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For those of you who've messaged me here on the forum and I didn't respond... I want to Apologize Truth is, I failed to notice them when I get a chance to check in! Just today someone sent me an EMAIL to say that my mail box here was FULL and they weren't able to send me a message... I'll try to keep up as best I can from here forward Thanks for your patience with an old guy who doesn't understand this electronic stuff very well Big O

Oakland still has a team?

Soft plastics: Straight tail worm Ribbon tail worm Beaver style flipping bait Soft stick bait Fluke type soft jerkbait Hollow body frog Hard baits: 1/2oz. Lipless crank medium sized square bill crank Small mid range diving crank medium sized deep diving crank 5" Suspending jerkbait Walk the dog top water bait Popper top water bait 1/2 ounce flipping jig with a chunk style craw trailer 3/8 ounce finesse jig with a smaller size chunk style craw trailer 3/8 ounce Colorado/willow tandem spinnerbait 3/8 ounce buzzbait. That stuff to me is Bass fishing 101, and you can do very well sticking to the basics. Every one has there favorite brands/colors. They all work.

Congratulations, Paul M (Bass Resource member: Slonezp)! He is the winner of the "Hawged Out" Shimano Cardiff reel, with hydrodipped housings and Hawg Handle. He helped his odds in this contest, ordering three handles during the month of March. Congratulations, Paul! I know you will love this reel as much as I do (did...) Mike

I say no more forums until I get my food and drink forum.

i agree somewhat...Just because this is a classy site doesn't mean people don't stretch about the weights. There are enough threads and reports on this site to prove the point. I just think, what in the world could possibly be the downside of people including the weight on the scale to verify the fish? In every state vs state contest, there are a few that interesting. Last of all Dwight cheats. He keeps a livewell at home and feeds three fish that are in the 5, 6, and 7 pound range and takes them on field trips to the lake to take their picture and then takes them back home. A cheater i tell you.

This is very sage advice regarding a Float Plan. This site offers a lot of very entertaining information - but this stuff right here can save your live. As an Ex-USCG Search & Rescue human - I spent almost 30 years either on the water conducting the search for lost / overdue boaters or back in the Operations center collecting information and planning the actual search for the units (boats cutters and aircraft). Every trip you make, someone should know the who, what, where, when and how about your trip. This includes the following ; Where you're going - so we know where to look if you don't get home. Who is one the boat - names, ages and physical description - so we know who we are looking for and when to stop searching if victims are located unconscious / unresponsive. When you're coming back. What boat ramp you use and a description of your vehicle and trailer. What marina you use and where you get gas. A description of your vessel including length, color, make, model and type and gas tank capacity. Some supplements info such as if you have food / water on board, if you usually fish at night, if you're familiar with the water you're fishing, if you have warm clothing on board, and if anyone on board has any medical or health issues ( such as running out if medicine) helps too. If you routinely fish the same water, the same way and with the same person or people, you can collect all this info and put it in a folder and leave it with whoever, your wife, husband, brother sister, parent - it doesn't matter, just whoever it is that will be calling me to report you missing. Then, if the case arises, they just grab the info (with the emergency numbers written on the front of the folder) and make the call. Your loved one may not know what info they will need, but the people looking for you will be very happy that you did this in advance. Late boaters, called overdues, are one of the most challenging cases we prosecuted. Often times boaters are located and they ore OK, as the bite was on and they chose to stay out. That's OK at least they're safe. Other times, if no float plan is left, by the time we find out they are missing, several hours even days have past and that really makes matters worse. Cell phones although convenient are often not reliable. I would not bet my life on them. In places where a marine radio is used, that's really the way to go. Insuring that you have the required safety gear (before you actually need it) is a no brainer. PFD's, flares (check the expiration date), fire extinguisher, and a sound producing device (if required) can mean the difference being able to tell the story later and not. This is a good time of year to review all this stuff and to have a plan before you need it, so that when you do, you have a reasonable expectation that those who might be looking for you are provided the absolutely best chance to find you, because we really want to. Stay Safe A-Jay

