bighed

Bass West

Fizzing is venting the fish's air bladder after bringing them up from the deep. I use a syringe inserted through the open mouth of the fish and through the flesh about 1/4" above the gullet. Do this with the fish and syringe submerged in the livewell and you'll notice the bubbles of air escape. This is the way I was taught at the tournaments, others may use different methods. big Here's an article on the subject: http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/columns/story?page=b_col_bt_1106_fizzing_procedure

I work one of those crap jobs that runs 24/7/365. All I can say is that if you have to make people work on Thankgiving and Christmas days to be sucessful you are not much of a manager.

Cory, my club has had problems with fish caught on jigging spoons during the winter on lake Texoma. Fish from about 25' and deeper have to be fizzed or they will often expire by weigh in. big

Besides here I like texasfishingforum.com, 360tuna.com, 2coolfishing.com, and 67-72chevytrucks.com

I struggled with deep water fish for a long time. The turning point for me was when I got a GPS/sonar combo on the boat. Academy had their Lowrance 332c's marked down from $699 to $500 which got me motivated to try one. I also bought a Navionic's map chip that really helped. Now I can use the split screen, half map/half sonar, to pull right up to the places I want to explore and eliminate unproductive water faster. No fish or baitfish present means to me to look for another spot. Once I find a spot I think will work I try a few different baits depending on the water temp. Hopkin's spoons, DD22's, Mann's -30's, Carolina rigs with long leaders, and maybe a drop shot. The water temp has a big impact on what deep fish will do and how they will bite. During the summer/fall bass seem willing to chase a bait a good ways but to me those are the fish relating to schools of shad, not cover. Winter bass holding deep on stumps or ? are better targeted with the spoon that you can drop right on their heads a few times. Hope this helps a little, big

Along the same lines of making more of the fishing tackle buck, I like to upgrade from time to time. I'm usually able to do this without too much out of pocket if I am patient and hunt hard for bargains. This works best with quality, locally popular tackle so keep that in mind. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. A couple years ago Walmart stopped selling Falcon rods and cleared them out cheap during the winter. I bought several (ok a dozen) Falcon Originals for $13 each that still sell at Academy today for around $70. A few weeks later BPS had their spring sale and was accepting donations of old reels for a youth program. I dropped off a few older used spinners for a good cause and got a few discount coupons I then used to buy new Curados for under $100 each. Charged them to my rewards paying credit card and got several bucks back later. Also used my BPS rewards card for several more bucks kicked back. I used these combos for a year or two being carefull to keep them nice. Noticed Academy was running a rod riot so picked up some Falcon Caras that were $140 for $99 again on the rewards card. Sold the Originals/green Curado combos used for more than what I paid for them new. Used that money to get the best deal going on Curado D's from reelseller on Ebay to use on the Cara's . My wife doesn't understand the flow of tackle through our house but that's what I try to do to get the nicest stuff I can without missing a house payment. BTW, the crew here on BR is great about tipping us off to good deals!

Right now I'm fishing almost all Falcon Cara's and Lowriders. Does anyone have any experience as to how these St. Croix's compare? I'm thinking about getting a few more. big

Thanks to Doug for the tip on this sale!!! I've got my first St. Croix's coming, a TCB Drop Shot and a TCB Big Cranker. Can't wait to try them. big

A little free time on my hands today got me day dreaming about making soft plastics. Granted, I've never poured a worm in my life but I'd like to. I'm wondering how the big boys make their stuff. Is the plastisol injected into the mold then heated or heated first like a hand pourer would do? I've searched the web for mold makers but only come up with Delmart and Bob's. Anybody know who makes the multi cavity injection molds used for larger production runs?

The Zillion is a great looking reel but seems a bit heavy for the money. The Mg is sweet but is it worth the extra $ over the US model?? I'm looking at the Daiwa Alphas for myself. Pretty light, pretty good value, pretty color.

Great tip on the Robo's. Now I know what to do with some of the leftovers from the shakey head.That Hopkins spoon is a killer for deep vertical jigging. Have one rigged all the time and if your graph shows schools of shad in timber or around docks give it a try. Drop to the bottom and give it short jerks. Lower your rod tip at about the same rate as the jig is falling keeping a little slack in the line. The fish usually pick it up on the fall and you'll notice the line didn't fall as far as normal. Set the hook! big

The original chatterbait in red/black is my go to bait for fishing fairly shallow, muddy water. Works great in grass and stick ups, hard to snag on anything.

The cormorants are the ones I'd like to blast. Lake Fork has huge flocks of these "protected" birds. They are fish eating machines, probably catch more bass in a day than KVD. I've caught bass up to 3lbs. with bill marks on them so it's not just the little ones. And then there's the pelicans in the winter time too. Coots are great indicators as stated above. Find coots to put you on green hydrilla in the winter. Couple that with a few warm days and you have the recipe for some BIG fish.

WOW!!! Great catch guys.

Hey, that's cool!!! I was just in Owensboro this weekend.

Join a local bass club that fishes a draw tourny format as a non boater. This will get you out on lakes fishing in real tournaments with boaters that will be a wealth of info to you. Ask your boater questions like how did you decide on fishing this location, what do you make of all those marks on the graph, what technique will you be trying and why, etc. As a young man, be especially respectful of your boater and never ever crowd him. After a while you'll develop a good reputation within the club and may rate some prefishing invites as well. IMO, this will be the best bang for your buck and will allow you to pick up skills that would otherwise take years to figure out.

I'd hope that I'll leave here in the same way.

Very nice catch, healthy looking fish!

Wow CJ, that's a dream come true!!! Congrats

As always, Sam is right on target with his advice. As the others have said, I'd avoid the braid as a beginner. It is SO hard to dig a backlash out of and you'll have a few of those. Really, the get your knife out and start cutting type. Mono fishes great, doesn't twist like on your spinners, and can be respooled a bunch of times from one $7 Big Game 1/4 pound roll. I only use braid for specific techniques, usually where there's thick grass or black brush involved. One more thing if you do decide to go braid, do not jerk against the spool to free a snagged lure. What I mean is resist the urge to put your thumb on the spool and pull to free the bait. This can turn a butter smooth new Shimano into a rough cranking reel in a few jerks. big

AL, thanks for all you do for us over there. Be safe and get back to your family asap! If you get over to Texas look me up and I'll hook you up for a day on Lake Fork. Bert

Thanks for the feedback. I love the finish on the stock alphas and the weight difference is considerable. For a few bucks more than the Sol it seems like a good buy! Are you getting these on Ebay or any place in particular?

I've been looking at those Alphas too. Can you tell me if there's any notable differences between them and a Sol? Where are you getting your JDM reels? big

RTR a Brush Hog with a heavy weight. I make mine from 1 oz tungsten bullet sinkers and piano wire. Use braid to cut the grass. Good luck and hold on tight!