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A few days ago we were out on the lake fishing. As we only fish during the week the lake is usually more quiet . That day we had the lake to ourselves, except for a couple of guys in a Nitro with a 200 hp. something or other on the back. I knew there was a tourney coming up that weekend so I guess they were practicing. I couldn't help but feel sorry for these two poor guys. The lake is not that big so it was easy to watch them thru out the day. They must have had motor trouble because it seemed to be stuck in WOT. They were zipping along at full bore everywhere, close to shore, thru no wake zones, close to us, you name it. Also they seemed confused, like they couldn't figure out what to do. They would zip here, cast, cast, cast, then zip there cast, cast, cast, over and over and over, like mosquitos buzzing around. I felt so sorry for them, the whiplash and wind burn must have been horrible for them. Meanwhile my wife and I were on a long submerged weed line. I had set the TM to slowly move us thru it and we were catching fish after fish. I am actually grateful to them. Catching all these fish is tiring, and if it wasn't for the big waves they generated running past us 25ft. away at WOT, we might have fallen asleep. Later on we were putting by the marina and I saw them tanking up their boat, and heard them complaining how bad the fishing was. Those poor guys. I hope after gassing up that big boat, they had enough money left to fix their motor so it wasn't stuck in WOT, and hopefully enough left over for some meds to handle their whiplash, wind burn and frustration. Meanwhile, my wife and I caught plenty of fish, and had a wonderful day. Jim

Until this Summer I have never had a bad experience with tournament fishermen. Over the next couple weeks there are some bigger tournaments and a lot have been pre-fishing it hard. Sunday the fishing was hard, so I went to some lesser known coves to hit the banks it is narrow, no wake, and very hard to pass another boat without being an ass...... Halfway down the cove a big Ranger comes off plane 30 yards from me and is irritated at my slow trolling speed He decides to pass and jump directly in front of me. I am sure I could have dented his motor a dozen times with my TRIG. Normally, I would wanted to have a chat, but Sunday I was just ticked at the way he was representing our sport. Hours later at the country store, a few other guys commented on similar occurrences this Summer. Marine Patrol has also noticed a significant amounts of complaints. In my younger years, I am sure there would have been a different outcome..... Sorry for the vent, but little things are big things!

i had taken the little johnny in for some engine work and went to pick it up yesterday. i decided to give it a test run so i put in at Lake Norman State Park, which was on the way home. i also just happened to have my rods and worm bag with me, wink wink. i caught 4 spots and this bonus largemouth in a couple hours of fishing. the boat ran fine too.

I learned that the proportional degree to which you will get wet is directly related to the amount of $$ you spent on your rain gear. Took my lightweight cheap rainsuit out and got caught in a very heavy downpour. Had the river Nile running down my buttcrack. I was not comfortable.

I read nearly everything on BR...I've been fishing for some 50 years....and yet...I'm still learning new (to me) important things. What was your big lesson in recent days? I've got a few, but one that smacked me around a bit was that the split shot rig is the real deal....and adapt or get owned. I'd never used it. But my wife and I fished a tournament two weeks ago and got schooled. We prefished the day before and killed them by working the bottom under heavy grass. It was a challenge, but extremely effective. The next day, we tried forcing that same bite for way too long....while the winners were playing on the top of the same grass with 1/16 oz split shot and cleaned up. I tried light slider heads and owner ultrahead finesse briefly, but kept going back to the bottom with little luck....fishing memories, I guess

A topwater walking lure I made has been my most productive lure this season. By far my favorite technique.

I learned that there are three (previously uncharted) gorgeous piles of bowling ball size rocks about this size of my boat just south of one of my favorite pre-spawn jerkbait flats in a 8-10 FOT. They are 'charted' now though. WP 877. Thank you SI. A-Jay

spent the day bass fishing at a local power plant lake. caught 5 bass in the 1 to 3 lb range. these 2 fish were the highlight of the day. caught both on a shakyhead. 1 was 11.5 lbs. the other was 9.25 lbs. while not the target species, I never complain about hooking a large flathead.

