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There's a JDM version of this:

Diesel mechanic, not for those with weak backs. Idk if there is such a thing as the perfect job. Anything you enjoy doing will turn into work and will lose its appeal so I would choose anything that you are good at and pays well. Make your life about the things you do away from work. When I die I hope no ones says he was a good mechanic. I would much rather them say he was a great witness for Christ, family man and fisherman.

First trip out on St Clair 2017 did not disappoint we caught about 25 fish between 2 and 5 pounds. Water temp was 51 degrees. Water clarity in the "Mile Roads" was 5 feet or better. We could see bottom in 6.5 fow near 10 mile. Our best lures were lipless cranks, jerkbaits and underspins. Tackle report: I've recently invested some money in Duo Realis products I tried the size 100, 110, and 120 jerkbaits yesterday I liked all of them. I also tried the Duo Realis lipless 68. I didn't care for that as much as my Jackall lipless baits. Here's a few pictures from yesterday. Forgive me for my pointed beanie head.

There is some evidence that larger eyes with more vision cells let in more light and offer better resolution. Larger individual fish see better than smaller ones. Also, fish do learn from experience. In fact, this is pretty much what most of vertebrate life is all about. Fish actually are good learners. But, being fish, they are focused on different things than, say, we are. However, the basic infrastructure for learning -sensory and cognitive systems- are in place. Again, bass are darn good at being bass. And many bass die of a wise old age at only 2 or 3 lbs. Big certainly requires more food; more-so than "smarts". As to bass learning about fishing. They do. Just too much evidence out there. They learn quickly and have memories too -basic infrastructure. And they learn from watching other fish -part of the social cognitive infrastructure. Why do we still catch them? Variability in: sensory and cognitive capacities, "personality" (yes fish have individual personalities, as well as recognized personality types), environmental conditions and circumstances. Call it chaos. Why do we sometimes crash into other cars, even after driving for decades? Lotsa reasons. I believe that edified fish -that's most of em nowadays- get hooked because they made a mistake. "Edified" in my mind means that those fish have become aware of "danger" brought about by the actions of angling. Some of the biggest decisions fish make revolve around just what they put into their mouths. Not everything passes muster all the time. Otherwise, we wouldn't be even talking about all this stuff.

Oh why not. Who doesn't like Spider-Man.

Me & a buddy started discussing old fishing line brands we used growing up. It's been so long ago I can't remember what I used as a kid - whatever my Dad had & spooled on my Zebco 33. Prob ole purple Stren. But back in the mid 80s, my Dad & I stumbled upon a new high tech line called Prime made by DuPont. Anybody remember this line? It had an inner core line that was supposedly stronger with less stretch and was coated with a normal type of nylon line. It actually was pretty good stuff as I recall & it's what I fished with for most of my college years. Until it was hard to find & was discontinued I guess. I even found an old article about it from back in 1985. http://articles.mcall.com/1985-08-06/sports/2487033_1_monofilament-line-baits Thinking about this fishing line got me to feeling nostalgic. I can remember lots of days back then that my Dad & I would hit some gravel pit ponds. I'd have my trusty 5 and 1/2 ft pistol grip rods with Abu Royal Ambassador reels. I'd wear out the dinks using fire tail & tequila sunrise Culprit worms. 60 catch days were not unheard of. Times sure seemed less complicated back then. And I'm officially starting to feel old. ?

The new Strike King S11 glasses are fantastic. Just as good as my Wiley X glasses as far as visibility. I have the Okeechobee model.

