gotarheelz14

I fished fluorocarbon almost exclusively for about a year. Then I switched over to braid almost exclusively for about two years. However, all in all, I think I prefer Fluorocarbon more than braid for the following reasons: (1) Fluorocarbon is more sensitive than braid...? I know it might sound crazy to say it but I honestly think that I had a lot more sensitivity with Fluoro than I've had with braid. Slack line presentations are where I saw the most significant difference. I have read somewhere that Fluoro is actually more sensitive than braid on the other hand. (2) Fluorocarbon is more manageable than braid...? I keep putting question marks at the end of these statements because it almost seems funny to say them, but I think it's true lol! Braid is so limp, in general, that it gets wrapped all around my guides, logs, leaves, etc. It's almost a pain how limp it is. (3) It is easier to tie knots with Fluorocarbon---I think for the most part, this one is true. While I have certainly mastered all the braid knots, I think fluoro knots are easier to tie with, mainly because you can easily snip the line with your teeth lol. Other than that, I like the fact that braid is a lot more resistant, pound for pound. I also like the fact that for some presentations, such as flipping, frogs, etc, braid is really one of the only lines that really cuts through the vegetation. I also like the fact that braid is thinner than most other lines. Finally, braid is superior to fluorocarbon when it comes to durability. I have had the braid on my reels for over a year and it is almost as good as the day I took it off the spool! All in all, I think I am going to switch back to Fluorocarbon for all but two of my presentations; I will keep mono on my spinnerbait/buzzbait rod, and I will keep braid on my 7'6 Heavy. What have been your experiences guys?

As much truth as there is to "let the fish tell you," it doesn't really make sense as an answer when someone is asking a question like this. I think what most users want is some pointers or personal experience, in other words, what has worked personally for YOU in the past. When the bite is tough but I know fish should be feeding on topwaters, I will throw a small popper. Also, I like throwing poppers when there are a lot of emerging forms of cover that come up out of the water. For instance, I will throw a popper, work it for three or four pops, and pause it next to wood, or lilly pad openings. This works extremely well when fish are holding on cover. I also really like throwing poppers when fish are in somewhat of a lethargic mode. I like throwing buzz baits mostly during spring or when I know bass are on the move and feeding heavily. Do not be afraid to work it fast, fast, fast. Also, don't be afraid to work it slow either. I would say that here in NC where I live, the next month or maybe even two will be GOLDEN for buzz bait fishing. I also like to throw buzz baits where there is a lot of emerging forms of cover. I also find that it works extremely well when throwing into shallow flats. You can really cover a lot of water and fish can see the bait really good in these situations. When fishing a lot of leafy cover and vegetation, I will throw a frog of some type. If I would have otherwise wanted to throw a buzz bait but the vegetation is too thick, I will throw a horny toad. If I am around lilly pads, want to fish more of a popper style bait or I am looking for a bigger bite, I will throw something like a spro frog. Spooks and other walk the dog type baits have worked best for me when the fish are really keying in on shad. I have actually had more success with this bait, personally, when the water is a little bit clearer. From my experience, this is a really good all around bait and works wonders on open water. It is a really good search bait. You should definitely experiment. The fish in the particular body of water may also just prefer one bait over the other. As others have said, "let the fish tell you." However, the above I believe are pretty good general ideas of what you can look for---they have certainly worked well for me. ---Carlos

I have never had an alberto knot, WITH VANISH as a leader, fail on me. I really like Vanish. It's cheap, and it's pretty d**n abrasion resistant. The only problem I ever really had with it was that it had the memory of an elephant so I would never recommend using it as a main line. Other than that, I think it's the perfect source of leader material. And yes, I throw it in rocks, timber, grass, razor blades, knife edges, and running chain saws....no problems. . As far as the alberto knot itself, I have had tons of lures get stuck, and every time I pull and break them off, the line breaks at the lure knot, or somewhere where it has been nicked along the leader, than before the leader/main alberto knot.

Yeah, I've heard the same thing regarding Lake Crabtree. I wouldn't eat anything out of there if I were you. High mercury levels is what I have heard. Usually, the durham/raleigh/chapel hill area has some nice ponds and lakes you can go to where they allow you to catch and keep fish. Have fun!

