Taliesin

I sure would!!! Partly for the story that goes with it.

I have to say my strong point is patience. I learned early when my dad said "you can't fish a plastic worm too slow". I continued to learn patience while hunting large catfish. I can throw lures for hours without a bite and not become discouraged. I might sit back a moment and rethink where the fish are and what they might bite, but I won't loose heart.

I have to follow your advice here too. For the most part I am a weekend angler and while my gear gets occassional upgrades, my tackle would be considered substandard by almost everyone here. I am one of those that find Ugly Stiks perfect for my needs (especially the Ugly Stik Lite Pro). Many people say they are too heavy for constant use, but the only time I have found that to be a problem is when I spent several hours practicing with my 15' Ugly Stik I use for catfishing (practicing for accuracy and distance, I need to reach 100+ yards for bank-fishing in a non-boating area). Another comment was a lack of sensitivity, but I have never had a problem with that either. I catch those pesky "perch" on my plastic worms all the time. I feel them fine. I will admit that my spinning reels have braid on them and this does increase the sensitivity on those. Finally, cost is a factor. While it would cost me $250 to upgrade my 6 bass fishing rods to an Ugly Stik Lite Pro (2 of them already are), it would cost me at least $1250 to upgrade to the G. Loomis or equivelant. I grew up using equipment that was well below the standard of an Ugly Stik, so that was an upgrade for me. I won't say they are the best rod out there, I really don't believe that. I will say that I believe they are one of the best rods for the price. But I will stress that that is my belief and only for MY requirements. I will also say that if I had the extra $5000 all of my 18 rods and reels would get an upgrade.

That a good reminder that many of us need. It's just a few people making a very bad example. Many catfishermen make similar complaints about bass fishermen, but it's the same situation.

You reminded me of one situation I had while I was bank fishing for catfish. I had my 15' pole out (needed the casting distance) with 80# test braid, 4 oz weight, and a 5/0 hook. I ws out about 75 yards. I had other poles out, but nothing really far out. There was a certain jetskier that came within 10 foot of clotheslining himself on my line. I don't think that would have been very comfortable. Something for the jetskiers to learn. Catfishermen are well armed and can often reach out 100 yards with accuracy with enough weight to make you REALLY hate the rest of your day. Most of them won't bother to do something like that (I'm one of these, life goes on), but some of them will reach for a pole and hit you with the weight if you bother them too much.

I guess you could call me a pleasure boater at times, but when I am out enjoyig the scenery I'm not going much above idle. The only time I cause problems for fishers (creating a wake) is when I am heading to a fishing spot. Frankly, I don't mind the pleasure boaters much. It's the jetskis that tend to disturb me. I won't slam all of the jetskiers, but we have quite a few stupid ones around here.

Some background first. I am in a tournament competing against other military members out of Whiteman AFB Missouri. The tourneys are every other Thursday from 1 pm to 8 pm. The main purpose is to have fun, but there is some friendly competition. The water was realy high (18 feet above normal) a little over a month ago and they just now got it down to 1.5 foot above normal. I had done some pre-fishing a week ago, but the pattern changed so much that was useless. The bass were pretty scattered and inactive for the most part (at least most people thought they were inactive, I didn't really think so. They were just wary due to fishing pressure). Truman Lake is a difficult lake to fish for a few reasons. Fishing pressure is HEAVY, there is almost no vegetation, and the minimum length is 15" for all black bass (including smallmouth, spotted, and meanmouth). The only people that tend to do well in tourneys around here have been fishing this lake at least twice a week for the last 10 to 15 years. 1st place went to 2 fish at 5.99 lbs 2nd place went to my non-boater partner with 2 fish at 4.86 lbs I took 3rd place and Big Fish with one fish at 3.86 I was determined to work on my confidence in crankbaits while I was out, and thought it would be a good day for it. Reports stated that the bass were suspending in trees at 8' in 12-15' of water. My partner caught both of his (2.94 meanmouth and 1.92 spotted) on white spinnerbait in 4' of water, but in the last 1/2 hour of the tourney in the shade of a main-lake point. I missed one at about 5 pm on Rattletrap in about 4' feeding on shad in a flat cove not far from the main lake. It ran about 2 1/2 to 3 and would have put me on top, but i wasn't paying enough attention and didn't get a good hookset. The fish jumped up and spit the lure right at me. He got a really good bead on me and hit me in the chest from 40'. ;D My big fish came from a tree in 9-10' of water on a hump in the main lake on a Rapala DT-16. I cast past the tree, reeled fast to get it down to 8' then slowed down to keep it there. Right after the lure banged off a limb he hit, and hit good. I was expecting this one and got a really good hookset. Needless to say, I no longer have a confidence problem with cranks.

