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Hey folks, There seems to be a swirl of misconceptions circulating through the web regarding holding a bass. It seems some people think it's incredibly easy to break a jaw and/or kill a bass simply by holding a fish straight up and down, or sideways without supporting them. The former won't cause any damage, and while the latter method COULD cause damage, it's not automatic, and is far less likely the lighter the fish is. I see so many people these days screaming a fish is killed when a 1-pounder is held sideways, or when they see a fish held by any other means than sideways with support....it's great people are thinking about conservation, but that's over-the-top. While I never want to see a fish injured due to improper handling, it's become abundantly clear that there are some misunderstandings about holding a fish when I see people get angry and upset over folks holding fish in ways that are perfectly fine. So, here's a short video that clears up some of those misconceptions. Hope it helps!

When the lake freezes.

Do you think it would have been your PB goose?

Punishment with a wooden spoon, wooden paddle, tree switch or leather belt was very common when I was a kid. I remember my mother wacking me with a wooden kitchen spoon and it broke. I just smiled until she told me my father would be charge of all punishment thereafter. It all comes down to the severity of the whacks or blows. A few welts on the buttocks was not unheard of but multiple welts like in the pictures suggests a parent out of control & looks like abuse to most people. It has yet to be determine who caused those welts. Time will tell.

If it's shallow enough where my rod will touch down, my favorite technique is to reel down to the jig then poke and shove my rod tip into the rocks and crevices until my jig is free. I may ruin a $140 rod but I got my $2.99 jig back!

I grew up with the belt, the spoon, the shoe, the paddle at school, etc. and I used to spank my kids but I cut it out years ago. I don't think it's reasonable to plant your flag at either extreme end of the debate; corporal punishment can be both somewhat effective AND somewhat damaging, and frankly I think it has more to do with what the kid takes away from the experience rather than what the parent intends; even in the same family a sound butt-whooping will affect each kid differently. I believe in a parent's right to discipline his or her kids as they see fit, but regardless of what the law says, I think that if you're leaving bloody welts and feel bad about it, you might want to explore why that is and take the additional steps to reassess your overall disciplinary approach, your decision-making process, and whether there might be better alternatives.

Lund Explorer - I had the same thoughts. How many people know the true shock and horror of Dec 7th without Googling it? Every now and then, I'll ask somebody under the age of 30 what they know about that date, or June 6th, or August 6th and 9th. Very rarely do they know.

In my world - spinnerbaits (just like cranks) MUST run Straight & True. I feel quite a bit less confident in the baits ability to get bit if they do not. Supplemental Info: I do a good bit of night time spinnerbait fishing. I've had nights were the bite was very good and my spinnerbait was being crushed routinely. After a 3 or 4 lb smallie the bait almost always needs at least some adjustment to run right. In my hast to get out the next cast, sometimes I would make the adjustment without testing the bait in the water to see if it's running true. When it's not running "straight" the fish rarely hit it - even at night. I hate using my light if I can help it but now I'll bite the bullet and use the red lens head lamp in the water to check it. These results may not be typical and your results may vary. A-Jay

What did your history books have to say about the day an invading army burned down the White House, Congress, and many other government buildings in Washington DC? How many of your peers even know that it actually did happen? My point, is that the events of 9/11 will lose most of its shock value someday and new events will take center stage in our collective memories. As our country ages it will create more history and more of our history will be set aside for the sole use of the few history geeks. Let's not even consider the large segment of our population that can only remember two dates. July 4th and December 25th!

I was not aware he testified, I did miss that.. I also share many of you're concerns as well, except on corporate punishment. The extreme lack of discipline shown today has had a poor impact on the nation... Punishment is not to be confused with child abuse....

I talked with Clayton Bryant of CL8 Baits and he's building my rat this weekend! Thanks for the help guys!

Most of the players/thugs that you are watching in the NFL now are all from the "Time Out" generation. Ask any of the members here that are 50 or older and see how they were punished. My Parents and Grandparents would all be in jail by today's standards.

Just cause they're on your smart phone app doesn't mean they're there. There's stuff on my both my Navionics chip and MapSource program that isn't actually on the lake.

Imagine the personal satisfaction when you outfish your guide from the back of the boat. Now that's a challenge.

