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A guy in a bass boat caught two nice bass near our dock. I asked him what he used, since the grass was so thick there I couldn't get my lures through. He showed me a Texas Rigged plastic worm. He gave me some bullet weights, hooks, a bag of worms, and showed me how to rig it. That guy changed my bass fishing forever. I was probably 11 or 12 at the time.

I had the great pleasure to fish with Glenn May today... aka the "Clark Kent of Smallieville"... We filmed an episode of Lunkerville that I've been wanting to do for a long time and finally the stars aligned and we headed to Banks Lake in Washington State to film the "Glenn May Story". Well, Glenn did not disappoint. With a dangerous storm front moving in, and the skies looking fierce, Glenn calmly made a plan for the day and it paid off. We had constant smallie action and terrific conversation and I finally got to get to know Glenn and shoot his story for Lunkerville. The most important part of the show will be to share with folks what Glenn does for the bass fishing community. He provides EVERYONE who is interested in bass fishing with FREE access to this wonderful website; the most important bass fishing resource on the internet IMHO. Does everyone understand that he really is the SUPERMAN of bass fishing information? I do. If you've seen this guy work the floor at ICAST, you'd know what I mean. Glenn is committed to informing people about bass fishing like no one I've ever met. I just get a good feeling about people sometimes... and I had this feeling about Glenn the first time I met him. The man is passionate about bass fishing and what he's doing is important. And there aren't a lot of opportunities in life to do something that's IMPORTANT. So, thank you Glenn for taking me out fishing on your honey hole, teaching me, allowing me to get to know you a little bit, and helping me tell another great fish story. And thank you Keri and Larry for spending some time with us and having a great time at the ELECTRIC CITY BAR AND GRILL! LUNKERVILLE WILL RETURN TO ELECTRIC CITY (insert GNR music here) !!!

If at first you don't succeed, Reschedule. Going for the early November Bite. A review of Recent Records reveals the possibility of a top water bite of Epic Proportions. A-Jay

That was a drum? Seriously? That would barely be bait for the drum(s) I caught at Guntersville which were from 10 - 15 pounds. Mike/GMan wrested the Drum Major title from me at Pickwick.

It's mostly something I do in the winter and I'm usually chasing walleyes and pike when I do it but drop shotting on a river can be very effective for bass. For me the challenge is staying in touch with the bottom when there is wind and current. In slack water you can get by with a 3/8 ounce weight but out in the main channel in deeper water you'll need double that or more. I just try to equalize the boat with the current speed and drift down with it, lifting and dropping my rod to ensure bottom contact. In slack water I might drop anchor if I know I'm on fish. 12" is a good starter for distance between weight and hook. One thing is for sure, when you hook a fish on your third lift in the middle of January on the Nebraska/South Dakota border, you will always have a spinning rod rigged with a drop shot in the boat!

It changes over time. When I was a youngster and a newbie to bass fishing the original Rapala Floater was my favorite lure. Later on, the spinnerbait and the T-rigged worm became my favorites. I enjoy fishing a jig and craw now more than other lures. Who knows what the future holds?

Me too, but in fluorescent orange an flame green.

Every time I tie a bait on, I check its hooks. Every four or five casts, I check hooks. I sharpen hooks as needed, there's no specific time line. I may replace hooks on the water or in prep, or any time in between.

I do t like the LTB ds rod. I do like the Cumara an awful lot. The Cumara is well suited to a wide range of weights and retains enough power to set the hook on fish if you're rigging weedless. The 7-2 is very nice for dragging a ds, or in fishing very deep water. It's also nice for fishing larger worms like a 6" fat robo, or mag dreamshot. The 6-8 is the best compromise of length and action, however, among the most popular lengths of rod. I would very much rather have a 6-8 vs a 6-9 or 6-10 for the vast majority of what I'm doing. The 6-8 has great accuracy and more than enough power to do just about anything in 18' of water or less. Of those you mention the Cumara is my firt choice followed by the 822 Loomis. That said, if you're patient you can find a GLX for that money, and then, the whole thing becomes more complicated.

a shot of vodka now. hit the water later. it will be level before you know it

You'd be wrong in feeling that. It isn't a matter of disagreement, it's a matter of fact. Fiberglass doesn't have anywhere near the transmission rate of graphite, period. Not to mention the weight offset, you're missing fish.Couple that with the inherent flexibility of glass rods and you simply lack the power needed to drive large, single hooks home. In many, many cases, glass won't be capable of getting an adequate hook set on baits like a jig or heavy Texas rig. Glass rods are ideally suited to moving baits, and not much more than that. There was a time when the worked well for fishing everything, but they were also built a lot different at that time.

Yep. This is my world right now. A lot of traffic at the ramp and in the channel but zero bass fishing pressure. Get the funniest looks cruising by in my bass boat, they think Im nuts. But I think their nuts for owning a boat they keep in the garage most the year.

Go to the "General bass fishing" section on the top of the main forum page listing. Click on the hype post. Go to page 3 I posted a list of my variety of baits I throw.

