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stopped by the pond and tried the tactics recommended caught a bass!!!! Thanks

If season & water temperature play such an important role then can someone explain Rat-L-Traps to me? Season: late winter Water temps: mid 40s to lower 50s Deadliest techniques ripping a Rat-L-Trap through grass or ricocheting them off stumps. Season & water temperatures suggests small, slow lures in deeper water.

Keep in mind, I'm playin catch up here. Had a death in the family, hence not being on much lately. Boett, glad to see someone has had some succes at PEPCO! I haven't had any luck there yet this year (at the discharge and the canal). LOL! Bill, the pond in middletown is kind of the same way (guessing) as baker park. What I've done at the pond in middletown is cover as much water as possible with some bottom bait (t-rig, carolina rig or jig) to figure out what the bottom is like. There could be keys to the bottom that could hold bass, whether that's a change in the bottom (say from mud to gravel or depth changes or even a weed line). Congrats on your personal best too! Kevin W, great report as always! Awesome pics too! Nick, with everything going on, I completely forgot about us talkin about a spring get together!!! Would someone like to take the reigns on leading this one? Not sure I have the time right now to lead this one. Not saying I couldn't participate, the work load is just a bit much right now! 301 and Kevin I, a lot of great posts regarding baitcasters! I started using baitcasters back in the late 90's. Took me some time to settle in with what I felt confident in. Just don't start off with something low end. Its best to save up. Spend time practicing with whatever reel you decide on, whether its actually on the water, in your back yard or even inside. I do use both left and right handed models. I base my decision on which one I use based off of the technique I what to use. Some techniques, I feel more comfortable with lefties over righties. Ken, congrats on the new PB! I think that covers most every thing! If I did miss something, I do apologize! I have got out here and there during my time off to take my mind off things. I've had some success here and there but nothing decent. Caught a few on lipless cranks, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits and wacky rigged stick baits from what I remember off the top of my head. With the cooler weather coming, hopefully it will prolong the prespawn. I hadn't checked the water temps lately but they have to be getting up there.

While fishing in the country settings out in the middle of no where I find kittens that are just abandoned. Of course i take them home and give them an awesome home. Remember these are predators too. While playing with them they make me think of why bass will strike right away and sometimes they will hold off. I find the cats will act the sameway as were they won't hit a fast moving bait but when i slow it down they go nuts on it. It actually taught me to vary my presentation to figure out what mood trhe fish are in. It sometimes takes one fish to strike to get the frenzy going with the rest also. I also see lynx, bobcats and mountainlions, and some bears too which i can't take home.......while fishing too.

I believe that quote is actually an ancient roman quote which is interesting, because their luck ran out… as it always does(indeed much more history to this including over expansion and bad decisions among other things). Luck is M. Barber running out of bounds and not running the clock out for example- Good luck for Tebow, stupidity on the part of the Bears. I believe he had completed 4 passes at that point in the game, 3 in the 4th to his credit. Anyhow, NFL qb and Heisman winning qb are a bit different as history has clearly shown. He was a first draft pick...but now what again was he traded for?? I think that demonstrates his new NFL value. I don't think Brady is a has been, he runs an effective team even with a well below par D. I do think Tebow is a heck of an athlete and the drive most of us don’t have. He can be used, just not as a starting qb- he should (will) be a utility player. I would say the biggest factor of luck is this. You are unlucky If you were born a Jets fan or have ever became one. Sanchez and Tebow…I am just not buying that is something that will come close to winning a division, or wildcard.

Big baits are a tool like any other lure. Sure dinks will hit a big bait, but more often than not they wont. I think one thing big baits do for you is discourage the smaller fish from biting enough to allow the big girls to get it. Who knows how many times we've presented a lure nearby a willing big fish and a dink grabbed it first? Another thing that goes unnoticed is that they will draw big fish from farther away that tiny finesse baits. I once witnessed a 19"x26" fish swim 40' feet in super shallow water to eat a lunker punker right at the bank in front of me.

Congrats! Great fish! Thanks for the shout-out to the members who helped you...it's for this specific reason that this forum is so awesome!

Congrats !!!!! There will be more PB's in the future for you, I am sure of that !!!! To all she mentioned as help Congrats to you as well, you all did a great job giving great advise.

there should also be a way of keeping that fish alive weighing and certifying it and putting it back in the lake, i agree on thats the gene pool that you want and need in the lake plus nowadays you can take a good picture and get the girth and length measurements and they will make a fiberglass replica of that fish that you couldn't tell the difference if it was fake or real. I believe in protecting your resource

Gotta hankering for something a little bit different? I just uploaded a pdf of my 1969 Garcia Parts List. Full schematics and parts listing of all the Mitchell, Abu-Matics, Ambassadeur, Fly reels, etc. Free for the asking. Garcia Parts List 1969 Over time I'll get more material online. Gary

Im in for the 1st if you want company. we can bring my boat. Still haven't got the schedule.

Sawdy's been on too. No comments from the peanut gallery . H-N-H.LOL

this weekend was great.. fished saturday... partner and i caught about 40, all on beds, sight fishing.... didn't catch any real bigguns, saw a few, but they were VERY spooky....

ding ding! We have a winner!!

