D.Cox

Got out on one of our local lakes Monday 12-26-2011 with a buddy and had a great day. It was cold early and foggy, but the fish were active. The truck temp showed 28 and warmed when the sun burned through the fog. We caught 15 large mouths on jigs and the biggest was 4.5. This surprised me with water temp reading 49 but we got bit fast and did not have to go to winter tactics. We fished from 8 till 12 and fish were from 4 to 20 foot on steep banks and wanted the jig slow.

Is there any gas stations that sell 100% gas around lake Norman. HWY 150 or Close to Dam?

What color are the craw dads on the Kissimmee chain in Fl and how big do they get?

I have been using these for year and they fold up to fit in your pocket. I carry it all the time. EZE-LAP mod-s Hook Sharpener Fine http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=eze+lap+hook+sharpener&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=13078047112731002404&ei=Z98cTcK8PIT68AaX0aWEDg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CC8Q8wIwAw#

Bass Zone post show interview with Biffle showed a close up of the bait.

How do they deciede what marshals get to ride after the cut to 50?

I understand about the wife, but In 2005 I won a $ 28,000 Triton loaded and this help, please the wife. I have been close 2 since then, it take a little luck and 3 good draws for boaters.

This is a great way to learn new stuff about fishing. I have fished with some great guys and girls in the opens. In Oct, start looking at BassMaster.com for info.

