Leaderboard

Funny part to this story... so when I was a kid my Dad (who some might call obsessive/compulsive) set each of us kids up with a tool box. Color coded, mine was yellow; two sisters had red and blue. Tools were also color coded. Still using those tools 35+ years later. Use them constantly. Today before heading to camp I reached for the yellow wrench set (Dad spray painted them yellow) to unbolt the basement door to put the kayak away before loading up the jon boat, and clearly recall thinking I can't believe I still haven't lost these over the years. Threw them in the boat to head to camp. A couple hours later, when the crash happened, this 5-pc wrench set was scattered in the roadway and hidden in grassy ditches. Literally one by one, found each of the 5 wrenches, and after some searching, the spring clip that held them together. I can't even believe 1) this is what I thought was important at the time and 2) all pieces were recovered, ready for more use. Can't wait to tell Dad the story

Apparently catfish like Keitechs as well... After the disappointment of this catfish I also unfortunately caught a carp on a senko that was 30+ pounds and wouldn't even fit in our net. Thought I had a PB Clear Lake giant until about 10 seconds into the fight (no pic). Pops with one of the nicer bass of the trip.

Caught a catfish on a Keitech as well a few weeks back. It flopped out of my hands and over the side just as the pic was being taken. Seems like I've seen a lot of catfish caught on swimbaits this year. Got it out for an hour or so this afternoon and managed a couple smallmouth on senkos. No pics of those, they were all under 10", but did manage to haul in this beauty with 10lb braid on the spinning rod. Less fight than I thought it would be... It flipped out of my hand after the first pic and then I dropped my phone in the dirt. Need a felfie stick for this bank fishing stuff!

Took my nephew out 3.3 trolling with a chrome and blue back rat trap

Got another nicer one from the creek. Was having trouble fooling them again but saw a pair chasing a bluegill at the surface and casted over towards them with the Keitech and this one hit it before I could even engage the reel. 2.93 lbs. Definitely one of my luckier catches. Then I got this guy in the deepest pocket. @NorcalBassin I feel your disappointment ?.

Caught me a butter balling ditch panda on a tiny swimbait today. Pandasaurus rex is a strong animal, and tried to get away by bending out an ST-36. Not on my watch, not today though!

Bass fishing was fairly lackluster today. After 5 hours in the sun with only a couple 16 inchers and a boatload of dinks, I had enough of it. So over the course of the next hour, I first reranged and then plusoned a bunch of crappies. Just glad that I released almost as many as I kept. I forgot that cleaning fish isn't half as much fun as catching them.

I was uncertain where to post this but this board and especially me lost a good friend yesterday. One of our members lot his battle with cancer. If you had any dealings with him you knew him here as Kris, I knew him as Ed Kriston. We became good friends over a decade ago thanks to ham radio. Decades ago he was sponsored by Gambler and later did some mechanic work for them at some of the tournaments. I got him back into bass fishing and I am glad we spent some memorable days on my boat together. He was always kind and willing too share his experience and knowledge here and on other boards. He even became a moderator on another board. Please, if you ever shared a topic with him, or read his writings here, just give a prayer up for him, his family and friends! We will be coping with a big hole in our hearts. He left big shoes to follow in.

Regardless of what happens the rest of the 2018 season, there's going to be two days I remember from this year for a long long time. I have fished this lake for 30 years, and days like these two don't happen often. A really really good day here is 20-30 fish, that's why these two days will be remembered for a while. The first was May 12th, see my report a few pages back on that day, but the highlights were: A new PB 6lb 8oz smallmouth, 11 bass over 5lb boated, including the PB smallmouth and a 6+ lb largemouth, and over 100 bass caught during the day. That brings us to yesterday. Another 100+ bass day, with 23 fish over 4lbs put in the boat. No five lbers though. I did set a new bass caught on consecutive casts record for my self, when I caught 17 3-4lb fish in a row..off one piece of cover. Unlike that day in May where I caught them on multiple things, and caught big smallmouth and largemouth, I only caught one smallmouth yesterday, and I had one rod, and one bait in my hand all day, and pretty much caught fish non-stop from 6am-5pm. The only lull I had was from 11am -2pm when the sun popped out. But before and after that, it was cloudy, and they were chomping as long as there was cloud cover.

