Ratherbfishing

Sounds to me like you might be reeling too fast. Or perhaps the line is too heavy.

As others have said, it's an excellent color in stained water and/or cloudy/stormy days. Not so much in clear water though.

Nice boat, man! I hope it provides many years of happy memories. Don't know if it's so true anymore but I've found backing off on the throttle (from WOT) a bit will get you almost as much speed with considerably less gas used.

Not to say it makes no difference but I cannot afford to base my decision to go out on the barometric pressure. Wish I had that luxury. But I'd still probably go out, regardless.

Two staples in Canada are the 5 1/4 inch jointed Rapala and the bigger rat-l-traps. Trolling red and white daredevils also work well.

At this rate I could go for a day warm enough to practice cast in my back yard.

If it truly is a record breaker, I'd keep it (and enjoy the accolades). Although it has beaten the odds (and there's something to be said for that), there is nothing sacred about a giant bass. On the other hand, I'm a strong advocate of releasing most big fish (to keep the gene pool high).

Alabama Rig-About as ungainly as they come. Carolina Rig - May work for others but I've yet to catch a bass thataway. And believe me, I've tried! Any crankbait over ten dollars

Can't be a power-fisherman if that's not what the fish demand. Well, you can but you won't catch much. In clear water and/or heavily pressured fish, braid can spook the fish. If you must, use a mono or flourocarbon leader. A s l o w l y fished dropshot with light mono or flouro line may work well for you.

Now that lesbians can get married and adopt children (in some states anyway), if they later get divorced there's going to be a heck of a dilemna in the courts over which one to screw over. Bitter? Moi?

Heavy high horsepower boats will get you from point A to point B faster and and are generally a more stable platform for fishing in the wind. But no amount of money or equipment will, in and of itself, catch fish for you. Besides, as already mentioned, lighter, shallower draft boats have certain advantages, too.

Suffer? It's not like his boat was sinking. It's called competitive fishing for a reason. I don't fish tournaments but I have my own reasons. You don't EVER throw a game or give a competitor an edge. You don't cheat and you don't lie and you should always be genuinely friendly and courteous but that's where it ends-family or otherwise. There is always time for charity later. Oh, and I wouldn't expect anything different from anyone else.

Most current plano boxes do not. Earlier ones-I cannot speak.

I think it depends on the size of the pike you plan to pursue. If "snakes" "slimers" and "hammerhandles" are sufficient, any rod/reel combo (apart from ultralight) should be okay. If you expect to chase bigger pike (and muskie), you definitely want to upgrade to stoughter gear to handle both the bigger fish and the bigger baits.

Funny!!! I actually have a TPS Report cover sheet hanging in my office.

Yes, absolutely! Last summer in Canada that is just about all they would bite. They wanted chrome with red hooks. Almost nothing else would do.

I can be both brand loyal and brand shy. I now own two BPS brand reels because the first one was/is so good. I stay away from (all) Pinnacle reels because one (a spinning reel) I bought years ago committed the most atrocious line twist. I gave it away just to get it out of my sight.

I am probably influenced in more ways than I realize (and would care to admit). The ONE way I will not buy a bait is if it appears on an infomercial. My mom gave me some pink Flying Lures once and I keep them mostly out of respect for her.

She isn't my wife but she may as well be. My "significant other" will fish with me until it gets too hot and then she naps under the shade of a deck umbrella I fashioned for her for such occassions. The last time she went out with me and a buddy, we were running two trolling motors at high speed to get to a new location. She was, apparently, trailing a plastic worm behind the boat. Had I known this, I would've told her she wouldn't catch any bass that way and would be better off trolling a spoon or crankbait. But a bass jumped on the worm and I couldn't very well tell her that anymore. She has even gone ice fishing with me and had a ball when I agreed to be the "horse" and pull her behind on the sled. She will patiently walk around for hours while I meander around BPS or Gander Mtn. When she gets tired, she finds a place to sit and "chills" for awhile. I've never once heard her say "I'm bored. Can we go home now?" She's not perfect but she's a keeper.

It was probably a smallmouth on the Kankakee river using a brown or olive wolly bugger.

It's a somewhat silly goal but I want to catch at least one bass with every lure (or lure type) in my arsenal. Some lures have been "freeloaders" for years and I want to make them earn their keep.

Lol!!! $240 wouldn't even cover the hotel room. If you want to be happy the rest of your life, marry yourself an ugly wife.

Will have to get back to you on that

Sorry it's been awhile getting back to this. My point is not to be be argumentative but can you QUANTIFY the "amazing differences" between an O/U and a decent pump or semi-auto? More reliable? Better fit? Better materials? What? I have always loved the looks of a fine o/u or side/by/side. The beautifully checkered, well oiled stocks, masterfully engraved receivers, etc. send me the closest thing to lust I've ever experienced for an inanimate object. But it's difficut to understand sinking that much money into something unless money simply isn't an issue.

Since the bait is some distance from the drop shot weight, I would think that visibility wouldn't be an issue. I can't imagine how feel would play much into it either (although I'm sure others would disagree). If you don't like or can't use lead and tungsten is prohibitively expensive, use steel.