toni63

I used to look into that kind of thing and would occasionally take days off work around "prime" Solunar days, when the moon is rising as the sun is setting or the sun is rising as the moon sets, or when the sun is directly overhead when the moon is directly opposite, hoping that might lead to improving my success rates when using time off to fish. My conclusion? Never saw any difference. Now I don't even bother to look. Either you find em and they biting or they ain't. I would agree with the poster above who said weather conditions are going to be a huge factor. Where the moon is at in relation to the Sun is so insignificant in comparison, to me its not worth planning anything around.

Kinda what my initial response was. Considering all the other trauma we just put that thing through just catching it, it's a little much to start lecturing people on "you're hurting the bass!"

The fish that buried that Trokar trailing hook through my finger wasn't a treble hooked fish. Single shaft steel hooks penetrate just as well as trebles, and a treble wouldn't have gone all the way through that digit like that. By the way, I play guitar, a lot, and an injury like that has the potential to do enough damage to end my guitar playing how I do it now for good. Now, I don't really want to lose one passion over an injury from another hobby. I'd be interested to read the studies that documented this. Please share. And the fish that put that hook straight through my finger? That was no more than 10 inches, I doubt I could have even got my finger in its mouth and I was holding it with my hands to remove the spinner bait main hook that it ate. So, in these cases, size really doesn't matter..... As far as what we are doing to the fish when we catch them at all, I did find this research, and it discusses mortality rates of caught and released bass. Apparently, if we are all going to get really serious about being mindful of the outcome for the LMB we catch, we oughta, at a minimum, stop using artfificial plastics on Carolina Rigs. Mortality rate within 72 hours? 28% dead. So if this is really such a huge concern, maybe we all oughta just find another hobby, because we are killing a significant amount of the fish we are catching just by catching them at all. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-02-23/sports/9702230224_1_largemouth-lake-fork-bait

It's kind of like starting a thread that implies we should set hooks gently so as not to harm the fish. Seriously? I get the points made about no using the tool correctly and hurting the fish that way, but I have also seen many fisherman holding fish in their hands in ways that are also damaging the fish. Like the two hand hold, one under the jaw, one under the tail end, grip and grin for the camera. The more contact you have with the fish, the more damage you are doing to it. Keep your paws off it, it wasn't made to be held, it was made to live in water. Your hands are just scraping away it's natural layer of defense, the slimy outer coating, from parasites. My philosophy is it was fun catching it, but the quicker I get it unhooked and back in the water with the least amount of contact between my hands, boat, net, etc with it, the better for that fish. Grippers go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.

Why? I never used to. Until I did this. Now, I use them all the time and a pliers to manipulate hooks out of them. I have also heard that your hands brushing the slimy layer of stuff off the scaly side of the fish leaves it vulnerable to parasitic infections that can also kill the fish. So whatever you do, if you have set the hook (in most cases hard enough to rip its head sideways in the water) then landed it (another fight as you rip it through weeds, over timber, through water as it thrashes about getting drug along by its mouth with big hooks jammed into its flesh to keep it coming your way) then flip it out of its environment into the air and onto your boat or into your hands or into a net, sounds to me like the fisherman has already given that fish a lot of "trauma" already. Getting the hook out and securing it with a plastic utensil is probably the LEAST brutal thing you are going to do to that fish while interacting with it, unless you put it in your live well and drive around all day keeping it in Fish jail. I am not going to get too sentimental about God's precious creature when I set about handling it to get the hooks out and get it back in the water. I love bass FISHING, I don't worship "bass." That thing has survived everything else I just put it through to get it into my hands, it will survive a plastic grip in its mouth (which has to be a darn sight more pleasant than the HOOK I just set into it minutes or seconds before), it will make it through the last minute or two of me getting it released back into the water. To me, the LMB is not an endangered species, it is a game fish, it kills without hesitation in its own environment, it is a predator in the food chain, it lives by the kill or be killed survival of the fittest mentality, so I'n not too hard pressed to treat it with kid gloves. It's a bass, not a Faberge' egg. Now I have zero tolerance for flippant disregard for the thing, or abusing it, or using it as a football for sport or whatever, but there are 100's of thousands more where the one I am currently holding with a gripper to remove a hook from its mouth without impaling myself came from, and its not made of fine spun sugar. It will live. And I doubt it will go off into the wild thinking "man, I didn't mind that big hook driven halfway through my skull, or that dragging me across the lake through the moss and over that log by my face, and even the getting hauled 6 feet into the air wasn't that bad, but those darn plastic grippers! Those things just irritate my jaw, that smooth plastic is like chalk on a chalkboard! Whey can't they just manhandle me with their big fat fingers squeezing me tight over my back scraping against my skin!?" So anyway. That's my take on pampering the catch. No need to be cruel to the thing, but no need for kid gloves either. The best thing to me is to get it off the hook and back in the water as fast as possible. That is what that fish wants most of all. To be back in it's own environment and away from you. So if grippers make that a faster and smoother transition and enhances my safety from getting hooked again, then grippers it is.

