OCdockskipper

Partially, it also depends on the marshal. Since the price to be a Marshal in the Classic isn't cheap, you tend to get an older, more sedate group. Some of these are tech wary, so even something as simple as the Basstrax app isn't easy for them. Then you get some folks who get tired of the responsibility a few hours in. I actually enjoyed it, made sure I logged all catches (even obvious culls) and asked the angler what he believed the weight to be. Ish & Alton Jones were pretty accurate with their weights, Dennis Tietje went the extra mile and weighed the ones he was unsure of. It seemed they appreciated having an accurate count of what they caught & where they were currently sitting weight wise. I think some marshals stop entering once a limit has been reached...

After attending Day 1 of the 2017 Bassmaster Classic, I want to congratulate B.A.S.S. on pulling off a huge success. Even with 2 days of competition left to go, it is obvious that B.A.S.S. was able to bring professional bass fishing to the bright lights of a major city in a manner never seen before. With that said, I humbly suggest future events go in a different direction. We have all seen those movies whose plot centers around an outsider kid trying to get in with the cool crowd. That is the residual feeling I get after watching the major tournament of our sport walk into Houston. We have every right to be there and are as compelling as any other sport that city has seen, but at the end of the day, we don't fit. Whether it be trucks hauling boats in downtown traffic or watching garages charge $15 parking for an event with no admission fee, the nuances & traditions of our sport do not mesh well with the lifestyle of an urban environment. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying B.A.S.S. can't do this, they are proving they can. From the product they deliver to the talent on the water and announcing the events, these folks can hold their own on this or any stage. I just don't believe that in the long run, it is in their best interest to do so. While in line for the weigh-in yesterday, security for Minute Maid park came through announcing the limitations on what can be brought in & how their security screening process works. Talk about not knowing your audience!! I guarantee that crowd of people was the safest spot to be in the entire city. The weigh-in started an hour later than originally scheduled, and what was the crowds reaction? Did they boo, start chanting or storm the field? No, we just waited & talked among ourselves. What a concept!! I used to share season tickets to the ANAHEIM Angels (sorry Artie, they aren't L.A.) and barely ever had a 5 minute conversation with any of those sitting around me. Yesterday, I chatted for 45 minutes with a man sitting to my right who turned out to be a lure engineer for a major bait company. Guess what, he doesn't live in Houston, New York or L.A. B.A.S.S., you proved your point, you are in the big leagues. As a member of your organization on & off for the past 40 years, I believe your future, the way you grow & reach people, is not by taking yourself to the big cities inhabited by a majority of people who would sneer at Hank Cherry for mentioning his faith & tearing up. Instead, stay where you are most welcome and use technology to bring people around the country to you. That too is a big hurdle, but I believe you have proved over & over again that your organization has great "hops". Once again, congratulation on the success of the Classic, you have once more outdone yourself.

I'm not sure if it was the same quote, but I heard him say "What's is this f***ing a**hole doing?". Difference was I heard him say it on a huge screen in the middle of the Classic Expo, with plenty of kids & teens watching. I responded out loud "he is fishing a public body of water, Mike" & the guy standing next to me started laughing. I like Ike's enthusiasm, but as a public figure in a family promoted sport, this shows a complete lack of discipline. I'd bet a hefty fine is on the way, but if BASS really wants to nip that kind of thing in the bud, a penalty would be more effective. Yes I know Ike is passionate & emotional, but he can do that in a PG13 way while on camera. Stick to running laps around the boat & screaming "GIANT!!" while landing a 1 lb, 8 oz fish. Currently standing in line for the weigh-in & my knees are screaming at me to sit down. Maybe I'll name my right knee Mike & my left knee Ish...

I'll be there Friday. Combined visiting family in Bainbridge, Georgia & Austin Texas into 1 trip and timed it so I could spend Friday at the takeoff, Expo & weigh-in. Then back to SoCal on Saturday.

