bassnleo

Good in clear to lightly stained water. I like to work them erratically across the surface.......

Just renewed My FLW membership for 3 years. BASS one is up soon and I'm not sure if I'll renew or not. Club is no longer affiliated with BASS, most info in the magazine can be read online for free so I'm kinda leaning toward not renewing.

do you have to have a baitcaster to flip/pitch? No, it is possible to flip/pitch with spinning, but, casting reels are more suited to handle heavier lines which are commonly used for this technique. Flipping is pretty easy to learn, pitching is a little more difficult, but once you learn to do it with casting I think you will see that casting gear (over spinning) makes the technique a little smoother and easier.

For the bedded fish try a swimbait like Matt's Lures in a bluegill. Let it fall into the bed, it will sit nose down like a gill trying to rob the nest of eggs. A topwater trick for bedded fish that has worked for me, take an original Rapala floating stickbait, shave a little of the sides of the bill off so it won't dive, weight the tail so it floats a little tail down. Stay back from the bedding area and make casts to that area, make short jerks with the bait so it spits then let it sit, repeat, I have caught quite a few fish that way.

I hold the rod in my right hand all the time, all my reels are left handed, no switching from hand to hand.

Craig, IMHO you seem to have experience and knowledge relating to the topic you originally commented on. I don't think anyone is questioning that. It was probably more the way you delivered it rather than the message itself. It is educational to read dissenting opinions, it gives us more to think about and options to consider, but to call an author an "idiot" or the contents of the article or story "crap" tends to make one think of arrogance rather than merely dissenting. Many of us also take this sport very seriously and appreciate the fact that you may want to steer someone in the proper direction or clear up myths or misdirection, it just shouldn't be done by trashing another's article, story, or opinion. Thanks and look forward to reading more from you.

Welcome! We have 2 things in common, fishing and hockey. At your age I too loved hockey but these days it's fishing first, I hung up the skates after my last game in college. I still play roller some but it gets in the way of fishing . You have picked 2 great sports that will keep you out of trouble. Good luck with both and hope you learn something here!

Agreed, I don't know what I would do w/o my flipping switch. I too actually like it more for pitching, reason being that I have had many, many times where I got a bite nearly immediately and not having to turn the reel handle saved me a split second where I could immediately set the hook as opposed to having to engage the reel first.

I fill my spool 1/2 way with 14lb mono then the rest with braid or floro, whatever I'm using for flipping/pitcing.

WOW :o What did it weigh?

Nice brownies!

Yep, gave it to me. There's actually more to the story. When he was discussing giving his rods away at the end of his seminar, I had been discussing with him the many youth events that our bass club does. In that conversation, he suggested maybe doing a raffle for the reel on the rod (it was an accurist pt) and use the proceeds for youth activities. Gary offered that if I agreed to sell or raffle the reel and use the proceeds as mentioned, he would like to see me keep and try the rod. Who am I to argue with that logic? ;D I did as he suggested and sold the reel and put the proceeds into our youth monies. $40 off is a pretty good deal, I hope you like the rod when you get it. I'd highly recommend the flippin stick.

RW, the Ika is maybe one of the only baits I have never experimented with. I have always found that tubes will do the job, but, I'm always open to new baits. Can you, or have you, posted a thread on how you fish an Ika? Will be anxiously waiting .

Since the Chatterbait seemed to be the lure of 2006, I got to wondering what lure will fly off the shelves in 2007. Any predictions?

Dam.........Nice fish too ;D Pun intended!!!

Back in Feb 2006 I had an opportunity to speak to Gary Klein in person while I was working a Bassmaster University event in Pgh PA. He brought 2 rods with him, the rod you speak of and the flippin stick. I handled the 7 footer. The rod has a glass like feel. Gary told em that he uses that rod for all his crankin and spinnerbaits. Based on how the rod felt to me, I would think it would perform very well with 1/2 oz and up spinnerbaits plus it seemed to have plenty of backbone for hooksets. I now have the flippin stick, he gave it to me when he was preparing to leave, he was flying direct to Florida for the Classic and didn't want to have any luggage. If the spinnerbait rod is 1/2 as good as the flippin stick, you'll love it.

Another term associated with breaklines is "edges". I viewed a great program a few months ago. For the life of me I can't remember what show it was but the subject still sticks with me and makes a ton of sense. Most animals, prey, etc.. use the edges of brush, fields, fencelines to hide or to ambush it's food. IMO bass seem to be similar if not exactly like that. They seem to congragate toward these edges to feed, hide, or simply rest. When fishing breaklines or edges don't forget that the bass will use different areas of the breaklines depending on thier feeding status or mood. They may be on the break or flat leading to it, they may be on the downside or bottom of the break if inactive. They also could be suspended above the break. In fishing breaks or edges, examine the day, seasonal movements, feeding habits, then fish whatever area of the break dictates you to do so. Example, heavy weed cover on a depth change of 4 foot on top dropping to maybe 10 or 12 feet. If it's bright and sunny, look in the thickest part of the weeds. If no luck, try the outer edges closest to deep water. No luck there, try where the drop bottoms out. On a cloudy or windy day the bass may be above on in the tops of the weeds ambushing bait. Just my .02

Bingo

I'm considering a new TM, new 3 bank charger, new GPS, then I think how much all that costs and how much tackle I could buy with the $$$$. I'm sure I'll have the same stuff on my boat come April ;D

Awesome fish! If you need any help eating them, drop me a line

Excellent!

You can take a girl out of the trailer but will never take the trailer out of the girl..........

Went out on a local river for a New Years day duck hunt. We motored into our little honey hole and it was already chocked full of ducks and geese. In the darkness we bumped them out, set our deeks up, then waited for daylight. Whelp, by 9AM nothing was flying and the weather was just way to pleasant for our duck hunting liking. We decided it was time for breakfast, unloaded our guns and walked to the boat just upstream of us. We get to the boat and I hear honking from down the river and they are coming our way. We scramble around and get our guns re-loaded just in time for the flock of 6 geese to come right over us. After the flury, we downed 3 of them. Least my dog got to retreive something. Why do they always wait till you are ready to leave ;D ;D

Frost bite, in Florida? Sorry avid, just had to...... Hope you are well!

Happy New Year, LOL! Great story