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So proud of my grandson today! He wasn’t perfect, made a few mistakes, but was still able to pull off ANOTHER state championship for the second year in a row! Hard work all year pays off in the end! Gymnastics Level 5 state Champion baby!!! ? (Evan Trace on the left)

My date for the night. Headed to the daddy daughter dance.

As promised @12poundbass Nothing special but was good to get out. A bit nipply this morning and the Lund was covered in frost. Met my dad at the ramp at 8 he was there when I arrived and was already drowning minnows. He had already cleared the ramp of debris that had floated up during the heavy rains we had a couple weeks ago. Apparently we were the first boat to launch this season. Unfortunately they are still lowering water levels back to winter pool and the water was low and flowing. Started heading to a spot I wanted to start at. Drove about a mile and was met with ice. Was about 1/2" thick. Probably went about another 1/4 mile breaking ice before I decided it wise I turn around because the ice was getting thicker. Headed back towards the launch to fish a creek channel. Didn't get very far before I turned around because of ice. Headed to fish a bridge which is normally a good walleye spot. Spent an hour or so there jogging back and forth thru the current catching nothing but snags. Decided to head north. Got about 3/4 of a mile and was met with ice again. Instead of screwing around I headed back south again to another creek channel that I knew was open. Started fishing docks. Nothing.... It was now around 11:00 and I figured we weren't going to get anything because all the fish had been eaten by sharks. About another 1/2 hour goes by with nothing. We come to a 3 way fork in the creek channel. 2 go into a marina and the 3rd continues up the creek channel. Dad wanted to head up the creek. I've never caught a fish further up the creek so I took us into the marina which I had never fished before. Kept casting dock pilings until Blammo!!!! First fish of the season. A little rock bass. We fished this dock for another couple hours catching crappies, perch, LMB (dad lost a nice one because I told him to flip it in) rock bass an bluegill...and then it died. Another boat showed up and parked at a dock right behind us and caught quite a few crappies but they said all were small. The bite died and we headed back out to the middle of the fork which was more marina. Hitting dock after dock after dock until we hit the motherload. Mind you, sizes were small but action was there. This guy recently escaped a pike or musky We kept enough fish for dinner and thru back about 50 fish. Most of them bluegills Dad caught the biggest fish of the day and also lost the biggest. Nice rock bass currently digesting in my stomach. .

My niece and her new little bundle of joy(my great nephew). I'm a proud great uncle! ?

I really like the Netbait T-Mac (similar to a Zoom Trick worm). The discontinued Berkley Rib Snake was terribly ignored. There's always that line of not wanting to let the cat out of the bag about a good bait, but not wanting it to be too ignored and end up getting axed. A Zoom Centipede on a slider head is an excellent bait. My all time favorite would have to be the Zoom Magnum Finesse worm on a shakyhead though. They're great rigged about any way, but the light shakyhead is my favorite, usually a 1/16 or 1/8oz. And this is why!

Hey guys, I haven’t been on here in a few months but have been back lurking around this week, so many of you don’t know me. Anyways, over the last few months I’ve realized a valueable lesson about life and fishing that I felt the need to share. I learned that time is an extremely valuable thing... especially when it comes to time that we have to go fishing. I know this is a cliché saying but many people do not realize the truth in this statement until life hits and they can’t do the thing they love as much as they used to anymore. Back in high school I used to fish tournaments every weekend, fish every break, and every other time I had a chance. Normally about three to four days a week. I gruaduated in last may and decided to join the army and start college around the same time. (Not a great idea there’s no extra minutes in life). Long story short last weekend was the first time I’ve been fishing since I graduated. I remember being mad if I didn’t have more than four hours to fish and wouldn’t go. Now I’m just thankful to be back on the water at least for a few hours a week. You can bet that even if I only have one hour I’m going to take it now. I guess the moral of my story is no matter how old you are, don’t take the time you have to chase these little green fish for granted. I’m just glad I learned at 19 instead of 49 and had regrets looking back.

A true legend and ambassador of the sport of bass fishing lost his battle with cancer. We lost one of the good ones today.

If you want to present a jig with a faster fall rate, but with a small profile, trim the skirt on a 3/8oz. or 1/2oz. arkie head jig to the hook bend. You can attach any trailer you want to adjust the fall rate and trim the trailer back to just the action claws to keep the compact profile.

My brother caught this 13.00lb beauty while fishing with my father and I on Lake fork.

We took our son to go see the Monster Jam series. It was entertaining, he had a blast. I'd love to take one for a spin.

Been fishing it for over 30 years with lipless cranks, lipped cranks, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, worms, grubs, jigs and swimbaits, actually it’s a lot easier to fish wood than vegetation ..... all you need is a reliable plug knocker.

