senile1

I haven't tried one of these, Bucketmouth, but I thought I'd reply to get your post back up to the top so somebody who knows something about these might reply.

I don't have a preference. Private ponds are great for unpressured bass, but I love larger lakes as well. Truman Lake in Missouri is 55,000 acres of water and very little development has been allowed on the lake. In fact, there are only four marinas on this lake. This is a place for big Missouri bass and also a place with great scenery where you can get far away from everyone, especially on a week day. You gotta love these places where there are no people, no noises, and your cellphone loses service. Ahh . . . . Peace.

I fish mostly lakes but I love ponds and do fish them. I'm still trying to locate more than the two that I have permission to fish. I catch more fish at the ponds and the size is good, but there's nothing like hitting a 50,000 acre lake and getting away from everything and everybody, enjoying the beautiful scenery, and catching a few bass as well.

Muddy, that's probably a good way to measure it. The minimum on the lakes I fish is 15 inches and I do feel just as skunked when I don't catch any keepers. As for RW, feeling skunked every time you don't catch a 5 lb plus fish is a very high bar.

My definition for getting skunked is when I don't catch a bass and I'm fishing for bass. If I stop fishing for bass, and start fishing for crappie or bluegill and catch a few, I still say I got skunked. This year I've been skunked twice, on one 6 hour trip and on one 3 hour trip. I did catch some bluegill on the 6 hour trip but I was trying to catch bass.

I agree with jtbassman. I can't say with certainty I know what these fish are doing but I have caught a few of them. I think they're feeding on bugs and other food in the shallow cover. In addition to jigs, I've pulled frogs, worms, and minnow baits in front of their face and caught some fish. If they don't grab your lure stop it in their face, twitch it, jerk it, make it stand up and do a jig, etc. And when they strike a topwater, make sure they have the bait before you set the hook. It's really easy to set the hook too quickly when you can see them plain as day.

It could be someone sent to sleep with the fishes.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I believe if you catch over 100 fish you're fishing a location that has just been stocked. My best day for numbers was back in the 70s on a newly stocked lake. My Dad and I each caught well over 100 fish, but I don't remember the exact numbers (something like 130 - 150 each.) Most of these fish were 12 - 15 inches, but I did catch three or four fish that were 3 - 6 lbs. (Again, my memory fails me.) My best day for weight runs around 20 lbs, more or less. On that day I caught one over 6, one over 5, and some others in the 3 - 4 range. I generally don't weigh all of the fish I catch so I have to estimate this. If I think a fish is nearing five pounds or more I weigh it. Otherwise, I just estimate.

1987 Starcraft Magnum 150, 15' 6", with a 1989 70 horse Johnson. Trolling motor is a Minn Kota AT65.

I average once or twice a week.

Did you double-check the filaments in the bulb? The brake light and direction signal are carried on one filament and the tail lights are on the other filament. It sounds like your brake light/direction signal filament is broken.

I have no doubt that these fish saw you. I believe Matthewj already referred to this. His advice on this is golden. Back off and try again.

I would agree with this. My biggest day this year has been 18 bass. On average, on a half to all day outing I average probably 5 - 8 fish. I've had alot of two to three hour fishing trips this summer due to lots of hours at work and on these I probably average 2 or 3 fish. I have had monster days in the past but these are rare. There is a lake near my Father's house that is remote and gets very little pressure. Quite often, when I visit my Dad, we still catch good numbers of quality bass from this lake, but the lakes near me are nothing like this. I do get skunked every now and then. Don't feel bad SFC_AL. Some lakes will make you suck. That's just the way it is. Your time will come.

Yes, I fished with my Dad with crankbaits and t-rigged worms during the 70s. When I was younger we fished for everything and usually we used live bait. The real bass bug didn't bite my Dad until I was around 14, which was in 1974. From then on we used lures.

Thanks Mattlures !!! for the explaination !! With more & more fisherman pressure this makes sense to me. Do you think the type of structure really matters when you cut-off the fish's escape route?? The type of structure wouldn't matter but where it is located might. A hump in the middle of a lake has plenty of escape routes in many directions.

Good point, and this is something I didn't think of. If this guy was fishing a mid-lake hump or mid-lake channel-bank I guess this wouldn't apply.

I like going across the slope the best too. On most channel banks, going across the slope will drag your lure parallel to the stumps or treeline if one exists. Of course, you can't rule out the other directions. I just feel I can cover more fish holding territory in this way.

I"m really enjoying this thread. These are the kind of conversations that will lead to solutions for whatever the problem was in this case. Let's hope the people who have the power and authority regarding these issues are having these conversations as well.

Go to Google groups, choose the rec.boats group, and then search for outboard oil recommendations. There is alot of disagreement on this, but it appears that the brand name oil retailers always recommend their own oil over cheaper oils. Also, I found this comment regarding warranties that states the Magnusson Moss Warranty Act prohibits manufacturer's from requiring a specific brand of oil to be used in order to maintain your warranty. I googled this federal act and this appears to be true. As long as your oil is TCW III your warranty should be good. You might want to research this yourself to make sure you feel comfortable with it.

If the wind or current was flowing in the uphill direction the baitfish would also be traveling that direction so the bass might turn their bodies to face the dropoff or channel bank to watch for the oncoming food. If you drag your lure downhill on these fish the lure will be coming up behind them. Usually, you want your lure coming from the direction the bass are looking. There could be other reasons. This is just an example.

I've just read it in a few boating books and heard it from some mechanics that I consider honest. I'm not saying these other guys are wrong. I'm not a boat motor expert by any stretch of the imagination. My motor is a 1989 Johnson 70 horse that I had rebuilt 3 years ago. I have a great mechanic and he said the motor would be fine with any TC-W3 oil, but this is an older motor and this might not be true for your motor. Newer motors are more finely tuned and more complicated than my old motor and there may be something to the manufacturer's recommendation. Try googling this subject to see what you can find. I'll do the same and if I find anything I'll post it here.

I use inexpensive oils that are TC-W3 rated. Everything I read says that you're wasting your money buying the expensive oils and that your motor will be fine with the cheaper oils as long as they are rated TC-W3. Having said that, I have an older boat. If I had a new boat and the manufacturer recommends a certain oil I would use it unless I was sure the less expensive oil wouldn't void my warranty.

Hmm . . . . . I'm a network engineer and I wouldn't trust a wireless connection through wireless access points on the lakes I fish. Truman lake is 55,000 acres plus and there are areas where wireless signals would be very poor to non-existent. Information would be lost and I can just see a tournament angler losing because his info didn't show up. However, if the information was logged on the fish finder, that's a good idea, but you would have to make sure no tech savvy anglers would manipulate the data. If you were going to send the info wirelessly to shore you're going to have to stategically place access points around the perimeter of the lake to make sure every location has access. Expensive!!!!

;D Well, I can't say I didn't think along those lines as well.

Some good points, Jim. When I read the comments in the article about having no finger pointing, etc. I was a bit taken aback. FLW should respond quickly to this in a manner that isn't defensive, but that shows the spirit of wildlife conservation. Otherwise, all of angling suffers. Contrary to what some believe, some bass do die from the stress of being held all day during a tournament, even when LMBV isn't involved. I have seen a combination of heavy tournament pressure, heavy pleasure fishing, and LMBV nearly wipe out a wonderful bass population at Smithville Lake in Missouri during the 90s. The last couple of years the population is really starting to come back with tournament stringers over 20 lbs again. As anglers, we need to be aware of how our own behavior affects the health of bass.