RSM789

It went really well, not sure if it was better than expected (I typically have a positive attitude and expect to do well). Figured out a few different seasonal adjustments to what I had been doing, both in location & lure selection/presentation. The result was a new PB, multiple times besting the most fish in a day and substantially raising the average number I caught per trip. Then again, maybe my home lake is just finally coming into its own... Plus I saw a raccoon play "where did I leave my car keys" inside another homeowners docked boat.

Zara Spook, any size from the puppy to the big ones that you can spool a reel on the cast.

Stripers, as long as they are boiling on the surface. I'm not interested in dropping anchovies down into 80 feet of water or trolling those deep diving plugs.

Maybe he was using an Alabama rig & catching 5 bass on each cast... Either that or he has a really slow watch...

I'd do something different to get the fish that aren't interested in his lure/presentation. If he is fishing a buzzbait & spoon pretty fast, I'd use a jig or plastic bait & fish it slow. You probably wouldn't be able to retrieve it far if he is keeping the boat moving, just keep pitching it to holes in the slop & look for strikes on the drop.

That guy is so big, it doesn't even look like he has a carp mouth!! Congratulations!! The only time I ever catch carp on artificials is when I snag them in the head with a deep diving crankbait.

His employers fired/suspended him for violating the morals clause in his contract. To contest that, he is in essence saying that hitting his fiancé was not an immoral act, which goes against the apologies he has given publicly. It is like that old saying - "If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging".

All of the large bluegill I have caught were accidental, caught while fishing for bass. The largest was 2.5 lbs, caught on a plastic worm & was as big as my face. I have caught a dozen or so in the 2lb range on everything from topwaters to crankbaits. They get funny looking when they get that big, it is as if they outgrow their head.

For the record & so that I am not classified as "the guy defending the wife beater", I disagree with those actions by Rice. He screwed up, he should plead Mea Culpa and accept what comes his way from the Ravens & NFL. I understand putting up a defense against legal action against him, but to fight the punishment given him by his previous employers shows a lack of remorse. He is financially set for the rest of his life. Accept the fact that a horrible decision lead to him doing an unforgivable act and move on. His life is changed forever & there is no one to blame but himself.

You are misrepresenting what I said when you say I am wrong about he might have done. I wrote that I have no idea, I am not wrong about that. I don't know & neither does anyone else because it never happened. You are welcome to believe that he would have continued, but that is just speculation. The fact is he hit her once. Yes, he had the potential to hit her again, but he didn't. There are numerous examples of mentally defective guys who continue to hammer on their victims who are unconscious. Rice didn't do that & therefore, should not be lumped into their category. That doesn't earn him any husband of the year awards, it is just the reality of the incident. Think it through. Why would someone stop hitting their victim just because they knocked the victim unconscious?

Cutoff to what? I am going purely by definition. 1 punch, no mater how well delivered or brutal, is not a beating. Not in spousal abuse, not in a boxing match. I understand not wanting to give any leniency to Rice, I am in no way an advocate for what he did. That does not mean we should misclassify what he did. He did not beat his wife, he hit her. Still despicable, still warranting of a serious punishment, but not the same as the sick individual who beats & beats on his or her spouse. 1 punch can be a mistake, a bad decision and not true to the makeup of a person. A beating is evidence of who one really is. Let me go at it from a different way. I am not liberal on this, I believe those men who beat their spouses should be put to death, for they can not function in our society. There isn't evidence that Rice falls into this classification, so I would withhold this ultimate punishment from him for his actions. Not withhold punishment, but withhold the death penalty.

I have no idea what Rice would have done if she hadn't been knocked out. It appears he made no additional moves towards her after that punch, but what he would or wouldn't have done IF she had still be conscious is just speculation. I do agree that he didn't show any remorse based on his actions & the way he dragged her out of the elevator, but showing no remorse does not necessarily translate into the will to make this single punch a beating. It is not unusual for wife beaters to continually hit & kick their spouse even after they are unconscious. As I wrote before, those who do that have severe mental issues and should never be any part of our society. Until a person crosses that line, I would say it is incorrect to put them in the same classification based on one punch. Punish them severely for their action, yes, but don't throw them in with the garbage that preys upon other people.

Most likely it will get worse. I am 51, fished for bass for over 40 years and still find myself driving down the road and imagining if the areas off the side of the road were underwater, where the bass might be and what would be the best way to catch them.

