OCdockskipper

Although we call them coves, that is probably a misnomer. They are more like small pockets or cuts, almost like dead end canals. There is only one that is more than 25 yards wide, in the rest a well fired cast with a lipless crankbait can reach from the docks on one shoreline to the other. They range from 40 yards long to about 85 yards long and unless you are skipping docks or flippin', you are often in the middle of the pocket casting towards either shoreline. The few of us who fish here regularly have found it to be a workable solution to not crowd someone when they are in one of these "coves". Rarely are there more than 2 boats on the lake fishing at the same time, so it is nice to give people room to cover an area at their own pace.

I realize the original post was long, but you misunderstood a few of the facts: a) The lake is private, not public; b) There are 12 coves (six per side) not six; c) We were the only 2 boats fishing the lake at that time; d) I never expected them to fish behind me, I just expected them to not jump directly in front of me into a cove I was headed into. When others are fishing the lake, we leapfrog coves, i.e., you don't go into the cove someone is fishing and if they are headed down the bank towards a cove, you either go to the other side of the lake or you bypass that cove in favor of the next one. They intentionally chose to cut in front of me 3 times, whereas I gave them leeway and never went in front of them when they were ahead of me (even when they were behind me & quit fishing to speed up & cut me off). That said, you are completely entitled to your opinion no matter selfish it may be. It is easy to share water, but these two had no interest in doing that - they had a "me first" mentality. It may explain why they weren't that good at catching bass.

Well done, that is a great way to approach them. I was concerned that my coming to them would make me "preachy" and do more damage than good, but your approach was perfect. You came & showed them respect and only the biggest jerk in the world would not understand that & want to reciprocate. Thanks for teaching me.

Thanks for your comment. Having lived in Orange County for 55 years, I have seen the modis operandi for this area in public change (generally) from consideration to rudeness. The irony is as populations grow and areas become more crowded, consideration for your fellow man is actually more important for society. I see rudeness everyday but am not willing to just accept it as normal whether it be on the freeway or the lake. With all due respect, if you don't see rudeness in what was described, you may want to take a moment of self evaluation. Hopefully you aren't treating other human beings in a manner where your actions declare that you are more important than them. The content and thoughts that go into your posts show you to be intelligent & articulate, the type of person who does the right thing for no other reason than it is right. With the way the coves lay out on this lake, you can alternate them with another angler without ever infringing on "their" water. Purposely cutting ahead of someone, whether it be in a parking lot, a line in a store or on the lake, is the beginning of dismissing the humanity of the person you are doing it to. It may seem like a small thing, especially if you are in the habit of doing it to others, but it is part of a slippery slope that creates problems in society. Please don't mistake my staunch position on this as me getting "worked up" over it. As you said, their actions just created and enhanced a story, at no time did I lose my cool. Getting older tends to entrench you in positions that you know are correct and hopefully gives you the wisdom in dealing with others in a way that corrects behavior without creating major conflict.

