OCdockskipper

As most of you know, Jacob Wheeler had a day 2 disqualification on the Elite Sabine tournament last week after getting stuck on a sandbar and utilizing his marshal to help him get unstuck. Bryan Brasher wrote an article on Bassmaster.com about it and how Wheelers' decision to use his marshal to get unstuck was correct as was his self reporting of the violation. In the comment section, someone referenced "issues in other formats" and some other vague accusations, inferring that Wheeler is someone who skirts the rules. I have never met Jacob, but from what I have seen on TV and from reports, he is extremely competitive and works hard at knowing what the rules are of the game he is playing. Last year he used such knowledge to limit a loss of fishing time at an event he ended up winning. At no point in time have I seen anything that resembles a poor sport or someone who would cheat in order to win. To me, it looks like he will do everything within the rule book to win, but at the end of the day, will shake your hand if you beat him. However, as I said, I only know him from afar. Does anyone have any firsthand knowledge of what these accusations are about, where they may have originated from and if they are grounded in truth or just jealous rumor mongering?

I have been fortunate that of the half dozen bass over 7 lbs that I have hooked up with, I have landed all but one. Obviously, I am estimating the weight of the one that I didn't land, but like everyone else, it has burned a memory into my mind. Last year, I was in Georgia visiting my sister and fishing the two ponds on her property. The previous owner never fished the smaller pond, so while it is loaded with bass, they are stunted, a ton of 10" fish. One afternoon I decided to see how many casts in a row I could catch a bass from this pond. Since there wasn't much brush near the dam, I tied on a ZMan TRD on 8 lb line. Caught a dink on the first cast & 2nd cast. Then nothing on the 3rd so I had to start over. Caught a dink on the 4th cast and felt the "tap" on the 5th cast. I reeled into the fish and then she reeled back. I knew she wasn't one of the little ones, but it wasn't until she shoved her massive head through the surface that I realized she was at least as big as my PB, probably bigger (it was March, so she may have been prespawn). I thought I had her coming my way until I saw she was actually headed for the only laydown within 40 yards. She began pulling drag, I couldn't turn her and once she dove into the cover, pop went the line. I literally did one of those hand-on-the-knees, bent-over-at-the-waist-moves, shaking my head. I have fished that pond a few more times, but haven't found her again yet. I suspect she is wearing that TRD like a lip ring to show off to her smaller boyfriends.

Agreed that it is unforgivable at any age. My age comment was about how I expected this to be the act of a 20 year old, not someone who has decades of life experience and still chooses to throw gasoline on someone.

Depending on the dock and the surrounding cover & shoreline, there are a myriad of reasons to be close to a dock. All of them have to do with attempting to get a lure within striking range of the bass. For example, docks are the primary cover in my lake. There are a few that are close together (less than 6 feet apart) and have boats docked in the front of them, so the only access is from the sides. Trying to thread the needle with a bait from 30 feet away will often result in hitting the dock or something else. Rather than being a jerk & damaging someones property, I will instead squeeze between the docks with my Pond Prowler and make the desired cast with no issues, ONLY if there is no one on either dock. If there are people present, I have asked if it is OK for me to momentarily slip between the docks to make a cast. Most folks say yes and are interested in seeing what you are doing. They find the idea of skipping a bait as awesome and they are genuinely thrilled if you catch a bass in front of them (especially when you release it right there and they know they could do the same thing one day). I have had 2 women ask me to not fish near their boats or docks and in conversing with them, I find out that someone had damaged their boats or left a snagged lure on it. I let them know that is completely unacceptable and that I will keep an eye out for anyone that is doing that sort of thing. What they wanted really had nothing to do with me, but rather with some other inconsiderate jerk who doesn't respect others property. Taking a few moments to hear the other persons side & story and then align yourself with them works wonders. Those woman never came close to throwing gasoline on me and now wave at me from their homes if I am near their dock.

