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Tried to post picture of fish but can't figure it out on this site. Apparently every pic I take is too big

A rookie police officer pulled a biker over for speeding and had the following exchange: • Officer: May I see your driver's license? • Biker: I don't have one. ...I had it suspended when I got my 5th DUI. • Officer: May I see the owner's card for this vehicle? • Biker: It's not my bike. I stole it. • Officer: The motorcycle is stolen? • Biker: That's right. But come to think of it, I think I saw the owner's card in the tool bag when I was putting my gun in there. Officer: There's a gun in the tool bag? • Biker: Yes sir. That's where I put it after I shot and killed the dude who owns this bike and stuffed his dope in the saddle bags. • Officer: There's drugs in the saddle bags too?!?!? • Biker: Yes, sir. Hearing this, the rookie immediately called his captain. The biker was quickly surrounded by police, and the captain approached the biker to handle the tense situation: • Captain: Sir, can I see your license? • Biker: Sure. Here it is. It was valid. • Captain: Who's motorcycle is this? • Biker: It's mine, officer. Here's the registration. • Captain: Could you slowly open your tool bag so I can see if there's a gun in it? • Biker: Yes, sir, but there's no gun in it. Sure enough, there was nothing in the tool bag. • Captain: Would you mind opening your saddle bags? I was told you said there's drugs in them. • Biker: No problem. The saddle bags were opened; no drugs. • Captain: I don't understand it. The officer who stopped you said you told him you didn't have a license, stole this motorcycle, had a gun in the tool bag, and that there were drugs in the saddle bags. • Biker: Yeah, I'll bet he told you I was speeding, too.

Allows me to say Na na - na na na to these guys . . . . . Totally worth it. A-Jay

I guess I can't wrap my brain around man-caused and natural disasters; I have to think at a micro-level. According to @Glenn in the introduction to the General Forums, there are thousands of members in BR. Now it seems to me that if each of us was to pick up a couple of beer cans, empty fishhook wrappers, or wads of cast-off line each time we went out, the individual effort might appear minimal, but the collective effort would be pretty impressive. That's a boatload of garbage removed from our waterways. I like the idea of sticking a small garbage bag in my pocket for collecting junk. I realize I can't "save the world" but I can surely make my local environment better. I don't know, but I'd rather focus on where I can make a difference than rely on politicians, corporations, or Ma Nature to make a difference. All are out of my control. (Dang! Gotta get me a soapbox for my kayak instead of a milk crate!!)

Atchafalaya Basin Louisiana

Finally a good day for me and my long time fishing buddy. We hardly had any success together as fishing partner since last year, it either him or me(mostly him) or both got skunked. We started around 5:30AM, he caught one fish and lost one on his walking dog(R2S), I got two blow up on my frog but no fish. Then we both switched to chatterbait and both caught a few more bass, including double(first ever for us). I end up caught another big catfish also with chatterbait. Good to have fishing buddy even once in awhile.

You're doing it wrong. A-Jay

My goal this season has been to get better with my slower presentations. I've always fished moving baits almost exclusively. So this year I've been fishing wacky rigs, Neko rigs, texas rigs, jigs, etc. more and more in order to force myself to get better at these techniques. I've been visiting small local ponds to practice these techniques so that I can transfer that into my trips out on the boat. It's finally starting to pay off and my confidence is growing every trip with these techniques. My buddy and I hit the water at 5 AM yesterday, July 4th. I wasn't expecting much with it being the final day of a holiday weekend on a lake that is over pressured as it is. We started our morning off throwing topwaters and large swimbaits because this lake is known for above average sized fish. My partner caught his first ever frog fish, a 3-7 to start the day off. I quickly followed up with a 3-4 on my trusty old black Cavitron buzzbait. Once the fog burned off, the fish started boiling at the surface everywhere in the large weed flat we were on. I picked up a wacky rigged Senko and started going to work on them. As the sun got up, we went to deeper water. I caught a few fish flipping a pegged D-Bomb up under some overhanging trees on a steep bank. We then moved to an old barn foundation that is left on this lake that always produces fish. Another boat was on this spot when we got there, so we fished down the bank some and waited our turn. While waiting our turn, 3 different kayak fishermen paddled up on this spot and fished it as well. None of them caught anything. Once it was our turn to get on this spot, I managed to pull a nice 2.5 pounder out on a wacky rigged Senko. This was a big confidence booster to me to go to a spot that had already been worked over by a few other fishermen and pull out a fish using one of my weaker techniques. By the end of the day, I caught around a dozen fish all in the 14-19" range, with only one fish being on a moving bait. Our best 5 was probably in the 12-13lb. range. My partner's 3-7 frog fish. My 3-4 Cavitron fish.

