OCdockskipper

Go Ducks!! I know that the West Coast teams are typically ignored by those fans East of the Rockies, our games usually start when y'all are going to bed. However, if Nashville & St. Louis continue their good play, home ice for the semi-finals will be in Anaheim, Edmonton or San Jose. Not a huge deal, but worth having. I believe the Blackhawks had a slogan for this years playoffs, "One Goal: The Stanley Cup". Ironically, they have yet to score one goal in the playoffs... I am surprised to see a Bruce Boudreau coached team looking to lose a playoff series in 4 straight. They usually wait until game 7 on their home ice to get eliminated

A TRD on a ZMan Finesse Shroomz head is my go to setup, so the negatives I am about to list aren't horrible. No lure is perfect in all conditions but a Ned rig often shines when others don't. The negatives (for me) - The keeper on the jighead will bunch up the bait after a fish or two grab it, so I choose to bust it off & instead glue the head of the bait to the jig; It's smaller size makes it a 3rd or 4th option when bed fishing, typically I want something that looks to be ready to create havoc when dragged through a bed & the TRD comes across as harmless. Nonetheless, I have caught fish off beds with a TRD after they wouldn't inhale larger lures; I have avoided using it in heavy cover, both due to snagging and the rod/reel/line that is best used to fish it. Not that it can't be used in heavy cover, just that it isn't the best option with all things considered. First 20 minutes in the morning before sunrise or at night, it seems like it is a little harder for fish to find and a larger lure gets bit more. I don't need bright skies or clear water to be effective with it, but when there is nearly no light, it may be too subtle. Once there is a little light, this negative disappears.

I have experienced the same thing. I know with larger prey, the bass tries to swallow it to stop it from getting away, but with a Ned rig, it is almost like they forget they have eaten it. Maybe the "no feel" concept for Ned rigs goes both ways. We can't feel a strike and the bass can't feel they the lure that is inside their mouth...

You are correct, there are indeed rude people who fish and do not respect a property owners dock, boat or other possessions. However, they are not rude because they are fishermen, they are rude because they are inconsiderate. It just so happens that you only notice these folks when they are fishing & doing damage to your property, at which time you incorrectly conclude that all fishermen are like that. There are plenty of considerate bass fishermen who might fish around your dock & you would never know, because they do no damage and leave no trace. There are rude property owners who shoot their guns at fisherman, spray them with hoses and call them racist names. It would be incorrect for me to automatically stereotype you as being part of that group just because you own lake front property. As an aside, if your dad was a bass fisherman & he never fished near docks, then I would suggest that he probably was a horrible fisherman. Nice guy, but horrible fisherman.

It is good to see CarrotTop get away from Vegas to do some bass fishing. I hope he didn't keep the fish to use as a prop in his next show.

If you only get 2 days initially, here are a couple of tips to try to get the 3rd. First, after day 2 weigh-in, there will be a marshal's meeting where the day 3 assignments are given. Go to that meeting (it is informal) and introduce yourself to whoever is running it. Let them know that you weren't chosen to be a Day 3 marshal, but if there are any no-shows at the meeting, you are available to fill in. Then, if you aren't given a spot at the weigh-in, go early to the Day 3 takeoff. If you can, find where the same person you spoke with at the previous days Marshal meeting is and just greet them (don't ask to fill in). If they have just recently received a cancellation notice from a marshal, they will ask "Did you still want to marshal today?". Then, as the anglers are parking their boats prior to takeoff, note which ones are missing marshals, especially lesser known anglers. Some marshals will just bail on day 3 because they draw someone who is in 49th place and this is his first cash in 3 years (or a similar type scenario). As takeoff gets closer, you can again ask that official "Does so & so have a marshal, it looks like he is in his boat by himself?". This actually makes the officials job easier because he doesn't have to scramble to find a replacement.

I was on the waiting list for 3 days and then was bumped up to "accepted". It was almost as if they were making sure the credit card charge cleared before they moved me off the waiting list. I got 3 days out of it, 2 of the 3 anglers were extremely gracious and accommodating. The other was fine, but gave off a vibe like I wasn't really welcome on his boat. I thought it was me until my day 2 angler said that particular Elite competitor was known for being a bit of a jerk (even though he does play to the fans when on camera). Great experience, I will most likely do it again in 2020 when BASS makes another West Coast swing.

I think another factor that adds to the "feeling" that big bass are smart is how hard they are to land even when hooked. I was amazed in another thread that a huge majority of anglers, of all skill levels, did not land the largest bass they ever hooked. Part of that is the difficulty in controlling a fish that large & strong but part of it is also our anxiety when we realize what is on the end of our line. Bluebasser relayed this in his story, when he wasn't worried about the large fish he hooked, thinking it was a catfish or some other species. Once the bass showed itself, in his mind,the situation changed. The combination of brute strength of a larger fish combined with the increased number of unforced errors by even the best angler allow these "smart" fish to escape capture.

