Alpster

Wow Avid, Man, I'm sorry to hear you can't make the trip! I really hope your family delima works out OK. Don't worry about me & the mooks, you just take care of yourself & your family. I'm disappointed we won't get to see you on the trip. I know this is bummer for you and I will be praying that everything works out for the best. Maybe you can use that the plane ticket later in the year to come and fish one of my honey holes. Take care and keep us posted. Ronnie

WELCOME ABOARD Keri! Looking forward to meeting you & Glenn at Fork. Ronnie

PERFECT! ;D Ronnie

I think it's awesome and the bass bus windows are exactly the same color as your boat windshield. How long is the sticker. If it's less than 20" it will fit on the window. Ronnie

I hear you Raul and I agree, I think Redtail meant rig when he said bait in his first sentence. I'm sure he will clarify this soon. We all have to keep thinking and innovating to keep catching them basses. This is why it never stops being fun. There's always a better bass trap. LOL Ronnie

I know I am going to get beat up for this, but here's my opinion. Of all the the bass fishing techniques, I wouldn't worry about a specific rod for spinnerbaits. Whatever you use to fish worms and jigs with will work fine for spinnerbaits. I like to feel the blades spinning so I use my softer action crankbait rod, but your mileage may vary. Fish will generally hook themselves on a spinnerbait so use whatever feels good to you. JMHO Ronnie

I think I understand what Redtail is thinking. Why not tie a dropshot loop 18" up your line from the weight and let a 6" worm trail 18" on a leader behind the same weight. Do I have this right Redtail? I say give it a try and report your success. You may be onto the next revelutionary bass rig. Ronnie

I have fished for bass all my life with baitcasting reels almost exclusively. I have had a boat for most of my adult life, but I still believe I have caught more fish from the bank than in a boat. I believe that this is because you must get closer to the fish to catch them. Like ReelMech said, you don't have to cast a mile, you just have to cast in the right place. You are doing fine. JMHO Ronnie

Almost all of the handheld GPS receivers will probably do what you are asking. The GPS receivers that are not capable of 'real time routing' will still get you back to the dock. Buy a used Garmin E-Map, E-Trex or similar unit on E-bay and you will be satisfied. Ronnie

Awesome fish! Looks like you & your buds had a great day. Thanks for the pics. Ronnie

That price sounds high to me. I have several Lucky craft lures and they normally sell for between $10 & $15. I buy on sale and on e-bay. Yes they are worth it to me. Ronnie

Wait till you see the Bass bus pulling out of NJ. Board member Craigaria is sending me some COOL BassResource.com window stickers he made to go on the windows of the buss. We will be totally representing as we travel cross country. It just keeps getting better & better. THANKS CRAIG! Ronnie

I twisted his arm and Craig is sending me 2 of the stickers in his original post for the windows of the Bass bus! He's pretty easy to negotiate with and works for free! Thanks Craig for helping us represent the board on the trip to Fork. You are the MAN! I'm really glad I didn't have to ask the_muddy_man to get a couple of his Brooklyn buddies to 'make em an offer he couldn't refuse'. THANKS CRAIG!!! Ronnie

WOW! That suuuckssss! Sorry it's not working out the way you had planned. Not to worry though, there's a lot more out there waiting to happen for you. Sorry about the news though. Ronnie

That is how this sticker is exactly... I'll bring it to you for the Bass Bus! 8-) Sent you a PM Ronnie

What a cool idea!! They are really slick! If the one on the top is white with transparent background, it would look pretty cool on the black smoked window of the Bass Bus. Just a thought. Ronnie

Excellent post RW. With the quality of modern lines, there's really no excuse for breaking. Your simple tutorial virtually eliminates losing a fish due to line breaking. Ronnie

Merl...That's what I'm talkin about!!! Ronnie

Bream Master, I was completely bald by 18. I come from a long line of shiney heads on both sides of the family. All of the Rogaine in the world would not have changed that. LOL. Look at your family tree to see how many leaves are on top. You will have a tendency as a male to take after your mother's side. If your uncles on your mom's side are chrome domes, get used to it and let nature take it's course. My wife fell in love with me because I reminded her of Yule Brenner. God only made a few perfect heads, the rest, He covered with hair. ;D Ronnie

How does that work? Do they know when someone is directed to BPS site from here? Allen That's exactly how it works. When you connect to BPS from a link on this board and make a purchase, BassResource.com gets a tiny kick back for giving them ad space. Internet servers can keep track of where the connection is made. Helps to cover the cost of upkeep on the board. Ronnie

Darrin, I have never transported a fish in a live well and probably never will. The original post painted an extreme scenerio where everything goes wrong except catching a state or world record bass. The plan I outlined above was a "desperate times call for desparate measures". The Reservoir that I fish in 90% of the time is run by the Park Service and there are several DFW rangers there any time the park is open for fishing. The picture that vicdotcom painted is not very likely for me, especially the WR catch part. Ronnie

There are some custom bamboo fly rods that sell for $5000 and more. My deal is, that any time I get to spend on the water is precious time and I intend to enjoy it to the fullest. I sometimes load the boat with fish and sometimes I get skunked. It may be hard for some to understand the joy that I find in fishing with a finely tuned, light, balanced, fishing rig. Yep, it can be expensive, but even when I don't catch fish, I enjoy the fact that I brought my best to the water. You don't have to be winning racer to enjoy driving fast car. All of us would fish with high end equipment if money were no object. It just happens to be an object LOL. JMHO Ronnie

Excellent Russ! You are sharp enough to do anything you want. I'm glad work stuff is allowing some more fishing time. You talked about other work options. Maybe will get some time at Fork and I will tell you about how I bailed out on my own and why I think it's the best thing to do. In the mean time, congratulations. Ronnie

You must have a plan for "just in case". Time is of the essence, not for keeping the fish alive, but a big fish begins to lose weight quickly when stressed and will expell a lot of fluids when they die (even less weight) .If I caught a state record in the waters I normally fish, I know where the nearest place to begin the documentation process (certified scales, witnesses) is and how to get there pronto. Aways have a camera, and nothing beats uninterested witnesses (a fishing buddy is useless as a witness). Always find strangers, and preferably non fishermen to witness THE weighing. I am a Land Surveyor and pull my boat with my work truck, so I have a certified measuring tape I would photograph the fish along side this tape and use it to record girth, etc. Like Cart7 said, you can't work too hard at verifying and documenting. I have a good live well in my boat. I would leave the fish in the live well and transport her carefully on the boat trailer. I have torrnament weigh in bag (for quick transport to certified scales & witnesses). If you really have a record fish, the odds of the fish surviveing the process of verification is pretty slim, so you just do your best. In your scenerio, if I'm not absoulutlety sure I have a record fish, and I was too, hurried, dumb, lazy or whatever to bring a camera, fish gets released for another day. JMHO Ronnie