Took an old neighbor of mine fishing this past week. Her son passed away this past year and she doesn’t have access to a boat now. She’s not a novice, absolutely nuts about fishing, but all she can do is fish from shore these days. Took her out on a nice day and taught her how to skip wacky worms under docks. We had a blast, nice to see her smiling!!

Sporting the new Power Plant ~ A-Jay

Shimano touts x ship, a dual bearing supported pinion, something Daiwa had been doing for years. You could go on and on. They're all legit changes for the most part but not the game changer the sales guys make it out to be. It's not a knock on anyone, just the way of the world. R&D gets worked over to provide something marketing can work with to give accounting numbers for management....

@punch The 2016 Optimax Two Stroke was running great. It had 125 hours on it, a full year left on the all inclusive factory warranty and looked brand new. While still having an almost a cult following, the big two strokes Mercs are No Longer made and are pretty much bullet proof. With the warranty expiring next year, and after finding out what Mercury wanted $$$ for a 3-5 year extended warranty, I started looking for another plan. Then came the release of the new V-8 ProXS 4 stroke. Mercury was offering this new motor in a 25 inch shaft option which is what I needed (not offered in the 2-stroke version) and the unit was by & large plug & play with my existing motor. Meaning I could use all my existing wiring, steering system, gauges & controls. Seemed right and the timing couldn't have been better. Called my dealer and we 'ran the numbers'. In the end, the funds I expended on this new motor (after the dealer trade in) were close to what I would have needed to spend on an 'extended warranty' for a three year old motor. Instead, I got a brand new V-8 4 stroke 200 hp unit that weighs the same as the two stroke AND with a full Five Year factory warranty. This was an easy decision. A-Jay

Trees give life to so much but sometimes if you release too early, they. are. not. your. friend.

Oh goodness......... found an old soft shell on a trot line that I hooked with a shad rap once.....bluuuhhh....... @Choporoz, strange coincidence I also used a split shot rig to catch a few suspended fish a couple days ago, they had already quit hitting other baits so I was trying different things to get down to them. I guess all that I “learned” this week was from idling around watching the graph and remembering key spots. Well that and Reiterated that September is one of the best months for smallmouth Fishing here locally (google photos from past years helped remind me )

Walleye with some bacon wrapped around it.

A bit too windy to launch this morning. Even in the Lund

Mine is something that I already knew but maybe needed a reminder on it. Don't let those storms get too close before you decide to call it.

Best of 11 from a rare (for me) evening excursion tonight. Also the best bass I've had in at least a month...it's been dink-city here, otherwise.

I started competing a few years ago after I recovered from 3 surgeries in 3 years. I have been doing Men's Physique division and had a few good showings but I came in really nice this last show and took 1st in the 2 classes I entered; Men's 40+ and Open 5-9 and Under. And I ended up coming in second in the Overall out of all the Physique competitors (about 9) And the first place Overall was a kid in his 20's; so at 49...I'll take that all day long. But the best part was my son did this one with me; it was his first. He did great. He came in 2nd in the 2 classes he entered. He did Novice and Open 5-10 and over. And he only came in 2nd to the guy who ended up taking the Overall so he was very happy with his placings. Very fun day!

If BPT is setting up fantasy fishing, this should be their first event! Who comes and who stays.

Another successful year of Fantasy Fishing on BassResource has come to a close. This year we had 92 participants battling it out. It looks like BamaBass squeaked past Ubfishy in the final event and beat him by a total of 7 points to take the season win! Congrats to the top 10 performers. 1. BamaBass 2. Ubfishy 3. xclaya 4. dirtyeggroll 5. Gundog179 6. blckshirt98 7. worminken 8. Shovelmouth83 9. nascar2428 10. yotone I hope everyone had fun and I look forward to doing it again next year!

Today's sunrise and sunset is always better than yesterday's....yep, that's what I learned.

1) I can't make a topater bit happen on demand just because I left everything else at home. Even if it's just two extra lures, always have something on hand for the entire water column. 2) That little patch of skin above my shoes but below the bottom hem of my tights really really sucks to get sunburned.

My favorite as well, for banging into to things, and not getting hung up. For lift and drop, the Boo-Yah version works well.

