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Last Friday night I was at my brother's house. We'd just polished off about 50 bucks worth of sushi, and were on our second bottle of wine when Long Mike called. He informed me that he would be unable to attend the Bass Resource RoadTrip due to medical reasons. He said he had been to the doc, and was told he needed to stay off his feet, and not get behind the wheel until the problem was corrected. I, of course, expressed my concern, in serious terms. He allowed me to continue for several moments before asking me what day it was. DOH!! April 1; I'd been had, big time. My brother was listening in on all of this, and commented that while he had some pliers handy, he did not believe he could get the hook out. I swallowed it all; hook, line and sinker. Long Mike was laughing his arse off, and when he was able to stop laughing, said "that's all I wanted to say", and hung up. I will quote myself: Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Ghoti.

Here's what I've been working on lately. This is a very large jerkbait at 2 1/2 ounces, and it's 6 1/2" not counting the bill. Catfish The next two jerkbaits are more or less normal sized lures, although they're still 5" without the bills. Yellow-belly Bluegill Lava Tiger Chartreuse Pepper Here's another attempt at crackle. I still haven't quite got the crackle nailed down, but I'm very pleased with this one. Molting Blue Razor Craw Let me know what you think! Ben

While I certainly agree with 5bass, if I were to pick just 3 colors, I'd go with Falcon Craw, black/blue, and Candy Craw.

I was catching bass on March 2 with plastic worms. I try them when I can make a cast and my lure doesn't bounce on ICE.

i like to work a brush hog around the edges of the pads and in pockets and stuff. also a 5" senko wacky rigged dropped on the edge of pads is killer.

Cadburry actually makes a peanut butter egg along with their traditional egg. Personnally, I prefer the Reeses ones, but thats just me. I don't like the Cadburry cream, too much sugar....

Frog fishing is my go-to bait in the summer on Guntersville. I would venture to say that half my summer/fall catches are on a frog. Color rarely seems to matter. In dispersed grass, I opt for a kicking plastic frog. In thick grass, I throw a snag proof, though the number and quality of hits determines if I swap to a Spro. If nothing else is working during the summer, you can coax bites from a frog...even if that means landing it on their head. It is a great search tool, considering the range you can throw it, the rate of retrieval, and realtive snag proof abilities. Catching frog fish is less a function of form and ability, and more a function of equipment. If you aren't using the right rod, reel, line....then you can't afford to let the fish eat the frog. Now, you do have to learn to wait on the fish. In fact, it is better that you spend more time looking for your next cast than to watch the frog. So, when it comes to equipment, if you want to be serious on your froggin', get you a dedicated frog rod, a fast ratio reel, and 50-65 pound braid. Frog fishing isn't a whimsical method. If you dedicate yourself to it, you can catch REAL monsters. I have a couple of 9s and more 5s that you can shake a frog rod at. All in the last year.

Nice cloudy day, stopped at a park right down the street on a Zara Spook.

They are fun to fish when you are getting bit, but any topwater is IMO. In my experiences the bites are few and far between, but that's just me.

Hook sounds a little big to me too. I think 2/0 or 3/0 is plenty

Fished Lobi this past weekend. Finished 61st out of 6oo and something. Top water is on early closer to bank around points, fished 3 to 5ft submerged grass way off the bank with wacky rigs and split shot rigs with french fry worms. Later in the day hit points way off the bank in the 8-10ft zone with carolina rigs. My biggest fish caught was 6 lbs and my partner caught a 7 in pirates cove on a carolina rig. They were hitting pop r's and chug bugs pretty good at all times of the day. All in all a good weekend on the water. The key was fishing very slow and being very patient. With the high pressure and slow bite it is very easy to fish 30 minutes or so without a bite but you have to just fish hard and the bites will come. You can run around all day and miss the bite everywhere and not catch a fish. The bite was very spread out and came in spurts. We managed 14 lbs a day which put us in the money. Also caught some good fish on a skinny dipper swimbait slow rolled through the grass. Slow was key for everything we fished to get bit.