We have all encountered and reacted to different types of on the water rudeness or lack of etiquette. I had an extreme example at the start of this holiday weekend and figured I'd share it to get feedback on my reaction as well as other ideas on how to deal with it. As I have mentioned before, I fish a small, electric only 100 acre private lake. It is about a 1/2 mile long with 6 small coves on each side. The only portions of shoreline without a house & dock on them are a few green belt areas and a long docking area by the clubhouse & ramp. Most boats are left on the water year long, the boat ramp is used maybe once or twice a month when folks who live in the community but not on the water launch their boat for the day. So on Saturday morning about 2 hours past sunrise, I found myself near the boat ramp, fishing away from it, moving down the bank fishing docks. A couple of guys between 40-50 years old back into the launch area with a Pond Prowler like mine, run up to the clubhouse to get the gate key and then return to launch their boat. I didn't recognize them from being on the lake before, but they had their boat set up in an experienced manner (trolling motor in the front, rear rudder) so I knew they weren't newbies to bass fishing. I was moving down the bank, about 30 yards from exiting the cove as they got underway. They promptly drove to where the cove ended in front of me, slowed down and began fishing, moving down the bank in the same direction I was headed. I thought they had seen me and should have known I was moving that way, but then again maybe they were excited about getting started and hadn't paid attention. I get out of the cove, to the point they had begun, and they are still 30 yards or so ahead of me, starting to curl around into the next cove. I was curious how they were fishing the docks, so I fished the area they had just covered, catching a 3 lb bass in the process. As they went further into that cove, I skipped past them and motored down to the next cove, giving them the entire cove they were in and the main lake area after it to fish. As I was finishing up the cove I was in, I motored down to the other end of the lake to my house for a quick bathroom stop. Coming back to the boat, I saw they were still on the upper end of the lake, so I instead began fishing a pair of coves at the bottom end of the lake. About an hour later as I exited the 2nd cove towards the main lake, still fishing along the bank, I was surprised to see that they had come down down to the bottom of the lake as well. They had lines in the water, but as I came into view, they reeled in, turned up their motor and again jumped about 30 yards ahead of me. Now I knew their behavior was intentional, so I fished behind them for the short stretch of the main lake. I caught a pair of fish, which I made sure to play out and allow to jump on the side of the boat they could see (and they did indeed look back & notice). They soon came to a very large cove which they entered, so I again bypassed it, letting them fish the entire cove. This time however, the lake had a 90 degree turn, so I fished the main lake area out of the cove (new water) where they could see me. I hooked up 4 times, again making sure to play all fish to the side of the boat that they could see. Kind of a jerk move on my part, but very vindicating to show them what they passed up. My path led me into another cove and as I exited it a short while later, they were about 25 yards behind me. i continued fishing the main lake shore as I approached the next cove, only to see them turn the trolling motor on high, scoot pass me (I waved & smiled) and pull in front of me at the entrance to the cove I was approaching. I rolled the options available through my mind. Doing the same thing to them that they did to me didn't appeal to me, nor did cursing them out at the top of my lungs. I considered motoring up to them and talking with them, mentioning how those who fish the lake regularly share the water, but I decided that would be like trying to reason with an unreasonable person, that they would just consider me some blowhard and tell me to go F myself. So since what they were doing was disrespectful, I decided that the appropriate action was to show them a lack of respect and fish behind them the entire cove. I made this decision partially based on seeing how they were fishing and fully confident that I could catch multiple fish behind them. So as I enter the cove, with them a scant 25 yards in front of me, I hook up on my first cast, another nice 3 lb fish. My mouth got the better of me as I landed the fish when I said in a conversational tone & level "Looks like you missed something". I glanced up from the fish and they were both looking my way. Halfway down the cove, I catch a second fish behind them and then repeat it a 3rd time as they are getting close to exiting the cove, all the while they hadn't gotten a single bite. Whether or not I made a point I don't know, but it sure felt self satisfying. I really don't know how else to deal with their kind of behavior. My lake is way too small to try and avoid people and to be blunt, I find avoidance to be a weak and ineffective response to behavior that is akin to bullying. Talking with them may help, but it will need to be during a conversation initiated by them. If I approach them, I am the guy yelling at them to get off my lawn. If they come to me, whether it be to chat about fishing or anything else, they have opened the door to be more receptive to a suggestion from me, at least I think so. The perfect solution would be that they are lurkers here on Bass Resource and read about themselves in this post, but that may be asking for too much...

The fish in the picture below weighed an even 8lbs. You & I are of similar build and in both pictures, we kept the fish in front of us instead of pushing it forward. The head size, lengths & girth of these fish look very close, so I believe you can call it an 8 with a clean conscience.

When they pick a cove to do this on our lake, they also end up slamming into the boats and docks along the waters edge, making a huge racket. They do it at all hours and many folks say it gets so loud it wakes them up in the middle of the night.

You know that is going to be on the mind of some of the long time Caps players. You finally get a monkey off your back and an even bigger monkey comes walking through the door, looking for a place to squat. The Caps definitely have the talent to win, but I think it will be a mental battle more than anything. Having watched Vegas handle the Ducks, Kings & Sharks all year, this should be a good series.

Soccer players have tackle bags on the field during warmups? No wonder they go down like they are shot all the time, getting those hooks caught in themselves must be painful...

Fish Sticks, usually the crawfish but occasionally the shad. Ironically, in the 5 times I have been on an Elite anglers boat, the pro's I have been with have never used scent. David Fritts spent 8 hours last Thursday dragging a Carolina rig around with a small beaver bait and not once used scent.

Most experienced anglers have far more legitimate reasons to release such a fish then keep it. However, bashing the angler who kept it with those reasons will do nothing but create resentment by that angler and not stop him from doing the same in the future. Without judgement, have a conversation with that angler to get his side of things. Maybe he grew up in a household where he was taught to eat everything he caught. Maybe he believes other experienced anglers will give him respect being that he caught a large fish. Whatever it is, there are reasons why he did what he did (assuming he is not mentally imbalanced). Take the time to talk with him, learn and maybe even go fishing with him. Rather than tell him that it was a mistake to keep that fish, model your behavior for him so that he sees there is an alternate way to do things. I believe the saying "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still" is oh-so true. Let him observe enough to change his mind on his own.

