Vorlin

I think Lane has a point that could be used to advantage. After all, isn't one of the greatest concerns a lady has with her makeup is that it can't smudge, smear or run? What more harsh conditions could there be for makeup than fishing with a 70mph boat in the rain? If she looks good doing it, she must have the most dependable makeup! Could be an angle that the Lady Bassmaster series could use... For myself this is a pretty easy list: Dream: Kens Tackle - a local shop that takes care of everyone as if they were family Lucky Craft Gamagatsu Strike King, one of the few for profit companies that have a website giving great info away for free... Arkie Jigs Dodge or Ford Mt. Dew Foxwoods Casino World Poker Tour Never: Depends adult diapers Amway Any crotch related anti-fungal medicine... the world needs them but not with my name attached!!!!! Vorlin

I think this is the source of my troubles. I was under the impression that larger bass are simply territorial bullies with the biggest and baddest kicking the tail of all others so that they can take over the easy feeding spots (like the best current breaks, feeder creeks, etc.). This has served me well until about a week ago... I'd figure out the prime spot that the dominant fish would be holding in and soon had him for dinner. However, I haven't had any luck at all for about ten days now. I keep seeing references to bass schooling up for feeding frenzies on shad. Is this only the medium sized fish or do the larger ones abandon their holding spots to hunt "in wolf packs" as well? Is this just a seasonal / fall thing? It could explain why I suddenly can only find tiny perch in what used to be the holding areas for 2-4 lb bass. Thanks for any insight. Vorlin

Plastics, especially worms, are the only things that I can fish with well. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be able to hook a fish in a fish tank! There's a lot of great advice above but one tiny detail that I haven't seen mentioned is this: *STEADY UNRELENTING MODERATE TENSION* on your line during the fight. Once the fish is on, don't ever let that line slack for anything!!!!! However, don't make the mistake of keeping too much tension on either. I usually set the drag so that it's light to moderate. This way I'll keep reeling relentlessly, allowing the drag to keep making noise the whole time. I watch the bend in the rod tip and I bring the fish in by steadily moving the tip away from the fish and then reeling down the slack... ALWAYS keeping the tension in the line the same so that the rod tip never begins to straighten at all. Keeping the tip down is good to help prevent jumping but what really prevents loosing a hook set is never giving the fish enough slack to spit the hook out no matter if he's diving for cover or doing backflips through the air. Speaking of cover, many older and wiser bass will dive for something to hide behind. They seem to have been hooked before and know to wrap the line up in anything that they can find. I combat this by not allowing them to pull straight against the tension on the line. Keep changing up the angle on them so that they're never able to pull straight against you. Instead, keep dragging them a little sideways from the path that they want to go. This makes it hard for the fish to pull against you and he can't steer to get into cover because you're causing his head to skid to one side. Lastly, be patient. Simply stay in control of the fight by maintaining tension and never letting him pull straight against you or go where he wants to go. You have all day to bring him in, so take your time. Let him wear himself out. But the main point is to imagine if you were hooked by your fishing partner and the fool won't stop messing with the line... "Hey man, STOP PULLING on this thing!!! I can't get it out of my arm if you won't stop pulling on it! I'm going to kick your stupid **** and throw your **** moron (&(&_$# fool of a #$%(#% in the water if you don't STOP digging this hook into my arm!!!!" Yea, kind of like that. Be the guy who the fish is cursing at... works every time for me. 8-) EDIT: Re: colors... there are many choices and each area is different. Although it seems that pumpkin and dark watermelon are pretty safe bets anywhere. Vorlin / Scott

We were on a charter in the Chesapeke(sp?) recently and one of our party lost a combo with a fish on. Sure enough, I pulled a double (a real double, two spot) within two minuets of this and one of those fish had two hooks in him. Pulled that line in hand over hand and gave the first mate their combo back. The mate said it's actually pretty common because most people drop them with a fish on and the fish don't stop eating even with the hook in them. It's simply a matter of pulling in spot after spot until you use up enough blood worms for someone to get the same fish on again and then you get your combo back. Simply stay anchored in the same place and keep on fishing... you have a pretty good chance of getting your stuff back. Vorlin

I've noticed a number of worn tails lately as well, but haven't seen them bloody. Animals in nature will adjust their patterns depending on conditions. Perhaps something interfered with the usual spawn and resulted in this "off schedule" attempt? Not sure. Vorlin

Gotcha... I was just reading something else that had me thinking that perhaps the food had been swept away by the fierce currents after the rain and that they had been forced to follow the food. Strange thing is, the shad are usually downstream at this point in time but they're on the way. They say that you can catch good sized stripers this far up river once the shad run really kicks in but striper season in this area is limited and I don't think it opens until next month. Today it was in the 80's again... I'm wondering if I should still be using crayfish immitating baits or start transitioning to more shad-like jerk baits at this point. Once I figure out what to use and where to throw it, I'm sure things will heat up nicely... but it's a lot of trial and error in the meantime. I'm simply trying to learn some things here that cut down the number of things that I'll need to try! Vorlin / Scott

