CBedo

Sounds good to me. I'll let you have second, as long as I get first this time! hehe I had actually just joined the club less than a week before this tournnament! I was very nervous not knowing anyone and then jumping right into a two day travel tournament, but it turned out to be great. I fished with Lance Tillotson (day 1 leader) the first day, and he was awesome. I only caught three fish, but I should have easily had a limit. I was a little rusty to say the least, having had not fished for quite a while. We were pitching and flipping soft plastics, and it was a subtle pressure bite, that I kept missing. I also had a four pounder come off right at the boat. Lance caught like 15 keepers that day, and I should have had near the same. I wasn't too disappointed in the day since I was well back in the pack after day 1. Day two, I fished with Curt Stowers, who was in second after day 1. So I figured I would try to stay out of his way since he had a chance to win. It actually worked well, as he was fishing light spinning tackle and small finesse stuff, so I just kept pitching the big stuff on twenty pound line. The weather had changed that day, and everyone struggled. I didn't get a bite until after about noon, but when I did, it was the big fish of the tournament, and about fifteen minutes later, I caught another over four. Needless to say, Curt wasn't happy, and I wasn't sure if he would talk to me again! haha (he's probably my travel partner for the federation tournament, so I guess he's ok with me now!) After those two, I figured I needed one more fish to maybe move up into fourth (the last paying spot), and was working furiously to do it. I broke off a fish with about 20 minutes to go, and was broken hearted! Little did I know, that noone caught much and I would just miss winning by a small amount! All in all, a great intro to the club fishing with some great guys! P.S. The guy who won happens to be one of the best fisherman in the club. He used to fish BASS, and for the last couple of years, fishes as a non-boater on the FLW Tour and this year the series. So the good news is that he won't be fishing many of our tournaments this year since he is on the road so much. The bad news is not being able to learn as much from him.

Welcome Ben! Glad you made it to the meeting. Now that we have your money, you can see the real thing! haha, just kidding. Glad you could make it. Look forward to fishing with you and getting to know you on these great western bass waters we have in Colorado (grrrrr)! Any of you other Colorado bassers out there, come meet the Denver Bassmasters, a group of guys who just like to get together and try to catch a few fish. Our meetings are the first Wednesday of the month at the new Bass Pro Shops.

I think the Lowrance 332c is hard to beat for the price. It has gps and sonar. It has a nice size color screen as well. If you goto their website, you can download an emulator that has all the features of the real unit, so you can play with it on your computer before you buy it.

I have all of BPS's bass dvds and most of them are pretty good. I was glad to see them put out a new one with KVD's spinnerbait dvd.

I just finished watching KVD's spinnerbait videos, and I was pleasantly suprised with it. I didn't expect to learn much, but KVD was extremely thorough, covered a number of different situations, and I actually picked up a number of things from the video. Good wintertime watching!

Usually with anything 1/2 oz or less, 1 foot per second is a good rule of thumb. Anything 3/4 or over, go with 2 feet per second. A far more accurate way is to make a cast to a spot where you actually know the depth. Then count down how long it takes before it hits bottom. Then you'll have more confidence in counting down to other depths. (

In my boat order, I went electronics crazy! Ordered a Lowrance X-111HD RAM mounted on the console, and a X-25 flush mounted in the bow. No excuses now, lol.

It's the Nitro 911CDC. It's a 20 footer center console, driver on the left (so the gear box/throttle are in the middle out of the way). I'd make three comments from what I've seen (not that I know much): 1) Although being able to fish 360 degrees sounds good in theory, in reality if you have a non-boater with rods and gear in the boat, then one side will pretty much be blocked anway, so instead of having a middle access between consoles, you will just have the driver side. 2) I hope you don't have to dock or tie up by yourself cause it seems it would be mighty hard to reach over and grab the dock will controlling the steering or throttle. 3) When they first came out, they put all their pro-staff in 911s. How many are running that same boat today? ZERO. They have all gone back to the 929 (the normal 20 footer).

The 332c is a great color unit with GPS. I don't think there is another color sonar/gps in that price range that comes anywhere close. After that, the prices start going up dramatically as the screens get bigger. As far as mapping goes, the 332c takes a SD or MMC card, and you can download some free maps from the Lowrance site or buy chips from lakemaster, Navionics, hot spots, etc. The best way to decide if it will do what you want is go to their web site and downloand the 332c emulator. You can try out every feature on the computer just as if you were in the store or on the water. GL

All your whining finally paid off! I just spent two days in BPS Denver helping kids ice fish (holes cut in plastic) for trout. 330 kids in two days, lots of sore lipped fish. And unbelievably, I made it out without spending any money (too tired from the trout fishing).