I agree with Brian, though I don't fish competatively, it may be all in how you ask. You'll always get more bees with honey. Additionally, I will always take a few monents to help out a youngster who seems genuine, and polite. I've been know to cut a bait right off my set up and donate it to the right cause. Some one did that for me way back when and I've never forgotten it. A-Jay

A number of us "more mature guys" (slang for old goats) use the term "Float Plan" to describe the information we write down and leave at home when we go fishing. We have many new Forum members and guys and gals just starting bass fishing and I am going to suggest everyone create their individal "float plan" when going fishing. My wife knows the following when I take the boat out or go to a pond far, far away: Place going fishing Location of ramp Time to launch Time expected to be back Cell phone numbers of others fishing with me or in the tournament By doing this my wife knows where I will be and what time I am expected to be home. I also call her when I trailer the boat so she can put the life insurance policies back in the desk drawer. A "float plan" is an excellent way to let family and friends know what you are doing just in case there is an emergency. Give it a try.

You do not pay her insurance company - make the company you pay your hard earned money to, do their job. Get any and all money from your own company and let your insurance company deal with all the administrative matters. I will not ever speak to any other company other than the one I pay and I refer all matters to them. That's their job. Otherwise, what are you paying them for ? ? ? ? ? Time is money and you spent yours so that if and when this happened, you have already paid for someone else to deal with this in advance. A-Jay

Looks like a 3lb. Nice catch either way. Its a rod bender.

Sounds like you need to mix it up and try something different. Big fish don't get big by being dumb. It may take you many many trips to catch a lunker but you will learn about the lake in the process. Try fishing the lake at differnt times of the day and night with various baits. In a lake that small you could probably fish the entire thing in a few hours and then head back later and do it again. This will help you figure out where and when they feed. It also never hurts to keep a log of your activity, what baits, what time, water temp, weather etc...then when you do catch the fish you can look back and say this is what i did and these were the conditions and try and replicate on the next outing. On a few of hte lakes i frequent i know spots that hold bigger fish and i try and hit them in prime feeding times that i figured out on previous trips. Also a 5lb LM while a good fish is hardly wall material in my oipinion. Good luck!!

I've seen this livewell. He has more than three fish.

I haven't prepared a speech. I'd like to thank all those who made this possible. My father for not using a condom 43 years ago. Bass Resource, Shimano, and most of all Hawg Tech for making a highly functional work of art. I used the handle I ordered last year for the first time this past Saturday, on a Revo STX(not the one in the pic) Has a really good feel to it and an even better look. Matches the trim on the new boat. A little history for you naysayers. I had never thought of ordering a reel handle until I stepped on my Revo and bent the handle. Just so happened it was around the same time Hawg Tech started advertising on BR. I used the bent handle for the remaining of the season and ordered the new handle during the off season. I really like the carbon fiber look but I'm a sucker for cork. Cork just looks classy to me, and fishing and cork go hand in hand. Hell, you can only get cork with expensive wine nowadays. Now if I could only get the red annodized caps for my Ardents. The box with the 3 handles was waiting at my door when I got back from the lake on Saturday. Here is a pic of the result.

WRB, you left our Method 4. When we sort of exagerate a little on our catches. Like, "Man was she a monster. Musta been at least 35 inches long and really heavy. Next time I'll bring a scale. Come to think about it, she was at least 38 to 40 inches. i got a hernia from lifting her into the boat."

It certainly is a clean machine. Congratulations, and may she serve you well for years to come. Have fun.

Anymore I buy the majority of my stuff on-line. Much better selection and no tax. Mostly wait till I have an order of $50 or more so I can get free shipping. Tackle Warehouse is my favorite.

Joey, I'd recommend you stick with your Shakespeare spinning combo for now. No reason to "graduate" to a baitcaster any time soon. I didn't for years and years. In fact, some of us here on the boards don't even use baitcasters and catch plenty of fish. Don't let TV or magazines fool you into believing you have to throw the same stuff you see people doing on shows, on commercials. They want your dollars. Save 'em and become proficient at what you have now, then, when you feel ready to move to the next level, do so.