Neither. Look at his hands and left arm, he is pushing the fish out toward the camera. For heavens sake, that is a great fish, no need to distort the picture by messing with a forced perspective. It almost looks like a picture taken in a fun house mirror. A fish that size held tight in front of you gives great perspective and does justice to the true size of that hawg.

Can you add another category? I fished the Blanco river in Wimberley Texas, outside of Austin, & caught a few Guadalupe bass in the current where the largemouth wouldn't venture. I'll testify that the largest weighed 1 lb (I believe world record for them is 3 lbs something). That makes me the leader in the clubhouse until some of the Austin anglers start checking in...

Yes it does. If you aren't sure if a fish that you hooked & lost was bigger than your PB, then your answer is Maybe. This topic isn't an exact science, it is a friendly discussion where people can pass on fishing stories. No problem if you don't want to participate, but no need for you to try to drop a turd in the middle of the thread...

That is where the Maybe comes in. Sometimes you can't know. However, in many cases, depending on what ones PB is, it is easy to know if a fish you have on and get a good look at is larger or smaller than that. For me, until last month, I had never hooked, seen & lost a fish that was in the 7-8 lb class or bigger. All of my lost fish were definitely pounds less than that. Conversely, I also knew my first 8 lb fish was bigger than my PB at that time before I got her in the boat; she was in a completely different class than any other bass I had caught up until that time. Now I am in the Maybe category. The lost Georgia fish may have had a big head & been skinny, not eclipsing my PB or she may have been a full bodied female, full of roe topping the DD category. Heck, that fish may have even been a relative of George Perry's fish and a new World Record to boot...but for now, she is just a Maybe.

I would think that angler probably felt as bad about it as you. Having a chance to net a fish like that for someone else and then having it break off must have left him crushed. By chance, did you know him prior to this encounter? Was it a one time encounter with him or do you two know each other now?

For me, the answer recently changed from Yes to Maybe. I have landed 5 largemouth over 7.5 lbs, by the time they reach that size, their heads are noticeably different (larger). I had hooked & lost fish in the 4 to 5 lb range, but never lost one that made your jaw drop when they broke the water. My luck with landing any fish that possibly could break my PB is most likely rooted in that 98% of my fishing is on a lake with very little cover that the big ones can break you off on. That was until last month when I made a trip back east, the first leg which landed me in Georgia. I was lucky to get a chance to fish two small private lakes, both about 5 acres. The first one was heavily wooded, so I was using 65lb braid to horse the fish out of cover. The 2nd one had much less timber and I was told by the owner that it wasn't fished much & that the bass in it were stunted. Therefore, my first cast was with a ZMan TRD, which resulted in an 11" bass. Got bit on the 2nd cast, but missed him, caught replicas of the 1st fish on the 3rd & 4th cast. I had 8 lb line on so the smaller fish still put up a fun fight. My 5th cast resulted in bite, I set the hook and it barely budged. My first thought was "Please be a bass" and about 10 seconds later, she wallowed up to the surface proving she was. Her head was every bit as big as any of my previous big fish, but I didn't get a good look at her frame. I continued the fight, but she decided to head over to the only log in the water within 40 feet. I couldn't stop her, she peeled off drag and got there. I was fishing from shore, so my options were limited, I kept pressure on her & tried to guide her out. She finally ended up breaking off my leader against the wood, so I never found out if she was over that 8lb 6oz mark that is my PB. I fished that lake an hour more that day and for about 90 minutes the next day, landing over 40 bass & a dozen bluegill the size of ones face, but no hawgs. She was definitely "Queen of the Pond" & now she has a TRD as a lip ring. So what is your answer to the question,Yes, No or Maybe?

For those of you you haven't seen it yet, the Mark Zona show this week featured Chris Lane & Zona fishing on Guntersville. They had some fun with Chris and a few malaprops that he said, such as recalling that his dad used to call him a "Bull in a china cabinet" and commenting about something happening "in all 52 states". It was pretty funny, especially Zona's reaction. I especially liked it because my wife is a master of these kind of statements. She used to feel dumb doing it, but I convinced her that a stupid person would not know enough to be able to confuse or combine two different statements. One has to know that china is kept in a special cabinet in order to use that word instead of "china shop". I believe when someone says something about the 52 states, they tend to be card players, used to dealing with 52 cards in a deck and then just inadvertently switching the number when talking about our country. Here are some of my wife's best - "He was in that movie where the kid says he hears deaf people"; "Getzlaf shot the puck right thru the goalies piehole"; "Danger Will Rogers!!"; "While on the freeway, I had two trucks hemlock me in"; "My mom struggles with new electronical devices".

