Nick.Culver

One of the biggest mistakes is people (Myself included) tend to get ansy when they aren't catching fish. Which makes them get out of fucus or speed up or not fish the area as productively as one should. I'm a naturally confident person. So it's hard to get me down and I believe it helps me out alot when tournament fishing. Because I believe every cast holds a 5lber. It like last weekend at a tournament. A lot of what a slump is all mental. If your focused your not in a slump the fish have lock jaw. Nothing you can do about that. It's like Rick Clunn says take out all of the little so you don't have to worry about the things you can control. One thing many people need to work on is CASTING ability. It is one that you can control from the presence of your own home. You don't need to be on a lake to do it. Yet every year I see guys struggling with this. If you can place that bait where it needs to be as much as possible then chances start going into your favor. Another way to get out of a slump is to stubborn. A lot of people believe cranks work best when fish are active or feeding. I use a crank if they aren't. I force feed them. Some days I'll only get 6 or 7 bites but I know on those days chances are they'll be big. The biggest thing I've personally learned is persistance and patience.

Narrow it down for everone Boo. Are you talking about shallow subsurface vegatation or floating weeds. Their is so man differnt ways to fish weeks. From shallow cranks to deep diving cranks. Heavy jigs to weightless stickworms.

For drop shoting I'm a little different. i always try to use the littest possible. If I know I'm on bottom then it's okay. I like to use a 3/16oz tungsten weight. It's smaller and it also telegraphs the bottom to you better. I usually give my bait a couple little pops and let it sit. I always start off with a really long leader and shorten it up until I find the right length if their is one for that day.

Heres the biggest thing i've personally encountered from being on boats with each brand. It's all down to the blade. I'd go with Motorguide if you were to fish alot more open water than weedy lakes. The motorguide seems to clog up or get choked up with weeds easier. If you like to pitch and flip in close go with a Minn Kota. Minn kota accelerates to the speed you want so on low speed doesn't stur the water up as much. I like both brands and see no difference between the two in durability these days.

how many new how-to tips does one guy need. Have yiou heard their are no more secret spots or secret baits in bass fishing. If you're a pro then you can fish prototypes and get a new bait before it comes out. But to a weekend angler or an angler wh does have big name sponsors you get what every one else can get. In order to better yourself you need to learn how change the action of those baits and fish them different. Give yourself an edge. magazines can teach you the basics but they can't make you better than the other guy. It's all about your own originality. That's why pulling out an old bait catches more fish than the new trendy bait. It's different than what they're used to seeing. instead of using a 3/8 or 1/2oz tandem willow leaf blade spinnerbait in chartruse and white use a 1/8oz spinnerbait with an oklahoma blade and that has the same skirt. It's all about throwing what everyone else probably isn't. Everyone see's those articles in Bassmaster magazine and they all go out and apply it.

No don't worry it wasn't you.

Okay theirs been atleat two or three other people who have said that they support originality and you say it to me. I in a way find that rather offensive. I haven't come out and attacked anyone or anything. I just said it was all my opinion and no one elses. Yes, I do believe in originality. Every little detail in a biat that is different counts as not being the same. But, the original creme worm is the original and it's true he copied. I never stuck up for GYCB and the high prices only that they work under curtain circumstances and conditions. That's what I wrote and I'll stick behind it. I pay alot of attention to the fall rate and who makes it. During the summer when it seems they like the bait falling more and to sit in their face I tend to sway towards the Tiki Stick and the Yum Dinger. I do use other peoples bait. Just like I use Sweet Beavers and since they can't keep up I've looked else where for the same bait. But when my favorite tackle shop has them in stock I'm sure as Hell am down their buying reaction innovations baits over the next because they spend all their time and money working on perfecting this bait. Plus I use them so much that i know exactly what color and what colors I like to use. Also I use about 8 different companies baits when it comes to finnesse words. As in other posts I've written I've said that I belong to no one unless they show absolute loyalty to me and then I'll show the same if not more. That also depends on the circumstances.

I use tiki sticks, Senkos, and Yum Dingers. I use Yamamoto because I like a few of their colors and the rate of fall for certain applications. Then i use the Yum Dinger at other times. I use certain colors in yum because I like them more. Then Tiki Sticks I use in certain situations. They are for when I feel i need a really slow fall. For me it's all about color and the rate of fall. I've had a senko tied up on one rod and Yum Dinger on another and caught them on the Yum Dinger the first day of the trip and the they hit the senko on the second day of the trip. Low_Budget_Hooker if your comparing baits that's good. I do it all the time. I know some people like saving money and so do I. I also know that I can save money using Yum but it could also take that little key element out of my bass fishing arsenal. Then I also like to give my money to the guy who originally came up with the idea and the bait. It just like the sweet beaver I know I could save by buying knock offs but to me that's all they are knock offs. Once again my own personl opinion not any one else's. Just one last statement I fish as many tourneys as I can so I pay attention to the subtle differences such as shades of colors and the sparkels and the rate of fall. I believe the rate of fall is the key among most baits. especially in the stickworm catagory. I believe it's all about the rate of fall and not the wiggle or action

I'll put myself at a 6. I need to learn and build up my finnese fishing skills in more than one finnese technique.