I have mounted 4 or 5 transducers on aluminum boats. I squeeze silicon into the hole and then coat the screw and tighten it up. I have never had one leak. If I changed transducer mounts and cannot use the original holes I put the screws back into the original holes with the silicon and never had one of them leak. I like silicon a lot better that epoxy because you can remove it.

Is the title in hand and in her name? I bought my first boat from a couple getting divorced and got a great deal. The woman was one of my customers so I wasn't going in blind

I know nothing about Milford Lake in Kansas, but, you've got to find the areas where the smallmouth will spawn. The temps might be a bit low for a real good bite, but some fish should be moving toward their spawning grounds. Different lakes could have smallies spawning in 1 foot or 10 feet of water. If you can, find out what the major forage is, then match that in terms of size and color. Pre-spawn smallies on my favorite lake are gorging on minnows that are only 1 to 2 inches long. Lucky Craft Pointer 65's are perfect. If your minnows are larger, the 78's or 100's may work better. I find mine, just off shallow spawning flats in water around 6 feet deep. Power fish until you find them. Once you locate them and the bite slows, clean up the rest with a 4" senko.

Another pic

Fished the Jimmy McMillan memorial tourny sat outta slims, had 2 good ones that weighed 10lbs and 3 that only weighed 2.8lbs for a total of 12.8. Didnt fish the area we took 4th last week and probably good i didnt my buddy I fished with last weekend ran there and only got one fish. I had 2 good bites early and thought i was in for a good day, but never could get the rest of em. Brandon came in 2nd and mickeybalzz came in 3rd and couple others i know did well were pretty close to slims so if you have been waiting to make your way up there, I think the south ease section is fixing to explode. Took a friends son out off mile marker 35 and caught as many 11 inch fish as you could handle sunday. He had fun, coming back in i saw a monster on bed on the rocks linning the alley but didnt try to catch her. Didnt fish myself just took advice I got here (thanks) and threw some 4 inch yum dingers and he had a blast.

Sam as a "well seasoned" angler I am more aware of my mortality than I used to be. I lost a very good friend almost two years ago because he did not take the proper precautions while fishing/boating. I still go fishing and primitive camping alone occasionally but whether I'm alone or not, going for a few hours or several days, I make sure my wife and daughter know all the information you suggested. I also wear an inflatable flotation device, make sure all safety devices are working and up to date, and take along rain gear and extra clothes. As A-Jay saw many times during the course of his career, things can go bad in an instant and survival often depends on being prepared. Thanks for the reminder.

Rage Craw and Baby Rage Craw

I grew up with a couple friends who were genetic freaks like that.I would spend hours lifting and running to try and better myself and they would sit around eating pizza and drinking beer and staying out all night.I hate to admit it but when it came time to compete against them they were still better than me.

Funny, Dean. Yep, Oakland is coming back. I was surprised the Packers cut Flynn after his outstanding preseason game where he threw for over 300 yards. He is a proven winner; has a BCS National Championship under his belt; and can read and write. He is also a pro style quarterback. Here come the Raiders!!!!

Humminbird 346c DI. That will give you 2D sonar plus Down Imaging in a color display in your price range.

I use a spinning set up with braided line (10# test 2# diam ) with a 6# floro leader and never have a line twist problem.I have a habit of closing the bail by hand before i start turning the handle on a retrieve.I found out that helps out alot with line twist prevention.

Length measurements depend on how the bass length is measured. Laid on the flat surface, mouth closed; Method 1. IGFA; the length is measured from the tip of the lower jaw to the center of the tail V down the lateral line. Method 2. Bass tournament; same as 1, except to the longest length of the tail, imaginary line from tail end tips, not the slight V depression. Method 3. Fish biologist; similar to method 1, except to the start of the tail base. Bass are not measured hanging downward with mouth open to the tip of the tail, as was more than likely how the George Perry bass was measured! The fact remains no authentic photo of George Perry holding his bass has ever been published. There was a photo of someone unidentified holding a big bass along side a young boy from that era, however the basses body mass doen't come close to a 22 lb 3 oz LMB. With 32" length and 26" girth reported for the Perry bass. Dottie was 29.25" long. The Kurita bass, current WR is 29" long (method 2). My maximum length measure to method 1 = 30" Tom

Matt, you can go with both. I do. Probably my preference is to use spinning gear. The issue with line twist is easily solved by moving to braid for your mainline and using a leader (or not). Braid doesn't have line management issues like mono, copoly, or fluoro. So you can go with 10-15lb braid, and use a leader anywhere from 6 - 15 pounds (give or take). TIe on your wacky style hook with a snell knot, or a palomar, and go to town. I do the same with my baitcaster. I use braid main, plus a leader.

