bighed

I've been fishing the Spot Remover quite a bit this year and have not had the thrown hook issues. I'm fishing them with very thin roboworms and Yamamotos which may well be the difference. My biggest problem with them is breaking them off on 8lb flouro at a buck each. I've probably gone through six boxes in the last three months. :'(

Yes parasites. This is specific to pond fish as far as I've seen. I really don't know why but I've heard it has to do with the water temp. They are easy to overlook zipping through a cooler of fish in a hurry. Some people just ignore them and fry um up. Might just be me but I've got a little trouble with that. Redfish and trout are pretty bad about parasites too. About the only bass I clean anymore are the very few that die during a club tourny.

One of mine is still at the Daiwa Authorized shop waiting on parts to arrive. It's been three weeks . I too would rather keep it and get it fixed than send it back for a refund. My other one is good as gold.

I don't know about your area but around here they would be full of small yellow worms between the skin and meat. Yuk!

Texoma has had my number lately, I seem to struggle there while others make it look easy. Watching other guys weigh nice fish when my sack is light drives me nuts! When this happens you know they were biting but maybe not where you were fishing. A couple of thoughts for you on this: Do you know if the fish were spots or blacks? The lakes I fish here that have good spotted bass populations can give you a bad reading on where to fish. Here the spots are heavy feeders and don't really mix in with the blacks that much. You could get a bunch of bites, land several small spots, and still not know the depth or pattern to fish to get the larger blacks. Also, did you prefish the tournament? It makes a big difference in my results and may help you as well. I'm usually pressed for time and only get about a 6 hour prefish but it tells alot even if you don't catch much. Knowing what water not to fish is almost as helpful as knowing what to fish. Talk to other fishermen while your there, ask the marina operator how the bite has been. It all helps. The temps you mentioned would tell me the fish were in early pre spawn (at least around here) and may have been a little deeper like 8-12'. I like the chatterbait as a search bait in the stained water but the fluke and senko are a little slow to cover water when your not sure where the fish are. A crankbait might have help cover more water that depth and had enough vibration to be found in the stained water. I hope this helps a little. big

Does anybody have any first hand knowledge concerning which 18-19' hulls are faster than the others. I know Allisons, Bullets, and Gamblers are thought to be the fastest but what others are there? My Skeeter seemed fast but not any more than my Cajun. How do Bass Cats compare? Triton's? What do you think? big

I see you included all the stats of the fishing conditions except for what I think is the most important. What depth were your fish from? It's helped me alot to figure out where the fish are depth wise because then you can exclude a bunch of water that will produce fewer fish. big

Yep, usually at the end of the day after reflecting on the beauty of nature and how lucky I was to have been able to enjoy it.

I like the guy. Need more John Force personalities in bass fishing today.

Senkos and T rigs till you said the M word. That changes things to chatterbait or spinnerbait.

An old fishing partner brought a flying minnow kit from tv on a trip with me. I gave him a pretty good dose of cra* for buying them and he proceeded to whip my rear using them. So when we went to the boat show together and he bought a bunch of those wind up poppers that had the wiggling tails I fell in line and got some too. Took them to the lake but was too ashamed to use them. Still have a couple somewhere.

I had been pondering the possibilities (me and everybody else) of the swim bait for some time now. This thread has got me moving in the big fish direction. I placed an order with mattlures and have some of those sweet bluegill coming as well as the baby bass and yellow bass. Now it's time to read up on how to fish these baits. I'll report back with pics ;D

I agree that a mind set change has to be made to catch more big fish. Of the dozens of lakes in this area all have produced 15 pound plus fish except a very few. I fish them often, at least two full days a week sometimes three or four. My big fish results have been poor. I've caught countless 6-7 pounders but fish above 8 pounds have for the most part eluded me. For the last several years my time on the water has been almost all pre fishing or fishing tournaments. I spend lots of time trying to pattern the fish and it's worked pretty good for me. Usually during a tournament I'll have close to a limit or a limit by mid morning. I'll sometimes cull a fish or two during a mid day feeding period but that's about it. I think there might be a chance for me to shift to a big fish mind set after the morning bite and "swing for the fence". A six, eight, or ten pound kicker fish would take me up into the good money instead of settling for gas money or no money not to mention the pride of weighing a big sack of fish. What's everybody's thoughts on this idea? What kind of results might a person hope for with maybe only four hours fishing large baits/large fish techniques? Really, one bite is all it would take and I'd gladly wager that one or two pounds I might cull up for a shot at the top. big

I've been unable to make a correlation between bait size and fish size around here. I'm no big bass expert (would like to be though) but here's some observations: The state record bass, 18.18 lbs., was caught on a crappie minnow a couple inches long in 40+ feet of water. The details of the fish donated to the Share a Lunker program indicate that a variety of baits landed the big girls and that very few were caught on large baits. The online fishing reports I've read for local lakes the last several years show no big bait/big fish relationship. Everybody's favorite 5" Senkos for me have caught more 12" fish than keepers so I started throwing 7" Senkos. The average size of the fish has increased but only about 2". On a guided trip on Lake Fork I had requested some deep water drop shot training. The guide pulled out the spinning rod rigged with a single 2" senko and I caught a couple 6 pounders in the next half hour. While preparing for a yellow fin tuna trip I took a new popping rod to the lake for practice. Casting a Tuna Hunter lure (about 10" and four ounces) I actually caught a couple bass around 14". Sorry if this sounds like random ramblings but it seems to me that sometimes big fish like little baits and little fish like big baits. :o big

Fishing with my kid is one of the best things I've ever done. Took about four years but he's 13 now and can do it all himself and is usally a joy to have in the boat. We're fishing the Jr. BASS deal for the first time this year as well as the Media trail and our local club. Here's a 7 from the Jr's.

InvisX fluoro

BPS Pro Qualifier for me.

I love mine, the Lowriders are nice too.

That's an absolute hog man ;D ;D ;D. I guess you could sell the tackle and try mastering golf or something like you've mastered bass fishing??? Nah, I'm sure the next pig will be as memorable as this one. Congrats!!!

Yep, good stuff. Fished all day in the rain Friday and stayed nice and dry. I got mine this spring when I needed it in a hurry. If you can wait and watch the ads it's usually on sale a couple times a year at a good discount. big

As above, this would be the ideal time to get your rain gear. The 100 MPH or Pro Qualifier are top shelf and hard to get at that much of a mark down. You can get tackle on sale anywhere but good rain gear is not that easy to find. That is unless your a fair weather fisherman.

I don't know about your bait but I've seen a big bass eat a 9 1/2" crappie. Should work.

I was lucky enough to meet Doug at the Texas Bass Classic this afternoon. Very nice guy and nice to my son signing autographs and visiting with him. I'm sure he'll be back soon. big

XXXL for me Duke

They have got some good reviews around here. Anybody fished one?