Teal

Welcome!

I was 22 years old. It was a small club tourney (about 20 boats) a friend of mine had joined the club. I fished out of my own boat ( a 17ft Alumacraft with a 40hp Mariner Tiller) as a guest. Paid my 25 bucks. Fished all day, caught 3 fish and only one was a keeper. Weighed in 2.7lbs. That really discouraged me. But a few of the older guys told me that its wasnt so bad, because it was early august, very hot and i had only been bass fiishing for a year. Another friend on mine fish as a guest that day also and actually weighed in 12 lbs and finished 3rd. Both the guy that invited us and the guy that finished third are really close friends and fishing buddys. Since then we fish all we can, we try to take separate boats and fish in a tournament fashion. It has made us better fishermen and we all can hold our own inna tourney now.. it just takes time, time on the water, time by your self, and time with other or better anglers.

Thats awesome.

I forgot to mention the smokes...but thats nothin new..i do make sure to have an extra pack in case its a slow frustrating day.

Bottled water and gatorades. Protien bars, nabs, or a couple of the one dollar double cheeseburgers bought the night before from McDonalds. Something simple and not messy. I normally take my Bubba cup full of coffee in the mornings.

Good stuff River Rat!

I was going to suggest a shed or a carport and then build sides and a back. and i would not let fear of thieves stop me from doing something i want. Make sure its insured and that the power poles are covered.

Fence and a dog work for me. Have you looked into rental storage,

Speed Bead, notice i said big bass award...i can see you now coming with a 25lb striper caught on a 12oz swimbait. HAHAHAHA

If your dad (or parental guardian(s) ) fish, encourage them to get on here and read us up, and hopefully he/they will come along also. I am a parent and i would want to know more if i was in your parents shoes...so just a suggestion.

Im game!! I bet if we ask nicely, i bet some of the BR sponsors will send us a little goody bag (nothing huge, a sample bag or so) for our M&G winner and Big bass. Just an idea, i dont want to come off as a mooch, but it is nice to have someing on the line other than braggin rights...if not, then im ok with braggin rights..

Ditto

This thread has been quiet, you boys still excited?

Nice fish snook

Welcome to the site. Check on the South East Bassin section, alot of guys from VA,MD, and me from NC are planning trip to the Potomac River in August. The Potomac is right there in your back yard and we'd love to have ya.

Dude, i was thinking the exact same thing!! Ill fish deep open water and deep structure too but shallow water is what I like and where ive had most success. Ill crank deep and i have been successful at it, but id rather rip a lipess or something..i just dont like it, however i do anyway because at times it is very effective. But the frogs, big spinners, buzz baits, senkos ect,....they are in my starting line up...lol

Good stuff!!

First off, You dont know what your missing. Second, the part about less bite bites bigger fish is NOT TRUE. Either yyou are "finding the fish",finding the right docks, or not finding the right areas, or fishing big enough baits. Let me break a myth for ya, big bass do live in shallow water. Big bass do hide under docks. You might hate to do it, i hated it at first, but so long as you have big shady docks, dock poles, boats, and possibly some vegetation under there, you have a recipe to catch some big fish. I would say, 2/3 of all my 5-8lb fish came from super shore line or boat docks. I caught more than 30 fish last year over 5lbs. You dont throw spinner baits because every body uses them? Duh that because they WORK! And buzz baits work just fine. And you dont like senkos because of NEWB CONNOTATIONS. Thats the dumbest thing ive ever heard. Senko style worms flat out produce, and ill use them and i dont care what people think. FISHING IS YOUR TIME, NOT A POPULARITY CONTEST. Im not trying to be mean or critical. I just do not agree with you, its very important to keep an open mind. Closed minds do not grow.

Never said Alex Smith wasnt good. Just thought that a 2nd rounder was too much for KC to pay. You guys have too many needs. I hope that Alex works out for you guys. I just hate his situation, drafted high, different coordinators, no weapons, then he gets a great coach, a couple weapons, linemen that keep him uprightand he begins to look like the guy we were hoping we was out of college. And then a second year guy gets a hot hand after he gets hurt and takes his job. I wish KC and Alex the best.

If you have any, mail them to me. NC fish eat them like candy!! Seriously tho, i love em!

There is def a time for both, and ive always been told to go as light as you can get away with. But my fishing style has changed alot in the past two years and now i lean more towards heavier action rods, stouter hooks, and braid.. (mainly 30 and 50#) most of gear is middle of the pack as far heavy/light goes..but i would Stick to flippin/pitchin/punchin/skipping if i could be sucessful with only that technique year round....but unfortunatly that not the way it is and its important to be well rounded.

Dude, sometimes thats the way they want it. You are supposed to find a way to catch fish with a plastic worm. Theres no rules...if buzzing it on the surface or fishing it like a spinnerbait works for you and puts fish in the boat...then so be it. But no single method will work everyday..just mix it up. The zoom u tail is in everbodys tackle box its a versitile lure.

Is there a specific way thay you are interested in, because there are numerous ways to fish it...i dont think there is a wrong way. You just have to figure out how the fish want it. Ways that I have fished them -hopping (this can be done short hops, big hops, fast or slow) -dragging it on the bottom and over cover, fast or slow, or stop /start -Stroking (lift the rod tip sharply and letting it fall) -allow the bait to fall, hop it once or twice and the retrieve it and start again, i do this alot when im pitch/skipping under docks, alotnof time they will hit it on the fall -slow steady retrieve. Most of the time, ill either pitch and let it fall, hop it, or drag it. You can try all of these in the same cast until you figure out what they want... like i said, there is a wrong way..IMO

Right on with the jitterbug. Last april, i went and found some fish stack up in a little pocket and. It was already cloudy, then the bottom fell out, i stood there on the deck of my boat in the rain boating fish left and right with a black jitterbug. One of my best days!!

Add to what Marty said, ill fish topwater in places that it extremely difficult to fish a bottom bouncer or a subsurface treble lure. For example think matted vegetation, thick emergant plants/grasses. For the matted hydrilla,milfoil and such, i like either a soft plastic frog or soft plastic that you can buzz the surface with. A buzz bait or inline buzzers work well too. The hollow body frogs work well too. For sparse water willow or sparse tullies (bullrush) i ll try a treble bait like a Sammy or a Popper, but if its too thick ill go to the buzzers,frogs, and hollow bodies. And when the heat of the summer comes, there will be coves with matted vegetation and it will be shaded by trees. I like to hit those even in the middle of the day.