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I use High Vis Yellow has a backing... that way I know how close I am to the backing when I'm casting. If i get to the point I can see the yellow really well on a cast I know it's getting close to time to change out the line.

Don't assume that all the members on this forum are just "weekend anglers".

^ Is he going to get yelled at for not posting in the introductions section? ^

This experiment is conducted by thousands of anglers every year through the Federation and Opens. And, every year, thousands of weekend warriors try to move up through the ranks the same way the pros have had to (with sub-par equipment). Not many make it. The few who do would excell with or without the best of the best equipment. For those of you who think you could compete, go ahead and sprint up throgh the ranks of BASS, take your winnings and sponsor dollars, buy the high-dollar equipment, and show us how good you are. The oppertunity is there!

Never heard of Lake Paho before that. Sounds like an awesome little lake.. Well I found a little shop I really like to take the transmission to so i'm having it rebuilt... it should easily be ready in time for Melvern. Hopefully before, cause I might have to *ahem* test out that drivetrain and hit some other lake earlier in the week getting rusty over here...

It was on Animal Planet, it's a heep of garbage,straight bs.

Grimlin, I can tell you from first hand experience that it doesn't always matter what the other person is using. There's a guy I fish with once in a while who seems to have the gift of Jimmy Houston (or just pick your favorite pro). He will throw a weightless worm, let it sit and then shoot the breeze with you. Next thing you know he's got a bass on the end. One day he was casting a spoon and caught a rock bass, a smallie, a crappie and a bream. I would try the same exact thing and nothing doing. Just like your signature says, a lot has to do with your confidence in you lure. You can take most lures and fish them at least 4 different ways. It's all part of the fun.

I don't care for the Uni/Uni connection, only because of the bulk of the knot. It "clicks" when flowing through the rod guides on the cast. I've been using the Alberto (double Albright) a lot in the past few years and have become pretty good at whipping it up in a hurry. It has never failed me and is a much slimmer knot. JMO.

I do close to 100% of my freshwater fishing with 2 combos, I may use something else once in a while just for variety. Pond and open water, med 6/12 spin rod and 30 supreme 10# braid, any lure or soft plastic within the rod parameters. Heavy cover and hi banked canals, med spin 8/17 35 supreme 15# braid, any lure or soft plastic within the rod parameters. One of my exceptions are frogs, at times I will use one of my saltwater mh spin rods. 60 years of fishing has made me quite adaptable on hooksets, I'm on auto pilot regardless of what rod or line I'm using, it's all second nature I don't give it too much thought.

that is awesome. that guy deserves it for what he has done for our country. we wouldnt be fishing today if it wasent for those people who fight for our country. i hope he does well enough to get sponsers and continue to fish on the pro level. that would be amazing. thanks for sharing. i dont know if its a rerun or not, but just so you know i havent seen it. lol

Get my butt handed to me just like 99.99% of the "enthusiasts", why not buy a "pro" set of boxing gloves and get in the ring with a top pro, same thing...

Hey Eric, I think I saw you on T.V. Were you wearing a white shirt, sitting in between two people who were also wearing white shirts? Yep, that's you.

For enthusiasts, technique specific gear is fun to collect. However, three rigs cover all the basics: #1 6 1/2' or 7' MH baitcaster for jigs, some soft plastics and spinnerbaits #2 6 1/2' or 7' MM baitcaster for treble hook lures #3 7' MF spinning rod for lighter lures and a variety of techniques

Ok, so you want to learn how to use the Gen2 w/sidescan. That's a very, very broad topic (GPS, maps, sidescan, downscan, "regular" sonar, etc). So let's narrow it down a bit. What's the first thing you'd like to learn about?

Have a marshmallow roast.

In the overall scheme of things reel lube/grease will be one of the cheapest products you will buy. Compared to fuel, line, baits, etc., twenty bucks ain't much, when you consider how many times you can use it to lube your reels. I'd stick with the brand of lube the reel maker recommends. Some like Hot Sauce, if memory serves, is not compatible with all reels. It can literally ruin internal parts of some brands from what I've read on this forum. You may pay more, but you won't go wrong using the products with the manufacturers name on them.

Take a look at TG's RocketFuel and Cal's drag grease.

