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Who likes 'em? Yes? No? AMERICA, YOU DECIDE.

Live in West Virginia but fish Ohio and KY. Know enough to catch some fish have a john boat for small lakes or rivers. I will buy the first round at the bar after we are done fishing. Is this a better way to ask then the previous poster.

I can compare this somewhat to hunting. I hunt two different types of land, one is public land and another is private land where the lease members practice QDM. There are no fences to keep the deer hemmed in in either place, it is all fair-chase. Guess which place has bigger deer? Obviously, the QDM property! This isn't due to any kind of special forage or feeding, it is due to selective, managed harvesting. Fish work on the same principle, with a few obvious differences. Public land and public reservoirs and rivers get more pressure from us, the alpha predators. If you can eliminate a large percentage of those predators, and then regulate the predation of the ones remaining, you get a better product. Fishing a managed pond isn't cheating. Stocking a backyard pool full of 10 pound bass is cheating, just like killing a giant deer in a 4 acre pen is a canned hunt. I'm not going to hate on anyone with the resources and commitment to own and manage their own water.

These will pick you up, man: http://www.despair.com/viewall.html

ABSOULTELY THE BEST REEL YOU CAN BUY!!!!!!! any Lew's reel is ABSOULTELY amazing.

I use grubs as a recon lure, 1/4oz basic jig and a 3" power grub to read the layout and to see if the fish are biting

So today i decided after school to go fish at a local pond with my friend. we always catch bass there, decent sized ones too. but today was a little different. my friend was catching fish on crankbaits, which ive never had any luck with in ponds. so i went down and met him there. i put on a crank and started throwin it out there. i caught a 1lb -1.5lb little fish on it and then as far as sexy shad luck goes, it suddenly stopped. my friend caught a continuous load of the same sized fish for about a hour. then we decided to go to a dock. i put down my ultra light setup and brought my baitcaster out with a texas rig senko. all i did was drop it down on slack line and instantly got a huge thump! i immediately started reeling in but i forgot to set the hook, and as soon as he hit the top of the water he spit it out at my face, mocking me. i knew he was a chunk haha. so i wacky rigged it cuz he broke the nose tip of my worm. didn't have any luck for about 10 minutes and then he just put the worm in his mouth and started swimming with it, so i set the hook super hard and reeled in. when i saw him my jaw dropped haha. biggest fish ive caught on my own to this day. and pretty big for a pond fish.

anybody use these? looks like a pretty good/versatile set-up for variety of plastics. wondering if anyone has used them and what they've had the best luck with. thanks...

Sounds like a lot of the distinctions being made here are the difference between folks fishing for fun and the folks fishing to impress others. I fish for my enjoyment only, so other folks "assessments" of my skill mean diddly-squat to me

I have yet to find a smoother reel than my LEWS Tournament Pro. Will be getting another, auction site had some pretty good deals going on yesterday i seen.

I hook a few - have to see what you are getting bit by. Can't win a Tx with dinks.

You may want to look into Illinois "politics"...not to get political here though. So. ILL actually does have some of the best lakes that are closely watched- Crab orchard wildlife refuge lakes, etc (at least they used to be). These are public lakes.

Loving my tournament mg. Braking is excellent

If I'd have been in that situation, I would have fired up my motor and apologized if anyone called me on it. If you still feel bad for firing up your big motor on a trolling motor only lake, you should do some form of penance. For a conservation sin of this type, I would recommend washing your mouth out with beer. If anyone calls you on it, you should recommend the same form of penance, and provide the beer.

