jbmaine

Here in Maine we have our own invasive species. They are called tourists?

This is my experience with bass. Some times color, size, shape, presentation, etc. matter, and sometimes not so much. If I could figure out all the particulars to be 100% successful all the time, I'd write a book. What I do is to try what has, or should work. If no joy I'll start throwing the odd colors and baits. For example, I have no Idea what a bubble gum colored Senko is supposed to represent, but it's kept me from getting skunked more than once.

Sorry, I should have updated this post. To date I have tried two covers from two different companies, neither came close to fitting. I sent them both back and just cover my boat with a tarp when it's in the yard.

Our log has date, time, weather, water temp, air temp, body of water, were and what we caught, and on what. After a period of time it's nice to use this to pin down seasonal patterns.

A few years ago there was a fatality on one of the lakes I fish. Kids were running around at night ( probably done it a hundred times ) and ran their boat onto a point into an oak tree. The tree won.

Nothing to be embarrassed about. At least you know the fish are there, that's half the battle. If your worried about snapping your rod, maybe try a cheap rod at first or something that's almost impossible to snap, an ugly stick comes to mind.

Put your most expensive lure on and cast as hard as you can. Watch your lure and front half of your rod go sailing off into the sun set. Seriously, I would try penetrating oil, then ice, then heat only on the O.D. side.

Glad everyone was OK, but I have to ask, If someone were driving down a road at night at 45MPH with no head lights on, they would get pulled over in a heart beat for reckless operation, or some such thing, yet it is common for boats to go at speed at night, not being able to see far enough in front of them to avoid rocks, land, floating objects. And this is considered acceptable? Would you have been going as fast if it were not a tournament?

That's good to know, thanks

bumper02-- Thanks, that is wonderful info. Am I reading your description to say there is milfoil in some of these waters?

You really don't need a trolling that big. Is there a reason you want one that size?

Most people will tell you it's not the best boat for the kind of fishing you described. Most people will not use it---you will. I would not find it convenient to bass fish with, but if it works for you, that's really all that matters.

A-Jay, that rod on the right, has it been modified for full auto casting?☺️

Always carry a trash bag in the boat, pick up anything we see.

Jitterbugs---used them 50 years ago---use them now---still work

WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To those of you that don't clean/wax your boat, but should, doing it wrong can cause more harm than good. As I would feel so bad to think anyone damaged their boat thru inexperience I will ( for a limited time ) offer my boat as a " practice boat " to let you hone your waxing skills on. I will even provide the wax ( and *** ) to make sure your skills are good enough to apply to your own boats.???

One method I've heard about is fishing a wacky rigged worm ( senko type ) under a bobber on a windy day. Cast it up wind, the waves, riffles on the water will keep the bobber bouncing which will keep the worm moving. The wind will move the bobber, covering water. I've heard it's effective keeping a worm just above a submerged weed bed.

I'm more used to casting to something I can see, weed lines, docks, etc. And so far Fishing deep water like this is still hit or miss, but once you do catch a few this way it gives you the incentive to do more.

water has always brought me a sense of peace, the mist in the early morning, wave's hitting the shore. When we are out fishing and stop for lunch, if I close my eyes, the sound of the water against the boat will put me asleep.

Nope, knowing my luck it would be the one time I forget to power up the trolling motor. I trust all this tech., up to a point, but there have been times I know it's wrong, for instance I have seen fish on my fish finder and I look over the side, I can see bottom, but no fish.

I've been meaning to reply to this all day, but every time I sit down to do this I sorry. what was I saying?

sometimes you can do everything right and still not catch anything. I used to fish harder and harder, trying to catch something, anything, but as I've gotten older I've learned to kick back, and just enjoy all the wonderful places our fishing brings us to.

sometimes yes, but today I did OK

Hi All, In my first post on this subject I asked for advise on finding deep water SM, and I got some great ideas on what to try. Well yesterday was my first chance to put these ideas to use. The lake I was fishing is full of drop offs, humps, etc, but there is one area I noticed that has a steep drop off, and I have seen other people fish it. I positioned over a 25 ft. depth area and cast a ned rig with an orange and green worm. When it hit the bottom I started bouncing it in. About the third cast the line went heavy and up comes a nice SM. Well, that was cool. Keep casting and caught another one, then another one, then yet one more. I'll be darned, it works! That was the best spot I tried but I did pull up a LM later on. OK, this is fun. Thanks to everyone's advise and tips I am well on my way to being adept at catching deep water SM. thank you all so much! I didn't catch any lunkers but all were between 1 1/2- 2 lbs. Here's a pic of one of them