Zach Dunham

I drew Matt Lee at the Bassmaster Northern Open on Champlain last summer. He was the best boater I was ever paired with. Super nice guy, even tried to help me out when he could by letting me throw my drop shot up toward the front sometimes when he saw something on the sonar.

This one might top a lot of these stories: One time fishing around some docks, we saw a bunch of old boats driving away from the dock very slowly, and a guy was standing on the dock with a megaphone. We asked him what was up as we were going around the dock and he told us that they were having a competition to see who could go the SLOWEST without stalling out with a pre-1968 outboard motor. At that moment, I thought I had now seen everything in the world there was to see.....

This was the year of the chatterbait for me. I probably caught 3 times as many fish on that over any other lure.

Fishing seems to be the toughest overall on a certain "parallel" going across the US. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio (if you take the lakes in the state and exclude the Lake Erie shore), Indiana, Illinois (again excluding Lake Michigan), Iowa, Nebraska, Dakotas, etc. If you go further north into New York and the general New England area, you get massive numbers of smallmouth and even bigger largemouth than in the areas I mentioned. Same goes for the Great Lakes. If you go further south you get much better largemouth fishing. This is all just my opinion based on observation and I do not have statistics to go with it.

Yeah because bass really have a chance to fight when I'm flipping with a 7'6" - 8' rod and 65 lb braid.

You know.....flipping was once banned when it was first utilized because the pros didn't want to have to learn something totally new. I smell sour grapes. The A-Rig was a major factor in exactly TWO Bassmaster Opens this year (out of 9). So much for dominating the tour! Everyone who said it was going to take it over is flat out wrong and we have the stats to prove it. It is just another tool in the shed. Whoever mentioned the PAA tournament, that just shows how closed-minded most bass fishermen are. Look at BASSFest this year on Chickamauga...8 of the top 10 guys were using a crankbait. Oh wait, how about the Open on St. Claire/Erie? We should ban the drop shot too because pretty much everyone that had a chance was using it. If our logic for banning something is that too many guys used it, then we should just quit fishing. ....and this is all coming from a guy who SUCKS at using the A-rig. I have never caught a fish on it and it isn't my thing. Sometimes we need to realize that most humans are resistant to change, and someone at the top needs to make a smarter decision and not just listen to the masses.

Nice bass man! Congrats!

It has been super windy in the Northeast. It makes for awesome power fishing, though! Just gotta fish with your foot on the trolling motor almost constantly. The water was around 62 last week when I was slamming them on the chatterbait. The water in the lake I was at has decent visibility so the wind helps keep the fish shallower during the brighter part of the day. It also pushes bait to specific areas. You can really kill it on a windy day most of the time.

Good story man. I saw how long it was and I didn't really feel like reading it, but I did anyways. I'm glad I did! Awesome bass.

I never use swivels. They affect the action of a lot of baits. It sucked for a long time but now I have gotten so fast and retying that it doesn't even matter. It is worth it to get fast!

Thanks a lot guys! I appreciate it.

Pit Boss for the win! Nice catch!

First time out on my '97 17' Sea Nymph. Everything seems to work great! Livewells work, electronics work. Batteries and trolling motor are essentially brand new. And most importantly, it floats! Doesn't hurt that we caught a bunch of solid bass all day. No giants, though. Check out the video!

I got mine at Shopright but have seen in other grocery stores. Sometimes the labels don't look much different from regular water. I got a gallon of Poland Spring distilled and it still had the same Poland Spring label color and all.

Went out two weekends ago to Lake Wallenpaupack in wonderful weather: rain, then clouds, then wind and sun. It was a tough day. Caught one good one early, then mostly pickerel and small bass all day. Toward the end we had a really nice run of largemouth on one spot and caught about 5 good ones. I made a pretty entertaining video of the day! Seriously, thank you to everyone who checks out my videos. I really appreciate it. It is a fun hobby for me.

Very nice! My favorite way to fish!

Live Target!! I love all of their craw paint schemes.

They should have a few tents! Not as many tents as the Elite tournaments have, though.

Spinnerbait for me or a chatterbait.

Hey all! Just bought a 1997 Sea Nymph 175. 10 hp outboard, 70 lb thrust Minn Kota that is only 3 years old. Motor starts up quick and the pumps and livewells all work. Should be awesome for all the lakes with a horsepower limit and electric only lakes! I am pretty excited to use this. 70 lb thrust electric on that should fly!

I agree with Raul to a point here. I think way too much emphasis is put on color. To me, choosing color is the last priority in a list of other things that help you catch more. First of which is location, obviously. Doesn't matter what you're throwing if they aren't there. What type of bait you are using matters a heck of a lot more than color. If its spring time and the bass want a jerkbait, certain jerkbait colors may work better than other colors, but pretty much any color jerkbait will out-fish a bait that isn't the right action or isn't what they want. Once I have the right spot and the right bait, then I move on to refining color and retrieve timing and whatnot. There are some situations where this may not apply in that order, but for the most part I think it does.

I have both D&M and Z-Man chatterbaits. Both are awesome. This time of year, I agree with the posters above about reeling as slow as you can with the blade still moving. I use Optimum Double Diamond 3.75" or 4" swimbaits as trailers. Other times I will use Netbait Chunks or even the Z-Man trailers if they want a little less body mass. I use 1/2 oz to 5/8 oz ones this time of year. In the late spring I will use 3/8 oz ones and keep them up high and fast in really shallow grass and that works as well.

Won ANOTHER tournament this weekend. This time a night tournament at Lake Wallenpaupack. 5 fish limit for 15.51 lbs! This year has been a big step up for us.

I have at LEAST one individual box for each specific type of lure and I have multiple shoulder bags full of soft plastics. It never ends. The more you learn the more you need that you didn't know you needed! BAIT MONKEY!

Well I guess to each his own! I've never washed my hands while fishing and I always eat out there. Never had a problem. I mean, I'm not gonna sit there and lick a fish up and down but I just don't think it is that big of a deal.