I saw one wallowing around on a shallow flat a couple years ago, tail out of the water, full dorsal fin exposed. I was pretty surprised to see it, it kind of looked like it was rooting around in the mud for crawdads or something that had gotten its interest. I threw a big buzz bait about 10 yards past it and worked it right past it's tail. It turned around and destroyed that thing like it hated it. So that was fun.

I plan on using it at the outboard with the transducer mounted on the transom once I get something with a much larger screen for up front. I'm convinced that is really all they were meant for to begin with now that I have one. Yeah, I know. A bit much for a redneck 14 foot jon boat...... lol

I would think so. I used to tow a 3200 lb stock car on a home built steel trailer with an old early 80's Chevy with a straight six in it. Burned the clutch out every summer but it held up power wise, even pulling that car and trailer up some pretty long steep hills. I wouldn't think a boat would weigh more than that. zx200.html If that works, its a Boat.com webpage for that boat and it says 1975 lbs.

Lures, rods, reels, baits, boats, outboards, electronics, the truck to pull the boat or the trailer to put it on. What is your worst purchase ever? Mine is the Helix 5 SI GPS yada yada. I shoulda saved up another $500 and bought something with a much larger screen. I like the unit and what it does, but its just too small a screen mounted at my feet for me to be able to see it and see it well when fishing. But when they brought out a side imaging/down imaging unit at that price, I just had to give it a shot.

One lake I go to regularly and where my PB came from is like that. Black and blue stuff works pretty well. And surprisingly white spinnerbaits and a Norman Coffin bill in the silver and white.

Whoa there..... The Professor, Gilligan, Ginger, Mr Howell weren't really stranded on a desert Island? There was no Minnow? Next thing you'll be saying there's no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny.... !!! I am good with all that I guess, as long as you don't start questioning the Phantom Devil Monster Bass that hides under the tree by the dock near the dam... been known to eat a small child or two.... only comes out at Midnight on a second full moon of the month....

Thanks for the info. Saves me some gas money and drive time. I can have fun and get skunked way closer to home for now...

I take anything any fisherman says with a pinch of salt. The only category I can think of with a worse reputation for lying about what they did are politicians.

I'm in. Been signed up since February, and was told my catch was the second entry. So I guess I "lead" Illinois for all of the amount of time it took for Gary Le to go fishing the next day... lol

I've already fought through hundreds of slow days, nothing much for me to learn there. However, when they are reeling in their staged catches, they are also talking about the techniques, lures, presentations, lake and weather conditions and other general stuff they take into consideration to fish that way in particular conditions. So the footage of the catch itself isn't what I am watching for anyway. Besides, there is always MLF for reality bass fishing TV. Nothing better than that.

Which lake if you don't mind asking? My local dirty/stained water pond is deader than a door nail. I would think the ponds would be lighting up for topwater too, but around where I live near Mt Vernon there is nothing happening at all yet. Might take a drive down to Crab Orchard lakes if their starting to pick up.

Hope this doesn't start anything further about a thread that was shut down, for good reasons, but one thing did stand out to me was the comments about staged catches for celebrities on fishing shows. Personally, I see nothing wrong with it. These production crews only have a short space of time to be on the water with these guys and the anglers have busy schedules too, so staging a catch for the camera may be the only way to make it work. And to me, I really could care less whether big time angler guy actually hooked that fish legitimately while they were there filming it or not, my bet is they have done the exact same thing thousands of times with no cameras rolling to catch the moment. The thing is, it's entertainment, so a little creative license to "recreate" moments those guys have actually had thousands of times for my viewing pleasure is something I can overlook for the sake of being entertained.