I've had both, starting with a good size aluminum jon-boat and eventually bought a 2003 18.6" Fiberglass Champion bass boat, with a 150HP Johnson. I bought the bass boat for some of the same reasons, smoother ride, storage space, comfort, durability etc. I'm glad I went to a fiberglass boat and I've been very happy with it, but there are some drawbacks. First, most fiberglass boats are extremely heavy compared to aluminum. Not only will you go through significantly more gas in the boat (mine has a 48 gal. tank), but the vehicle you tow with will also be pulling a LOT more weight. I towed my Champion with a Toyota Tacoma (small truck, V6 engine) for a while and it did o.k., but it definitely worked the engine and tranny very hard. That could lead to additional maintanence/repair costs down the road. Just my opinion... but if you do a lot of towing medium/long distance, you'll want to be in a full-size truck with a V8 that can handle the load without over-working the vehicle. I have an F-150 now, but between the boat gas and the truck gas, it's very hard to spend less than $100 for a weekend of fishing. As far as keeping the rig looking good... fiberglass gets water-stained very easily. It helps to wipe down the boat immediately after pulling it out, but you'll be doing a lot of washing/scrubbing to keep it clean. You'll also need to keep a good coat of wax on the hull to prevent staining/discoloring. As long as you do the work/maintanence they'll look good for a very long time, but it is a lot of work. Bottom line... If I wasn't fishing in tournaments all summer, I'd have an aluminum boat. They are light-weight, easy to haul around, and less expensive to own. Since I fish tournaments, there are almost always two people in the boat, I spend a huge amount of time on the water and have a lot of equipment to store, the fiberglass boat is worth the extra investment, in my opinion. There are trade-offs with both options, all depends on how you use the boat.

me and a couple friends had a sunfish catching contest. I won with 41 in 1 hour and all my other friends averaged between 20-36.....all using american cheese on tiny hooks. so easy

Tell us yours, we'll tell you ours.

One is 6', one is 6'6". Sorry LOL............. of those two lenghts, I would chose the 6'6" for plastics, the 6' would be a good target/roll cast spinner bait rod, or a top water rod. IMHO, if all your going to do is fish plastics with a rod get a 7'er it has many advantages , longer cast's, moves more line on hook sets which is a plus in deeper water, if you want all purpose get the 6'6".

I don't think the question here is whether people want to fish at such places, but if fishing there is a true measure of an angler's skill. There is much more to fishing than casting into the water and reeling in the fish. Quality fish in open public waters are harder to locate and catch. If that wasn't the case, there wouldn't be a need for professionally managed lakes/ponds. In my personal experience, it quickly becomes boring when the act of fishing becomes easier.

Get a deep spool reel A-Jay !!!

I wish I had a professionally managed pond to fish. Who doesn't want to catch only big fish and lots of them? doubt there is 1 person here who wouldn't fish it even if they say they wouldn't.

It has been done. And it caught me a wittle trout.

Swedish fish as a soft jerkbait?

I used to have that one but my gramp gave me his Boga 30lb scale. It's all I use now.

I just got a code on eBay for a bit less than BPS. Its this years model in LH just before they discontinued it so I'm excited. Now I need a pitching rod to put it on.

Well by stating last week I had no recent memory of every getting a bum average priced bait, I get two in row LMAO. First a SK RES that takes on water, and second an X-rap that sinks tail first like a rock. An e-mail to each company, and I get, in summery, this from each: SK: Send it back, we will replace it free of charge and give you an extra one for your trouble. Rapala: Send it back, using this idiotic form, with your orginal receipt, box it came in, DNA sample, passport, ss#, and photo copy of your birth cert., we will evaluate it, make sure it's not your fault, and maybe we will replace it, please be advised this process could take any where from 6 weeks to 4 years. Oh..and if you don't have the receipt/box/etcc..................tuff luck. No more Rapala/Normark products for me.

I would fish it AND brag about the pictures of my catch. I could care less where I have my fun, be it pond, lake, river, swamp, etc. But I would admit that the fish were taken from a managed pond.

The KC Star showed the water temp to be 76*. I dont know where they measure it though.

Cheating?.............No, fishing is fishing. But it is much easier. I gave up fishing in all the private farm ponds we have where I work. It got boring. I had different ponds managed for different things, one for size, one for numbers, one for big bluegills, one that had a little of everything. I have not fished any of them in a few years, I plan on hitting them again a little this year to see how they have faired with out me tinkering with them in so long. The public lakes are much more challanging, and I feel I have acomplished something when I have a good day or cash a check in a tournament on a body of water that every one can and has fished.