Fritts was ambivalent on the catch & release format, although he did say he & most pro's have a rhythm of catching & putting in the livewell that they can do pretty fast. He did mention some rule changes that had been implemented since his previous run on the tour that he didn't like, such as not being able to prefish with his son (since his son isn't an Elite angler). Swindle prefers the livewell system. He believes that when you find a school of larger bass, releasing caught fish tends to spook the school (not so much with smaller bass). Further, Gerald is very systematic in the way he does thing, so adding in a variable of a judge has the potential to put a hitch in his get-a-long. He never said that or anything negative about the judges, but an organized angler would probably find a sloppy, slow judge to be like fingernails on a chalkboard. I don't have any data to back it up, but I would guess that a majority of anglers prefer the livewell system, just based on the number of years they have been doing it. Like anything, change to one's system of doing things could be unsettling as is unlearning one thing in order to learn a new thing. I wouldn't be surprised to see a future tour with judges that travel with the tour to events (like officials in other sports) or a judging device that can be attached to the boat that weighs, documents & releases the fish (to avoid a single fish being weighed multiple times). In both of those cases, the livewell is the backup system if the initial scoring system fails. One thing that came up in the judge training was the scenario of finding a large bass on a bed that would continually bite and return to the bed after being caught. In theory, a single 5lb bass could end up adding 20 or 25lbs to ones bag by being caught 4 or 5 times. Very unlikely, but something they may need to address for any events taking place during the spawn. Ironically, the catch & immediate release probably benefits the fish most during the spawn, yet it creates this odd scenario.

I got back in from Texas last night and thought I'd post my judge/marshal experience while watching the final day weigh-in. Travis Lake is different than many famed Texas reservoirs, it actually reminded me of the desert lakes like Lake Havasu or Lake Mead out here in the west. In addition to the narrow shape and deep, clear water this is a recreational lake, full of houseboats, party boats, jet skiers, basically a large human presence. It differs from Havasu & Mead in that the land surrounding it is not national parks land, but privately owned complete with some extraordinary docks & boat house setups. One of the things I am overly careful about when being in a pro's boat is to not be a distraction. I follow each anglers lead when it comes to carrying on a conversation as well as asking questions. While each angler is different, typically they become more relaxed and social as they began to catch fish and figure out what is going on that day. This tournament was unique in that in addition to being an observer, we had judge responsibilities of weighing & recording all legal fish catches. Day One I was paired with David Fritts, an older veteran who had won the 1993 classic on Lake Logan Martin. He is an old school angler to be sure, complete with a flasher on his front deck in addition to the huge screen for his depthfinder (the flasher gives him more immediate info on his depth so that he can position his boat as he moves along a river channel or other feature). David threw a Carolina rig 90% of the day, occasionally mixing it up with a lipless crankbait. He spent all of his time fishing in 15-30 feet of water at spots he had found during practice, areas from the dam area to 30 miles up the lake. While he caught about 30 fish over 12" long on the day, only 8 of them topped the 14" keeper mark. I have never measured so many 13" fish in my life ?. David ended up with 8lbs for the day and after a similiar weight on day 2, ended up missing the cut. Day Two I was paired with the larger-than-life Gerald Swindle. Having marshaled for Ish Monroe in the past, I realized that some anglers also have the self imposed responsibility of being an entertainer as well as a professional fisherman. To expect these pro's to be "on" from the moment you meet them is wrong, they need to focus early on to get into a rhythm, allowing them to relax and have their charismatic personalities shine through. Gerald was no different, a little guarded early on but as the morning wore on, the quips and interaction with other anglers and spectator boats began to flow. Interestingly enough, the more engaging conversations between us were not about fishing but about life, our country and changes in culture. It may be the old case of when you do something for a living, you get tired of talking about it all day long and other topics instead peak your interest. Nonetheless, a few of his more memorable lines were: "Nobody panic, it is just a stick" - after catching a keeper in front of spectators and then apparently hooking up again. "Down goes Frazier" - after breaking off a swimbait on a dock cable and watching it sink away. "Everyone seems so angry" - after honking his horn at a competitor as he flew by him at top speed. "Its one of those Guacamole bass" - after catching a small Guadalupe bass. "I just told the jerkbait king what color bait to throw" - After waving Hank Cherry onto a spot to share. I asked if the next move was to go find Aaron Martens and tell him how to organize his tackle. Unfortunately, Gerald also went through not being able to find the bigger bites. Despite catching nearly 40 fish mainly on a jerkbait & dropshot, his five biggest went just over 7 lbs. Interestingly, he did have 3 doubles on the jerkbait. The first two were back to back, a pair of 13" largemouth on the first and a 13" largemouth and 10" Guadalupe on the second. The final double came on his last cast, a last ditched effort to increase his daily weight. Unfortunately, both fish were again 13" and no help, so his round house to end the fight apparently hit the referee. Gerald did make the cut, but looked like he had a similar struggle on day 3 to finish in the high 40's. All in all, it was a memorable experience, from the interaction with the other judges during the training to dealing with the B.A.S.S. staff behind the scenes. It makes for a couple of long days and gives you a peek behind the scenes of what the anglers go through in order to fish for a living.