All I really want from Daiwa is a better naming system for their reels. Reels that don't share the same frame have similar names, other are just a string of alphanumeric gibberish that is still super similar to other reels in their lineup. I wish they would just start using proper names, maybe name them after famous sumo wrestlers or something, anything other then the current system.

I learned why my Lowrance hasnt been working well . If you scroll through the menu, there under settings, select this item , then scroll some more and push more buttons there are settings for shallow , deep , salt , fresh and trolling . Mine was set on shallow . Switched it to fresh and it worked perfectly .?

I learned that tidal Bass love to eat shrimp as they migrate from the interior marsh back offshore.

I had Scott Hovanec turn some custom cork knobs for mine.

It's not just tournament guys. I was out in my kayak Sunday where the was a family of three also fishing in kayaks I was having some above average luck working a narrow underwater channel when they decided to get a little closer. As I was reeling in, taking a photo of, and then releasing a nice bass they a came to within 50 feet of may kayak, one to the left of me, one to the right, and one in front, and proceeded to fish. The son appeared to be about 10 years old so I didn't want to say anything figuring dad was obviously an a##h### and it would probably escalate verbally which I didn't want to happen in front of his yound son. What I did was switch to a swimjig and cast all around dad's kayak. When he looked at me I just gave a little shrug and kept casting. He got the message and they all moved away. I was actually video recording with my GoPro and have it all but decided to not make a Youtube video out of this one.

I'm in the Red Eye Shad camp . I like to hop them like a worm and the RES excels at that . I havent thrown a trap in three years .

It seems that when there is $$ on the line, courtesy goes out the window. I will say that if you met most of the rude fishermen off the water, they are probably pretty nice guys. As I have eluded to before, the bigger the name the bigger the problem as can be as evidenced with friends of mine who got in a tiff with an Elite Series angler and sponsors got involved, attorneys got involved and employers got involved.

You sparked a memory of mine. We were fishing the Hot Side of Lake Anna and there was a small tournament on the same day. I'll keep my mouth shut on who ran the TX and will say that for the most part all of the competitors were courteous since that is the "private" side of the lake and at that time you couldn't hold tournaments over there. We were in a smaller creek and as we fished up a bank, noticed a sticker boat in a small cut. We switched to the other side of the creek to avoid any confrontation even though we were behind them and fishing water they already covered. When we got directly across from them they put their troller on high and shot across to the side we were fishing missing out boat by less than 10 feet. Funny thing about those who sticker their boats up, their "sponsors" are on there. After a few calls when we got off the water to some firms that I knew personally, an apology was forthcoming and I hope sincere. You can be assured it's just not the weekend warrior who has to deal with rudeness on the water. I had some friends who had a run in with an Elite Series Pro and it got downright nasty....very nasty with threats of lawsuits, video sent to employers and much much more. It was a very sobering experience.

Today I caught my PB with a whopper plopper 110. 5lb 7oz and 22.5”. Keep throwing it!

Two or three years ago, there was a boat in a Wednesday night electric only tournament back home that I had an interesting encounter with. They had a "reservoir rig" outfitted with several trolling motors, and I was fishing with a friend in a bass boat, considerably slower. The anglers would repeatedly travel all the way across the lake and intentionally cut us off and fish in a stationary manner, then do the same if we headed back to the side of the lake they had been on originally. We began just fishing up until we reached where they would "park" in front of us, before making a very distant pass and resuming fishing the same bank. Since they would camp on one spot, I didn't see it as cutting them off when we would give them 50+ yards when passing. One of the times when I was fishing directly behind them (they had cut us off in a cove) I caught a 4lber on a frog, in a grass patch they had just fished minutes before. It was very loud and visible, which definitely upset them. They ended up complaining to the tournament director (for a dang Wednesday nighter!) saying we got too close to them, and I even heard one of them muttering about having to "play defense" on the better fishermen during those tournaments. People are so silly sometimes! Fortunately, you will probably never see a talented fishermen behave in such a way, so when you see these behaviors, fishing pressure or what is brought to weigh-in is a minor concern

Mines still fishes with me and does it more to make me happy since she knows I do not like fishing by myself. I join her in her hobbies as well. Good relationships are about making compromises and it is better to fish with your wife,girlfriend,significant other, etc than fishing with somebody else. On a recent trip she beat me in fishing for Bartram's bass and she caught a bigger hybrid Bartram's bass than I did. She does seem to enjoy fishing as long as she is catching nice fish which is often for her since I make sure to take her to good fishing spots.

