Bass XL

Nice fish! I would say that it's 3.5-4. But who cares, it's a nice fish.

This is what bassmaster.com says: Recent unsafe conditions on the Mississippi River have prompted BASS to relocate the Bassmaster Elite Series' River Rumble presented by Longhorn, set for June 26-29 and originally scheduled in Fort Madison, Iowa, to Old Hickory Lake and Hendersonville, Tenn. The new event, renamed to the Tennessee Triumph presented by Longhorn, will mark the eighth Elite event of the season and will take place on the previously scheduled dates. And I thought I was going to go to this one...darn.

I'm a big Metallica fan, and that just awesome!

I too am saying Kennedy. But I think Peter T. will do good also.

Do a search. Their are a lot of night fishing topics.

Fugly. That would be a good word to describe it.

Thanks CJ. That's exactly my point.

Thanks. Almost all of the big fish weighed in (adult tourney) had a bloody tail. One fish actually had almost no tail. It's crazy how they are spawning so late.

Thanks everyone. Harsh: I caught all the whites on firetiger wiggle warts. All of them were about 20 yards off the bank and located on main lake points/islands.

I forgot to add: Fish are still on their beds. Believe it or not, they are. We had multiple fish spewing out eggs at the weigh-in.

I'm sorry you feel that I am a poacher. I am not going all there because you are a young guy. If anyone is the poacher it would be the adult that helped you measure. The more you fish tourneys at higher stakes the more you will look down on this type of close decisions. An expierienced adult would have got ripped more problably. Sometimes your willingness to succeed will override your moral judgement. Those will be my last words on this thread also. I hope you do well all season Bass XL!!! I appreciate it. I totally understand what you are saying, it's just one of those things where it's too close to flat-out say no. I hope you do well this year also.

I'm sorry you feel that I am a poacher.

I am currently a summer camp counselor. Dealing with 40 five to ten year olds can be a handful, but it's a fun job.

Thanks. It seriously did take about a minute and a half total to measure this fish (this includes the fish flopping around and what not). This was the closest fish that I have ever had to measure therefore it took a little bit to come to the conclusion that it was in fact a keeper. We flipped it and pinched the tail, and it went.

Def. smallmouths. thetr20one: That is a beautiful smallmouth.

First off, it was not an illegal fish. Yes, MY measuring board said 14 3/4 inches, but MY measuring board is different than the one used at the actual weigh in. The one I had with me was plastic (forgot my good one on my grandpa's boat), and plastic measuring boards have a tendency to warp. I had to make a decision whether to keep the fish, or to let it go. I decided to keep the fish, and it turned out to be the right decision. DMB: I didn't get too much info about the fish (I assume you are talking about the one that is pictured). I know that it was caught on a red shad worm. It was most likely caught in very shallow water.

Shame on me? I may not have thought it was legal, but it WAS legal.

Hey everyone. My Junior Bassmaster Tournament at Mark Twain Lake was today...and it was tough. I placed second (read whole story here: http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1212964432/0 ) but it was brutal out there. The water is still pretty dirty, but there are some clear spots. I'll just sum everything up: Fish are very shallow. 95% of all the fish weighed in (adult and juniors) were caught in 2 foot deep water or less. Top lure choices are: Spinnerbaits (thrown as shallow as possible) Chatterbaits (" ") Buzzbaits (" ") Red Shad worms (" ") Crankbaits (thrown parallel to the bank and across shallow points) Average water temp was 75 degrees, altho we did find some spots that were 79 degrees. If you have a question or want to know where some good spots are, feel free to pm me.

Hey everybody. Just got back from my Junior Bassmaster tournament (Missouri) that was held at Mark Twain Lake. It was tough to say the least, but here's how it went (WARNING: THIS IS LONG!). Pre-Fishing: Saturday morning we got launched at about 6 am. The whole day was brutal. My dad got one big explosion on a frog at about 7 am, but that was it for a while. Day went on, and we couldn't get anything. Not even a dink. Until about 1 pm I stumbled on a jig pattern and thought I could maybe get a few keepers the next day on it. After that, we called it quits. After a good nap and an early dinner, we hit the lake again. We put in at 6 pm. Right off the bat we started catching fish on a whole new pattern. My dad caught a good 3.7 pounder on a spinnerbait, and I was catching some shorts every once in a while. We found some spots that we marked for Sunday, and we called it quits. Tournament day: I got paired up with a kid that didn't weigh in a keeper all last year, but I knew we would be on fish all day, and that loosing streak was about to come to an end. We launched at 5:30 am and took off to a flooded point that was about 1 ft. deep and had weeds all over it (where my dad got the frog bite). We were both throwing buzzbaits across the point when all of sudden, I see a wake coming toward my buzzbait. All of a sudden, my buzz is just sucked under the water (like a vacuum). I set the hook too early and loose the fish. Day progresses, and I am catching loads of short fish, tons of white bass, a cat fish, and even a crappie...but no keepers. Mean while, my co-angler has 4 keepers that so far weigh about 8 ½ pounds. He had been catching them like crazy on a chartreuse & white chatterbait. I couldn't buy a keeper with a spinnerbait, so I opted for something a little different: a Scrounger Head. We headed for that flooded point one last time. I throw my Scrounger across all the weeds when...BAM! Finally a good fish. I'm reeling it in and all of a sudden...nothing. My rod was bent, but nothing. I'm wrapped up! I screamed. I was not letting this fish get away. I gave it a good tug, and the fish got untangled. I boated it and the fish went 14 ¾ inches. It's not a giant, but it's a fish. Only problem was, the legal limit was 15 inches. I went with my gut, and threw it in the live well anyways. Last spot we went to was a small cove with a bunch of small bluffs. My co-angler nailed a nice 4 pounder...It was awesome, yet I'm furious because this kid is kickin my but. Weigh in time comes around. Brian (my co-angler) weighs his in for a total of 12.99 pounds. He was the only one to weigh in for his age group (10-14). I tell Gil (my youth director) that I have a close fish, and we need to measure it. We measured for about a minute and a half when finally, the fish just crosses the 15 mark. I was stoked. I weighed in my fish that ended up being 1.66 pounds. The only other kid to catch a fish weighed his fish and it went 1.90 pounds. I came in second, but it was hard earned. A total of 3 people weighed in, which is a small amount. I'm happy with my second place finish because I'm 1 point behind the leader...and about 50 points ahead of everyone else. Here's a fish Gil, our youth director, caught. It went 8.59 pounds and big bass for the adult tournament:

X100

That looks like an awesome spot. I would try a frog too.

lol. I got out of school tuesday...and on wed. I started work. It stinks having to go straight into work without a break, but I need the money.

Yep. It's always fun to have a little once catch some big fish.

Those are great! I really like that bottom one.

Another vote for football jigs.