Yesterday participated in a team open with a buddy from my club. 3rd cast broke PB smallie of 4lbs 3oz with a 4lb 5oz! Awesome right? Nope it gets better. So were fishing a hump about 50 feet from shore. It's 8ft deep with a nice weed bed about 100ft stretch. He's up front throwing a spinner bait and I'm in the back flipping the pockets. Out of the corner of my eye see a huge splash about 10 ft off shore. Did you see that? No but I heard it probably a carp he says. I didn't see orange so I drop flipping stick pick up my senko rig(see avatar) I launch a cast to the area I saw the splash. I let out an additional 20 ft of line and get tap tap tap. He says if it's tapping light might be bluegill or perch. All of a sudden drag is screaming and my pole is bent in half. I start reeling and it's game on. The fish ran to deep water in between us and shoreline. My buddy gets the net and the fish comes up and starts entering the weed area. I'm like nooooo dude move boat deeper. He's all nonchalant like just get him up to surface I'm like dude get the f'n trolling motor!!!! He spins the boat the fish is now in weeds. I'm like noooooooo! He's like horse him up I'm like I can't it's 6# test. He's like What the blank are you doing with 6# test in a tourney! I'm like it's my drop shot rod! So we're yelling back and forth lol I get the fish to the surface and swing and miss with the net. Fish dives under the boat! At this point I'm sweating praying the line doesn't snap and knot doesn't fail. I muscle him up and out the water he jumps! Nooooo I he spit the hook? Went light, d**n me, I start reeling nope he's still on! Woohoo! Swoop of the net number 2 right next to the motor and we got him! 4lbs 8oz! Not only did I break my PB but I did so TWICE and In a tourney! We ended up with 4 SM and 4 LMB 8/8. My 2 smallies weighing 8lbs 13oz. We went to weigh in thinking we had 18lbs or so as we didn't weigh the largies. Ended up 22.38 which put us in 3rd and I lost lunker to a 5lb LMB. We won $740. Best tourney experiences to date! - thanks for reading!

Xcite Baits Raptor Tail Worm 7" and 10" floats.

Uptom's Customs 8 1/2" ribbon tail is about 13" long stretched out and floats fairly good. Tom

There are thousands of crankbaits, some work better than others. I think your money is better spent on a few tried & true. Specifically I would recommend the Norman Fat Boy, KVD 2.5, Red Eye Shad, DT6 and Bandit 200 to start with.

I have heard pike in different places even in Mendums but no strong populations other then normal places and rivers CT and Merrimack, In Maine Long Lake is being recognized as having some heavy pike now, I have had some decimate my bass lures a couple times.

NFL vs US (The general population). Overall they are are better behaved! http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-rate-of-domestic-violence-arrests-among-nfl-players/

My last 2 trips revealed that the river smallmouth I fish for are going into fall transition, they won't hit a spinnerbait or topwater but we found them very much eating shallow cranks but last week that stopped as well. Anyway, I noticed that we were getting the fish on Sub Warts and Baby 1 Minus baits in the shallow water before a ledge, the water drops off into 3' of water instantly and then the rushing water slows as the bottom tapers into a 5' pool. Well naturally we fished the pools with jigs and plastics and not a single bite so I decided to probe the drop off, if fish are eating they will go there as food gets trapped in the rolling action of the water going over the ledge. I didn't have a bait that got to 3' but I did have a few Manns Baby X baits which on 10lb line hits 2', maybe a few inches more if you burn it but I gave it a shot and it was then that I remembered why I got these 2 years prior. I made a dozen casts into the rolling water below the ledge and pulled out 7 smallmouth, afterward I came home and ordered a few more as no local shops, including Cabelas or Bass Pro Shops carries them and that is why I made this post. Why doesn't this bait get any attention? It isn't glamorous and it cost a lot less that the Spro Baby Fat John 50 but it is incredibly effective, I know the lip looks kind of crude but it makes the bait bounce wildly off of rock and that there is a major point. The only drawback I can see is the lip angle causes it to trip over rock but it runs only slightly nose down and it leaves the hooks exposed to grab on brush so to me it is only a rock bait. That said, it is a killer on rip rap, the original reason I got it as my Bomber Square A baits and Xcalibur XCS square bills run a little too deep for a specific body of water I fish but it was the first time I used it for river smallmouth and I could not be happier, gray ghost and bluegill work in both stained and clear water. These are made in America and are fairly inexpensive, they can be had for five bucks and some change and are well worth it, so if you need something that runs in the 2' to 2,5' depth check them out, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Sure all sports have their stars who committ crimes, but the NFL takes the cake by far. Just recently look at Tank Johnson, Michael Vick, Plaxico Burress, Donte Stallworth, Pacman Jones, Ray Lewis, Ray Rice, Aaron Hernandez and there are a lot more. These people aren't just criminals, they are violent criminals. That doesn't make the NFL look bad? Maybe not to you, but this problem is NOWHERE near as prolific in other sports as it is football. In fact, this is a big reason why I have no interest in the NFL anymore. I have no interest in watching guys who arguably should be serving lenghthy prison sentences ( ESPECIALLY STALLWORTH AND RICE) be looked at as stars, let alone role models. All NFL players are not thugs, not by a long shot. But that doesn't mean the thug/upstanding citizen ration isn't higher in football that in other sports. In all professional sports, there is always a policy of tolerance towards star players, regardless of what that level of tolerance may be. I just stick to MLB. Rarely are MLB stars incarcerated. Sure, some may dabble in PEDs now and then, but they don't get arrested for it. I'm hard pressed thinking of an MLB player who has been arrested for violence, other than former 2B Chuck Knoblauch.

