SammyLee

It can be aggravating for sure but it can also be funny when you see it. A four inch brim holding a ten inch anaconda worm by the tail and trying to swim away with it just makes me laugh out loud. And sometimes I get mean and will rig a tiny jig and just catch their butts. It does take some brass as I have seen water snakes that size with a fish in their mouth. It just makes me wonder what the heck that little fish intends to do with that giant worm? I'd love to give them one and video tape what they did with it. Dog chasing a car?

Well, I'm gonna jump in here just to get the ball rolling as much better answers will likely follow. First, what gear do you like and were good with? Were you a spin caster, open faced spinning reels or level wind bait casters? A good medium sized and quality spinning outfit should do fine for smallies and large mouths as well, if you have not mastered the baitcaster. If I were in your shoes I'd get a Shimano Saros with a 6 or 6'6" medium power quality rod. Some of the Bass Pro XT series rods seem fine to me. I have both the BPS rods and St. Croix. You could buy this type combo for under $225 or so. I do not recommend low price, low quality gear. It is frustrating and breaks quickly under real fishing conditions. My gear has to work everytime, every weekend and many weekdays. Often the cheap stuff breaks on the first outing. I'd put 10 or 12 pound mono on it and buy some of the basic lures. A couple dozen worms of various sizes and colors. Three or four lipless cranks. Maybe 2 topwater poppers. Some diving cranks. Two or three spinner baits. Frogs might be good too, the SPRO fogs come recommended. Rage Tail makes a good one too so I've heard. I've thrown one a few times but nothing so far. I am somewhat at a loss regarding the clear water. I've never fished water that had more than about 4 feet of vis. I'm sure plenty here have and should chime in soon.

Agree with the others, you're a lucky man. Yet I suspect like most luck, you worked and planned to be so lucky. Who said, "The harder I work, the luckier I get." They're right. I wish I had this. I wish I had that. Yet I am unwilling to do what it takes to get this or that.

After I made my supper time reply, I put on my rain gear and hit the lake at about 7:30. Hard drizzle to pouring down and getting dark. I got five, two of them pretty nice for me. After the first hour, it was so dark I could not see the line or the lure (5" plastic worm) when it landed on the water. All feel at that point. I am almost sure that I missed the biggest one because after a little rod tip lift, I thought I was stuck in brush so I just focused on getting it out. There was not really a tap or vibration until the last second when the worm cleared the "obstacle" which then pulled and shook. The hookset (way too late) was nothing, he had already spit it out or I simply pulled it out of his mouth. I used to argue that hooksets were not free because I have set the hook into a log and lost gear. Man, I wish I set it on that fellow. Worm, bullet weight, hook, two dollars. A trophy bass? Priceless. Clearly, Mr. Smarty Pants (me) needs more deliberate practice. BTW, Mike (Ike) had his 10k hours by the time he was out of high school, from what I gather from his book. "Fishing on the Edge". He says he had to practice more and work harder than his more talented competitors.

Do you have average sensitivity otherwise? Can you feel small, soft and subtle things? I think if you do have average sensitivity you can learn what a fish feels like on the rod and line you are using. I also have a St. Croix rod and it feels much, much better to me than low end rods. I think without the hours on the water it would not. Having said that, it took me some time to learn to focus on those subtle taps and vibrations that occur when a bass picks up a worm. Sometimes I don't and just see the line sliding to the side, then BANG, hookset. Did I say focus? Yeah, that's a big part for me. When I fish, I'm not eating, scratching or fooling around. My tag line says "Fish for fun" and I do but I am FOCUSED on fishing. That makes it more fun for me. I can be so focused that time looses its meter. What? It's two hours later than I thought? When you're that tuned, one tap, two vibrations can trigger a million neurons. Your mind "Sees" what is happening down there, or at least well enough. When to set the hook? Deliberate practice will give you the intuition to know. This time, too early. The other time, too late. It teaches you. Some say instinct, I say learned behaviour. (IMHO a great rod will have you setting too soon at first, at least it did for me) Catch and release a hundred bass (maybe you already have) with that new rod and I'll bet you'll sing a different song. Maybe not, maybe I'm full of baloney. I am the least of the masters here.

