ARCHER

I like the Flipping bite that takes place at Bugg's Island when the water is high in the spring. The bass move up to the submerged bushes and you can flip them up with various plastics, but I prefer the jig. Right now the water is just barely high, so I'm not sure we'll see this pattern like in years past. Archer

I have found that christmas trees have a lot of sap in them and thus will resist sinking. They need lots of weight to hold them down. Dry hardwood branches will yield better results, once they are soaked.

It seems that everything might be on the up and up with this fish, after all. It appears that these guys knew what problems, the inconsistencies would cause for them. I hope they get another shot at the record, and everything about the next fish is legitimate. I can imagine several ways these guys can still profit monetarily from this experience. Hell, everybody wants to hear a story like this one, even if they don't fish. I can see endorsements coming in from everywhere. The timing is perfect, lots of folks are just now thinking about fishing. Archer

I use the BPS internal tube weights. The lightest I can use and still get it down. I have tried Flippin the big tubes, with meager success. I guess I'll downsize. Lots of people use white jigs. Does anybody throw white tubes? Archer

After watching Basstech yesterday, I'd like to change my choice. I'll take CHIGGER............

Thanks again everyone, I have just started fishing crigs recently (last 2 years), and my performance has been dreadful, to say the least. This information has helped me alot. Many of you state that maintaining the bow in the line is critical. I presume you will actually see most of your strikes this way. Thats one thing I'm doing wrong, I guess. I've been tring to stay a little tight so as to feel the strikes. I've been running about a 14lb mono leader, Maybe I'll lighten up a bit, for sensitivity sake. I generally fish lizards with this rig, but I struggle with making the right bait changes for the conditions at hand, when lizards don't produce. This year I'll try some smaller baits, and go more subtle, senko, creature baits etc. Are tubes effective on a crig?

Wind Cold Water Cold, Muddy water, on a windy day........................

Don't forget that Jerry Mckinnis also said there wasn't anything scientific about the study that they did on that show. He stated that it was just interesting (like Basspro48 said). That show only involved 3 fish, hardly even a study, and you can't really identify any trends from it. I'd like to see more of these experiments (tracking bass), to see if trends can be proven. I was amazed by the movement of that big bass. Pretty cool stuff, no doubt!

Sorry, SUSPENDING JERKBAIT.............. SHORTARM THUMPER SPINNERBAITS............

SUSPENDING JERKBAITS......................

For the most part, all the pros are pretty good guys. We are fortunate that our sport doesn't yet have a lot of $h--birds, like Terrell Owens and Ron Artest. I would like to say that George Cochran will soon join the likes of Owens and Artest, if he continues to fish out of other competitors back pockets, like he did to Jim Bitter a while back. That was a disgraceful act for a past champion. I would have loved to see Bitter verbally undress him for that one, while on film. I'm sure Bass/Espn will only air the footage that benefits their business interests. There have, I'm sure, been other dispicable things done in tournaments, that we may never know about. I'll take G-man, Skeet, Mark Davis, Larry Nixon.

I put one of my old traps on the drill press at work the other day and cut the side off it. The one I drilled (1/4 oz., I think) didn't have any internal partitions. There are 2 large BBs in the nose section, that are kept in the nose by the linetie mount, and the bottom hook mount. The other smaller BBs just float around to the rear. I took out the small BBs and it sounded better to me with just the two knockers in the front. Basspro, It looks like if you inject too much super glue, that you could also glue the two front BBs together. Has this ever happened to you. Archer

Quote: Senkos are excellent baits but I do think that guys rely entirely to much on them. I'll go as far as saying that they may be responsible for retarding the learning curve of an entire generation of bass anglers. We should all be careful not to get locked into one particular bait. We still have to let the fish tell us what they want. If its a Senko, then I'm cool with that.

Jimmy Houston's fishing show is the worst I've seen.

Each spring, my favorite impoundment gets a massive influx of cold muddy water. I always have trouble during this period. I"ll normally fish rattling jigs, or spinnerbaits, or rattletraps when this happens, but I struggle alot. What would you suggest for these conditions? Archer

Great stuff.... Thanks to all of you. Archer

I used to attend bassarama every year, making the 1 hour drive from Williamsburg, but it just became a place for vendors to unload last years baits. I thought a trade show was a place to showcase "THE NEW", thats why I went each year (plus I'm usually bored to death in January). The seminars do a lot to educate fishermen, so they're the real draw. Also, if you are looking at bassboats, you can still see the latest models there. I think the booths are very expensive for the vendors and the competition is stiff among them, I guess its hard to make money under those circumstances. I quit going to bassarama years ago, I think they need to do something to revitalize the event. Archer

Thanks BP, I now have access to a full machine shop and was thinking about performing some alterations to crankbaits that I've fished for the last twenty five years. I'd also like to get into painting them. I'm fishing highly pressured waters here, and thought it would be good to have some baits that are different in action and color. I'll try the superglue trick. I feel they need to be quieted down anyway. I'm glad to join the forum. There's plenty of knowledge here, and I hope I can add to it. Thanks, Archer

Have any of you modified or altered rattletraps or other vibrating baits? I need a good recipe for this. How much weight to add, how many BB's?