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I am a Very Happy Patriots Fan Tonight. My son & daughter in law - who I haven't seen is 3 years surprised me this weekend by flying up from NJ to see me and watch the game with me. It was Super special and the timing could not possibly been better as my wife has been hospitalized for the past week in ICU. Between the visits with her and the game tonight I could not possibly been more happy. My wife is finally showing signs of improvement and the Pats won it all. Feeling truly blessed . A-Jay

It may sound like a silly question, but I am assuming it is more than just reeling in a fish. For me it's a lot more. It is much deeper than that. I am sure it is for all of us. For me it is about clearing my head, seeing nature, being on the water, trying to outsmart my quarry, the thrill of feeling that "tap, tap, tap", seeing if I can improve my effectiveness, seeing if I can fish a bait I have had no success and actually catching one with it. I love the fact my wife enjoys fishing as much as I do, and spending time together on the water as well as off the water at the campground is priceless for our marriage. It helps, too, that I'm never questioned about buying fishing tackle. I always like to strike up a hello or small conversation with other fishermen as our boats pass as we come up on each other . Where else can one strike up a conversation with a complete stranger and have so much in common with him? I like the whole package. Getting prepared, maintaining my equipment, etc. It is like the surgeon who prepares himself before a major surgery..everything in order and ready to go. I think of my boat as my "operating table" if you will, sounds crazy I know, I like to be prepared. : Maybe that is part of it as well. Also, there is a very special feeling about being "on the water"! The serenity of it all. I always see something I have never seek before. That is pretty fulfilling. I find my mood changes for the better after the trip. I am sure if one was to psycho analyze each of us, there are deeper reasons than just reeling in a fish. My thoughts anyway.... Why do you fish?

Just returned from a trip to Lake Baccarac in Mexico. After seeing videos and reading everything about it, I knew I had to make the trip down there. It definitely lived up to the hype. My buddy & I fished for 3 days, Tuesday-Thursday and had some truly great fishing every day, morning, afternoon & evening. I broke my PB a whole bunch of times, and caught some really nice fish. In the 3 days of fishing, I recorded a few 6s, a few 7s, a couple 8s and this 9lb 13oz toad pictured below. In between these bigger fish were more bass 1-5 pounds than you could count. 9lbs 13oz, caught on a purple Zoom super fluke on a Scrounger head while fishing a hump in 15' of water. Picked up this 8lb 10oz girl a little bit after dark on football jig with a Yamamoto heart-tail swim bait trailer. This fish was caught on top water a few minutes after we launched on day 3. 7lbs 6oz on a Megabass Pop Max. Caught this 8lb 9oz shortly after the 9-13. The fishing was truly great, with so many fish and quality fish as well. Top water fishing was good, with maybe 15 fish coming that way including the one 7 pounder. Lots more strikes including several from very large fish. When the top water bite would die as the sun got higher, the fish hit a variety of other baits. There were sometimes 5 minute spans when I would catch 10 fish around 2-3 pounds. There was never a long period of time in which no fish were boated. I certainly plan on returning to this bass fishing paradise, even more determined since I fell just 3 ounces short of a double digit fish.

I don't think the Pats won the superbowl..it's more on the side of Atlanta lost the superbowl...or gave up the superbowl...28-3?? And you let them come back?? What a joke.

I've always been fascinated with what is lurking below the surface of the water since I was a toddler. That led me to getting addicted to feeling that "tap tap" that precedes each hookset. No matter how many fish I catch, my heart still skips a beat and my knees shake a little every single time I hook into a fish. I've found that bass fishing satisfies this urge more than other types of fishing, so I've dedicated my fishing to chasing bass. I don't mind catching other species either, but for me, bass are where it's at.

Little lake in columbia maryland in a neighborhood. Patapsco river

Metanium MGL off of japanlureshop. You cannot spend a better $300 in fishing in my opinion.

Southern Indiana Another lake in Southern Indiana that is almost always calm

BREAKING NEWS brother separated at birth reunited due to Father's military service

Camping spot on the Upper Potomac River

Not mine but one taken of my local lake a couple of years ago...

Some pics from a vacation in northwest Wisconsin

Got this shot last Spring. It was too vibrant to not stop fishing and get a picture

it's from last year but still my favourite pic of the lake and this one from this year this is what i see from my dock

Calm and peaceful morning!

Late one evening last Fall. Just one more cast.

Caught yo-yoing a RES on a shallow point. My biggest of the year to this point and also a new personal best for the particular lake. Also had my first double of the year and it was my first ever smallmouth/white bass double, same bait and retrieve on a different spot.

I caught a 3--4 lb bass a couple years back. hot part of summer. hooked her deep she was bleeding bad. thought she would die and did not want to let her go to wast. I normally don't care for bass as a fish to eat. I cleaned her. my wife got the idea to put her on a piece of aluminum foil with edges rolled up. she put garlic butter in it and sprinkeled lemon pepper on the fish. layed it on the grill about medium heat. and grilled until fish flaked apart I think 10 to 15 min. it was absolutely awesome. just another idea, works with other fish as well. hope you enjoy.

Some more Duo Spybaits. Love these things.