Well their are no absolutes in fishing. But for spinner baits a 6'6" mh/f is fine and a 6'6"-7 mh is generally ok for most techniques. . I generally try to keep it simple This is how I determine what rid get what technique. 1: single hook lures get a mh or sometimes heavy depending on cover. 2: treble hook lures get a M. Now length. You need to look at what you' will be doing with what. Techniques that require accuracy I go with a 6'6" -7' With the exception being top water and jerk baits I also use the short rods for those cause I don't want the rod slapping the water on the retrieve. Open water techniques get a longer rod. Such as as a Carolina rig or casting a jig. I'm not so concerned with accuracy as I am with throwing the lure a long way. With this system it has made it easy for me to purchase the rod I need. So let's say you wanna buy a worm rod. A it's single hook so you'll need a mh. Now if you are fishing cover and need accuracy go with 6'6"-7. If fishing open water structure an need a long cast go with 7'3" -7'6".

When was the last time you oiled it? Also, have you checked your compressor tank for water? Lack of oil and/or moisture in the lines will ruin a good air tool in a short time.

Well I got to Lake Paho today with the wife. It got pretty hot and I didn't want to keep her out in it for too long but still spent about 6 hours on the lake. Very well kept little lake and ramp. Trailer never touched gravel the whole way there and it was easy to get to. Water was stained to muddy in some area and the banks were pretty much either rock or mud. Not a deep lake at all, deepest water I saw as I was idling across (no wake if your motor is bigger than 10hp) was 22' with a majority being 6' or less within a cast of the bank. Lots of willow trees hanging over or growing in the water and lots of brushpiles in the lakes in some areas. There's also a little bit of weeds growing in the water but not very thick yet. If I wasn't around wood I wasn't catching fish. I caught my first bass of the morning on a KVD squarebill on a fishing pier and that was it for moving baits and catching fish on anything other than wood. Now to the good parts. Like I said small one on the squarebill, couldn't buy a fish on a jig like I thought I could. Got to the first laydown and flipped a YUM wolly bully into it and caught another little chunky 14 incher. Flipped a couple really good looking trees and nothing. Got to thinking the water was pretty murky for color I was fishing so I switched to a black and blue Havoc Pitboss. First tree got a tick and stuck a good one. She was hung in the tree for a minute but I leaned on her pretty hard and she popped loose and the fight was on. She wallowed around on the top a little before I got ahold of her. 4.40lbs from the big nasty cedar tree behind me. Hit a couple other brushpiles and caught another 3lber. Flipped to a laydown and when I lifted I felt nothing. Cranked like crazy and caught up with the fish and hit her hard. Almost exactly a pound smaller than the first one, 3.39 on the same bait. Caught a few more small ones flipping trees before I ran out of good bank and putted across. Tons of willows with bass fry everywhere on the other side. I stuck another one in the 4lb range that wrapped up in the tree and came off. We got into the back of a cove and I saw a couple big fish in a willow tree. I could tell one was a carp, the other looked too green to be a carp. Pitched my bait and it caught a leaf and landed right on top of the fish. It was obvious that it was a bass that shot off and I thought I ruined my chance when she spun around, tipped down and inhaled my bait. She shot out of the water as high as I've ever seen a fish that size go and gave me a heck of a fight. 4.80lbs on an Okechobee craw Pitboss (ran out of black and blue). I caught another 3 pounder off the same tree I caught the 3lber earlier in the morning on a black and blue Rage craw. I had to fish the first couple brushpiles from the morning before we left, since I had the right bait now. The first one was a huge dead cedar, nasty real estate for a big fish to be. Pitch, shake, shake, thump! Slammed the rod back and she didn't budge. Seesawed back and forth on the limb, saw a big white side flash then she was gone. Don't want to guess a weight but without a doubt bigger than anything else I caught. Made a couple more pitches to that tree before I spun around and flipped into the smaller cedar behind me. Pitched in and lifted into weight. Crossed her eyes and the same thing happened. Tug of war, flash, gone. Another one that was bigger than the rest. Disappointing but still good to see that the monsters are there since it was the first time on the lake.