Thanks to everyone here who has been so generous sharing information with all of us. I've been reading and learning from you guys for almost a year, and you have helped me immensely in my search for my first boat. I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a Legend 199 with a Merc 225 ProXS on it. Now I just have to wait..... Anyone who hasn't seen the Legends, needs to take a look. They are absolutely awesome!

It's hard to say for sure since it really depends on what price range you want to be in, but the first one that comes to mind for me is the Lowrance 332C. It has GPS and is a color unit for just over $600 bucks.

I've also heard that Rick Clunn's book was outstanding. It is out of print (written in 1978). I have ordered it recently. If you search the internet, you can find some used book dealers that have it.

I try to read everything I can get my hands on. Definitely, the In-Fisherman books are great. I also picked up tidbits from Roland Martin's book (101 Bass Catching Secrets), tim Tucker's two books (Secret of the Pros). I also picked up a few things from KVD's and Denny's books. I'm sure there are some other great ones, but these come to mind.

My biggest bass ever (10 2) came by ticking it off. I threw a Zara Spook over the same spot 12 times before she inhaled it. Just kept throwing over a good lookin spot, until she just couldn't take it anymore!

I think that there are times when bass will attak anything (we've all seen it). My uncle used to have the "Big Bud" crankbait which was a shallow running crankbait where the middle was painted like a budweiser can (caught all the alcoholic bass). But, I also believe that in this day and age, many of our secret fishing holes are now pounded by lots of people, run over but jet skiers and ski boats, and just plain harassed. Under these conditions, where bass have seen alot, I wouldn't trade the natural look of my "expensive" lure (although there are some good natural "cheaper" lures as well) for anything. When cashing a check or just having a fun day is on the line, I'll do what it takes, and there are times and places where "natural" is right.

There are alot of knowledgeable people here, but I think everyone would agree that the TackleUnderground website is the definitive site for lure making. You will find almost everything you need there.

The tube with an internal weight makes a great drop shot weight as well.

I've gotten a chance over the last year or so to take my brother fishing. We used to fish together as kids, but hadn't in a long time, and I don't think he had probably picked up a rod in over ten years. Now he is back, as addicted as me. We are even trying to buy a boat together to fish some team tournaments. I treasure every minute of it.

I was looking at options on a new boat and trailer this weekend, and one was to get shocks on the trailer. I thought that might be a good thing to protect the boat and trailer on some less than perfect roads I would be using. A salesman told me that he personally thought that I didn't need them really. What do you guys think?

I'm trying to decide what electronics to put on a soon to be purchased new boat. I have only used Lowrance in the past and have been happy with them, but one of my friends has a Humminbird with the side imaging, and he loves it. I was wondering what you guys thoughts were with regards to comparing the two (I know Lowrance doesn't have the side imaging). How would you compare the GPS mapping packages, and the basic fish finder sonar? I would love people's comments on the side imaging from Humminbird. I'd also like comments on the 3D imaging in Humminbird's 947c. Thanks. Also, if I were to choose to RAM mount the Humminbird on the console, what would you put on the bow? I had been planning to put an X-25 or X-17 up front (I use my electronics a lot). Does it make any sense to have two different brands of electronics on the same boat, or does this just cause confusion, interference, and clutter (2 gps antennas?)? Thanks, CBedo

Can someone tell me how much more a new boat with the ProXS will cost versus the regular 225 Opti? Thanks

Who are these guys who've been made moderators? I've never seen any of them post anything! lol Congrats to all. Three great choices. Now Glen can take it easy and get out on the water!

Pay Attention. When you hook a fish, remember where you got that bite. How deep was it? Where was the cover? How fast was I retrieving? One more, along the lines of RW's retieing. Change your hooks on your old cranks & topwaters! At least once a season. If you are banging a crankbait off the rocks, you'll need to change more often. There have been times, when I've had to change hooks after one day. Or at least carry a sharpening stone. P.S. Pay attention to you knot tying!

Feeding Habits of Bass is worth it, just to see Rick Clunn fishing with Al Lindner way back in the day. Rick catches his first ten pounder ever, and then drops it, and almost falls out of the boat trying to get it back. It's at the very end of the tape. Homer was the man.