Justin Mott

I'm coming a little late to this pary but I have a question for everyone that doesn't think what Casey ( and most of the field) did was very sporting or fair. How do yall feel about your favorite football team practicing, recruiting, and weight lifting? How do you feel about a coach watching tape to find a team's weakness? I get the feeling that if your struggling with dropping brush piles, then you might not being seeing bass fishing as a competition. Justin Mott

Honestly I learned a little more about how the Herrings move throughout the day in that system. I found that part to be really interesting and useful. The brush pile business is meaningless to me. Its part of the rules and culture. Everyone does it. Until they change the rules about getting information from local anglers and guides, the business of dropping brush piles is merely drop in the bucket. More tournaments are won from asking for local help such as coordinates, baits, etc. If you are really worried about the integrity of the sport and the honor of a title, then I would invite you to look in that direction first. Then I'd feel more justified in coming back to the brush pile issue.

Infisherman's book "Largemouth Bass" is by far the best I have every read. It covers so much information, concepts, stategies, etc that you will be reading it for some time to come. I have worn this book out. It is one of two books that I always carry with me. KVD's books are good. They aren't nearly indepth as infisherman's book but they give you plenty to think about. I consider it a supplementary book. Justin Mott

Shoot, I bet the weather stays warm just about the whole year. Maybe they don't even get on a true winter run but more of a late fall type deal. Being California, I'd beat that all your bass are florida string fish. With that, I wouldn't was much time fishing after a front. But with every consistent weather week, I'd be hitting the lake fishing everything that I can cast at. If the weather says warm, I'm all about flipping jigs and casting spinnerbaits...but that water is probably clear so let's go with the jerkbait or rattletrap. Honestly, I don't know why but a rattletrap will catch fish during some tough cold weather times. Its always a good bet for my winter fishing. Justin Mott

I wouldn't think anything about it, my friend. We all make up these stories about how we catch fish. We say that we can't do this or that and we have to do this to catch a fish. In all honesty, that bass has a tiny brain that tells it to eat when its hungry and hide when it is in danger. Why that bass decided to eat our baits is beyond our grasp on most days. Personally, I would invite you to do whatever feels comfortable for you. If you need a little insight to help you feel more comfortable overhead casting, I think I can help. Splashing is a natural thing in a bass's life. A splash for a bass most likely represents two things that are natural to him/her. The first is something falling in the water. Maybe its a stick, or maybe it is a bird, rat, frog, etc. That's feeding opportunity to checkout. The second is a predatory fish chasing an other bait. A bass might see a chance to steal a meal from another fish. Both of these can be good. I tell myself stories all the time that re-enforce the approach that I am taking. Whether they are perfecting true or not, doesn't matter. The truth is that at the end of the day I am successful in catching bass. I believe that if you can shake the worry about splashing, you will save yourself some frustration down the road. Justin Mott

I'm with the rest of the crowd on this one. I want to set the hook as soon as I feel a fish. I like to think that a fish that is worth my time will fully engulf my bait. On that same note, I am not that worried about a fish spitting out my bait. I fish a lot of swimming jigs completely out of sight. Many times, I will get bites that I don't know about for a few seconds. I know they feel me pulling back on them. But in my head, they think its a fish trying to pull away and clamp down harder. I do fish with a medium action rod to not put too much pressure and I rarely lose fish like this. Justin Mott

You know, I had a similiar experience while practicing for a tournament with a friend just a week ago. We were getting a ton of bites, around 30. But we only hooked up with 3 fish. We fished everything from cranks, traps, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs, and swimbaits. All had the same results. We could see the fish because we weren't fishing that deep. My thought about it is that some times the fish are just running into our baits with no intention to eat the bait. Maybe they intend to kill the bait. Or maybe that are just having a little fun. Either or, when that is happening I feel like its almost a luck game as to foul hooking a few fish. Oddly enough, we went the week before doing the same thing in different locations and caught the fish. So sometimes they act right and others they don't. I like that stinger hook idea. In open water, it should be clutch. Justin Mott

