schplurg

Well at this point it had better be either very good or very strange, or else (looks up at the torches 2 posts above). I'm hoping for strange! I still think it's about the Lake Shasta talking fish thing. I wonder if anyone has googled that? It Hasta Be Shasta!

I'm not one of the good anglers yet but I'll reply since everyone else is probably asleep Then again my friend who has fished his whole life gets outfished when I'm around. And I believe I will be very good in time. ------------ Edit to add: He isn't into it like me and that is the difference between us. He's casual and I'm...well I'm on BassResource! ------------ I tend to pick up things quickly - very quick learner. After 52 years I have seen it enough in myself and heard it enough from other people - ya I have a knack for a lot of things. For instance, learning to skip was easy for me. I got it the first time I tried. With a baitcaster too, only after reading advice here at BR (raise the tip!!!). Handling the rod in general just feels natural. For me I think some of it is just natural ability, but also I get "into it". I learn, I read, I join forums. Whatever it is that I'm into I go for it I think. And now I will tell you how I know I love bass fishing forever. I went 6 months this year without catching a single fish of any kind (I bank and yak fish). SIX MONTHS!!! Now it is very tough around here, but ZERO? Dude, I was not in a good place. But I struggled on and eventually got on track. Now I feel like a pro! And while NOT catching fish, I still customized my yak, added a fish finder, stocked up on baits. Dude...I'm in this man. But I'll tell you, I had serious doubts about myself. It's my 3rd year of fishing and second year of serious bass fishing. I think this was one of those tests that make you or break you. I kicked its butt! But dang it really got to me. Anyways, others will come and answer the question you asked better than I can. But I guess I can give you my perspective, and that is that the only great skill I have right now is the will to never give up!

My vegan friends would disagree You just can't tell what is going to offend people sometimes.

I don't know if this works with all birds, but if you cover its head with a shirt or towel it may calm down, or at least it can't bite you. This works if you snag a bird, maybe not so well if the hook is in the mouth. I saw it in a video I think <shrug> I too caught a bullfrog with a frog last year. Only thing I've caught with one so far. It was barbless which was nice for both of us. I lured a huge one onto shore a few months ago with a fluke or something. I didn't let him grab it but he tried. Big ol' bullfrog. He looked at me and seemed to suddenly realize he was out of the water and in the open and bolted back into the pond.

You need to actually die to get the award. There is still time left for them this year though.

Ya I heard that a few decades ago. It was supposedly the aluminum-whatever in it. I'll risk it. I uh....what were we talking about?

Okay now I remember a dumb thing I did. I heard this story the next morning when I asked my friends why I was sleeping on the couch instead of the bed. I was about 21, partying on Lake Tulloch where my Dad lives. 30 years ago. Partying at a resort type of place, Poker Flat, with a bunch of my friends and a few hundred other people (now it's a rehab center). I drove my Dad's boat, probably the same boat from the story above, and I was completely wasted. Very late at night. My friend said he was waiting for me to make a bad move and would have grabbed the wheel. Instead, I stopped the boat to take a leak off the bow (no didn't fall in sorry). At that point he took over the captain's chair with apparently no complaint from me. I created a little chaos riding in the bed of my own truck back to the house, yelling and having a great time, so I heard. Happy-drunk. I remember none of this. My first blackout of two in my life. Anyways, not very exciting but definitely dumb. I have been in boats my whole life, my Dad had his own boat business in the 60s - 70s (started with a hull mold Schiada sold him), and I've driven them since I was probably 4. Couldn't reach the gas pedal probably though. V-drives with open headers and big blocks, baby! Went to boat drags every month or 2 weeks in Oakland(?) on the estuary, water skiing, all of it. Docking and trailering boats in high winds. But alcohol can negate all of that. I do not bring alcohol on a boat (I'm older now). Alcohol and boats do not mix. I love beer, I'm having one now, but nah...ruins my fishing anyways.

He launched the boat after pouring in all the fuel just so he could dump the gas in the lake? He should be in jail. He should sell the boat and take up origami. No wait...paper cuts. Definitely on the list for Dumbest Boater Ever. Here's another: My step-brother, who is about as mechanically inclined as a loaf of bread, took out the family boat one day, ran over a jet skier (high-five brah) and crashed into a dock. No injuries. I'll have to remind him about that next time I see him. He did get to "live the dream" though of running over a jet skier.

I dunno man, bass eat some pretty funky colored baits! There are no shad in at least one place I fish. Maybe I will try this for fun. I have white Super Flukes I can hop around.

I'm gonna second that, not because I think it's true but because I hope it is. I mean that would be the trippiest thing to happen all year, and it's been one asterisked-up year!!! "Hey folks, Glenn May here with Flair and Peric and we're going to sneak into private swimming pools for some urban fishing! Loser gets a super wedgie!" (sorry Glenn) I think though that Glenn is referring to the talking bass that was caught in Lake Shasta last month. The video is out now, finally. I'll find a link and paste it right here into this post - just wait for it...

