KSanford33

Have any of you fished these? If so, what was your experience like?

This. Although I live in upstate NY and it gets bitterly cold, I follow this same rule: If it's coming off at some point, zip up. If I'm keeping it on, pullover. And the bigger the better. I'm 6'0", 180lbs, so fairly average size, but all of my hoodies are 2XL and above.

Mine would be simple, and you're all going to laugh at me. Castaic Lake. Yes, I know it's no longer the fishery that it used to be. Yes, I know you should never meet your heroes. But as a young kid in the late 80's and early 90's reading Bassmaster, In-Fisherman, and North American Fishing something or other, that lake was built up to mythical proportions in my mind. So if I could retire (which won't happen) and live anywhere (which won't happen), I'd spend the rest of my days trying to catch the next world record bass out of a lake where it likely doesn't exist. But I'd be happy to do it.

This! I try to be a minimalist in everything I do. I just don't see the point in having boxes and boxes full of stuff I'm never going to use. There's really only 4-5 soft plastics I use anymore, so I don't buy anything outside of those. That being said, if anyone has any paddletail swimbaits they're looking to get rid of, I'm always looking for those!

"May" not enable you to fly... so they're not ruling it out either. ?

I'm in the same boat here. I live close to the NY/CT/MA borders, so I usually get all 3. I usually do 2-3 7 day licenses in different states too. No complaints though. If those funds are helping keep what we've got, I'm more than happy to pay.

So we all know the story of the lady who sued McDonald's because her coffee was too hot, so now McDonald's coffee needs a label that says 'hot'. My question is, what happened here that this company had to put this first warning on there?! ?

This won’t apply to those of you who have kids, but my wife and I don’t, so this was perfect. My wife and I are both under the weather this weekend, so she wanted to just have a relaxing day. I’m all for it. She says she wants to crochet and bum around on her phone all day. So I’ve just spent the past 3 hours watching BassResource videos on YouTube. Learned a ton and it was a great way to decompress. I hope all of you enjoyed your Christmas however you chose to spend it.

I received mine this morning! Whoever LWD is, you really outdid yourself! I'm absolutely thrilled. Now begins the long wait for the thaw...

No, I would want to change the color pattern. They’re old chrome rat-l-traps that I want to try my hand at painting some lures.

If I wanted to repaint some of my older crankbaits and rattle traps, how do you go about it and what paint do you use?

This might be a stupid question, but how do you figure out the speed at which you're trolling with a trolling motor? This is in a small Jon boat, so there isn't a speedometer.

I don't know that there are any around here. There's the NYKBF, but they fish all over NY. Depending on what you're looking for, you should download the TourneyX and Fishing Chaos apps and see what local kayak tournaments are around here. Last year I fished kayak tournaments at Sacandaga and on the Mohawk. One was a NYKBF tournament and one was a NY BASS tournament.

My wife and I have been together for 17 years. I compare most of life (which I find very confusing) to different sports (which I understand). Marriage is like boxing. The most important thing in boxing is managing what's called the gap. The gap is the distance between you and your opponent. If you're too far away, you can't make good contact with your opponent. If you're too close, you'll smother your punches and be ineffective. Marriage is the same way. If you're too far apart from each other, both emotionally and physically, you can't make a good connection. If you're too close to each other, you'll smother each other's individuality and begin to resent each other because of it.

I've been a Rapala guy for decades, so my choice is the Shadow Rap, but I'm sure the other ones people have recommended work as well. As far as the river part goes, they absolutely work for that. I've found they work amazingly well if you can find some eddies. Let the bait get down to whatever depth you're looking for, then let the lure drift into the eddy, jerking it occasionally. It looks like a baitfish caught in the current and smallies love that. I've done it in the Mohawk River, which likely isn't as big as the Cumberland and Tennessee, but I'm sure the fundamentals are the same.

That bums me out, the effect it’s had on muskies. They used to be known as the fish of 1,000 casts (as I’m sure you know), but now with that technology it’s not the same. I have to laugh when people refer to forward facing sonar as FFS. FFS means something very different to me.

I used to feel the same way, even going so far as to call it 'video game fishing'. But unfortunately, this technology isn't going anywhere. I still don't really care for it, especially since it's way out of my price range. It'd be the fastest way for me to become single again. My reason is saying this isn't to try to convince you to like it. But Lake Erie is a huge body of water and you still have to find the fish and also make him bite. I can't even begin to imagine how hard a 10lb smallie must fight! ?

This is what I did as well.

Same here. I went through their old posts to find something they could truly use, so I'm hoping they like it.

What was your biggest risk professionally and how did it turn out? I have the opportunity to move in my company, but there's a fair amount of risk involved and I'm curious to others' experiences.

I was in Hernando County just north of there in February, and like everyone else has said, if you can get on the water, do it. And if you come across a private pond, I found a 12 pack opened a lot of doors. To quote one owner who let me on his pond, "Just don't do nothin' stupid." Yes sir!

As I've said in other posts, I primarily troll when I'm not fishing in a tournament. And for anyone who has trolled in or around the Great Lakes will know this is no secret, but it's not common for bass, or used in smaller bodies of water. I use a deep diving crank bait with a swimbait tied on about 2ft above it. So if I have 3 rods going (the max allowed in NY), I can cover about 10ft of the vertical column with three rods. Once I figure out what depth is paying off, I'll adjust the other two rods to that depth.

I'm with @AlabamaSpothunter. If I'm pre-fishing or just fishing for fun, I troll the majority of the time. I'll stop at exceptionally 'fishy' looking spots, but like he said, I'm consistently amazed at the fish I find in the middle of the lake not relating to anything, just hanging out. Oh, and if I'm fishing off-shore, the rougher the water the better. I find I catch the most fish when I'm vaguely concerned for my safety.

I just donated as well. This forum is the home to an amazing group of people. Let's keep the momentum going and really push this cause over the top.

That’s awesome Koz! You’ll definitely have to post your experiences on here.