I got mine from ebay as well. I actually broke them and had Costa repair them. As you would expect, the sunglasses were 100% Authentic and Costa had nothing to say about repairing them. Just make sure you get all the paperwork that comes with it and fill out any warranty cards with the serial number, etc. I have also bought all my reels and plenty of rods off Ebay. I have nothing put positive experiences and have saved A LOT of money. Think about it, these people are really nothing different from your local Basspro or Gander Mountain. They go through the same process to get the original product from Abu Garcia, St. Croix, Shimano, w/e. The only difference is that they do not have overhead fees, they don't have any employees they must hire, they don't have to markup for product loss (theft), you don't have to pay sales taxes 99% of the time, etc. etc. etc. The list goes on and on. Mostly, it is people doing it as a hobby or working out of their homes to supplement their income. You should give it a try. You get nothing but quality products for outrageous prices.

There are only two types of fish in this lake: Big ones (sadly the 4 and 5lbers and the 6lber were in my old, now dead cellphone) or 10,000,000xxxxx tiny little crappie And here is a picture of one of the members of the giant schools of shad we see all throughout summer:

Ok, so what used to be a great neighborhood-bass-fishing lake has officially become the dead sea. I think it all started in 2003 when the lake was completely drained in order to build a bigger and better dam. Prior to 2003, I have heard reports and seen pictures of 7,8 pound fish being caught every year. Post 2003, post drainage, the biggest fish my friend and I have pulled out of there in two years has been a 6lb bass. We have also caught some 4 and 5lbers occasionally but the number of big fish we have pulled out of here is actually rather depressing considering the amount of fishing hours we have put in this lake. Smaller fish, in the 1-3lb range are almost unheard of. Most of the bass we catch are either accidental fish in the 10 inch range that we catch while panfishing, or bigger bass in the 4-5lb range. The lake is mostly shallow and devoid of any major cover. What is available for cover is usually dead submerged timber and large rock flats. The lake is 728 acres, and is located in Greensboro, NC. It gets light to moderate fishing pressure and I believe I am probably one of around a dozen people who has ever fished it out of some kind of watercraft. I have asked around and it appears that the lake was re-stocked after the dam was built. It was stocked with Bluegill, Crappie, Bass, Catfish and a few carp. It also has a TON of shad. From looking at pictures and asking around the giant schools of shad seem to be threadfin shad. I know that the lack of cover, especially in a soft form is one of the main reasons the bass fishing is not great in the lake. However, I believe that the number one threat to the bass are the crappie that are stocked in the lake. After realizing how bad the bass fishing in the lake was, we opted to go for UL fishing just so we could catch something. To our surprise at the time, we caught several crappie in back to back casts. After fishing the lake with UL for a good while however, we soon learned that the crappie in the lake are EXTREMELY numerous. I don't want to make an estimate but I would not be surprised if there were over 40,000 individual crappie in the lake. The worst part is that they are not even of good size. Most of them are in the 4-5 inch class. Out of all the time we have crappie fished in the lake, we have only caught 3 that were over 12 inches in length. I strongly believe that the crappie are competing with the young bass in the lake for the same types of food. I also believe that the crappie are eating an unhealthy amount of bass fry in the lake. I believe they are eating so many that very few bass, if any make it past a certain size before they are eating. I don't know how to describe our crappie situation but it is simply a NIGHTMARE. You cannot throw a little grub into the lake without it being picked off by a 5 inch crappie. I could probably go to the lake one afternoon and pile up a bucket full of 100 crappie in less than 4 hours. And this is winter time we are talking about. So, I know this has been kind of like a rant but I was hoping you guys could give me some advice. What can I do to improve the bass fishing in this lake? Should I start indiscriminantly taking crappie out of the lake? Should I look into putting old christmas trees and the like into the lake? Also, how much would it cost to contact someone to come in and assess the lake? Thanks guys, Carlos Saravia

AWESOMMEEEE VIDEO MAN!!! Watched all of it and had a blast. Keep 'em coming.

Thank you for the interpretations. To go back, look at the very top toolbar. There should be a small icon with a clock on it. Just click on it, pull it up and you should be able to move a slide bar to different times. I'm using google earth, not google maps.

LOL thanks for that...I'll get it up.

