RAMBLER

I think that practice and time spent honing your skills is of utmost importance. Just as a ball (of any kind) player, you can't play just a few days a year to become very good at what you do. I've read that some of you spend at least 250 days a year fishing. I am lucky if I get 30-40 days a year. I know I can not be as successful a bass fisherman as the rest of you. But, I bet, since I got so few days on the water, I enjoy each and every day just a little bit more than you do. You see, for me, just catching fish is not the only reason I am out on the water. I think that all of the points that are raised about how to be a better fisherman are important and the skill level of each point can best be improved by the time on the water.

If you grab 12 lb braid with a bare hand and try to pull it loose, you WILL cut your hand severely. Do you use bullet weights, if so, maybe egg weights will not get caught in the cracks between the rocks so easily. Just a thought.

Use one all the time. Keep spares on ice and switch out when the sun is hot. I wear a ventilated broad brim hat over it or baseball hat under it. I don't need more cancers cut off of me.

My camp out with son/scout was in the winter with over a foot of snow on the ground. We had well used pup tents. You will learn how to build a campfire when you have to scrounge up wood, in the snow. Don't want to and never will put myself through that again.

I got mine at the Wal Mart vision center. They are on the same frame as my trifocals. The sunglasses are just bifocals. I really like them.

If I've had a decent day, don't look at the end of my rod to figure "it" out. I've changed lures before I get to the dock.

I'm 74 and the other day while talking to my doctor about aches and pains, for different reasons, I told him that "yesterday" when I was 18 none of this bothered me. He just looked at me and chuckled. Oh, where did the time go. Now I,m exercising on a bowflex and stationary bike three days a week. Can still cast for about 6 hours straight before I have to switch hands. I keep an ace bandage in a bag, in the boat, that I have used once so I could keep casting. People that haven't gotten old will tell you that age is just a state of mind. I'd like to see what their mind is like when they're 70-80 or older.

I like to catch fish, too. I only get to fish about twice a month. Somehow I've never been able to see the specific sized fish I want and put a lure, that it will eat, in front of it's face, so, I'm glad for anything that bites.

Vote for White Castle. I've had both and the White Castle is not quite as nasty as Krystal. Neither should be considered food. Ditto on the spuds. The one I go to makes the fries with the skins on, put a bunch in a container, put the container in a brown paper bag and then pours the fires in on top of that.

I have watched quite a few videos and listened to people telling how to catch fish and in some of those videos, I did not see the "expert" catch any fish. I like to watch Major League Fishing and see what the people catching fish, and winning, are using and how and where they use that specific lure. After while, you start seeing that quite a few of the people catching fish are using only a few different lures. It looks to me like the best of the best are winning because they found the fish while others were still searching for fish. Makes me think about throwing away about 90% of my tackle that I've never caught anything on.

They "twirl" because they are not hooked exactly straight.

When you get to the point you don't like your job, you have two choices. Change your attitude or change your situation.

I like a johnson silver spoon with a white trick worm for a trailer.

I have learned more about bass fishing by watching Major League Fishing than any other TV show or video. Especially, when the fishermen tell, in detail, what tackle they were using and how and where they used it. I like to watch people that are fishing for bass, to win a tournament, instead of a half hour telemarketing show.

Just checked that website. They sell whitetail deer, too. All right there in your home state.

Best thing you can do with that, now, is dab it very carefully with a lot of olive oil. That will take the sting out and reduce the blisters. I've seen my kids look just like you and the olive oil really relieved the mess. Other people that tried couldn't believe how well it works. Try it and let me know how well it worked for you.

A slim body, pointy nosed, tough swimbait, like a naked swimmer or skinny dipper pulled through and over the lily pads right through the thickest part of them.

I've had that happen a couple of times. Once I threw a Storm Thinfin in the middle of it and just let it sit. Didn't have to let it sit long and it got slammed, several times. After the "feed" was over, I threw that lure parallel to the lily pads and had a bass come shooting out of the pads to slam the lure.

Gatorade tastes better. But, I understand the pickle thing is a first aid type of thing. Gatorade is good for the electrolytes.

For a big bait you can cast a mile and catches fish, try the Big Dipper from Reaction Innovations.

If we knew where you lived we would have a better idea of what it could be.

My wife, now 74, had both knees replaced and a friend of ours, a little ole' lady, 83 years old, just had a knee replaced. Both got up and running relatively quickly. No pain after all is healed up. Main thing is doing the post op therapy. If these 'older' ladies can handle it, I would think you could handle it well.

Not catching fish is jut part of fishing. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I can only fish by someone else's schedule. So, the last three times I've been out were total busts for me. It's been a high pressure cold front, east wind (made fishing where I wanted to impossible) of about 11-12 mph, combination of wind, front, and unseasonable growth of weeds. I just try to enjoy the outing and take a few pictures of things that interest me. The weather and schedule will match up some day.

I "repaired" a broken fiberglass rod. I had a broken solid glass rod and I found the spot on it that would fit inside the broken hollow fiberglass. I cut a piece of the glass rod, about 2 inches long and epoxied it inside the fiberglass rod. I know about a stiff spot in the rod that will completely "ruin" the action of the rod. I used that rod for a lot of years for a lot of species, mainly because it was the only rod I had. I still have it in a corner in the garage but most of the guides are gone and it is pretty much junk, now, but sentimental value.

Sounds to me like that new job gives your brain too much slack time.