David P

As the majority of people will say, the most important thing is Confidence. Every time I go fishing, and I go an hour or two without a fish or a bite, I get disappointed and lose hope.. The second I get a bite, I start catching fish because I regain confidence.. Really focus on what you've learned, and try things that may even seem silly when fishing any type of bait..

I saw two fish what appeared to be on a bed, just standing side by side.. Both were 8inches roughly, one a bit bigger then the other.. The slightly larger one constantly kept rolling over on its side and rubbing it's under belly on the other fish... Is that normal spawning behavior? What was going on? I didn't think fish physically got dirty..

My gf and mom both get on me every day about spending money on bait... Today I went and got out with spending only $15, it was the worst store I've ever seen. It was at a sports authority, they didn't have anything of interest, I got 2 frogs, and XRAP trout colored, and a Rat-L-trap, that was all they had.. I feel sad when I don't get a bunch of new fishing stuff!

Congrats man, sound just like I did when I caught my first bass, it's an amazing feeling.. ... and it only gets better!

d**n, I want to get a combo for under $75 but looks like that wont' work. Maybe I'll have to wait another pay check before I start fishing swimbaits >

Do you fish a lot of weeds? I think the reason a lot of people don't use the treb hook is because they don't want to lose a $20 lure.. I think a lot of it depends on what's under the water =) I might be wrong though, I don't fish them, but from what I've seen that's what it sounds like.

Hey guys, I'm thinking about making the move and getting a rod and reel that is capable of casting Baby Bass Mattlures and the Bluegill ones. I live in California, and the only way I've seen 10lb bass bite, are on bluegill and other large swimbaits. I'm getting sick and tired of seeing big *** bass, and never getting one to even show a bit of interest. What's the cheapest rod / reel that I can get that can cast these things with ease and will work well with anything from the Baby Bass up to the blue gill... ? When I say cheapest, I dont' mean a piece of junk, I want the cheapest Decent/Good rod / reel, I don't need the best, but I don't want stuff breaking on me either.. Thanks all!

Where were they for the last 15 years? How many of those people knew the team existed before the playoffs began? 9 out of 10 times I'd totally agree with what you're implying.. BUT, Oakland has always been full of warriors fans, I myself have been a fan sense I can remember (I'm 19 now), but now that there's actually something to cheer about, it just gives reason to cheer and show the pride even more.. I'm an A's fan (Not for long sense they're moving), I'm a warriors and sharks fan, and a huge Raiders fan, yes a fan of the 2-14 Raiders! I'd say 99% of the people that don't live in the Bay Area and many that do live here, are "Band Wagoning" but hey that's what always happens. For me, I'm not concerned nor do I care about that, this is purely a time of celebration and waiting for the next series to begin!

Kings fan I take it?

The warriors beat the REAL MAVERICKS lineup the 2 regular season meetings prior to that though.. Not to mention, the warriors spanked the mavs in the playoffs when it meant more then anything, so what's to say the Mavericks would have been able to win that game right before the playoffs... I live in Oakland, and every street I drive down, people are wearing warriors jerseys, selling warriors shirts and hats, and everything. It's crazy here. I've never seen so many people happy in Oakland.

I use Size 1 and 1/0 hooks with all my 4 inch plastics =) I also use 2/0 on SuperFlukes , I should probably up the sizes eh?

"I wanted to" - Doesn't mean I would But G D, I beat myself up for giving him advice, if I had known, I would have not said I word to him. I caught 3 bass in front of him, all 15-17 inches, and he said "How come you don't keep them", and I told him... After that, he still kept the bass that he caught after all of that. Oh well, people will be people, I just wish I didn't have to hear the fish dying 2 feet away from me.

Not sure if there's any NBA fans on here, but I just had to vent. FIRST TIME IN BEST OF 7 SERIES #8 team beats #1 team. WARRIORS WON PAST 6 GAMES AT HOME VS MAVERICKS MAVERICKS WON 67GAMES / WARRIORS WON 42 THIS SEASON THE TEAM WITH THE BEST RECORD IN THE NBA HAS WON 10 OF THE LAST 12 YEARS MAVERICKS HAD THE BEST RECORD IN THE NBA WARRIORS GOT IN THE PLAYOFFS BY WINNING THEIR LAST 9 OUT OF 10 GAMES FIRST TIME WARRIORS GOT IN THE PLAYOFFS SENSE 93 FIRST TIME WARRIORS ADVANCE PAST FIRST ROUND SENSE 91 DON NELSON WAS THE MAVERICKS COACH FROM 97-05 THEN GOES TO THE WARRIORS AND SPANKS THE MAVS CHARLES BARKLEY CAN'T EAT IT!!! Anything I forgot to mention? Please feel free to add. THIS IS HISTORY IN THE MAKING. (I live in Oakland and have been a disappointed fan for the past 13 years)

Man, what BS. I was fishing the other day with some older guy, he had never fished the reservoir I was at, so Nicely, I showed him how I was catching some bass. After an hour he FINALLY pulls out a 14 inch bass (No where near the gorgeous size of those ladies). He pulled out a black trash bag, dropped the fish in the bag, and left it on the dock, while I sit there, and listen to a fish flopping on the dock dying. I was seconds away from just grabbing the trash bag, and throwing the fish back in the water and running way.. But I was dumb and didn't =( I know how you feel four, and not to mention, those fish are 10000 times more rare, and jeezus christ any of those fish would have been my PB.

Exactly.

