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MB Orochi XX: Spinnerbait Special Jerkbait Special Flat Side Special Perfect Pitch EMTF Tour Versatile Shakey Head(not pictured) G Loomis: NRX 842S REELS: Shimano: 13 Met. 6.2 13 Met. 6.2 13 Met.HG 7.4 13 Met.XG 8.5 15 Calcutta Conquest 100HG 14 Stella 3000HGM Daiwa: SV 103XS 7.9 More Daiwa reels coming

So I gotta change my entire hookset technique to accommodate a hook that aint any better than a straight shank or offset! Nah! Pass!

Down here you don't approach someone's boat without permission... Ya might get shot or your ass whipped! It's called respect!

Suggestion: Remove baits from rods before trailering boat and do not put baits on rods until you leave the area. Suggestion: Don't tell everyone what you caught or where. If necessary, lie. Suggestion: There will always be people who have no idea what they are doing when bass fishing and they think that they can just view your baits and go out and catch fish one cast after another. It is part of bass fishing and you have to put up with it. Now, if you really want to blow their minds rig all rods with the Banjo Minnow (or some other worthless bait) or throw some around the boat and tell the guys at the ramp that the bass just ate them up. Then laugh your way home.

I often tell my wife that one of the things I enjoy about fishing is that every trip, I see or experience something I have never seen or experienced before. Today was one that while not monumental, was something I hadn't ever imagined could happen. First thing in the morning was overcast and I was getting bit on the surface with a Heddon Torpedo. After catching 5 bass and a couple very aggressive bluegill, I hooked up with another bass. After a few moments of fighting, he surfaced and leaped completely out of the water, but in a kind of awkward way. As I got him to the boat and grabbed his head to avoid the mouth full of treble hooks, I did a double take. The line coming off the line tie of the lure was cut, about 3" from the nose of the bait. I followed the line from my rod tip down to the fish & found it wrapped around the belly treble hook, secure enough to allow me to land the fish. So basically the fish broke me off, but was unable to escape because the line was now attached to the lure at the belly hook. I have no idea how this happened, if the bass made it happen during the strike and fight or if he struck the lure after it had already entangled itself on its own line.

I dont have the nerve to look through someones property.

Weighed 21 pounds! Woops....make that 2.1 pounds. Hootie

I haven't, but only because I break that keeper off on purpose. I was having an issue where the ZMan elasticel baits would bunch up past the keeper, towards the head of the jig. Kind of a reverse problem of the bait sliding down the hook. My solution is to bust off the keeper and super glue the head of the bait to the jig.

I once lassoed a crappie .I landed it and the line went all the way around it and the jig then hooked the line and pulled tight .

Here's an alternative suggestion. In the dead of winter, after the Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years holidays, we could meet up at the BPS in Foxboro, then take route one north three or four miles and have lunch at the Red Wing Diner. Good prices. Good food, and they can put tables together to accommodate a group.

I'm not sure what you mean by open water, but I will use cranks for suspended fish and for targeting the area above the weeds. A change of direction is what will trigger strikes and that direction can be up, down, or to the sides. Although I've caught many bass with a stop and go, or pause and restart if you prefer, I find that a sharp jerk of the rod tip seems to trigger more strikes. I hold the rod tip around 8:00 when cranking and jerk the tip down sharply. It takes a little getting used to as you end up slapping the water with the rod tip if you're too aggressive. That's easy to do with small billed baits.

I was flinging my big dinger last night. My wife told me to go to sleep. I'll be here all week ladies and gentleman remember to tip you waitresses well!

You are currently involved in the sport of fishing. This involves one outfit and catching fish. Most of us started where you are now. The question you pose suggest that you are considering entry into the world of tackle buying. You will never again find the enjoyment you now have if you take the plunge into the world of finding a better rod and reel than what you now have. It becomes never ending and all-consuming. Eventually you wind up with a room full of tackle while spending endless hours on the internet looking for a great deal on a better rod and reel. If you're lucky, occasionally you will find time to fish and evaluate your purchases, but the pure love of fishing will have been replaced by the love of buying better tackle. Embrace the rod and reel that you can't see yourself abandoning, and spend as much time as you can on the water catching fish.

Anybody watch the Barrett-Jackson auction? I'm not much of a car guy but I saw quite a bit of the auction. I am fascinated by all the car shows on TV and am amazed at how much money people will pour into rebuilding/refurbishing old cars. Watching the auction, I could see that many of the cars sold for much less than had been spent restoring them. Toward the end, a 1952 Buick called "Bombshell Betty" went on the block. This bizarre car was built to run on the Bonneville Salt Flats and set several land speed records. I googled the car and saw it for sale online. The owners were asking $195,000 for it. At the auction, the hammer fell at only $33,000! I wish I had the money, I'd go to the next auction to buy a cool car for thousands less than it would cost to have one fixed up.