My brother caught this monster in Lake Fork fishing with me and our dad!

Is a lure created by Dion Hibdon and used by Guido to win a Bassmaster tournament at Lake of the Ozarks . It was formed from a real crawdad using Plaster of Paris and pouring in plastic . I still use the ones that were mass produced but have a limited supply , I dont believe they are being produced anymore . What I lked the best about them is they were completely smooth . If I was in question if I just had a bite all I had to do was look at the bait . If a bass bit , it always left teeth marks that were very easy to see on the "Bug".

Well, I'm 60 yrs old, and have been bass fishing about 35 yrs. Have worked as a carpenter for 25 yrs and still do. I fish mostly smaller lakes and ponds here in north Missouri. I like finesse fishing, and topwater fishing the best. Glad to be a member here. Great wealth of information on this site

Spent the first half of my Army career as a 19K Tanker, now I'm an Apache helo pilot still currently serving. Thanks everyone for their service to our country!

One of the few people who can get me to go for a hike!

My home lake is full of standing timber . I seek out trees that line a channel, or a road , or farm field or point ... The simple three part Texas rig lure , hook and sinker is my top choice . Spinnerbaits , squarebills and top waters esp. a buzzbait all have their place . The major difference between my area and the picture you posted is water clarity . Mine is dingier , thus I tend to fish lures with some chartreuse on them a lot.

I fish a lot of brush, standing timber, & laydowns. I do not peg anything & absolutely never Snell anything I mostly fish Berkley Big Game 15# because the has a high abrasion resistance.

RIP Mr Hibdon. Condolences to his family and friends. One of my favorite "early" guys. I'm going to dig out some of my bugs and catch a few in his honor.

I loved the bigger one for a jig trailer or stand alone on a T rig.

Just back from TB. Was there for a club tourney 3/2-3/4 then stayed for the BASS Central Regional 3/5-3/9 and wanted to return something to this thread after gleaning so much from it. For the club tourney found them biting well shallow with water temps at 63 mornings to 67 in the afternoon. Punching hay grass and flipping the brush with beavers would get you bit pretty regularly using sapphire in the muddy water and black light in clearer water. Picking up a spinnerbait or chatterbait in white would get you bit out in front of the brush. I stunk it up with poor results but my son Chad won with 19# on Saturday and 13# on Sunday in Hurricane. The Regional started Wednesday with cooling water temps around 59. My day 1 boater took us to Patroon (through very large waves) to flip brush which netted him 15# on 5 fish and 10# on my 3 fish. Day 2 boater took us to Housin flats which he struggled with a little but got me 11# for my best 3 caught on a Mattlures gill and a chatterbait. My day 3 boater took us out on the deep water next to Bass_Fanatic We got some good ones before the wind kicked up and we had to leave. Without that Ultrex fighting the waves became impossible. Get one! Finished out in Nagreet with 14# for my boater and only 7# for me on cranks deep and flipping shallow. All in all a very fun but exhausting trip on one of the greatest bass lakes in the world. Met some new friends and learned a lot. My three day weight allowed me to take the top Texas non boater spot and move on to the National which I hear is a pretty cool deal. If anybody is going in the coming days feel free to pm me and I’ll answer any questions I can. Bert

True legend

This is a pic from the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park.

This...

Like many of the early pros, he was a pioneer of new baits and techniques. My early reading included many articles highlighting his use of tube baits. I’ve used them for everything from perch to Muskie. Like many sports, youngsters should acknowledge those that paved the way for their success and enjoyment of the sport.

A fanny pack is ideal for bank fishing. One rod, a few lures (usually soft plastics) and you're good to go.

I hate having any more junk then I have to in my pockets, so my ultra-minimilst “pack” is a rockclimbing chalk bag clipped to my belt. It’s almost weightless and helps insure I never (again) launder a bag of worms or pack of hooks.

Some spinning reels do not have that capability like the Shimano Stradic Ci4. There is no anti-reverse lever.

I'm assuming you're fishing too fast if you can't get hit on a senko. If you have the patience, I've found the best way to fish a senko is a weightless t-rig. Cast it to a specific target, let the bait fall to the bottom, and let it sit for another 10-15 seconds. Give it a little hop, let it sit for a while again. If you're bank fishing do this all the way back to shore, out of a boat I'd reel in after the third hop and cast to the next target. Fishing large grass flats, dead sticking the bait to where a cast may take a full minute or more is very effective. I personally get bored of this after a grand total of around three casts and just twitch it like a fluke. I know people will use a 1/4 ounce weight to pitch senkos at lily pads and have success. Senkos also make a great skipping bait, weedless and the bait will react the same regardless of which side hits the water first due to the round shape. When tournament fishing, they make a good lunch time bait. Just throw out a senko over a shallow flat, let the wind slowly drift you over the flat towing the senko behind you. Hold your rod in one hand and a sandwich in the other. You'd be surprised how often you'll get a fish doing this. In small rivers/big creeks with slow currents I've often found a senko on a carolina rig to be pretty useful. Tie on a 2-3 foot leader and a 3/8 ounce weight and you can keep the current from putting too much slack in your line and keep the senko near the bottom. The leader provides it playroom to act as if its weightless until the current pulls the senko tight with the weight. Colors don't really need to be anything crazy. Watermelon red and black/blue laminate will work almost every time.