Different question along the same lines: Water: Crystal clear, fast moving (Class 3 rapids abound) depth is 1-4 feet. Bottom: Jagged Bedrock, many crevasses. Boulders of all sizes abound. Sandy flats and several side coves are found as well as many weed patches with water levels of 6 to 18 inches. *Often you find crevasses running perpendicular to the current, not parallel with it. Feeder creeks: Many tiny ones all over the place, small enough to walk over with one step. Water levels: For months they were low. For two weeks following a hard rainy period it was brown and deadly swift. Now it's returned to clear and been normalized for about a week. Problem: Where did the fish go???? I was catching but now the bass seem to have disappeared. "Bite checks" with a small piece of artificial bloodworm (by Fishin' Strips) will catch grass carp, perch and tiny smallmouth (all 4-8 inches) within one minute of a cast. NOTHING hits the usual lures... cranks, plastics, jigs and jerk baits are all coming up empty. I simply can't find anything over 8" anywhere. I've tried: Front and back sides of boulders, inside crevasses, along weed edges, at edges between faster and slower water, mouths of feeder creeks and around fallen trees. Images of the area: The water is currently moderate... not calm, not flooded. The fish have to have gone somewhere but, other than the micro-fish, everything seems to have disappeared over this past week. Any helpful thoughts are appreciated. Vorlin / Scott Fishing the Rappahannock between Motts Landing and Fredericksburg. Looking to organize locals for informal fishing outings. Leave a voice mail at 540-736-7650 or get NetZero Voice and you can call direct. This phone number is not linked to any physical address... it's the number given with the free NetZero Voice service.

OMG... I didn't laugh as hard as I could have because that's been MY week! 1) For the first time I caught NOTHING after 5 hours in the best spot around... went to ask someone to use a phone to call for a cab and realized that there was no one around at the most popular spot in the area. I had a doctor's appointment in 90 minutes so I had to do something in a hurry... 2) Humped my gear 2 miles down the road after wading for 4 hours... chaffed me to no end. Got to the canoe rental place where I intended to use the phone... they were closed!?!?!?! I'd never seen them closed before, ever... 3) Limped my chaffed backside down to the boat ramp and found a guy parked there who was waiting to start a conference call for his job (he was a field guy and used a cell phone). Finally got a cab on the way. 4) Cab arrives far too late to make the appointment... 5) Closed the last foot of my medium rod in the cab's trunk hinge, snapping it. 6) A few days later, the owner of my local bait shop offers to swap me out my rod for free because they had some extras that had come with busted reels... nice folks, they always take great care of the customers... jsut need to get that rod into them later. 7) Caught nothing but one fish yesterday, a 2 lb largemouth that I mistakenly kept, thinking he was larger... 8) Changed my mind about eating the 2 lb bass and threw him in the fish tank overnight, alone. He did great for over 14 hours and was cruising the bottom good and strong up unitil about 30 minutes before I was to go fishing and release him. I checked the PH in the water right then, all was fine. I saw a worm on the ground in the back yard, picked it up and decided to let him have a snack. 15 seconds after dropping the worm in the tank, the fish swam to the other end of the tank and pointed nose up in a way that had my housemate and I thinking he was going to go for broke and leap out (he was looking perfectly healthy and strong to that point). 10 seconds later, he rolled over and died. No known explaination... either something on my hands when I did the ph check or somthing on that worm, like a pesticide... had to be. 9) Went fishing today and lost a lure in the trees... broke the line and carefully picked my best worm out, rigged it and took a cast... which promptly snagged on a stump. Got disgusted and went to snap the line again but the line didn't break... instead, the rod snapped in half, right in the middle!!! This was the rod that was to be replaced for free tomorrow (Monday). DOH! After watching this video I can tell you one thing... the old saying is true. Misery DOES love company! At least this way I know it's not just me! Vorlin

I just read up on Clay, WOW! I'm not sure what his professional situation is but if I were a sponsor I'd be all over him for two reasons. One, no matter how bad the odds are stacked against him this guy finds a way to win! Wouldn't you want to be using what he's using???? Any sponsors who take good care of Clay will enjoy similar word of mouth success... for obvious reasons. We all love the underdog who fights insane odds and comes through. My hat's off to Clay! You've inspired me to keep going on a day when I lost 2 lures, caught no fish and accidently snapped a rod clean in half (yea, it's been one of THOSE days...). Here's to clay and "pass the mojo"! Vorlin

