GobbleDog

Like everyone else, when you get a reputation for fishing a lot, you probably have a lot of friends asking you to take them. I've never met a person in my life who said they didn't fish. If they've ever caught a crappy or any other fish in their life, they will forever say they fish. But few of them actually know how to bass fish. Feeling the bite, reeling down and setting the hook is definately an acquired skill. Not to mention the problem of casting. I can spit further than most of them can cast. This weekend, I took a friend bass fishing. I caught about 15 bass - he caught 0. We were using the exact same worm setup and he was getting bites (I watched the pole bow), but he didn't know how to reel down and set the hook. I told him what he was doing wrong, but he just kept missing them. I felt bad for him. I told him next time, I'm taking him salt water fishing with live shrimp and he'll get sick of catching trout. In order to teach people to cast further, I usually describe it as "using a bullwhip" or "snapping a towel" and to use a lot of wrist action when doing it. Telling people how to "feel" the bite is more difficult. Especially when fishing in thick hydrilla. I tell them that grass tends to "snag the line" while bass will "pull the other way". Anyone else have a difficult time putting into words the how to's of bass fishing? It can be frustrating when they just don't get it.

I'm on the verge of ordering $100 worth of lures on-line. Sadly, I don't need any of em. I just found a bunch of cool looking bug lures that would make a nice addition to my collection. My name is GobbleDog... and I'm a lure buy'n fishaholic. :-[

C-rigged Chompers (Senko type bait) for open water. T-rigged Trick Worms when casting at specific targets in shallows (lilly pads and docks). My third most productive technique is everything else...crankbaits, minnows, topwaters, etc... (obviously never as consistent as worms).

The body looks like a largemouth, but you're right, it does seem to have a pretty small mouth. It doesn't really look like a smallmouth bass though... I don't know. On a side note, my folks live on a lake in north Florida where most of the bass are INCREDIBLY small. Seriously, if you catch 30 bass in a weekened, 25 of them will be less than 10 inches. A friend once told me he thought it was a different strand of Largemouth, but couldn't identify it.

I think I need a tetnis shot.

I'm old here, and I don't know either. (i'm a little slow) :-/

Your fish needs a bath.

I don't know a dang thing about catching smallmouth bass, so I guess you're right. I still think 4 lb mono seems awfully fragile. I wouldn't use it. For largemouth jiggin, I know guys who use 15 lb mono and higher. Personally, I quit buying mono a few years ago. Power Pro is all I use, for fresh and salt water. Thin as thread and strong as steal.

4 lb test? Jeesh. That's just asking for trouble, in my opinion. Unless you're talking about Power Pro type line. I admit, I don't use jigs much (well ever), but it seems that jig fishing by nature would require bigger line than normal. :-?

I would call them "bitten fingernails".

After playing that horrible "Bass Strike" video game last night, I kept thinking of all the things that are wrong with most fishing video games: 1. Realistic fish. Last night I caught a 5 fish stringer totalling 70+ lbs... give me a break. And the fights aren't realistic. Just a lot of splashing and long runs peeling off 100 feet of line. Haven't the programing nerds ever fished before? 2. Real competition. Why isn't Kevin Van Dam and those people in the games? The game had B.A.S.S. all over it, but the competition was completely made up. 3. Real lakes. The game should have Lake Okeechobee and Table Rock and real places that the tour actually fishes. I had never heard of the lakes in my game. 4. No underwater camera, at least, not while fishing. I'm sorry, but I hate that. I'd rather have more realistic fishing and less underwater graphics. There are probably a hundred other things wrong with most fishing games, but those were the things that stood out to me the most.

This year I gained A LOT of confidence in crankbaits. But Carolina rigged plastic worms (Chompers) still put most of the fish in my boat.

To heck with learning! Win money and bragging rights! Learning comes later.

My fishing partner gets too antsy during tournaments. If we're catching fish in open water and then all of a sudden they stop biting for about 20 minutes, he's ready to move to a completely new spot. But I refuse to leave because we KNOW there are fish there. If it's a small shallow spot, ok, but in open water there are plenty of bass still down there. I'll troll about 20 feet, but I'm not entirely leaving a spot where we were just catching bass.

Gloves are for sissies! (god bless Florida weather) 8-)

I played "Bass Strike" on my PS2 last night. I think it's a pretty old game and overall, it wasn't that great. But of course, that didn't stop me from wasting a few hours tyring to win a tourney.

My Uncle told me that a lot of unethical (but crafty) saltwater anglers illegally use baby Trout as bait because apparently it works better than a lot of other baits. They put a hook through their mouth and cast them out, so if Marine Patrol drives up, they reel it in and say "gee, look what I caught!" and release it. I don't know if that actually works, but I thought it was pretty funny. To heck with trout.

In my local club (Orlando, FL) which has a total of 20 boats, me and my fishing parter finished in 5th place overall. That sounds decent, but we were actually in 2nd place most of the year until we got skunked in 3 straight night tournaments. That dropped us down to 9th place, but with a couple of strong showings at the end, we moved back up. With the exception of those 3 skunks, we had a decent year, meaning we won more money than we paid in entry fees. Unfortunately, gas prices probably ate up most of those profits. But what the heck, it isn't really about the money anyway. My biggest bass of the year.... just 5 lbs.

The problem I have with most bass video games is the underwater camera. You shouldn't be able to see the bass like that. If it's clear water, then I can understand sight casting, but watching the bass swim behind your lure is wrong. Game makers should save the memory used on the underwater camera and instead focus on better graphics, lures and overall realistic fishing. That said, I went out and bought a used "Bass Strike" video game (I think that's what it's called) for my PS2 the other day. I still haven't even played it yet though. I'll report back on how it is. BTW - I heard Rapala wasn't very good.

Once yall get a boat, you won't find much time for bank fishing. Ahhh, I remember my old bank fishing days when I first started bass fishing. Caught a bunch of lunkers in some little ponds... good times.

The only types of Senkos I use are the one that STINK to high hell. And so far, I only know of two brands that have that characteristic: Tiki Sticks and Chompers. They catch more fish than you can shake a stick at.

Open up your own worm store and call it "I Got Worms!"

I know a lot of tournament guys who will chuck little bass as far as they can in order to get them out of the area. I even know dudes who (illegally) put dink bass in the livewell and then put them back just before they leave.

:-/ sorry. It sorta read that way.

Lake Toxicwaste