No one "needs" to fish close to a dock, nor do they "need" to fish a certain cove or lake for that matter. Heck, those of us who practice catch & release don't even "need" to fish at all. However, there are many legitimate reasons why someone would "want" to fish close to a dock. Common sense and basic etiquette tell you not to crowd someone who is using a dock, even if they are just relaxing in a chair on it. However, if the dock is unoccupied, there should be no issue with someone fishing close to it, needs have nothing to do with it. Mark Zona had a funny skit utilizing Greg Hackney about this subject. Good manners & a pleasant disposition will work with the 99% of the population who doesn't consider gasoline to be a cologne.

The thing that caught my eye is that the guilty party is 64 years old. How in the world do you live this long on this planet and still 1) Get mad at other people fishing near your dock & 2) Think it is a good idea to throw gasoline on anyone? If a 20-something had done it, I could have understood and chalked it up to stupid youthful bravado. But 64?!? C'Mon man...

Propel.

I may just take you up on that offer, but I doubt if the Christmas tree I sunk off my dock in 1978 is still there! ? There weren't any topographical maps available for that lake back in the 70's, so I used a flasher and made one for about 1/2 of the lake (teenagers with spare time). I don't think I still have it, I will check some of my old tackle boxes.

Piranha

I saw where Alton Jones beached his boat on the bank at the Sabine on Saturday, fortunately neither he nor his marshal were injured. This is the 2nd time that has happened on this waterway during a B.A.S.S. tournament, the other being Iaconelli in 2015. I don't have a huge motored bass boat capable of high speeds, I fish a smaller electric only lake. I have had an opportunity to marshal a couple of BASS events, and would say that the pro's I was with were all excellent drivers (no Rainman reference intended). All of the pro's I marshaled with were over 40 years old, so I have never ridden with a 20-something who might drive with a bit more bravado. Jones, Gerald Swindle & Dennis Tiejte were very aware they had a passenger in the boat and it was clear they knew how to navigate in any potentially difficult situations. Ish Monroe seemed a little less concerned about bouncing around and ironically, David Fritts, the oldest of them, seemed the most indifferent about how the ride was from point A to point B. Don't get me wrong, all of their skill levels were multiple times higher than any other non-Elite boater on the water, there was just a variance in how each of them handled their machines. I would have to think that the death or major injury of a marshal or cameraman at an Elite event would be catastrophic occurrence for B.A.S.S. as well as for professional fishing. Is there anything different that could (or should) be done to limit the liability of such an accident from happening or is just the nature of the game when doing 70 mph on a narrow, shallow body of water like the Sabine?

I fish for bass because it is an active pursuit, going to the fish instead of waiting for them to come to you. It is more challenging than fishing for bluegill, but not hours of tedium like fishing for muskie. There are different techniques and the fish change their moods often, so you are rewarded when you figure out the puzzle. They are a curious fish, not as spooky as carp but won't bite just anything. Even an average sized fish will put on a fight and often an acrobatic show, but the fight isn't something that requires physical therapy at the end of the day. They are hardier than trout, but do require some attention on your part when releasing alive. A large specimen will literally take your breath away when their massive head breaks the surface of the water. Most important, any fish that you can land by grabbing their mouth is just too cool.

Welcome to the Ned Club!! Wait until you are in a situation where you are fishing behind or in the same area as someone else and you are catching fish while they are dragging water. That really made me realize there is something about this technique that is more than it just being a small, grub type bait. Based on my experience, I would recommend looking up some of the past threads about the Ned rig on this site and pay particular attention to posts from Team9Nine and Bluebasser86. I did that accidentally and it helped me speed up the learning curve immensely. However, if you decide you want to start throwing a TRD on a 5/0 flipping hook with 30 lb test braid, your membership to the club will be revoked... ?

Catt, are you saying the decision on when to go out at night (dusk to midnight versus midnight to dawn) should be based on the moon phase for that evening instead of more local considerations (remember, we really don't have any weather changes in the summer out here)? For example, tonight our moonrise is 2:19, so the midnight to dawn scenario would catch the the times prior to the moonrise & prior to the apex, whereas the dusk to midnight or so scenario misses all 3. If I am understanding you correctly, I should force myself to get some sleep early this evening and head out to the lake near midnight.