I am a firm believer that a job or career should "satisfy" a person. It's the only way to make it through life because... let's face it... sometimes life is a grind. I will turn 50 this year but when I was in high school my parents made me take the AIMS test. It tests aptitudes on a variety of subject matter and at the end spits out a list of careers for which your personality is best suited and explains why this is so. I said yeah BS and went about my life choosing my own path based on my own set of criteria. When I was 33 years old my wife and high school sweetheart died from cancer. We fought it tooth and nail for a year. Her death was horrible and devastating. But.... it gave me the chance to look at everything in my life and make changes. After all... I had a fresh slate so to speak. I was a graphic designer at the time. It satisfied part of me but I was still mentally exhausted when I got home each night. Not to mention long hours and low pay. But it was fun!! I made a list of what I liked about my job and a list of what I didn't. Boiling it down I like working with my hands and I like the satisfaction of making something work that was broken. I am an introvert and so I get energy from working alone. A friend suggested watchmaking. Today I am a certified watchmaker and have been working in a Rolex dealership for the past 14 years. I get to work on the world's finest time pieces and have the satisfaction of seeing the watch running at the end of my day. I love it love it love it. I go home and have energy for hobbies and life in general. Now the story comes full circle. I found my AIMS test folder the other day. And wouldn't you know it... watchmaking was listed. Wow. If I had only payed attention I could have done this much sooner. I'll put the link below. Look into it or something like it. Good luck. -Danny https://www.aimstesting.org/faq/

Ok wisenheimers here ya go. Ready for icast. New 1 oz tubes with flip top New package

As a Guide, when a client tells me they want a "trophy" bass, I do not fish the same way as I do for a client who just wants to catch numbers. Are big bass smarter....No. But they do not act the same a schoolies or smaller fish and they don't live in the same places. That's why you hear the professionals talk about finding the "right" fish. They don't want to catch small bass in a tournament and that's one of the big things that separates them from your average Joe weekend angler, they have the habits and behavior of bigger bass figured out. I have an Elite Series angler stay with me every year and I prefish with him. They don't approach the water the same way most of us do. Bass size is dependent on 2 things. Genetics and habitat.

May depend on your casting distance and retrieve speed, but I'll say this - 12lb won't make it run any shallower than 17lb. A-Jay

The radar map looked better in Plymouth so off to Hedges went I after work. Four smallies made it to the kayak, 1-6, 1-8, 1-10, and 1-15 respectively. Water temps were 56.x at 3:30 when I launched and 54.x at 7:45 when I left. Yamaoto's Heart Tail was the big winner. I T-rigged it with a 1/8 oz VMC swimbait hook. I got a bunch more strikes on it than anything else, and lost most of them with poor hooksets. It looks a lot like a smallie, I guess. I also brought one home with a Rage Tail Menace on a 1/8 oz. Keitech jig head. I drifed over some beds on my way back to the beach and got to see piles of smallies guarding their eggs. That and the two swans that flew right over me were really cool. Looks like fishing season is finally here.

Text book 3.5lb jig fish.

Ok seriously,WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!? I must have one.

Bass hunter and jon boat.Keepin' it simple.

What is your favorite Squarebill Crankbait, and why? Mine is the Bomber Square A, Oxbow Bream color. Looking to pick up some more, and want to hear about what you guys use.

Got a personal best that I won't beat easily. After throwing everything but the kitchen sink, I went to a Senko and got this hog. Healthy 6.9 bass. Still can't believe it.

Trolling, not on a cast, on a cast you would be lucky to hit the 20 ft mark and only for a few yards.

Not guilty. Never have and never will walk away from the worm.

Checked Sabattus yesterday, the edges were all open and the ice was really dark. Should open up soon. Also know some smaller ponds in Western Maine are starting to open up. Might be fishing that area this weekend, even if there's still some ice left.

I'm a Firefighter.

I don't fish tournaments so any tournament rule doesn't apply to me, it's not illegal in my neck of the woods and, well, if I'm in spot A and I'm going to move to spot B, then I have no problem in trolling from A to B, hell, who knows, maybe I discover a spot where fish are holding in the process.