Hello all, I was recently messing around with Google maps and I was looking at my local neighborhood lake in the year 2002, when the lake was completely drained to build a dam. I have attached the picture to two weird structures that caught my attention. These two structures appear to be different in color. They also seem to have some sort of rock piles on top of them. I have confined to shore and I don't have a boat. I have been trying to reach these areas with a heavy Carolina Rig but I only did so briefly and I have not caught any fish there. They are about 40-50 yeards away from shore. My question is, what do you think these things are? Are they underwater humps? Thanks, Carlos

What I do is make lists. I make lists of the stuff that I want/need. I also make it a point to budget each item out---Where is the money going to come from to buy this thing? What am I not going to be able to buy if I buy this? The stuff I need gets bought before the stuff I just "want". It is good to also have a running total of how much $ it is going to take to buy the items in your wish list. This usually puts things into perspective. You'll look down at the red line and go "It's going to cost me $x,xxx dollars to get all this stuff?!?!" Eventually, you will see that you either stop putting as many things on the list...that's what happened to me anyway

Great story! I don't know anything about Northern species but what an aggressive fish that was. I've never had a fish hit a lure, get hooked and still hook it again that many times. So what happens if you were to hook it in before the "season" started? Would you be in trouble? I guess what I'm asking is, why do you have to wait until the season to try the spot again? Thanks! Carlos

haha this is a great picture. So funny!!!

haha thanks, we are both getting ready to graduate from UNC as you can probably tell by the shirts we were wearing Go heels!

I don't have a boat or a fish finder so for me, it is a 1 right now. I will say this, once I get my first FF and I start to use it, I think it is going to be extremely hard for me to go anywhere below a 6 or a 7. I am increasingly reliant on technology (internet access at all times, GPS on the car, etc) and I can easily see myself becoming a 10. I think that knowing what is actually down there and not having to go by littoral references would improve my fishing success 10fold!

I don't think many people agree with this but I would just like to add that when a fish is coming up, I slowly release pressure so as not to have him jump out of the water. This usually results in a fish briefly making a bulge/wake over the surface of the water before diving back down. The key here is to ALWAYS have your tip pointed up and V-E-R-Y S-L-O-W-L-Y release pressure. If you let your line go completely slack, the fish has a MUCH higher chance to get off, because the hook is no longer being pressured in a way that holds onto anything. In my opinion, bass don't necessarily want to jump out of the water. They are swimmers and that is what they are good at. Often times, jumping out into the air is their last choice, and last resort. From my experience, if they can stay in the water, they will do it. Try that next time. It might just save your big fish. Also a lot of times, especially with people who use braid, there is a tendency to have line and equipment that easily outmatches a fish's fighting ability. Just think about the breaking strength of 12lb test line. When you really think about it, that's actually a lot! Especially when fish weigh much less in water than they do outside of it. They are naturally buoyant. In my opinion, having line that outmatches the fish can introduce a lot of problems relating to physics, specifically leverage, when it comes time to land a fish. Having such heavy line and equipment usually means that often we just don't fish the way we are supposed to. We brig in fish that are "not ripe for the picking" a fish that is just too "green". This means the fish is not really all that tired and still has a lot of energy in him. He has been carried all the way to us without his will and has not had the ability to wear off his energy. In this situation, the closer you bring in a fish, especially a big fish, the LESS line that fish will be on. Less line actually gives that fish a LOT MORE leverage. Think about it, would you be more successful shaking off a hook stuck in your skin from 10yards away (line stretch etc), or a hook that is only 2 yards away? Most of the time bringing in green fish is ok because realistically we can swing them into the boat or just drag them onto shore. Don't think for a second you are going to wrangle an 8-10lb fish onto shore or easily "flip" him into the boat lol! So, try your hardest to keep fish from jumping on you be it by lowering your rod tip, or easing off on the pressure. Play the fish long enough so that they are a little worn, and don't flip out close to you where they have more leverage and the ability to throw out a hook. ---Carlos

You guys looked like you had a blast. I will someday make it out on one of these trips. Maybe after I finally get finished with school Can someone please explain to me the picture of the "sturgeon on the rocks" lol. Is that supposed to be something funny or was there really a sturgeon underwater, over the rocks that I just can't see? haha thanks...

So I finally got my girlfriend to agree to go bass fishing with me. She loves going fishing for bluegill and crappie on my Ultralight because she knows she will catch fish and she will catch fish often. I had her throw a wacky rigged senko the whole day. On her very first cast, she got a hit, set the hook and pulled in a 1lb fish. She brought it all the way to shore, I was able to get my hands on the line but as soon as I grabbed it, the bass flipped out, the hook went flying and so did her first catch. The fish was really green and had a lot of energy at that point. A couple of casts later, she pulled out this.... That's my girlfriend's first bass ever! (technically since we didn't really catch the first one)

Thanks a lot Dwight, I was hoping you would chime in! This looks quite fitting. I will definitely look into this!!! I will do some research and if I need any additional information or a local's touch I'll PM you!!!!