I don't have much of a concept of Ultimate places to go. You still have to find the fish and its never as easy as show up and catch them. But I do have a small wish list. I want to visit Pickwick to catch some massive smallmouths. Then I want to go back to Guntersville and see those big pigs that I couldn't find a few years back. Then I'd like to see some of that Texas fishing that Catt is always doing. Justin Mott

I can't say that I sit down but I do lean against our seat. Its rather high so I don't lose much standing height. The only concern I would have with sitting and doing an underhand pitch is the height needed to get the bait enough momentum to give it some distance. If you get your seat high enough, you should be ok. If not, side arm pitches are great. If push comes to shove, do whatever you can do to get the bait where you want it and still be comfortable. I wouldn't worry much about splash too much. My dad used to fish with an older gentleman that hand knee problems back when my dad was young. They would overhead cast everything. From the catches that my dad would tell me about, it didn't make much of a difference for them. Justin Mott

That's a good questions . It seems like everyone falls into two categories. They are more concerned with accuracy or they want to chunk a mile. I would bet money that the two groups represent two different styles of fishermen. Guys that beat the bank or are cover focused are normally more concerned about accuracy. Guys that are working structures want all the distance they can get. I'm convinced that there isn't an absolute to fishing. So for me, I like to select the ideas that fit or an enhance my style of fishing. I love to make short accurate cast running around with the trolling motor on high all day. But a guy that catches fishing casting a mile is just as right as I am. Justin Mott

That doesn't look like a bad little pond. It looks fairly shallow too which I like. They probably didn't go anywhere. Their mood definitely changed or you caught the aggressive ones fairly quick. I've fished a number of ponds where I beat their heads in right off the bat but had to change up to more finesse type techniques after an hour. That wind might be a pain to deal with. But if you want to continue to catch them, you are probably gonna have to pain yourself with it. So I'm gonna sound crazy for a second and tell you to fish a weightless worm after the blade. Use the wind to help you cast and keep your rod low. I'm convinced that those fish are still feeding but are a little gun shy of that blade. The trick worm is a great adjustment for early fish. The wind should only help your bite. Bass like to feed up when they are aggressive and its windy conditions. After you have caught a few more, you will have caught the majority of the active fish in that pond and probably need to move toward a small senko or finesse worm. Once again, keep your rod low so that the wind doesn't affect it. Pop the rod tip to move the bait or just turn the reel handle a half turn. count to 5 and do it again. If you are wondering about feeling a bite, you will still feel them fine. When they want to eat it, they will give you plenty of time to figure out they are there and hit them hard. If fishing with light weight in the wind is too much trouble on you, I would grab a small squarebill and chunk it til I was sick in the face. lol That's where my mind is running and I feel pretty solid about that advice but of course we never know until we give it a go. If you get a chance to give it a run, let me know how it goes. Good Luck Kevin, Justin Mott

I don't think it would make much of a difference. In my opinion, baits with longer hooks will still do the job nicely. Jigs, spinnerbaits, plastics, etc. Where I would be concerned would be topwater and crankbaits. They typically have smaller hooks which means that it would take less movement for the hook to come loose. Does anyone have experience with barbless treble hooked baits? Justin Mott

She doesn't look big??? Yea she does. That's a chunky girl. Good catch! If they are all like that in your pond, I'll be visiting you soon. Justin Mott

I honestly caught my personal best with a 4 colored jig. I have tied it twice. Once with a crankbait and another time with a 4 inch senko. It was all pond fishing so everything that I do in ponds is completely different than my tournament tactics. I fish much slower in ponds since the fish are much easier to find. Take the senko as an example. I currently would never throw that bait in a tournament situation. But at the time that I caught that bass, I had caught nearly 50 bass and was running short on plastics. Justin Mott

