GobbleDog

Outdoor Life??? I don't know for sure, but I have seen that show. It's that dude who talks with a lisp, right? It's actually a pretty cool show watching him practice and compete in real tournamenth's's's's's'sss.

Of course they always save the best fish of the day for last. The show goes from day fishing to all of a sudden it's morning again and he's pulling in a moster fish.

If I see a little fish mark or two on my depth finder, I assume it's a bubble or some grass floating along. At $115, my Eagle depth finder only tells me the depth, the temperature and what kind of cover is on the bottom. That's about it. Someday I'll upgrade, but actually seeing baitfish swim around in a ball on the depth finder is a little out of my range right now. Sounds cool though.

To heck with them Yankees and their ice-fishing walleye magazine.

Where do you get the molds? Those worms you made look a lot like Zoom Trick Worms. Can you re-shape the molds to create new shapes? Dang, I'd like to try that. It would probably be pretty satisfying to catch a bass on a worm you actually made. Now if I could only build a Daiwa reel I'd totally self-reliant and not so po.

I just talked with a friend of mine who says the "Seminole County BassMasters Club" (or something like that) is a non-boater type of club. Unfortunately, he didn't know where they meet or anything. But with that name, you might be able to go into bait shops and find out more information. One bait shop I would recomend asking for information is "Bitters Bait and Tackle" on U.S. Highway 17-92 in Longwood. It's just north of State Road 434. Every club in Orlando has some member who goes into that bait shop and talks about what's going on. They might be able to hook you up with some info if you call or stop by. By the way, O.B.B. reportedly meets at that library I was telling you about on the 1st Tuesday of every month. But like I said, they don't do non-boater.

I once heard from a good source that most fishing shows are a lot more rigged than people realize. The only time I ever notice anything funny is when they reel in the bass and it just lays there while the guy is talking about how he caught it. No flapping around or nothing. That always makes me wonder how long ago they actually hooked into the fish. As for Hank Parker, I can't stand that show. How many kid fishing shows does that guy do? If he's not kid fishing, he's just sitting in his living room talking about the old times... ugh. And that accent - "I'm just a good old boy Hank Parker" drives me nuts. Oh well, to each their own.

I'll call my fishing partner later today and get you some more info on O.B.B. Unfortunately, they didn't have any non-boaters when I was in the club and I doubt that they do now. Outside of big-time FLW type tourneys, I don't know of any small clubs that use a non-boater. By the way, you don't actually need a fancy $20,000 bass boat to fish these types of tournaments. There are guys in O.B.B. and in my club who fish with john boats equipped with small 30+ horsepower engines and they still place in the money in some tournaments. The club I'm in now doesn't actually have a set number of boats. It's just that most of the people in the club (including myself) don't want to see it expand any further. 20 boats is big enough to have a decent payout, but small enough that everyone knows each other (which keeps it honest) and everyone has a decent chance of winning (instead of just a few ringers). In O.B.B. it seemed like it was the same top 5 or so boats that won most of the tourneys. Plus, in our small club, we hold catered Bar-B-Q dinners sometimes and we also pay for everyone's hotel rooms when we go down to Lake Okeechobee. Stuff like that. It makes it nice. I'll ask around to see if there are any local non-boater events, but honestly I doubt I'll find out very much.

I'll say Roland Martin. He mainly fishes in Florida in lakes that I actually fish... Okeechobee, Lake Kissimmee, West Lake Toho, Jupiter Inlet, etc... I've never cared much for the In-Fisherman. They mainly fish up north catching Walleyes and whatnot. Actually, any fishing show is better than most of the junk on tv, but Martin is my favorite.

That sounds cool. Can you add garlic and salt and whatnot to add some flavor to it? :-?

Interesting. I'd never heard of that.

Exactly. I normally use a Zara puppy for most topwater fishing, but when they're schooling up, I tie on the Zara Spook because I can cast it a mile.

You're right. I'm sorry. Cum-by-ya-my-Lord... cum-by-yaaaaa.