Jesus Christ... . Does your regular license cover whaling or is that extra?

Smallmouth guys, I need you to help me pick a location. I will be graduating and receiving my first under-graduate degree in 2 weeks. I plan on going right back to school for one more year to get a second degree. In the meantime, I plan to work part time for the summer and school year. I plan on going to law school after that. So as a treat and "destreser" to myself, I have decided to take a week off right after I graduate to go on a fishing/camping trip. This will not be my official "graduation present" though. For that, I will be getting money from parents, relatives, friends and work to purchase a fishing kayak. So, I want to save as much money as possible and I want to spend as little money as I can on this trip. In a way, I think this will somehow make it more fun too. Regardless, the trip needs to be cheap! This means we will be camping and probably only for two nights. This means we will have to wade most of the time. This means we will not be flying but instead, driving. This means that we cannot drive TOO far as gas is through the roof. Because we are driving, we also want to limit the amount of hours we have to drive to our location. If it's not too expensive and money permits, we may be able to rent or borrow a canoe from one of our friends. My goal for this trip is to catch a TON of Smallmouth. But most importantly, I want to catch a TON of nice sized Smallmouth. I have caught 3 smallmouth my entire life and the biggest one was around a whooping 1/4th of a lb. This needs to change ASAP. As a secondary objective, it would also be really nice to be in the middle of some Northern Pike waters. This is definitely a species I've always wanted to catch. Just the thought of being in potential Musky waters would also make my heart skip a couple beats... So I've got most of the 5 W's figured out for the trip: Who?: Me and my best friend. What?: A cheap and productive wading (possibly a little canoeing if its not a lot of $) fishing trip for Smallmouth. When?: 3rd week of May. Why?: Destresser and to land a nice smallmouth. Where?:_____! I am located in Greensboro, NC and I would prefer not to drive any farther than 10 hours away. This means I can probably go to the middle of Tennessee, some of Kentucky, All of West Virginia, all of Virginia, Most of Ohio, Most of Pennsylvania. So, I think I have some really good possibilities. Tennessee I know, has the Tennessee River and by the look of Roadwarrior's pictures, theres definitely some monsters in there. The Tennessee River itself though, looks huge and it looks like I would need a boat. Possibly some of its tributaries or smaller portions offer camping and wading opportunities? West Virginia has the New River Gorge and the New River. It is also very close. It looks like a really good possibility though I know that parts of this River have extremely fast current and are dangerous to wade. To be honest I don't know much about Kentucky's Smallmouth fishing. I have not heard much though I'm sure it has its spots. I will have to do some more research into Kentucky. Virginia I think has some pretty good Smallmouth fishing in the Potomac. I'm guessing it's gotta have some good places farther up north. To be honest, I have been to DC like 8 or 10 times so I am probably looking to go elsewhere. Ohio seems like a really good possibility. I know it has the Ohio River and it also borders Eerie. I think Eerie is so big though, that a boat almost looks like a necessity. Plus, I think I'm looking more for a river setting so I will have to look into the Ohio River. Pennsylvania seems like it would be a great experience. I know that they have the Susquehanna River. From my very early research, the Susquehanna has all the major species I listed. It also looks to have a lot of state forests and national forests along major stretches of the river. Anyways, this is a huge post and I apologize for it. I hope you guys chime in on some of the states and possibilities I have listed. Hopefully, once I narrow it down to a State, I can start looking more specifically at planning all the specific details. Thanks guys and I look forward to your help and comments!

well shes been eating good! Nice fish!!!

Hey all, I am going to be picking up my new puppy from the Atlanta area in a couple of weeks. I would not mind going up there Friday, spending a whole day fishing/camping and then picking the dog up on Saturday. I am mostly after Smallmouth bass. I do not have a boat so it would have to be a river or mountain streams/creeks. I have caught 3, possibly 4 smallmouth my entire life. The largest one was probably 1/2lb at the very most. So, I really don't need the world's best smallmouth fishery. Just something that can put me above the 1lb dry spell. Any ideas where I might be able to go? Thanks a lot guys, Carlos Saravia

hookset by far. It is the reason I love fishing Jigs so much. You reaaaalllyyy get to let them have it with those big, exposed jig hooks!