Not my Jig, but that skirt color is called Alabama Craw. Bekki

Smith Lake May 10-17-2010 Pre-fished with pro from GA on Monday, lake was about 2.5 feet high, water temp 71 and we put in the upper end of Ryan Creek. I had a couple of bites on buzzbait, and he caught one keeper on a small top water plug. Had the action and size of a small skitter pop. We tried different stuff and the bite was slow, it started raining and we stopped about 1 pm. Tuesday. Put in the next creek arm down in Ryan Creek. Started out with top water, this creek also had stain in the back of it, He did have a pattern on deep flats and flat points on a DD22 crank bait banging the bottom getting a reaction bite. We were catching a few fish on docks fishing a sinko. Wednesday put in at the dam and ran up Ryan creek, and fished some for schoolers and had a slow day. My boater knew what he was going to do so we called it a day at lunch. During practice, I had some things I wanted to try and get out of my mind, big spook during practice (a small bait worked best). A fly trailer behind a spook, killed the action. And last of all a buzzbait bite, threw and only caught small fish. I tried several different brands of Fluorocarbon on a spinning reel. I like P-Line on my bait casters, but it is too stiff for a spinning rod. I tried the #8 Vicious Fluorocarbon (Did not Like), #8 Berkley Fluorocarbon and # 8 Seaguar Invizx. The Seaguar InVizx worked the best for me, the last day I went down to #6, just because I could not find any #8 in the stores. I also, used a braid with a 4-6 foot leader of fluorocarbon, worked well as long as you retied the knot between the 2 lines every couple of hours. Thursday, was paired up with a Mike from GA. We went up a creek on the west side of the lake about 10 miles. He was throwing Spook top water around docks. I was throwing the wacky sinko, under docks. He caught a short spot that was going around the dock. I threw the sinko under the boat slip and was letting it sink. He had moved the boat to the end of the dock and I could not see where I had thrown and my line was on the corner of the dock. I started reeling it in and heard a blowup on my sinko. By the time I stopped reeling the sinko had come around the corner of the dock and was about 12 feet from the boat. As it started to sink, a big spot came out and looked at it, flared her gills and my sink disappeared. I let her run a few feet and set the hook, after a few minutes of pulling drag on my 8 pound test, the boater netted her and she was in the boat. She was close to 4 pounds. We fished about 10 more docks and the boater caught some short fish and had several blowups on his spook. I did not get any more bites. We went across the lake and started throwing a shaky head worm, and I caught my second keeper. I had 2 keepers by 8:30 am and thought I could get a limit of 3 by the 2:15 weigh- n time. From this same point we caught 3 spots that were 14 7/8 and 3 that were 14 to 14 1/2 but no more that we 15 inches. The rest of the day we moved from place to place, if we did not get bit in 4 or 5 casts we would move. We caught a lot of fish that were 14 to 14 7/8 inches but could not find any additional 15 inch keepers. I had 2 fish that weighed 5-9 and was 6th place after the first day. I was using a 6 inch Robo worm in Aaron magic color on a 3/16 head. I talked to my second day partner from FL and he said we would start on some schooling fish and then he would be sight fishing the rest of the day in less than 5 feet of water. Not exactly what I was hoping for. We were in flight 9 and check in time was at 4:00, so it was a long day. We started on a main lake point and have a few bites on top water and no keepers. We fished 2 main points for 5-10 minutes each then went to the back of the pockets for the next 9 hours. The guy had the trolling motor on a high speed and was about 10 feet from the bank on and off the motor. After watching the boater for a few hours and doing what I could to catch a fish, I think he was trying to spook the fish that were on beds to the bank to locate them in the low light conditions. As the sun got higher, he did slow down some. The only thing I could come in contact with the bottom was a 1 oz Carolina rig, and did catch a few short fish. While looking he was throwing a Pop R to any brush and mainly fishing the very back of pockets, if there were several pockets in the back, he would go to high after looking in the pocket to get to the next. He did catch one large mouth on the Pop R, he had drifted into a pocket and there were a school of shad between the boat and bank about 10 foot form me, I was looking at them. He threw the Pop R in the middle of them and a keeper large mouth came through them and ate the pop R. I was sitting there thinking, why did I not do that, they were closer to me than the guy in the front. After lunch, he started going back to where he had seen fish in the morning, 1 bass guarding fry, 2 on the bed. The bass guarding fry was gone and he went to the one on the bed. He hooks the male bass and it comes off at the boat. He left it alone about an hour and came back. After about 30 minutes and 10-12 misses, he lands the bass and it was ¼ inch short. He went to other fish on the bed, and did catch 2 keeper off the bed. All I can say it was a long day. There were only a few spawning fish on the lake and he knew where they were. I did learn more about bed fishing and hoped if I made the top 30, I did not draw him again. He weighed his in and we both made the top 30. I was in 25th place and he finished around 20th. While waiting on the weigh-in to finish up, I told my wife that I might be good to finish 31st and go home, I hate to fish with someone who is sight fishing in a tournament as a non boater. And I did not want to do it again. The boater is one of the best sight fisherman there is and I did learn a few things on how he locates bass. And I do realize that he did what was needed to make the top 30, it was just hard on his non boaters. Day 3 I was paired with one of the top lady fisherman in the world and she was fishing points with a jig and a shaky head. She was in 14th and I was in 25th .This sounded a lot better and I thought I could catch a keeper or two. We started out on schooling fish with top water, and they were no schoolers. Water was slick and no bait visible, after a while I switched to a jig and caught one that was 14 7/8 and she had 2 small non keepers on a shaky head worm. We fished several more areas and could only catch small fish. All morning the water was slick and fishing got so slow that we could not even catch any small fish. Around 11 am the wind started to put some ripples on the water, and we started catching small fish again. I had 2 more that were between 14 and 14 7/8, but neither of us had a keeper. With the sun up, we started fishing shady banks and I skipped my worm under a deep dock and something thumped it on the way down. I set the hook and knew it was a big fish; it took about 10 yards of line on the first run. Pam heard the drag and came with the net and I asked if there were rock fish in the lake. She said yes, I told her it was either a 6-8 pound spot or a rock fish. It came to the top and she said I don't know what it is, but it is big. I got a look at it and told her to go back to fishing, A few minutes later I landed an 18-25 pound Rock Bass-Striper. I did catch a few more short fish and it was time to go in. We both fished hard all day and ended up with zero. This was my first time fishing with a Lady angler, other that my wife or sister and I was impressed with her fishing abilities. The lake has dropped about 2.5 feet since Monday, and clearing up and to hear that Andy and the no boater winner caught some on a buzz bait, hurt me bad. I threw it a lot during practice and the 2nd day, and only caught small fish on it. It crossed my mind a few times the last day, but I did not give up on the worm, jig and sinko. During practice, I threw a buzzbait with a steady retrieve and the people that I talked to that caught fish on a buzz bait fished fast or an erratic retrieve. Not sure about the two winners but would like to know. Congratulations to Andy Montgomery and Robert Dice on their wins as boater and non-boater! I did get to see the Hummingbird in Pro from GA boat and Lowrence side scan, Pam had the Lowrence and it was turned on all day where I could see it. I have been looking at the Hummingbird and now I like both.

You may want to get a friend throw a spinner bait out of the back of the boat and see if you can see it on the depth finder. Start out yo-yoing below the transducer and see how it show up on the screen. This would give you a ideal of what you are seeing on the screen. I have a different brand of depth finder and to see more detail, I have turned off the fish ID. I know from experience with the depth finder and a underwater camera, the auto fish ID will show a big fish for 3 small fish grouped together. I prefer to see the fish arches.

Thats Great! His smile is better any words!

