Kenneth Lee Owen

Man thats some cool stuff. What type of paint do you use and where do you get the supplies, like hardware, hooks, and such. If you don't mind me asking. I'm really interested in making some more baits myself but I'm not sure what type of stuff I need. Or would be best.

Yeah, I'm pretty interested in maybe making more stuff like this in different colors. I'm not sure where I would get more stuff to mount hooks and stuff yet. I took the hook mounts off of the devil horse that was broke. its just a tiny little bracket thing that is screwed into the bottom. I'm thinking about finding some plastic and making another one with a bill on it to make a shallow diving crank of some kind. Considering how much good topwater baits cost it may be a lot cheaper to make this stuff myself if I can paint good finishes and make them strong enough to withstand the bigger fish. If you make something at some point I'd be interested in seeing how you constructed it, maybe bounce some ideas off each other haha.

Ah ok, well I'll keep an eye out for one with that width at least. And J-Bruno, not looking to go broke man haha

Ok thanks guys. I'll check those out when I have a chance.

Ok, I'll check that out. But could you balance that back out by putting weight under the deck. I know that would make the boat sit lower in the water but it should help balance the center of gravity.

Does anyone know of a website or something were I can watch bass tournaments? I'm very interested in watching some, but I don't think they play on any of the channels I have and I can't seem to find any on the internet except a few pieces here and there on youtube. Do they ever play them on espn or channels like that. If so is there somewhere I can find the schedule of when they will be playing?

I carved a topwater bait out of a piece of oak I found lying on the ground. It started out as me trying to combat boredom and just started carving away. I found an old devil horse that was broken and took the parts off of it and attached it to my creation. I didn't even paint and cast it out a few times just to see what the action was like. Caught a little two pounder off of it. Been thinking about painting it and trying it out again. Anyone done anything like this before?

I've been wanting my own boat for a while now. I currently use my uncle's old bass boat but its got so many problems that I am constantly having to repair things, even while I'm on the water. I have had several chances to get my hands on jon boats but I primarily stand while fishing and the boats have such a tiny front section to stand in. I've seen a lot of pictures on the internet of people who have converted jon boats into bass boats, complete with decks, storage compartments, live wells, foot powered trolling motors, etc. Has anyone on here done that, and if so how hard is the process? Does the boat become a little more stable with decks installed? I would really like to do this if it would benefit me, if not I may just keep using the boat I have been. But I would really like to have something that I could be proud of and claim it as my own.

I'd leave it alone, some people just don't understand or care how nature works, or why laws and regulations are put into effects in lakes. We have a small little lake across the street from my house that I learned to fish in. Years ago it was awesome, full of perch and bass. I started fishing it again when I got into bass fishing seriously this past year and its completely dead. The fish don't just don't bite anymore. I found out its because the newer people around the lake as well as others who had access to lake, kept anything and everything they caught. Now I can't get a single fish to hit anything. Annoys me, but what can you do? Some people just don't care.

Did it come out of the package like that, or happen when in use?

I agree. You need to be using a different browser. Using IE is like riding a bicycle on the interstate.

Important distinction. Do you mean Lake Ross Barnett or the Ross R Barnett Reservoir? Those are two totally different lakes. If you are talking about the reservoir I too would like a heads up on some spots to try out. I usually launch in Pelahatchie Bay. I've tried asking around at bait shops and even people I meet on the water but no one wants to help out. I guess they think I'm going to catch every single fish in their little "magic spot". Wouldn't matter if I did seeing as I don't keep my catch. I just enjoy the hunt and want to progress my skills but thats hard to do when I can't find the fish and I'm in 33,000 acres of water with no help. The rez is pretty much my only option anymore for fishing locally and its getting more and more discouraging when you spend all day on the water and don't catch anything but a tan.

I was fishing a spinner alongside a submerged bush or small tree top. I was being very careful to give myself some distance with how close I ran it since I snagged it several time on previous trips. Even with carefully making sure I was close but not in it I still managed to get snagged. Drove the boat over to un-snag it and found a 2-3lb. bass on the hook. I'm assuming he darted out, grabbed it and darted back in. I was fishing that same lake with a couple of buddies of mine. Neither had bass fished before so I was trying to teach them the things they needed to do. We rounded a point and I knew there was a submerged stump about 20 feet from us (because on a previous trip I ran into it with the boat haha, also had pulled a nice fish away from it on another trip after finding out it was there). I was talking to them about submerged cover and isolated cover being good spots to cast to (this stump was pretty well away from anything else). I cast my spinner out past it, so my retrieve would bring it right passed it. Literally just as I finished telling them that fish like things like that, I hooked into a 4lb largemouth. Needless to say, it gave me some credibility in there eyes and a sense of accomplishment and pride in mine.