Pflueger President or President XT Diawa Revros KastKing Sharky III

I learned that Georgia cubes actually do hold fish. I'd never caught a fish out of one before but I caught several including all 3 of my biggest fish of the day.

I hunted this past week instead of fish and I learned that 3 dead Canada geese is the maximum amount I can stuff in my kayak.

Congratulations, I hate both of you...LOL When I look in the mirror, all I can do is shake my head ruefully...

I learned that just because the bass have been keying on bluegill fry for the past month doesn't mean they will be this week. An early crankbait bite that slowed considerably as the sun rose didn't clue me in. It wasn't until a bass shot out from under a retaining wall in 12 inches of water to grab a fluke that I began to figure it out. I took a brown Senko, colored the tips Orange and began skipping it to gaps in the wall. The next bass confirmed what was happening by revealing a small crawdad in his throat when I caught him. The bass had changed their menu from bluegill to crawfish and it changed where they were & the best way to present a bait to them. It only took me 4 hours to figure it out...

A long time ago I learned that it's a good idea to carry a paddle in the boat, whether its used or not. Always carry about 30' of rope in the boat.

Guys, if you are looking for something to do this Saturday come check out CenLas Blessing of the Hunt at Longview Baptist Church in Deville, La. Will not cost you a penny and you will leave full of good food and with some great prizes. Guns, deer stands, crossbows, game cameras, etc. ALl for free!

I have learned in the past year that it is best to bring my better half with me on my fishing trips. She seems to bring me lots of good luck when we fish and I tend to catch lots of big fish with her.

Some fish soft plastics and jigs with their index finger UNDER the line. That can cause the line to ride up into the wider portion of the T and make your line lay uneven on the spool. That's all I was stating. It's something to consider when you're looking to purchase a reel. HOW you use your reel is the most important factor when choosing it.

Finished up my Maine trip a day early with winds at 40+.never got any more over 3 odd for this time of year but got plenty mid to high 2's like these

Tastes Great, Less Filling. I've had guys tell me they can make more casts, more efficient, etc. with lefties because they don't need to switch hands. Then they're humbled when I go toe-to-toe with them and make more casts. So much for that argument. But the "righties" that use "lefties" love it, so more power to them! Bottom line is, it's personal preference. There is no "best" way that's universal. It's whatever works "best" for YOU. Have fun fishing!

Been super busy on an internal medicine cardiology rotation, so it’s been 22 days since I’ve wet a line. Had yesterday off and got a little ahead on my studying so I snuck away to a small 150 acre local lake late in the afternoon. This lake has a handful of 5+ lbers and is loaded with <2 lbers, and has the occasional pike. I got there around 5 PM and sunset is around 7:40 these days. Started off in a little arm of the lake that’s super shallow and has thick grass and caught one on a frog. Fished a lot of grass around the lake without another sniff until I made it around to the old creek channel lined by standing timber. Made a cast to the outside treeline with a shaky head in about 4 ft of water, when my line kept looking like it was sinking like it is was much deeper. I reeled down a little and the line took off sideways. I’m thinking it’s a little dink or panfish carrying it off so I give a weak little half hookset and the line goes tight and doesn’t budge at first but then tugs a little. It really felt like whatever was on there had me wrapped in the timber. Then I notice I am making progress toward me, but it still feels the same and I realize it must be a decent fish, although it had the dragging feeling like a stick. Bzzzzt!!! Starts peeling drag (luckily away from the timber) and the fight is on. Whatever it is it just feels heavy and doesn’t seem to be giving a lot of head shakes, not really like a bass, but more like cat fish or a pike or walleye. I finally get it close to the boat when it surfaces and to my surprise it IS a nice bass. After a few more dives under the boat I net my new PB for this lake 4.21lbs. As the sun started to set the surface activity really started to pick up so I threw a frog at a grass line near the creek channel and caught 5 more ~2lbers. Fun evening.

