Ratherbfishing

Had the timing belt (and the water pump) on my old high mileage Civic changed to avoid your experience. I still have 1 car payment and that's bad enough. ...and the bait monkey will NOT be ignored.

My money is on Carp.

WHAT did you do? Steal some gypsies parking space? My worst day doesn't even compare.

It's you. Just kidding. How many times have you been out in those 3 weeks? Once? 15 times? 21 times? WHEN did you go out? Was it immediately after a cold front (of which we in Illinois have had several)? I have a rule which I generally adhere to: Don't go out if the conditions are going to make me look bad. I have fished often enough that casting for castings sake is not all that much fun. You are new to this site (3 posts) but how new are you to fishing? There are SO many variable that can determine success-some of which are within our control and some are completely out of our control. So much so that I wouldn't know where to begin without grilling you with loads of questions-which I'm too lazy to do.

We all know about those times when we have to make major changes in our game plan and/or presentations before we can get bit but what about those times when a seemingly minor change (tweaking) is what makes all the difference? I can think of at least three recent times where a minor adjustment made all the difference. The first was when we learned that the bass were following our jigs all the way up to the boat but would only bite if we stopped and jiggled our jigs below us for a few moments (or longer) If we would have just lifted the baits out of the water after every retrieve, we would have missed a LOT of bass that day. The second time, in a flooded section of cattails, we caught several bass when we first approached the cattails but very few when we got in AMONG the cattails-even though there were relatively large pockets of open water for the fish to move around and the depth hadn't changed that much. After scratching our heads, we deduced that the bass were all on or near the outside edge. BINGO! Moving back out and in a wide circle, we caught fish the rest of the day-as long as we stay along the outside. The most recent time is when we got into another stand of flooded cattails (where we'd caught fish the week prior) but were having such poor luck we didn't know what to do. We were pretty sure the fish were there but a cold front had locked them up tight. So I switched to a light action spinning rod and cast out a diminutive little worm/swimbait (called a Havoc Beat Shad-for those who care to know) and fished it very slow. Again, it was what the fish wanted and I managed to catch around 12 good fish. In each instance, it did not require a major change in location or presentation. Minor adjustments were all that was necessary to be successful and it has saved the day for me more than once!

I'm going to be labeled the old grouch for saying this but if your goal is to become a millionaire, you're going into the wrong business-even IF you could manage to accrue that much $. And placing that in the title suggests to me that your priorities are, if not wrong, at least misguided. We ALL have to pay the bills somehow and it's fine (even necessary) to have goals (which can include compensation) but in my opinion, money should be one of the outcomes and not the singular objective. Otherwise, you might as well go into banking or real estate. But you are young and every young person thinks they are going to be rich by the time they are 25 (30 at the very latest). There is an awful lot of work that goes into professional fishing and an awful lot of "paying your dues." The long drives and the long hot and/or cold days on the lake. The boat and trailer, and truck aren't going to clean, vacuum, and repair themselves. And the days when your fees and expenses are waaay more than your earnings. It has to be a labor of love (and patience) because anything else will burn you out in a hurry. I am not trying to discourage you from going for it. Just get that "millionaire" word out of your vocabulary and replace it with "look, listen, learn, patience, and determination."

Maybe it is the same guy who killed Mikey. He took his Life away. He was a cereal killer.

It's all in the semantics, I think but "just winging it" and having too rigid a game plan are more alike than they are different and are what most beginners do. HOWEVER, if the game plan is based on knowledge of the species, time of year, conditions, structure, cover, etc. than yes, I like to believe I have some kind of a game plan. It isn't always right, of course, and sometimes I stay with my game plan too long (or not long enough). I don't think there is anything wrong with fishing from memory so long as you don't stay with it long after it's evident that SOMETHING has changed.

As Choporoz says, unless you have already formed a strong loyalty to a specific brand and feel it can do everything you ask or require of it, it seems strange to me to try to "force" such a thing. Unless of course, you are OCD and then all bets are off.

To borrow a line from John Candy (in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles), I'd have a better chance of playing pickup sticks with my butt cheeks than catching a ten pounder. Even a five pounder is quite the rare "bird." Fortunately, that has never been a goal of mine.

Welcome comrade. Officer or enlisted? Was in the Air Force myself (for 4 years) though never based in Washington. That's a great goal to have. I might have to try that-though it'll likely be based on actual trips out (rather than days) because I can't get out every day (nor would likely want to).

"There we go" or "Got one". Sometimes it's "Praise the Lord!"

If someone gets their panties in a twist because I won't tell them where I caught something, my first step would be to "unfriend" them or otherwise tell them where to place their heads.

If you had said "I'm hoping of moving (to Illinois), I KNOW you would need help (of a psychiatric nature). Can't help you with North Carolina.

I seldom fish "jigs" at all. For my money (and less of it), a texas rigged crawdad (with or without skirt in front of it) is considerably more weedless, and catches as many or more fish.

I remind myself to NEVER snigger because I'm sure that sooner or later I'll do something as bad OR WORSE. (For the record: I DELIBERATELY left the drain plug out so as to give the bottom of the boat a good rinsing.)

It is exactly a green sunfish. As Turtle135 said, they can be very aggressive and I (and a friend) have caught them on a whole myriad of baits (but usually soft plastics). I've sent more than one into near earth orbit (astronaut training) thinking they were bass.

I am an identical twin and my brother is luke-warm at best about fishing. And my dad only rarely took us kids fishing (to a pay lake for trout). So I'd say it's neither nature or nurture. I think it was something to do to get out and something which was unique to just me (if I had been a Borg, I'd have been named "8 of 8." I always imagined myself to be a future mountain man but since there weren't any mountains around, this was the next best thing. But I'm sure the research would bear out that if your biological or adoptive parents or family like to fish, you are more likely to fish as well.

Sorry to hear about your friend. He didn't work in the physics lab, did he? Maybe you could put "Gone Fission"

Ah, so I guess my bubble has been partially burst. But at least I'll know what NOT to expect. But I will take your advice and decrease the range to 20 feet, change to one side view, and double the chart speed over the GPS speed.

To each his own but there are so many disadvantages with spincasting gear I don't even know where to begin. Are you going to risk some good fish and detract from perhaps your last opportunity to fish with your grandpa over a few dollars spent? At the risk of having the Zebco gestapo come after me, almost ANY spinning outfit will beat a Zebco 33.

Is it possible that when you pick out the backlash, you haven't gotten it all out? A sudden, jarring stop will definitely snap your line.

A favorite bait of mine is the Yum Mighty Bug HOWEVER it is so soft that the bait either tears easily or wants to slide down the hook. For those tinkerers out there, is there anything I can dip the nose of the bait in (a hardener) to make it a little less soft?

This seems somehow counter to "fairness" but if you are packing (legal concealed carry), it is probably wise to never say or do anything that would provoke or exacerbate a confrontation. Not just for their sake but for your own. The LAST time I had any confrontation was a few years back with some boaters/water skiiers who were using a deep cove very near me to do their powerboating (when they had the whole main lake to do so). I gave them the hand gesture to let them know they were number 1 (if you get my meaning). But apart from that, I rarely have confrontations with people. Where do you live that this is such a common issue? Remind me not to move there.

They may not be the smartest fish but are they really morons?