I have to second this choice. Another good choice might be black/red flake. Pretty dark, but those flakes grab a lot of attention.

I have to agree with your choice, but I use the 1/2 oz more often.

In my experience the 6 lb test he is using isn't enough when you set the hook (especially when using soft plastics). The hook doesn't get enough "oomph" to penetrate into the fish's mouth, unless you get lucky and it goes in the softer portions. Smaller (thinner) hooks may also help, but if I can't use a 1/0 hook, the fish are too small anyway. I normally use 15 to 17 lb test line, and for a couple of reasons. In my main fishing grounds, the minimum length is 15" (right around 2 lbs). Along with that, I fish HEAVY cover. Weeds, limbs, and any other sort of nastiness I can get to. Quite often 15lb test isn't enough. 8lb test may be enough for just the fish, but add 5 lbs of weeds or 10 lbs of wood (or both) and it doesn't cut it. It also gives a little more abrasion resistance and the local timber is still rough with a lot of rocks in that water. If you aren't fishing the kind of cover I am (or the size), then 8 lb test might do the job. I am thinking of going to 12 lb test for the pond on base where weightless plastics work really well, but the fish are "small" (normally less than 2 lbs).

And you are luckier that us in Missouri. Illegal baits bring a $150 fine here. True story: Fellow put out 2 trot-lines. He put his grandfather's information on the second trot-line (trot-lines have to be labeled with name and address, and you are limited in how many hooks you can have in the water). His grandfather got a ticket in the mail for $1050 for 7 uses of illegal bait (crappie). Luckily bluegill is still legal (<5") and i use them all the time for catfishing. I have caught a LOT of (bigger) bass while doing this, including my PB in Missouri.

Lately I have been fishing in water where the visibility is less than one foot. Braid still makes a difference in the bite, depending on what your presentation is. For fast lures and reaction bites, braid isn't making much of a difference. For the slower presentations, you can't buy a bite with braid. Part of that may have to do with very heavy fishing pressure at this lake.

He has a good point here. If you have a tie-on point on the spool that won't allow the line to slip, then you don't "need" the mono backing. Most of my reels are pretty high-capacity though, so I still need it. I get the 100 to 150 yard spools of braid and back it with the heaviest mono the reel is rated for, enough for the combo to fill the reel.

I would have to go with the plastic craw. Only because I lack the confidence with the jig.

That 20 ft mark is the thermocline I was talking about. While you may find a few fish below that mark, they won't stay there for any length of time at all. Hmm... Wonder where I can get a D.O. meter? We end up with some D.O. problems sometimes. Just in case you haven't heard the term before (it took me a bit to remember it): D.O. is Dissolved Oxygen

I have to agree with basscat. 6lb test just won't cut it when it comes to the hookset. I am currently playing with 8lb test with weightless worms and I still have problems. But then again, I may just stop setting the hook. The fun with this combo is just getting the strike. I don't really care if they spit it out (which they end up doing about 30% of the time). This is just my "playing around" rod I use during my lunch hour and maybe a little bit after work. 12lb test should do ok, but I normally won't put line that small on a MH rod. The ultralight combo will handle the fish, but you won't be able to get the hook to penetrate enough.

It is old fashioned, but old fashioned still works. A slightly more accurate idea would be to put a knot every 5 feet (or 2 feet if you want). You would have to take out all of your current knots though. For maximum accuracy you have to make a knot after every measurement. Otherwise your knots are going to take up some of that length.

