OCdockskipper

On my home lake, there is a specific pre-spawn bite that begins around the Super Bowl, give or take a week every year depending on conditions. During this timeframe, I will usually find larger females sunning themselves around the deeper portions of docks midday. Not under the docks & not willing to chase, just sort of hanging around getting ready to fatten up. I have found making long casts with a Ned rig often results in getting hit on the fall at these specific locations. Watching my line stop sinking well before the bait has made it to the bottom and then lifting into a heavy weight gets my blood going two ways. First, it is knowing that I am on a pattern I can repeat all over the lake. Second, it is the true sign that spring has begun and the slower days of winter bites are over for another 10 months.

More often than not, I will still skip under their dock. However, I make sure to acknowledge them, say something nice about their property (a Zona tip) and make sure it is a cast that I am 100% sure will go where I am aiming. Non fisherman and newbie fishermen alike are astounded when they see you make a slick cast that skips under their dock. If it is a tricky cast with a decent percentage of failure on the first try, I will bypass with them there. If they are working on their boat or dock, I will also typically bypass (although still acknowledge them with a smile, buff down & sunglasses off so they can see your happy face). Most people want to see you catch a fish, it is kind of exciting for them (especially if they don't fish). They love to see a fish caught near or under then dock & then released to go right back there so they can catch it in the future. Yesterday, I had a couple with a young son (who was interested in learning how to fish) literally cheer me on when I hooked up and landed a bass 20 yards from their dock. I went over & showed the boy the bass and gave him some tips on catching some of the big catfish in the lake. It is the right thing to do and the side result is those same people will actually encourage you to fish around their property to find out what is currently living there.

A side note to the tournament. I was waiting for the weigh-in to start and they were showing highlights of fish catches from the top 10. For some reason, I noticed the difference in the hookset & landings done by two truly great anglers, Steve Kennedy and Jason Christie. Christie set the hook while fishing a spinnerbait, on his toes but balanced, back arched. He swiftly boat lifted the fish as it approached the gunnel, deftly catching the line & controlling the bass. Conversely, Kennedy, fishing a swim jig I believe, set the hook flat footed, looked as if he almost fell over and had happy feet as he battled the fish. He bounced the bass into the boat, missing the line and having the fish end up at his loafer shoed feet. Christie has an athletic background, having played basketball in college while Kennedy is a former engineer and apparent spaz. Very different physical abilities, yet both are legendary success's on the elite tour. Pretty diverse sport...

I was thinking the same thing. Water temps have just topped 60 degrees, we have a full moon in 2 days and I have seen a few skittish males real shallow when walking down to the dock. The females I have been catching the past few weeks have been fat, so my hunch is that the first wave of spawners will be coming up when I hit the water Saturday morning. The morning air temps will be in the low 50's, so I will be forced to wear a jacket and long pants, at least for a few hours...

Probably end up in a self induced time-out.

If you ever get a millennial in the same room as a rotary phone, ask them to figure out how to dial a phone number. They struggle with it the same way the older generation struggles with smartphones. As JBSooner said, any streaming device (Roku, Firestick, AppleTV) will turn your "dumb" TV into a Smart TV. Also, all but the cheapest Blu-ray players also have internet access, and since they play all discs (CD, DVD & Blu-ray), if you still use discs and are looking for a new player, it kills 2 birds with one stone.

There is a reason that the major cable companies made a move 15 plus years ago to be internet service providers. They knew that the physical cable coming into your house would no longer be needed to get TV reception, but rather internet service. If you think it through, the only reason we ever had cable TV was because of the distance limits of terrestrial broadcasting. Cable TV & DSS were a couple decade stop gap between terrestrial broadcasting and broadband internet service. There are two reasons why you may NOT want to dump cable or DSS service: 1) You are in an area where you have limited or spotty internet service. In that case, you are just trading one problem (cost) for another (consistent service); 2) You are over 45 years old and are the type of person who mainly uses your smart phone to take pictures of the fish you catch. I joke, but some people struggle with technology and the concept of turning on a TV & then having to open an app in order to watch a show is foreign to them.

It is one of those products that is actually as good as advertised.

Thinking about what you wrote, the difference might have been the environment. The examples I gave were when the "legends" were in competition, just before or at the beginning of an event. They were most likely in a different mindset than when you met Clunn and his focus was on, well, meeting people. I know I am a jerk if I am focused on something and someone tries to engage me in a conversation that distracts me. Then again, I'm a jerk even if I'm not focused on something...