Biggest alrgemouth went at 7lbs caught on a 4" senko. Biggest smallie is 5.5lbs came on a pegged texas rig. Best fighting fish I'v ever caught.

If fishing structure such as a ledge, stump, dipd, and channels I would personally use a drop shot. With ledges you can use a jighead and a grub or drag a carolina rig. Learn to pitch drop shots around docks. It a big producer for me. I key in on docks that are 20ft to 25ft deep this time in the year for myself and for where I'm from. The fish are in a late post spawn to early summer staging point. You can fish a wacky rigged senko and fish it out to 15ft. It's a great way to catch smallies on weed flats from 10 to 15 feet of water. Then you can toss deep diving cranks and bounce them off of rock piles and big boulders or even over run it on a gravel flat. Spinnerbaits works good to. You can get smallies to come from 20 feet down to take it at the top. Don't be affraid to throw a topwater in 20ft of water for smallies either. Now just as a procaution I come from Washington and we have really clear water. So a majority of the techniques are for clear water fishing. We have any where from 10ft of visiblility to 25ft. So I'm used to clear water. If your fishing murky water I'd fish a crank and the spinnerbait.

Just throw a plastic about ten feet in front of it. Let it sit and they'll usually pick it up. Senkos and tubes work great for this. I'm not the best at this style of fishing but can still catch them. Also are they sticking to a curtain area. If they are then they're there to protect something or spawn.

Shade and confort is what the big females seek after spawning. Remember that they usually suspend after the spawn. Senkos and crankbiats will get them. Topwater extremely good to find what they are realating to. It get's them ticked off and get's a reaction strike.

Hey, Nick's just trying to give his best answer. Plus you can fish spinnerbiats down 20ft. Why do you think ledge buster spinnerbiats were built for. That's why they weight so much. Plus maybe 15ft is deep water to him. Especially if you're fishing for largemouth in a pond. And once again it all depends on what part of the coutry your from. Plus they're probably isn't to much weeds in the lake if the ice just cleared. Plants need sun light to grow.

Just remember this. The size speed and cost of the boat don't make you a better fisherman. In fact I bet their plenty of people out their who can fish just as well out of a tracker. Than half of us on this forum. I hate hearing people talk about how great their boat is. Yopu may like the boat and the company. So what? Who cares I don't. I also think it's wrong to judge a person by the boat they drive and what they say. I have a tracker and have caught plenty of fish out of it. I also have to deal with alot of people looking down on me because I'm 17yrs old. With sponsors backing me. You guys all have to realize their's people on here that can't afford a boat like you. I would love to have any of the baots listed in this list of posts. I'm trying to make a carreer out of this sport. I really don't like seeing this stuff. It's kind of like the thugs in school talking about who like low rider is better than whoms. Is just a ticking war and it's wrong. Sorry just had to get this off my chest. I'd really like to see stuff like this go away. P.S. People really need to quit taking offense to people's post. I never saw JT disciminating any other boat. Plus he never made Triton sounded better than any other boat. He just made a well written reply. Sorry if I affend or have singled any one out.

If I were you I'd fish a finesse worm with a shaky head as I've heard them called. They the same thing that Aaron Martens and all the guys on table rock were using. Put a small finesse worm on it and shake and see if that will intice a strike. If you get some wind go to a jerk bait. Wind stirs up the water and get the little bait fish up and feeding on the plankton that's getting stired up with the wind. So were their's bait fish there's bass. So basically no wind really slow. Wind speed it up a little like Roadwarrior said. You could even try a slow rolled spinerbait if you prefer. Just be ready to finnesse fish if you have and speed if if you have to.

Deep water all depends opon what part of the country your from. It can also be from lake to lake. For example where I'm from we have silver. Which reminds me of a Florida lake in depth. It's deepest part is about 12ft. So deep water is any where from 7ft and deeper. Then their's all our reseviors. Now shallow can be 10ft and above. Now think, that was deep at Silver but shallow on another lake. It's all relative to the body of water. Me I personally like to pitch and flip. So shallow ater is my thing. But heres a big key to me having success. Deeper shorline structure. I've noticed that big fish spawn in a little deeper water. They still want structure close to shore, but just a little deeper. Then I always try find shallow water structure close to deep water. i like this for tournaments. Because you can go deep off the drop off and then move back shallow and keep plunking a fish here and there. Also a I believe that spots close to deep water replenish themselves better.