Troll quietly over, ask them how their day has been so far, "catching anything?" etc. Be nice, pleasant, tell them what you learned with your jaunt in that creek, wish them a good day fishing and the best of luck then troll away quietly until you are far enough off not to disturb the fish before firing up your outboard and heading somewhere else. I have often found being nice to jerks can lead to some very interesting conversations, not confrontations. And if they don't feel like talking, leave quietly anyway. Bottom line is you can only be responsible for your own actions, not someone else's. Take the high road. To me, you just never know how badly things might get if you confront and stand your ground, and its not like they are threatening your life or lives of your family. I can be right, but it won't matter if I am dead right. Pick your battles, and this is one where there is nothing good going to come from trying to out jerk a jerk. And the video thing? If you seriously want a confrontation, pull out a camera and start pointing it at people like that. Like a red flag to a bull, so you're just adding fuel to the fire if you do. Now, if you have a go pro or something like that mounted and its running anyway, discretely, that's another story and probably worth sharing. But making a point of doing it deliberately at the time so its noticeable, well, with some folks you may as well just whip out a gun and point it at them. Just not worth the aggravation or risk.

When I get bored and the bass aren't biting, I keep some crappie tackle rigged up and with me and fish for crappie.

NASCAR in a single ear bud on weekends. Nothing like hearing the announcers yelling "It's the BIG ONE!!!" when you're getting bit and setting the hook. Other than that I listen to some podcasts or Christian Worship contemporary stuff. In my other spare time I play guitar in my church so I will listen to new songs we might be planning on. Always quietly in one ear though. I like to stay tuned to whats going on where I am at, too.

"Visible cover." Exactly. I spent the first 4 or 5 years fishing with no electronics from a decent sized jon boat. I just stuck to the banks, learned to flip n pitch to lay downs, stumps, docks, rocks, etc. Crank baits off of points. Learned to look for schools of bait fish getting chased and busting the surface and throwing around them. Birds eat the same food as bass, so they can be a good indicator of where the bait is and you can pretty much count on bass being anywhere their food is. Learned to focus on shady areas when the sun is out (fish don't have eyelids and their vision is way more light sensitive than ours, they don't hang out in the sun unless the water is cold). I'd say for the first 2 to three years I pretty much used crank baits and spinner baits and when those failed threw a plastic worm and drug that along the bottom. Jigs I started using around year 3 when someone told me about the jig n pig. And just like Scaleface said, pay attention with every cast what you are doing. When that first fish bites, it can tell you a lot about where they are that time and that day and you might find you can repeat that and catch fish. Have fun. You just got hooked on something worse than crack and might be twice as expensive... lol

I just tried to soak up as much as I could from anywhere when I got serious about fishing, then tried it on the water until I felt I was reasonably proficient at it. Mostly trial and error though. Fishing shows, magazines and books are great places to start, it's exactly what I did, but then you have to work at making what you read or watched work when you actually fish. Even little things, like "are schools of fish busting the surface like they are being attacked?" and "where are the Herons along the shoreline, because they eat the same fish the bass do" and "did it rain recently, ok, so where does the creek feed into this lake because that water is probably going to get stirred up which will stir up the bait and the fish might be feeding there or near there." All stuff I picked up from some comment or other while watching a video that I have applied to my own fishing and had some success with.

I've kind of noticed there are a few different kinds of people fishing, like any hobby. There are people who want to be good at it for their own personal satisfaction and don't pay much attention to anyone else, and then there are people who want seem to get their enjoyment from being "better at it" than other people, like its a competition to them. If someone ever noticed me catching a fish, I couldn't tell you when it was, where it was, what they looked like, or what size the fish was. I fish purely because I enjoy fishing. I really pay no attention to other people apart from avoiding them as much as possible so as not to infringe on their fishing or hamper my own. To each his own.

Strike King KVD spinner bait. Mustad Ultrapoint trailer hook is what the description says it is. I kept the bait and have used it since but haven't put a trailer hook back on it yet. As far as bending the barb flat and reversing it out, I suggested that to the Doc at the ER and his comment was "we can do that if you like, but my experience has been when doing that there will still be enough sharp, jagged metal coming back through the hole to tear up the inside of your finger pretty good. You'll have more days with a messed up finger than if we wait until we can get some bolt cutters and trim the end off completely." I am a guitar player and fret with that hand, so I really didn't like the sound of cutting up the inside of that finger any more than necessary, so i was good with waiting. And seriously, I was standing in a Guitar Center the next day playing a Les Paul that I ended up buying. I just couldn't bend notes as aggressively as usual, but i could play chords and light lead runs just fine. Two days later, none the worse for wear. I am using a net, my grippers and pliers to take hooks out now. Doesn't matter what size. I just kind of shy away from getting my hands anywhere near a thrashing fish with a lure or hook in it now. Call me a wuss if you like, but I'd rather not get another hook in me and having seen how easy it is, I'd just rather not have to deal with it again.

