Floridabassking352

What's up guys, just poppin in to say hello. It's been nearly a year since I've been on the forums (I got tied up with stuff my first year of college and unfortunately didn't have much time for bass fishing). I'm a sophomore now and have finally had time to start bass fishing again. I changed my major too. I was Biology and now I'm Environmental Science. I want to work either on saving the Everglades or restoring Tampa Bay. Anyway, it's good to be back, and as usual, all of the posts and advice on various fishing techniques are excellent; I'm already learning some cool stuff that I want to try. And of course, a special congratulations to Glenn and all the other moderators on keeping this site going. It's amazing and really neat to see it grow.

Not catching anything. I hate getting skunked.

Bassin_Nut, I use Slim Dogs all the time. They are great lures.

Best of luck to you John. I start on the 27th. What college are you attending?

"There are 206 bones in the human body. How'd you like one more?" ;D

Micropterus, this is true. It IS against the law here to ride bikes on the sidewalk. However, I don't think I'll need to take any legal action since the damage is barely noticeable. Thanks for the information though. I still think he is mostly responsible, even though I should have checked the sidewalk, although even if I did I'm not entirely sure I would have seen him due to his lack of visibility.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention one thing. When I talked to the guy on the bike he told me that one of the handbreaks on his bike was broken, and he just happened to use that one in the spur of the moment so he wasn't able to stop. In my opinion, he should have seen my car before he got near it cause I was at a stop for a few seconds. I think it's partly his fault and partly my fault, although I think it's more his fault cause he didn't seem to be riding very fast and it's not hard to stop a bike (also, he didn't have any reflectors to make himself visible). Plus, personally, if I had the option of crashing my bike into a car or swerving to the side and falling (no one was behind me), I think I'd swerve. Anyway, I'm going to be more careful from now on and "expect the unexpected." Guess I have to watch for night-time bike riders now. In all though, I'm just glad I didn't get to the stop sign a few seconds later because he would have been crossing in front of me and I might have hit him. At least no one got hurt. The situation definitely could have been worse.

Well, after only two days of driving my new stickshift, someone on a bike ran into me and dinged it. > My initial reaction was, "Oh my God, I hope he's alright!" Now I'm kind of ticked about it. My dad managed to bang some of the ding out, but there's still a little indentation and a small scratch or two that I can touch up. It happened tonight at about 9:30pm. I had just got off the interstate and was turning right at a stop sign. I stopped and looked both ways to make sure traffic was clear. Well as I pulled out this guy on a bike came tearing by and caught the tail end of my car just before I was in the lane. I had him follow me into a gas station parking lot to assess the damage and unfortunately I didn't notice the ding until AFTER I was home. The damage isn't really too bad (I only need to buy touch-up paint), but I'm still pretty angry (not as angry as my dad though, you shoulda seen his face). What makes this story even better is that I KNOW the guy. I went to middle school with him and we used to play basketball together. Anyway, I don't think I should really have him pay for anything since there's not too much damage and I used to know him. What do you think I should do? Do you think I did something wrong? I mean I have to admit I wasn't expecting a bicycle to come at me on a busy road at night (so I didn't check the sidewalk, only the road) especially one without any reflector lights (although now I will ALWAYS watch for one). Basically I heard a yell, turned around and watched him run into me. I'm kinda afraid to drive now. It ticks me off that my new car is dinged cause of some freak incident. Honestly, how often do you see people riding their bike at 9:30 at night?

Hey guys, just thought I'd let you all know that I can drive a stickshift now (which means I can drive my new car by myself)! It's so exciting to drive, especially now that I know how. Anyway, thanks for all the tips you gave me, they were a big help. And it only took me four days to learn! Thanks again.

Well guys, I went out again today with my dad and I can FINALLY get going from neutral into gear without stalling it or jerking real fast and taking off like a rocket. I practiced in my neighborhood and actually drove about 15mi to my house from across town, AND I went on the interstate. The only thing I have left to do now is learn when to downshift and how many gears down to go when I run into traffic. Basically, I have everything down. Now all I have to do is learn to do it without thinking and become smoother. Thanks for all the tips. They have been very helpful so far.

???????????? Where are these comments about not liking a new car coming from? I hope my post didn't put out a vibe that I'm ungrateful for the car, cause that's definitely not the case. I think the car is awesome. I'm not at all upset cause I didn't get an automatic (the stick is actually more fun to drive... when I'm not messing up, lol.) I'm just a little agitated that I'm not learning how to drive a manual transmission as quickly as I would like to.