MB S-Crank 2.0 & Big Z

I might get lucky and take him under that format, but he's become too good under normal tourney formats for me to compete against. It did take him until last year to finally get me on a crappie trip though ? Yep, started taking him fishing when he was just 14 yrs old and his parents would have to drive him to meet me at the lake to go fishing. Saw his potential immediately and been working with him ever since. Won an amazing amount of stuff at a young age...keep watching MLF this year for more, plus whatever he does on the Elites. -T9

I've tried convincing Wheeler to throw it, and he's played with it some, but it's just not his style or tempo. I think if I could just whip his arse with it one time around here he'd see the light -T9

I guess there are a bunch of different reasons as to why I do it, but my favorite example is from the High School National Championship this summer... When we launched in the morning, something came over me that I had never experienced before. Something about knowing that I was there with the best in the country, competing at the highest level possible for me at that time, but mainly how hard I had worked to get there, and remembering all of the things that fell into place for me to get there. I am usually pretty good at keeping my emotions to myself, but on this particular morning, when we pulled out of the marina and headed down the lake on plane, there were definitely some tears streaming down my face, and they weren't from the 70mph run. That doesn't really ever happen to me, but everything about it felt right. I know it's outlandish and most people laugh at the idea of fishing for a living, but you can bet that I will do my best to scratch and claw my way there with everything I've got. They say "you've got to want it", and trust me, I do.

My friend and I took a few cans of corn to the river today and got into some carp. There is a yellow/orange one that lives with a school of probably 50 fish, and it's now my goal to catch that one before spring. I've got nothing but time and those fish are the only ones around here we are catching. My friend hooked a fish today that he didn't turn at all, the fish peeled 40 yards of line on one run before wrapping him in something out in the river channel and breaking him off, I have no idea how big that one was, because the 19lb one that I caught was pretty easy to handle! Top fish was 19 and change, bottom was 13 and change.

Congrats Pats and Brady is the greatest. We got 6 months of fishing until the next game.

Heres more of my home lake.

Its pretty much the only thing Im good at that doesnt make me frustrated or throw a tantrum.

I'll take money so I can take my wife to Ruth Chris's again!! Only been 2x in my life. Dreamy steaks. Oh my I'm getting hungry...

Prime rib!! Now we're talking, Roger! Or any steak at Ruth's Cris!!

Darren's honesty is refreshing When I hear an angler say that bass taste terrible, my first thought is maybe he doesn't like fish. Frankly, fish is not my favorite item on the menu either (prime rib? Now you're talking) All the same, after devouring around 50 different species of fish from fresh and saltwater, freshwater bass are definitely among my favorite. Roger

I don't have pre-spawn lures I don't have post spawn lures I don't have summer lures I don't have winter lures I don't have daytime lures I don't have nighttime lures I have bass fishing lures! I don't give them names so they don't get confused! My selection is based on current conditions & where the bass are located!

My first square bills, I'm looking forward to trying them out on creek smallies. A rattletrap, I'm looking forward to ripping grass with it, and a suspending crank my wife said was pretty and would catch fish. Honestly, I let her pick out a lot of lures, she has a knack for finding "the one"

Slow roll a keitech.

The first is my three year old entertaining himself while I fish, a truly rare occurrence. The second is at the Owen-Putnam forest, a very secluded spot but I had a good time with my son.

the little farm pond 1 mile from work, where I get away at lunch...

Round 2 Round 3

I hate the Patriots with a passion, but thats the best superbowl I've ever seen... let's hope another Patriots scandal doesn't get exposed and ruin it.

I'm a Shimano guy, too, but I also really like Daiwa. I'd have no problem looking at a Tatula.

Could be a number of things. Do your RPMS go up but speed doesn't? If so, I would check your prop for a spun hub. If the RPMS don't go up..it could be a number of things as simple as gas, dirty carbs, clogged instake, being down a cylinder or over heating.

There is nothing wrong with the taste and I do keep a few 14-15" LM bass on waters I don't tourney fish on. NOT a fan of smallmouth for the dinner plate. They always get released.

Well, Lady Gaga was great! At least I think she was...

Again not really bashing but relaying a witnessed event. I fish in tidal Md waters. The bass share their home with huge stripers, big blue and channel cats, pickerel and snakeheads. These fish can tear up equipment. I have sen a 15 pound blue cat destroy a Lews reel on my boat more than once. Personally I have switched to Diawa Tatula Type Rs and CTs. Many of the guys I know that fish regularly have made a switch to those reels as well. Most of them were fishing either Lews or BPS Pro Qualifiers. The Diawas are casting extremely smoothly and holding up well even in brackish tidal water.

Catch bass consistantly. If you have the skill to catch a 5 bass limit that weighs 15 lbs every outing you will be competitive. It's not your equipment, what counts is what you have between your ears. Todays electronics are good search tools however they take power to operate properly. This means your battery must be fully charged, use at least a group 27 cranking battery to run your electronics. 24v trolling motor will give you 2X the operating time vs a 12v, you fish using the trolling motor.....very important equipment. Good luck. Tom

Thanks for your recipe Lonnie. My wife & I have always rated freshwater bass among the most flavorful fish in fresh and saltwater (High in Omega-3 to boot). Roger

I don't dislike them I have just found them not to my liking. Right now I am exclusively using Daiwa and Shimano for all my casting reels.

Great Catch! Yup, you can spend 4 times more for a lipless crank, but it won't catch 4 times more bass than a Rat-L-Trap Roger