Chaz Hickcox

Man, that's pretty unkind. They all built what we are all standing on. Clunn's ideas were a big step in breaking down bass water. You might not even realize just who's shoulders you are peeing from. Couldn't agree with you more Paul, we have to consider their opportunity to understand at that point in their careers. With all of the technology and learning curves that have been achieved since each of their time, they would have had a better foundation to build on thus gaining the same valuable information to build on. Cars of today are better than the cars of yesterday because of the innovation of yesterday.... Had they all started from the same point and all had the same benefit of todays innovation, there's no way to imagine the result. But without hesitation, I would venture to say that these same few icons of our industry would rise to the top just from their God given abilities and work ethic I can say that they are all GREAT and each have had their own individual "Greatest Positive Impact" in our sport. Hard to argue that point... Ask Kevin why he is who he is and he will quickly tell you that it's because of those before him and those who he gains knowledge and support from today. Big O www.ragetail.com In addition to the comments of Big-O and Paul. Who is the better scientist? Einstein or some jack at MIT? The idiot at MIT is going off of someone else's work with tools designed from lessons learned from the likes of Einstein and Oppenheimer. I have more respect for those who created what we have today from scratch and actually working at it. If you respect someone more because tools like the "Color C-Lector" or Side Imagind Sonar, or different presentations that guys like Roland Martin or Ricky Clunn came up with, give them more for their time; then I would say you need to get a grip on reality. I'm sure the simple little sounder I have on my boat right now was top of the line in '75. Which give you the technological advantage over those who competed then. If you have to use electronics to catch fish, then you have issues. If you can read the water/shoreline and a simple depth flasher and still put em in the boat, then maybe I will have something more in common with you.

The late Doc Counsilmen (Head swimming coach at Indiana University circa 1960-1980) who also coached the likes of Mark Spitz, Charlie Hickcox, Gary Hall, and the rest of the USA Olympic Swim Team in 1968 and 72, had a theory on what makes people great. It's his Hurt/Pain/Agony Theory. Anyone who wants to compete and just basically show up will go through the Hurt of hard work, but will never go past the Hurt Phase due to lack of willpower or tenacity. People who want to be good will stop after the Pain Phase, thus never achieving true greatness. It is those few in any sport who push themselves beyond the pain into the Agony Phase and thrive there that makes them great. Going through the Agony Phase requires a mental fortitude that so very few people actually possess. You can see the ones who do possess the fortitude to go through the Agony phase, Micheal Johnson, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretsky, Brookes Robinson, Roland Martin, Ricky Clunn, Dale Sr. and in the topic of this conversation, KVD. There are still phenominally good athletes who are stuck in the Pain Phase, but those 'stars' come and go. It's the truly great ones in the Agony Phase that are few and far between.

Dingy 1-2 ft vis

Look at the picture. As you go north on the creek that is annotated you get into a Cypress Forest, the marsh is very productive in the summer, not much cover but a lot of duck blinds. This is also where I have found shiners spawning in September. The main channel is deep (intracoastal waterway) with a lot of cover on either side. The horseshoe on the north end of the marsh is also a barge graveyard. The southern creek is marsh then goes into a cypress forest. Now assume the points are normal, and there are clear dropoffs in the channels (Except the northern creek which is more like a bowl). The water temp is low to mid 30's. Where would YOU go, and what would YOU use? (I have my spots, but I just want to see if there are any ideas I haven't thought of). If you want to look at the body of water on Bing you can get the bird's eye view of it all. The river is North Landing River in Virginia Beach.

DUDE YOU ROCK! You have no idea how ticked I have been at that d@# reel.

Do you know this from experience? Honest question, not bein smart.

Take your reel apart and use some high grained sand paper on your drag washers to scuff 'em up. The added scuffs will give the washers some extra drag. It's a lot like brake pads. Just don't sand them smooth.

I have a quantum Surge Inshore reel and I can't for the life of me figure out how to get the side plate off. I have taken off all of the screws, but can't seem to rotate it properly. The Quantum Burst is basically the same reel just the Surge has extra anti corrosion coating for salt water. I searched for this and found some quantum stuff, but there is no release button I could find as it is described for the reel in that particular thread. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Out west I never went over 10lb mono for visability sake. I am sure that up north you all have the same issue with super clear water and the fish spooking at the sight of the line. When I moved out here I lost a lot of tackle and fish because of that. I had never fished wood like there is out here and my line was getting destroyed by the wood out here so I switched to heavy braid. Basically, the clearer the water, the lighter the line, the more structure, you need something that will hold up.

Excellent! Definitely the "wrong" set-up, but it kinda goes back to: "All your fishing can be done with one rig. Three are all you really need." 8-) RW I have to absolutely agree! I have 3 Baitcasters (2 MH With braid and a M with mono) and a M spinning rod. What else do I need? Seriously, I throw cranks and lipless all the time on the 2 MH. "Wrong" by who's standards?

