RSM789

Are you referring to your post or mine? BTW, no need for snarkiness in responses.

Where in your comment that implied anyone who has caught a 12-2 before would be willing to spend 6 hours on a bedding fish did you specify that only applies to shore anglers? I do realize that bank fishing is what this thread is about, but your comment made no division between the two. Are you trying to say that shore anglers are willing to spend more time trying to catch a large bedding fish than boat anglers? If so, then how do you classify the author of that post, because he was launching his boat when he spotted that 12-2. He would have used his boat to catch him, but he had better access from the shore.

I thought they banned me & went to great lengths to make sure I couldn't get back on...

Whopper Stopper's Whirlybird. Had one like 40 years ago, had no clue how to use it & lost it in a tree...that was 5 feet up the bank. Hey, I was young!!

I change pretty quickly, but it is often to & fro. Based on the cover in front of me & the changing conditions, I may be switching every 2-3 casts. Some cover can be picked apart with a single lure, other types (or conditions) need a few lures to dissect them. That said, on this past Friday, I was "One Rod Todd" for nearly the last 5 hours or so.

"If you insist on being the one to paddle, then stop running over my line" "We might catch more fish if we actually put the boat in the water" "I can't figure out why my guides keep freezing up" "I thought using a white lizard made bed fishing easier, I can't see a thing!!"

BPS calls them "Shroom jigs. 3 different weights, 2 different hook sizes.

The BPS out here had the BPS branded Shroom jig heads in stock as well as the ZMan TRD worms (2.5" long). Only reason I chose the BPS jig heads over the ZMan ones is I wanted to have a choice of hook size. I got the 1/16 oz in both size 1 & 1/0, ended up using the size 1 yesterday. I could have taken Senko's (or Stiko's or any other stickbait) and cut them in half, but I went ahead & bought what the recipe called for. Like you, I really prefer Senko's over other stick baits (hence why I stupidly used the 3" models initially), but they just get destroyed. You will be amazed at the way the fish choke this bait. The TRD's are tough little baits, stay on the hook well and a bag of 8 will be good for catching 150 - 400 fish. You will probably lose more of these baits by breaking off or snagging than you will get chewed up by the fish. My guess is that they will do well in a pond, they really do imitate the smaller minnows or craws when hopped on the bottom (although quite a few never reach it there before being intercepted by a fish). The light weight is also good for a pond, won't spook the fish even when cast long distance. FYI, I found yesterday that the best hookset was similar to that which you do for a wacky rigged Senko, sort of a lean back pull as opposed to a reel down hammer move.

There are anglers who used to fish Lake Mission Viejo (before the yellow algae fish kill) who would pass up 12 lb fish on beds. They were hunting a world record and would not spend any time on anything that looked smaller than 15 lbs. So they qualify as someone who caught at least a 12-2, but would not spend six hours fishing for one that size. They would spend six hours fish for one that went 22-2, but not one that most of us would call the fish of a lifetime. In other words, it is all relative to what you consider to be the largest fish you could ever catch. I wonder if Tom (WRB) would spend six hours trying to catch a 12-2 bedding fish? Based on his accomplishments, I would think not.

Yes, Southern California. I did fish it open hook, but there is not a lot of bottom cover in my lake. Isn't there a way to run a piece of real heavy mono-filament (100 lb test or so) to create a weedguard? I seem to remember some pro (Mark Davis?) doing something like that. If not, you could try it along the edges of the cover, my initial experience is that the fish have no problem coming out to get it. Thanks, it was indeed a fun day.

Most of the areas are fairly smooth, a little bit of moss mixed with patches of small rocks and shell beds. There are some large pieces of broken concrete under & around some of the docks. No brush except that which me and a couple of others have planted. All in all, the rig came through it pretty well, only hung up maybe 3 or 4 times all day. I think it may have to do with the way the rig stands head up, similar to a shakey head, the hook point is pointed down. Being so slender, it also didn't hang up in the goopy moss. This is just off the top of my head, but in a heavily weeded area, I wonder how Texas rigging it weightless would work? The weight of the hook should make it dive nose first, but without the 1/16 weight, it my stay on top of the weeds. I dunno, I am just guessing, it may turn out that other rigs work better in heavily weeded or wooded areas.