It is indeed March 11th thru the 31st (https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/fall-and-spring-classics). They typically start it on a Thursday, they did last year on the 12th. I remember last year vividly, I went into the store when it opened and a few hours later when I exited, I got in the truck, turned on the radio and found out the entire world was shutting down... I do enjoy BPS, however the sale is not as good as it has been in the past. The rod/reel trade in can lead to a good deal and sometimes electronics can be reduced, but you really have to go into the store to find some discounts that aren't advertised. As for pricing, BPS has gone out of their way to claim they will not be undersold, so while their prices may not be the lowest to begin with, you can take a few minutes and get them to match pricing found elsewhere (https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/pricematch)

I don't think anyone does that, however getting the opportunity to see a person who is legendary in their craft is a part of the overall experience of going to a weigh-in. I traveled from Southern California to Houston, Texas to see the Day 1 of the 2017 Classic. I have a sister who lives in Austin, so it made sense to visit her as well as take in an event that has never been that close to me geographically since the 1st one at Lake Mead. It was something I wanted to experience, not something that gave an insight to any deficiencies you or anyone else believe my life might have. Bottom line, the issue is one that Rick Clunn has with performing poorly. It is a "him" problem, don't try to pin it on those who attend the weigh-ins.

That is uncalled for, no need to insult people who have a different perspective than you.

It is funny you say that, I have heard other people say the same. However, the news reports the rest of the country get are misleading. The last major earthquake to hit Southern California was in 1994, over 25 years ago. Even though it did significant damage to those close to the epicenter, 99.99% of the people in Southern California had no damage. Like tornados, earthquakes do tremendous damage to a small area and leave the rest of the area untouched. You actually can figure out whether or not you are in a "danger area" if you just check out the locations of fault lines. If you compare deaths in the US from earthquakes to deaths from tornados or hurricanes, I would expect the latter to be more dangerous. I believe what scares most people about earthquakes is having absolutely no warning before they hit. The fires are also misleading. If you live in an urban city or the suburbs, the chance of a fire doing damage to you house is minimal. What you aren't told on the national news is that those homes destroyed in fires are in rural locations that have a history of burns, both prior to people moving there and after. In that way, the fires are much like floods that happen in other parts of the country. You pretty much know whether or not you are at risk based on the location of your home. I have lived in Orange County (CA) my entire life, 58 years and have felt dozens of earthquakes and seen dozens of large fires. Only 1 fire ever did any damage to property of anyone I knew and no one I know personally has ever died from either of those type of events. They are a bit of MSM folklore, sensationalized by the media. ' The reasons thousands & thousands of people are moving away from California doesn't have to do with natural disasters, they really don't affect a majority of the people who live here.

Not necessarily. As WRB & others on this forum can attest, Southern California (south of L.A.) really doesn't have hot or cold weather until you get inland (30 miles or so). Cold winter days are when it is in the 50's and hot summer days are in the 90's, no humidity. The Pacific Ocean on one side and a mountain range on the other is a great equalizer, not allowing our temperatures to get either extreme. Since it is a desert, we don't get much rain either, maybe 10 days worth in a year. Weather here is not a factor in day to day life, rare is the day that it is not pleasant outside. The weather here is actually boring. 90% of the time, the weather forecast is "pretty much like yesterday". That said, people are moving out of California faster than they are coming in. When push comes to shove, bad weather appears to be far down the list as to where people choose to live.

That is the BassResource handicap system. I hack into the system and wipe out one of your picks just before the tournament to give the rest of us a fighting chance. Ironically, I had the same thing happen to me about 4 years ago and it too was the first event following a year that I did good (98th percentile or something). It was the beginning of a long, horrible year of picking the wrong anglers...

Willie, out of curiosity, when did you submit your lineup to the B.A.S.S. website? If today, had you already had a Fantasy account before that or did you create that today? Congratulations again, great score.

I just noticed WillieP99 on the Fantasy fishing and was going to post the same thing. 10th place out of 35,000 people is incredible, especially being it is his first time. I do have one question however. How was he able to make a lineup and submit it when he posted today at 7:45 ET, after the end of the 3rd round, that he was going to "give it a shot"? Don't all of the lineups have to be submitted before the tournament starts?

