Pumpkin Lizard

My Dad who couldn't catch a fish to save his life and has no interest taught me a lesson I would never forget about that. We came home one day and some lady was fishing in our backyard with her very small son. I was a little **** and was territorial. My Dad walked down and chatted with her. She was a single mom who had a kid who just wanted to go fishing. She had permission to fish from the people with the only other house on the water and just got the address wrong/ My Dad was like just like, "well you are welcome anytime here too" and he let it be. Then when we got back to the house he ripped me a new one for being an ass and made me bring down some cokes to them and apologize. Now I live in an HOA with some ponds and I see these old jerks running kids off that don't live in the neighborhood. It's infuriating.

That sounds ridiculously non serious to me.

I would say the mid 70s to mid 90s. I got into it as a kid in the late '80s. Into it is not the right word. Immersed is the word. We lived in rural CT and we didn't have access to cable until the late '80s. I had an official Uncle in Atlanta who used to send me hours and hours of fishing shows on VHS and watched those tapes umpteen times along with doses of Top Gun. My favorite show was the Bassmasters. I remember a show where Peter Thliveros won a tournament with a Carolina Rigged Pumpkinseed Zoom Lizard (I know it's Pumpkin but I swear I recall it being pumpkinseed back then) and I was mesmerized by that skill. The story of how that color was made is also super interesting. My two favorite sports memories are Bryan Kerchal winning the Bassmaster Classic and UConn winning their first BB title in '99. Getting the Bass Pro Shops catalog was annual highlight, the thing was almost phone book thick. Now we have a website, there is no magic in that. I can't put my finger on it but it just felt like a Golden Age to me. Reading about what you guys were catching and doing out west as a kid was fascinating and a great memory. Thanks for your service! I hope you can keep on finding a way to wet a line. As Americans and Sportsmen and women we need to really make a stand on public access. I lived in Europe for years and access to fishing seems impossible. Hunting? Yeah right. Good luck. If we're not vigilant, that will happen here.

Nice! What's your BFS setup?

More after work fun. They have been slamming the shad on this bank all week. The mayor and hybrid swim jig. I need to dig out my scale.

They fit the category of “if a pickerel were a bass”.

I grabbed some of these and some VMC Hybrid Swimbait Jigs. I think they will be vastly better than what I have been using. You know the world record rock bass is only like 3lbs? I put one Rock Bass in my childhood pond and I’m fairly certain it hit world record territory. It was enormous.

Another football caught with The Mayor. Need to dump this Boxer Jig. After three fish it the bait slips and won't hold in place. Probably going to give the VMC Hybrid Swimbait Jig a shot next.

Why watch the NFL when you can catch fish? I DVR the tournaments and put them on in the background while I tie flies.

The Mayor came through on election night. I think I am geeking out on Crush City products. I love this swimbait. It's like a mini magdraft. I drove by my neighborhood pond at lunch and saw the wind pushing everything up against the rip rap like it had been for 4 straight days. I suspected the bass were stacked up there so I hit it up after work and they were. Had a limit in 15 minutes and kept going for another 30 minutes. Also the time change is always awful.

Here is my son catching fatties on the same rock I used to stand on. Pond is a little more grown in now but now that they never see lures and he was getting them on almost every cast. Tough to beat a silver Phoebe.

I think the payout schedule has to be reworked. They are for sure getting some "feedback". But these guys are also perfectly capable of going out and securing funding from sponsors. With some simple business acumen they should be able to cover substantial expenses. They all do have boat wraps and sponsors so there is some kind of money coming in. I remember in one of the Elite Series events on TV they said one particular angler had secured "only $27,000 in sponsor money". I mean if that's on the low end then what are the middle and high end guys taking in.

Had a five acre pond in my backyard stacked with stunted bluegill and bullhead in CT. Some neighbors offered to transplant a bunch of bass from another pond. A few seasons later we were catching 3-5lbrs. Neither of my parents knew anything about fishing so for the most part I was self taught. I read Bassmaster, Outdoor Life and In Fisherman religiously and would go out and put almost everything I read into practice. In the summer I would fish every night. Literally every night. I had a dalmatian who insisted on going with me. Had another public lake a mile down the street and we belonged to a private club with a beach and canoes. I used to get up early in the mornings and ride a 10 speed with three rods and a huge tackle box. I had a cinder block with a rope tied through it staged in the woods for an anchor. I used to try to catch a limit by lunchtime and I kept a journal of everything I caught. One of my Dad's business buddies lived in Atlanta and he had Bomber Bass Boat. One year he had me down for a week of fishing on Lake Oconee. He fished some tournaments and taught me quite a bit that week. Honestly I consider that one of the greatest things anyone ever did for me. I was extremely lucky.

Fellow nutmegger Alex Wetherell made a spreadsheet and you can download it. Based on the data it looks like this benefits the anglers at the bottom more than the ones at the top.

Mostly a rhetorical question. Seems like being an Elite Series guy would be kind of marketable within the industry, guiding, social media, seminars, etc. Of course some of these guys have families and real life expenses too.

There are elite series guys sleeping in their trucks for sure. The turnover rate at that level is insane. I don’t think people realize how hard to mouth some of these guys are. As an observer who wants to see the best competition possible, I would prefer the most professional field possible. What we have now is the equivalent of having your favorite NFL players working at Dick’s so that they can afford to play ball. On the other hand the Elite Series guys have 8-9 events a year. That’s 8-9 weeks. What are they doing the rest of the year?

I would spend it all on Magnum Pumpkin Lizards.

I just don't get BASS here. Now that anglers don't have that $45k expense sponsors will have all the more reason to reduce funding. This would be a great thing if the BASS suddenly had increased revenue streams from the additional FOX coverage they are getting and that was what subsidized an elimination of or reduction in entry fees. Instead the message seems to be that anglers now have to go find the revenue themselves instead. Guess everybody better get serious about YouTubing. Seems like a potential disaster to me. Does anyone here know anything about the details of BASS's tv deal? Is BASS buying time on FOX or is FOX actually paying for the content? Also I thought I saw something about General Tire pulling out of the BPT is there anything to that?

So the anglers had a meeting in New York and they asked for this. Be careful what you wish for!

it’s more like they robbed Peter to pay Paul.

They definitely won’t like that.

Good advice. I’m as hardcore as it gets with fly fishing, except when it’s at not. It’s such a visual experience for me, you take that out of it and it just doesn’t hold my interest for more than a few hours.

Their costs have been reduced by $45k can’t be that bad.

https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bass-elites-pay-103024.html Looks like winnings have been restructured a little from 11th and beyond.

I’m not really imitating shad with the jig, I’m usually using a Rage Bug on a VMC rugby jig dragged on the bottom.