Thanks for taking a moment to look this over and give it a little thought. Before I go any further, I'd like to apologize for any typos... it's 1:30 AM and I can't sleep. Brainstorms at this hour can be inspiring, however writing about them at this hour can lead to entertaining liberties being taken with the English language. Please consider these things and, if nothing else, have a chuckle if I come up with a particularly unusual mistake or three. I'm 40 years old, no child, and I'm a recreational fisherman for the time being. Just like many other 40 year olds, my doctor has spoken that beloved, hyphenated word: "hyper-tension". This is an interesting medical condition that can be either relieved by the wonderful fresh air, clear water and peaceful mornings to be found while catching fish or exacerbated by the cold water, sand in the reel, bird's nest on the first cast and lost $5 lure on the third of any typical day fishing in the reality that most of us actually have to live in. If you're thinking that I can turn a phrase or two, then my time trying to type at 1:45 AM hasn't been completely wasted... on to the point of this excersize... As one who is experienced enough in the world to have some sort of small clue about life, the universe and everything, I am a *very* firm believer in the common position that you have to believe in a product *sincerely* before you can effectively promote it. Any fool can promote anything... but the strong light of insincerity shines through the thin veil of bull.... so if someone is promoting it because they have to, it shows. To effectively promote something, you can't promote it at all. Instead, you're giving someone an honest tip about something that you really do believe is going to work for them and help them catch more fish! Instead of selling them something, you're helping them out... and it really makes a difference in what the listener hears. That said, I see that I have over 7000 characters left that I could type, should I choose to... but if you think that I'm going to use all of them, at this insane hour of the morning, then you're almost smart enough to be certified to hold the signs that stop traffic in a construction zone. Ok, ten minutes to two.... why am I writing this? Oh yea... I had an epiphany.... yes, I'll wait while you go look it up on dictionary ***... all better now? Good... I realized that the only people who can afford to check out the wide assortment of tackle and truly find out what works for them are those who don't have to pay for it because they're sponsored by said tackle companies. Just as in banking, where the only people who can get a loan are those who don't need one, those of us who are trying to figure out what will work can't affford to buy all the things that we need to test out so that we can see what we need to buy, can really use and, therefore, might actually be able to promote effectively. So, in all sincerity, I was wondering if any sponsors are willing to loan out or give one or two LOW COST pieces here and there for honest to goodness field testing. I'm not talking about expensive tackle like cranks, torpedos, or poppers that definitely need to go to those representatives who have prooved that they are worth investing in... I'm talking about a few various soft plastics, jig heads, etc. that can be sent out to potential candidates at little cost to the company. Perhaps if a manufacturer received the following inquiry, something might be able to be done: "Joe fisherman" said he's often fishing in a shallow, clear river with a bedrock and sand bottom that's strewn with boulders and class 3 rapids, his prime target is smallmouth bass and the early fall has been overcast, rainy and warmer than usual. Ok, so Jane manufacturer might select 3 or 4 soft plastics that are targeted for those fish under those conditions and send ONLY 3 or 4 of each type to Joe fisherman. If Joe really can use your product, he shouldn't need more than 3 of each type of your plastics, that are a good fit for his situation, in order to find out... and if he does have success then you can be sure he'll be contacting you for more. If he doesn't have success then this could be useful to you too. Joe can still be very helpful by letting you know exactly how it was fished, if any other baits were working that day and, if so, what. Call it cheap R&D. So far, I've shown a knack for nailing bass when no one else is catching... however, that doesn't mean a whole lot when I'm only getting one or two keepers and no one else gets a nibble. It's not like I'm hitting a limit, not even close! But, I seem to be able to get *some* results when others get nothing so there may be hope me yet. For the record, at the moment I can only recommend three products from personal experience. They are: 1) Arkie Salty Crawlin' Grubb in watermelon / black... this sucker nailed a 13" largemouth on 9/16/06 at Motts Run Reservoir, Fredericksburg VA, when NO ONE else had anything larger than 4 inches in length, not even panfish, within 2 hours of my catching that bass. For an hour after that, no one got anything else of any size (not even me!)... then the reservoir closed at dusk. This bait, in this color, is recommended extremely highly by others and that's why I'm trying it out. One gentleman has caught 110 bass in one day with it, 2 of those fish were citation fish. "110???" you say? Yeap... the grub is around 5 inches long and it seems that any bass larger than 6.5 inches tries to inhale it! Yes he got 110 fish... no, not even one quarter of those were keepers! Let's get real here folks... this bait catches fish, but it's up to YOU to make sure that you're targeting the dominant fish and not the 4 inch long bass that hatched a few months ago! 2) Strike King's "Shaw's Pro Series" 6 inch straight worm in pumpkin. This thing has become my go-to and consistently catches large and small mouthed bass in excess of three pounds when most other baits aren't being touched. 3) Catfish, not bass related: Sonny's Super Sticky Channel Catfish Bait, Blood Formula. Suspended off the bottom with a sponge, this stuff is a catfish magnet! Ok, 2:20 and I'm callin this off for the night. If any soft plastics makers are willing to shoot three or four individual baits to someone to see if that someone can do anything with them and, maybe, proove useful either as a rep or in R&D, let me know in PM or a reply here. If nothing else, hopefully it was entertaining... and hopefully I won't read this tomorrow and wonder what the **** I was thinking! Vorlin