Taking how it affects Fantasy Fishing out of the equation, I see two potential reasons why Clunn choose not to weigh in: He didn't want to take stage time away from those who were having a good tournament; He didn't want to cross the stage having done poorly. If it was the first reason, then that could be considered admirable. When Clunn had a big bag in 2016 on day 3, he inconvenienced the other participants by waiting to weigh in last (so his family could make it there). No one minded, giving extra attention to those who are having a good tournament is expected. So it does seem that may be his M.O., only take up stage time when he has produced. However, if it was the second, he is being selfish. There are plenty of fans who go to the weigh in to get a glimpse of the pros in person. For him to deprive them of that is very short sighted. Yes, it must get tiring smiling with fans, but it comes with the territory. If you don't want to deal with the fans, go back to guiding on Lake Conroe. As far as Clunn helping make B.A.S.S. what it is, I disagree. Had he never left that job at Exxon to fish professionally, B.A.S.S. would have still moved on without him. Without B.A.S.S., only those who hired him as a guide would have known his name. Clunn deserves all the accolades he has earned, but a little humility and appreciation for the organization that gave him a platform to accomplish all that would be nice. It might be something about older folks in the public eye. I have met both Clunn and Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson in the past decade and both were very gruff & short. I didn't ask for an autograph, picture or any of their time. For Brunson, I just started to open a door for him at the WSOP (he was using his crutch at the time) and was met with a sharp "Don't, I got it". For Clunn, I was talking with Trip Weldon at BassFest when Clunn came up to ask Trip something. When he was done, Rick looked at me & I said "Good luck tomorrow". He just gave me a blank look and walked away. Maybe they are just grumpy old men...

Back in 2018 at the BassFest tournament on Lake Travis, I was one of the in-boat officials who weighed the fish & my first day draw was David Fritts. Nice guy, a little odd, but definitely on the lower end for heart rate. No way his bpm ever went over 85 that entire day . Ironically, the next day I drew Gerald Swindle. Talk about a complete 180... I saw that, great picks. For the A bucket, I also chose an Elite returnee (Christie), but he apparently spent most of yesterday doing something other than fishing...

That changed last year. In addition to being a tiebreaker, if you do guess the weight exactly, it is worth 40 points for that tournament. Really tough to do, but it could pay off handsomely if you do it during a tournament that you picked the right guys as well. Clunn zero'd again today, which means 40% of the field got zero points for 1 angler (as opposed to 100 or so points for just finishing in last). I don't recall an angler with that high of a percentage ever zeroing before for both days. Ike had a tournament where he was near that percentage & zero'd the 1st day, but came back and caught some fish the 2nd day to get at least a hundred odd points. The way it works out, just by not choosing Clunn, you pretty much are in the upper 50% of the field to start the year...

Fishsticks for soft baits, in minnow & crawdad. I could use the Shad scent, but we have no shad in our lake, so I don't want to confuse the bass

Then you were using the right size, the vegetation you are dealing with sounds like it makes Ned a difficult option. Interesting you mention crappie, I knew they were in the lake, but in the hundreds of times I fished there, we only ran into a school of crappie once. We could catch bluegill all day long near any dock, but almost never stumbled upon crappie (although we weren't targeting them). Then again, I never knew where any of the planted brushpiles were back then either...

I think what that showed was the fish were suspended, pretty usual come winter time. Your Ned rig was bouncing around underneath that 10 lb beast, good chance she never even saw it. The kid's jerkbait comes along at or near the depth she is suspending & she bites. Not so much the lure but the depth of the presentation for the conditions & time of year. Most of the time that seems to happen with the heavier heads or in snotgrass type vegetation. For the pond weed in my lake, the 1/16th oz heads & a TRS stay on top of the weeds, neither falling in nor snagging. The fish below was caught a few years ago in August, in 5 feet of water with pond weed covering the bottom 2 feet. Not sure if she was swimming over the weedbed & grabbed it or ambushed it from a secluded hole, but it was right in the middle of the vegetation.

No, Fullerton, California. This Richard **** was a 270lb blob of terror at St. Phillips elementary school. He was so fat that one time another kid shot him in the stomach with a BB gun and it never made it past the blubber. He was literally able to squeeze the BB out, & then beat the bejesus out of the other kid.

I was in Huntington Beach yesterday, just south of the port of Long Beach where quite a bit of merchandise comes across the Pacific for distribution to various parts of the US. Out of the harbor, I counted 24 full sized cargo ships anchored in the channel, waiting for their turn to come into the port to be unloaded. This bottleneck is part of the supply chain issues y'all are talking about. The first image in the link below will give you an idea of what it looked like - https://www.ocregister.com/2021/01/27/la-long-beach-ports-weather-storm-record-cargo-and-covid-19-surges/?utm_email=8452C5C54489048CF434D4953D&g2i_eui=2ry0LST9TFw5iduppDnEwgELnHv0gpMT&g2i_source=newsletter&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ocregister.com%2f2021%2f01%2f27%2fla-long-beach-ports-weather-storm-record-cargo-and-covid-19-surges%2f&utm_campaign=scng-ocr-localist&utm_content=curated