senile1

basser89, Very few field techs in our field make more. The Cisco VoIP stuff is very difficult and without the engineers, most, but not all of them, would be lost, so our base pay is much better than theirs, but we are salaried and they do get overtime. The success rate for the CCIE Voice certification is only 3 percent on the first attempt. And, relatively speaking, there aren't many CCNP/CCVP certified Cisco engineers, of which, I am one. So we do Ok. But enough about that. Let's talk fishing. My PMS is subsiding.

Cart7 is on it. I have fished only a few times the last couple of winters, but I'm planning on getting out and braving the weather more this winter. Gotta break out the spoons.

It's good to be back. I thought I'd get a conversation going about work interfering with the most important activity known to humankind. (Well, let's leave sex out of it.) I'm sure alot of you have experienced the same thing at one time or another. When I'm not fishing I get irritable, kind of like PMS for men.

I'm actually not a field tech. I configure all the servers, routers, and switches at my office. I then ship them to the sites. The field techs have to rack 'em and wire 'em but that's about it. Once the equipment is in place I vpn into the systems for anything else that is needed. The Cisco AVVID VoIP systems require alot of configuration before and after they are racked. Customers often decide after the equipment is installed that what they originally asked for isn't what they want. Then there is after cut support. Yeah, I prefer fishing.

The Cardinals are going to kick butt and make the series. Then they will sweep their Americn league opponent . . . . . . . . . . . Oh, sorry. Daydreaming again.

I've had a difficult time even getting a look-see at what has been going on with the forum lately. Beginning in early August I was assigned as the lead engineer on a data and voice over IP network installation for a company with 90 plus sites in Florida, Texas, and Colorado. I've been working long hours and through the weekends to get this cut over. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I didn't realize how much I would miss participating in the BassResource.com forum. It's good to "mingle" with other like-minded fishermen. I've been able to make a rare post now and then but that's it. Last weekend was the first time in over a month that I was able to get out and fish. Just wanted to let you guys know BassResource.com is special and it's good to be back. 8-)

I've caught a couple of 6 lb'ers on Rapala original floaters, and quite a few over 5 on the large Zara Spook. I think that you will catch more smaller fish if you're fishing topwaters fast because they are more likely to strike quickly due to their aggressive instincts.

This is like poetry to my ears, Cart7.

At Smithville Lake, north of KC, fishing 12 - 20 feet is deep. Fishing Table rock in Southern Missouri is another matter due to the extremely clear water where the bass will hang out in 30 - 40 foot depths (and sometimes deeper) in the heat of summer. It all depends on the characteristics of the lake I'm fishing.

I used to never weigh my fish unless it was close to my personal best. Now I'm interested in seeing what my best bag of five would be, so I weigh them if they are near or over 5 lbs. I usually can determine if a weigh-in is necessary by eye-balling them or by measuring length and girth, so I do measure the dimensions of more fish than I weigh.

Dream Sponsors: Dr Bongs Zig Zag Psychedelic Information Center Everclear Wild Turkey Hamilton Syringes I hope no one is taking me seriously.

It definitely sounds like the hook isn't getting set good enough due to one or a combination of the following: your hooks aren't sharp, your medium action rod doesn't have the backbone to sink the hooks, or your hook-setting technique could be improved. If the bass were pulling the tail you wouldn't feel the fish fighting after you set the hook because you would pull the worm out of their mouths.

6.9 lbs on a black 7.5 inch t-rigged Culprit worm I've caught others over 6 lbs on the following: Rapala silver/black original floaters, Rapala SR7 SD shad raps, Zara Spooks, and on a green watermelon black flake t-rigged weightless Senko. I don't remember which ones were the second and third largest.

Yes, indeed.

Very good essay. I have to agree with his conclusions.

I like to stand but sometimes I don't want to be as visible to the fish when fishing clear water, so I'll hunker down. I don't know if this makes a difference, but it doesn't hurt. Also, my boat is a small bass boat so when I'm in choppy water I'll sit while running the trolling motor to avoid falling out of the boat.

This happened to dirt bikes in the 90s. Even thought the two stroke was lighter and more powerful, they were unable to meet EPA requirements. You can still buy them for motocross but that's about it.

;D I thought the same thing Fatboy. Is there anything that Jim hasn't eaten or doesn't have a recipe for?

Jim, I agree with your point about bass trapping or pinning baitfish up against structure and also cover. I tend to fish parallel or cast 45 degrees to points but fishing from shallower to deeper water. I hadn't thought about drawing bass away from their original hideouts. Although I tend to fish structure from all different directions until I start catching fish, if I'm fishing a point that isn't completely immersed in water I tend to save fishing deeper to shallow as my last resort, due to the occasional issues with getting my boat into the shallower water up against a visible point.

I'm certain I've read this before, but I think the writer (or possibly the plagiarizer) added a few phrases to something that was written before. Maybe not. There have been so many things written about how to fish a worm that I can imagine there would be alot of the same phrases showing up in each article. Good information no matter where it came from.

Lou Brock, one of my favorite Cardinals of all time, retired after the 1979 season. The three with over 40 stolen bases were McGee, Coleman, and the Wizard of Oz, himself, Ozzie Smith.

Great Stuff, George. I copied this and saved it for future use.

Matt Fly is correct. These are just different presentations and there is nothing really unconventional about them. Now, if you want to talk about unconventional, how many of you texas rig a crankbait with a bullet weight? Now that's unconventional, and to be honest, I don't think it would be useful in hardly any situations. (But it is an example of being unconventional.) So I would consider myself to be conventional, but versatile.

Very True, George. After seeing it done, I've seen new spook fisherman walking the dog proficiently within 15 minutes. But if they read about it and then try it, no way.

NJFG, some of your bass will begin to spawn when temps are in the upper 50s to low 60s while a bunch will still be on the pre-spawn deeper-water edges of your spawning flats. As the temps warm into the mid to upper 60s alot more bass will move up to spawn, while some will be finished and will move off. So, theoretically, you could have three patterns to fish at once: pre-spawn, spawn, and post-spawn. I usually fish when I can get out there so I don't time the spawn, but there are a number of anglers who believe that the first full moon with temps in the spawning range will bring up a bunch of fish to spawn. These are the things you should look for to determine when the fish in your area are spawning.