I would have to buy a cover for that cover.

It is entirely personal preference, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. End of story.

There is no right way or wrong way. Do what feels comfortable to you. For many years, almost all reels available only had the reel handle on the right side so that's what everyone used. Today, many reels come in both versions so we have the luxury of being able to choose whichever you prefer.

Got out at daybreak today. Lake was slick calm. Pulled out the booyah on my froggin rig. Nothing for 1/2 hr. I turned my head,and when I looked there had been a relatively small blow- up with no noise. Very subtle . As I pulled up to check I felt pressure moving to the right and then realized it was a heavy fish. Fish never tried to jump .It weighed 7.3 pounds. Other than the big fish,I caught 5 more on various worms.One was really cool because I caught it on a late 70s vintage 6 inch grape Mann's jelly worm. Day sha vu!!!

oh lawdy...

Without getting into a political debate your researchers are simply try to get more money out of BP oil plan & simple! It was the same thing with Hurricane Katrina, you never hear about Rita or Ike.. Why? Ever ask yourself why Deepwater Horizon was where it was located? Your quoting the social liberal engineers who are pushing Global Warming/Climate Change "You never let a serious crisis go to waste" Buy into whatever ya want

In my experience they're not buoyant enough to fish effectively in heavy timber. I donated 4 of them to mother fork in one weekend and will never buy another.. For me and my area lakes it's a deal breaker.maybe I'm not patient enough. Or my style doesn't suit well to the Berkeley dredger. 6th sense dd500 is the king round here. I've been fishing the same one for 3 months now. It deflects and backs out of cover when you kill it waay better. And most importantly catches them. Seems to be a big fish bait for us.

Like is a relative term. I've had 2 walk thru windshields prior to this and have never owned a true bassboat. Walk thru windshields are a life saver during cold runs and cold wet runs. They offer the option for full or partial canvas enclosures as well. The bubble windshields on my Lund are easily detachable. They are made of some type of plastic and can get scratched, but are easily replaceable and much less expensive to replace than a cracked glass windshield. They do offer some function, but no less and possibly more than a bass boat windscreen. I wear a Save Phace during the spring and fall and will wear fleece during the weeks immediately before and after ice. As far as the boat buying process, and I offer no apologies for the statement I made at the beginning of the thread. Think of the boat as a tool for a specific job. Your entire first post minus the first paragraph is the job you need a tool for. When you search for boats, think of all the specifics you require and determine which boat is going to fulfill most if not all of your requirements. The one thing you failed to mention in the original post is what type of water you fish. Safety should be your #1 factor. I spent 3 years boat shopping. I know for a fact @A-Jay and @Junk Fisherman spent well over a year or 2 searching for their perfect boats. I think I can speak for all of us that we are happy with our decisions. Put time into your decision making process and you won't have regrets.

Here's another one I found. if it were available today, I'd have a hard time saying no....

Texas Rigs and senkos clean out the lake everytime I go.

My favorite is a top water walking bait. I'm also that guy that'll put down what I'm throwing and launch it as every breaking fish in the area. As for most productive.... a Texas rigged watermelon red baby brush hog. I've caught fish on these everywhere I've thrown it.

One of the most misunderstood and difficult behavior habit of big bass is location. As a trophy bass angler learning where these big bass are located is essential to catching them. I keep my eyes focused down into the water every minute I can in hopes of seeing a big bass visually and watch my sonar also. When you see a big bass following your lure or another bass you are fighting make note of the location. If you hook and catch or loose a big bass that tells you everything you need to know about location and active feeding time. My routine is to go back to locations I know big bass are located at about every 3 hours if possible. Another misunderstood big bass behavior is they are rarely solitary fish unless the location is small or isolated, big bass group up in 3 or more when hunting or activity feeding. Don't leave after catching one big bass, stay and catch several! Tom

To quote Bluebasser86 from a similar thread last year "Ned Rig, & it ain't even close!!".

