SkeetyCCTX

The thing that reall ticked me off was that this team was following a top name guide around! No, I did not actually wittness it, but I heard from a very reliable source that it did happen. The next day when I mentioned that I was ticked, my source tried to downplay the whole thing. Apparently, word got out and people were very upset, so the organizers were really trying to keep a lid on what happened. This was a big name tourny with good money on the line and Im sure they didnt want a tarnished event. Im just glad the guy didnt win first place!

As for ethics, what do you think about this? An angler followed a guide friend around during a tourny for the whole event. The rules stated that the guide could not fish, but nothing was said about following a guide around from another boat. Thats what this guy did. He was in first place after day one, and finished 2nd for the tourny and won seveal thousand dollars. Though there was no rule against it, I think this is totall unethical and wrong. The organizers should have taken some sort of action about it, but Im sure he was part of the "in" group! How would you feel about looseing money to a guy whos pattern is to follow around a top local guide? It peed me off!

I do agree with ol' Robby about one thing, Tourny's are not nearly as fun as they should be. I think that this is mostly cause they are not fair. I know that there is going to be a group of guys jump on me for this statement, but these are probably the guys that get all the benefits and are usually the one putting the events on, or are buddy buddy with event organizers. Now, I finished 2nd place for the season in the South TX Five tourny trail, so Im not making any excusses, Im just giving my opinion on what I have experienced. Tournys have become very political and not everybody is held to the same rules and standards. I have seen way to many times when anglers are able to break or bend rules because of their name. I have lost money on several occassions because of this. For example, an angler being allowed to weigh in fish after the cut off time! I dont care if its 1 minute past or 10 min past, if you are not in on time; you should be DQ'd! This things cost way too much money to get bumped by someone that didnt follow the rules! I could go on and on with other examples. Next; younger guys, newbies, and the likes are really picked on alot! Especially if you are out fishing alot of people. Me and my partner, are constantly being turned in for false accusations or nitpicking exaggerated offenses. For example, on Amistad; I pulled up on a big offshore Flat with a step ledge on its border that runs about 300-500 yds. Its a giant fishing area, enough for several boats to fish and not bother eachother. When I pulled up there was one guy, I wnt to the other side well away from him, about 300 yds away. I even worked the area in the oposite direction he was going! I am very carefull to never impose on another fisherman/boater if they were there first! After weigh-Ins, we got talked to by the organizers! The guy had reported to the organizers that we had pulled up on him as he was fishing a point! It was total BullSH*%! In no way did we impose on him, we didnt even get within shouting distance. Yet, something was said anyways. IT is like this all the time, it really stirs my blood! As for cheating, what do you think about this? An angler followed a guide friend around during a tourny for the whole event. The rules stated that the guide could not fish, but nothing was said about following a guide around from another boat. Thats what this guy did. He was in first place after day one, and finished 2nd for the tourny and won seveal thousand dollars. Though there was no rule against it, I think this is totall unethical and wrong. The organizers should have taken some sort of action about it, but Im sure he was part of the "in" group!

I heard that ESPN was going to be dropping BASS from its coverage! I heard that it might go to the Versus channel! I heard that they are also canceling alot of good shows such as the "worlds greatest fishing show! Is this true! I heard that alot of the fisherman are looseing their sponsorships because tobacco products can no longer be advertised (Chew/Snuff). I will be very sad of this is true and thought that BASS was really starting to get a following. Anybody else heard this stuff! Or, is my info false?

The best advice I can give you about tourny fishing is to make sure you are organized, prepared, and ready to go once yall officially start! By taking the time to organize your gear before you fish, you will get alot more fishing time once the event startsm instead of wasting time looking for certain baits, tieing knots, and other managorial tasks! I spend several hours getting ready the night before my tournys. I re-spool, rig up several rods with baits that I want to use! Organize lures and set aside those that I plan to use, etc. I generally do very well in tournaments and usually outfish my partners and I think that it is because I am more prepared to fish. I always notice that my line is wet alot more than theirs. While Im fishing, they are messing with their equipment! Be ready!

Canyon lake is a very uneratted lake in my mind. Most TX anglers have no idea that it is plum full of smallmouth bass!! Not only does it have good numbers of them, but good size as well. Lake record is about 6.5 lbs and there are many fish in the 3-4 lb range! Best way to catch them is to fish points, bluffs, and ledges! I have always done good with drop shots, jerkbaits, tubes, and senkos on that lake! It also has good numbers of Largemouth, but not too much on size! Also good for striper! Beautifull lake!! Can get crowded during the summer time but empty during colder months. In summer I will suggest that you fish early in the mornings and try to stay away from weekends if possible! Also, during the summer times it is good to go finesse! Learn the drop shot technique if you dont already!