19# of drag for bass fishing is overkill, I've never had a bass been unstoppable using less than half that drag. My typical set up for bass is 15# braid and 20# mono leader( which is pretty much the same for my snook fishing), I don't use f/c leaders for freshwater. IMO you were effectively fishing with 14# test, as mentioned that's the weakest link. Not all line breaks at the same strength, this site, although not done by a testing company, will give you an insight to where lines break, this one is for 10# lines, the other one for 20# lines, too bad it's a little on the old side but still good information. http://www.gamefishi...es/linetest.htm http://www.sportfish...-break-strength

There's your problem, the weakest link broke. (and I'll keep the Vanish jokes to myself)

The hotter it gets the deeper the bass will be at Black Hills. They will be shallow in the morning but when the sun is out only dinks and panfish are shallow from my experience. Something I have observed here is from the pics is those catching spawning fish are fishing the main lake. Bass spawn in waves starting from the backs of the coves then outward onto the main lake. Fish in the main lake spawn last because it is the last to warm up. Allen

While fishing the creek today, I came across a Large Mouth bass protecting it's bed. I was able to put the underwater video camera right next to the bed and record her. I ran my bait by her a few times to see if I could catch her even though I already caught her before thinking about video taking. At the 3:50 mark you can see my bait go by and a blue gill come and and grab it. Not the most exciting thing you'll ever see, but I think it's pretty cool.

Looks like everyone enjoying some success here. We got out to Greenbrier State Park last Sunday. I caught three LM...biggest being about a 1 1/2 pounds. All three caught on a Yum Money Craw in June Bug color. No signs of spawn there. We might get out today but not sure where. Hope everybody keep's catchin' em.

I'm a bigger fan of wacky than Texas, but I will do both. In addition to split-shotting, drop-shotting, etc. Weeds can be a nuisance for wacky rigging, but I still throw non-weedless hooks all the time. Just get used to cleaning it after each cast. Sometimes a few choice words are thrown in for good measure, LOL. Part of the reason is I'm out of weedless hooks... For me, wacky presentation brings in the most fish - by far. My primary go-to worms are the Zoom Finesse 4.75", Trick 6", and I'm testing the magnum out; other primary is Yamamoto Senkos. I keep trying the off-brands believing they'll work just as well, but they just don't. Not that they won't catch fish, I just have more strikes and hook-ups with Yammies than anything else I've tried. Got plenty of colors, but the most successful are the stand-bys: watermelon (magic), green pumpkin (magic, and with chartreuse tail). Senkos - watermelon gold flake, magic, green pumpkin/magic, gp/wmln laminate... Hooks: Gamakatsu Wide Gap Finesse in #4, #2, and #1. I caught my personal best 7 1/2 lber in thick grass on a wacky rigged senko with a #2 hook. Brought in a couple 2 or 3 pounds of grass along with her, not a single issue with the hook whatsoever. Also use the Split-shot/drop shot Gammies, have some Owner, but prefer Gammies. For TX rigged, usually stay 1/8oz bullets unpegged or 3/16oz, black, anywhere from a #1-4/0 hook, typically a round bend. Like the smaller profile Zooms here. Senkos typically thrown weightless. Just need to let them sink, work 'em slowly or vary the retrieve speed. Love to use around timber. Still fish wacky around timber, often to my frustration...glutton.

Previous to getting Gaston, I had kept herding dogs, mostly German Shepard Dogs. I had to retrain myself to training Weims, they don't just listen like herding breeds. Once I taught myself to use food incentives as my primary training tool, I found that the sky is the limit with these dogs. You can really train them to do anything, and I do mean ANYTHING. There are some ground rules to living with a Weimeraner. 1. Unattended food is fair game. 2. It isn't a fence, it is a puzzle. 3. The word "indestructible" on the label of a dog toy is a lie. 4. Excitement will not be contained physically. 5. That leash is there so YOU can keep up.

Unless you don't care abour cost don't start with braid. When learning to bait cast you will no doubt get some big time backlashes and need to cut them out. Brais is too pricey to cut. Start with a soft mono and practice in the yard. Read the instructions with the reel and those in this site.

RW I have been catching some decent sizes out in collierville. I been fishin the pond right next to the daycare on Shea Rd (next to firestation) just off of Houston Levee at 385. I'm gonna hit Glen Springs this weekend. Any word on how its been out there?

Germantown public parks. Neshoba is behind Chick-fil-A (Germantown Parkway/ Wolf River) Grove is near Houston Middle School There are three ponds on the north side of Humphries between Germantown Parkway and Baptist Hospital.