It's always quality vs quantity for me. That's why I stick with daiwa/shimano. Some cheap chinese reels tout crazy amounts of bearings as a selling point, but I'd rather have a daiwa/shimano with half the amount. However, within those two brands if there are more bearings in one particular reel it usually means it is of higher quality.

Count down to the Classic ~ 04 days - 21 hrs - 10 minutes. A-Jay

I missed this and posted about it in the tournament section . A fishing hero .As a fellow Missourian he is my Mickey Mantle .

In warm weather I wear a vest. When it's cool out I have a westherproof jacket with big pockets. Accomplishes two things: Keeps me mobile and limits my lure choices which helps me focus on my techniques.

dang, thanks Guido for all you’ve given to the sport we all love. one of my all time favorites.

Sorry to read about his passing. Thanks for letting us know.

A Slammer can catch you hundreds of fish per bait provided you don't do anything silly with it though. The cost per fish ratio is much cheaper than a bag a Senkos if you look at it that way. I've caught I don't know how many fish on the first one I bought and it's still going strong.

I was in my local BPS today to look the boat over again and pick up a few jigs. I remembered this post, so I decided to give the show boat prop a few good yanks. That Merc prop had a 32nd or so longitudinal play along the shaft as well. Must be normal.

The number of bearings are not a selling point for me at all.

Quality over more poor bearings.

Nose-up means the transfer weights are probably stuck in the tail (casting position)....They are supposed to roll back to the front as soon as you move the bait. As for floating, the standard Vision 110 is not a suspending bait, it's a slow floater - Depending on water temp and your expectations it's normal slow float could appear 'fast'. If anything damaged the bait I would have guessed it would sink rather than float more, but strange things do happen. I'd see if you can get the transfer weights unstuck and check it again...Just be careful with tapping or hitting it, the bills are not the strongest.

After patiently waiting the boat is finally ready. 1850 superhawk. Break in will start soon. Can’t wait to get her out on the water.

The fish won't know the difference, there are more important things to worry about.

I bought a Lowrance Hook2 5 TripleShot for the dash and a Hook2 7x for up front. That 5 might interest you. http://fishfindersadvisor.com/hook2-5-tripleshot-us-inland/

Grabbed a few things when I got off work yesterday. I replaced the 1/2oz breaking bream Project Z that I lost last Tuesday, picked up a 3/8oz black/blue Z-Man Elite chatterbait(lost the skirt on my other one), a pack of 3.75" green pumpkin Rage Swimmers, a pack of VMC 2/O weedless wacky hooks, a pack of Yum 5" chartreuse clear shad Break'N Shad and a pack of H2O Express 5/O heavy wire EWG offset hooks. Last Sunday I picked up a 1/2oz chartreuse sexy shad Project Z, 2 packs of size 2 Eagle Claw dual lock snaps and a pack of 6th Sense Peg-X Stoppers.

Just bought a Lowrance gen3 HDS7 with totalscan for $500, new in the box. A couple smithwick jerk baits and some strike king jigs.

that’s the right attitude brother because you’re just getting started. work, kids, and other responsibilities will come first as you grow older. fishing will always be there though, and if you hook up with the right gal, she will understand and let you have your time. you might have to wash some dishes and clean some toilets along the way but it’s all apart of learning how to play the game. git r done ?

STILL USE THESE OLD SCHOOL WORMS FROM TIME TO TIME...

I think the zoom centipede is shamefully underrated. If you put a 1/8 or 1/4 oz about a foot above it and break a toothpick to wedge it to the line. Just slowly drag it along the bottom and man do they nail it. Preferably Pumpkin and Green Pumpkin work the best in my humble opinion, in that order.

I use Zoom finesse and trickworms. Believe it or not, 4 inch Luck E Strike with hook tail from Wal Mart. Sometimes I have done well with Zoom swamp crawlers, too.

I'd better change my career. I caught another PB today not bass but d**n CARP. It weight at 24 lbs, snag on Husky Jerk 10. Thanks to my tatula 6'10 MHF and scorpion 70 I can steer him out of tree and brushes, believe me this beast pulled my Jon boat everywhere. oh thanks to two kayakers who lend me his net and snap this photo for me.