all great advice. if/when you need to buy new stock consider the burner blades. i'm becoming a big fan of strike king burners b/c the blades are much thinner. the thin blades mean they aren't as finicky about being in tune. they even stay vertical when you burn them fast as a rabbit. and they stay down when hunting in deep water for hogs bc the blades don't lift. in my book its a and all around win. war eagle has 'screaming eagles' too http://www.***.com/Strike_King_Burner_Spinnerbait/descpage-SKBS.html

So there's a bird with a cavitron hang out of him flying around somewhere?? Hahaha

When a professional athlete has a lapse in judgement like we are seeing, it certainly doesn't ruin his career, see Plaxico and Vick, among tons of others, they make amends, pay their debt to society and move on. The NFL certainly has enough players getting in trouble but I would not place them at the top, I think they are the most popular sport in America, and get the most scrutiny, but MLB, NHL and certainly NBA have more than their fair share of players committing crimes, and many of them go under the radar. The players getting into trouble in the NFL don't make the NFL look bad, they make themselves look bad, however the manner in which they are punished by the league is what makes the NFL look bad.

Drew and I fished Leavenworth State Lake in the beautiful weather yesterday afternoon. I got on the water about 2 and Drew got out there around 3:30. Took me a minute to start to figure them out but we ended up on a really strong pattern by the end. Bluegill colored moving baits were far and away our best colors and water 6' or shallower was where they needed to be at. Backs of any pocket and the backs of the major arms were for sure our best spots. Water has come back up a lot but still a few feet low. Lots and lots of shoreline vegetation in the water but very few fish out of that stuff, just on the edges of it. I was doing most my damage with a Baby Gill Big Head Wobbler with a lime purple passion Pit Boss rigged sideways on the back, Drew started slow and then set them on fire with a KVD 1.0 in bluegill color. I also caught a few on a spinnerbait and Duo Realis Popper 64 and quite a few on a XRK50 also. No monsters but lots of very healthy looking fish, many of them had very large craws in their throats but we couldn't hardly get a bite on a jig. I also caught about a 3 pound wiper and showed Drew how to bass fish for catfish using a chunk of a bluegill he caught and caught 7-8 pound channel cat. We didn't keep track of numbers but there was well over 50 fish brought to the boat before we called it a night.

Doesn't matter what I think. The man's actions and the results will be judged according to the current Texas Laws. The Mandatory Reporting Requirements make it unlawful not to report it. A-Jay http://statelaws.findlaw.com/texas-law/texas-child-abuse-laws.html http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/child-abuse-overview.html

Hello all I am going to fish in my first tournament this month on Lake Eufaula in OK. It is the PVA bass tour. I am a paralyzed fisherman that normally fishes ponds and lakes from shore. This is going to be a new experience for me. Hopefully it is a good experience and I will want to fish some of the other tour stops. Anyway, Im not too concerned about the logistics of fishing from a wheelchair on a bass boat. I am asking for advice from those of you who have experience fishing that lake. I want to make sure I take the baits that will give me a decent chance at catching some fish. If it helps,, my confidence baits are jigs, senkos, squarebills, soft plastics. I would like to know what colors I need to be taking, sizes, etc. Also, if there are any baits that may not be confidence baits for me Im all ears. Thanks in advance for any input

Yes that was me. I was trying to make the 8:00 gate time as well. By my watch I rolled out at 7:58. Fishing was alright. Good topwater action near sunset with poppers. I let me new PB get off the hook :-(

Lund Explorer hit the nail on the head . The History books don't tell it all and after reading about an event the shock factor isn't there if you wern't around at the time it happend. They call\the Korean war the forgotten war. How about JFK , How much do you know about him ? Do you know about the Draft Dodgers and the Vietnam war protesters? The students at Kent state ? How our Vets were treated when they came home from Vietnam ? I tried to get a job with my land lord when I got out of the army in 1979 driving a dump truck. He told me had I not had been in the Army he would have hired me. I'm a vietnam era cold war Vet.Insted of going to Nam I went to Germany I could go on and on but I won't. I was born 2 yrs after the Korean war and since then there has been alot of things happen that I remember you younger guys and girls will have many things happen in your time that the shockfactor will remain with you. Many Thanks to all the Vets and First responders and most of all to MY HERO'S The ones who Died for OUR COUNTRY. GOD BLESS THEM ALL

Mike, let's have a " do over". Hi Mike, welcome to BR.