Hey Kevin, Can you give us some more information about the lake? Such as its size, the lay of the lake, type of cover, water clarity, etc. With a little more information, we can hopefully make a few stabs at it. Thank You, Justin Mott

Hey man, I feel ya. Any time the water makes a massive change, the fishing can suck. I remember fishing Lake Jordan in early winter a few years back. One week, I caught a 15 lbs stringer fishing aggressively. The next week, a massive rain comes in and the lake turns brown. I then struggled to catch 3 decent bass. Its just the fish being in a bad mood. Given a few days, they will pick back up and get back to feeding. I bet that by tomorrow they will be eating again, even with the muddy water. But we really won't know until you get back out there. If you can, hit the pond again and let us know how it picks up. Justin Mott

It sounds like you are on the right track. In my opinion, most people will come in for the sales alone. Most people are looking for deals over other stores but that is obvious. The next reason would be in-depth knowledge of local fishing. If you can gather the most up-to-date information and people begin to trust that information, you will notice more people coming to you and your store for it. For tournament fishermen, price is almost a secondary notion. We spend 100s of dollars just to participate in tournaments that are for little more than bragging rights. If you can get the inside scoop on how they are being won, people will be all over that. You could also have a small test tank. I have seen it a few times where you could test a few side items like plastic worms to see how they look in the water. Do they float or just sink to bottom? How does a jig look with a certain trailer and how does it react? Sure you might need a few more spares than your boss might like but it could be a useful selling tool. Coupons are a great item to get new people in the door. Keeping up-to-date tournament entry forms will keep tournament guys coming in. I love the big fish bragging board idea. Throw in a little competitions like discounts for biggest bass on the board. I think the cost to benefits would be very much in your favor. BPS is all about videos. They are little TVs at the end of every other row. Its a pure infomercial but they can give you an idea of how to use those lures. And I believe that it gives people more confidence in buying lures that they aren't comfortable with. I'm sure you can come up with an inexpensive version of this. Good Luck and let me know what you come up with, Justin Mott

I really like Mop Jigs and Arky Jigs. The Mop Jig is my big fish bait but it is terrible at working in thick cover. Its get hung way to often. Just got to be honest about it. The Arky Jig is a great all around bait but I use it for the thick stuff. For such a cheap bait, it has a strong weedguard and hook. Justin Mott

I have always fished from day light to around 2-4pm. I've been tournament fishing since I started fishing so I'm so used to this routine that its second nature. It also works out in my favor. For one my wife doesn't like waking up real early so she won't care that I'm gone for atleast half the trip. The second half I get to enjoy that mid day warmth. And Third that early morning bite is dynamite. Its almost too easy. Now there are a few down sides. Early Spring and Winter SUCK in the morning! Its so cold that it hurts. And I live in the south so I don't keep a lot of cold weather clothes. You also have to sacrifice sleep some times. We still like to go out and enjoy the night and that hits right up against my fishing from time to time. Sometimes that means that I have to make it up after the trip. Justin Mott

I'm all about local stores. We have a store in Selma, Alabama called Round Tree that has great deals. They also have all the baits and colors that I use. Honestly the two best things that I find about local shops is the extra information and special deals. A local guys whole game is about having the best information to sale the right baits. If they sell baits that catch fish, they continue to make money. So I hold a large amount of trust in the information that they give. The place that I go to also has good deals on spinnerbaits and crankbaits. The prices are dead on with BPS and Acedemy. Given how close this store is to me, its a no brainer. Justin Mott

Great job. No lie. You did great by just not giving up and keeping on fishing. I've seen a number of guys that are out of it if they aren't catching them early. You are bound to be successful at this with that attitude.

Good job man. Way to pull in that big girl

Go wear them out Bro

Welcome Buddy. I can't wait to here the tips you come up with for that Florida fishing.

Welcome to the Forum. Are you hammering the bass like Greg Hackney down there?