I have seen some very big gars down here in south TX. Quite often at Falcon and Choke I see gar next to the boat while bass fishing that easily go 100 lbs plus! Another place that has huge Gar is the Oso Creek, in a certain secrete section right before it reaches the bay, there are some real monsters in there as well! My grandma has an old black and white of here dad when he was a teenager and he and friends are posing next to a absolute monster. It looks to be close to 9 feet long! Its awesome, but not certified or anything

I was down there when the first one happened! However I thought it was the Mex military that robbed those guys of $500! I did not know that it happened two other times and that it is not military. This is disturbing bullcrud! I live just about 2 hrs from Falcon and have been fishing it regularly for about 3 yrs. Personally, I have never had any trouble or felt unsafe down there and this is the first time I have heard of a string of such occurrances. Usually, you just hear of boats being taken from guys fishing in mexico without a license, but this is totally crossing a line! Our authorities need to do something to stop this now!! We should be able to enjoy a day fishing this great lake without some "johny depp wannabe" swashbuckling there way over and sticking Ak47s in our faces! This has major problem written all over it. This is Texas! Sooner or later they are going to try and jack a boat and the fisherman on board are going to have guns too and there is going to be a big shootout! Seriously, I have already heard many fisherman down here start saying how they are going to bring their AR-15s, 9s, 40s, and 45s with them fishing and shoot it out with anyone that looks like a pirate. This isnt a joke, this is how Texas people think! We need to get some sort of police presence out there now! This is a matter of national security with these guys actually crossing over into US waters! There is absolutly no kind of border patrol, Police, or Warden presence at all out there but it needs to start now! Before someone gets killed. Ive heard guys talking about loading the boat up with guns and going out there just for the purpose of getting into a confrontation! For now, make sure you stay out of Mexico water even if you have a license! Also, it might not be a bad idea to pull the trolling motor up and haul *** if you see a suspicious boat headed your way! We got 250s they dont! Just use your head!

That lady looks really happy? I wonder if she is a big time bass angler or if she was just out messing around and has no idea what she is holding? SWAMP BASS!!

Just got back from Falcon! Had a pretty fun day trip though we didnt catch anything of 6 lbs! Lots of fish in the 3 to 4 lb range and they are all fairly shallow or feeding at the surface on tiny shad! The water was fairly clear in areas and there was a 10 mph east wind on saturday, with cloud cover and 95 deg temps! The fish were all very much concentrated around rocky points and are very shallow for this time of year. We did catch a few fish sitting in about 20 ft of water but they were all near the surface! However, the biggest fish did come off the bottom in about 20 feet with a 12" pwr worm, it was about 6 1/2 lbs! The spinnerbait bite is very good, as is the senko bite, crankbait, and flukes! However, the action was very odd. You would catch nothing for several minutes untill the bass came to the surface and started attacking shad. When this happened, all you had to do was make a cast into the area and a would hit immediately! You could catch one on every cast for a few moments, then it would get quite again! It would be a feeding frenzy! The senkos seemed to be the only bait that you could catch fish that werent visible! We tried to fish deep for several hours but just couldnt get many bites, oddly, c-rigs werent working! Most fish were caught in 4-12 ft range, and at the surface! Topwater didnt work though! All in all, a fun but weird day. We caught about 50 fish! Our biggest five probably went about 24 lbs! Most other people said the same!