Colvin also did a study of super star hockey players birthdays. 70 + percent were born in such a month that had them start school 4 to 9 months earlier than other students. Not a big deal at 20 but when you're 12 years old and teams are selected, it seems to be. You're older and bigger. Those selected and did well, were afforded coaching opportunities others did not have. By the time they were 20, they had been on superior teams for a decade. Sometimes it's not talent so much as random chance. Be lucky. Be in the right place at the right time. Spend 10,000 hours doing what you seem to do well anyway and your chances of success approaches 100%. I've been fishing since I was a toddler but never really hard core. Now that I have discovered bass, the 10k hours doesn't seem overwhelming. As soon as I got home, I changed clothes and hit the lake. I did not catch anything but learned just the same. (lessons on unsnagging a worm) And maybe were and when not to fish or when to move. Plus of course, a couple hundred casts. (gotta change the reel settings when changing lures!) Two hours of practice, not one minute repeated 120 times. I was born with average intelligence and physical abilities. If my determination continues, I'll become a successful "expert" bass fisherman. No doubt in my mind.

tnhiker44 writes "I think this applies to everything we do. There is only a finite amount of 'good' in you. Kevin Van Dam may be the best out there right now, but you can rest assured that somewhere out there there is more talent waiting to be practiced into discovery. By numbers alone the funny thing is that the most potentially talented person in fishing, golf, football, ect., probably never even participated in that activity. That is why I totally disagree with Mr. Colvin. Talent is everything... we can all practice... we all cannot be at the top of our activity." Ok but let's consider how much of what we do is mental vs. physical. Tiger is a strong, healthy young man. Much of what he does (and golf in general) is physical. Let's forget about the stress of pro fishing schedules and multiple days, etc. and reduce it down to a 4 hour fishing trip. Does a young, strong healthy man have much of an advantage over an older, weaker, less healthy man in catching bass. I don't really think so. Part of what Mr. Colvin talks about that I did not bring to the discussion is "average intelligence and ability". A person who has severe physical and mental disabilities is not going to be a Tiger or KVD regardless of 10K hours practice. Nor a Bill Gates. My point is that if I (or you) put in the 5K hours of deliberate practice we will become "Master" bass catchers. Our skill would be in the upper 2% of all bass fishermen. Bassn Blv. has the 10K and I'll bet in the same lake he would out catch me by a large margin every day. I'm sure there are others as well. Even with just the 400 hours I can out catch most of my friends who just play at it. Think about the way it feels when a bass just picked up a worm and you have 60 feet of mono out? Can you tell someone with any real degree of truth, what that feeling is and what to do about it? That is deliberate practice. Not that I've got the bug or anything but my wife told me to stop looking down my nose at crack addicts. ;=)

Raul posts "20 years experience doesn 't equal 1 year experience multiplied by 20. So practicing by practicing alone without the learning experience is not going to do you much good if you practice for one hour or 20,000 hours." Yeah, you're right. My old boss back in WPB used ask me that when we hired someone. "Does he have 10 years experience or one year, ten times?" That was a big part of "deliberate" practice. So far, mine is deliberate because I read most everything here, read other publications, fish occasioonally with a "semi-pro" coworker and put all of it to the test on the water, every chance I get. I was up at 0500 Sunday to fish three hours before church, came home took a nap and went back out. I caught 8 LMB, four over two pounds, all on plastic worms. It's study, think, try, think, try, study some more. At some point I'll run out of worthy books and I'll be fishing at the same level as some of my fishing friends. Then it'll be more like graduate school. You do the work to learn more than a teacher teaching. I also suspect that the body of knowledge contained here will be forever updated. I still need more study and time on some of the basics but I've been catching LMB when others are getting skunked, so whatever it is, I must have it. At least a little bit, lately. Funny, I used to be happy with any fish. Now it's LMB only that matter to me. If I was back in WPB, I know I'd be saltwater fishing too but here in West Tennessee, LMB all the way. Trout? Looks like a bass that hatched this spring. OH WOW! That rainbow is going to be over 7 ounces! Get the camera! But hey, each to their own.