You are absolutely correct, however the different levels I was referencing did not have to do with it being deadly force or not. I was disagreeing with your statement that Rice beat his wife because he did not do that. He hit her, in a manner that could have killed her & then callously dragged her out of the elevator. That is different than continually hitting a person over & over. I find the difference between the two to be in ones mind. There are severe mental issues at play when one chooses to beat another over and over. That is not always the case in situations like Rices, which does not excuse his actions nor should it mitigate his punishment. In deciding punishment, the facts you state about the potential of it being deadly based on the physical stature of Rice should be considered. In the same manner, it should be also be considered that it was a punch not a beating.

Do you know if that applies to bass from private waters? Mine went from a private lake to a private pond, so I wonder if it is exempt. If not, then I am guilty as charged. That charge would look silly on my rap sheet.Since the law is about transporting bass, I wonder if the Elite tournaments are given an exemption for tournaments here where the weigh-in is at a site other than where they are fishing.

I added a 12" NLMB to our koi pond at the beginning of the year, but he has bulked up and is now likely over 2lbs. His situation is slightly different than your bass, in that his neighbors are a 10" bluegill that is (currently) too big for him to eat and 5 clueless koi his size & larger. His diet consists of nightcrawlers, goldfish and whatever insects/lizards/rodents my kids find & feed him. Here are a few observations I have had over the past 9 months: Bass will get accustomed to people quickly - When I first put him in the pond, he hid underneath a rock at the spillway for 5 days, never coming out when we were there. Now he associates us with food, so not only does not hide from people, he will follow you around the pond waiting for food to be introduced. I can never release him back into the wild, he would set up shop outside a dock waiting for people to throw him things. The vision of a bass looking above the water is excellent - Not only does he have the vision to follow us around, he moves to where I toss nightcrawlers in before they hit the water. I'm not sure if he is watching my hand motion or if he sees the crawlers in the air, but they barely have a chance to get wet before he has swallowed them. This has made me again realize the importance of stealth when fishing, those shallow bass can see a lot around them. Some bass are gluttons - I say some, because unlike your fish, mine has never turned down a meal after that initial 5 days. When I feed him goldfish, I put 10 in at once & it is a massacre. He is chasing them down even with others hanging out of his mouth. Any live food put in the pond is eaten immediately. Bass attack different foods differently - Although he has been somewhat domesticated, my bass shows his wild side whenever live critters are tossed in the pond. He goes after the goldfish exactly the same as fish do when they are boiling on shad - quickly, violently & relentless, pure predator mode. Nightcrawlers are inhaled completely immediately, no swimming around with part of it hanging out of his mouth. Yet when koi food is tossed in, he will leisurely swim around, find 4 or 5 pellets stuck together & softly slurp them off the surface. Sometimes he decides he doesn't like them & will spit them back out, but usually he eats that as well, even after devouring 10 goldfish. Prey that he believes can get away is hunted down while "fish food" is eaten like popcorn at a movie theater. It is fun having him around & watching him subtlety dominate the pond. He doesn't attack the other fish or chase them off, he just stands his ground when he sets up shop & the goofy koi give him room. He is so much quicker & has better natural instincts than the koi. He (She?) is starting to get some shoulders on him, if he reaches 23lbs, I'll have get my picture taken with him

I fish a small, shallow medium clear development lake located in Southern California. There are no shad in this lake, forage is bluegill, some crawdads and smaller catfish/carp. For me this summer, the 5" Aarons Magic outfished other plastics by a wide margin.

Ray Rice did not beat the crap out of his wife, he hit his wife. War Machine is an example of someone who beat his significant other. Both are domestic violence, however there is a huge difference between the two. There is a possibility that with Rice, this was a one time mistake, a horrible decision made in the heat of a physical confrontation to which he should be appropriately punished. If that is the case, I would not put Rice in the same category as the spouse beater. The latter can not function in our society & should not be allowed in it

I was throwing a Rebel Pop-R once & made a long cast near a dock. Apparently this startled a nearby coot, who started running (flying?) across the surface of the water. He is between me & the dock, headed right for my line laying on the surface. I jamb my rod tip into the water, trying to get my line below the feet of the oncoming coot, but it didn't work. The coots feet snag my line, causing the lure to be dragged forward. Obvious this kind of retrieve was something bass rarely see & was tempting enough for one keeper to hammer the popper. So now the coot is fighting me on one side of the line & a bass on the other, still doing that coot surface running thing but not advancing too far. After a few seconds, the coot gets his feet free of the line & scampers down the cove. I reel up the slack, the bass is still there & I bring him to the boat.