Enough of these (fun size) around today to keep me on the water most all day. Just couldn't find any plus size models. A-Jay

I have been a Master Pistol Instructor and Master Rifle Instructor as well as a certified Armorer for numerous firearms manufacturers for over 20 years. I also testify as an expert witness in both state and federal court regarding firearms evidence and I'm in my 27th year as a police officer in a major jurisdiction. Just to give you some info so you can decide if my advice is worth your time. Choosing a duty weapon is not a decision you can make by figuring out what is a "reliable" or "desirable" firearm or what someone else likes or prefers. Kudos to his department for allowing him to choose his sidearm!!! I feel that is extremely important! Please ask your son the following: 1. Why doesn't he like the Glock .40 (I assume it's a Model 22)? The specifics of his answer is how you will search for the new sidearm. 2. Has anyone ever helped him check his natural "grip angle"? Everyone has a natural tendency to "point in" . UNLOAD THE GLOCK. Then check to make sure it's unloaded. Then check AGAIN to make sure it's unloaded. Have him hold the pistol in front of him in a two-hand grip in the "hunt" position (depressed muzzle position). Tell him to pick a point on the wall at about eye level like a picture or wall light. Tell him to close his eyes and visualize the point on the wall. Have him quickly raise the pistol to a firing position WHILE KEEPING HIS EYES CLOSED. Freeze. Have him open his eyes and determine where his sight picture is in relation to the point on the wall. Is the front sight way below the rear sight so his shot would go really low? Is the front sight way above the rear sight so his shot would go really high? Are his front and rear sights nearly level? Different pistols have different grip angles. Some of us naturally point in at a grip angle that matches the Glock grip angle. Some of us naturally point in at an angle that matches a more upright grip angle such as a 1911. Can he learn to shoot a pistol that does not match his natural inclination for grip angle? Of course he can, but it may be easier (and more comfortable) for him to find a pistol that matches his natural "point in". 3. Is it the recoil/muzzle flip of the Glock that he doesn't care for? He should try a 9mm Glock pistol. Don't listen to the pop culture gun "experts" that bad mouth the 9mm. The 9mm round in its different variants has killed more people all over the world than any other pistol round by about a multiple of 50. I carry a Glock 17 (9mm). No one I work with wants me to shoot at them so it must be a decent round. All of our MFI's (Master Firearms Instructors) are trained to watch our shooters that have smaller hands or less grip/wrist/forearm strength for the tell-tale sign that the .40S&W round is not for them. You can see that shooters with smaller hands/weaker grips will absorb the recoil from the .40 and the gun will actually twist slightly in their hands. Glocks have a right-hand twist to their polygonal rifling and a .40 round is actually hot enough to translate to the recoil causing the gun to twist as the muzzle rises if the shooter isn't strong. In my experience it's actually more likely for a "less strong" shooter to be more comfortable with a .45ACP than a .40S&W. The problem with the .45 becomes the size (circumference) of the grip. If it is the recoil/muzzle flip that your son doesn't like, warn him that the polymer-framed pistols are much more forgiving than steel or aluminum-framed pistols. Super slow-motion video shows that polymer-framed pistols bend and flex with every shot which translates to less felt recoil. 4. Is it the trigger that he doesn't like? That's a no-brainer. He need to try some different pistols until he finds one that he likes. Most importantly, don't look for a "bargain". There are cheap guns, there are good guns that are excellent purchases for homeowners and people with concealed carry licenses, and then there are firearms that can take the abuse of a daily duty weapon. Keep your manufacturer shopping list short, perhaps focused only on those pistol manufacturers that have built guns to compete for military contracts, etc. I'm happy to help in any way that I can. Feel free to PM me also if you wish.

Let me take a stab at it.....The tours revenue is TV/Livestream /Internet driven, the "Pro's" are...............wait for it..............ENTERTAINERS........and that's how they were chosen and that's how they will generate revenue.