I used to be in a local club called "O.B.B" also known as ... the Orlando Bassin Buddies. : I hated that name. It has about 80+ members (40 boats or so). And most of the anglers are very good. Tough competition. They used to meet once a month (on a Tuesday I think) at the public library on the corner of Haiwassee Road and Chikasaw Trail, in the little shopping center. I forget which Tuesday of the month it was though. I'll ask around where and when if you want more info. The club I'm in now is called "The Central Florida Bass Club". We've already have a max of 20 boats and aren't adding any new boats this year. I have to admit I like the smaller club A LOT more. They payout are lower, but you can turn in a small limit and still have a pretty good shot at being in the money. And everyone knows each other. When I was in OBB, I turned in big limits of 18+ lbs a couple of times and still only got 3rd place. That was depressing.

Just about EVERYTHING works on schooling bass. Especially once they get into a frenzy and start blasting the top. When that happens, I like to throw my topwater lures, simply because it's such an easy hit and it's fun to watch.

You're just lucky your wife didn't register as "SexyMamma" or something like that ...

Give em hell, Avid!!! In Florida, it's legal to get within inches of ANY dock, if it's a public lake. In fact, I've also heard that it's actually illegal for a landowner to intentionally disrupt the fishing of an angler by throwing rocks in the water and making noise or whatever. It's the same law that says it's illegal to intentionally scare off deer, while deer hunters are legally hunting on the public hunting grounds. Personally, I'd be banging my lures off his boat every time I went by that particular dock. Down with the Fish Nazi!!!

It's possible that those aren't bass you're seeing. They could very well be carp, pickeral or gar. All of those fish don't spook easily and can be mistaken for bass at first glance. I remember a small pond I used to fish a few years back had a bunch of carp sitting along the banks. At first I didn't know there were any carp in the lake, so I was casting worms and stuff at them thinking they were bass, but after I didn't get any bites I took a closer look and realized they weren't.

I've been serious bass fishing for 10+ years... I estimate that in my lifetime, I've probably caught about 8,000 bass or more. Out of those 8,000+ bass, the biggest one was ... just 8.5 lbs. :'( Shiners would probably help my chances of breaking double digits, but I'm just not a shiner fisherman. Hopefully someday my dream of catching a 10+ lber will come true. :-/

That sounds interesting. Putting a weight in the tail of, say a Trick Worm, instead of using a traditional sliding bullet weight on the front.... I might try it. How bad could it be?

Back in the 70's, the autorities stocked a few lake throughout Central Florida with carp to get rid of some of the vegetation. I understand that they have now decided that was a huge mistake and are now trying to get rid of them. The Government sure can waste money. :

My experience is that night bass fishing is generally slow. But the fish you do catch, tend to be good sized lunkers. I agree with the 10" curly tail suggestion... and work it slow.

I'm going back to Cali, Cali, Cali. LL Cool J

I sorta wish they wouldn't hold tournaments in Florida during the spawning months for that reason too ("they" being small clubs all the way up to B.A.S.S.). Scientists might say that it hasn't been proven to dramatically hurt the population, but it certainly can't be good for it. Like you said, it probably keeps the weights down. And it sure doesn't seem very sporting. I'm surprised B.A.S.S. hasn't taken a stand against it on the "un-sportsman" principal alone. BUT, as long as my local club does hold tournaments during those months, you can be dang sure to find me and my partner scouting for beds and picking them clean. And to be honest, during recreationally fishing I still pick beds. I really don't think I'm doing much harm, especially when I immediately put them right back in the water next to the bed. It's putting the bass in the livewell for a weigh-in during tournaments that bothers me.... (slightly)

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1118284747/12#12 I can't recomend this rig enough. Over the past 2 years, it has become one of my go-to baits while tournament fishing. It works especially well in open water hydralla. And you don't have to deal with tying 3 knots like you do with a swivle. (the picture shows a Z-Nail worm, which I never use. I only use it with Chompers - a senko type bait)