Went fishing today at the pond I described in one of my first posts here and finally caught my first bass! My heart was pounding so fast at the fact that I finally hooked one. http://imgur.com/s0IjikU Thanks to this forum that I'm learning some stuff. Caught him on a white 3/4 oz. spinnerbait.

2lb range is a good guess maybe 2.25.

Bass migration in the northern waters almost always happens within 10 days of the fall equinox per the In Fisherman. That supports the light level Paul just mentioned. On the great lakes that seems to be about right for the smallies to start moving from deep to shallow.

I see that all the time . I fish a small lake with 5 major coves . Sometimes only one will have bass and it will be loaded and you never know which one its going to be . Its just one of those things . Bass are both predictable and unpredictable .

Well, you can either learn the right technique, or limit your tackle selection. Up to you.

MD/VA area checking in here.... Catching-wise, dead of winter can be pretty tough, January and the first half of February usually...Basically after the water temp has bottomed out and before it starts to slowly warm up. This is also the time of year we deal with ice, the last few years we've had much more ice than normal so it's been tougher. In 'normal' years, the Potomac stays mostly ice-free as does most of Lake Anna so there are options all winter in normal years. The one nice thing about this time of year is that the fish are fairly predictable, it's possible to have some pretty good days if you can deal with the cold. The tides on the Potomac and the nuke-plant influence on the temperature and circulation on Anna are big positives for winter fishing. There's some other viable locations for winter fishing around here too, but I fish the Potomac and Anna most often this time of year. Pattern-wise, September is the toughest month of the year to figure them out consistently for me. It's usually a month of junk fishing and scrambling around. The average day is usually still better than the dead of winter, but there are very few 'great' days. It usually means a lot of burnt gas and a lot of rods on the deck .

He said Kistler has a new rod series, not that hybrid rods are new.

From the guy who was thought to be hurt and almost left off the NLCS roster. And who hit .216 with 8 HR during the whole regular season. That's baseball for you. The stars of the postseason are rarely the same stars of the regular season. Crazy game.

Sadly this type of behavior has become very common in this day of age of instant gratification. I have meet many of these types of fisherman that demand info ,yet are very rude the way they ask for information.These are the type of fishermen that I will never invite fishing with me.

I don't think is the hook but a flawed hook setting technique.

Of all the months that I fish open water I have caught the fewest 7s in August. I consistently catch 5s and 6s during the day but getting a fish over 7 is a challenge. I have caught fish over 7 lbs at night in August but not many. In my opinion most of the largest bass in a lake feed at night during the warmest time of year. In addition to the having the warmest water temperature. August also has the heaviest recreation use, swimmers, water skiers, kayakers, canoeist as well as fisherman. At times fish can be very very deep and on bluebird post cold front days it is a challenge. I do not know why it is hard for me to catch a fish over 7 lbs during the day in August but I do have a couple ideas. Perhaps fishing during the day I should target fish deep, 30-55 ft. I do believe though that during that time of the year most of the trophy 7 plus pounders are feeding at night. I should spend more time targeting them at night. I know it works I just need to spend more time doing it.

Texas rigged 6/0 or 7/0 superline ewg or wacky with a 3/0 circle. Set hook on 3rd "gulp"

I love dogs days of summer! Tournament August 2005: Team tournament, 5 bass @ 33.37 August 2003: 5 bass @ 30.667 Non-tournament August 2007: 10.66, 10.89, 8.99 = 30.54; finished with 5 bass @ 42.46 Number of Double Digits caught during August; 14

MA - As soon as I see open water. But that could be my impatience.

For rods, wash the grips to remove dirt/scum, clean the blank and guides with a soapy paper towel. Check for broken/cracked ceramic guide/tiptop rings by wiping the ID with a Q-tip. If one is cracked it will snag the Q-tip. Store straight in a not hot room. Hanging from tip or a guide works fine. Reels: Wipe clean with a damp soapy paper towel, followed when dry with a slightly oily rag like you would for a firearm. Oil all external moving joints, like grips, bails, level wind pawl. Not a bad idea to brush the pawl and worm gear clean with mineral spirits or other cleaner, then oil it. (I like reel butter, but any good oil like 3 in 1 or sewing machine oil will do fine). For the inside I don't recommend taking the reel apart beyond what you see when you open it up. Reels are too complicated for me these days, and unless it has been dunked, you don't need to go further. If it's sort of gunky, brush to clean with mineral spirits, blow it out with compressed air if you have it, and relube. Pivots, sliding contacts, etc with oil, gears with reel grease. Look at your reel schematic to be sure you have found all the bearings. Don't overdo it, just a drop is usually sufficient. If the reel has been dunked, send it to a good repair person for a pro job. DVT is good and discounts forum members. I don't recommend servicing the drag unless it's not working smoothly. If you do service it use drag grease, not regular grease. Be sure to lay out the parts in order so you can get it back together properly. Loosen the drag before storing. There are many good tutorials on line, both pics and UTubes. Do a search and you will find many.

