drath

Along the same topic: Why does BASS not allow fly rods even if they are less than 8ft. If I'm not mistaken, I believe FLW does allow sub 8ft. fly rods. I fish in a BASS fed club and we do not allow fly rods cause BASS does not. I'm just curious as to why they don't. Thanks for any info. -D

Very nice. Now, if you want to throw something like that with a bait caster or spinning combo try this. Tie it on a 3/0 or larger EWG in the little area just behind the eye of the hook where the tip of your soft plastic usually goes. But before you do, tie in one of those cork screw type coils that they put in shaky head jigs. Then tie on the streamer material. Now you can attach your soft plastic to the coil like this. I just started tying these this past winter.

LOL, well said. Ish traditionally has done well on Amistad and now he's probably on a mission. I just put him on my fantasy fishing team. ;D

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/opens/news/story?page=b_tourn_2009_Central_Open_ToledoBend_Ish

From what I've heard and read; Ish didn't get DQ'd for not having Proof of Insurance. He got DQ'd for Unsportsmanlike Conduct. His POI (that by rule is supposed to be in his boat) was in his truck which was not at the launch site. He got up on plane in a No Wake Zone to run to his truck. When he got back, the tournament director was gonna let him fish after the other competitors took off and they could discuss his violation of the No Wake Zone. At that point Ish started yelling profanities in front of spectators and got DQ'd for Unsportsmanlike Conduct. Is the POI rule in need of a revision? Maybe. Could it be enforced differently? Sure. But the bottom line is this It's a RULE and when Ish was asked to follow the RULE he blew up and acted in an unsportsmanlike manner. From what I can tell, based solely on what I've read about the incident, Ish was wrong on this one and that's a shame cause I like Ish. He's one of the guys I find myself always rooting for. Just my opinion, I could be wrong. -D

I don't think he's saying it's easy. He's just saying what their thought process is. It's gotta be a tough call for even the best bass anglers but that's why they are the best. Heck, event the best get kicked in the back side every now and again. -D

Very true Bass Dude, it might not always the best course of action and it is a gamble but as Boyd Duckett said, To have any chance at being #1 you have to gamble. I also heard, on several occasions during the event and pre-fish, that The Red was fishing small. I think that fact made managing fish even more important at The Classic and could be why we heard more about it this past weekend than during some other events. Or, maybe I just paid more attention last weekend than I do to most other events hehehe. Interesting topic. -D

Bass wrangler is dead on, great explanation. I think their thought process is something like this. Why sore lip 18 pounds of fish to cull up 1 or 2 pounds when you can come back and get all 18 pounds the next day. Personally I could never to this. For one; my club only fishes 3 2 day events per year so water/fish management is not something I practice regularly. Second, and more importantly, I'm simply not good enough. I can't expect to come back on day 2 and get my limit of leftover fish. These guys, however, are that good. Their experience allows them to know fairly accurately, what it's gonna take to win each event and what they'll need each day. When they hit that mark they know they can shut it down for that hole. They'll find a way to boat those fish the next day even if the weather changes. That's what makes them Elites. Just my opinion. -D

How about this for sportsmanship? You're the leader going into day three of The Classic. You've got a hot hole in pool four and this day could make your career as a bass angler. You're flying down the river to your spot and you see a fellow competitor (the guy in 6th place Snowden) broke down. You could say, Whew, one less guy to worry about. Or you could stop to see if you can help. According to the guy(s) writing the blogs on bassmaster.com Fralick stopped. They may be buddies, I don't know really. But still, that's great sportsmanship. Knowing Brian he was probably like, Dude, what are you doing? Get to your hole. From the blog: Fralick, by stopping to offer assistance, may have left the door open for Ashley and Evans to have a quick run through the area they've all been fishing. -D

