SammyLee

Me and a buddy, he has a Basscat boat, are leaving Memphis in a few minutes. We'll fish this afternoon and tomorrow. He is not part of the group so we will just fish and look around to see if we see anyone. What the heck, give me a call if anyone is around . 9-0-1---2-3-7---2-6-4-8

I told the wife she needed to take a few days off and relax. You know, somewhere without the hustle and bustle of large cities, maybe on a lake somewhere. she of course agreed to this fine idea and I had a lake in mind. Guntersville. On the weekend of March 20,21st. Sooooo, anybody know of a good place on the water, like a cabin or something? I need a place that will allow us to bring our two smallish dogs. I'd like to spend around a 100 bucks a night.

Great story. Is she one of us? I mean a with a BR name and all. If so, she (along with her BF) should meet us at Pickwick. That'd be fun for sure. Anyway, she says a lot of things that I feel too, although I really can't say how to compare buying a Chronach to a handbag feels. Never the less, I do love bass fishing. In fact, so much I think I'll quit typing and go fishing. The arsenal is ready and so am I.

I must add my kudos as well and agree with others that this is one of the best videos around. It gives us some insight to a real professional along with some good tips and techniques. Outstanding.

No! No! No! I've had reservations for a great camp spot at Lake Ouachita Arkansaw for the last few months. We arrive tomorrow around noon and I have a reserved fishing boat (16 foot, 15 hp motor, 24 mph) for Saturday. Last I looked the lake was at flood stage and .4 feet more. I've got too much invested in this to not try hard to get bit. I am thinking to jump fish for both LMB and strippers. If I can see zero action on the surface I am going to go deep with jigs and even see if I can pull a few up with some deep cranks. I am even thinking of drop shotting some whacky stick worms with a half ounce weight. If none of that works, I am going up into the creeks and run buzz baits and shallow cranks over grass. I will also try my strength, finesse worms in 5 to 20 feet. I have the rods ready and the tackle box loaded and a 3 day permit in hand. I may not get another chance any time soon so I am going to give it my all. I will have my float and hit the water around the state park tomorrow afternoon and Sunday morning. These fish are going to be tempted if I can find them. I have no depth finder but I do have a topo map and good map reading skills. So, come hadies or high water, they're going to get all I have this weekend. Wish me luck.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to fish the church lake and got my personal best, weighed on Rappala digital scales. Below is the email I wrote to the manager. -------------------- Tim, I got there about 2:30 and things were kinda slow. I caught a one pounder at the dam and then pretty much nothing. They were splashing and cutting up over by the dock so I walked over there and got one that weighed one pound 6 ozs. Which was a nice fish. I was getting tired and dehydrated and walked back around to the grassy bank and made a few casts. I picked up a 1 pound, one ounce fish and walked closer to the dam and caught a 3 pound 10 ounce fish that I thought would be the highlight of the day. He was a whopper. I then walked over to the dam close to the overflow and got another one pounder and then cast into the middle of the lake. My lure just disappeared from the surface and I set the hook on what felt like somebody's pet hog. He ran out taking drag but I finally turned his head, then he ran to me! I was reeling in as fast as I could and he jumped. I almost wet myself. It was the biggest bass I have ever had on a line. I fought him with all my skill and finally got him up to the bank at the dam. By this time I had stepped into the water up to mid-calf as I knew I'd never lift him out but needed to just grab him by the mouth, which I did. There was a car parked at Iona house and I hope I did not break any prayer or meditation with my yells and shouts. I sounded like a movie warrior who had just won the battle! He was so big I really thought he was gonna be a two digit fish but in fact weighed 5 pounds, four ounces, weighed on Rappala digital scales. What a perfect fish he was, no scars, marks or blemishes with perfect markings. I was careful with him the whole way and after a dozen seconds of admiring and weighing him, I got the hook out without any damage to that coffee can mouth. I put him back in the water and he finned away without seeming to be very excited about the whole thing. Praise God, what a fish. If anybody catches him during the picnic I will be suggesting that they release him, strongly. Anyway, thanks again for giving me the chance to catch the bass of my lifetime. (so far!) Warm Regards, Sam ---------------------------- From Tim: Thank you for the update and letting me know you had a great time. Don't be surprised if you see this in the church news.