Kind of funny, I just saw the Bassresource video on how not to get hooked when landing fish. Too late. This was my hand in the ER Sunday night. I landed a little un an didn't notice the trailer hook hadn't penetrated the fish anywhere at all, so I was holding the fish and reaching to get the bait out when it gave a good thrash and the next thing I know I am feeling a tug on my finger that wasn't quite right. I looked down and the spinner bait hook was still in the fish mouth, the trailer hook straight through my fingers with some blood seeping out of the holes. Now I live out in the sticks, so the ER is a half hour away. I go home and my wife drives me to the ER. Of course, I try to remove this myself a couple different ways but nothing works, so i figure let the Medical professionals handle it instead. At the ER, the Doc says, no biggie, we'll just cut the shaft on the long end and slide the other end out. So he numbs up my finger with a Lidocaine block, gets out these little tweezer cutters and begins. No luck, hardened steel hook. So they try wire cutters. No luck. I take the wire cutters away from them, put one end on a table and put my full weight down on the handle trying to get it to even dent the hook. No luck. But the nurses are about to pass out watching me work on it myself, while cracking jokes about how its my mess, I'll clean it up. One nurse says "so how did you you do that?" and I can't resist... "Well, I was chasing this Bear through the woods....." and the look on her face is quite funny. "Fishing. Last cast. Caught one, wasn't paying attention and this trailer hook (I hold my hand up and slide the lure back and forth in the eyelet of the hook that's through my finger) went through this finger." She turned white and left the room. So anyway, they can't figure out a way to cut it and I tell them to get some bolt cutters. Only problem is it's Sunday night, July 4th weekend, 930 and the maintenance folks are out having fun and no one can find the keys to the room where the bolt cutters might be, let alone know where the bolt cutters actually are. So I lay back and go to sleep. My wife tells me later that every now and then I would do that jerking thing you do when you're in between sleep and waking and the spinner blades would tinkle. When I woke up I got the cutters and removed the rubber keeper altogether so I could get the spinner bait away from the hook. That was at least some progress and made it easier on my hand not having to hold the spinner bait. Eventually the maintenance guy gets there, like around 11, and I really did appreciate him coming in. It was that or drive home to get my bolt cutters and DIY it and then probably drive back to the ER for some sterilization stuff or whatever just to be on the safe side. Doc comes in with bolt cutters, asks me to grab the hook where its sticking out the farthest, he places the jaws either side and with a quick squeeze a "tink" emits and I am holding the protruding hook and barb end in on hand, shaft in the other. I sit down and he slides the rest of it out and I am free. But heres comes the worst part. He tells me to let my finger soak in antibiotic/sterile fluid for fifteen minutes and then I can go. Then he comes back in two minutes later and says he wants to flush it out some too. So he puts a syringe with a rubber tube attached that's about the same diameter as the hook in some saline, draws it up nice and full and shoots it in the top hole as I hold my hand over the bowl. No big deal, I feel it run though and dribble out the bottom. Then he flips my finger over and stick it in the other side to go back the other way. He started squirting that stuff in there and my finger exploded into pain like it was on fire and then it shot across half my hand, other digits and thumb shaking like I had just got shocked. I nearly passed out, and up until that point, this was no big deal, despite what it looked like. My wife jumped up and grabbed me because she thought I was going to fall over. Ouch. So anyway, Doc says "Ok, it's sealing up, I'm not going to do that any more." Thanks Doc. Best news I had all night. Anyway, after all that, once that hook was out, (and they stopped shooting saltwater in the hole) it stopped hurting in about 5 minutes. I left with the spinner bait intact and a band aid on my finger. Moral of the story? I guess it's be careful, cause the hooks these days are pretty stout and if you get one stuck in you, it might be harder than you think to get it out. I am just glad my lack of caution didn't result in something worse than a hole in the fleshy part of my finger. It was't too bad, I was back playing my guitar the next afternoon. I had never been hooked at all before, I hope I never get hooked again. Lesson learned.