Took the boys to Dinosaurs Alive yesterday. Tried to get a picture with Lake, but he was too worried about the T-Rex that suddenly started moving on the other side of the room to look at the camera ?

The water levels were low so the fish were extra spooky but I still managed a few. This was the nicest one at 2.5 on a wacky GP 3” Dinger. Saw several 3-4 pound fish but I spooked them and they got tight lipped ?.

Great Idea ~ Either Adrian Avena https://www.bassmaster.com/anglers/adrian-avena Or Dustin Connell https://www.bassmaster.com/anglers/dustin-connell but in order for this to work I'm afraid we might just have to start ponying up membership dues . . . A-Jay

Best time to go fishing is anytime you can go fishing!

Momo is very tricky . . A-Jay

Interesting - Talk about multi-tasking . . . . Do the greasy pot & pans affect bass survivability in your live well ? A-Jay

A-Jay

But pawkin isn't.

Don't know about the fishing but I hear good chowdah is easy to find.

67 yrs young! ? 3 ruptured discs (L4, L5, S1), torn ligaments, sciatic nerve damage in the lower back. Rheumatoid arthritis & calcium deposits in knees, elbows, wrist, fingers, shoulders & bone spurs in neck. Aint slept more than 4 hrs at a time in 13 yrs, I go from laying, to sitting, to standing constantly. Had to make adjustments in every part of my life not just fishing. On a pain scale of 1-10 my average day is about an 8. But with God's grace I aint had surgery, don't plan on having surgery, & aint on pain meds! #1 stay active! Stretching & exercise core muscles!

^^^ This. This is what I see most people do. This is what gives tournament fishermen a bad reputation.

I wouldn't worry about it. I've been eating fairly large quantities of fish ( fresh and salt ) all my life , and I feel good, and thankfully have no chronic health issues. I also believe that our waterways are cleaner in general than they were. I also believe that a vocal minority get a lot of people worried about relatively minor issues. That's my take on it anyway.

Our state shows consumption rates on different fish and bodies of water. Possibly due to mercury. I don't think lost lures plays into it.

Unless you eat fish daily, I would guess there's not much to worry about.

I always assume other fisherman are ( like us ) out to have fun and catch some fish. When they are close enough I'll engage them in conversation. Most fisherman are friendly and we'll talk about what a nice day it is, fishing conditions, etc. and I'll let them know I'll go out around them. On the rare occasion they are less than friendly I'll stay put and let them make the first move. I always try to treat people like I would want to be treated. I've never looked at fishing as " us against them " but as just, we are one of many who enjoy this wonderful thing called fishing.

Fishing must be slow in Alabama right now.

Which models did you try? What issues did you have with them? I own several of them, several different models, and they've been truly impressive. I've had an issue with 1 of them, but the CS took great care of me so really no complaints there. I fish them right alongside my higher end reels and they function like I expect them to and do everything I need them to. I have another one plus my first KK rod in route to the house right now in fact. Speed Demon in the jungle got this one out. Spartacus Plus landed this toad Sharky II catching footballs

One of my favorite ways to fish a plastic. I drag mine though, never have been able to make them work fishing them like a crankbait. Everything from tiny craws and worms to 15" worms and magnum creature baits.

No offense, but your friend sounds like a lazy moron. I have 10 year old PQ's that look like hell and have abused mightily that work better than when I got them because of some pretty simple maintenance that I do in season and then a deep teardown, clean and lube in the winter. Not hard..takes an hour.

I'm fishing in our pond with a ton of fallen branches and several large downed trees. Great for the fish but not so great for my pocketbook. Hard to not get hung up often and have to cut line. I know this is likely due to my general inexperience and low casting skills, but I have a 15 year old angler who gets tied up, also, but not as often as me. Is this just part of fishing? I don't want to fish top water constantly. Any suggestions?

I agree very weedles way to rig a wacky worm.