Got to go fishing twice in the past week and the number were low but the size was good. The first picture of the Small Mouth was the biggest I have caught in a while. I was fishing with my 6 year old and we had a blast. I hooked the small mouth and it jumped as soon as she hit and I told my son to get the net. It jumped across the net 3 times before he got it in the net. I don't know who was more excited him or me. He took a couple of pictures and we turned her loose. Went out again today by myself and expected to see a lot of fish on the bed, did find one 4 pound largemouth on the bed that was paired up with a male. I caught the female but the male would only look at the bait. Left them to do their thing. But the surprise was the small mouth, they were still in pre spawn and eating! I looked a lot and saw 4 beds with bass on them all large mouth.

My son is having a halloween party this fall. Perfect!!! Except for maybe the fox that looks like it's smoking a ******. Momma wouldn't approve. ;D

I got out after work today and caught some good ones! I glad spring is starting to show up! I has been a long winter.

I like the rubber peg it, rather than a tooth pick. You can straighten a 1/0 hook out and pick out after you use it. Sometimes the bite is better with it un-pegged. Cold water, weight will fall fast to bottom, once it hits the plastic will have a slow fall.

The easiest way to make a buzz bait slower is to go up one size on the blade. We offer this option on special request and also left and right running baits. On aluminum blades, you can place the outside L on a anvil and take a hammer and peck on the blade on both side to increase surface area. This will catch more water and allow it run slower. If you will drill out the back hole on a Buzz bait blades to 1/8 of a inch and run it in, it will squeal better. Always make sure the rivet is crimped and will not move. Tip to make you buzz bait last longer. The back of the blade that has the hole is bent around 90-92 degs, if this bend is bent blow 90 degs the rivet will wear on the inside and will cause it break in the bend. (This can change the sound of a tuned buzz bait, if it is your favorite do not change) I have some that I will take small nail and remove the blade and tap a nail on back hole with a hammer to make a square hole. This will make a different sounding bait. The plastic tubing that comes with trailer hooks, cut a piece 1/16 -1/8 long and slide it up over the R bend where you tie the line. This will keep the line in place and prevent the R bend from opening up. (Repeated opening and closing of the R bend it will break.) Hope this helps. If something is not clear, let me know and I will post some picture. Dow

The water had been in the 60 the weeks before and fish were making beds. Plus it was too cold to get a bite, so we looked for bedding areas and looked for the closest 4-6 foot water with mats. Hoping when it warmed the fish would start moving back into the beds and if not you could fish the pre spawn fish moving in. It would have been nice to be down there when you could go in a area and have them chase something. This was the hardest time I had trying to find fish. Where do they go when it turns cold? We fished the rim canal, with few bites. I figured the fish in the shallows would move out. I not sure they did, just found the thickest cover and went in to a semi hibernation for a week. What do Florida Bass do when water temp drops from 60-40 in 2 days. By Sat the temp was 60 and the fish we caught were 1 mile from 4 foot of water and in less than 2 foot of water. Did they move in or jut became active? I fished 6 days and caught 6 fish over 12 inches. probally had 10 short of 12 inches. Thanks Dow

Tournament Day1: Drew out with a guy form KY and fished the west side of the lake. We were fishing scattered hydrilla, cattails and pin reeds with a water depth 2-3.5 foot. When we arrived the water temp was 48 and the sun was out. He was throwing weighted swim baits and getting a reaction strike. He had several bites, but they were slapping at the baits. I was throwing a skinny dipper on braid and working as slow as possible, before 8 I had my first keeper 2-7. I caught 2 more short fish. With Bass Opens, we can weigh in a 12 inch fish with the Florida exemption paper for the event. The boater has 5 good bites but did not land any of them. After lunch, the water had warmed to 53 and he started catching fish on the swim bait. The area that most of our bites came from was a 50 yard by 50 yard box. When we would get outside of this we would not get bit. I started throwing a Swimming sinko on fluorocarbon, since we had been around this area all day and got bit from a 3-5 pound fish, but could not turn her before she got in the cattails and pulled off. Caught a couple more small non keepers' bass. We were due in at 4:00 pm and left about 3:15 to head back. When we got out in the main lake and ran about 2 miles of the 10 miles back, the motor spun the hub in the prop. We could idle but not get on plain. We did manage to flag down a boat and rode in with them. I had one fish for 2-7 and the boater had 4 fish for 6-8. About dark he had his boat at the service trailer and got a new prop. Day 2. Fish with a guy from Fl and we went to the monkey box and fish shallow spawning area. I could see a lot of bed, but no fish. I did catch a small keeper on a skinny dipper with the water temp 53. After a while we ran back north and started fishing some bays. I caught my 2nd keeper on a swimming sinko. We fished a lot of this area and only caught small fish. The area had been sprayed and the weeds were starting to turn brown. When we were leaving close to where I had caught the last keeper, I flipped in a mat and caught my 3rd keeper. We then went back to monkey box and fished the eel grass in open water. I had one bite. I ended the day with 3-1 and the boater zeroed. I made the top 30 by a few oz and was in 28 th place. Day 3 I drew out with a gut from NC and we went to some fish close to the launch. Water temp 60 today. I started out throwing a skinny dipper, and we both were getting bites but they acted like small fish. I changed to the swimming Sinko and caught 2 keepers and 3 short. We left and tried a different spot, only 1 bite. Then around lunch went north to a canal and finished the day. The boater was flipping dock and caught 3 keepers and finished in the top 20. I moved up 3 spots to 25th. Congratulations to Chris Lane on his cash win on the boater side and Blake Steward on winning the Skeeter Bass boat on the non boater side. Sorry, no pictures, traveled light due limit space in luggage on air plane.