Not too long ago I read a book by Geoff Colvin entitled "Talent is Overrated". Basically, he maintains that talent is one of the least attributes to expertise and that "deliberate practice" X 10,000 hours makes the difference. He studied many top of their field experts, Bill Gates for one, and observed that each one of them had at least 10,000 hours of practice before they became "Super Experts". Bill had more than that as a programmer before Microsoft was ever a company. I suspect this is true for us as fisherman. Geoff also observed that to become "really, really good" but not a truly superb expert, required around 5,000 hours. How many of us (and or the pros) have the requisite 10k hours? Or the 5K? I started seriously bass fishing this spring. I go every chance I get which I estimate is about 18 to 22 hours per week. Multiply that by the twenty weeks and I've got about 400 hours of deliberate practice leaving me 4,600 hours or 4 and a half years short of becoming "Really, really good." Nine years at 20 hours per week to become "Excellent, superb expert". I know that deliberate practice works. I have learned to fish plastic worms to the point that it is now my "go to" bait. Two months ago, swim baits, two months before that, drop shot, two months before that, bobbers and live minnows.

In my case, the days before the rain were hot as heck and humid without much wind. The rain raised the lake level about a foot and made the top water at least 5 degrees cooler, based on the way it feels to me. I went back this afternoon, got one bite and not much more. I didn't have a lot of time but I am thinking of going back now, 9:30 pm and see how the night fishing is the day after. It's been cooler and dryer today. We'll see.

I just couldn't resist a 140 dollar rod for 30 bucks. I wanted the 6'6" mh f but they were sold out so I took the 5'6" medium fast. What is the best use for this rod? Right now, I just put a Zebco Omega spincaster with 10# mono on it to give to guest who want to fish but don't really know too much about casting. It seems to work well in this use with this reel but am I missing the boat here? Darn little thing will cast a 3/16 oz. lure a country mile.

Just one quick experience. 10 days at the local lake with fish having lockjaw. I only caught one small LMB in that whole time. Yesterday morning it stormed like three devils with two inches of rain. It cleared up by mid afternoon and I got to the lake about 6pm. I caught four nice ones in the first hour with chigger craws on 3/8 ounce black jig head hook, bouncing off the bottom with a slow retrieve. Those fish tore up the soft plastic so badly that I ran out. They would bite nothing else, not a worm, not topwater, not crank. Ten days of skunk, a heavy storm, four fish in an hour. Hmm.

For a quite awhile, drop shot was the only way I could fish for LMB. I just did not know how to fish plastics or cranks so I did a lot of drop shot. Yes, a polamar knot is the knot to use. How long the tag line is based on conditions. If the bottom is weedy or deep mud then I use a shorter tag line to the drop shot weight, maybe 10 to 12 inches. If the bottom is mostly clean then I may make the tag line 18 to 20 inches. I always tie with a long tag line and then just trim to where I want the sinker to be. I also put the tag line end back through the front of the hook eye to make the hook stand more erect from the main line.

"If possible wade out to about knee thigh deep this opens a whole lot of new water" "Possibly some of the best info someone could have given for you being shore bound." Good advice. Or get a float tube. It's opened up lots and lots of water for me. Never the less, I told one of my semi-pro friends, "Stay away from me! I've got the skunk stink!" I've caught one small LMB in the last 9 days. I'll usually catch at least 20 in nine days. At least I didn't see children dragging em in on top of me like I have on some other skunk days. ps I don't know if he is supersticious but he stayed the heck away!

I plan to go but don't have a boat, only the tube float. I called the State Park Marina and asked about rental boats. They said they have 3 jon boats with 9.9 outboards on a first come, first serve basis. Well, maybe ok, I'll bring my sleeping bag and be at the marina door/gate at 0300 to get one. Maybe. What I'd really like to do is rent a bass boat for a day or two, especially if I could get someone else to split the cost. But... none of the marinas that have web sites seem to have bass boats for rent. Perhaps I am just missing it. Does anyone know of a marina that has bass boats for rent? Like wise, does anyone without a boat have any interest in sharing one with me?

Boy, the line debate goes on forever and I guess for a good reason. I am becoming more and more a flurocarbon fan. I've got 10# P-Line fluro on my baitcaster, mostly for plastic that I want to sink. I also like the "less" stretch "" cause it does have some, less than mono but more than braid. Heck, just do what I did, buy about ten different ones and respool every rod in the house two or three times!