Well in that case, which mayonnaise is better, Hellman's or Best Foods?

We have neither on the West Coast - What is the range of their franchises? My 3 favorite fast food places that haven't made it to SoCal yet are Steak & Shake, White Castle & WhataBurger. All different than In-N-Out (Cali's favorite son), but delicious nonetheless.

In regards to the Ned Rig, to quote the Monkees & Smashmouth, "I'm a Believer". My lake is in post spawn, water temps in the low 70's. The last few weeks, I haven't done a good job imitating the fry that many of the bass seemed to be keying on. I'd catch fish, but I knew more were in the area, much more. So I decided to give the Ned rig a shot and in a fit of unusual common sense, bought the 1/16" mushroom jigheads & ZMan TRD worms to use. I figured to give it a fair shake, I should use the recommended version, not some rig I threw together with parts that were "close enough". I started off the day like I often do this time of the year with a topwater bait. In the first hour, I caught 5 bass, 4 on a Pop-R and one on a small swimbait. As the sky lightened a little & it seemed like the bass were starting to move a little deeper, I started in with the Ned rig. Now, going against my original plan, I used a 3" Senko (Green Pumpkin) instead of the ZMan bait. Why? Because I'm an idiot & I like Senko's more than ZMan baits when wacky rigging them. In the next 2 hrs, I used up all 10 Senko's in catching 11 bass. The results were good, but the fish would just destroy the Senko every time. All of the strikes were on the drop, most likely because I was trying to swim the Ned Rig like a fluke, which wasn't producing. So I finally give in & rig up the ZMan TRD, also in Green Pumpkin. Since my only strikes had been on the drop, I decide to stop trying to swim the rig & instead hop it on the bottom. I didn't realize it until later when i was done fishing, but with the TRD, the Ned rig stands straight up off the bottom. Hopping it makes it look like a small minnow picking food off the bottom. BINGO. Over the next 7 hrs., I caught 53 bass (up to 3 lbs) and a 7lb catfish with a beer belly larger than Billy Carter. Even better, all 53 fish were caught on the same single TRD, which I finally had to retire at the end of the day (I think it earned its keep). There were a couple of things about this rig that I wasn't expecting. First, the hook up percentage is very high, I only had about 6 bites that didn't result in a fish. Second, the hook placement in the fish's mouth is deep. Even the smaller fish really choke this bait, most of the hookups were halfway down the mouth in the roof of the mouth as opposed to in the lip. Third, even though it is only 1/16 oz weighted bait, with braid (Nanofil in my case) & a fluorocarbon leader, I felt most of the bites. Part of that may be my experience of using a small weight when fishing Texas rigs, but I think the other part was that the fish pop this bait as if it was a fish that could potentially swim away. I am now a convert to the Church of the Ned Rig, although the name Dookie rig does makes me smile. Below are pictures of the fat catfish and one of the bigger bass with little Mr. Ned sticking out of his mouth like a cigar.

Agreed, but only if you are looking at it as being an employee. Anyone, with or without a college education, can work in any field, in any position, if they own the company. Too many people limit themselves because they only view a career through the prism of working for someone else.

Got a B.S. in Business Administration, major of Marketing with an emphasis in advertising. Got an internship with an ad agency while I started my Masters, realized in a few short weeks how much I disliked the type of people who were working around me. Stopped the Masters, got a job in management in the new home construction industry. Stayed there for 12 years until I left to start my own company. Been running that for the past 18 years.

X2 When TiVo & ReplayTV units were first introduced, many of my customers asked "Why would I need this?" After using them for a few weeks, that questioned changed to "Where has this been all my life?". Even the most generic DVR will drastically change the way you watch TV - on your terms, when you want. Even though I don't record sports, the DVR is handy for them as well. The obvious is being able to pause a game if something unexpected happens, but the real fun is making your own replays. If something unique occurs while I am watching live and I want to see what really happened, having the ability to back up & replay it in slow motion is cool. Doing that once or twice between commercial breaks means that when the commercials do occur, you can then speed through them to catch up to live. Hootie, trust your grandkids on this one - get a DVR and let them show you how to use it. it is easier than learning how to drop shot.