My favorite hook for Wacky Rigging is the Gammy Octopus Circle Hook in 1/0. In 2 years of using this hook, I can only recall losing 1 fish on it. It's a reel set. But the point I really wanted to touch on is, it isn't a weedless hook, but it's a weedless hook. The hook point pointing inwards tends to let it roll right over snaggy cover. I'll even use it in grass and I seldom pull up grass with it.

you have a serious problem it what you posted is fact. You are running a counter rotating motor and the boat is not setup for that. The prop should be spinning clockwise in forward gear and the trim tab should be turn so the rear edge of it is to the right. If you look at it, you will see a built in curve to the right until you get a neutral steer with the boat up on plane and trimmed properly. The natural torque of the prop wants to push the motor in a way that makes the boat want's to go to the right and the trim is just to fine tune that. It will not correct an improper setup. One of the major causes of hard steer in one direction is the motor is not trimmed up properly, making the hull plow through the water, cause way too much drag. Another thing that can cause it is a hook in the hull, usually caused by a trailer with center rollers and one of the rollers is up too high, which over time causes permanent damage to the hull. If the motor is too deep in the water, that can cause hard steering torque.

I tend not to worry about my boat when it is on my son's dock......

us navy "tincan sailor"

Definitely not a rock bass, warmouth. They're different species altogether.

Jigs, Texas rigs, weedless swimbaits.

Hello Cheri and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ Fishing weedless presentations is probably going to be your best bet. You'll still get hung up but it should be quite a bit less than any open hook deals. And when you do - here's some info on how to free your baits https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/lure-unstuck.html A-Jay

Candy bug, June bug, Black, Green Pumpkin, Camo, Bubble gum

Starting last season I've been having better than average success with the Freedom Tackle Stealth Swim Jigs. (I'm using just the head, adding my own hook of choice and a Strike King Rage Bug). A stop & go retrieve right on the bottom has accounted for several respectable bass for me. In the clip below from last fall I catch a few on it and talk about rigging it. A-Jay

Oh I dug through my archives and found it. I've never met you but I trust that you won't tell a soul about and upon seeing it will immediately delete it! Remember....not a soul.

As a bank angler I believe we need to work harder to produce as we can only cover a limited amount of water. Some days it takes quite a bit of time and diligence to land anything. Add the recent heat wave here in NYS and it gets even tougher. One of my locals, a 160 acre lake is notoriously tough to fish after spawn for the "bankers". And its become my obsession. I got out yesterday morning spending a few hours sweating and pretty much just disturbing water. Topwater got nothing, bottom plastics, nothing. I left my usual lake and drove over to another spot where I caught nothing but a nice lure someone lost in the water. I did however meet a gentleman and his young son launching their boat. We got to talking and I found out he recently moved here, (Lower Hudson Valley), from Virginia. We exchanged #'s and we'll hopefully get together so I can help him find all the area spots... No catches but a good morning. Fast forward to later that day toward evening. I head out to that same local for some late evening action... I definitely got there a bit early, 'bout 6pm and started off with a Plopper then switching to a creature feature for some bottom. spent about an hour and a half moving around but nothing. There were several others fishing but nobody was having any success. A bunch of kids in from College hit the area I was fishing so I moved to the long bank and hit my favorite spot. Switched to a T rig worm with a bullet weight and still nothing. Got caught up on a rock and lost the rig. I figured I gotta change my presentation so I tied on a Football head jig and a Power Bait worm with a twister tail Pumpkin Green. Figured I needed that worm to be more vertical. Second cast in and my line goes tight but no lateral movement so I'm thinking I'm stuck in brush and I start to pull through when the line goes left so I set hard and FISH ON! Great fight and I land a nice healthy fattie largemouth! Fate however can be a fickle thing. Next cast out I lose the jig TO THE SAME ROCK! Unbelievable! I quickly rig up another Football and go at it again. Several casts in and BANG! Another beauty. I realized I was the only angler still working water and its about 8pm. Diligence and changing up... It works... Somehow I lost the second jig to that bottom rock... Really insane as I've fished that spot plenty and never had that happen. So with no Footballs left I tie on a weedless jig but the bite was off. I finish up doing some froggin' on the back inlet with no results but felt great having landed two beauties. I know two fish may sound like poor pickings to many of you, specially down South but this is a tough Lake and takes work to produce there especially from the bank and becomes a point of pride. I'm obsessed with this body of water and it's teaching me a lot. So here's to all my fellow bank anglers... TIGHT LINES!