Not my fault someone decided to quit smoking! If you can't smoke when you're fishing, where can you? If you can smell it you're probably too close anyways. "Careful with that cigarette, Dave, there could be ex-smokers on the lake somewhere" I don't smoke.

Depending on the bait (say T-rigged) I try throwing on a slightly heavier weight. It sorta counter-acts the current a little. Gets down quicker, drifts slower. I also will use baits that I think do well in that situation, like wacky rig. They sink super slow in current though when unweighted, but I let it drift with maybe a tug here and there. Maybe if you use crank baits you could try a deeper one so you can reel it in slower to get to the desired depth. Never tried it though. I'm still pretty new so my 2 cents worth.

One technique I have impressed the locals with a few times this year is casting from shore and bombing my bait into a tree along the same shoreline. I mainly do it when sidearm casting. I think it must look cool because everybody points and stares in awe.

Degree solids, whatever scent is the least obnoxious these days. Old Spice smells like Old Spice. I'm using it now because I ran out of my other and this is my emergency stick. I do not like that smell and it doesn't work as long for me. There's a guy in the General Fishing forum who is asking how to clean deodorant off his rod handle. Maybe he can scrape some off for ya It ain't workin', I can smell you from here!

Leave it on the rod for future use. You may forget to put on deodorant one day.

You just gotta think "The first word that comes to my mind when thinking of Washington D.C. is ______________" And there's your name! Hard to come up with just one word though. How about the Washington Bull****? Announcer: "AAAAAAAnd here they COOOOOME!!!! The Bull**** is on the field and boy they look fired up, don't they Frank?" "I really like the dark brown jerseys, Jim!"

Unlike a lot of other natural phenomenon, you usually get no warning with earthquakes, which makes it very interesting . This is good and bad! Good for daily peace of mind because we in Cali get virtually no other bad natural events. It's almost always decent weather here. We get many quakes a day but you don't feel most of them, or any. I haven't in several years. Bad because you could be working on a tall ladder or under a car when it hits. And if it's big it's gonna mess up a lot of stuff. Back in the 80s I hid under my school desk during a good quake. High school right here in Morgan Hill. The floor was concrete with thin carpeting. I saw a wave in the floor, just a few inches high by maybe 6 inches wide, and the length of the room. It came from one wall, went beneath me as I kneeled and continued across the room. That was freaky!

One of my all times, and not mentioned... The Thing - John Carpenter Version, of course. Effects still work for me to this day. Super suspenseful, some grotesqueness but in a good way! Awesome in many ways. Kinda drawing a blank. Evil Dead 1 (original) and 2, maybe 3 if you want camp/comedy. Classics.

Glad I could help! I mounted my transducer where the rudder would go, right on the back. I have a Wilderness Systems Ride 115. There are two holes for a rudder so I made a simple mount out of aluminum. I also made a rail-mount for my unit that I can rotate and move the FF out of the way, or slide it long the rail if needed.

I just stick a GoPro 360 under my yak and I can see everything in 4K baby!!! Got it all hooked up to a VR helmet! These fish finder makers are stupid with all their ancient laser beam and sonar "technology"!

OP has not returned so I'm not going to answer. If I did answer though my answer would be boat. Or maybe a kayak, but in most situations - boat. Except maybe not. Then again...

Right now, pretty much whatever reputable place has the one you want in stock. I got mine on sale at BPS online. Today I bought a stereo for my van, got the receiver from Walmart, the installation kit from Amazon. Crutchfield was out of stock.

^^ What he said. Thread's over, so you can stop reading and go fishing!

Toss him a dollar and see what you get

Tom, I thought it was a good sign to still see you in the forums after your son passed. For me, fishing takes me away from my problems when I need an escape. If it causes you grief now (which I may be wrong about, I'm not sure) then I can understand you hanging it up, or for it being one of the reasons. One day I will probably be too old to toss a line without a lot of pain, I'm pretty sure that will be my main reason. I think I remember you mentioning your age slowing you down as well. I've only been here a few years and I respect your knowledge and your desire to help on this forum. Thank you for that. As time goes on I hope I can return the favor by helping others as I learn. Or I can put you on some dinks if you're ever in Morgan Hill (sorry, best I can do!) ---------- I've been wanting to ask you but didn't know where or how - do you have any photos of your biggest catches you can share with us? Or are they posted elsewhere? I see the one in your avatar/profile photo and always wondered if it was a replica or an actual fish (looks like you're in a house...), and I'm wondering what a 19 pound bass looks like. I'd love to see these big girls! Best wishes to you. - Mike Edit To Add: