basscatcher8

Its all in your head. If you worry about the other guys you wont worry about what your doing and you might as well be at home watching fishing on tv.

I just use it to judge where they will be in the cover. Higher pressure they seem to be closer to it and not roaming as much. Low pressure they seem to be on the hunt. I know everybody has different opinions on it and apply it differently but as with with fishing as a whole there are no hard set rules.

I saw Aqua-Vu is showing a trolling motor camera mount at iCast. Not sure how useful it will be except for right around the boat or in really clear water but it looked cool lol

buzzbait and crankbait and fish on appropriate structure. If Im on rip rap I have the crank out if woods the buzzer is out. Obviously its not a hardfast rule and Ill use each at both but those two are my favorite for searching.

I think it depends where you are fishing. If I'm in the river here I'm gunning for 1 or 2 hits all day and could care less about size long as I find them I feel accomplished cause its a rough place to find em and make em bite. But there isnt much size to be found there. If I'm in the farm ponds im usually still looking for numbers but will slow down and look for size cause some of the ponds around here do hold some nice bass.

Buzzbait with a worm tied up on a spinning rod to toss when one misses.....my other way recently has been bow fishing for carp now that is some fun lol

Just looking at it quickly I would start with that main lake point right down from the boat ramp if I was fishing in the morning. The main reason being is like was said above it is an impoundment and the dam is just down from that point. Dam means current and current means feed bag for the fish. I'd definitely find out if they have generation times or if the dam is always pulling. I would start at that point and work up the shore towards the boat ramp because thats on the east side of the lake so it will stay in shade for longer as the sun rises. If no water is being pulled they will be scattered but when they start pulling water they will get to the down stream side of those points waiting for food to be brought to them. The other point just down to the dam has a nice flat on it that runs out into the main channel a ways. They start pulling water I'll bet that the side facing the dam will have fish stacked waiting for foot to be pulled over the flat. I would also check the front side of that flat to see if they are stacked on the ledge. Afternoon to evening I would be over on the west bank doing the same thing. Up north looks like its shallow and probably muddy so I would be spending most of my time down south. But those are just my first thoughts looking at your map.

Atleast you did that I know several that wouldnt even put that much effort into it and let it float. Good to hear he was a good meal atleast

Hard to pick just one lol. I've met several but my favorites to pull for are Ike, Gman and Marty Robinson. Gman and Marty cause they are cut ups and awesome and I wasn't ever a huge fan of Ike's till I read his book and really enjoyed his story and definitely been pulling for him.

Your definitely moving to the best part of the state for bass fishing. If you were up north you would be missing GA pretty quickly lol. From what I understand there is alot of grass fishing that goes on Carlyle and alot of the local lakes.

I know you don't have electronics yet but when they do go deep is when I like to just drop something over the side and find the bottom and then just use the trolling motor to roam around an area and see if I can find the sweet spot. But I also love to get up shallow with a buzz bait and probe the cover and see if I can find em stacked up under cover at all.

One thing that I learned that always suprised me and I didnt believe it till I saw it was that if the conditions get muddy that bass will stick their noses right into the bank. To the point that I had to cast up onto shore and just bring it over the edge into the water real slow and they would hit it. The lower and slower the current gets the more the bass pull back from the banks and hang on objects out towards the middle.

The ramp i use alot on the Illinois River use to have 3 docks and two lanes. Two of the docks were damaged last year and not replaced so now its one ramp with a dock and one without. Well I fish alone alot. I got to the ramp and nobody there in the middle of the after noon. Im in the staging area and undoing straps and what not. i debated getting my rods ready and decided not to just get on the water well just as i drop into drive a pontoon full of people pulls up to the dock so i put it back in park and said ok ill wait for them to load. One guy gets off and goes to the portacan another gets off with some dogs to let them do their thing and the rest just wait and the other guy comes back and they just stand there talking. By this time I'm already out getting my rod ready since I cant launch and they are just looking at me. Finally they get back on their toon and head back out on the river so not loading just blocking cause they can.. Not before they told the couple with the speed boat in the other ramp lane they did a good job cause it only took them 10 minutes to trailer instead of 30. I was beat red by this time got on the water and gone. To get to my first spot and start fishing and two kids in a bass boat run in on me stop right in front of me drop the tm and start fishing........I caught fish so was still a good day lol.

I put fishing on the backburner for racing the last several years. This year I decided I wanted to get back to more fishing and hunting. So its hard cause my best friend who I crew chiefed for forever and won races and championships is still racing but thats ok cause I am getting Married in the next month and she loves to fish and hunt so I bought a new boat this year and were getting ready for our first crappie trip of the year and I'm thrilled cause I've wanted to do this forever and couldnt cause of racing. I still have all my friends at the track and go out and hang out now and then but its great to be back to making jigs and soft plastics and planning fishing trips.

Alot of shows are going to private waters. It doesnt bug me cause they are trying to teach and fish catches better illustrate and solidify their point. Hank Parker seems to be doing more and more shows on private waters. But like Bill hes also in the pond management business and is using it showcase some of his ponds he builds and educate. These guys can still fish they are just trying to produce the entertainment easier. His catfish shows are fun to watch though on the mississippi river.

I always laugh when I come into the dock and a group is trying to load a ski boat and they got people in the water on each side holding it so the guy can drive up the ramp. I've seen a few doing this get mad at the fishermen that were passing by and loading up before they could even think about it. lol

Yep Mark Menendez on the 2009 Diamond Drive. You can watch it here. http://www.bassmaster.com/video/elite-series-full-shows#

I cant watch it from where I am but my favorite of theres was always the fishermans prayer with the guys all gathered at the ramp and reciting the prayer in tune.

I fish for Walleye and Bass and Crappie if they are biting. When the water gets cold the the bass get sluggish its time for the walleye gear to come back out cause they get kicking when the bass goes to bed. Its fun.

The terrova definitely takes some practice if your not use to it but its awesome to not be chained to the front of the boat when its in the water. I was pulling 3 ways for walleye the other day and had the rod in one hand the remote in the other sitting at the wheel watching my 998. When my drift was done reel up fire the big motor up and run slowly back to the start and do it again without having to get up. Makes me sound lazy but it was great for looking around and scouting the area out.

That was with the brand new prop i put on monday night in the middle of the snow storm lol. Yeah that was starved rock tuesday morning. I got the skunk sitting in the livewell lol.

My Ranger

Least it wasnt an Asian. You snag one of those it gets all the other ones in the area riled up then you got em jumping at the boat while your trying to land the snagged one. We had a big 10-15 pound one snagged once and as we were hauling him up two more jumped and hit the side of the boat and about knocked me out of it lol.

Just remember the wind is a big player. The more you can keep your nose pointed into the wind the easier it will be to control.

It all depends what you do. I like walleye fishing too so I have several spinning setups. I have several bc setups too. I use both for fishing both. My crank bait rods double as bottom bouncer rods. I have a 6 foot spinner setup I have special for vertical jigging sauger who are very light biters. I use it as well for pitching small baits under cover on the river cause it's short and I can get in there. I do a lot of swapping reels but big deal really. They are just tools and you use them how you are most comfortable. My new 7' 6" st.croix eyecon will be here tomorrow. It will be my Lindy rod for walleye and grub rod for bass/walleye.