Crazy Crawler, I had forgotten about that bait with its collapsible side fin things. I remember having a Mudbug as well, I used to like it & the Hellbender quite a bit. Don't remember when I lost them...

This is kind of an old guy's topic, but what is the oldest lure in your tackle box & does it get used? I thought about this last week when deciding what topwater I wanted to start with the following morning. I began bass fishing back in the mid 70's when I was a teenager and I still have a Heddon Lucky 13 (white with red head of course), a frog patterned Hula Popper and grey Cordell Spot, all of which are approaching their 40th birthday. Come to think of it, I probably also have a few Mann's jelly worms & Mister Twister Slither's that somehow didn't melt in the old Rebel Bass'N'box they were originally stored in. I often considering tying those old guys on, but then end up choosing something else, so even they aren't used much, they still are front & center on the bench. The oldest one I use with any regularity would have to be a teeth marked Tiny Torpedo that I have had since about 1980. I have some more modern prop baits, but the torpedo seems to out produce them for me. Most of the other old ones that were used often eventually got lost in cover or busted off by a fish.

I am in the same boat as you. If the conditions line up right & it doesn't create any major problems, I will play hookey. Almost did this Monday when there was a chance that part of a Pacific hurricane would bring clouds & some scattered showers to our normally dry & sunny county. Over the weekend, the weather reports changed and said the storms would stay further inland (which they did). d**n...

I agree that it is not worth getting upset over, however on the other hand, if you submit to a bullies behavior, it encourages him to continue. I am not going to get into a fight or a shouting match with someone I don't know, but I feel a responsibility to call them out on it. If it is ignorance on their part, then we can educate them. If it is just plain rudeness, then I am just making sure they know they haven't pulled one over on me. Since I know my home lake better than most, I am able to then fish behind them & catch what they are missing. Of course, I make sure to play those fish as long as possible, having them slash & jump & make a ruckus. it makes me smile inside...

I live in Southern California & have similar situations like that happen to me, albeit it was other folks in boats jumping in front of where I was headed as opposed to bank fishermen. At first, I chalked it up to being in a highly populated area filled with many folks who really don't know much about fishing or etiquette. However, In the last year, I have had similar experiences on Lake Mead & in a remote pond in Arizona. Maybe it isn't the crush of population causing people to be rude when encountering others outdoors, but instead just rudeness for rudeness sake. The Mead situation was really funny because I was about 2 miles south of the Narrows, fishing off a point where stripers where schooling & breaking the surface. Now this spot was not unique, you could look across the lake & see a dozen other spots where the stripers were chasing shad. There was not another boat anywhere I could see for the first 90 minutes when these 3 guys in a deep hulled multi-purpose boat come flying up the middle of the lake & then veer over to me & my nephew. The get about 30 feet away & ask "Having any luck?". I gave the typical non answer "A few", to which all 3 grab their rods & start casting. I am not exaggerating that there were at least 12 other spots within 300 yards where fish were boiling, without another boat in sight, yet these dopes decide I must be Roland Martin sitting on the lakes honey hole. Exactly like you did, I said in an inquisitive tone "Really?", to which I got a reply "What?". I just shook my head & turned away, not wanting to see the shotgun I just knew was going to be leveled at me . I actually did have a little concern that these guys were more interested in robbing us than fishing, but it turned out they were not thieves, just dolts. It even happens in the ocean. My brother has a large boat that he takes out for Marlin & Tuna & he was sitting on a kelp paddy halfway between the coast & Catalina catching a few Dorado. This other boat pulls up, a guy dons his scuba gear & speargun & jumps overboard, swimming straight to the paddy. Amazing...

I realized that every time I go fishing, I see or experience something new or unique. Be it catching two bass on 1 cast, watching a raccoon mess up a sleeping homeowners docked boat or snagging into a rod & reel that looks like it has been at the bottom of the lake for a decade, every trip brings something new. I also have noticed that I never run into anyone in a bad mood while in Bass Pro Shops (the real "Happiest Place on Earth")...