BassNJake

It's rewarding to make those learned adjustments on the water. Too many times I'm having that ah ha moment when I'm on the way home or sitting around reflecting on the trip.

At least there is some hope of getting a few wins this year.

Good luck on the back surgery, having blown a couple discs myself it's not fun having back issues.

Glad you are alright and didn't damage your eyes

Crazy video of some amazingly brave heroes. The fire spreads so quickly in those dry areas... hoping for some rain and wishing the best for all those affected

Almost all my fishing is done alone and I prefer it that way. My tourney partner and I will pre-fish different areas of the lake and then share notes leading up to the tourney. This really helps when patterning fish and covering multiple areas. My home lake consists of 2 rivers that have a dam where they converge, so 800+ miles of shoreline. When I first moved to TN one of the old timers told me to be successful at Norris lake all you have to do is fish the points and the creek channels. Hardy har har.... I'd take those all day everyday!! Nice fish and beautiful scenery to boot!!

John Cox qualified for the elite series and said something to the effect of sometimes it pays to be the big fish in a small pond. Then he opted to keep fishing FLW.

I would try what is being labeled the reverse rig for this application. Take an offset shank hook and rig your senko so it is weedless. Then take a nail weight or a screw and insert it into the back end. (I take a lighter and seal the hole that I made if using a nail weight) The beauty of this rig when working a laydown is after bringing it over a branch it will fall back towards the center of the laydown. With a regular texas rig (using a bullet weight) because the weight is in front of the hook it will fall back towards you and away from the tree. Since finding this set up, i've pretty much stopped using the traditional texas rig. When my lake is at full pool there are a lot of willow trees and buck brush. This rig can be pitched into the centers more easily than a texas rig or a jig and if pitching to the edge of one it has that tendency to fall back into the bush. Also I have found that you can cast this out and twitch it like a fluke. When fish are following and you kill it the bait falls back towards them, this triggers a lot of strikes. Also to echo what the others are saying- you need a heavier line. If you do get bit that fish is going to swim right into that laydown.

I used to pour concrete and the superintendent would drive up to the site, hit his horn and call you over to his vehicle. As you talked to him through a barely cracked window, you could feel the coldness of the air conditioning pouring out. One day he showed up to the job and there was an issue with the paving machine, so he had to get out. Somebody took a roadkill(dead raccoon), put it in a walmart bag and dropped it behind the bench seat. About 2 weeks later, he had a new company truck. He started locking his doors if he had to get out on the job.

John Cox on a shallow bite is a great for almost any FLW event. That guy can flat out catch em'.

Those look good!! Always liked a little purple in my jigs

Here's an article that details why a FLW tour pro decided not to use a fish finder for an entire season. He ended up finishing 2nd in points for the Angler of the Year title. He does indicate he used GPS for navigational purposes. https://www.flwfishing.com/tips/2015-06-06-shallow-running

I've caught a couple birds on topwaters and its not fun trying to get the hooks out.

I am a toad guy so I appreciate the feed back on this bait!! A couple of questions: what type of hook did you use? Did the toad run upright for the most part or would it flip over?

I'm also a huge fight fan. My father got me started as a kid and I remember watching a ton of fights and reading Ring magazine all the time. The first Sugar Ray/Hearns fight was one of the best fights I remember watching back then, later the Gatti and Ward fights brought the same feelings back. Also loved watching guys like Alexis Argüello, Salvador Sanchez, Duran, Wilfredo Benitez and Aaron Pryor fight. Cant remember the name of the guy but he fought out of the Rahway Prison in New Jersey and was a pretty good fighter. I watched the first few UFC events on VHS and have probably watched every event since the mid 90's. My brother fought for various organizations including pancrase out of Japan in the late 90's. I guess I'm the outsider as I want Dillashaw to starch Cody again and then wait for the excuses to come pouring out of team alpha male. DJ is amazing, his skill level is hands down the best. I used to live in NE Ohio and was out driving around one day and saw these 3 guys in suits running in front of a limo. As I passed them I saw they were all following Mike Tyson who was getting in a morning road run. What was impressive wass the pace the 3 guys in the suits were keeping to stay behind him.

I agree with this approach. I have a long needle nose pliers for most all removals. I also have a pair of sidecutters that I use to cut the hooks when they are either in the gills or swallowed. I had a pretty decent success rate with laying over the side of the boat with the fish in the water and using the thru the gill trick. Sometimes it would take 5-10 minutes to do it this way. Now I just cut the hook, remove and release. I have not found an easier more effective way for gut or gill hooked fish.

Do you set the hook with the rod or the reel? So you want your weak hand on the rod? I'm just joking as some very good fisherman cast right handed and switch hands to retrieve with the same hand. KVD and Greg Hackney come to mind.

I think I remember them doing it that way before. Now they can make a separate event just for the sponsorship dollars, I mean just for the bracket

the Top 4 head to the 2018 Carhartt College Bracket presented by Bass Pro Shops, set for Aug. 14-16 on Milford Lake out of Junction City, Kan. He's got a few weeks to get in some google earth study before he wins it

Great job and as always an awesome write up that put us right there!! The classic is going to be close to my place(less than an hour) let me know if I can help once you win!!

Thats a hawg!! Thanks for sharing!!

Top 30 after day one for the College National championship is pretty awesome!! I counted 48 teams that blanked including last years Champ Jacob Foutz. I hope you've already got a limit this morning, lets go!!

Looks like he has at least 1 and it came on a topwater!!

I think it affects the outcome of every event. Decisions are often made on the water given the current conditions. Those conditions are affected more when 2 people are fishing the same water. 150 guys fishing is alot of pressure 300 is an absurd amount from just one tourney and most of these lake have multiple tourneys on the weekends. If one guy is fishing down the bank he can turn around and hit spots he missed. Those spots are not missed with a co angler. If 2 guys are fishing a spot and the pro catches 2 fish and the co angler catches 2 fish. The pro might leave because he wants to find higher numbers of fish where as if he caught all 4, he might stay and fish that spot more thoroughly. Or vice versa where the co catches fish and then it changes what decisions the pro makes. Or it is that one thing that keys him into a pattern he didn't find on his own. I think at the highest levels of the sport there should just be pro's.

It seems that for every "pro/boater" that is talking down about his co angler; there are at least an equal amount of co anglers talking about how horrible their "pro" was. I think it is natural to view the co-anglers as a level lower than the Pro. Just like it is viewed as the progression in the sport to move from the co angler side to the pro side. I agree that often the skill levels are the same but the back of the boat is still the back of the boat. If you want to be treated like an equal become one. The front of the boat has it's advantages.