At the beginning of the year, I was toying with a strategy of choosing Wheeler & Lee for every tournament. They have been so consistently good that it seemingly would take the risk out of trying to catch lightning in a bottle. The only down side was that they are often fan favorites, so their percentages are real high, making it tougher to someday pick that overall winning lineup. So I decided against it. Today, not only did both of these young guns miss the cut, they finished in 103rd & 93rd respectively. Ouch. Chris Lane pulled off something few have ever done, finishing 1st on a body of water and then on the return trip, finishing dead last. Oh well, he is still averaging $50,000 in winnings per visit... Unlike most tournaments where points are often picked up or lost based on the choices made in the D or E buckets, I think the A bucket will be decisive this time. Normally, you really have to try to find a bad pick in A, but this week you had Wheeler (19%) and Christie (17%) finishing in the bottom 15 with Hackney (19%) currently leading. That could be a 200+ point swing among the favorites in the "easiest" bucket of them all. Had Hackney held on to both big bass & largest bag (both topped today by Kennedy & Mosley respectively), you would have had another 80 points added on top of that. It has been an odd year, most every angler has at least 1 or 2 bombs & we are only 1/2 way through...

My sister lives an hour outside of Austin (Wimberley) in what is called the Hill Country. What they have there is a myriad of smaller private lakes on ranches as well as smaller rivers. I have had a blast fishing these locations (with permission of course) when I come to visit. It takes a little time to cultivate relationships to the point you can access to th ed waters, but it is time well spent.

That is as frustrating as mine, 4 anglers in the top 35 with my #5 guy tied for 105th. Just a turd floating in the punchbowl...

My picks: Martens Rojas Rook Lowen Kreit My wife's picks: Lucas C Lane Hanselman Monroe Grigsby

I used to think it was because most people envision fishing as sitting on a dock or a boat, waiting for a bite. I thought if only I could take them bass fishing, show them how we actively pursue the fish and how much is going on even if you aren't getting bit, their opinion would change. So a few years back, I took out a good friend who had fished for trout & catfish as well as gone on a few cattle boats on the ocean, but had never fished for largemouth bass. He enjoys the outdoors, has camped in the past and appreciates nature, I thought this would be right up his alley. That morning, I figured out the fish pretty fast & early on, he had action fishing a Ned rig. As the sun rose and the fish began sliding into the shade of the docks, I showed him how to skip a senko and he caught a few that way. In about 6 hours of fishing, he caught 14 bass & I added another 22, so there really weren't many lulls in the action. I thought I may have created a new fishing partner, but when I asked him at the end of the day what he thought, he kind of shrugged his shoulders & said "I'm glad I went & I had fun, but it isn't something I would do regularly". Maybe I just have bad breath...

Since our warmer weather out here typically isn't as stifling as other parts of the country, I have never made nighttime bassing part of my summertime arsenal. However, the more I think about how comfortable our nights are from June thru September, I think I may be missing out. The one question I have is what times do you fish at night and would you recommend those same times for my lake? I would think the easiest way would be to start near dusk and fish until 1:00 or 2:00 am in the morning. However, the lake I fish on has a lot of pleasure boaters who use the early evening hours in the summer as times to cruise the lake in their pontoon boats. Typically there will be at least a dozen boats or so on this 100 acre lake until 10:30 or 11:00 pm every evening, going in & out of every cove on the lake. I am wondering if it may make more sense to launch near midnight and fish through the dawn until 8:00 or 9:00 am to avoid human presence by others (there is no a.m. cruising, I think most folks are hung over ).

