How will you do? No one can say for sure as strange things can happen. But Id liken to batting in the big leagues against Pedro Martinez during his prime, after you just hit a home run, in your local softball league. Not purposely disrespecting you at all,... just those are my thoughts and analogies about anybody new to bass tourney fishing,.. going pro, after just watching pro's fish