Senkos aren't exactly lightweight, they weigh about 3/8 oz. That's what I was going to say. I use spinning gear for weightless plastics, jerkbaits, shakey head, and dropshot. Hmm, then that's probably why I can cast them I'll have to try some really light baits and see what happens. I'll give a wieghtless little worm a go this evening and see. Plus the wind is blowing directly into me from where I'll be casting, the reel test. haha. My noobness still shows for sure but I've come a long way for six months.

If there is a direct causative relationship here, the solution is practically impossible. Water treatment systems to remove these very small amounts of pharmaceuticals would be very expensive, I would guess. I would like to see the ppm in the water in the Potomac vs. ppm in other places, like spring water in North Florida followed by microscopic examinations of fish reproductive organs. Is it truly causative? There just is no doubt that 5 billion humans on this planet have a negative effect on the ecology, so what are the top ten priorities to try to fix with limited resources? I can see it now, if you take drugs for your health, you must urinate in this special commode which is designed to remove pharmaceuticals. I hate to see that our fish have reduced reproduction capabilities. I want our waters just teeming with game fish. Not so many that it becomes easy to catch them, that would be no fun, but a "target rich environment" would be a pleasure.

As my baitcasting skills improve, I find that I can cast very light weight baits like wieghtless sinko's just fine. I really never thought I would be able to do that. It may be coincidence but that new level of skill seemed to coincide with upgrading my reel to the Chronarch. All of my casting got easier after that. That's one reason I usually recommend folks just starting with level winders to buy a good one.

I bought a Zebco Omega spincaster on a Cabelas 6' medium for those who are beginners. I have a BPS qualifier spinning outfit for those guests who are just a bit more advanced. When they watch me cast a topwater lure to the far side of the lake with my baitcaster and want to learn, they can use my best. I still get a kick from my great nephew watching me cast, "How you do that!?"

Maybe all the changes suggested above will work but when my local lake (40 acres) went to full stop, nothing I did worked. This lake is just a few hundred feet from my house so I can and do go there almost every day. I threw every darn thing but the tackle box itself in all the different ways I knew, to all levels of the water column without getting bit. This started the first week in August. I fished it nearly every day with my wife getting tired my complaints when I got home. The last few days of August, I started getting a few on worms at night. Within a week, it was back to normal. I can walk down there after work, catch two or three and be home before supper or go in the morning and still be ready for church on Sunday. It was not me, it was the fish/lake/weather/water or something other than that which I can't imagine. Kinda funny others are saying to give it a rest. My neighbor said to me the other day, "Man, you don't give them a rest do you?" Heck, when it turned back on, I wanted to catching bass on that day, not the day after.

There's been a whole big thread on the stretch or lack there of for fluro. It seems some good tests indicated that it had the same as mono for the most part. That was a surprise to me as my 10# fluro seemed to have much better hooksets. I'll never believe that fluro has the same sensitivity as mono. With fluro I can feel a worm touch a twig or a dink's kiss.

If you're often getting big strippers, like over 15 pounds, I might suggest even a heavy 7 footer vs MH. I'm guessing sensitivity is not that big a deal with cut bait. The smaller ones will come to you just as easily. Just a thought.

I just learned BC's a few months ago and my first night effort resulted in backlash city. A couple of weeks ago, I was fishing at sundown and they were still biting and I kept casting. No backlash. I can now do it consistently. As they say, it's just practice and paying attention. Also, upgrading my reel seem to help all of my level wind casting.

Gee whiz, I need to just copy this whole thread and save it for things to try. I thought finesse was my strong suit but it seems I am still in the first grade. I simply t-rig or small jig-head a six inch, usually dark green, curly tail worm, cast into the deep water and slowly bottom bounce it up the slope back to me. I usually can pick up two to three dinks an hour this way, even when nothing else works. The bass in my pic, my personal best, was caught this way except in my float it's bank beating.