Rpratt

I was doing really well late winter-early spring with some nice catches, but as I am sure most of us experienced the same thing, a very brief spring straight into summer. I went one week with the water temps in the low 50's, skipped a week, went back and the temp was at 79! It's been a steady 83 ever since. I wanted to try fluke fishing, yeah, not doing well there (yes I studied fluke master's videos), caught some on Carolina rig and last week I went to shaky head and had an awesome day! I went back to old school buzzbait (I haven't really used those in years) and have had some success with that also.

What kills me is every time I go there to buy something in particular.... Well an example. I went Saturday to buy the BPS Flicker Worms. They had every other worm in sizes and colors imaginable, and just one pack of the flicker Worms left. It never fails, what I want is always out of stock. As far as the vacation thing goes. I have done it a few times at Branson, and it's well worth it IF, you know how to work the system. Last year I went to Branson 6 times for 4 days and 3 nights, and a full week in Michigan. If you don't want the people to bug you, of which they do, just say your already a member, and they instantly back off. I always go to BPS at least with a plan with what I am looking for, because it is so easy to become overwhelmed.

I seem to have much better days when fishing by myself. I don't have the worries of making sure whoever I am fishing with is not having a good time, that my boat is not positioned to where they can't fish etc etc. However, there is nothing much more fun and satisfying then when you have your ultra competitive good buddy out there with ya, and you just nail a nice fish in front of him ?

All this talk about buying baits that will never be used needs to be edited out before my better half sees it.... I know the feeling about being overwhelmed when shopping for baits all too well. So I don't go anymore unless I have a plan just to buy. Otherwise I just mindlessly wander around and kinda forget about anything I actually need And come home with the baits I will never use or forget I even bought them if that makes any sense. The 3 lake thing may work, however it may also just be a color choice that may not work. Black and blue may work on one, but not another lake.

Worst was trying to put the boat on the trailer, heard a thud and the boat quit moving. I was like what? So I backed up and did it again.... Thud! Yep trolling motor still down, knocked it halfway off it's mount. Went to a lake and hour and a half away, went all the way across the lake, dropped the trolling motor.... Nadda! Dead battery. Drove all the way back across the lake, pulled out boat, went to the marina boat shop, paid a crapoad of money for a new battery (he tried to charge me 75 bucks to screw down two wing nuts..) , put boat back in water, went all the way across the lake, first cast my flipping stick reel broke.... And I did not get a bite all day! Good times

Do not be afraid to change/mix things up. I think it's one of the hardest things to actually do. You get stuck in a pattern or with a favorite lure and stubbornly won't change tactics. Don't do that ?

Why is it that bass will tee off on a certain lure pattern/color when the pattern is not something that lives in their lake. For example this is my "situation". I have been fishing perch "flavored" squarebills on lakes that are around me that have a zero population of perch. I live in southern Illinois btw. And I get asked this alot by friends and other anglers how and why. We all hear the phrase match the hatch constantly but obviously this cant be. So the only thing I can sort of guess is it's the action of the squarebill or just presenting it the way the fish want it, or is the perch color closely resembling something else like possibly a blue Gill.

I like how you fell victim to Hanks editing lol! Just one question, have you remembered what your name is yet? ?

The early days was Bill Dance, Hank Parker, Rick Clunn and Roland Martin. I highly suggest even if you read it years ago, to read Roland Martin's 101 Bass Catching Secrets from I think 1980. I am rereading it now after all these years and it's an eye opener on how they fished then, and how relavant things still are today. Always been a fan of KVD but I am kind of drawn also to how people teach and how genuine seems to be. Case in point someone like Shaw Grigsby who just oozes genuine excitement after all these years about what he does for a living. It comes across loud and clear that this sport is fun, sometimes extremely frustrating but worth my time, and that I want to pass this on to my kids nephews, nieces friends etc with the same fervor as he does

Boat? ?

Honestly my first picks I made a month ago and that I tweaked were.. Ehrlers Evers Elam Daniels Hartman Should have left well alone lol

I have Christie Wheeler Faircloth Daniels Hartman Currently kicking myself because I did a last minute swap of Elam last night.....

Old farmers thing here in Midwest. The frogs will come out and croak, and then cold snap. Repeat process 3 times, then spring is here. Sounds silly but it really does seem to work ?

Ironically on The Bass Pros this week during the Fishing in 5 segment Rick Clunn answered this threads questions and theories. Motivation, age and physical abilities/health, and electronics all play a part in the reasons it's so hard for the older guys to compete at the levels that they do. So everyone is correct ?

Just received an email from Cabela's. It looks like their version of the BPS spring sale starts March 10th thru the 28th

I walked into our local Walmart today and they had all Berkely Crankbaits on clearance for 3 dollars. The key word there is had...... ?

I bought that exact same Strike King hat this past weekend. Would like to get that Zoom hat! They do have it in camo. But this is the first tI'm I have seen fishing hats in Walmart in MANY MANY years!

Sorry if it's been posted I am kind of in a hurry to do a proper search, but question is these are on sale this coming weekend and for the price break it's well within what I am willing to spend. I am not at this time fishing tournaments, but I was wondering if this was a quality depth finder. So any experience with it and advice would be greatly appreciated. Btw, I am going to be using it as bow mounted unit. I don't anything with side scan as something that may be suggested as comparable. Thank you

We got a Gander Mountain a little over a year ago. It was nice to have since where I live the nearest Bass Pro is about an hour away. So if I really needed something I could go there. And then Sports Authority closed and within a few months Sports Academy moved in, literally within a few miles of Gander Mountain. SA has a better selection then Gander Mountain (which had a SERIOUS problem of not restocking items) and the pricing is BELOW what I may pay for the same items at Walmart!

I was getting a little giddy after the first few days. I had 4 of the top 10 at one time, and then Ehler's had the bad day. Finished 1277 with 3 in the top 12 (Wheeler, Feider and Palaniuk)

US Navy 1983-1994, Aircraft Structural Mechanic. Still the best job I ever had! I worked on the A-3, P-3 and F/A-18.

I bought 2 Pro Qualifiers last year. One of them I just could not get to stop back lashing so that one went back. The other one has been just fine. I traded the other one back for a Carbonlite and I have had zero issues with that one either. I just bought a Tatula Type R last weekend and can't wait to try it out this coming weekend.

I can tell you this. My brother in law who has hardly fished all his life, recently moved to a gated community on a golf course in Sarasota last year. Using a 20+ year old piece of junk rod and reel that makes the cheapest setup you could buy at Wally World look like high end equipment, the same plastic worm over and over and over.... has caught NUMEROUS largemouth over 5lbs. His best was just a little over 8. And he always has to be on the lookout and never fishes at night because there are gators in the lake.

Right now it's the Ned Rig and Wacky Rig. I don't think the smaller lakes I fish in have seen these very much based on conversations with other locals. Going a larger lake tomorrow to see if these two techniques hold up with a vastly more pressured body of water.

Without a doubt Major League Fishing. We watch Zona although he gets on my wife's nerves. The guys I think would be great based on watching their YouTube videos is the Shryrock brothers. And of course the ultimate spinoff that I would completely enjoy would be "Fishing with Larry Legend"