I've got a pretty good selection of quality baitcasters and spinning set ups for myself. We have some get togethers over at my neighbor's house which is actually on the lake as opposed to my house which is three houses away. All our mostly non fishing friends think I am THE fisherman. (Shows what little they know ;-) Anyway, I had this old Zebco 303 with a POS rod I was letting them use with a swim Sinko and they were picking a bunch of dinks and having a blast. Today, I took that outfit to the Wolf river because I knew I was so likely to drop it going over trees, rocks, etc. While I was using it, I realized what a crap outfit it was. I was ashamed to have let my friends use it. I guess I have become accustomed to fine equipment. Shimano, St. Croix etc. In defense of the Zebco, it was old and had been in the shed for years. I had just put new line on it and oiled it. So I bought one of the Cabela's XML rods, a 5'6" medium power BC rod. What a deal, 30 bucks for a rod that msrp is 140. So now I think I'd like to get the very best spincaster I can find to use on this rod for my visiting friends. I am thinking about the Pflueger Cetina Spincast Reel which is about 40 bucks. I want something that is easy to use but still enough quality to land the three or four pounders that cruise by from time to time. I plan on putting 10# mono or even perhaps the Asian guys hybrid line. So, a plenty long story for something you guys likely never focus on but if you have any suggestions for a good reel, I'd appreciate it.

The lake manager at my nieghborhood lake gives me heck all the time because I don't keep and eat em. They want us to remove as many of the smaller ones as we can to allow the others to grow bigger on the limited forage fish. It's a hassle for me as I am mostly float fishing. I have put a fish basket on a rope and have a few meals in the freezer but I have caught over 20 in one morning. I just can't bring myself to just kill them and drop them back into the water. I'll just take the guff I get from the manager. That being said, I hate to see a big beautiful fish die but that's just the way it goes sometimes.

Heck, it's only a 2 to 3 hour trip for me! Yeah! Oh, wait, I don't have a boat. Maybe I can rent one, take the back of someone else's boat (will pay for gas etc.) or just use my float around the docks. What the heck, I plan on being there even if it's just for the dinner and speakers. Maybe by then, I'll have caught a 4+ pounder!

Must be the day of the dog, and I'm the dog. I caught one just as big this morning from my float, which I hopefully have changed my pic from rock climbing to bass fishing! I got nine this morning, 6 dinkish, 2 nicer ones and one like the pic on the first post. Man was that fun! It was too windy for the TM jon boats but with those huge split fins I could get anywhere and stay there. It was kinda fun watching the boats get blown away from the honey hole while I looked like I was at anchor. I can't afford a boat but with this outfit, I can go lots of places. It fits in my trunk with just a little deflation.

There's always tomorrow! I'll be up at five and tube/floating by five thirty. Finning my way to the sweet spot with a cup of coffee in my hand and a cigar between my teeth. Today, they did not get active until nearly nine am. Between five thirty and eight o'clock, I had caught one small brim. I almost went home. Once they started, I caught one small one then bang! I had a nice one, just a bit smaller than the one in the pic. After that, it was really on. I caught at least twenty before I went back to the house. If tomorrow is as good............. Wow. I can feel the strength and vibration from those fish in my mind even now.

Thanksfor the estimate. Youi guys likey have a better eye for it than me or the calculators. I measured (I am 6'1" so, looking at the points on my chest and waist from the pic) the distance from the top of the mouth to the tip of the tail and seems to be about 18 inches. Calculators would have her closer to 3 pounds but who the heck cares. No doubt in my mind that it's the biggest bass I've ever caught and I am super happy with her. I've only really been bass fishing for the last three months, about when I joined this forum and I'll bet I've caught over a hundred LMB. Most dinks for sure but some nicer ones too. Not bad for a beginner. The Lord has blessed me this day. Had I been hungry, I would have been fed. As it is, I was given joy.

No, no, no, I live a couple hundred feet from the lake. I took the hook out, RAN to the house, wife took the pic, I RAN back to the lake, eased her back into the water and she swam away without a problem.

I was tearing em up on the surface this morning with one I thought might be a PB but this afternoon I walked back down to the lake and on the second cast, caught this fish. She's bigger than any I've caught before but I wonder if you guys can estimate the weight for me. I was and am SO charged. Finally, a good sized one. I jumped off the seawall, eased the hook out, ran to the house, took the pic, ran back and she swam away nicely.

Here's the lake 5 houses down from mine. Nice lake but really close to a main road.