George Welcome

Don't knock it till you try it!!! I caught more and bigger than you did ;D :-* Besides bass kiss better than some men.............. Yikes!!

Zack, Add oil to the tank on the motor. That is where the sensor is and it can be touchy to level.

As most have said - mix retrieval until you find the one working that day.

Power Pro and direct to lure.

Congrats on the newly aquired daughter. I found aquiring daughters this way was far less expensive then having them.

Geez Raul, now you are giving me a case of the munchies.

#1- The decision could be just or unjust: without seeing a report of the incident and hearing the facts it's anybodies guess. #2- If you want something not military issued, then you have to buy it. You also have to buy clothing and personal items. #3- Good question if there is fact to subtantiate it. #4- Welfare programs go hand in hand with married military life. Serving your country has never been a career choice with a "get rich quick" scheme.

It does not fish like an ordinary Senko. It is designed to be swum hence the name SwimSenko. Here's a little something I wrote about this bait: YAMAMOTO SWIMMING SENKO HYPE OR MAGIC A day of fishing is so much more than just catching the fish. It involves planning, comradeship, (a very important ingredient to me), alternate plans, (always have to deal with weather), bait selection based on conditions, and of course the catching. This day's planning started with a phone call from Paul Crawford, a fellow Floridian, avid fisherman, and writer/representative for Yamamoto Baits. Paul wanted to try out a relatively new Yamamoto product being introduced, called the Swimming Senko, on Florida's famous Stick Marsh/Farm 13. With date set, I waited with great anticipation, not only for the opportunity to fish with Paul, a fisherman of some repute, but to also see new bait in action. However, as the weather can do, as the day approached, it was obvious that wind was going to alter our plans. The forecast called for winds in excess of 20 MPH, and the strong possibility of rain. As an alternate location, I suggested Blue Cypress Lake. The lake is surrounded with tall stately Cypress trees and would offer good protection from the westerly winds that forecasters were calling for. I met Paul at the ramp at Blue Cypress at first light. Paul showed me the Swimming Senko that he would be using and we loaded his gear on board. Leaving the ramp area I turned to the south and smoothly applied the power to the motor. The bow rose, however what was normally a good hole shot didn't occur. As fast as the boat leapt to get on plane, she settled back in the water and the motor raced. First the weather and now a spun hub made it time again for another alternate plan. The day seemed destined to offer us some major challenges but we still had great comradeship and a new bait to keep things bright. Since the entire southwest shore is loaded with various grasses I simply announced that we would go on with the trolling motor and worry about getting back at a later time. Paul set up his rig with a weightless Swimming Senko. I recommended any dark color as the water on Blue Cypress is heavily tannic stained. I rigged a weightless Senko in watermelon with black flake and the fishing began. I have found that the Senko, so often called the "do-nothing" bait, is an excellent top water jerk bait, and with Kissimmee grass, Maiden Cane, and Bulrush to play in, this jerk bait technique would play strongly for me. The Swimming Senko is designed to be retrieved much like spinner bait, with varying speeds. It casts extremely well, much like the Senko so Paul had no problem reaching well back into the grasses. However, unlike the Senko, it just didn't exhibit a strong catching appeal for the bass. Around mid-day I reached an area of open shallow water and was able to change out the hub, putting the big motor back in commission. We continued on and by day's end it seemed that the Senko was the better bait over its newly introduced brother, the Swimming Senko. Returning to the ramp we were able to move along at a good pace with the repaired big motor. As we rode we discussed what seemed the pros and cons to the Swimming Senko. Paul left a fair amount of Swimming Senkos with me and headed off to his home and dinner. What started as a day with some minor setbacks had turned into a great day on the water. We had achieved some tests with the new bait, we had caught some fish, and most importantly we had shared the comradeship of two avid anglers with our day on the water. The Swimming Senko had not performed as I hoped it would, but the testing on my part was only in infancy as it was destined to show me Gary Yamamoto had achieved another stellar success with his design. My next opportunity to offer the Swimming Senko to the bass came on Ansin/Garcia, which is another of the lakes in the Blue Cypress Conservation Area. This lake is one laden heavily with Hydrilla and coon tail, which at the time was about 2 feet below the surface, and one that we use when winds are up as it offers good protection. Wanting the bait to ride just above the grass I opted to add a 1/8 ounce weight to the nose. Also, due to the heavy grass I decided to bury the hook as we do with the Senko, as opposed to skin hooking it. The first cast delivered a hit, however the hook did not push through the bait so it was obvious that skin hooking was going to produce better hook-ups. The Swimming Senko is made of a more durable consistency than the Senko and requires the skin hooking. Today's bite came on a rapid retrieval over the grass as bass after bass fell for its twisting oscillating action. By days end we had landed over 70 bass up to 5-pounds using what has become a staple in my arsenal of strongly producing baits. The following day the winds subsided making the Stick Marsh our destination. Moving to the south end of the lake into an area known as the nursery we started to work weightless Senkos. Water depths were in the 2.5 to 3 foot levels with lots of wood to work around. I decided since it was rigged to give the Swimming Senko another try. This time I moved it slowly to get more depth penetration and I increased the weight to 3/16 ounce after a few casts. After three rapid bass made it to the boat, Don Willis my fishing companion for the day made the change. With matching rigs and bait, the catching was on. By days end we managed to place over 80 fish in the boat up to 8.5-pounds and we were firmly convinced that Gary Yamamoto had produced another magical bait and a valuable addition to our Senko line of tackle. Since that day the Swimming Senko is always rigged and ready on my boat. It has produced 100's of bass up to 12.5-pounds from our south Florida waters. It is a recommended bait to have to all of our clients and I have every confidence that it will produce not only numbers but huge fish also. Mixing the retrieval speeds from fast to slow will quickly show you what the bass want the speed to be. Adjust the weight to achieve the depth you want. The hit and hook set is much like that of spinner bait with many hook sets being achieved by the bass themselves. It is a bait, not to replace the venerable Senko, but rather one to accompany it in your "must have" arsenal of bass catchers. If you can't catch bass with a Swimming Senko in areas of cover, than you probably can't catch bass with anything. If you're wondering about color choice, I have found that the stand-by theory of dark baits in dark water and light baits in clear water work for this bait as it does with any other. If you haven't tried it yet you need to, and as I am saying, you will also: Thanks Gary Yamamoto Baits for another brilliant productive product.