Nobody even asked me to explain the opinion that I gave. Instead yall just get all wound up like usuall and start passing judgement on my without even knowing anything about me. You say I know nothing about sharelunker, well; you know nothing about me! Take your own advice and quit getting so upset any time someone has a different opinion than you! Why are you guys so defenseive of sharelunker anyways? Did you start it or something? Seems like it! Why do you two have to get so personal all the time. I didnt say anything to either of you personally, and just gave a reply not aimed at anyone personally. But here, you go again! I know all that I need to know about sharelunker and my opinion of it is shared by many people. Especially, south TX anglers that have a clue as to what is really going on! Honestly, I would probably like sharlunker as much as you do if I lived up north closer to the programs reasources, and where must of the fingerlings get stocked at. You can read up on sharlunker all you want but you have to read between the lines a little and understand how it is set-up to benifit some more than others. If I caught a fish during the summer at choke canyon or mathis it would run a great risk of dying while waiting a minimum of 5 hrs for officials to get to it. Thats a risk Im not willing to take and would rather release it back into the lake to continue doing its thing. Plus, why should I give the reasources of my lake to help a program that always seems to skip us when stocking time comes? You know how many times Choke has gotten sharlunker fingerlings, last time I checked it was only once! Many other south TX anglers agree with this point of view. Thats why you never see sharelunkers entered by local anglers! Do you really thing that we havent been catching them? Its always out of towners that enter their fish cause visitors are always less protective of the lake. I would be the same way if visiting Fork! The other lake that I mainly fish is Falcon, which is as far away from sharlunker resources as it gets. There isnt even a holding tank on that lake. Thats why you dont see many sharlunkers from Falcon! So, in my mind; it is just not reasonable to support a program that does absolutely nothing for me. Furthermore, I think Share has becom more of a program to give guys bragging rights than a way to help fisheries. Before you guys start passing judgement on me try and understand where I am coming from. Also, quit being so defensive anytime someone gives an opinion, especially when it isnt personally aimed at you!

With all the rain this year and a lot of lakes filling back up, I bet TX fishing will contiue to be pretty good for the next couple of years. However, I would like to see a push for more anglers to release 13 lb+ right back into the water that they were caught instead of everyone calling Sharelunker! Not saying that sharelunker is bad, but I just think that it would be better for TX lakes to be able to keep some of their biggest fish instead of taking them out! I hate nothing more than to see a 13lb+ bass die while waiting for sharelunker to come get it! Another thing is that I think they should only accept fish of 13 lbs! A 13 lber has great genes and I dont think that we should risk the like of these giant 15 and 16 lbers anymore. Catch em, then get them back in the water so that they can get closer to 20 lbs and be caught again. Trust me, a bass like this will do a much better job spawning on its own than what sharelunker can do! Plus, the bigger they are, the harder to hold alive untill the Pro's get to it! Now, I have no problem with the theory behind sharelunker but I just think a few changes are needed!

Yea, heard about that 16 lber this weekend at the Choke boat ramp while we were all standing around talking about where our big fish have gone! Enjoy it while it last cause the word is getting out! Just wait till yall get some mag writups and TV time! Then the flocks will start coming and you will see things get tougher! Dont get me wrong, the fish will still be there, they will just quit nailing anything that moves!

Well, I havent posted in a while because I have been very busy. I recently started my own business, and have been fished three tournies in the past month! This has kept me away from posting for some time. I finally have a chance to catch my breath now, before heading to Falcon this weekend! Anyways, Choke Canyon has been very difficult the paast several weeks! Not in the way of numbers, but in solid fish. Fish over 2 lbs have been a rarity, even for good anglers. They arent biting shallow or deep and you basically just have to get lucky and hit them on the head right now. Two weeks ago BassChamps did put up a 26 lb winning sack, but the last payout was only at 13 lbs! Thats very week for Choke, it usually takes close to 26 lbs on a 3 fish limmit, and 13 lbs should never get you a check on this lake. The day after, my leage only had a winning weight of 18 lbs. Take in mind that we have some very good anglers, including some of the bass champs guys like Jimmy Johnson! This weekend, my leauge and the Fed fish choke again. This time, our winning weight was only 16 lbs and the team even had a 9 lber! The fed was a 3 fish limmit and only won with like 12 lbs! Thats horrible! My leauge is even a team tourny! Now, the small fish are easy to catch. Me and my partner probably caught 200 fish on sunday, but only ended with about 11 lbs! I dont know what is going on for sure, but the only thing I can think of is that the bigger fish are becomming very lure shy! I talked to TPWD a month ago or so, and they said that our shocks showed better numbers and size than we've almost ever had. The lake has filled up to near capacity and the weather has been very warm. Since the little fish are bitting so well, it just makes me believe that the enormous increase in pressure has smartened up the older bigger fish making them very hard to catch, even in deep water! One thing that I noticed this past weekend was that a lot of the fish that I caught had hook wounds all over their mouths! This should tell you something! It was very sad, a lot of us anglers actually had to resort to finesse like tactics to catch better fish this weekend! The touny winners were those lucky enough to put one solid fish with a sack of 1s and 2s! All I can say is that I am glad tha OH Ivie is turning so many heads. Maybe people and tournys will start going there and give Choke a breather so that the fish can settle down a little bit! There is no way that Choke should be spitting out sacks less than 20 lbs, no way!