StevesBass

Usually I will take whatever time it takes to pick it out but I think on this one I said screw it because I didn't really care for that particular brand of braid and planned on replacing it anyway.

I have the opposite experience. A birds nest with braid is exactly why I use it. I can straighten them out in a minute when I get them. But a birds nest with mono or flouro, that's a totally different experience.

Most of the time I do use my thumb but occasionally I find the middle finger works better I found something in my toolbox that works better than anything else for getting a backlash out. I picked this set up at Ace for $8 or $9 and stuck the one with the 90 degree bend in my boat. Use it a lot less these days than I use to but I still find it handy when I do manage to get one of those professional overruns.

What happens when you snag your fishing partners lure on your back cast. I think this is the only backlash I've ever had to cut completely out.

I wouldn't say "entitled", I would say oblivious. Most people just don't give a second thought to how their actions are affecting someone else.

Here's how my 1/2 day of fishing went Tuesday... Zoom Horny Toad 1/2 oz Swim Jig with Keitech Easy Shiner trailer Keitech Easy Shiner on a Owner Twist Lite Rage Tail on a 1/8 oz swim jig hook 10" Power Worm? with 1/4 oz weight Senko & 1/8 oz bullet weight Berkley Flicker Shad Started out with the Horny Toad over some shallow weed beds early. One fish made a half-hearted attempt at it. Next I rotated back and forth between choices 2, 3 & 4 around some weed beds in water from 2-6 feet deep. All three fish were in the 1.5 to 2lb range. Started warming up so I moved out a little deeper (8-12ft) dragging the 10" worm over some points. No love there. Picked up the Senko and moved back to the shallow weed beds and fished edges of lillypads in water from 1-4ft deep. Picked up a 2.5 and a 3 (that was nice). Threw the Flicker Shad throughout the day whenever I saw bass chasing bait but couldn't get bit. The lake was a little dirty (2 ft visibility) from all the rain but I found one area the size of a football field that was strangely crystal clear. Everything I caught came from that location. All-in-all, not a horrible day but it could have been better. What else should I have been doing (besides yard work)?

Ziplocks work better than anything else I've found. I sort mine by type instead of color though.

Went fishing this morning and I was drifting the very southern most bank of the lake. Guy in a pontoon comes motoring up and proceeds to pull a U-Turn 30 yards in front of me right over the weed line I was fishing. He had the whole d**n lake. I just don't understand what the hell goes on inside of people's heads.

Got to the ramp the other morning and there were smashed beer cans all over the end of the dock, an upended container of chicken livers and tons of other garbage. Makes me rage.

I would start with the Navionics chart viewer. Then, load up Google Earth (not maps) and if you roll the time back to March of 2002, the water was really low and you can see everything. Look for channels, points and steep drop offs. Any transitions from one type of structure to another are usually pretty good places to start. Looks like a really nice lake!

Just don't do Vinegar and Bleach. That's chlorine gas.

I agree but I spent some time looking at what lakes they do cover and they're pretty good for all of the areas I fish. YMMV.

Have the same as you at the console and I just put in a Garmin EchoMap Chirp 73SV up front and I couldn't be happier (except maybe for a 93SV!). Included LakeVu maps is what sold me. I couldn't see spending that kind of money and then shelling out another $150 for contour maps. I'll probably upgrade the console to a 93SV next year.

Maybe check your state's DNR pages. Indiana has a site that lists all tournaments (at least the ones that bother to tell them). I actually download it to a spreadsheet, do some voodoo magic to it and upload it to my google calendar so I know what lakes have tournaments going on so I don't show up to a packed boat ramp.

My grandfather died when I was two but I remember seeing newspaper articles and pictures of him hanging up in the bait shop at Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. He used bamboo fly rods he built himself and he caught some monster bass. I think he was somewhat of a local legend down there. Anyway, I like to think I got my love of fishing from him.