Thanks again everyone to the many tips. You have been most helpful and I will get right on adding these tips to my practice. Alpha Jig I will post another video like you asked after I've had some practice. Again everyone, thanks very much.

Thanks Brian for those tips. I'll definitely put those into practice. On a side note, I've noticed that a lot of the people in videos are using medium heavy, 7ft or longer poles for this type of technique, especially when dealing with heavy cover. I didn't know much about rods and reels when I purchased the two I have now, which are abu garcia black max rod and reel combos. The rods are only 6'6" mediums which sounds to me that they lack the backbone to really get good hook sets when dealing with the heavy cover and they definitely can't hold the line strengths that I need. It also seems that people are saying the longer poles make pitching easier. I happened to be in walmart earlier (i know, not the best place to get specialty gear but I'm broke) and I found a fairly inexpensive rod (Berkley Lighting Rod) which was a 7' medium heavy for only $40. Question is, would this be a decent rod to start off with for this type of fishing? I would be more than likely placing one of the black max reels on it for now until I could afford a third reel.

Thanks everyone for the helpful hints. I had already seen a few of those videos, but that last one had a lot of info. I'm thinking from what he said it might be a really good idea since I'm still learning, to switch hands so I can be set up for a fast hook set. Got me thinking it might be beneficial to learn to cast with the other hand too so that I can start my retrieve faster. Good points and I thank everyone for their comments. I'll keep practicing.

I've been working on learning two new techniques. Pitching and skipping. While the skipping is something I would like to know, the pitching is becoming more and more important, especially with the condition of the lakes around me (heavy heavy vegetation everywhere). I recording myself practicing in my yard but I seem to be having the same problems. I'm not getting more than about ten feet of distance and the bait doesn't stay to low to the ground, so it isn't exactly quiet when it hits the water. If you can spot a flaw with my technique if you could point it out to me that would be much appreciated, or just letting me know I'm on the right track would be good as well. http://vimeo.com/50080217

Is there anyone on here in the central Mississippi area that actively participates in tournaments. I'm looking for someone I can maybe spend a little time fishing with to learn from. I've been fishing on and off my whole life, but I've just recently been bitten by the bass fishing bug. I have an uncle who's been fishing his whole life but he mainly fishes for the smaller fish like crappies. I've been trying to teach myself bass fishing. I've spent a lot of time researching things on the internet and I've spent a lot of time out on the water practicing and trying to put some of the knowledge to the test. I'm looking to take my fishing to the next level and maybe partake in some tournaments. If anyone could help me out that would be most appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Does anyone know how the tequila sunrise colored plastics do? I picked up a pack of 6" lizards because they caught my eye. I know that bass strike a lot of natural colored baits and these tend to resemble the color of salamanders in my area. I haven't had any strikes yet but I've only used them a few times and only a few casts. Anyone had any luck with this particular color?

Its like casting side arm but instead of swinging from the side you swing from underneath in a little circular motion causing the bait to stay lower to the water and allow a quieter landing. That pitching video was helpful though so thanks for that. Thats probably one of the best explained ones.

I have a couple of Abu Garcia Black Max's that I absolutely love. I've been using baitcasters for about 2 months now so I'm still really new to it. It didn't take long to learn to cast. I've gotten down how to do an overhead cast perfectly and getting pretty good at left and right side arm throws. The problem I'm having is that I see a lot of people making underhanded throws to keep the bait flying at a low trajectory to limit the amount of noise, or to skip it into cover. I've browsed youtube for hours as well as looked at videos on here and I can't seem to find any information on how to make these low flying casts. I can find pitching and flipping all day long, but i'm looking for the underhanded, and under side arm casts. Does anyone have a link or know where I can find out how to do these?

Alright thanks guys. Just wasn't sure how to handle it but both of your suggestions seem like good ideas. I think I'll give them a shot.

I had an idea that may seem a little obsessive but I just wanted to see what you guys thought. I'm still new and I haven't been bass fishing long enough to know all the tricks and tips to finding the fish. I thought about keeping a notebook in my tackle box. In this notebook I would make a quick sketch of the lake, labeling obstacles, points, etc. and keeping track of what I caught, where I caught it, and what I caught it with. Along with that making quick notes about other variables, such as water temp, weather conditions, and water conditions would probably be kept too. I'm thinking after a while of doing this, I will start to see how things work better. Any thoughts on this?

Thank you for the welcome everyone!

Thank you for the welcome. I agree that its catchy, could be a pretty awesome slogan. lol