As a qb, Tebow sucks. As a team, the jets suck. Seems like a good fit. I read the jets have asked Tebow to not live in Manhattan because of the temptations, are they for real? Their coach sucks toes, one of their db's has 9 kids by 8 women, and their worried about Tebow? Jets suck.

I am waiting for the Three Stooges to come out. That is a movie I would pay theater prices to see.

Nicely Done Mike - enjoyed it. A-Jay

Finally got out to BH this morning with 301-fisherman by the stick ups and boy was it worth it! Started throwing a lipless crank but lost two and switched to plastics...an nothing. Switched to a spinnerbait and started off with a 3lber and then caught my personal best which had to be pushing 5 lbs if not more. Great morning! I'll post a pic later today

The spawn has not started on Pickwick, but the fishing is the best it has EVER been!

Lots of factors to consider; day or night, cover or structure, clear or off color water, seasonal period. Spawn you are targeting specific bass, no reason to retrieve back to the boat. Night you are making shorter cast and should retrieve back to the boat. Crank baits, you retrieve back to the boat. Top water, depends on the cover, structure you retrieve back to the boat. Spoons and drop shot, structure you keep at the depth the bass are holding, back to or under the boat. Jigs & worms/creatures in cover you are targeting specific spots, no reason to retrieve back to the boat. Jigs & worms/creatures; structure you are casting and covering all depths all the way back to the boat. Swimbaits you retrieve back to the boat. Clear flat water the bass maybe boat wary, same water with a little wind and waves, not so wary, so on and so forth. Tom

Here ya go.

I like my Bandits200. Tennessee shad is what I used mainly. I also like some of the Live Targets, Rapala DT series, Xcalibur Xr50 rattle baits/One knocker, Original Rat-l trap,

If you are trying to learn how to fish a lure, then you fish that type of lure. If you are trying to learn to catch fish, than you use whatever it takes. It all depends on the mission. Beginners should learn to catch fish. Mike

Had the same thing happen to me with a buddy at Table Rock last year but it was a combination of things. Both fishing almost the same jig but he was getting bites, I wasn't getting touched. I starting paying attention to him and noticed not only was he dragging his instead of hopping it like I was, his trailer had very little action while I was fishing a twin tail grub because it usually works there. I made the adjustments and starting catching fish immediately. While I like to think that the little things aren't that big of a deal most of the time, sometimes they are a huge deal and if you don't adjust the little things you may not get bit.

I'd like to nominate the Michigan DNR for a suspension - for making us wait 6 weeks after Ice out to C&R bass. What the heck ! A-Jay

You know what, that joke was offensive, here, fill this out.

Don't sell your boat, you'll regret it, I did..... I'm up in Maryland and have the same problem with no partner. I'm retired and find myself pigeonholed in with a group of people that look at you strange when you say the word fishing. All they want is their weekly card game at the seniors center. Well I'm not giving up fishing and I don't feel that old yet. Like the Space Monkey says "Never Give Up" Good fishin', Eric P.S. It took a while to get used to it, but I kind of like having some quite time on the water.

Fishing out of a canoe with no depthfinder, no trolling motor, and no room for a decent net is tough. The current can be your ally or it can be a nightmare. Carry anchors and extra rope for tying off. If the rivers or streams you fish are fast moving, gin clear water like mine, then you'll want to tie off or anchor up at the bends of the river. Always keep your vessel near the point, traversing the shallowest water possible. Personally, I like to beach my boat before a bend and walk the bank to the other side to prevent spooking these little spotted bass. The reason I fish the bends is simple. The outside edges where the river sharply turns will be substantially deeper than on the inside edge of the bend. Many times, I'm dealing with a subtle drop from 0" of water to around 6ft in depth. The bass pack up in these pockets and wait for baits to come zooming overhead with the current. This is where walking the bank and heading down river from the bend comes in. Once at the apex of the point, I start casting upriver and reel with the current. Both the small profiled humdinger and the subtle, forgotten grub are perfect lure to mimic a bait fish frantically seeking cover from the current in the depths of these pockets. The hula grub is a smaller profile, subtle little bait which i use to mimic a little crawfish bumping around in the calmer water among the rocks and sticks. I don't bother with using weed guards or weedless lures as all of these are cheap and easy to retrieve. Most of the time, I don't get hung up. If I do, typically I can see what I get hung up on. I'll break the line off, tie on a new lure, fish the spot until I'm done. Then I swim over, dive down, get my bait and go back to the canoe. I don't recommend doing this in the winter for obvious reasons. This is my summer time hobby. Anytime you're fishing small water, you have GOT to think small. The fish are smaller. The forage is smaller. Little river bass aren't accustomed to hammering blue gill or sun fish. They eat minnows, bugs, and craws. Any large baits may get some reactionary strikes, but you'll do far better with little lures like my little list of canoe favorites. They are cheap lures...save the big bucks for the big fish. Of course, you can apply these techniques and lures to any body of water and more than likely, you'll be successful. If a guy is burning a spinnerbait, follow up with a white grub with a chartruse dyed tail. Might discover something "new."