Because of a time restraint I was unable to do my normal routine, but how does one not hit the beach at first light. Water was flat and outgoing, worst conditions possible so I'm looking for a bit of nervous water and I find some. Not much going on until I see a fin, I cast my DOA jerk shad and this jack was all over it. Fairly lengthy battle as I was using a med 7' spinning and soron 20 reel, which I planned on replacing later today at BPS, I'm rethinking that one, lol. Off in the distance I see mackerel beaking water, I switch lures to cast that far and pull in 3 spanish.

I disagree 100%. I've started to do a little "tuning" on some of my baitcast reels and I can tell a difference over the stock bearings while still using the spool brake. On 90% of my reels (Shimano's) I only use one brake block, I'm able to cast a noticeably farther distance using the one brake block and Boca Lightning 5's as opposed to one brake and the cleaned stock bearings. Nothing outrageous or anything, maybe ten to fifteen more yards if I'm really trying for max distance. The biggest difference I can tell is in the effort it takes to make a "normal" length cast. Using upgraded bearings I'd say it's probably 25% easier to make "real world" casts. I know there are times when max distance is needed but I'm simply referring to majority of the time when max distance isn't the main goal. I've just in the last two weeks started to polish some parts. I've done the spool shaft ends on a couple of reels, and the copper pressure plate that's under the cast control cap on my old Chronarch 101A. I actually think it really helped the 101A. Next time I take it down for maintenance I'm going to polish the inside of the pinion gear as well as the spool shaft. That's about all there is left to do to that reel from a performance upgrade standpoint as I've already installed a Carbontex drag, Orange Seal bearings, and ceramic line guide pawl. All in all it's really fun tinkering with your reels, you should try it.

Buddy got me a can, going hunting for it tomorrow. Love the taste of bourbon, love dip. It's pretty great.

I change the bearings to Boca orange seals on all my reels. Some it really helps, some not so much

John Rolfe would be proud.

I would very much suggest that you go to our Fishing Articles section and start reading. There is an encyclopedia of information there.

dang, i was looking forward to this reel

find current seams or areas of slack water behind riffle areas river bends. work them slow through there. it is very easy to over work casting a DS bait in a river. the smallest amount of current will do most of the work for you. moving the bait along the bottom and barely twitching it in place is all that is needed. you just need to find active fish and they will bite it. it is a "dink" magnet though from what i've found in rivers but can still catch some nice ones. a twelve inch leader is a good starting place.

In general, I like to start out with a faster-moving horizontal lure trying to locate them and catch more of them if they're active. Those lures can be topwaters, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, etc., according to conditions and personal preferences. If those don't produce then you can switch to slower-moving stuff like jigs and soft plastics.

Operation come back is underway. I caught a 17" to cull out one of my 15". This puts me at 80.5. Three days left!!!

Deadsticking a pink buzzbait really fast or burning it really slow. Killer.

A man walks into the street and manages to get a taxi just going by. He gets into the taxi and the cabbie says, "Perfect timing. You're just like Frank." Passenger: "Who?" Cabbie: "Frank Feldman. He's a guy who did everything right all the time. Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happened like that to Frank Feldman every single time." Passenger: "There are always a few clouds over everybody." Cabbie: "Not Frank Feldman. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the grand-slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play the piano. He was an amazing guy." Passenger: "Sounds like he was something really special." Cabbie: "There's more... He had a memory like a computer. Could remember everybody's birthday. He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which fork to eat them with. He could fix anything. Not like me - I change a fuse and the whole street blacks out. But Frank Fieldman, he could do everything right." Passenger: "Wow, some guy then." Cabbie: "He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Frank, he never made a mistake and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good. He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too -- the perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Frank Fieldman." Passenger: "An amazing fellow. How did you meet him?" Cabbie: "Well, I never actually met Frank. I just married his widow.

Same here but when I have forgotten my license they just used my I.d and called it in to check.

Texas Rigged Beaver. Can catch them anywhere with it.

No. Didn't measure OR weigh it. I could take a guess and say that it was almost 4 lbs. and somewhere around 14-16" long. I don't eat fish but I love the sport! All the fish I catch get their picture taken and then go back in the water ASAP. I love it when they slowly sink back in the water and give me a chance to see them swim.

