Christian M

I dont know if you're making baits but the new Dr. Spinner baits come with those style blades, just got mine in the mail yesterday cant wait to go test em out

I agree with the rod length to body proportion theory. I'm 5'9" and the longest rod I own is a 7'6" MH flippin stick, which is uncomfortable at times, especially in close quarter flipping & pitching situations. It's difficult for me to get enough leverage when I'm setting the hook on a fish close to my boat. I find myself mostly using it for big swimbaits, frogs, deep jigging, and punching. I've only recently begun to buy rod & reel setups that are "technique specific",and I use that phrase loosely because each angler has their own personal preferences. You dont need a rod to say JIG,SPINNERBAIT, WORM, etc. to know what you want. I mainly find it more efficient to put one rod down and pick up another rather than re-tying, especially something that takes up precious time during a tournament, like a drop shot or carolina rig. I also find it much more convenient to keep specific line types and tests on specific combos. That way I can take full advantage of my tackle. With that said I can, and do go out fun fishing a lot with just 2 rods, a 7'1" casting rig and a 6'10" spinning rig.

Creme Worms!!

When I fish a lake that I've never been on before I usually take time to circle along the bank looking for anything that looks like it may hold fish, both with my eyes and with my electronics. I'll look with my eyes for docks, bridges, points, coves, islands, laydowns, stumps & timber coming out of the water, tree limbs growing out over the water, lily pads, reeds, rock piles, and anything else that looks like it might hold fish. Areas where different types of cover meet (especially underwater vegitation) are some of the best bass holding areas. If you can find areas with one or more of these characteristics that also has shallow water with access to deeper water close by, you will usually find the fish.

Welcome! I'm fellow Jersey Angler

Im currently a member of Riverside Bass Club. I'm not sure if its the same club you were in years ago but we are accepting new members.

I use a 7'1" St Croix Rage casting rod w/a Quantum HPT reel spooled w/10-12lb green power pro tied to an 8"-15" 12lb flouro leader. I use a swivel to join the two but you can also use a uni to uni knot. I prefer the swivel, lazer & tsunami make some really small very strong swivels. I use this combo for 4"-7" wieghtless Senkos & Ochos, 4-5" get 3/0 Trokar EWG's, over 5" gets 4/0-5/0 Magworm Trokars. I feel that using casting gear gives me more sensitivity & more control over the bait.

I'm by far no expert on this topic either. In fact I'm still learning a great deal myself, but I agree with Nitrofreak about being open minded. I've read several articles that stress the fact that bass are opportunistic predators. So, in some cases its benificial to stand out from the "hatch" whether it be in color, shape, or size. However it's still imporant to find out what species of forage are in the waters you're in so that you have a general idea of what to throw out there. I've found that simply talking to lake residents, bait shop owners, park rangers, and especially local fisherman you get some great advice. Good luck & tight lines!!

I bought a 7'Med and paired it up to a smoke reel about a month ago and its by far the lightest combo I own. I use it mainly for spinnerbaits and lipless cranks. Ive landed a couple nice sized bass on it and no issues so far.

The best advice I can give is make sure you pack you gear as if you know you're going to flip the kayak. That means wearing a lifevest at ALL times, putting floats on anything you dont want to lose (a cheap way to do this is by using empty water bottles, they make great floats), and packing and extra set of clothes. Good luck and enjoy!

On the contrary, I had a friend with a spider bite on my boat one time that was turning into a cellulitis. He didn't say anything about it, but when I saw it I took the boat off the water and drove him straight to the ER, I would never put fishing over a friends health.

So I finally got a chance to have a face to face talk with my buddy about the matter at hand. I called him up yesterday and he invited me out on his boat. I asked him honestly what happened the morning of the tournament and he told me it was a combination of not feeling great from drinking and not really wanting to get up. I cursed at him a couple times and told him if he does it to me again we can't fish tournaments together anymore. I left it at that and we were back to having a good time catching fish. I could tell he sincerely felt bad because he checked the club site to see where I had placed and thats when he realized I didn't compete. Then he told me when he saw the weight of the winning bags on the club site, he knew we could have taken home some money. Bass Ninja thanks for understanding. Everyone else, I realize my first post was heated and over the top, but I was pretty upset. Not only because I missed a tournament, but because I felt like my friend left me high and dry when I was counting on him. I try to live by the golden rule and it back-fires on me a lot of the time. In saying that I realize blasting off on a public forum wasn't the proper way to handle it, but hey I'm only human.

We were allowed to fish alone, but as a solo angler, you are only allowed to weigh in a 3 fish limit, with two anglers you're allowed 5 fish. So if I would have fished alone I would have just wasted my money. Also you needed to have your registration form in prior to the event, so our names were already down as partners.

Ironically today, right after I signed off, I was pulling off my street when I saw him passing by my house pulling his boat. He gave me a look like he saw a ghost, 5 minutes later I got a text saying "Sorry I bailed out on you the morning of the tournament, I was sick from drinking the night before and I didnt realize that by me bailing out you wouldn't be able to fish the tournament either." I don't see how I'm to blame for him not showing up, I was 100% prepared, awake, and ready to go. As far as having "backups" I had two other friends who would have fished the event with me, but I expressed to him that I knew he's a higher caliber angler and I would rather have him as my partner. I will take this as a learning experience, not sure how it was my mistake though.

Now that im getting bashed, my entire point was that if you make a committment to something or someone, you show up. Its like the guy that calls out 15 mins before work knowing that his co-workers are depending on him to get the job done.