Largemouth bass will sometimes do exactly that. Depending on the waters you were fishing something else that might have done it is striper, white bass, or a hybrid between the two. They do this almost all the time.

16 1/2 years in the Air Force. Right now I am the Unit Deployment Manager. I make sure all the paperwork is in order so that when someone is chosen to deploy they don't get bogged down in the paperwork. I am also a partner in a housing investment company and will spend more time on that after I retire in 3 1/2 years. But after that 3 1/2 years I won't have too much more time, cause I will be at the lake.

Thanks. It is a Lowrance X47 and I am thinking of switching this with the Eagle Fishmark 480 I have at the trolling motor (they use the same transducer). Switching out the transducer could be some labor on my part as well though. Haven't looked at that part of the boat yet to see what it would entail. Either way, adding a transom mounted fishfinder/transducer would solve the problem and give the back fisherman a better view of what's going on. The current console one is a bit small to see.

I'm not in the running at all: Oklahoma (home state), pb 6.5, state record 14-11, 44% Missouri (current Air Force station), pb 6.5, state record 13-14, 47% Yeah, my pb is only 6.5, but I managed it twice. A good site to check your state records is: http://www.another site.com / state records / default.cfm (get rid of all the spaces. I couldn't get it to work otherwise) Lists every state and then some. Out of curiosity I checked a couple of other species and found out that I'm doing better with bass than the others: Hybrid striper, pb 8.5 (not weighed, but compared to a 7.5 that I did weigh), Missouri record 20.5, 41% Blue catfish, Missouri pb 10, Missouri record 103-00, 9.7% Channel catfish, Missouri pb 8, Missouri record 34-10, 23% Oklahoma pb 10, Oklahoma record 35-15, 28%

Deeper water is colder and "normally" will hold more O2, but in the heat of the summer a thermocline will set up. Below the thermocline the water will be much colder, but will end up O2 depleted because it's all been used up and the water isn't moved enough for it to get to the surface and be refreshed. The problem here is different definitions of deeper water. To most bass fishermen "deeper water" is anything over 10 or 15 feet deep. Catfishermen worry more about the thermocline becuase they think of "deeper water" as 30 feet or more and the thermocline is normally around 25 to 30 feet deep. It will not happen in water with a good flow (rivers and streams). It normally only happens in larger lakes where the water doesn't move much. O2 depletion isn't an issue when the thermocline initially sets up, but becomes an issue when the fish have used up the O2 down there. If I remember rightly, most lakes don't worry about it until close to mid-July. A really good depth finder will show a "false bottom" at the level of the thermocline as the sonar is partially bounced back by the temp change. If you are fishing a body of water that "turns over" in the fall, you've got one that will develop a thermocline. The turnover is when the water on top cools off and becomes colder than the O2 depleted water, so they switch places. If you really want to know about the thermocline in your local waters, talk to the really successful catfishermen around there. They can tell you how deep it is, when it sets up, when it becomes depleted, and when the turnover normally is.

I'm a cheapskate and think that pictures are good enough. Having said that... If I ever manage to hang into a 10+ LMB, a 7+ SMB, a 2+ bluegill (or hybrid), a 20+ striper hybrid, a 30+ channel cat or a 65+ flathead or blue catfish there will be a replica made. Now if a bass is a couple of pounds shy of that, but is just perttier than all get out... I might fudge it.

I don't have the Lowrance, but I do have that Eagle Fishmark 480 and love it. However... Night fishing with it isn't the best. It could do with better visibility for night fishing. Eagle and Lowrance do use many of the same parts (and transducer cables). Both are good quality, but you might pay a hair more for the lowrance name.

My main reason for choosing a thru-hull transducer is that it came with the boat that way. It doesn't loose signal often (unless I am going 65+), but part of that may be the quality of the fishfinder. My biggest problem with it is that I don't know real water temps until I put the trolling motor in. However, since I do have a high-speed boat (75+ mph), a transom mount may not be the best for me either. I might think about adding another fishfinder with the screen near the console and transom mount the transducer.