YOU are the one who asked in your original post if you handled the situation wrong. I gave my opinion. If you do not want dissenting opinions, don't ask. You tackled a dog over a bass. Then you grabbed it by the neck and took it to the owner. This after you were already "ballisitc" over not catching a fish. Had you injured that dog, without cause (defending a bass, really?), you could have been charged with cruelty. In our state your actions may have also bought you a disorderly conduct citation at a minimum. Next, you take it upon yourself, with the police station close, to tell the woman a bunch of explicatives. Textbook harassment and depending on what you said in public, disorderly conduct. Have you ever seen a serious dog bite? I have and rabies are the farthest thing from the victims mind. I've seen dog bites from a variety of breeds, none are pretty. In the mood for a scrap, that's great, get charged with assault also and all over a dog grabbing a bass you laid on the ground. What you should have done is called the police when the dog did what you allege it did.

Those are GREAT dogs!!!

I hope this doesn't violate any of the forum rules. A female CNN journalist heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time. So she went to check it out. She went to the Western Wall and there he was, walking slowly up to the holy site. She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, using a cane and moving very slowly, she approached him for an interview. "Pardon me, sir, I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN. What's your name? "Morris Feinberg," he replied. "Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall and praying?" "For about 60 years." "60 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for?" "I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the Muslims." "I pray for all the wars and all the hatred to stop." "I pray for all our children to grow up safely as responsible adults, and to love their fellow man." "How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?" "Like I'm talking to a frickin wall."

Guess the mods thought it was a good idea after all. youre welcome

Nice looking newfie. I have only seen all black ones previously.

Bad or good depends a lot on what/where the beavers are doing, beavers are one of the few species that can modify greatly the environment with their actions and it depends what they can affect. Let´s suppose you have a nice cabin and a stream flows through your property, if the streams flows right at your doorstep and suddenly beavers decide to make that stream their home well, then what´s going to happen is going to be bad for your cabin, they are going to build a dam blocking the stream flow which is going to create a pond and ..... maybe your cabin is going to become part of the cover found in the pond several feet below water level, so that´s bad news for you. In another aspect, and supposing they are not going to cause any property damage then beavers may not be detrimental but actually a blessing, they are hervibourous, they do not harm the fish not eat them ( like otters ), they create habitat for the fish ( beaver huts ), they fertilize the pond with their droppings, attract other wildlife ( like waterfowl ), they deepen the pond, the only bad news would be for the trees surrounding the pond.

Brush hogs or lizards ? ..... that is the question ! ( shakesperian dilemma ) To me both baits serve different purposes and I prefer one over the other in particular circumstances, visibility, that´s what makes me choose one over the other, poor visibility ---> lizards, better visibility ---> brush hogs.

Enjoy your new buddy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

definitely looks different, gonna take some getting used to. fast reply is pretty convenient, haven't really had a chance to play around here yet!

thanks Tim. my youngest two were cheering me on. my crazy red head laying under the console shivering, and saying, "catch another big one, daddy!" my five year old son was standing next to me on the deck soaked through, blue lipped and pointing out spots he thought i should pitch it into. we celebrated in the car with the heater cranked to the floorboards. they huddled on the passenger side and thawed out. Corey's Bass was spooky that next day when i came back to her, so he can lay claim to her next time she spawns. Here's yesterday's sample of the benefits of a good relocation program!

way to go Vince. very nice. TJ

You get promoted by your post count. You start as a one star general and work your way to a five star general. On the road trip you must salute those with more stars whenever your paths cross.

I wish It was a male owner. I was in the mood to scrap. I dont like these people thinking that this park is their own personal backyard and that the rules dont apply to them. Its bull. Cruelty to animals? Ever see a mother dog carry its pup? By its neck. P.S. How many dogs do you see running around with rabies? I like my chances.

To be honest, when i got my boat I bought a PFD...but at the same time I have a different view on them. I usually fish small lakes and ponds, that being said lets say that i am crusing along, and i see a rock and i swerve sharply and fall out of my boat. You know what the odds are that i would NEED that PFD? Guess what people...human float. As a matter of fact, when i went on a canoe ride with my friends, my friend decided it would be funny to rock the canoe and we tipped. Know what i did for 10 min until someone could get us? Lay on my back and float there. IT was great. Now you could say, omg you banged your head and disoriented or knocked out and you cant swim/float. I guarantee that the PFD will not save you if you are knocked out or disoriented...you will drown anyway. face down in the water is the same with a PFD or without.