WRB has better specifics than I could offer you. However, on a general note, don't get discouraged with the lack of success. Instead, realize that you have just identified baits, areas, techniques or combinations thereof that don't work. If you eliminate enough, you eventually will stumble onto something that does. Take advantage of this knowledge of what hasn't worked and make changes in areas or techniques until you find answer. If crankbaits near docks don't produce, remember that problem could be bait, the location or the technique. Don't change all 3 at once necessarily, change one at a time. Eliminate variables. Also, as odd as it sounds, make sure that you are expecting to get bit, so that then when it doesn't happen, you have the urge to change something up. Without that, you may just continue to do what isn't working over & over and be complacent with the lack of results.

So I thought I came up with a good sleeper pick in bucket A, someone who has done real well the last two times at Toledo Bend and has an owner percentage of less than 2%. He wasn't really mentioned in the "pundit picks" on the fantasy fishing page, so I felt like my secret would stay quiet... Until BASS posts an article this morning called "Toledo Bend by the numbers". At the end of the story, they note that just 3 anglers have finished in the top 20 the last two times the Elite Series visited Toledo Bend; KVD (Bucket B, 52.9% ownership), Keith Combs (Bucket B, 10.7% ownership) and Hank Cherry (Bucket A, ***% ownership). Of course, Cherry was my sleeper, now out in the open for all non-researchers to see. Luckily there are only about 12 hours until the choices are locked in, hopefully there isn't a run on him and his ownership percentage stays below 3%. Oh yeah, I have Combs in bucket B too. I'm going to go throttle that writer...

Beautiful fish, soon to passing those good genes to the newest generation.

I dropped a smartphone in the lake once and to help find it, I had my buddy call it. Boy were we surprised when a 16 lb bass answered it. The bass asked who I was and when I told him Dave, he responded "Dave's not here". Then he started giggling & hung up. We dove there the next day, but couldn't find the phone. The only things down there were a turntable, an old Cheech & Chong album and some roach clips.

Like many others, I don't troll because I get bored with it. I enjoy making pinpoint casts, using different lures and other activities associated with OCD. However, I think on many waters, trolling for bass may not be the most effective. Since LMB are more cover oriented than pelagic, other presentations are often more productive. BTW, the first bass I ever caught was trolling a weightless red Mister Twister plastic worm (hook exposed) through the middle of a weed bed. At the time, I thought it was a good idea...

Most of the anglers seem to point at AOY as the more coveted award. However, if one's bank account is low, a Classic title sure fix's that...

Well so much for my laid back, surfer bass theory...

The bass on my home lake are in the middle of the spawn. It is always written that all of the bass in a lake do not spawn at the same time & yesterday was a good example of that. I saw dozens of schools of week old fry near many docks, while in other places there were males at various stages on nests (locked on, just starting, etc.). I even caught a few of what I believe were fat females in a little deeper water, getting ready to meet some new boyfriends. It was a clear, sunny day, making it easy to see a lot of what was happening. Since I went to the Classic last week, my boat hadn't been moved from its spot on my dock for over 10 days. I didn't realize it when I went out yesterday morning at zero dark thirty that a male bass had taken advantage of this and had built a nest just inches off the rear of my boat in about 2 feet of water. I saw him when I returned to the house for a mid-morning bathroom break and went ahead & caught him off the nest to see if I could. When I returned at the end of the day, he was back on the bed, apparently no worse for wear. Of course, when I docked my boat, he took off. As I spent about 30 minutes cleaning up the boat & putting the cover on, he was nowhere to be seen. With that chore finished, I took some of my tackle up to the house and when I returned just minutes later, he was back on the bed. It was a great example of how strong the spawning instinct is. This fish was not only be caught off the bed, but had noise and rumbling nearly on top of the bed for a half hour, yet the moment things calm down, he was back setting up shop. As the sun was setting & I could barely see him, I noticed a female (I assume) was cruising just beyond the bed, as if she was checking his credentials. I am starting to wonder if the male bass in my lake are lacking romanticism. Just about any TV show you watch about bedding bass or post spawn bass show the males with bloody or beat up tails from aggressively clearing off the debris on the lake bottom. All of the bedding fish I catch have no such damage. It is as if they are slackers, doing the minimum needed to create a nest and then just telling the females "what you see is what you get". Maybe the bass in our area have been caught up in the Southern California culture and are more interested in hitting the gym and getting a good tan than being a gentleman fish and going all out to court the females. I keep imagining them looking in their bass mirrors and in their best Billy Crystal/Fernando Lamas voice saying "You look marvelous..."

I have found that they are always at their freshest if I let them go...

Last Friday, at the Classic weigh-in, I was fortunate to sit next to the engineer who designed this lure. He was pretty excited about it and mentioned the work that went into it and how he would take Jason Christie's on water evaluation & input to continually refine it. He was hoping that Christie would have a day like Randy Howell did with his new Livingston bait a few Classics back to give the initial offering a kickoff. If that happened, he said he would have to call the manufacturing plant and tell them to get ready and hang on...