WookieeJedi

How did you fare up by Indian Point? A guy on the lake told me about a couple of good areas there, but I had already paddled far enough for one day, and I was catching fish where I sat. Next trip up, I might get my wife to drop me off near there, and then paddle back.

Don't dismiss those areas which appear to have no cover off the main lake. Some of those places have good bottom structure and plentiful food for bass. My home lake has tons of acres of standing timber, but my best spot for bigger fish is right off the main lake. It doesn't look like a good place to fish, but it has a nice incline, and a shell bed. There aren't even any sunken brush piles out there. The bass there feed on bluegill and white and yellow bass.

Trout are good eats. I clean them by first gutting them,, then I slit under the gills and pull off the head and skin all at once. With practice, it takes less than a minute each. You need to leave either the skeleton or skin intact when you clean them for cooking.

I finally went ahead and got the buff. It is really light and thin. I thought it would irritate my face, since I have a beard, but it doesn't. I got the Simms gloves at the same time. Those things are great. No more sunburned hands.

Most of my reels are of an older vintage, and anything over 5:1 was considered high-speed. Personally, I don't like the 7:1 ratio for deep cranks. Other than that, I can't tell much difference unless I'm burning a RatLTrap.

I don't think boats are that expensive. NEW boats are expensive, but used boats seem to be very reasonable. I checked out my local internet ad site and found more than a few nice rigs for under $8K. Most of those boats won't depreciate much more over a 4 year period, meaning you could get most of your money back on a resale later on. A new boat takes a 30% hit just by being purchased. A new boat seems like a poor investment, even worse than a car.

This got me to thinking, I have seen plenty of tournament guys fishing spinnerbaits and crankbaits while running their trolling motor simultaneously. Since the boat contributes to the movement of the lure, would this also be considered trolling? Seems like the only difference is the amount of line off the reel.

I'm gonna use up what Speeds I have first, than use up the Rages. That way, the Rages get a good long soak before going in the drink. After that, I'm going back to Speeds in their juice bath. My test was in no way scientific, and without enhancements, I have no idea which is better. For my purposes, the Speed Craw is going to be my craw of choice.

I'm happy someone started this thread, I'm going to check out Hook and Look, and Lunkerville. My wife may not be too happy with y'all though...

Yes, I found out much after the fact that the fish was the state record. I caught that fish in 1984, and didn't know until very recently that it was a record. I did the same thing with the state record spot, as did my brother. It must happen a lot, we can't be the only ones. If you go to Claiborne for crappie, try the standing timber just in front of the dam. There are deep holes down there with sunken brush. Pretty easy to find with a fish-finder. They kill them in fall and winter.

If it is one big splash at a time, my first guess would be carp or gar. If they you get 5 or 6 splashes in a row, or see a big wake moving fast, then it is probably stripers. The Coosa used to have stipers stocked in it, but I'm not sure about now.

Lake Claiborne. I got one 4.5 out of there when I was in high school. It was my first one, and my dad was going bananas. There are a couple of brushpiles in deep water that I vertical jig a ratltrap for bass in the summer, and I usually pull out a couple of big crappie every year doing that. A lot of folks fish the lake just for crappie, there are some big ones in there.

One thing got me to stop watching fishing shows: the Color-C-Lector. About the same time, the helicopter lure showed up. That was it. I haven't watched many shows since. Some of my favorite shows were Jerry McGinnis, and Bill Dance. I still remember Bill Dance hammering big smallmouth on Pickwick. That was a great show. Jerry McGinnis' show was more about just enjoying the sport, with a little technique thrown in.

The actual weight only matters if you are in a contest, or if it is a PB for you. Otherwise just make a guess. I got my PB smallmouth recently, and didn't have a scale with me. I may have guessed him a little light, just to be safe. But if I guessed light, it makes the mark easier to beat. Nice bass, BTW!

I am still a svelte 240, and have been for some time, sir.

That's a good one! I'm glad you didn't let a little thing like that stop your fishing. My college roommate used to come out with me when the stripers would run in the summer, and sometimes he would bring his GF, she would fish, but always wore a bikini. (It was the 80's, the sun was good for you then) One day we are fishing parked side by side, catching them on grubs and chewing the fat. His GF got a hook into a good one, and it made a run under the boat. She had to jump up from the seat to get her rod over the side. I guess the seat had pinched the string, because the bottom came right off, and stayed attached to the seat. Like a good redneck girl, she was unfazed, untied the other side to get loose and fought the 18 pound fish to the boat. It took her about five minutes to land him, and ran her all around the boat.

I got a good laugh out of that. I was thinking, "I have rods and reels older than 18!" Then I realized, I really do have stuff that old. Not just fishing stuff either, stuff like shoes and jeans. It wasn't funny anymore...

I don't use high-end rods, mainly because fishing from the yak greatly increases the chance of snapping a tip. My rods vary from $10 to $70, anything more than that isn't worth the risk. If ever I go back to a bass boat, I may decide to buy a little more expensive stuff. Here's the thing about the G. Loomis brand and their ilk, the top of the market drives improvement in the rest of the market. This is true of just about any industry. So rather than despising someone's rod of choice because it is really expensive, keep in mind their choice made more affordable rods better quality. So, to the guys who spent $400 on a rod, I say thanks, and keep up the good work.

I use both the Suffix and Power Pro for braid. For mono, I use Cajun Red. The rest is Flouroclear for everything else. I used straight FC for about a minute, but the knot strength just isn't what I want it to be, so I went with the flouroclear. Pretty soon, FC line will be improved to the point where I go back to it, just not now.

My little guy got a nice one like that last year, he was 4 and we were camped at Alatoona Lake in GA. I took him out for an evening paddle, and gave him a rod to hold just to keep him occupied. Next thing I know, it's "Daddy, Daddy!!" He fought him like a champ, though.

I always thought of this as trolling, but if you stop the boat before beginning your retrieve, I suppose that is another, albeit harder, way of doing it. I started doing this a long time ago to catch stripers on my home lake. Sometimes I use a jerkbait or a shad rap behind a rubber core or pegged weight. It works with grubs and bucktails too. Cast it out, let it sink to the bottom, and paddle off with the reel in free-spool. Once it is out about 65 yards, I engage the spool and start paddling again. I even have a saved trail in my GPS for it. It isn't exciting, but it is good exercise. A line-sider can really give you a tussle if you spot him a lot of line.

It is a contest for Crestliner boats. It looks like a good way to have some fun and maybe win something too. I think I got the link from Facebook. http://trumped.crestliner.com/ I started to post it in tournament section, but since it isn't a traditional tournament, I stuck it in general.

I think he means Wood Lures, that makes the Dipsy Doodle. They went out of business a few years back, and then another outfit bought the name. I don't know if they are still making lures or not.

I just got my ruler yesterday. I don't think I have a shot in the bass category, someone is bound to land a 12-pounder. I do think I have a shot at crappie. I don't fish for them, but usually get several bass fishing during the summer. Those are usually good-sized fish, in the 2-3 pound class, and I got one over 4 out of my lake. I figured it was worth a shot at a new boat to sign up.

I don't know about that, tournament fishing seems to be less like Warren Buffet losing a few mil, and more like 30 crackheads fighting over an 8 ball. That prize money means more to them than it would to a silver-spooner like Buffet. When I was younger, I did some prizefighting, and I can tell you, money changes things. Win or lose can be the difference between making a little money, or not having gas money to get home. I don't think tour anglers are much different, especially ones that are just coming up.