I signed for the Bass Master Southern Open Okeechobee as a non boater and went and Pre Fishing Okeechobee 1-11-2010 to 11-13-2010. I fished with a guy that is fishing on the boater side from GA. Never thought I would need my insulated bibs and parka in FL, but it felt good. When we got on the lake Monday morning, the water temp. in the canal at Clewiston Canal was 43 degs.; out in the lake it was 40-41degs. in the shallows, less than 5 foot. We rode around and looked for areas that had beds in them and fished some with not a single bite. I got to see a lot of the lake. The lower end is really grown up, we went north and by the end of the day ended up in the monkey box. Moonshine Bay was very shallow. We ran through it on plane and the water was about a foot. We were in a 20x Skeeter and I was impressed where this boat would run, He had a V Max motor with a hydraulic jack plate. We could get on plane with the depth finder reading 1.5 with me lying flat on the front deck. Tuesday we went to the East side of the lake and looked around and ended up around the south bay. We did get stuck on one boat path. These boat paths are in heavy vegetation, hydrilla, reeds, and cattails and some, 6-8 feet tall. We were running down a path trying to get to a bay at an island on the lower end that he had fished in the past. The path started out the width of the boat. About 3 miles down this trail it forked and we took the left fork; a short distance later the path started to get smaller, and he was having problems keeping the motor on the clean water path on the winding trail going 30-45 MPH. The path was about 12 inches wide, that I could see water, rest cattails. The boat would push most of them away but you had to lean toward the center to keep from being hit in the face. I also had to reach back and pull my rod tips away from the edge of the boat, to keep the cattails from jerking the eyes off. We turned a curve and the path ended. He said a few words as we sat down in this jungle. With cattails on both sides, 7 or 8 foot tall and as far as you could see, I figure we would have to spend the night as it was about 4 pm and call a air boat to come get us. But I looked about 50 yard behind us and there was a place that looked like a T that was about 10 foot deep in the cat tails. After about 30 minutes we got the boat backed in to this and turned around with the trolling motor and me pushing with the butt of my rod and pulling on any cattails I could get a hold of. This T I think was the results of someone else getting stuck. There were uprooted cattails on top of the live ones. Good part, we did not have to get in the water. He then started the 250 V Max and we started idling out, after about 200 yard, he hit reverse and said he thought it was deep enough to get on plane. It looked like an alligator hole or some 2-3 foot water in the middle of nowhere. We got back on plane and ran out to some better paths. Wednesday, we went to the north end and looked around and fished J-S canal and then went to tin house and the west side of the lake and in the afternoon started flipping. We did get a few bites and shook them off. Here we went again down a small path about 2 miles, and then it opened up into a great spawning bay, and he got 2 bites on a swim bait and then it was time to go to the pairings. Will post some more later on the Bass Master Southern Open on the tournament days.

Simp, I agree. He must be snowed in or SOMETHING! Maybe it is time for Glen to also start a Bass Anonymous Program for those on the board who get serious addicted to posting while snowed in. ;D BTW Bobby, If you get a pool started, Rattle Head is in. Bekki

Ok, Bobby. Haven't seen you at the Classic in several years. So, why this one? You know, curiosity killed the cat. Bekki

Anyone know how to get the Abu Garcia REVO reel apart? Was going to service, but could not get it apart. Took 2 screw out of handle side and a bar that screwed in and it would not come apart. Any help, stopped because I did not want to break.

I have several rods that I use for spinner bait. One thing to consider, is length. If fishing docks or trees hanging over the water, I want a 6-6 Med H to roll cast. But if I am fishing large flats, I want 7 to 7-6 in a med action to cast a long way. If grass is present, Med H.