Way to go!!

I have never used leader material. I buy 200-250 yard spools of Seaguar Red Label and they last a long time. I have posted this "chart" before on how I match my braid to my fluoro. leaders Spinning gear 10lb braid w/ 6, 8,10lb leaders 15lb braid w/ 8,10,12lb leaders 20lb braid w/ 10,+12lb leaders Casting gear 20lb braid w/10,12,15lb leaders 30lb braid w/15,17,20 lb leaders 50lb braid w/17,20lb leaders

Good start!

new for 460.00

I'm getting antsy. Wait, I'm going to run out and check my mailbox. What's the hold up? I ordered these nearly 3 hrs. ago....lol Hootie

Thanks everyone. It's going to be so nice to be able to get off the bank this year.

Can't say for sure that this was the smallest fish bass I've ever caught, but it's up there.

I tossed to a 15"-16" bass along some cattails and this guy ambushed me.

trash the leader.go all braid.

easter lunch my house with the family then off to the lake and fish for awhile

Happy Easter to you as well. Hope everyone is having a good one.

Because a lot of rods they are using when they are lifting fish can take it. I rod lift most anything under 4lbs............on my jig/worm rods, or flipping and pitching gear. Yet I will net, or lip a 12" on a spinning rod. If you use the fishes momentum, on stout gear, it puts little stress on the rod.

I never started this early in the season before so I asked a few more experienced cold water anglers. They all advised jigs, craws, anything really slow. Nothing worked. So I started going back to what I knew better. As soon as I tried on crankbaits, swimbaits and spinners I started catching fish. They're not hitting worms yet but my roommate gets at least 2 fish on a rage craw everytime he's been out. You just got to find what they want.

Pflueger president bait casting PQ spinning

Probably not bad ettiquette, but still, I'd probably just watch and see what they were throwing.... and chances are, it wouldn't be something I'd want to throw anyway. In fact, if the guy was fishing what most of the other guys in that tourney were fishing, I'd only want to know what that lure was, to make sure I wasn't throwing anything even remotely close to it. Peace, Fish PS, But then again, anytime I'm on the water, I do everything in my power to stay as far away from other people (fishermen, or otherwise) as I posibly can..... So I usually don't get close enough to ask or answer questions anyway... except maybe at the ramp, before or after the trip.

Get a high Strength Carabiner about the same size as that hookup on your boat and hook your tie downs to that.

California is 1,000 long and like fishing 3 states with different weather and lake sizes. A 12 lb bass could be caught throughout the state. Are you in SoCal, Central or NorCal? Tom OK, just retread your first sentence and see you are in SoCal, that helps. We are in early pre spawn in most lakes and late pre spawn in some others. The bigger bass are in deeper water than you are fishing. The smaller bass are either jueveknile 1 year old bass and extremely aggressive or small males staking out very shallow nest sites. Can you see larger bass cruising or smaller bass holding on nest sites? Are you fishing the back of coves? Your lures choices are not your problem, it's where you are fishing. So when you say bigger bass lets define what you are looking for; 3 to 5 lbs? Or larger bass? Try using a shad colored Chatter bait in the shallower flat spawning areas. Also try moving out to secondary points and fishing your grubs and Senko's in 3' to 20' to start with. Our lakes are high pressured lakes, so try to be very quite, the larger bass are wary of boats. Tom

Thanks for that find. I definitely just can not get into aluminum boats for some reason. Something about the way they look throw me off.

40's and rain? Try 30's and snow flurries and then come talk to me. LOL