BigAngus752

I would have never guessed that! I've driven across it several times and I think it's beautiful. I really want to fish it but I'm not sure if I'm up for a "tough" prospect around Xmas when I can fly straight from here to the St. Johns River in Fla and have a guide take me out for guaranteed Sunshine bass. I'm feeling lazy! LOL

I've got some free time before or after Xmas and I'm thinking about taking a trip for some guided bass fishing (I live in Illinois). I was assuming that I'd need to fly to Florida for a high-percentage chance at good bass fishing. What is the fishing like in December at Nickajack, Guntersville, or Seminole? I'd love to try all of those.

Run away from the sheet flooring. The new vinyl is now available in planks. As everyone else has said, buy the heavier mil stuff and you will not be disappointed.

^^^this^^^ I have/do the same. I turn off two breakers anytime the boat is off the water. The breakers are in the battery compartment and make it very, very easy to cut all power to everything. It's a routine like putting the plug in only you don't have to get soaking wet when you forget.

Can anyone school me on fishing the Kankakee for smallmouth? I've got the itch to try it but I've not done it before. I'll be bank fishing around Kankakee State Park. Water temps at Wilmington are the low 60's right now. Does it need to get a little colder? I would lean toward trying hair jigs and Ned rigs. Maybe small spinners? Am I on the right track? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

On the way home from work I stopped by a pond I have permission to fish and got this on the second cast. I went home smelling like basshand as @Wizzlebiz would say.

Almost all the lakes I fish are man made and every single cove (and sometimes the main body of water) have trees that either end just below the surface (in 20 feet of water) or they stick up ten feet above the water. I have a Ranger RT188 (aluminum) and I just put on a good pair of polarized glasses and I idle my way through. You'll find that if your going slow you will feel the stump and can turn the wheel slightly and slide off the side of it to miss your lower unit. But bumping the lower unit isn't going to hurt it as long as you are truly just idling along. Once I'm close to where I'm going to fish I will turn the Merc off, trim it all the way up, and spend the rest of my time in the cove on the TM. A good pair of polarized glasses makes it pretty easy to avoid the trees. I've also gotten pretty good at getting the boat off of them when I'm hung up and can't move. I'll spend ten minutes jumping up and down at the stern rather then starting the big motor and trying to accelerate off of the stumps. I've watched several people do that and slam their lower into the stump. I watched two young guys in a pontoon rip their two stroke off the stern trying to get that boat off of a hang-up.

Last year this was, totally by accident, my #1 bass catcher by a pretty decent margin. As you can see she has been mauled repeatedly and lost an eye. This is a Cotton Cordell that I bought at Walmart for just over $2. As far as the posts that knock the cheap lures I will tell you that I don't recall losing a single on this cheap lure with cheap hooks. I may have had one or two shake off but I really don't remember any coming off and this thing (and some identical lures that I lost to snags) caught several dozen fish. I never intended it to be my top lure but I bought five or six of them because they were cheap and, because they are cheap, I will throw them into anything without a second thought. And that mentality is what caught all the fish. Try the cheap ones. I will be buying these $2 Cotton Cordells until the day I am too old to cast a line.

All of the Walmarts around here stock Cotton Cordell lipless in both 1/2 and 1/4. The 1/2s have caught a ton of fish for me, mostly because I will throw them literally into anything since they cost $2 each.

I just want the "water temps in the 50's" in the "it's early October" part!. I fished in water at 79.5 degrees all day yesterday.

Thank goodness for colored braid! Caught five today and this was the biggest. I felt nothing because when I flipped the t-rig in she grabbed it and swam right at the boat. Fortunately the water is stained and I was using "ghost" (white) braid so I saw my line headed straight to me.

Not weird. Carry on.

That's Dicks for you! I'm shocked they can stay in business. I received the rod I ordered today and it is in perfect condition but it's always a toss up.

I bought a modern military boonie hat from surplus to use on scorching days when I am instructing at the shooting range. I have two very close friends that are both combat veterans. Because I'm not a vet I went to both friends (separately) and asked them if they thought anyone would consider it "stolen valor" in any way, shape, or form if I wore that hat at the range. Both of them said they had absolutely no problem with it. I now also wear it fishing. Do people assume I am former military? Perhaps, but I'm not responsible for other people's assumptions and I am not pretending to be anything. Have you talked to your team about wearing the jersey outside of tournaments? You are representing all of them when you are wearing it in public. They are the first people you should ask. As far as all of us on the forum that you don't know from Adam...you can wear a pink tutu if it suits you. We have no right to make a judgement. And how embarrassed will we be when we get out-fished by a young guy in a pink tutu?

Perfect! The TCS is on the way!

If you want a better “weed less” Ned-style presentation, I am having great success with Lifted Jigs Ned EWG heads.

Is the world ending with water temps above or below 60 degrees? Below 60: My Falcon drop shot rod with 1/15th Shroomz and half of a coppertreuse-colored Zinker Z. Above 60: My Champion XP spinning rod with a 3/8 tungsten weight, 4/0 wide gap hook, and a Zoom Trick Worm (T-rigged). Color depends on the body of water. Almost guaranteed to die with my rod bent.

Excellent, that's good to hear. Thank you.

Good morning, All the retailers are closing these out and I want to buy a casting rod for treble lures like lipless cranks and squarebills. I was leaning toward the TCS in medium plus (701M+) or the "All Purpose" 6'9 MH (691MH) and then I saw the KVDs are the same price and I know nothing about them. Picking one on my own I would be going with the TCS-C-691MH if for no other reason than I like a shorter rod for these presentations. If you have experience with any of these rods please chime in! Thank you.

Nice!

Dick's Sporting Goods (I know, I know, but this is pretty good) has three Dobyns Champions on sale. One casting (DC 702C) is $161. That's the final price. Two spinning (DC 703SF and DC704SF) are on sale for $199 but for today only you get $10 off every $50 and it applies to these rods. They have a $10 "oversize" shipping fee but $180 is a good deal for a $250 Champion IMHO so I had to buy one. The extra $ off does NOT apply to the casting rod for some reason.

This is a scam. They took my money and then called me to tell me that they don't have any Sierras in stock. The guy then went into this long spiel trying to get me to buy some crappy Lews rod for 20% off! I would suggest avoiding Reeds like the plague. And no, I haven't received my money back yet.

Do you have cash in hand to purchase the boat without risking any financial hardship? If your answer is yes, it is certainly not too soon to buy another boat. If the answer to my question is not an unequivocal "yes", then please see the question posed by @Scott F

I do not buy used from eBay. I do buy new from eBay but only from a select few sellers (and I've saved hundreds of dollars and never had a problem). I also buy used from the flea market forum on Bass Resource and have been 100% satisfied with every purchase.

I've never had anything but Lowrance, and I don't like their menu systems at all. Playing around in the store the Garmins seem the easiest to me but that's not like being on the water.