Cephkiller

Thanks for putting it all in perspective, Catt. I, of course, realize things could be much worse. I was just venting a little bit.

I pretty much can't stand anything recorded in the past 15 years. Does this mean that as I approach my "golden years" I will learn to enjoy rap music? I hope not ;D

This ahs happened to me in the past and was happening to me often the the past few weeks. I finally landed a decent fish and noticed the hook was through the membrane on the roof of the mouth and the point was back through on the inside. There wasn't a lot holding that hook in. I slightly opened up the hook point and every fish since has had the point all the way through the roof of the mouth as it should be. That may be worth a try.

I've been fishing in this sort of weather alot lately and it seems the fish are changing every day. Just start with the conventional wisdom and change up if it doesn't work. Good luck!

I thought bad things happened in threes. Not for me. Here is a list of things that have broken on me in the past few weeks. 1) My tow vehicle's transmission went out. It's still in the shop. I'm using my Dad's truck to fish until it is fixed. 2) Blew a head gasket on my commuting car. I fixed it. Two days in the garage and not fishing > 3) U-joint broke on Dad's truck. I fixed it and replaced the other on because it was about to go too. One day in the garage and not fishing > 4) Tie rods ends (all four) were bad on Dad's truck. I fixed them. One day no fishy > 5) Dad's truck wouldn't start. I had to replace the positive battery cable. Late start to fishing > 6) I broke one of my BPS Extreme rods when setting the hook. Lost the fish > 7) Replaced that rod with an old Garcia 7' M I had in the garage. Broke 4" off the tip the first time out. I have no idea what happened to that. I'm running out of rods that I can stand to use > 8) On board charger quit. I have the warranty replacement installed. 9) Broken U-Bolts on boat trailer. The axle twisted sideways and wedged against the fenders. I fixed it. Delayed fishing AGAIN > These are in no particular order, but they all have happened to me in the recent past. I swear I'm about to lose it. ARGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

The Lucky Craft Waketail is a topwater. The 6 lber just turned sideways and rolled over it. It was almost like slow motion. That was pretty cool. The dark clouds and wind prevented sight fishing (for me at least). I fish there often and I catch everything from 4 inch bass all the way to my PB of 7 lb 11 oz. I have seen photos of two bass over 11 lb that came out of there. I am in southern Indiana, so those are some pretty good fish. Most are always in the 12-15 inch range. I prabably catch 50-75 in the 2 lb and under class for every fish over 5 lb. This can take anywhere from 1-10 trips depending on how well I catch them. I'm not sure if this is a healthy ratio or not, but it seems reasonable to me. It's one of those almost "too much of a good thing" situations. This place is covered about 80% by standing trees and 90 % by vegetation. I usually fish where there is a mix of the two, but that leaves a lot of options! Thanks for the suggestions.

I'm not saying whether or not I agree with the sentiment expressed here, but unfortunately, I have to Snopes someone again. When Carlin's name is attached to something, it's probably not really attributable to him. http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/carlingas.asp

I got out at sunrise this morning. Conditions were: 220 acre lake with abundant timber and weeds, water temp - 68, air temp ~ 60, east wind at 5-10 mph, storm front arrived previous evening and still present. On my second cast I caught a 6 lber on a LC Waketail in about 5 feet of water. I fished for four more hours and caught approximately 30 - 35 more bass on the Waketail, jig, Yo-Zuri Rattle - n - Vibe and Chatterfrog, but none were over 2 lbs and most were in the 12 - 14 inch range. Nearly all the fish came in 6 feet of water or less although I tried fishing deeper from time to time. The 6 lber was very thin and obviously spawned out, so I suspect that either the big girls were on the beds and not interested in my offerings or they weere in the post spawn funk and not feeding. My only regret is that I didn't try blind casting for beds with a tube or a Senko. What would you have done?

What's really impressive is that you were still able to lip it. Awesome!

Afetr I had drawn a diagram and used a calculator and thought about all of this for a good long while I came to the same conclusion. Oh well, it was still a fun little excercise. All the math I ever get to do at work involves chemistry and statistics. Physics and geometry are fun!

You should definitely resotore them to fully charged after each use. Leaving a lead acid battery in a partially charged state allows an excess of lead oxide to build up on the plates and will decrease the life of the battery.

If you were my son, I'd say go, but I realize not everyone is cut out for college. I will say this: Your goals and dreams will not always be the same as they are now. If there is even the slightest chance that you might want a degree for something in the future, the time to get that degree is NOW! When you are responsible for taking care of your family in a few years, it may be too late. Also, don't forget, as in all things, it wouldn't hurt to pray about it. Good luck.

I would seriously discourage the first one. In my experience, you will be lucky to get a full season out of the reel. Also, the rod is composite and it is not nearly as sensitive as the latter two rods.

+1 I've never lost a fish with these.

I use white for bright conditions and black for low light unless the water is clear in which case I go natural.

Realizing, of course, that most of us hold our rods closer to 45 degrees and not 90. Also, the fact that we hold our rod butt approximately waist high and the fact that the angler is standing on his casting deck probably adds around 5-6 feet to the vertical leg of the triangle. As a happy coincidence these forgotten factors nearly cancel each other out and the result is the 2 ft/sec slowing to 1 ft/sec still works out roughly as the correct answer. Well done, Sir!

KVD id the Man! the best thing about him is that he is so good BASS has no choice but to promote him even though he refuses to act like an idiot (you know who you are and I'm not just talking about Ike).

No offense taken. I think I have read cosmos, but I'm not sure. I read A LOT and have done so for many, many years so I am sometimes unsure of what exactly I have read, but I am certainly open to reading it again if I have. Thanks.

Devil's Horse

Of all life's pleasures, fishing and science are among my favorites

I think you are on the right track, but your math is flawed. The Pythagorean Theorem only applies to right triangles. Are you contending that the line forms the hypotenuse of the right triangle? If so, I disagree. The drag caused by the hydrodynamic forces against the jig causes the line to extend out beyond the theoretical c2 thus increasing the angle of the rod to the line and decreasing the angle of the surface of the water to the line. This means the triangle formed by the rod/line/surface is not a right triangle and the Pythagorean Theorem does not apply. Also, the angles will vary as the jig approaches the boat so trigonometry will not work either. I suspect that a calculus equation describing the parabola formed by the jig could be worked out to give you your answer, but it has been too long since I took calculus for me to work it out for you. Keep up the analytical thinking, though. I really admire it and it can only lead to good things for you. If I have mischaracterized your theory let me know and I'll rethink it.

Since I'm a nice guy I'll trade you even and save you some jack at the pump. Just PM me and let me know where we can do the swap. You're welcome ;D

The key to throwing it weightless is to use a 5/0 hook. When I tried it with a 3/0 or 4/0 I experienced the spin. When I moved it up to the 5/0 I was able to swim it fast enough to work the tail without spin. It also works well with a hook with the weighted shank if you want to work it faster.

I use 50 - 80 lb braid in heavy grass or muddy water and 15 lb fluoro all other times. IMO, the sensitivity offered by braid and fluoro is too great an advantage when jig fishing to ever use mono.

I said BPS Extreme, but this was before I went fishing yesterday and while setting the hook on a decent fish with 15 lb fluoro I snapped one of my 6'6" MH Extremes right in half. It was about three months out of warranty. I may have to vote for something with a lifetime warranty now.