Did ya hear the story about how he got it stuck? It's kinda funny when you hear about the best of the best having days like this. BOSSIER CITY, La. You'd think that after fishing 31 Classics and winning four of them, both records, Rick Clunn ought to have this thing down pat. Or at least have practice down pat. But it's still fishing, in which even the masters falter. Even in practice. Clunn was in his v-hulled aluminum jet boat exploring some of the many backwaters that the Red River's meandering has left over the years. The water's low enough right now that some of those pockets and ponds are inaccessible with anything but a light aluminum craft. Others are just barely reachable even with a light boat. Clunn thought he'd found one of the latter, with only a stretch of perhaps 30 yards of shallow water to traverse. No sweat. He floored it. The boat slowed, slowed and stopped across before planting its nose into the muddy silt and, as a v-hull is wont to do, tilted to one side. It was at that point that Clunn remembered he had left his cell phone in his truck. The first tournament of the year is that way discombobulated. He got out of his boat and into the ankle-deep water to survey his predicament. Pretty soon he found he couldn't budge the boat. "I knew nobody would ever come by," he said. "I knew I had to wade out to the river." He put on his life preserver and grabbed his push pole. The water went to knee deep. "Then," he said, "the sand broke and I stepped in quicksand." It was at that point that Clunn sank in all the way to his thighs. If not for his life preserver and push pole, which he held perpendicular to his sinking body, he might have gone in deeper and could have stayed there for quite a while. "If I couldn't have gotten out, it could have been 12 to 13 hours for them to send a search party," he said. "It might have been all night. That spooked me. That was the only time I felt a little more than just stupid." The push pole saved him. With the hook at the pole's end, he reached a willow tree on a nearby island and dragged himself to safety. Then he waved his life preserver to flag down a boater from the main river channel. The boater didn't recognize his hitchhiker until they returned to the marina. "When I got out of the boat, he asked, 'Are you fishing the tournament this weekend?'" Clunn said. He thought briefly about saying no. Then he fessed. "I said, 'Yeah, actually this'll be my 32nd,'" Clunn recalled. The man freaked out he'd just saved Rick Clunn. Clunn told him, "You can't tell a soul."

Brian Snowden used a Deep V on Erie last year. He said his co-angler was very happy to see it. They both did pretty well if I recall correctly. -D

Thanks GMAN, I'll see what I can find. I'll try to get some pics up next week. I'm leaving for Table Rock first thing tomorrow morning and I already have too much to do tonight. Thanks again. -D

I need some advice on how to wire tie a jig skirt. I've been working on a bassin' jig that's made of bucktail and silicone. It's about 60% bucktail with around 25 strands of silicone skirt material tied over the top of the bucktail. Currently, I'm tying in the bucktail with thread and then laying the silicone over the top of the bucktail and wrapping that with the same thread. That is working OK but I've heard that wire tying silicone is the way to go. So what I'd like to do is tie in the bucktail, whip finish, and glue. Then, wire tie the silicone over the top of that. My problem is that I've never wire tied anything in my life. I've Googled wire tying jigs but haven't found much. Any links or advice on tools, materials, and techniques would be great. Thanks -D

Hey guys, I'm a long time reader but first time poster. Let me start by saying this is a fantastic site. I've been taking my bass fishing a lot more seriously over the past few years and visit this site frequently. What can you guys/gals tell me about how ice affects fluorocarbon line? I've used fluoro for a while both as tippet for my fly line and on some of my bait casters and I've never had any issues with it. Well, this weekend I was fishing a small club event in very cold temps and my partner and I each had fish break off. He had a fish break off on practice day, re-spooled that night, and had another break him off on the same reel the day of the tourney. We almost never break off and check our lines, knots, and drag fairly often. We were both using fluorocarbon line (two different brands) and did have quite a bit of ice build up on the eyelets and reels. I know ice can weaken all line but I was wondering if it might cause more issues with fluorocarbon. I'm just hoping we can learn something from events that had us frustrated and scratching our heads. Thanks -D