I would say that makes you skilled (maybe not highly skilled). I say that because we have all seen novices fish obvious structure & cover and catch nothing or next to nothing. Their lack of skill prevented them from "finding" the bass that were there. I think we sometimes take for granted how much knowledge & skill we aquire over the years. To paraphrase the line from "Caddyshack", you may consider yourself no slouch, but don't sell yourself short - you are a tremendous slouch .

If you are fishing the docks in the late afternoons, most of the bass will relate to the edges of or shade created by the dock. Skipping is most effective midday of bright days, although sometimes resident fish won't follow those parameters. For skipping, a weightless wacky rigged Senko is easiest to learn with (use an O ring or other method to not tear them up so fast). A ZMan TRD on 1/16 head is easy to skip as well if you want a smaller or faster sinking option. Both have no appendages so they will not grab the water when skipping.

Apparently Ike isn't part of your fishing group...

AJ hit the nail on the head, you can tweak the scoring as needed if you want to have larger bass targeted. You could reward bonus points for target or largest fish, change the minimum size, or a bunch of other creative things. As boring as some think it is to watch smaller fish caught, it is more boring to watch someone go an hour without a bite.

About 9 months ago, I found a Jackal Gantrel Jr. Swimbait (Spawn Gill color) floating in our lake. I was able to clean it up and have used it a few times, smiling at my $31 find every time I tie it on. Today, I found a second Gantrel Jr, this time in Ghost Gill color and in perfect shape hanging off the corner of a dock. This one still has the factory feathered hooks, so I guess it is even sightly more valuable than the first one. Since most likely both of these lures were used by someone sneaking on to the lake illegally (possibly at night) and not willing to expose themselves in order to retrieve their hung up lures, I want to publicly thank whoever this individual is who is building my Swimbait collection. I would like to request the next one they leave behind be in Scale bass, I think that would be a nice addition.

When I fished from the bank, I would carry 2 or 3 rods (depending on how rough the terrain was to walk). I thought that was enough to cover everything I needed. When I fished from a little paddle boat, I would carry 5 rods because I could set them up on the spare seat without interfering with my casts. I liked having the additional rods & thought that was enough to cover everything I needed. In my Pond Prowler, I can carry 8 rods comfortably, all within reach. I really liked having the additional rods handy and thought that was enough to cover everything I needed. Today, I figured out what the fish were doing pretty quickly, so 6 of the 8 rods were barely used and caught nothing. A jerkbait caught 3 bass (fry guarders) and a Zman Hula Stickz on a Ned jighead caught the other 34 (bed fish & post spawn). However, I would have been ticked off if I didn't have those other 6 available and needed them...

One can flip cover when pitching would be more effective and vice versa, so neither is ever "necessary". Flippin' is the more effective technique if you can get closer to the fish & you need a no splash lure entry. Done properly, you can get more flips than pitches in the same amount of time, useful for tournament anglers. That doesn't mean you should flip if you prefer to pitch, just showing that it has merits over other techniques in certain situations.

Good question. It probably should be determined on a case by case basis. For example, if the home with the pond is on a public road where it is not odd for you to walk up to the front door, then in person would probably be best. However, if the house is set back to the point that you are basically trespassing just to reach it, then maybe a handwritten note mailed or left in the mailbox would be better. Good luck!!

That is a great idea for two reasons. First, nearly any property large enough to have a pond will always have maintenance needs somewhere on it. Second, anyone over 40 will really appreciate a person of your age offering to work for access as opposed to just expecting it. After you do some work for these people and they have a chance to see the type of character you have, don't be surprised if they begin treating you like their child or grandchild, looking out for you and giving some assistance in your life (be it advice, contacts, materials). As you grow older, you have quite a bit of respect for younger people who have avoided becoming snowflakes.

In case this comment was aimed at my response to the OP, I believe you may have misinterpreted my post. I was neither mocking nor belittling anyone for choosing to use baitcasting gear to fish a Ned rig. Rather, I was giving some extreme examples of situations where a goal could be achieved using a tool not designed for that particular purpose. Just because you can use a tool to do a job doesn't mean that you should. If you want to use that tool, go ahead, but don't delude yourself into thinking it is the best tool for the job just because you are using it. The OP was obviously interested in feedback, otherwise he never would have asked the question. It makes no difference to me how he chooses to fish a Ned rig, I was just answering his question in a way to make him think. Telling him what he may want to hear (that there is no difference between using spinning versus baitcasting) does him no good and is actually condescending.