I was fishing a tiny pond that I found with Google maps on public land by a reservoir. I'd caught some very healthy fish up to 3 pounds, but the size of the pond lead me to believe that was probably as big as they got. I snagged a good sized submerged limb with a Senko, drug the limb most of the way in before my bait popped off. The Senko was pushed up on the bend of the hook, spiraled the whole way in. I was pretty much ready to leave after the commotion I made dragging the limb until a huge wake pushed up behind my bait and I watched a big mouth flare open and suck in my bait. Of course I set the hook back into my kinked up Senko and missed the fish. 1 week to the day later, I returned with nothing but my swimbait rod and several swimbaits intent on covering every inch of that little pond to get that fish to bite. Various retrieves all across the pond with a Deps 175 and weedless 68 Hudd came up empty, so I switched to my Ol' Faithful 7" MS Slammer. First cast was under an overhanging tree that's roots protruded into the water. Waited a solid minute after the splashdown. A single, soft twitch and the bait disappeared into a giant boil. Now I don't know 100% for sure this is the same fish, but because of the size of the pond it came from, odds of there being another this large or bigger are really slim.

I wish that Bass could come on land and take care of the Mole problem in my yard. Look for the next lure from Savage Gear to be a Suicide Mole

@NHBull: The simple solution is ... quit catchin' so danged many bass! Those beasts shred a senko! LOL! I'll never be accused of that type of pollution given the number of soft plastics I toss into the garbage at the end of a typical day of fishing (or just save for the next trip.) Hey! We less-accomplished fishermen are actually unwitting conservationists!

Lake Walk-In-Water, FL Gator Cloud

I've always said that a good plague will solve most of the world's immediate problems... Seriously - the world population has more than tripled in my lifetime. More people means demand for more resources and that means a lot more trash and waste. Modern medicine has had a lot of unintended consequences. When I take my son fishing we always do a walk around and cleanup before we leave, even if that means picking up the trash that ignorant people left behind.

It is amazing the effects FISH PORN has on us.

They are not highly buoyant which is one reason why they cast as far and dive as deep as they do . I have used them all except the 25.5 . They get down fast and stay there a long time . I have caught numerous fish close to the boat using them . For the time being they are my favorite deep divers . The 10.5 and the 14.5 have been especially productive . I think the 20.5 will be able to effectively fish 18 foot on 12 lb test mono .

If I threw the 22 or 26 ft diving models, they would end up digging a 10 ft deep trench and most likely cause my lake to drain...or it could end up creating man made creek channels!! I have been using the 10.5, a much different bait than the ones you want to use. I like it so far, however one thing I did notice is that it pulls on the rod less than than other baits that dive to similar depths (like the DT10). They are less work to retrieve, especially if you will be throwing it most of the day. Their shape reminds me of the Mann crankbaits.

At one time it was a dropshot, that transitioned to the crankbait, which I found to be a seasonal bite in my area. Then it became pitchin a jig with trailer into heavy cover and under docks, now it's a Texas rigged plastic with a punching skirt that I fish just like my jigs except I can put it in the really really thick stuff and not get hung up, no rope or cable snags under docks. And I don't get as many bites but when I do, it's always a quality fish

I have all left hand retrieve reels. I cast with my right hand and I can immediately start reeling without having to switch hands. I can work the rod much better in my right hand too. Personal preference though.

Fished from noon till about 6. Caught probably 30 fish with the biggest about 3. Carolina-rig in 6-15ft of water. First time ever fishing the Cypress Bend area. I have only fished the North end a few times. Had a good time. Looking forward to tomorrow.

I have them both and they DO get down to the advertised depth providing my electrics are accurate..my CB rod is rated to 1 ounce and they fly just fine. The weight on the bill is not a gimmick

From the looks of it that threaded barrel just cam loose from the blank. Easy fix. If you want to tackle it email or call me and I'll walk you through it.

I finally pulled the trigger. Just got back from Dick's Sporting Goods. $599 and she's mine!! I'll post some pics as I modify it!! Tight lines everybody!!!