WRB and islandbass, I did have something. I deliver auto parts part time for a small, family owned auto parts chain. I deliver only to dealerships and garages. It's not BPS management money but I really don't care. My wife and I are both blessed to have really good pensions after over thirty years each in law enforcement. BPS basically paid for my fishing. Sounds crazy, but at this point I really don't care about the money. For the guys talking about the time shares, it's only going to get worse except it's now credit cards. That's the main reason I walked. Since the Cabela's purchase, credit cards, excuse me, Club Cards are now the focus. All associate's, in each department, are required to sell c/c's. All managers are required to ensure that associates are selling c/c in addition to selling them themselves. All associate's have a quota. Before I left, customers were complaining about being asked 4 or 5 times if they wanted a c/c. I agreed with the customers. I had two problems, four actually. None of them will make sense to some of you. 1. I don't believe in credit cards, heck I don't believe in debt. To many people get in serious trouble with debt. Proverbs 22:7 speaks to it. I personally refuse to have anything to do with them. Sadly, people have to have mortgages and car payments, they don't have to have c/cs and BPS sells nothing that they have to have. 2. I absolutely refuse to make an associate do something that I won't. Even when I was in L.E., I wouldn't make my guys do something I wouldn't do or hadn't done myself. 3. I won't be given a quota. I never had quota's in over 35 years in L.E., believe it or not. 4. When I hired in, selling c/c was never a requirement. Gear guards were. When I spoke to my supervision, I was told it was non-negotiable. I guess I agreed. Before you say anything, I realize they are 100% within their rights to require employees to do things, including selling cards. I'm just not going to be a part of it. Thanks for the good wishes!

Good Luck to you moving forward though you clearly had it on your side when you needed it most today. A-Jay

As you mentioned, diesel engines vs gas engines definitely have their own unique advantages and disadvantages associated with them. Ultimately, the initial cost of diesel will be MUCH higher and cost of maintenance with the diesel with be much higher (I hate having to buy DEF and paying for oil changes on my RAM), and diesels definitely don't like sub freezing temperatures. But that comes with many benefits such as improved torque, improved towing, increases in fuel efficiency, and typically have better longevity. While the gas engine Class C RV will be able to effectively tow a boat, there fuel efficiency is impacted more when towing than a diesel engine. If I had the choice and funds and I plan to tow the majority of the time, I would definitely go with the diesel.

I Googled eye and didnt see anything relating to fish .

Thanks

I think too many people are stuck on small town mentality. Like it or not, big corporations push technology and keep pricing down. JM is a business man. I don't know what the real #'s are but if your selling 100 Legends for every 1000 Rangers, it's time to cut your losses. Look at the big 3 automakers and most recently Ford. They have been consolidating brands for roughly the last 10 years and Ford got rid of their car line aside from the Mustang and Focus. If they weren't in trouble, they probably wouldn't have sold to JM last year. Legend sponsored Anglers Choice Tournament Trail for as many years as I fished the trail. I've seen a number of them on trailers but only 2 guys in my club had them One was won at a tournament and the other was purchased. Nice looking boats, nice fishing platform, and a pretty hefty pricetag. One thing I liked about Legend was they were semi custom. You could build your own boat within reason. I don't know about in the south, but here in IL there was no dealer network. There was a manufacturers rep who would take you on a test ride in his flagship demo boat. fish for a half day with you, and then try and sell you. I'm sorry, but if I'm purchasing a vehicle, or making a large $$$ purchase I want to see the exact model I'm buying in person.

I believe that truck belongs to Turd Ferguson...

This drives me insane, I avoid walking near that area by about 20 yards.