LunkerGuy

Bill Dance is not a cheater. He does fish in a tiny pond loaded with his 8-pound pets though which I believe takes some credibility from his show......but then again it is a different show for a different audiance then say Day on the Lake or Bass Pros. How could anyone bash him.....he's hilarious.

I've had gasoline, oil, cigatettes, and sunscreen on my hands at one time or another. I don't see the big deal. Although, I try to avoid the gas and cigarettes at the same time..for obvious reasons!

It could. Look for areas where streams or run offs enter the lake. I'd say you can start fishing as soon as the water is rolling in. The water should be cooler.

a 12-pack weighs....um...about 5 pounds!

If the point of the hook goes all the way through, try and do the same as if you stuck it through your hand. Take a pair of wire cutters, clip the hook in half, then pull one part out one way and the other part the other. If the hook is deeply embedded into the gullet (point and all), the technique stated before would probably work better. I try my best to remove the hook and although I don't hook them like that too often, if I do I will do my best to get them free. Worst case, if I really feel I am butchering the fish I will release them and hope it rusts out. After reading this article, I think I'll try harder next time to get it out first. Thanks, and good ifo.

Put a layer of 20 pound underneath and save yourslef some money. Then again, if its free......

Reading this I think the real word to look at is "resale" which is why a $5,000 Skeeter is a 1982 model. Unless you are prepared to dump a lot of money into it for repairs its wise to look for a 16' or 17' aluminum with say a 50 HP motor and a 12 or 24 volt trolling motor. Livewell pumps are cheap to replace, smaller trolling motors are cheaper than 24V pigs, electronics upgrades aren't real expensive either. I personally wouldn't touch a 20 year old boat that fits into my budget. I prefer to "fish" over headaches. But back to my point, a $42,000 Triton is going to be worth $36,000 in year 2, $33,000 in year 3 and so on. Well how many long runs in 5' chops until its under $10,000? A LOT I bought a 1999 16' princecraft with a 50 HP Johnson with less than 20 hours on it in 2000 for $8,000. Its now 2005, it runs like a top and I've never had a real problem with it. Only thing I've done are some upgrades and a few props. I've done everything stupid with it from banging it on rocks to slamming it into a sandbar at full tilt and I don't have a heart attack if something goes wrong. This year I pondered spending the big bucks but realized for me I like to fish smaller lakes and rivers. I use it in my bass club and most of the bodies we fish are fine for my boat. This year I put it up to a 24 V trolling motor with an 80 pound Minn Kota Maxxum, battery chargers etc... So for less than $1,000 there isn't a whole hell of a lot more I could do if I spent $40,000 (read that the right way). Think about a 20 year old trailer too....UGHHH Unless you are a mechanic with 20 year old parts laying around to put your motor back together every month, do yourself a favor and go aluminum until you can afford a $20,000+ boat. My 2 cents.

I fish shallow water on the northern end of the lake, or areas with good southern sky exposure. Pretty darm good chance there are bedding fish there.

Skeeter/Yamaha

That one on tef left is a funny looking smallie! Nice catches...

Put some monster bait (11" worm, 6" senko, 12" lizard etc..) on a carolina rig and chuck it out there. Bring it back slowly. Its simple and can hook you with some pigs. Bigger Fish generally prefer slightly deeper water. They also like a nice easy meal to fill them up.

Unless you fish for species othe rthan bass it sucks! I end up going to the 3rd option which is the single transducer cone read. Its too narrow at like 8 degrees. I hate it.

That's my choice boat but I have a couple of issues with it. 1. The console is too low and you feel like you will smash your leg on a choppy day. You have to slide under it to drive. 2. Only one position for the seat post up front. Concerns me in bad weather that I am 12 inches from falling in.. 3. Boat sits very low and will have a lot of water over the sides. 4. A lot of backwash over the stern on quick stops. 5. Trolling motor pedal is not recessed. Other than that its the finest one out there. I also like the Nitro 901 and the Triton TR 196. Any are great choices. The Yamah ais the choice motor of the two as the others seem to all be packaged with Merc's.

oh, before you dump it into the fisheries....spray some WD 40 on your fingers and see how long it is until you can taste it. It doesn't take long so it can't be good.

stick to pre-made attractants cuz its much easier. I have heard WD-40 is really only good so that your plastics don't stick to the weeds.

That was a good article JT. I have fished both sides also and really only once had a bad experience. It was on a N. Open on the Hudson. As a non-boater we needed about 6 or 7 pounds to make the cut. I blanked day #1 but not on account of my boater. Its because I didn't retie often enough and lost a 3 pounder at the boat due to zebra mussels. Day 2 I was paired with a really cocky, jerky guy who I shall leave nameless although I really don't want to. This guy has a brand new 21 foot boat...... So we go out and I catch 3 fish to his 5 and know I'm really close to that 6-7 pound mark. When we stop he asks me to hold the boat while he gets the fish out. I don't think anything of it and while he was doing that I was saying hello to a fellow club member who was out on the docks. He hands me my bag of fish and I go to weigh in. We get to the final tank and I go to put more water in my bag. I look in the bag and I have (3) 14 inch fish in there. I looked at him and said "I think you may have a couple of my fish". He tells me its a single livewell and they "cross over". Next thing you know I'm on the stage and hear Fish Fishburne say "3 pounds 2 ounces". I was funing but what could I do??? Then this guy comes up who had about 8 pounds by my best estimate. I hear..."12 pounds 6 ounces" or something...its been a few years so I don't remember exactly. I ended up about 3 pounds off the cut when i think I should have made it. I chalked it up as a learning experience and on my way home stopped off at a tackle shop to pick up some cull 'em tags. It won't happen again but was a really black day in my opinion. I have often wondered if I should have done something about it but I didn't want to be a jerk and get labeled myself plus, without tags I really couldn't prove it. The toughest part for me was whether I retied that first day or didn't get hosed the second day I was in. I learned a lot that day and feel better as a result. One thing for me is I have a pretty strong personality and don't get easily intimidated. If I am really getting back boated I'll say something. Most guys really don't want to do it...or at least will accomodate you if you say something. Don't just fester, they are only 12 feet away from you all day and if they constantly get asked to help you out they will in most instances as long as you don't toss ahead of them. If not, start kicking their rods over the side one at a time. LOL That will get their attention!!!