If I may speak on behalf of Captain Happiness, snakes do a good job of pest control without the harmful side effects of chemicals, they are an effective part of the food chain. Most importantly, when they are smaller, they are a nice little snack for bass. Anything on the menu for Mr. & Mrs. Largemouth gets a thumbs up from me. I understand some people really dislike snakes & I would never try to convince a person to feel otherwise. If a snake encroaches on your personal space & you want to kill them, go ahead. To not be wasteful, you could always use the dead snake as a jig trailer

There are a couple of million unemployed folks with a mountain of debt who would disagree with that assertion. They are known as the class of 2008, the class of 2009, the class of 2010...well, you get the drift.

With all due respect, that is incorrect. It is not the education that contributes to the the income level (in business at least), it is performance. Unlike teaching, in business you do not get paid more just because you have a degree. You get paid more because you are worth more and you are worth more in most cases because you you add more to the bottom line. Yes there are exceptions of nepotism & crony capitalism, but those companies typically end up folding due to incompetent people at the helm. Those who have the ambition & drive to perform are also the kids tend to be the kids who go to college. They will be successful & make money with or without a degree. If you do indeed know "plenty" of college graduates with zero ambition who make good money only because they are educated, then you also know a bunch of business owners who aren't any good at hiring. How in the world could a company be successful & stay in business if they paid good money to educated dead wood? You may know plenty of college graduates, but I know plenty of successful business owners & they, like myself, don't pay high salaries to people based on their degree. I'm not saying the people in our companies who are highly paid aren't college graduates, rather that the REASON they are highly paid has nothing to do with being a college graduate. It all has to do with performance. The day you start paying people better money for any other reason is day one of the end of your company. To say that education is the causal factor in higher pay is akin to saying that being a B.A.S.S. member is the reason why Elite anglers are such good fishermen. Just because all Elite anglers happen to be B.A.S.S. members does not make that membership the reason for their success.

While statistically true, that statement can be misleading if one infers that going to college is the reason for the additional income. The reason why college goers statistically make more money than non-college goers is based the ambition level and drive of the person, not the education. Typically, those with high ambition levels go to college and it is those ambition levels that lead to increased income over their lifetime. If education in & of itself was the reason for additional wealth, then how would one explain the monetary success of that college dropout, Bill Gates.

It is been my experience that business degrees produce decent accountants, but don't help create good salespeople, managers or entrepreneurs. The latter 3 require more people skills and willingness to take risk, things that people are either born with or are learn best via experience.

Since professional fishing is like other competitive arenas where only a few make it, you should have some kind of skill or marketable ability to fall back on. Most pro's did double duty in the beginning, both their job/career and fishing until they were making enough money with the latter to quit the former. Too many people go to college as a way to forestall the process of being responsible for themselves, basically giving them another 4-6 years of late adolescence. Therefore, I believe the question isn't 'Should I go to college?, but rather "What would I go to college for?". Professions such as attorneys, doctors that require specialized knowledge most definitely require a degree. Nearly all the rest of the degrees are ways for colleges to keep themselves in business. There is more value in the networking done at college than the actual degree. Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-education, I am anti-fooling-yourself. I have a Bachelors in Marketing and was on my way to a Masters when I got my first job outside of fast-food/retail. I had to quickly unlearn many things I had learned in school, for they were theory & had zero application in the real world. Years later when I started my own company, I further realized how unprepared college had made me for running a business. There was learning involved and the things taught in a classroom just didn't apply (short of Accounting 101a). There is a reason why business classes talk about selling "widgets", its because they don't know how to sell anything tangible. In short, be smart & be educated and if that requires college to achieve, then do it. Otherwise, learn a trade or skill and keep learning while you are working.

I find that most people who don't like snakes have never handled one. The expectation is that they are slimy while the reality is they are muscular. My wife used to be scared of them, but to her credit, took the time to check out the ones that I caught over the years. While she isn't fond of holding them, she has gotten to the point where she was okay with my daughter having a couple as pets. However, she hasn't gotten used to seeing what my daughter feeds them.

Let me add one thing - Focus (Bofus??) On those "off" days, I noticed that part of the problem on misses was that I wasn't paying attention. This leads to being out of position, late swings, all kinds of things that are technically bad. If I catch myself with my mind wandering, I find it best to take a deep breath, realize how lucky I am to be on the water and get back into the moment. I can think about that other stuff on the ride home.