Osbornj2 - Have you tried the 8" Hudd? I think it has a better action and balance than the 6" myself. Only thing is, bites, hits or bumps will be farther and fewer between, obviously. It certainly is not too big though.

In NY, by law, you must skip senkos..................or so it seems, because thats all anyone I know uses LOL. I have bucked the all senko all the time mob the last couple years and found quite a few things that are effective when senkos are not. Go to any tournament around here, there will be an endless parade of guys going around the lake(s) in circles skipping senkos under docks, and when it's not what's on that day, they keep doing it, but with a different color senko LMAO. Don't worry we also have there counterparts covering the other fishable water.............the guys who pitch a jig into weedholes 24/7, who also curse the senko fisherman, thinking they are somehow better because they know how to plop a hunk of lead into a hole......................wow, did that go way off topic, haha.

Shooting fish in a barrel comes to mind, I don't care about private property catches just don't brag about catching something special that's in a controlled envorment

In RUSSIA,Grub fishes you...

Not much to brag about catching a big one out of a pond. However, give me a private pond and i will fish it everyday because it is sooooo much fun! Kind of like bobber and minnow fishing. The problem comes from those who brag about their fishing skills sticking big fish in private ponds.

Hey guys... Every once in a while a company comes along in life that provides customer service that makes you feel like you are more than a number to help improve their bottom line. Koppers bait corp. is a shining example. I recently purchased 2 blueback herring swimbaits manufactured by them. On my first outing, I experienced a few light snags.... Not stums/rocks/dead body type snags, but light vegetation. I noticed at one point that the bottom treble hook was missing (split ring stretched out) and the rear treble hook was missing a point. Being a guy that swears by Koppers live target lipless cranks, I was very disappointed.The lipless cranks they peoduce have never given me trouble. I contacted them via e-mail to express my disapointment to them. I was contacted very quickly by Mike Chopin, Koppers office/ pro-staff manager. He apologized and offered to let me return the swimbaits directly to him, and exchange them for any lipless cranks I wanted as a replacement! I had no receipt, no photos..nothing but my word and Mike went out of his way to take care of me. The results I have gotten from their crankbaits is second to none on the lake.... But this experience made me realize that I can buy their products without worries of being left out to dry if something breaks. Thanks to Mike Chopin and the Koppers staff for your excellent products and service!

I'm right there with you. They are very good to me and I've sent a thank you letter and I even recieved a FREE hat from them for my letter. They are a great company. I have all their cranks including a few saltwater cranks for the bay. Another one to add to the greatest bait company list is Lucky Craft.

I'd either go with Daiwa or Berkley. Lololol ok I'll leave.

I think I'm the first for this one: Rat-L-Trap, Chrome w/ Blue back, fitted with some nice VMC hooks.

Morons, or geniuses?