Just this past weekend I was fishing on a small dock in very shallow water, 1-2 ft deepest was 3ft. I saw two huge carp what seemed to be playing together, swimming in circles and that stuff. I saw they swam back into some branches and disappeared. At that point, I had not caught many bass, and figured to screw around and see if I could get one to bight. I threw a Fluke right over the branches and let it drop, the second it dropped BAM got a hit and the line just took off. I figured, dangit I just hooked a 10lb carp on 6lb line and 2 seconds later, a bass surfaced with the fluke in his mouth. In a 4ft by 4ft area, there were at least 2-3 carp, and I caught 4 bass in the same spot within 10 minutes. It's obviously possible, not sure if that's strange or common.

I can't figure out why you're saying that you hear people telling you not to get it. In every banjo minnow thread, there are several people saying GET IT, IT WORKS! I'm one of those people... I've used the banjo minnow for years. It works, it's not the most effective, or best lure ever created, but it sure as hell works... To me, I prefer now the Zoom Super flukes, they have much of the SAME action, for a fraction of the price, and they sell them at all the local stores. They catch bigger bass too.. Banjo minnow I've caught one 5lb bass and nothing else over 2lbs on it. POINT IS: The banjo minnow does work, it looks realistic if you learn how to work it, and just like any other realistic looking bait fish, it catches bass. It's the one thing on television that DOES work, and it works for several types of fish too.

I've had a few problems with hook sets as well.. First time I fished them on Friday was the best day i've had this spring, and it was all because of the Flukes. First bass I caught was a monster, and I thought I set the hook, but sure enough he got off. Second bass, same problem. I got fed up and hooked the Fluke through the back with the hook showing, and caught the same guy as before without a problem. BUT I like having it Trig'd and weedless so put a bigger hook on there, and just practiced setting the hook EXTRA Hard. When you watch them slurp in the bait, set that hook as hard as you can, and if you can't see, i'ts obviously harder, but just set the hook harder then normal. If I set the hook like I do with Senkos, the fish always get away.

Nice fish Fourbizz, makes me wanna get a swimbait rod and some mattlures! Goodluck tomorrow.

Guys, I just looked at the first picture, it looks like blood was coming from the mouth. That's old from something else, the fish was cleanly hooked in the lip and cleanly unhooked. No fish were hurt =)

Hey guys, There's hope! I just went to the lake that gives me the most problems that I posted about above... I just got back a few hours ago, and had a great day! Started out slow, 0 fish in the first 4 hours . But then I took the knowledge from this site, and kicked the lakes butt for all of those years of getting skunked. Nothing over 4lbs, but in all I caught about 12, and 4 or 5 were very nice sized. There's hope! Go back and kick those lakes butts!

So today I went to the place that has skunked me for the better part of 6 years. I've caught 1 6lb bass there, and nothing else over 12 inches there in 6 years. Sense reading this website, I figured I had learned a LOT and wanted to see if my knowledge has done me well. First 4 hours - 0 Fish.. (I was fishing how I used to fish there). Then, as I was about to call it a day, I took out a 4" Swimbait trout, Never fished a swimbait, never caught any bass with anything beside a plastic worm. 3rd Cast, I'm about 3 ft away from having it fully reeled it, fishing along tall weeds, and BAM a nice 2 1/2 lber hammered it and ran with it. - First SwimBait fish. Then I got snagged up, and lost that lure. I was about to call it quits, when I saw something Brent from * gave me for free, those plastic flukebaits? I think that's what they're called, Jerkshad? I figured hey why not. Casted that sucker out there where I was sure there had to be a bass bed (Due to what i've learned from this site), and bam I hooked a pretty nice bass, I fought with that sucker for only about 5 seconds when my line snapped, I was close enough to get a glimpse, and rough estimate would be 6lbs. I casted out there and very next cast hooked a 3 1/2 lber. and a few other 12-17 inchers. Thank you all for the help and advice. It's obviously worked well. I feel I've conquered a place that has kicked my behind sense I was 12 years old. Major accomplishment in my books. On the day, I caught 12 bass, 4 2 1/2 - 4 lbs. 8 10-15 inchers. I also caught my first FROG Fish, my first top water fish, my first berkeley lizard fish. So I'd say today was pretty d**n good. 5 Firsts for me today! Here's a few lame pics with my camera phone (I fish by myself so it's tough taking pics) I only took pics of 2 of the bass, the 1st and 3rd are the same fish. The other pics turned out completely bad. It's not much, but going from being skunked for years, to this, I'm happy.

Man, Today I thought about keeping some bass.. I caught a 19inch bass that weighed 2lbs, a bit over 2lbs, but still, just a skinny fish. I caught about 12 bass today, 4 over 16inches, but didn't keep any, although I should have probably... I just can't get myself to take a bass's life, I love them too much, for all the fun they've given me, it's tough to kill one...

Lafayette Reservoir , although I've caught a few decent bass there throughout my 6 years of fishing it. I'm going back today for the first time in 8 months. Hopefully the tables have turned.

Tell me if this would work, and I'm not sure it would, you guys may laugh.. My girlfriend has a swimming pool in her backyard. Not sure on the exact size, it's not a big swimming pool, but it's a real swimming pool . Right now, there's tons of junk it in, tree branches, dirt, grass, concrete blocks and slabs in there, basically it's not a functioning pool... They don't use it for anything. I figured why not empty it out, fill it up with dirt and all that junk that's mostly already in there, and then fill it on up! would that work? Or is it much more complicated then that?