He went some with me last year I'd set the hook and hed reel in on his own this year I've given him a rod with a circle hook and a fluke. He doesn't cast He flips the bell back n forth until I tell him to quit and he usually gets hit letting the fluke drift. It's Awesome. And he's suprisingly ry good at reeling in fish

2 silicone tabs would be max for me. If you want multiple colors use 4 tabs split in 1/4 th and bundle 4 together. I often use 1 tab and split 2 tabs into 1/2 and bundle together. Barlows has a good selection of skirt tabs, tools etc. I prefer 1 barbed wire with 2 split natures edge silicone tabs. Caution, the combinations are nearly unlimited. Tom

I am not a numbers fisherman unless it's numbers of big bass. Occasionally I fish with a partner who likes to target numbers of bass and keeps count to determine how many were caught. When fishing for numbers you should fish locations that have higher populations of keeper size bass and that isn't where the big bass are located. Early low light summer mornings the bite is usually on top water Splash-It, white frog, buzz bait, Shad color lipless or mid deep diver as the Shad leave their night hiding areas. When the Shad are gone out to deeper water a split/slip shot or drop shot rig puts number of bass in the boat. Evening it's the reverse with crankbaits being a numbers lure followed again by top water. My best numbers day was 18 DD big bass on a Scrounger with trout colored Sluggo trailer, now those are the numbers I live for. Tom

the answer will probably always be some form of plastic worm for me for numbers. this year its the florida rigged ultravibe worm, followed by a wacky trick worm big fish goes to the jig

The technique that catches me the most fish is getting my lure wet. If your lure isn't wet you're not going to catch fish. It's a numbers game, put the numbers in your favor. The more you line is wet the better your odds of catching a fish. You can throw this or that and catch fish, but if you're not fishing you won't catch them. Conclusion: the longer/more you fish the more fish you'll catch. The longer you fish the more fish you'll cross paths with. There is no magic lure so don't look for one. The trick is time on the water.

Sometimes they work like a champ, and others they don't work at all. My best use of them comes in fairly shallow water, especially in the spring when largemouths are in shallow bays, mid-April to mid May in central Michigan. We reel them very slowly, and even let them kiss the bottom now and then with a little pause or slow-down. Trailer and color is important. A black really lively curly-tail grub or worm tail with a Junebug skirt is good for the above fishing. They are not one of my favorite lures, but when the fish want them, I give them what they want.

If the bite is tough and I have to pick one bait to get a bite it's a no brainer. I go with a texas rigged plastic worm, but not just any plastic worm. It's a small worm (6"). I have probably caught more bass over 6lbs on this little worm than any other bait I own. If you can't get a bite, try going light. A close second (and also would be my #2 for big fish over 6lbs) would be a spinnerbait. But again a worm has caught me more fish than any other lure. I kept a log of my fish catches last year and with over 800+ bass caught I suspect 600 or more were on a worm of some sort.

Favorite technique or style is top water and a frog. Soft plastic worms and flukes usually catch me the most fish.

Great eating fish too!

Ole Catt is a bottom feeder Once the boat comes down off of plane the first thing I grab is a Texas Rig, Wacky Rig, Shaky Head, Weightless T-rig, Carolina Rig, Jig-N-Craw, Mojo Rig, Rage Rig, Drop Shot or anything that takes me to the bottom. I'm gonna be casting, flipping, pitching, punching, hopping, dragging, shaking, dead sticking, or skipping. I don't care if its grass, brush, timber, rocks, docks, pads, lay downs, shore line or off shore. I don't care if its pre- spawn, spawn, post spawn, summer, dog days, fall, winter, morning, noon, or night. Give me 2 rod-n-reels with any of the above techniques & Catt be happy, happy, happy!

In retrospect, I must've regretted many of my boat purchases, because I'm now on my 14th boat and counting! Roger

If I recall, you had these same reservations prior to purchasing the VLO.

Get Power Pro and be done with it

Getting tough on a pressured 4th of July weekend

Fished a lake that was stocked a couple of years ago. Nothing huge, but they sure enjoyed the Spro Bronzeye frog a lot. Going to one of my regular haunts tomorrow morning, hoping to catch a few big ones.