Scuba gear

Alright Shimmy I'll share a little bit about jerkbaits. First of all my jerkbait fishing evolved around pike fishing. Big predators. My favorite jerkbaits were made out of wood or plastic & weighed about an ounce to 2.5 oz. . I would practice jerk bait strokes along side the boat to see what kind of action I could delvelop with each bait. Some baits would dart 90 degrees to either side like a walk the dog motion but under water. Other baits would glide forward or sideways & some rare baits would almost turn around like in your face mr pike. Hard violent jerks or strokes would elevate the motions. Then you have to incorporate a pause period or let the bait rest. Usually the baits will get eaten while your pausing or just as you start your next movement. Remember jerk baits work on all species. Now to jerkbaits for smallies. Typically when you first start fishing you use a search bait until you find fish unless you know exactly where they are. Then once you find fish you switch to your favorite presentation. I fish big water with lots of suspended fish spread over lots of rock structure. I seldom find lots of big fish in a small area. So my approach is to cover water with a jerkbait as my search bait until I find some big girls. Once we find them we work over the area. We put in waypoints when we get bit so we can revist each spot. When drifting on lake erie the waves cause the boat to surge & pause just like a jerked bait does when you are working it. Boat motion adds motion to your baits. I always prefer to drift downwind with the wind hitting my stern. I work one rod while i dead stick a second rod in a rod holder. When my forward progress is between .3 to 1.0 mile an hour drifting with the wind at my back it all works. Most of the time my worked rod out fishes the dead stick 3 to 1. But sometimes the dead stick rod is extremely effective all by its self because the boat is working the bait. This tells me to slow down the worked rod. This approach also allows you to run a deep diver suspending jerkbait while you are running a shallow suspending bait. Then you can decide to use all deep or all shallow baits depending upon the conditions. My prespawn smallie fishing is between upper 30 degrees to 65 degrrees surface temps. The colder the water the more subtle the action. As the water warms I use more erratic movements. I also select baits with more subtle action for cold water & more erratic action for warming water. You have to learn the action of each style bait you use and develop an understanding of what works best for the conditions you are facing. Colder water with poor visibility finds me using loud colors with subtle action & loud rattles. Warmer water with good visibility finds me using subtle natural colors with more erratic action and softer rattles. Smallmouth bass are extremely curious about noise & erratic action. Remember that statement. Your jerkbait represents a dying bait fish to a smallie if properly worked. Smallies will come up thru the water column to hit a jerkbait. How far they will travel depends upon water visibility & sound. When I can see the bottom in 15 feet of water I will not hesitate to work jerkbaits out to 30 feet. I try to use a bait that will get down to the depth I want to fish based on overall water depth & visibility. If your marking fish or marking bait you can key into that depth. My jerkbait inventory covers baits that run from 2 feet down to baits that run 20-22 feet down. Now I can fish jerkbaits effectively in forty feet of water with good visibility. Since i'm fishing relatively open waters I use ten pound braid with a leader on spinning tackle. And I use ten or twenty pound braid with a leader on casting tackle. The thin braid adds up to five feet of extra depth on the baits. Now when casting jerkbaits your depth is based on the bait, line diameter & the length of your cast. Maximum depth on most baits is increased by letting out more line up to around 200 some feet with diving bills. So I run my baits back from the boat about two to three cast lengths to achieve more depth when needed. This also allows you a more stealthy approach. I find that smallies move during the day between deeper water to shallower water based upon changing conditions. So I try to target different depths until I can observe a pattern of where they will be. I do not limit myself to just one manufacture of jerkbaits. I find that on some days a particular bait from one manufcture will out preform all others. Especially on a tough bite day. So I carry about four different manufactures jerkbaits. Now within just one manufactures line of jerkbaits there can be five or six completely different baits by action, size, depth, sound, suspending, floating or slow sink & tilt. They can all shine based on changing conditions. Generally I prefer suspending jerkbaits with rattles. Then I look for level suspenders, nose down or tail down attitudes. Lucky craft probably covers the most diverse offerings of all jerkbaits manufactures in my experience. Just remember when fishing a jerkbait that you are trying to excite a neutral fish into striking it because it mimics a dying baitfish. The more action you can impart to the bait the more fired up that big smallie gets. It is very similar to teasing a cat with a mouse on a string. Some times they want it barely moving and other times they want it fast and erratic.

I'd stop by the dealership, but not just to complain about their mechanic's lack of attention, but to return the tool. Mechanics generally pay for their tools out of pocket, and I'm sure he'd like to have his pliers back.

I think it would be extremely helpful if y'all would fill out your profile so we would know where you are from. When bass spawn varies from Michigan to Louisiana & Oregon to Florida

^Taken right out of the "Winner's Guide To Success!!!" Imagine how proud our forefathers, who fought and died for our freedom in this great land of oppertunity would be if they could read these words of inspiration. Raider, employees who have integrity usually come out ahead in the long run. Integrity has been defined as "What you do when no one is looking." If you work like the boss is always watching you, you'll probably be the boss one day. That might happen through promotion within your current company, or you'll get tired of being taken advantage of and take your talents and work ethic somewhere that they will be rewarded (even if you have to create it yourself by starting your own business).

Fat-G: My old dog, Ginger, who died last March. Best dog ever. Yes, she was fat. ;D