VAbacklash

Double DITTO for everything Sam wrote! Nearly thirty some years ago, that map book was my best friend. It and the fact that the buoys are numbered saved me from a lonely night on the lake. Allow yourself plenty of daylight to get back into the landing.

Google "traction tape" and you will find a number of sources for it in different widths.

I agree with Way2slow. I used that on my older trailer and it is great for traction. It's not that expensive and can be cut to fit most anywhere.

Thanks everybody for the help. Fished my club tournament yesterday and the Booyah Boogee chatterbait impressed me and put six good keeper bass in the livewell. Amazing! The bite shutdown after a couple of hours, but boy it was a blast while it was on. I didn't win, but at least my slump is over!

Mann's Hardworm has to be number one on my list. These things were hard plastic worms with a jointed tail section and had a small diving lip like a jerk bait. I had about a half dozen of these things and I couldn't catch a cold with either one of them. My tackle box was stolen and I was scared to death that the thief would bring those things back.

Chatterbaits must be the topic of the day, so here I go. I've got a small club tournament this weekend and need some tips on the proper use of a chatterbait. I'll be fishing a fairly clear lake with lots of weeds and grass out to about ten feet deep. I have several of the 3/8 ounce chatterbaits and expect to have a few of the 1/2 ounce Booyah version on the way. Any advice will be appreciated.

I guess I'm "old school" if there is such a thing where Carolina rig fishing is concerned. I use an Abu Garcia 5500 C3 reel spooled with clear/blue 17 pound test Stren mono and 6 & 1/2 ft. Shimano heavy action trigger handle rod. I use coated wire leader, that I make myself, that has glass beads, brass bullet sinker and noise maker. To this I attach a 14lb. leader about three feet long with swivels and with a 3/0 or 4/0 Owner offset worm hook. Wally World has a wire sinker rig similar to what I make that is called a"Clacker" that would work just as well. The are many variations as to how and what rig you need to fish Carolina rig style. Some times we fishermen tend to make things more complicated than they need be. I consider the way I rig my stuff to be pretty basic and simple. My point is: try the basics first and then refine it to your likeings. That way you wont have a ton of money tied up into something that doesn't work for you.

Burley, what machine shop makes those 25/0 hooks? Can't find'em in my area !!

Bubba, I can only tell you what works for me. I prefer 3/0 or 4/0 Owner hooks, depending on the thickness of my bait. I plan on trying Gammy wide gaps this year on certain plastics such as Senkos, which I have never used that much before. Maybe some of the other guys and gals here can give you better insight on what to use. Good fishing!

I suggest that you follow the advice you have been given by other members and see what kind of reponse you get. Probably money, or lack of, was the deciding factor in the dam not being repaired when the damage occured. Communities have to set priorties for fund expeditures. If the response is negative, form a citizens group to mount a drive in favor of the repairs. You have to show that there are many people in favor of spending the taxpayers money for what may not be considered essential for the good of the community. If all else fails, start a matching fund drive. Approach the city or town officials with an offer that they match any funds that your citizens group can collect. You got to remember that this also is about politics. Try to get as many leaders of the community to support the cause.

If you had added that you caught it on a Zebco 33, how much would that endorsement have paid? :-/

I guess I should say that this was my strangest day fishing: Caught a 15 pound Carp on a crankbait, then caught a 3 feet long water snake on the same bait, then to finish off the day, I got into a school of bass and boated over thirty in about 45 minutes. Problem was, not a single one of the bass was legal size. They were all within 1/4 inch of being the same length. Fun anyway, except for the snake!

Welcome! Jump on in and get your feet wet!

I second all the advice preceeding this post. All are on the money. I would add that if you can master jig or Texas rigged plastic worm fishing, you will be ahead of the game. Both require patience and full attention to your your lure. When you hook your first fish with either of the two, you will feel that you did it all on your own. Best of luck !!

I'm gonna try senko77's tip and go with the #1's. I think he had suggested this to someone else before and I was looking to replace mine.