A 'drift sock' is normally used to reduce the speed of a wind drift, while a 'drogue chute' is a safety device used in the ocean and Great Lakes. When a vessel looses power in heavy seas, the hull is laid wide-open to broaching. Deploying a drogue chute (aka Sea Anchor) keeps the bow facing into head sea (avoiding beam sea) which reduces the risk of broaching. When drifting for summer flounder (known as 'fluke' in NJ), I deployed my drogue chute when the drift was too swift to be effective. In freshwater though, I only occasionally use a drift sock which tends to be a nuisance to deploy and retrieve. Roger

Drift socks are not necessary for any type of fishing. They are a tool that sometimes help you under certain circumstances. I have used them when drift fishing to slow down the boat when the wind is blowing hard. They work very well for that problem in slowing down how fast the wind can blow the boat. I have never used them in current situations. Someone else can address that aspect.

Blues and flatheads are considered invasive species just like the snakehead. They are all over the lower Potomac, 40 to 60 pound fish are pretty common with them. Nothing like fishing a jig, get bit and when you set the hook on what you think is a bass only to have it be a 40lb catfish......

Xcite XB-1 in Copper Green Shad. I throw other brands/colors but this one is in the rotation more by a long shot.

Ambassadeur 6500-C.

I've been on Clearlake a bunch of times and have a few trips to Guntersville now. These two lakes are massive. The top end of Clearlake is an 11 mile wide clay bowl. A guy I knew went to Guntersville on the same day in his boat as I did. Later that night we compared trips, we had a pretty slow day, he did pretty well. He was 35 miles away from me as the crow flies. That's another county away in red states. Toledo Bend dwarfs both of these. The Sac Delta has like 360 miles of water to fish. I get the theory of a big bass seeing a bunch of lures on a small body of water. There are double digit fish in some of these mega lakes that have never seen a lure. It's a massive body of water with great habitat and weather. California had the rare combo of Florida and Northern hybrids which grow to be enormous mixed with endless trout stocking and great weather. Now the hybrid gene pool is well past the first generation, they barely plant trout anymore, and the water management is awful. California still produces good fish, but it's nothing like it was 30 years ago. The same guys are out there doing the same things with much different results. There is no smart. There is being on the right water doing the right thing at the right time. If one thing is off in that triangle it's not happening.

If you decide to make the trip there, let me know and I'll see if i can tag along.

Picked up seven bass on Monday at Rainbow, and two pickerel. 5 of the bass were 2 lbs or better each and chunky. Two were dinks. Here's the best for the day.

Had a few hours finally when work fell through and the kid visiting GMA and GPA . I recently went to Michigan to see my mom's side and on the way back hit up the awesome Cabela's in Dundee. I didn't get to shop half as much as I wanted due to a screaming daughter and aggravated mama. But I guess it saved me money, lol still managed to spend 80 dollars. I was hoping to dump my kayak in a local lake and maybe hook into a pike. But with a storm rolling in and precious minutes ticking by, I opted for a 3 acre pond only a few miles from my house.. I caught around 10. And probably lost 5 or so.. one decent one at the bank. Anyway they All were in the 1-2 pound class range. I know there are some bruisers in there due to recent years success. But today wasn't the day. Most of the fish looked healthy. Kind of a small mouth but decent body. And they were on the move. Every strike I had except one I was moving my baits fairly quickly. And they were hitting everything. I caught 2 on the fat ika. One on a chatterbait, 3 on a neko rigged 5" kut tail worm, 1 on a neko GY craw, and the other few came on a bait I recently purchased at Cabela's. It was from a brand I never heard of but decided to try them anyway. And I'm glad I did because they worked well on a j-rig. No hogs, but a success.not my first fish of 2017 but my first bass thumb. Excited for the rest of the season Here's a pic of the hot lure of the day. It's a "FYAO" devil bug. A hellgrammite look alike. And everyone that struck, choked it and was brought to the bank.

"Every time I read an article about someone who thinks they have bass figured out, I just shake my head and snicker because the more you dig into this sport the further you seem to be getting to the bottom of it all". The late Bill Murphy.