Close but still funny... On the Mohawk River and fishing by myself. Wind is howling at 40 MPH or so. I pull up to the dock to tie up and get the truck. I stepped onto the dock and reach back for the boat. It is floating away and I missed it. Now mind you, there are easily 40 people standing around. I look ahead of my boat floating away and its heading towards rip rap, downed trees...tons of crap to screw up the boat. By now the boat is 9, 10, 11 feet away. I throw caution to the wind and run and leap towards the boat hooking my elbows over the side but my legs are under it. I kick and claw my way into the boat and get it back over to tie down to the launch. So here I am people laughing everywhere. My jeans, sneakers etc.. soaked as wet as can be. I go "squishing" my way over to the truck totally embarrassed. Just them some guy hands me a flyer and says "We are giving a safe boating course next weekend if you are interested". I almost put that flyer where I wanted on the guy but I had to just laugh at myself and go home. SO FUNNY, I almost wish one of my buddies got a chace to witness it.

1. No longer put Berkley Vanish on my reels so I lose less fish! 2. Reduced my crap too. Not that I had too much but too much stupid stuff I'll never use. Only take "tried and trues" out. Fish new baits with my son from the bank on small bodies of water or complete "fun days" which are too few. 3. Make decisions faster. I think I made a lot of good decisions in tournaments but I waited too long to make them and certainly weighed in lighter as a result. 4. Get my new trolling motor on my boat. I was fishing with a 12 volt on the Hudson River for Pete's sake! I just bought a 24V 80 pound w/ U. Sonar, and a 3 bank charger. That ought to eliminate some of my issues. 5. Get off the tubes! Meaning, work for a while to determine what the fish are doing as oppossed to always "running spots". I have to cover more water and slow down after I figure it out. Spent too much time tinking around when i should have been moving. 6. Work from a "day box". I plan to pre-fish all my club tourneys this year as oppossed to fishing more tournaments. I want an AOY title. Once I figure things out on Friday I will be narowed down to 4-5 baits and a few rods. Simplify!

Nice work! I just got back from Dick's. I bought a Okuma Stratus ST 30 spinning reel. It was 50% off plus I had a 10% coupon. So a $70 reel for $31.48. Looks like March is good to Anglers other than the fact it FREEZING and the ice won't melt!!!!

One other point........If you get to your spot, the ground is bare dirt, there are lots of empty worm containers around you........MOVE. Fish ain't stupid and usually there are no weeds here either as guys have ripped them out over the years. Try areas that don't have the grass beaten to bare earth for more success.

My largest fish ever (over 10 pounds) came from a pond in a housing development in Florida so YES, you can whack them from the bank. I take my 6-year-old son to a small lake by us in evenings during the summer. What we do is bring a dozen worms with us. First I tie on an 1/8 oz spinnerbait for my son and I use a topwater. We walk along the edge and don't cast straight out, but about 3-10 feet off the bank at an angle. Bass are shallow water fish so throw just off the cover which most of the times is right along the shoreline. We move along until we determine the activity level of the fish...maybe 20-30 minutes total. If no luck, I tie on a texas rigged worm, lizard, or a weightless senko (if its really slick calm). I continue to fish around my son while he starts catching sunnies and occassional bass with the worms. We have had 2 hour outings that he has caught 3 bass and 40 sunnies. I usually am good for one or two big bites. I set teh hook then quickly give my rod to him to play the fish. He is realy getting good and these are certianly some of our best times together! I live for them. But back to your question...yes, use a texas rigged worm with say 1/8 ounce eight. Slowly hop, crawl, swim etc it back to you and MOVE often to find the fish. Cast more parallel to the bank. Try a buzzbait on summer evenings.

We have decided to grow our club after some years of debate. We have about 16 members now and want to push the number close to 40. We feel this number will still keep it small enough to be able to fish smaller lakes but big enough to push competition and have larger pay-outs. We meet the third Thursday of each month at a diner or another location in Catskill, NY at 7:00. If interested in joining or finding out more please email me at shipe3@msn.com. The club is a great group of guys eager to help others, have fun, and compete. We usually fish the first 3 tournaments in CT and then the next 7 in NY, generally around the Albany area. We are looking for both boaters and non-boaters. I have been a member for 3 years and have learned a lot and made a bunch of great friends. Please contact me to hear more. Dave

On a River: I would put a 4" DT Hula Grub on a 1/4 oz. football head. I fish it on 10 pound fluorocarbon line and spinning tackle. If you can get it bumping along the bottom its only a matter of time. On a Lake: A 8" Yamamoto worm w/ 1/8 oz bullet head. Fish it in and around weeds on 12-14 pound line.

I bought some nail polish today, and regardless of the looks I got, I wonder if this stuff will hold up or peel off. I want to paint my football heads and slip sinkers to closely match my plastics. Anyone recommend the right kind of paint and where to buy it??? Thanks