Based on the width of the camera lens, the tilt of your hat, and the lower left quadrant of the bass's operculum, I would put its weight right about 15 pound 4.3776514 ounces give our take a tad.

Ceph - I have noticed a significant increase in the population of our lake so perhaps?

And that's a fact. Presently at 10:23 here in the sunny south it is 95 in the shade. I love the heat, but?!?

Remember, and this is so important - don't assume that your eyes and the fish's eyes are seeing the same thing. Heavily tannic stained water is crystal clear, but it doesn't appear so to us when viewed from the surface.

yep

Bream

In its pure form, structure is defined as relating to those permanent topographical differences within a body of water. Things that are temporary differences such as docks, trees, and grasses are considered as cover. A point whether main or secondary, humps, canals, underwater levees, and ridges are all structure. However, there are times when a temporary difference will relate to your fishing experience exactly as structure will. A solid grass line that presents a wall is a good example. Both structure and cover present excellent locations for bass. Cover that relates to structure is even better in most instances. There are many theories about why fish spend time in and around cover, but more than likely the most accurate would be because their prey uses that cover to hide in. Why fish relate to structure is a bit more complicated. Water moves as a unit so the volume moving is constant. As the flow meets a restriction to its flow, the movement accelerates to accomodate the the volume. So for example, as flow meets a hump in the water it will accelerate over that hump as the volume moving cannot change. This increase speed of flow brings with it an easier flow of food as the accelerated flow disturbs the floating food chain. The increase in the flow of diatoms as an example bring the baitfish which in turn attracts the bass. An excellent way to observe this is to study a weir. As the water flows toward the weir no current is obvious, however at it nears the weir the current increases and is visible. As the water flows over the weir the current increases dramatically. How this all relates to fishing besides of course location, is the selection of bait. One fishing structure would do better to use faster moving baits than one fishing cover. A bait that will appear to being tossed about by the current would be another excellent choice which is why the Carolina rig is a highly preferred bait of choice on structure. Remember that the current increases in speed passing over the structure so look to the lee side of the structure for the most activity. Another interesting note to this is water flow in itself can emulate structure. Looking at a simulation: we will assume a inflow of water coming from the west and a wind generating current to the south. Where might be an excellent location to find some fish in this situation?