I don't keep much , I have a Plano over/under box and a double size binder for plastics. I might use 20 percent of what I have on a fishing trip, and that's probably high. I usually only buy new when I .....A. run out, B. lose, C. break any. This is all I have and need and I've been bass fishing for over 30 years now.

Black, junebug, and green pumpkin are colors that will work well. Try some zoom trick worms, Rage Tail craws, and Missile Baits baby dbombs. Hooks in sizes 1/0 to 3/0 EWG. Whatever brand you like.

Yeah, I was there and one of the last rushing out of the park ( I was in the 8:00 line ) and the gate say they close at 8, was you one of last kayak ?... there was one kayak in the ramp after I pull out, was that you ?...

I love high speed reels for anything slack line, (jigs, t rigs, c rigs, punching, Senkos, etc) and frogs. When you work the bait with the rod, reel speed doesn't really effect the retrieve. For moving baits like crankbaits, jerkbaits, topwater, spinnerbaits, etc, I like a slower reel. I tend to reel faster than I should and a slower reel keeps me from overdoing it. I also like the added torque you get from lower geared reels for cranks and spinnerbaits.

Where I use to work there was a very attractive 21y/o Asian lady and no way no how could I ask her out face to face. I asked the other guys about her and they told me to not even bother. Well I wrote her a note asking her if she would like to go shopping with me to find a Christmas present for my mother. I put the note on her desk and went to lunch. Got back from lunch and the note was on my desk. Im thinking that was quick reply so figured it was a no. To my astonishment she said yes would like to go and to call her after work to set time and gave me her number I made the mistake of picking a mall(Woodfield) that was about an hour away thinking she might like to shop as well. We only said about 7 words to each other the whole way there and that was when I first picked her up. Hi how you doing-Fine-Thats good. Once in the mall I asked if there any stores she wanted to go to? No Im good is all I got from her. So I got the Holiday Barbie that my mother collected for years and we left came back home and again not a word was said until I dropped her off. She says call me you get home so I know you home safely? Im thinking man we just spent nearly 2hrs together without a word being said now she wants me to call her again. Well I called her let her know Im fine and she asks me why we didnt go eat any place. I said- I asked you to go shopping not out to eat so I didnt want to make you do something we didnt plan. Sooo I asked her if she would like to go out to eat tomorrow and she said yes... Been together now for 22 years all stemming from that little note.

hahahaha

I want to thank bass resource member Bassinbee for offering to take me out on his bass boat to Pelham Lake this morning while on my vacation.. He would have fished with me all day but I opted for just a couple hours so I could go sight seeing on skyline drive on my birthday with the wifey. It's a nice lake and didn't have hardly any traffic at all. Had a decent outing catching 3 or 4 bass and losing a nice one with a headshake. Thanks again Dave.

That has been discussed numerous times. Do a site search and you will get lots of information.

Hmmm, noooope, don't see any difference :..........Oh, sorry guys ! For a split second I forgot we are in completely different places, cuz ya know, down here between the tropic of Cancer and the Equator there ain't no such thing as, how you call it ? Ah, right ! "Fall" that's how you call it.

542. every crank, jig, spinnerbait, bag of plastic, etc accounted for. thanks excel.

Watching this show on the history channel 9/11 102 minutes. God bless not only our troops but all the people that passed that terrible day.

The secret to fishing

I want to start catching fish on the slammer first. i loved watching that dude Lowbudget hookers on here about 4-5 years ago lay waste with slammers. The videos were awesome.

This guy lives by his own rules. A-Jay

There is a difference between an 'aggregation' of fish, and a 'school' of fish. An 'aggregation' is just a temporary collection of fish drawn by food supply or attractive conditions. A 'school' (in both freshwater & saltwater) typically consists of fish born during the same spawning season. Year-class schooling is nature’s way of minimizing intra-school cannibalism (same age, similar size). With each passing year however, every year-class grows progressively smaller through attrition. Lunkers aren't loners by choice, they're simply the last of the Mohicans. For this reason, 50-lb striped bass and 12-lb largemouth bass are normally found as a pair or all alone. Roger

If you see my red Acadia parked along Paoli, stop down for a visit. I'm there many late afternoons a week usually, balanced around my kids after school activities.

Nice fish no matter where your at!

A great post Tom. Some fine suggestions closing with the best of the bunch. In my experience when I relax and enjoy, my fishing (and catching) improve!