billmac

I follow his channel. I don't know if he would have jumped, but I got the impression that he was disappointed that he was not invited to join MLF last year. As one of the top anglers in FLW it seemed to me like a strange omission, but it looks like MLF was more interested in gutting BASS than FLW. In retrospect we see why.

You're welcome! Seriously, we've all had good days on the water. But there's a reason locals rarely win pro tournaments. The pros catch fish in all types of water, under all kinds of conditions, day in and day out, whether they have fished the body of water or not.

Pros who are regularly in the money aren't there because they are good at catching big bass, but because they are good at catching bass. Catch a lot, and you have more opportunities to weigh in your 5 biggest and make it count. Except for tourneys where they are sight fishing, I doubt the pros are deliberately fishing for big fish. I suppose the newer electronics might allow them to target bigger fish but I'm still willing to bet the BASSers and FLWers are still trying to catch as many fish as they can. We just don't see most of them.

You might have bought into the hype that if you use a senko, all you have to do is sit back and fight off all the fish that will be fighting for your lure. Senko or not, fishing a plastic worm isn't something I would recommend for a beginner. I would start with a curly tail jig or jig and spinner, something you can just cast and reel. Don't worry about colors, just get something medium dark-ish and just throw at every piece of structure you can find. Make the lure small enough to attract all kinds of fish. Don't get bogged down into deep water presentations until you get some confidence. Don't flog the water. Move a lot, and cast and reel. Stick with it.

Agreed. I think Fish the Moment is one of the most underrated channels out there. He shares everything, his location, tackle setup, google earth views, charts, etc. His electronics videos are the best I've seen.

Does anyone know if there are any videos of the 1978 NY Invitational on the St. Lawrence River? I can find BASS videos both older and newer, but I can't find anything on that one. I know Roland Martin, who won the tournament, was so far ahead early into day 3 he let his co-angler take the front of the boat and he just relaxed the rest of that day. He also took the big bass prize for the tournament on the last day.

Agreed. I watch a lot of them, including the one you mentioned. Oddly though, in my mind I always read it as: NYADKangler. I thought he was fishing in the Adirondacks! What a let down!

...for pure fishing instruction? I'm not talking about just watching people catch fish, but actually getting down to the nitty gritty and teaching. Here are mine, in no particular order. Fish the Moment (best on using maps and electronics that I have found) Bass Resource (really breaks down baits and techniques) Roland Martin (bass legend, a lot of little tips and tricks you might not think of) Angling Edge (multi-species)(to be fair, this channel is mostly watching people catch fish, I just really like Al Lindner)

It is interesting to me when people list chain pickerel. We have them up here, and I know how to tell the difference, but I probably wouldn't think to do it, just assuming they were a small pike. Maybe it's different in other regions, but the differences don't pop out here, at least not to me.

I wonder if introducing some competition might be effective. A big swim bait or something.

I've been watching videos of Roland and Scott Martin fishing the Pan Am tournament in Cornwall ON. on the St. Lawrence. It looks like they are using small ned rigs, but I don't know how you get a small jig head down to the bottom in the heavy current of the St. Lawrence. At 15 feet or more, I found it almost impossible to keep anything less than half an ounce on the bottom. Now perhaps they were just fishing sheltered areas. They were in an area I've never been. How do you fish a finesse bait in heavy current? (when I fished in Waddington, the current was about 5mph). Do you just go heavy?

The thing that separates BASS from MLF for me, and perhaps a topic where there might be stronger disagreement, is that I belief the MLF format and rules (pre FLW acquisition) is more respectful of the fish and the fishery. Just my opinion.

I used to hate the idea of extra hardware, but if a fish is dumb enough to hit a Tokyo Rig, I've probably been overthinking it.

What are the lures you would not worry about using a snap with? I'm thinking some topwaters, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits. What else?

I'm kind of jealous of all you guys who catch catfish. I've never caught a catfish. We do have them up here in northern NY but not widespread and I've never crossed paths with them.

Since I'm bored: Smallmouth Largemouth Pike Perch Crappie Gobie Shiner Not a long list, but I would have liked to have added walleye.

I'm late to the topic, but how exactly do you check your knot? I often check the last foot or so of line for knicks. Are you just pulling?

The trouble is, this was my first year fishing after a long hiatus, so my memory is a little fuzzy. I caught a LMB on a rattlebait and I think that was my first on that type of lure.

Oh yeah, first fish on drop shot too.

Any new techniques, milestones or experiences for fishing in 2019? For me: First fish on ned rigs, and wacky rigs. I know I hooked some fish on chatterbaits for the first time, but I can't recall if I landed one. First time fishing on a number of bodies of water. First time owning, operating, and fishing out of a bass boat. First time fishing with fluorocarbon line.

It does make you wonder how many anglers were fishing BASS or FLW (before the word of the acquisition got out) hoping they would be invited to fish MLF. It also makes me wonder how many of the big names at MLF are tempted to jump back to BASS now that a lot of the serious competition (in their mind) is gone.

I use mostly lures because live bait can be a pain, but at the end of the day, I want to catch fish. I'll use whatever is necessary (and legal/ethical) to catch them. If I catch two five pounders, one on a senko and one on a live leech, I'm not going to feel better about catching one over the other. I'm not a huge fan of eating fish, so I also lean toward lures because gut hooking is a little more common with live bait, but there are steps you can take to minimize that.

Yes, what I'm saying is that you can do Catch and Immediate Release and Best 5. When I got back into fishing and started watching tourney videos, one of the things that distressed me was how badly the fish were treated, both by FLW and especially BASS. MLF's rules were a breath of fresh air. I understand the business realities of tournaments, but I've never liked the weigh-in debacle.

How many boats are in a standard FLW tourney? I think they all have boat marshalls now don't they?

Do we know that for sure? Catch and immediate release could easily accommodate a best 5 model. If you are right, I will be disappointed. I've never liked the weigh-in circus sideshow of tournaments.