Big bass are smarter? - Nope, but I would say they are more discriminatory in their behavior. -T9

I am so glad to hear all went well. It is funny there are things I LOVED about my two fiberglass rocket ships, but I really catch as many fish out of my aluminum Lowe. It has travelled from MD to PA, NC, VA, TN and KY, Along the way it has allowed us to fish and enjoy ourselves. It is affordable to run and that is the most important thing right now. As for the plug, well ai have made that the first step to prepping the motor. I also have two spare plugs in two compartments just in case!. Enjoy the boat and thanks for doing the most important duty a father can do, spend quality time with your son! These memories last forever!

Are big bass smarter... I'm not qualified to talk about what "smart" is. But I do kinda shake my head when fisherman so often call bass "pea brained". All I can say is... That's one heck of a pea. Fish are capable of much more than people realize. Bass are very good at... being bass. Just what all that is is what we fisherman are trying to understand. Not terrible easy to do. As to big bass vs small bass. There are waters that produce many big bass, then there are waters that produce very few. In both cases bass that get big have to eat an awful lot. In waters that produce very few, those few individuals have figured something out. It may not be smarts as much as a mix of aggression, and luck -the food has to be there to support that growth. Since most fishing is now C&R, avoiding fisherman plays less a role. Lots of shy, skittish, "smart", uncatchable bass die of old age at less than 4lbs.

You know its been to long when it feels good just to retie and get boat ready. All the pics of good fish and reports while i was sidelined. But now knee is healed enough to get back out Saturday. Heading down to the lower Potomac for some of the big largemouth being caught.

Added some custom parts to my ***...

The real question is are you going to make the web shooter sound when you cast it?

Speaking of nostalgia and old fishing lines, I can remember a vintage line that my father used. After each use, dad removed the 'linen' fishing line from his reel then strung it out to dry. Before synthetic fishing line was introduced, the early fishing lines were made of natural fibers like silk, cotton and linen. They had to be dried out after use, otherwise they'd rot Roger

I remember using some oval shaped mono but cannot remember the name? That and the 6' Zebco Rhino Rod that was "indestructible from tip to butt" Broke 4 in one summer. Allen

Given my waters, I never use braid with those baits. I'd be more tempted to switch your outfits using the braid for top waters and the mono for cranks/traps.

If you broke your line on a hook set with fluorocarbon it could have been the knot, fluorocarbon doesn't fray easily. Another thing is the hook set, I use a shaky head a lot for finesse and over the years the best hook up and landing percentage comes from just tightening the line and a firm upward lift, that is where the lighter hook works well as it penetrates with just pressure. What happens a lot with that is the fish tend to hit it and sit, they don't run so when you pull back to set the hook you end up doing it on a slack line and that gives you sort of a snap set and it will cause light line to break and also missed fish as you actually pull it away from them. I learned the hard way, I was getting bite and doing a quick pull back hook set and my buddy told me to tighten the line before pulling back and it worked, then when I was just doing the fast lift on the tight line it was even better, it took a little bit of time to break the habit of yanking when I'd get a bite but for some reason the shaky head bite is like the drop shot bite, they often grab the worm by the tail and just barely get the hook in their mouth as a lot of the fish I catch are hooked in the top of the mouth but it is right the edge and if I pulled hard I probably would have missed it.

Hi I just wanted to complete this thread and thank you for your advice and helping me out. I had the boat out twice, once to fish, and it is solid. Motor runs great, oil smells mostly new but I think it's break-in oil so I'll change that soon. I got a new prop (same one) and put it on so now I have a spare in the boat (the original one had a very slight ding, no dent or bend on two blades but I wanted a spare anyway). Got a spare tire and rack mounted. Inspected the hub bearings and greased. Ordered the motor manual from Mercury (original seller couldn't find any of the manuals but she ordered me the tracker one which is about useless from a technical standpoint). The on board charger didn't light up last night but cleaning and reconnecting the terminals fixed that. I'm headed to autozone to get a fuse kit to put in my on board tool kit (deep sockets for hubs, spare and prop, soft case, and extendable ratchet, etc, all about $50; thank you Harbor Freight). Second trip out (first time fishing), for the first time in my life, I forgot to put in the you know what... In the old days I used to put the plug in before I left the house, but I found out here in Nevada you can't be on the road with the plug in because of stowaway creatures, so there went my habit pattern. Sure enough, after I unloaded the boat in the lake, docked it, and parked the trailer, I got back to the dock to hear my son say "what's all this?" Water was just seeping onto the mid deck. I got the bilge on and was able to reach my arm into the water to insert the plug. D@$&it ! Thank goodness the parking area was right there at the ramp. I thought you would get a kick out of that story. I know my son did. Finally, the boat catches fish. Nice Smallmouth on Lake Mohave. Hopefully the pictures make it here. Thanks again.

