Nitrofreak

Looking forward to seeing them and you over at Anna sometime !!! Lots of luck and God bless !!

I agree with Logan. What you may want to consider is if you will ever fish river systems or maybe places like Briery, that place is full of tooth picks, an aluminum boat would fair much better against the dangers of a place like that, a glass boat, not so much, while both boats have their advantages and both are very good rides, there are many other things to consider too, draft, weight, (can your current vehicle tow either) fuel costs, yearly costs in taxes and maintainence as well as insurance. Not sure if you have had the boaters safety course yet but it is needed, make sure above all else that you are ready for any maritime emergency, and never, NEVER, forget to put the plug in Proper docking and launching procedures should be practiced, if you have never backed a trailer before I would also suggest going to an empty parking lot and practicing putting it in between the lines from various angles, that really helps, make sure you are always calm, and always think ahead, think of others before you approach another craft, you may be in the right but there are a lot, A L O T of dumba$$es out there !! Best of luck and let us know which one you choose !!!! PS: With pics please, we like pictures ?

I have used braid with just about everything you can think of. Top water works really well but IMO, braid is best suited for working heavy cover with punch rigs, or areas that are really abrasive, it has a lot of applications it can be used for.

And to think I have been doing it wrong all these years...

Why do I fish? Im married, with children...

I wouldn't worry so much as to what is deemed as an accomplishment inside of fishing, spending time with family is the most important thing one can do, doing it outdoors and enjoying the time spent with one another is the greatest accomplishment there is man !! That bass was just an added bonus ? Way to go Dad !!

Sorry, I was eating a snickers... I saw that and it gave me a chuckle LOL !! As for the bass, I always practice C.P.R. With the exception of tournament fishing, there are some that I wish I would have measured along with weighing and had some replicas made, as for keeping any, if for some reason the bass expires in my livewell I will keep those.

I tend to put everything I have into a spot that I know has fish, simply put, there just ain't a boat big enough to have at least one of everything. Once I am satisfied that I know I did my best trying to figure them out, I'll move on and revisit on a later date that offers different conditions of weather and or water or both. A few hours though is max, I'm still learning a lot of different things too and the last thing I want to do is lose confidence in a bait, a technique or in a place.

HELLZ YEAH !!!

I never put mine away my friend, they have a use even in the heat of summer, I caught this one off of a primary point scattered with stumps on a bright sunny day with lots of wind on an LC Pointer 100, great info Papa!!

Who would want to run the risk of contaminating a seemingly well taken care of body of water with an accidental fuel spill????? That just makes no sense, I would much rather just bag my lower unit.

Wish they were all that clear! ?

I may not have come across clear enough, that was the point I was trying to make when I said I continue to break down my thirds into additional thirds, bit by bit. I'll get the hang of this eventually UGH !! LOL !!

I enjoy both perspectives of how to break down a lake, Like WRB, I too look at my lake in 3rds, upper, mid, lower, I also break down each of those sections into thirds if they are relatively large areas. Each section gives the appearance of not being so overwhelming IMO, I find it much easier to focus on a small section while looking at a map, my first focus is the same as Catt, most all of our lakes are man made so I look for the old river channel first and creek beds from smaller feeder creeks. I found that what helped the most was taking an area and blocking it and then go out and explore that section, I tried to make sure that I would block an area big enough to learn a lot but also an area small enough that would allow me to explore the bottom content with lures for a total saturation of the area being explored. Once the old river channels become wider and deeper, it gets a little more intimidating, key features take a little more time to find and explore, once you start finding fish explore the entire structural area, fish it in a circle, fish that use key areas frequently already know the direction from which bait will travel and often prefer to stage on an area that offers the greatest advantage, when you do find fish also note the surrounding structure, just as fish use the old river beds for transportation from place to place they will also use entry points or access points to get up on a piece of structure as well giving you the knowledge of how the fish move on and off that particular area which in turn gives you a greater advantage to find and catch more fish.

LOL !!!!!

I e-mailed that question off a few days ago for clearity, in speaking with some of our officers I seem to get differing answers, it may be due to the different locations as to just how they require different tactics, such as why some require a plastic bag covering the lower unit or even removal of your prop in some instances, far too many variances IMO. I have used my bass boat on many electric only bodies of water, some were very difficult to launch into or pull out of but none have ever ticketed me for having it out there, they do like to go over everything so just make sure your prepared, make sure you have your throw device out in plain site too, some seem to think that having it readily accessible means that you pretty much have to have it in your hand. Welcome to the wonderful world of boat ownership, always error on the side of caution, give others a second thought because usually they never think about you and have not a clue about boating safety nor do they remember any of the proper rules of the water ways we frequent. Anna is a great place to learn how to do a lot of things with your craft, familiarize yourself with lake maps and hazards and take your time. We all started where you are at now, if you have any questions feel free to ask! Good luck and be safe !!!

Best of luck and be safe, I am in hopes of getting over there this Saturday and do some fishing myself, looking forward to seeing your day!!!

After spending the last 2 1/2 years with just me and my sonar along with a great topo map of my lake, lots of questions through this site, I am just now starting to get a feel for what type of structure holds fish in this body of water and when, hundreds of hours spent just looking around and hundreds more spent understanding the hydrology and other aspects of my home lake along with how they translate to the fishing, a 9,600 acre impoundment for a nuke plant, small in comparison to many others but, at the same time I'm finding things that translates to other lakes across my region as well, I used to dismiss the notion that moon phases and such had a significant impact, while I have not been totally convinced that it does just yet for my style of fishing, I know for sure that it is due to not having a complete understanding of it, I have learned that things like this must not be ignored, every single aspect of fishing must be taken in for consideration in some form or degree and at some point in time during this curve, some will play a more important roll, some will not. It is frustrating to say the least during this learning curve, we must however take the time to look past what we can physically see on the shores and in the shallows if we want to be more successful, we must be more astute at understanding fish growth and behavior for both the species that we choose to target as well as the predominate bait and or baits that they choose. All of this takes time, lots of time, in just 2 fishing trips this season I have only caught 19 fish total and one turtle but, that's 19 fish better than what I had in previous years during the start of each season so the work does pay dividends, there is still a long way to go and lots more to learn, however, one thing I wish I would have done and one thing I would ask you to consider is to join a good bass club, there are lots and lots of things that can be learned from others experiences in your area, knowledge that can be gained from others who have spent a lifetime doing what you want to do which can also in turn shorten up that learning curve a fair bit for ya!

AWESOME JOB !!! I almost made it to Egypt Bend today, think I may try for Lake Frederick tomorrow but congrats on a great outing !!!!

Post spawn here usually translates to deep fronted docks and secondary points, this year so far I have learned that you have to be prepared for change, the amount of fronts that we have experienced has really seemed to scatter the fish as well as make them quite spooky, hopefully I can get out there soon and work on being a lot more finesse.

The game plan right now is to learn as much as I possible can from my home lake, I think when I start tournament fishing next year that all of this will change but for now it's just me and sometimes the family, I don't have any pre-determined spots, I'll just go around areas I haven't visited and scan and mark waypoints of interest and then do a little fishing if I find some good spots.

Glad you got your rod and reel back !!!

Good luck and be safe my friend !!

I still have some of Siebert's jigs from a few years ago, great jigs man !!

Since I am getting older my body seems to do the talking for me, depends on how hard I set the hook as to which part of my body does the talking...