fishwizzard

I picked up a Blackwater hand paddle over the winter and I am amazed how much I use it. It works so well to make small adjustments in position and heading and really has increased the time I spend fishing and not fussing around with positioning.

For me it was totally misunderstanding casting technique, once I saw how others did it, everything started clicking and I was able to start practicing the correct way.

If the entire 65 miles of lake is open for the tournament, then yes that is going to be very hard to cover the entire thing. While I am mostly a physical infrastructure/logistics guy, my idea would be to use chase boats with repeaters/signal amps to follow at least the most popular boaters/top five/whatever. Assuming that the organizers can track the position of every competitor, it would be relatively easy to work out how to spread your resources out. It is an interesting problem, as usually you are trying to solve a capacity issue (50-100k people all tying to upload to facebook/twitter/whatever all at the same time) or, in urban events, tall buildings. Without even an idea of their budget it is hard to do more than speculate, but one would assume they are working on it. How close to capacity do pro fisherman load their boats? I wonder if there is an issue with adding more gear/weight to the exisitng boats?

I do live event production work, and there are ways to increase cell/broadcast coverage that work very well. They are not cheap, but pretty much every "major" outdoor event will supplement cell service somehow, with some municipalities requiring it as part of your event permit. No idea what Bassmasters budget is, but you would think for an event that is completely reliant on clear broadcasting (and I am assuming ad revenue from viewership), that they would prioritize it.

I have been lusting after an older (one of the small ones) Tacoma for years, but have never been able to stomach what people want for them. I know they are the best light duty trucks ever made and hold their value very well, but I would see CL adds like this; "For Sale, 95 Tacoma, 4x4, some rust, no engine, raccoons living in cab. $10k obo, raccoons very friendly" and give up for a while. Then I see a nice one on the road and start looking all over again.

I am a novice with a baitcaster as well and I found that the YouTube videos by "The Informative Fisherman" to be a huge help. They made with a more pulled out shot then most others so you can see more of the casting motion.

Glad to see this thread. Over the winter I was at a fishing flea market and handled an old 5' pistol grip casting rod. I really liked the feel of it but after looking at the high cost of LW casting reels, I put the idea out of my head. I never even thought about spincasters, as I had only seen the Barbie-branded ones and the like for kids. It looks like the Zebco Omega and the Daiwa Goldcast are the most recommended, would either of them be useable with much smaller line the the 8-10lb they are rated for? Like maybe 4-6lb mono or hybrid? I fish a lot for white perch and think a little 4-5' rod and spincaster would make a fun addition to my arsenal.

I enjoy catching anything and have recently spent an afternoon happily catching minnows on a UL spinner. Would I have been delighted if a striper had slammed my line? Absolutely. Was it still better then a day at work or a sitting on the couch? Also absolutely.

Very nice!

I am more of a finesse guy so a lot of this is going over my head, is this the snell knot you guys are talking about? I have done a little backyard testing of it and while it seems to hold well, it looks like it could loosen up very easily.

I fish the ned a lot and use 1/16oz jig head, either Gopher, Z-man, or VMC half moon. The latter have a longer hook that I like when there are crappie or large sunfish around as it will catch them as well. In less open areas, I have been using an Owner Ultrahead, also in 1/16oz with a #1 hook. It works very well for TRDs and half zinkers, and is perfect for the z-man finesse shads, it's like they were designed to work together. I sometimes "power Ned" and use a full Hula Stick on a Eiron Breaker stand up head in 1/8oz. It works well, but I wish they offered it in 1/16oz but with the same sized hook.

The 3.8 Fats are my confidence bait and what I fish maybe 50% of the time, either weightless t-rigged or on a 1/16th oz Rugby head. I am going to give the SK version a try, mainly to see if they are more durable, which is my only complaint with the Keitechs. My dream lure would have a super tough head but a soft body and somehow is able to survive the retail chain without a clamshell packaging, which I hate for a myriad of reasons. Somehow the regular Impacts can survive being packed in a normal bag with a small insert tray, I don't know why that wouldn't work with the Fats.

I have been experimenting with something similar, but using 6lb Hybrid. I have not had a fish break off yet, but I have lost a ton of lures trying to free them from snags, which is odd because my normal set up is 10lb braid/8lb floro, which should be weaker then the 6lb Hybrid. Do you use a loop knot or a "normal' one to attach the lure? I have tried to use a short 15lb floro leader to try and get the ned to sink faster, but I cannot reliably get tiny loop knots to hold in it.

I use an improved clinch/Trilene knot with braided line and in my informal pull tests (line tied to hook, hook around metal pipe, live end of line wrapped around a stick) the hook either fails or the line breaks at the knot, I have never hand a knot slip or fail. I am currently messing with Snell knots in braid and am having similar results. This season I am trying hybrid line on my reels with a second spool. I am having decent luck with it but am not convinced I prefer it to braid + leader.

I have some 2" Swing Impacts but have never fished them. I have a pack each of silver and gold flash and I think they will be ideal white perch lures. I should remember to take them to the pond some time and see how they do.

I just picked up a Fenwick rod myself and am also super impressed with it. I am glad yours worked out for you.

Not big lures in themselves, but big for those tiny tiny fish!

I have some 50lb PowerPro on a surfcasting rig and that stuff is so stiff that I can't imagine using it on a bass rod. I assume the higher end braids are more supple at the higher ratings?

I was hoping for a picture of a single melted bait honestly, a whole bag would be tragic though. I have avoided JJ's as I am clumsy and don't want a chartreuse hand, but I am curious as hell about the reaction.

I believe someone posted here a few months ago that JJ's almost immediately dissolves z-man baits.

I agree with, I still have little idea what I am doing and I can consistently catch on this, specifically the 3.8" Fat Impact. It is heavy enough to throw weightless, but small enough to catch numbers. A Ned Rig done weedless on an Owner Ultrahead would be my next choice.

Nicely done! I hit a bowie pond yesterday as well and all I caught were two ticks.

The fish are already wet dude, they don't care about rain, get out there!

I have two milk crates full of tackle that changes through the year and at least two rods in my car all the time.

3.8" Fat Impact on a 3/0 long shank. Sometimes I stick a nail weight across the head to get it down faster. This is my confidence bait and has passed the Ned rig as my most catching lure. I like it because I can cast it a mile, it comes through cover, I can skip it pretty well, and the bass seem to love it. I also use it on a 1/16oz 2/0 Rugby head, but only then in current.