I have to believe that a Jordan Lee, Brandon Palaniuk or Jacob Wheeler would have been successful tournament pro's had they been born in the 1940's instead of the 1980's & 90's. They have skill sets that utilize but don't depend on the latest technology. The first flasher I got back in the 70's was very helpful because I fished a highland type reservoir (Canyon Lake, Ca). I never used it to find fish, but I was able to figure out where the main & creek channels were and how shallow or deep different points were as they descended into the lake. Personally, a foot controlled electric motor is more valuable to me than a depthfinder, boat positioning & control is so critical especially in shallower lakes. We kind of take them for granted until you try fishing from a craft without one, it is chaotic. At Texas Fest on Lake Travis, I noticed two things in relation to this topic. First, guys spent a lot of time on fish they found via depth finders, even if those fish weren't biting or were not the right size. More than once a pro would comment about the number of fish they were seeing on their screens and spend a lot of time there without much results. I would think this would throw you off, kind of like what happens when you are sight fishing & the ones you see aren't biting. You spend more time in an area you would have normally moved on from. Second, spot-lock on trolling motors is basically deep-water power poles, especially in windy conditions. The pros would turn their boat into the wind, hit spot lock and then go to the back of the boat & cast with the wind to the location they wanted to. It was pretty effective.

Back in the mid 70's when I started bass fishing, my younger sister always went with me. She loved Jitterbugs, buzzbaits and Rebel crankbaits, she wouldn't throw much of anything else no matter how much I ragged on her to do so. Always fished from the back of the boat and never complained or asked to run the trolling motor. My mom could spot us anywhere on the lake by the two black cowboy hats we always wore (Ray Scott's influence). Being brother & sister close in age, most every outing would typically result in some kind of argument, but she was always ready & willing to go out again the next time. As we got families of our own and she moved from California to Texas, we obviously didn't get to fish as much together compared to when we were younger. However, she is still one of the most competent anglers I ever have in the back of my boat, one of the few I never have to give any advice to. She has even picked up a liking to wacky rigged Senko's and the Ned Rig, the latter just slaying them in the creeks, ponds & swimming holes around her Texas home.

Sorry for the delayed response, I never saw this when you first posted it. I have a 10 ft Pond Prowler with an older 48lb Motorguide & I have melted two of the fuseholders in the past 4 years (twice in about 200 full day trips). Neither time did the fuse pop, instead the entire assembly just melted and I had to splice in a new one. I'm not sure what caused it to happen either time. I am assuming it will be in the bed of a truck, if so, just crisscross a pair of bungee cords across the top of the boat. I don't believe the wind would get under the floor, but even if it did, the bungee cords would stop it from leaving the boat. I think the seats would have a better chance of getting wind under them & lifting out. The 2 times I hauled my boat, I put the cover on & then strapped that down to keep it attached. As long as the cover stays, everything inside the boat stays.

If the line gets wrapped around the worm, it can slice a Senko in two on a hookset.

But I didn't even get either a snake or turtle to bite!!

Let me preface my answer by saying that 98% of my fishing is done on my home lake, that most of my trips are over 4 hours and that I began bass fishing in 1977. The last skunk I had was in March of 2017 while fishing a small pond in Georgia. It is one of 3 lakes on my sisters property, the other 2 produced lots of fish. This one I fished for about 2 hours without a sniff. Later in the year, she needed to let this pond nearly dry up and when she did, she found out there were no fish in it, just turtles & snakes. Turns out it was originally used as a watering hole for cattle & wasn't a true pond like her other two lakes. Other than that, my last skunk (no keepers) was in January of 2012. I know my home lake too well, it is designed so that there are never extreme adverse conditions (flooding, mud, etc) and it is in Southern California, so there are never extreme weather issues. If I traveled around to different lakes all the time or threw nothing but giant swimbaits, the answer would be different. Age & experience (time on the water) are a huge factor in my opinion. While older tournament fishermen don't experience the same level of success as the 30 & 40 year olds, I seem to notice older fishermen who fish for fun have a high level of consistent success. I'm not sure if it is all of the experience causing certain good decisions or if age is helpful in slowing one down & making them more focused. I know my years of fishing and success on my home waters have given me the confidence & ability to always catch bass on new waters the few times I do venture out of state. However, it wasn't that way the first decade or so that I fished for bass specifically, I often had trips that resulted in nothing but dragging water.