Cut back to one rod while you're at it You simply must get over this fear of "missing" a fish. Only then will you be able to achieve true bank fishing nirvana, young grasshopper....

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." I joined this forum as a wildly enthusiastic young kid who had zero knowledge about bass fishing and even fewer lures in my tacklebox. My first ten or so fishing trips were spent fishing with every single lure and soft plastic bait I owned. I would just cycle through them and tie on another when I felt like changing things up. Didn't take too long to go through them all, because I had about 4 hard baits and a couple bags of plastics. Joining Bass Resource introduced me to an extraordinary amount of information. I learned so much from each and every member on here. I gathered an incredible amount about fishing, but I also learned how to behave on a public forum and so many of you showed me a lot of grace, despite many moments of rash and immature speech. One of the things that will always stand out to me about you guys is your generosity. Over the years, I've received over a thousand dollars worth of fishing tackle from the members of BR. I don't think I'm exaggerating that number. I've been sent reels, a decent chunk of a previous Tackle Warehouse Ike Miaconelli giveaway prize package, line, and countless hard baits, jigs, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, soft plastics, and terminal tackle. My parents were blown away when they saw me open some of the packages. They aren't well off and never had the money to buy me tackle themselves, and for them to see the generosity of strangers on the internet was incredible. For me, it was like being a kid in a candy shop. I had so many new things to try and your gifts gave me the chance to try techniques, lures, and styles of fishing that I would have never spent the money to try on my own. Most of that took place about two years ago. I couldn't even begin to name everyone who's reached out in that regard, because I wouldn't want to leave anyone out. But since then, I've come to a place as an angler and a human being where I no longer need or desire free stuff. Not only have I found the brands and styles of baits that I like to fish with, I also know there are people who can use things far more than I can. For the last two years, I've been wanting to do something similar to what everyone did for me. I accumulated a ton of tackle. I found myself fishing with less than a quarter of the tackle that I owned; the rest was just sitting on shelves, gathering dust. That had to change. A few weeks ago, I compiled a large assortment of baits and was able to get in touch with a guy I know who runs a local tackle shop. He was fixing some equipment for me, and was more than willing to help out when I talked to him. He helps run a kids tournament every year on a local lake in NC, and he's going to be giving the kids my tackle as part of that tournament. Some of that tackle is more than likely from some of you guys who sent it to me originally. I highlight this not to promote personal generosity, but to say to each and every person who has given me information and tackle and wisdom over my years on here: you have given a gift that keeps on giving. Many thanks. Kyle P.S. Here are a couple fish I've caught on baits y'all have given to me.

They all looked about like this. I can't wait to get out there again.

If you were fishing , they were very rude.

Exactly.^^^ I see a lot of excuses for those who think the Doc was done wrong or that the airline was wrong. It really smells of a lot of other things going on in society that are backwards. The overbooking has been a part of flying for years now one snowflake gets what he deserves, he broke the standing rule in place for years, and some people want to blame the airline because he was not following what he agreed to so we punish the cop and the airline. Yeeeeaaahhhh If you don't like the airline or the rules don't buy a ticket. Once you buy the ticket comply with what you signed up for period! While we are bashing the airline for their conduct I felt it only right we give a shout out to DR. DAVID DAO