A highlight to any fishing trip is taking family members out for some catching of these illusive critters known to us as bass. However, watching the youngsters in the group progress in their appreciation of this great past-time is particularly exciting. I had the extreme pleasure of having my oldest grandson for the last couple of weeks and he is quickly becoming quite the adept bass fisherman. Chris Welcome with one of many caught over the last couple of weeks. On some of the trips good friend Don Willis accompanied us and although Chris plied a hot stick, Don wasn't getting left behind in the catching. The weather over the last couple of weeks has been a bit on the warm side but cooperating bass make the heat seem less intense. Our longest day has been 4-hours, but during that time we made good use of our time and hauled in the bass. There has been several days of bonus fishing due to the increase in lake levels because of the rains that have thankfully come to our area. You can pretty much count of afternoon thunder boomers settling into the area every day now. Our weather patterns have returned to normal which is a major improvement over last summer. As you can see by the pictures, the heat hasn't stopped the bass from wanting to play. Chris with another that fell to the deception that only a Yamamoto SwimSenko can offer. Current generated by the farm's irrigation system has played a major part in our fishing over the last couple of weeks. As long as there was a noticeable current being produced at the pumping station, there were bass to be caught. When fishing this current position is key to catching fish. The structure and cover is comprised of humps, holes, shell beds, and grass. Ten feet in one direction or the other is all it takes to be catching as opposed to fishing. The primary rig for this situation of current is the Carolina rig. We have had excellent results using a rig with 3/8 to 1/2 ounces of weight and about a 2 foot leader. Although the spillway has been opened a time or two, the water coming through is low quality so for the most part the fishing in that area has been more fishing than catching. However, you never know so checking it out if is flowing is always a good thing to do. Please remember courtesy in this area as it is small and will only support so many boats. The same holds true for the pump house area. When the pump and spillway are not working it is time to hit the ditches and their adjacent levees. We have had good success on the center E/W ditch using Yamamoto SwimSenkos, and some success with a rattle trap. Any of the dark colors will produce with the Senko and a chrome/blue w/orange belly is the leader in the traps. Always keep your eyes open for shad busts and have a top water ready for such an event. Summertime is buzz bait time and we prefer this to the chug bug or other top water chugger. If you are not finding them on the Farm side then head for the Marsh. We have found some really good fish spread out through the Marsh. Best producer has been the SwimSenko, with rattle traps coming in in second place. Again, colors for the baits are the same. With the SwimSenko use a 1/4 to 3/16th ounce weight in either Florida weight, or torpedo. The ideal material is tungsten as you can keep the bulk down and avoid getting hung in the brush. Brass is the next chose with lead being the poorest choice. It doesn't take long before the lead gets closed up with all the brush encounters. Line strength and rod are important issues here on our lake. Use adequate line, (17-20 pound test) and a rod with sufficient backbone to bring this fish through the brush. Ten pound line can bring in a 15 pound bass, but not here on the Marsh. During this month of August we anticipate the fishing to get better and better. With the increase in rain we expect more and more current flow situations which will set the bass in very findable locations. See you out there. Say hi if you get the chance.

GBlanks - it's only $10 more to go with Fuji guides.

Perhaps in 1932 a hook rusted away quickly, however today a hook left in will be there for a long time. In most cases it will not stop the fish from continuing to eat, however learning to remove the hook is really quite easy and should be learned by everyone.

Retail positions in any store in the USA are always there. It will be a great experience for you. You will learn what dealing with the public really means.

It will remove the rust unless they are really bad. It will not damage hooks or bait. I do this at least twice a year on most of my hard baits as they never get off the boat.

A toothbrush, some hull cleaner (available at Wally-Mart) and water to rinse. Soak lures in hull cleaner for about 3-5 minutes. Wear gloves as hull cleaner is mild acid - lightly scrub with toothbrush and rinse.

I'm really glad that you let that MB know he was out.

Canoe trailers: Meltra Boat Trailer Sales 309 South 3rd Street, Fort Pierce, FL 34950 (772) 461-1193

The Atlantic and bass boats of any configuration do not mix. First, the electronic side of the boat, (wiring and such) is not designed to withstand the rigors of salt water. Second, there is always that little thought of safety issue, (staying alive). I have seen the ocean kick from 1-2 to 7-10 in less than 10 minutes, so I have to agree with the missus - not a place to play in a bass boat.

"After all they do have great eyesight compared to us..." Who says?