So I got a crazy idea to try out some water before going into work today. I went down to the West Neck Marina to see how much ice was there and try to try and slow walk some eeliminators near a break in the ice. Unfortunately the entire marina was iced over with about 2in of ice. :-/ WINTER NEEDS TO STOP. Good thing is that the old man there said it would break down this afternoon, and after this weekend's warm spell it should be broken up and almost all gone. I need to get my boat on the water, I'm goin nuts!

Thanks. I have to be honest with you. Being from out west the trees here have been a huge question mark to me.

Cypress Trees, soft plastics, not having electronics on my boat, jigs, COLD, muddy water. I grew up sight fishing with swimbaits, crankbaits or topwater, everything else is pretty foreign to me.

Heat in the summer is much better than Virginia Cold!!! I miss the desert (Arizona). And that is an awesome day with the pops. I hope I get to do that with mine. God willing he makes it past this year.

I got stuck on a sunken barge, and had to wait for a yacht to steam by on the intracoastal waterway. Once I was off and I tried to start my main, my crankin' battery died. For some weird reason I had some stereo wire on my boat, which was lucky because I was able to jump my crankin battery from my trolling battery. To do this though, I had to take my back seat out of the slot to get in the aft compartment. The wind was goin nuts and another yacht was coming by so in my haste I forgot to put by seat back in the hole. I was two miles down the river before I thought about it. It was obviously off the boat. I went back to see if it floated, but it didn't and I lost a whole *&^% seat! Talk about an idiot day.

Has anyone ever tried these? There's an ol' boy at work who swears by it, but I have never seen him or heard of him fishing in the last year while he's been here in Va. Looks like a good idea.

When I was a kid I would fish for cats in the creek near my house. I knew they lived in the roots near the bottom of a small waterfall. The roots came out over the pool and I could stand on it and look down the 6ft or so to the bottom. The water was gin clear. I could never get them to come out when I was just putting the blood bait near the holes. So I would chum the hell out of the place, dumping almost have the bag. When the entire school of cats would come out I would bounce the bloodbait that was on my rod right on the cats. They would take it, but only in their gums for awhile. I would open the bail on my reel and let them have it until I saw the bait disappear in their mouths. I guess in short I am saying, you need to chum the hell out of a place. Then when they take your bait give them some time (amount is all relative to size and species) before you set the hook.

Try Cabela's Online, they're maybe 2in long and look huge for roostertails, but are great for all kinds of bass. Caught my first white bass in '91 with a yellow one.

still not finding anything for laserlure

When bass are chasing shad or minnows just under the surface I like to burn a 1/2 oz white Roostertail just under the surface.

They have to be able to find the real thing in the dark, so why wouldn't the swimbaits work then? If you want a little more commotion you could also try the Castaic Original Hardheaded Shad. When I lived in Ca and Az those Castaics were what I used at all times of the day. The hardheads act like a shallow crank that looks realistic. If you have crappie, they also have a baby crappie that did me a lot of good too. Also the Castaic Rock Hard Trout in 4in is a good alternative too. The hard body actually clicks against itself when you burn it. I have found in low visability conditions I twitch it while burning it back to the boat. A really fast and hard cadance twitch will elicite strikes from a lot of fish who normally won't bite. And don't worry if you don't have trout in your waters, I'm in swampland here in VA and there aren't any trout, but my rock hard is one of my best producers.

Rage Tail Eeliminator Check this out - Why am I the first to post this? Who has ever seen an eel with a fat body and a long slender tail. The eeliminator has to be a tadpole immitation, but they won't market it that way because of what y'all are saying about tadpoles. Who cares? We're not trying to feed the fish just get them to attack right?

Rapala just seems to be of better quality. Like someone else said the only Rebel I have is a Pop-R. The Rapalas will last forever, I still have some jointed minnows I bought in 1994.

Topwater 1. Buzzbait (Cavitron or Strike King depending on how slow I have to go) 2. Rapala Skitterpop 3. Scum Frog Paddle Frog Skinny Water 1. Castaic Original Hard Headed Shad 2. Castaic Rock Hard Baby Trout 3. Rapala 5 in Jointed Minnow

Watchin Bill Dance and Roland Martin on The Nashville Network back in the early 90's. Since then, I have learned a lot here, and the hard way, a lot of error and error. Then, there was always the great articles in the In-Fisherman Magazine. My pop would go with me, but he still thinks we were catching pike in Lake Powell and we caught them instead of stripers by the dam (To me there's a big difference between a brown pike and a 15lb striper). Oddly enough I taught him how to tie a hook. I was spoiled though, I learned by sight fishing from my 4x4 at Lake Pleasent, Az. Never needed a boat just a 4x4 and an eye for the desert trails leading to the virgin bays. I would sit on shallow bass all year long.