Who said I bothered him constantly for weeks leading up to the tournament? I told him about it a month before, thats it. The whole point is, if you commit to something you show up, you dont bail out 30 mins before its time to go.

He used to do it to me all the time, and its not a phone call just to say "tie ur knots" its a final rundown to be prepared for the morning.

Before I got my head bitten off I should have given you guys some background info. As far as him "realizing he bit off more than he could chew", this is the guy that taught ME how to fish. He has his own boat which I was helping him fix up along with mine in the weeks prior to the tourney. He has been fishing tournaments for a few years more than me so he was the one who got me in the habit of respooling my reels & retying all my knots the night before a big day of fishing by calling me between 10-11pm. I've known him since we were kids, I know when he's lying. The day before the tourney we were supposed to practice fish, he didnt make it but he CALLED early to tell me that there was no one home to watch the puppy so he couldnt make it. I was fine with that, I went and practiced for the both of us. When I got his text the morning of the tourney I said "I guess that means were not gonna make it, call me when you're feeling better." Also he lives with his girlfriend so if he was that sick she would have taken him to the ER. Its now 4 days later and I havent heard a word from him. I did have 2 back ups and I told him the day before, if he felt like he wasn't going to make it let me know so I don't miss the tourney, but its kinda hard to call a backup at 4am. If he was really sick don't you guys think he would have contacted me in the past 4 days? He has been flaking more and more recently, but I figured a tournament would be different. Not to mention I'm looking at his facebook and he was commenting w/friends on the new truck he had just bought the day before at about 1:45am, you guys still think he was really sick?

This past weekend my bass club was holding an open buddy tournament on a lake that I have experience on, so needless to say I was excited. I told my "buddy" about the tournament about a month in advance. The weekend of the tournament came & I had been busy fixing up my boat & trailer for weeks. I spoke to my partner the whole day before about what our game plan was as far as fishing, what time to meet up, how much money to bring for entry fees & gas. I gave him one last call at 11:30pm to tell him to make sure he re-spooled his reels & re-tied all his knots. Come 4am the day of the tournament I get a text saying "I ate something bad & have been up sick all night". Needless to say I missed the tournament & I didn't buy his story about "eating something bad". More importantly I'm seriously considering cutting this guy off. If you make a commitment to something and someone you be a man and honor that commitment, you don't punk out with a text message a half an hour before.

I just bought a new bow mount trolling motor for my boat, its a 55lb MinnKota Powerdrive V2. I have a battery with a few seasons on it that powered my old motor all day no problem. My first outing with the new motor gave me about an hour of good performance before the battery indicator read re-charge. I have 4 batteries on the boat all together. One for the bow mount motor, one for the transom mount (55lb Minn Kota), one for the accessories ( fishfinders, radio, lights) and one for the live well. I really need a new battery for the bow mount motor, the rear motor is optional as it's just a kicker. The accessories can run on the batts that they're already on. My question is what do you guys suggest I do? Money is tight, so Im thinking I can replace both motor batteries with standard deep cycle marine batteries, or spring for a dry cell just for the front motor. Do you guys know of any websites or companies that make good batteries at decent prices?

I've been out a couple times, first bass of the season came off a black worm shaky head on a drop off, just a 2lb dink tho. Second time out I caught a nice rainbow trout off a gold trap, then 2 good sized pickeril trolling the gold trap. I haven't hit any of my good holes yet tho.

Great color, I like the 4" lucky strike twirl tails for drop shotting, one of those colors thats productive in most water colors.

I got off work Friday & rushed home to hook my boat up to the truck. I hightailed it over to the local reservoir where I heard there were some nice Smallies being caught all week. I got there, bought my season launch pass, dropped my boat in the water & headed to a cove across the lake when I felt the foot control pedal on my trolling motor lose tension. I used my transom mount motor to get back. I got it home & checked it out & the steel control cables had broken, the motor was shot. It was a 40lb Minn Kota All Terrain (old model). I got on craigslist & I found a Minn Kota Power Drive V2 55lb thrust w/the Power Driver foot pedal & quick release mounting bracket. I went to check it out and it didn't even look like it had been used, not a scratch! I got the guy down to $350 & took it home, what do u guys think...??

Here is a pic of a LMB with the same type of spots that I caught with a buddy on a small local lake. I spoke to a local bait & tackle shop owner & he told me pretty much the same thing, its a type of genetic trait, or defect as he put it, that pops up ocassionally in fish. In Florida strain LMB there is another genetic trait that pops up occasionally, they call them "Stubnose Bass", they have a stubby upper jaw with their lower jaw protruding. Both pretty interesting.

Man what a time we had yesterday. I got a call from my best fishing buddy yesterday, "Wanna go hit some stripers"?? I looked outside & noticed that the overcast that was looming overhead all day had turned into a fog and replied "Heck yea". We decided to take a gamble and go down to a hydro cooled power plant with a U shaped canal where the water goes in and comes out 10-15 degrees warmer. Its perfectly legal to fish the side of the bridge that faces the bay, but not the side facing the powerplant, and guess which side the ALL the BIG fish are on! So we crept under the bridge to the other side and started launching our topwater chuggers up & across the canal, we both landed fish on our second casts. After that it was fish on almost every other cast! My third Striper had to be at least 25lbs, his first was over 30. One fish slammed his popper so hard that it came off the 50lb leader like it was tied to a piece of thread. About 30-40 minutes and over 15 fish later the security gaurd came and asked us politely to leave. I think the fact that he was holding an M16 helped lol! My arms and legs feel like Jello, but either way it was worthit.