Burley, the '07 Scion was cheaper than the '08, and it just happened to be the last one at the dealership (and it was a stick), but I really love the car cause it's very sporty looking. I was hesitant at first but my dad said he wouldn't have got it if he thought I couldn't drive it. Plus, he believes I should know how to drive a stick. Anyway, I love the car and I'm DETERMINED to learn it (when I don't get something it eats at me until I can do it). Also, the car has 7 airbags, ABS, and it gets decent mileage.

I got a brand new 2007 Toyota Scion tC today!!! My rents bought it for me after my old Toyota Camry crapped out last week (transmission finally went). Anyway, this new car is a stickshift and it's so frustrating! I've never driven one before and it's kinda hard learning. Basically, my problem is with starting when I'm in neutral (ex: if I were at a light or pulling into traffic). Either I stall it or I give it too much gas too soon and let the clutch off too fast resulting in a very unpleasant, abrupt jerk before I get moving. Also, I have trouble starting when I'm on a hill (cause the car starts rolling backwards). Does anyone have any tips on learning to drive a stickshift? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Catt, when I say "tackle" I mean everything (rod, reel, lures, etc.). Sorry, I should have clarified that in my post.

How many of you have ever used someone else's tackle before? I did this weekend and I have to say I'm superstitious. I feel like I can only catch fish on my gear. I was in Land O' Lakes and actually bought some lures cuz I didn't like the ones my uncle had. I caught fish of course, although I already had that tackle. How many of you are superstitious about your tackle? Also, I did catch one bass on my uncle's little swimbait that I've never used before (now I will buy some of them).

No, I haven't had that problem, although I use a baitcaster (don't know if "free spool" is the correct term or not for a baitcasting reel).

This happened on I-75 right here in Gainesville, FL where I live. I actually saw the accident scene while I was heading north on I-75. All of the vehicles were completely totaled. It's weird how I passed by and just thought it's another accident, but then when I found out Tim Tucker was involved and he died it completely shocked me. He will be greatly missed. I enjoyed reading his articles because they were interesting and filled with great tips that have made me a better fisherman, especially his secrets about how to fish the local lakes as he was regularly published in the Gainesville Sun.

This past weekend I was trolling a 12in plastic worm and a HUGE bass nailed it. I set the hook but only hauled water. How do you catch fish when using this technique? I'm thinking he just took a swipe at it while it was moving but he didn't get it in time. Maybe I should have put the reel in free spool and let him take line?

This is a tough question. I have an easier time fishing shallower ponds, but I just prefer deeper water for some reason, which is why I chose the first option.

Buzzbait, Popper early and late. Soft plastic worm and frog when it gets hot.

I just yell at them and have no trouble speaking my mind. If they're doing something they shouldn't be doing, I tell them about it. Some of them move off, but if they don't, I just go to another one of my spots away from them.

I rarely get skunked anymore, so this isn't really a problem. My "skunk buster" would be the bait I catch the most fish on, the t-rigged Zoom Trickworm in black, which I always have tied on as it is my number one confidence lure. I don't have to worry about being skunked because I just know I will eventually get a fish on it.

I would slow down my presentation a great deal. I recently had this same problem and slowing down seemed to work pretty well, although the conditions were different. Still, you might want to give it a shot next time; maybe it'll work.

Well guys, I'll be going off to college in a few months and I have absolutely NO CLUE what I need/should buy for my dorm. Any ideas would be much appreciated. If you have any other opinions on what I might need for outside the dorm, or college life in general, it would be helpful also. Thanks.

Well guys, I'm finally done with high school! I graduated this past Saturday. Now it's off to college in 3 months! I'll never forget my graduation because when I got out my car battery had died because I left my lights on. Then it started to pour while I tried to find someone so I could hook my jumper cables up to their car, AND, to make matters worse, I was with two girls because they carpooled with me and I looked like a loser, lol. I felt bad because their families were waiting at home and I made them, oh, 45 min late! Anyway, I'm sure I'll laugh at this later, although I was quite ticked at the time. I also got some neat gifts: a lot of money from my family, a laptop and printer, and, the best gift EVER.... drum roll please.... A NEW SURF FISHING COMBO!!!! It's a 10' Shakespeare Ugly Stik Big Water Rod paired with a Shimano Spheros 12000 FA reel. Pretty sweet.