Tiki Stik

...When you meet a woman, teach her how to bass fish, she catches more fish than you, and you MARRY HER. Definately the woman for me! ;D ...When you take your kids fishing so much that they look at you and ask "Dad, do we HAVE to go?" ...When you sit at your desk every day, 8 to 5, getting NOTHING accomplished because you're at weather.com checking the forecast and planning the next fishing trip! ...When you're always on the edge of depression, just dying to get back on the water! ...When you honestly don't care whether you catch a fish or not, just as long as you're fishing! ...When you meet a new friend that likes to fish and you're wife turns to him and says "Please go fishing with him! I need a break!" ...When people know better than to ask you "Did you go fishing". They skip that question and ask "So, what all did you catch?" ...When you find a deal on some lures and buy the whole case, even though you already have 14 packs in your boat. ...When you take a buddy fishing, and he's ready to go home at noon, so you cut your fishing day short, and you know better to invite him ever again! ...When you're thinking about running an ad in the paper "Die hard bass fishing buddy needed. Must be ready to go at daylight and stay till dark. Call xxx-xxxx."

I fish about 4 days out of every week. I have 2 worm rods and one spinnerbait rod. The two worm rods are always rigged as follows: One wacky Tiki Stik, One T-rigged worm/brushhog. I throw a wacky tiki stik about 70% of every fishing trip. If the fish are shallow, I'll throw the wacky tiki stick exclusively. If the fish are deeper than 4', then it's time to go to the T-rig. This past Saturday, I caught 6 fish on the wacky Tiki with the largest weighing 4 1/2 lbs. I'm a firm believer in it. It's slow fishing.. laid back... relaxing....and I love it. Spinnerbaits, cranks, topwaters, etc. will work you to death. Cast cast cast cast cast, non stop, and when you're talking 10+ hours on the water, uhhh, no thank you. I want to fish slow, in heavy cover, and relax. "THAT", my friend, is wacky style fishing!

HEY!!! I have the same addiction! Last year, I was able to "get serious" with this hobby. I bought a new, $20,000 bass boat, 3 Shimano Curado's and 3 Lightning rods. Two of the rods are MH (for plastics) and one is M action for spinnerbaits, cranks, etc. (my miscelaneous-lure rod). I only use my two worm rods!!! I rarely pick up my 3rd pole. My worm rods are usually rigged: one weightless wacky style tiki stick..... and one texas rigged worm/brushhog. I LOVE (as you put it), that "signature" twich of the line as the worm falls. And I LOVE being able to "feel" the strike, then pause, "feel" it again on your worm... then reel up the slack...and BOOYAH! Set the hook. With spinnerbaits and crankbaits, you don't get that much 'fun' out of the bite. It's just "boom" and the fish is there, boring. I LOVE MY PLASTICS!

I have done a little bit of this with my Sony digicam with a 1 gig card. The only problem is... a 2 minute clip is like 60 megs!!!!!!! How can you convert that so it isn't so darn huge? Then, how can I get this clip to you (email)? Or do you recommend I spend $400+ on a digital camcorder? YIKES

I'm very serious about my bass fishing, but I hate going alone. :-/ To me, it's all about "sharing the moment". If I see a coon on the bank, looking for food, I want to be able to say "Hey, check that out!". Or if I catch a nice fish, I want to hold it up and say "Nice, huh?". Or just while casting... casting ... casting... I want someone to speak to. It's practically no fun for me....just sitting there alone.... waiting for a bite. The only problem is.... finding someone that can last sun-up to sun-down with me!!!!!!!! I can't understand these people that get out on water at 6am and then they are ready to go home at 10am. I hate that! It costs me just as much money to fish 4 hours as it does 10 hours. Plus, if I go home, the wife will want me to cut the yard! Screwww that!

"where" and "how" we fished were the same as the tourney guys. There was one chute where almost everyone was concentrating on (about 75yrds. x 1 mile) and we fished there as well. As far as depth, when fishing t-rigged, I "take it for granted" that you'd be fishing at "whatever" the max depth is where you are casting, then jigging 1, 2, 3, off the bottom (softly). I watched several of the boats, how they were fishing, etc. Definately not lying to me... it was brush hogs, flipped into flooded trees, soft jigging off the bottom. I'll catch on.... I've only fished the lake about 8 times total.... I really want to learn it.... it holds a BUNCH of bass. I friend that lives on that lake showed me a pic today of a 12-2 lbs. that he caught there (was a monster). Thanks to you all!!

Thank you all for the input.... but I feel I need to clarify something. Every tourney guy I spoke to said "We caught'em on brush hogs". It's like a broken record.... brush hogs, brush hogs....and I see 20+ lbs. sacks of 5 fish being weighed in..... talk about ticking you off! Oh, and the water was soooooooooo muddy, you couldn't see your bait 2" under the surface! So I doubt that a fluke would have produced. I hope my luck changes on that lake.... the big bass ARE there and like I said.... everyone keep repeating "brush hogs" to me and I see them dangling on their rods..... sooooo..... all I can do is keep on pitchin' i reckon. :-/

Guys, I live in MS. There's a lake about 30 miles from my house that is full of bass. The lake is about 100yrds. wide and 15 miles long with lots of laydowns and standing cypress. A friend who is a member of the local bass club told me they were having a tourney there yesterday, so I took the wife (loves bass fishing too) and we went to fish and view the weigh-in. Well, we fished 4 hours with brush hogs, worms and soft craws.... NOTHING. I fish very patiently, slow jigging, allow to fall, whole 9 yards. And I very rarely catch a fish on this lake. THe last 2 trips, I've caught nothing on that lake (a total of about 10 hours of fishing). I use the SAME baits as the tourney guys (brush hogs). WIth my head hung low....the wife and I come to the club's weigh-in at 2pm..... and everyone has a sack of fish. Some guys weighed in 20+ lbs!!!!! Dang it! It reallllllly ticks me off. I love bass fishing....and I think I'm doing IT RIGHT. Trying to fight a little depression here. Please help.

I hope the image of the current weather radar shows up below. I am in Mississippi. As you can see, I'm about to have a cold front come through tonight/tomorrow. We have had extemely strong thunderstorms, hail, wind, and tornadoes. Tomorrow is suppose to be partly sunny with a high of 69. I plan to fish Ross Barnett Reservoir for the first time (110 miles south of my home). Am I stupid or just plain dumb for even leaving the house? Is there any possible chance to even catch a fish after such weather??? The reason I'm going there to fish is because I'm picking up my boat in Jackson, MS from having repairs done. I plan to fish sllllllooowwwwww and will give you guys feedback tomorrow night. Here is the current radar: http://image.weather.com/images/maps/current/curwx_600x405.jpg