Trust me if you start fishing every single day back to back for over three months from every spring till you get burned out like I did for many years you will learn something. Plus I read everything here, watched every bass fishing video from every new and old pro every off season just to stay sharp. During the spring I live bass fishing, I eat bass fishing and sleep bass fishing. Ok I eat while watching bass fishing videos or shows on tv. Now go out and try everything we learned on the water plus be ready for in education on the water. Nothing beats the time on the water fishing. The biggest thing I do when I'm bass fishing is I block out all my personal problems, my bills, my honey do list. It's me and the fish when I'm fully in the zone. Like don't even talk to me. This is why I fish alone. If your going fishing to talk stay home. If you need to solve a problem fishing isn't going to do it. Now get in the zone, block everything out, watch and pay attention to what the fish are doing, how they react to your lures. Look behind your lures for short strikes all the time on every cast. Scan the water in your area with your polarized glasses. These bigger gals will appear like ghosts very quietly and leave. I believe they come by to see what the smaller bass are biting on as we're catching them. Don't harass them but remember the area they appeared at for the future trip in the dark. It's like putting an "X" on that spot. If I do cast at that spot, I throw a plastic bait far behind it and bring it in slowly near it not on top or at it. Do it quietly. But I'd rather not spook her. Short Strikes, I learned about this from watching a Bill Dance tv show about fly fishing for bass. The cameraman was away from Bill but closer to but parallel to his casts. We could see the fly from the full cast to the boat. They never mentioned the short strikes on the program but ever cast had flashes behind his fly from short strikes. This taught me to stay focused on watching behind the lure if we can see it on every cast. Using topwater and shallow running lures. If the water is gin clear we can get quite a show. Do not over react, stay calm and fish. Don't do any quick movements with the rod go slow not to spook them, make side casts. I'm no pro nor claim to be I'm just a fisherman like you. I just watch what's going on more. I'm in no rush to fish I just go slow. Get in the zone and don't panic during the action. I enjoy catching any size bass if a larger one strikes so be it. I learn on every trip. Just enjoy every fishing trip and take notes, where your fishing, at what date and time, how many bass were caught and what size. Also include the moon phases too you may see a month to month pattern with the full Moon phases I won't tell you so you can decide. With fishing tv and videos listen to what they say but watch closely how they do it. You have all the free videos here to watch too these guys are the best. It's skill in bass fishing not luck, God bless bigbill

Nice job Liam , Now go win that Championship. I wish i was still in high school. NHIAA High School Bass Fishing qualifying round results. The top 11 teams move on to fish the finals at Lake Winnisquam on October 5th.

Treble hook baits, it keeps the fish pinned.

They could but I have never been ask for anything besides the license itself. Allen

That's a good problem to have...nice fish!

Some of y'all met my son Chad at the Bassmaster Classic dinners or at the road trip this year. Anyway, just got the news that he's been appointed to be the Texas BASS Nation youth director! I'm a proud dad!

Clearly the bite of a squatch

Nicely done!! Congrats.

4 years ago when I was shopping for reels, no one mentioned Lew's reels, For my budget it was alwasys between some form of the Revo or a BPS reel, or Some Really expencive reel that was 3 time the budget I had. Now that im searching againm Lew's in the Most recommended and the specs and price on most models seem great. I may end up with one of these Lew's reels.

I was in your shoes, and went with a 6'6" length rod. It's easier to use in areas from shore that are covered over by growth. Just something to consider.

Very Nice!!

Go to Bass Pro and buy the Humpin Toad box. There are like 50 of them for $15. If they tear them up, who cares. Just get the 5/0 EWG Magna hook and rig them Texas style with no weight. Good luck.

I so agree with this! And, as a voracious reader about fish (bass in particular) I can attest to the fact that it's hands-on that counts. I want to add that being around other anglers speeds understanding and skill enormously! I've spent a lot of time on the water but very little around other anglers, and I think of myself as almost a novice. My particular bone to pick as far as hype is concerned is the idea that bass "fatten" for the winter. Here's an amazing article I found: http://www.fishingclub.com/magazine/articles/articletype/articleview/articleid/3548/fall-bass-blitz

search baits, dont believe in the concept of them. you can call it that if you want because its the first thing you tie on or throw, but it doesnt mean its going to find you fish or work better than any other bait you couldve thrown first.

Congratulations on your New PB! I've been throwing Black n Blue a lot recently too

Congratulations!

WTG on the new PB!

Very nice fish congrats on the pb

TOTGA......the pickerel are in full bloom at Webster Lake and if you are lucky there might be a Bass or two in the mix. Thursday and today were the same results. They were hitting spinnerbaits, crankbaits and Swimmin' Ribsters....oh yeah they were hitting little Sluggos too.

Claude The Hypnotist at the Senior Home It was entertainment night at the senior citizens' center. After the community sing along led by Alice at the piano, it was time for the star of the show - Claude the Hypnotist! Claude explained that he was going to put the whole audience into a trance. "Yes, each and every one of you and all at the same time." said Claude. The excited chatter dropped to silence as Claude carefully withdrew from his waistcoat pocket; a beautiful antique gold pocket watch and chain. "I want you to keep your eyes on this watch" said Claude, holding the watch high for all to see. "It is a very special and valuable watch that has been in my family for six generations" said Claude. He began to swing the watch gently back and forth while quietly chanting "Watch the watch --- Watch the watch ----Watch the watch" The audience became mesmerized as the watch swayed back and forth. The lights were twinkling as they were reflected from its gleaming surfaces. A hundred and fifty pairs of eyes followed the movements of the gently swaying the watch. They were hypnotized. And then, suddenly, the chain broke!!! The beautiful watch fell to the stage and burst apart on impact! "S&$T!" yelled Claude. It took them three days to clean the Senior Citizens' Center, and Claude was never invited there again.

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