Many large fry or juvenile size bass are caught by crappie fishermen using minnows and 3/16 oz. bucktail jigs. Many bass fishermen have caught them on crankbaits with hooks that were almost too big for their mouths. I can only assume that they are catching them legally, but not intentionally for bait purposes. Or let's hope that is the case.

I visit another fishing chat forum from time to time to catch up on what's going on in my general fishing area. This chat forums last big disscussion involved using bass of any size (limit of two caught by hook and line in my state) as bait. If they are used as bait, there is no way this can be enforced. Most of the comments were from crappie and cat fishermen and they were favorable to using them as live bait. Being a C&R bass fisherman, I have a BIG problem accepting this practice even though I don't have a clue if this hurts or helps the bass population in a lake heavily loaded with shad and other food sources. I don't have any problems with anyone keeping their legal limit of any freshwater fish for consumption. I just don't understand, with all the natural shad that can be netted and minnows that can be purchased, why they feel this should be acceptable by bass fishermen. Your thoughts? I just realized that I have posted this in the wrong area. Sorry!

I'm set in my ways. I still use Poe's 400's to get down as deep as I can stand to crank. It sure doesn't take many casts and retrieves to figure out that nothing's home. Could it be age or laziness?

Lucky Craft lures are new to my tacklebox and it's not that I prefer one style of their lures over another as much as it is closer in appearance to the different brands I own. I haven't had the chance to put one in the water yet, but they do have a good loud rattle. If they are as good as reported or as good as I hope, I'm sure I'll try all that fit my style of fishing. Flat sided Bombers and Rapalas have worked for me in the past.

I've had a few decent LCR's over the years that have given me good detailed information as far as bottom structure, but I haven't seen much that I would call fish. I'm sure that if would spend a day on the water with nothing but the LCR, instruction book and no fishing equipment, I would probably see much more detail. I generally use mine to look for structure or anything different that might attract or hold fish. Actually seeing the fish doesn't mean a lot to me. That could me the reason I'm just an average fisherman.

A friend of mine took me live bait trolling in October a few years back an we caught and released 22 bass ranging in weight from 2 to 3 pounds in two and a half hours. That trip was a total blast. We used "jumbo" shiners hooked thru the lips with #2 hooks on spinning tackle. We trolled using the bow mounted trolling motor set at a low/medium speed. We were fishing a small weed filled lake in about eight to ten feet depth following the contour of the shoreline. We opened the bails and let out forty to 60 feet of line, my friend from one side and me, the other. We held the line with our fingers and when the felt a tap, we would release the line and let the fish run to a count of five. We would then close the bail by hand and then set the hook. By doing that we didn't have any gut hooked fish. I have used this same method to give my grandchildren a fun "catching" day on the lake. Young children have short attention spans when fishing and not catching. My grandaughter demands that every fish caught is rewarded with a shiner or minnow for their being caught.

I generally fish stained water in lakes from 3,000 to 50,000 acres. I'm about average in most presentations other than topwater and finesse fishing. I don't spend much time trying to learn those two methods at all. Getting to my question: Do you think 14lb. test mono is too heavy for casting Lucky Craft CB350's? The packaging suggests 8 to 10 lb. test, which to me calls for spinning reels. I know heavier pound test = less depth, but I'm looking for suggestions. Thanks in advance! Yeah!!, the bait monkey got me this weekend!!

Try this site. Someone had some pics posted on BFR of their boat with this same storage system and I really liked what I saw. I haven't added it to my boat yet. www.cookstacklesystem.com

That is one weird looking looking lure! Try this: remove the rear treble and replace with a worm hook. Put on a 7" floating worm that would compliment the lure color and ==WaaLa== Baby snake! Everything has a purpose!

I decided that I needed to try to come up with my own "secret" formula and try to add some scent to a couple bags of Culprit worms. Had the recipe just right and dumped the worms in for a two week soak. They came out as hard as #2 pencils and had lost about one inch in length. Decided to retire from the scent business. :-[