It may not be the most cherished, but my most often used 3 words are "What's for dinner?". My wife's is "I don't know".

According to Jim from "Taxi", the odds on that happening gotta be 3 to 1...

Yes you can. You can also use a lawn mower to cut a hedge, a high heel shoe to drive a nail and a fork to eat ice cream.

"I've forgotten more about this *%@$!*# game than all of you combined are ever gonna know" - Bobby Knight Don't look now, but I think WRB just threw a chair at the MLF official...

"600 lures in 1" reminds me of the phrase "jack of all trades, master of none". What good are 600 lures if none of them catch fish? Heck, they spent so much time designing extra tails & spinnerbait blades for it, they forgot to add hooks. Then again, they never claimed that it will actually catch a fish, so they are being honest. The second photo of that bait reminds me of those tools sold on infomercials that claim to be "50 tools in 1". The claim is correct, except they are 50 lousy tools in one, none of which help you get the job done. Other than that, it looks to be a good buy...

I hear ya. I would venture that more people use daylight time after work for leisure activities or honey do's than they do in the mornings. About a decade or so, they changed the date of the fall back to early November. For as long as I can remember, the change had been the last Sunday in October, which worked well for Halloween (getting dark earlier in order to get the younger kids out trick or treating earlier). That obviously isn't a legitimate reason why they should have kept that October timing, it was just something I found that worked well in suburbia.

By this, I assume you mean stay in "Daylight Savings time" all year round. We could be in DST year round, however the downside is that during the winter, the sun would be rising at 8:00 - 8:30 in the morning depending on where you live. That creates problems with the morning commute in urban & suburban areas, as well as being depressing that you are going into work while it is still dark . The whole reason for having DST is because while the morning daylight is fine in Standard time during the winter, it becomes absurd in the summer, with sunrises as early as 4:00 - 4:30 am. DST simply shifts that first hour of daylight from a time when it wouldn't be used by most of society to the evening when it becomes an asset. There is logic behind it, it isn't just some dumb government idea. It has less relevance the further south you go (less variances in sunrise times between winter & summer), hence why places like Hawaii & Arizona have opted out.

With water temps above 65 degrees, a certain portion of the population of the bass aren't getting ready to spawn - they most likely are spawning. Their behavior when on beds is very different than any other time of the year, which may be why you were struggling to catch them the past 2 weeks. Don't be surprised if you notice fry in the next few weeks, that will be a sign that this portion of the population are going in post spawn routines. With limited cover & no vegetation, the lake walls come into play during the spawn. Often these walls have been undercut at the base over the years, creating holes & caverns that create cover for baitfish and fry as well as the predators that eat them. Bass in this environment will often create beds near the walls, for the undercuts are cover in the same way that a laydown or dock would be, they just aren't visible to us from the surface. Last year, I released a 5 lb female caught off a bed that was next to a seawall & she immediately swam into the undercut. I had no idea that it was large enough to hold her, but she hung out there for a few minutes before returning to the bed. As far as how to catch bedding bass, there are tons if info on this site written by much better fisherman than I. Some of that info may be a moot point at this time however, because I believe the next time you go out, the males will be protecting fry and the females will be looking to start fattening back up.

My impression of Ike - "Aaaahhggggg, its a giant, look out I'm coming back there, yeeeeeeeee, it is a monster (smacks own head 3 times)..." MLF official - "1 lb 6 oz"

Ned Rig. And apparently Scott F is an angry elf today...

I use the KVD Fishsticks as well. For me, the larger .5 oz models work better than the smaller .15 ones even though the latter is advertised as being 4X the scent (maybe I got a bad batch). I use the crawdad & shad scents on soft plastics (including ZMan products) and the shad on the belly of hard bodied topwater baits. Do not leave these in direct sunlight on a summer day, I found out they will literally turn to a liquid.