For those wanting a small unit that has built-in Auto Chart Live for real time contour map creation, Humminbird has a new model that replaces the Helix 5 series. It is the Helix 5 G2 just announced a couple of days ago. The GPS versions have Auto Chart Live plus have CHIRP 2D sonar and CHIRP Imaging. Refer to the Humminbird website for the specs for each version.

ive been using a shimano casitas reel i bought in fleabay for 79.99. Its an amazing reel. Seriously underrated

Amazon is another option, and you have Prime its free shipping.

I'm working tomorrow so it looks like it'll be opening season next time I get to the Quabbin. Lemme throw this out there: let's try to get a half a dozen or so members out there for a meet and fish next Spring when the boats rentals open again.... For now I'll be happy getting out a few more times before it really gets cold.... Weather permitting Fishing Rhino and I are heading out somewhere next Wednesday.

Doubt it, that deeper V Hull will cut through waves/chop much more efficiently than the flatter bass boat hull.

Ah. Will the newer 522 not be a 'ball slapped'?

That's the 522 top cap on one of the 600 series hull. Totally different beast.

Are the new Rangers better? Like the Ranger Z522D?

the ride is mostly the driver, but yeah these can bang around in chop.

Ask your killer dealer.. he should be able to steer you in the right direction.

What is ball slappers? It rides bad in rough water?

Colin I know of a beautiful Champion 191 with a 200 Mercury efi, HDS8's 4 gallons of oil, 82lb Motor guide tm with a spare tm. Local (very local, near the cape) to you for significantly less than $15k.... Significantly... PM me if you like. Champion (and Phoenix) are awesome up on these windy New England lakes. I own an old Ranger and it's a rock. Ridden in extensively: Phoenix (amazing) Skeeter FX and ZX (hate the latches, felt hollow in rough water) Ranger 522, 521, 520c... Great rides, ball slappers though. Champion 186 and 201, classic big water taming boats. Stratos 201 (ham sandwich... Not bad, not awesome, just sort of there).

I had a ranger r80 sport great boat I had the deck extention which made all the difference with storage and deck space. the boat ha a great ride for a 17.6 boat. I now have a 21 foot triton so far I love the boat the livewells are huge and lots of storage. and boy is it fast. a little sketchy over 70 mph but boy is it fun. I picked mine up in your price range

Forget that type of service from Ranger anymore. It used to be you could give them a serial number and a part you were looking for and they either had it or made it. I tried to replace some console wood tone pieces on a 99 Ranger and was told too bad, we cannot help you. I guess the "Nitro" effect has taken over already. What a shame!

Customer service is a huge plus. When I had my Ranger, you could call them direct. With Skeeter, it's all about the boat dealer interface. You cannot call Skeeter for parts. Some dealers are better then others. I found out the hard way.

Buy the best Ranger you can afford.

Okay since that is your budget seriously look at the Rangers but do not overlook a Triton, their 186 was a very good running hull. There are lots of good hulls out there. I agree about the Skeeters, nice ride, hard for me to lift the hatches with my big hands. If you find any of the mid 2000s or older Stratos boats they were great hulls. The 285 Pros XLs specifically should be in that range. I have a friend that wrote what I consider the best article I have ever read about buying a used boat. He should know he has done it a bunch of times. Anyway Brian is a terrific angler, can drive any boat to its max and fishes about 3 times a week so I figure he has had plenty of time to gain personal knowledge. I suggest you go get a glass of your favorite beverage, climb into a comfy chair and take some time to read his article. Please understand he loves, loves, loves the mid 90s Rangers and that is his dream machine. Your budget allows you to go newer. but all of the elements that go into is decision making are spot on for you. http://www.baybass.com/node/200 I have shared this a bunch of times on here and everytime the individual has learned a lot and came back with some specific questions, so please feel free to do so,

I have a 2008 Triton VT-17 Aluminum Tournament Sport with 50HP Mercury. Thing runs great, seems to be build like a tank and my father and I can fish out of it comfortably. It barely drinks any gas and the thing is easy to pull and lauch/load with my Tacoma 4x4. I'm VERY pleased with my boat and plan on keeping it for a long time.

I've never owned a Skeeter or Triton,only Ranger and Champion. To me the Ranger is a easy boat to drive, doesn't need a bunch of trim and rides good. Storage is good and over all quality is good. Where they really shine is when the trolling motor comes down. Just a great fishing platform. How the quality will be under the new ownership remains to be seen With all that said, I kinda like Champion the best, its a quicker better riding boat..Glad to see them back in the market being made by Charger.

How old was your Ranger? Have they fixed those issues?