Inland Empire has plenty of good talent to learn. They would be my choice in that area. Lots of good anglers have been coming out of that area in recent history. Just to name on Luke Clausen. 2004 FLW champion. I believe he was apart of that club about 4-5yrs back. I just know he fished a little with Bobby Forester. Who is a member of the club.

Nick, Look into storage space more than anything. Another thing to look at is rough water handling. One more thing. Don't to much power on the back to start. Driving at 60mph is a lot different than 40mph. Learned this first hand a couple weeks ago. Things happen in the blink of an eye. I believe I can move up in speed, but I'm not going to buy a boat that goes over 65mph yet. i just know I'm not personally ready. JT also makes a good point. Look for the starter tournamnet boat from the top of the line names. Such as Triton, Ranger, Skeeter, and Champion. The boat industry is the same as the car industry. The more money you spend. The more luxury you get.

Read my mind Larry! Think about it. How offen do you you hear other anglers give a scream or ay their going Ike on you? Quite offen! So that's extra publicity. He's in the picture even when he's not in the finals. It's great, if you ask me. A few kids at school actually know who he and Gerald Swindle are. They are changing the face of the sport. We need more of them. They have the charisma the sport needs.

I believe in perfection. I believe that you have to try and perfect certain techniques. I' don't believe that's possible but i'm sure going to try. I try to get really good at a technique on each spectrum. I feel I'm a really good jig fisherman. I also feel i'm good with cranks. Now I'm looking for niche in the finesse world. Now I wan't to perfect finesse fishing. In the dog days of summer theirs nothing better or when a cold front moves. Also look at docks or wood. I try to learn docks as well as I can because they're every where. Then I feel I'm good at picking apart vegatation. Then theirs wood or sticks. That my hardest to figure out. i can put together a good pattern on docks and vegatation, but sticks get to me. I don't know what's up with it but I just have trouble. I think it because the lake that I've picked apart and have applied to theories or big lakes that I fish. My little lake only has a little bit of wood. It full of vegatation and docks, but has no wood. i'm looking to fix this year. I guess my point is to learn techniques that will work under most conditions.My goal is to perfect three techniques. By perfecting I mean to learn them to the best of my abilities. Denny isn't just known for his Pitching and Flipping of a jig, but also for his knowledge of boat control and his ability to pick apart a dock. So don't just stick to lure to perfect but docks, wood, and vegation. Lures get you the fish if your around them and that's the only time. No matter how good you are at working a lure. You still have to put it in front of the fish. Versitility is the key. Look at the west is stacking up in the bass fishing world. Their doing good. Especially when the fishing gets tough. I really strive to go out under harsh conditions. Weather doesn't look at when yourr tournaments are. So getting good under tough conditions is key to me. That's my .02 cents. hope it will help all of you others as well. i've spent many nights pondering this very same question.

The bow and arrow trick is very effective. Rick Clunn and michael icanelli use it. I know that if you can get the bait to release by using this proven method that you can sometimes get bit. The only real thing that I can see differ between 10lb and 8lb is the depth your crank will run. You'll probably lose about 6" on your depth. Also learn how your crank feels and how it bumps off of objects. That will enable you to feel the differnce between a snag and a fish. plus when cranking you don't really have to set the hook.

Why wouldn't you toss a carolina rig until the water is in the mid 60's? I went out saturday and the water was 44 degrees. I guess I'm just wondering why you'd wait for the water to be so warm.

I'd fish deep structure. I would start with a carolina rig, then I would also throw a football headed jig with a yamamoto skirted grub. I probably would't throw a suspending jerk bait because the water is stained. I've found that suspending jerk baits work good in cold clear water a lot better than stained. The bass can't see it very well in stained water. During the cold water season bass usaully feed on cradads so i key in on a crawdad pattern. So I'd throw baits that ressemble them. Thursday sounds like it could be the hardest day. With the post front conditions and all. If the water cleared or I felt it was clear enough I'd toss a drop shot rig. My targeted species would be spots. Spots are more likely to hit in cold water. I don't think i'd target a shad pattern since most of the shad are going to be large. If the shad were Threadfin shad, then I'd key in on a shad pattern. I'd fish in water between 40-45ft. Thats my .02 cents worth. If it's worth that much.

Big difference between boat fishing and bank fishing is that you are going to fish more structure. You will be fishing humps and ledges. If your running the boat you need to rely on electronics. My biggest suggestion is to backseat in a local club for a few years.