There have been 71 NBA titles, the Celtics (17) & Lakers (16) have 46% of them. It was 52% in 2010, 53% in 2003, 64% in 1988 and 70% in 1969. Both the Celtics & the Lakers have at least as many titles as the next top 3 teams combined (Bulls, Warriors & Spurs)

I call that a "reverse topwater". With most topwater lures, you make a cast & then work the lure back to you on the surface. Doing what you describe, you are working (skipping) the lure out to the fish on the surface and then letting it settle right near them. It makes sense that the catch rate goes up because when any fish comes to investigate what the surface commotion is, the lure is closer to their home instead of closer to or approaching a boat. Something they haven't seen...

Growing up, we used to use chicken livers, dough baits & nightcrawlers and the largest catfish I ever caught weighed 5 lbs. Years later, began using frozen mackerel and caught a few that topped 10 lbs. However, I have caught more catfish over 10 lbs with lures than I can count, with a half dozen topping 15 lbs. I believe it is because larger catfish have the size & tools to become true predators instead of opportunistic bottom feeders . Once they top 8 lbs or so, there aren't too many things they can't get in their mouth and they are tough enough to do battle with just about anything. I even saw a large catfish grab, wrestle & take down a full sized coot once, it was amazing to see.

I am not a Lebron fan but I don't dislike him either. However, it does say alot for him to have been in the finals for 7 straight years. You have to back to the Bill Russell Celtics to see a streak like that. Magic went to the finals 9 times in 12 years (longest streak 4 years in a row), Bird went 5 times in 7 years (4 in a row), Jordan 6 times in 8 years (3 in a row twice), Kobe 7 times in 11 years (3 in a row twice) and Duncan 6 times in 16 years. What Lebron is doing hasn't happened in over 50 years and he is the only player in history who wasn't a member of that Bill Russell led Celtics to do it...

Skip 1/16 oz Ned rigs (ZMan TRD's & Roboworm Ned Worms) under docks. They make less commotion going under the docks, so it works real well on calm days. Only negative is if you miss and hit a boat at the dock, it makes a very loud noise (unlike weightless stick worms). I'm not worried about scaring the fish, rather ticking off a boat owner.

When B.A.S.S. revealed their stops for the 2018 tour, I was interested in the Texas Bass Fest being held on Lake Travis. Even though I live in California, I have a sister who lives outside of Austin and since I enjoyed being a marshal in the past, I thought doing the fish weighing for this catch & immediate release event would be a great experience. There wasn't any way to sign up like with the marshal program, so I did a little research, found out who was in charge of the judges and contacted him a few months ago. After a series of emails back & forth, I was confirmed as a judge for the first 2 days of the tournament. I'm looking forward to it, I think it will be a lot of fun. This evening, I received an email from the judge coordinator. They are a few judges short for the first two days and are asking for any referrals of people who may be interested in judging. I immediately thought the most committed bass anglers I know of are here on Bass Resource, so I figured I'd make the information available. You would need to be available next Wednesday the 16th for training (1/2 day) and the 17th & 18th for judging (full day). It is a pretty unique experience, not only as a chance to meet & learn from Elite pros for a few days with a front row seat to the action, but also to be an integral part of a major tournament. If you are interested & available, shoot me a PM and I will get you the contact info for the judge coordinator. WRB, I know you are retired, maybe they will put you on Aarons boat if you join us ?

Is that Harry Reems or did Brad Pitt just borrow his mustache?

I did a quick Google search and couldn't find an answer to the following question, so I figured I'd see if anyone here knew. Jordan Lee zeroed on Day 3 at Kentucky Lake, but I never saw an explanation of what happened. Did he truly catch no fish or did he have mechanical issues that stopped him from making it back in time? Did he even go out that morning or did something prevent him from fishing at all? That was a major slide, from 12th to 47th on a Day 3, the kind of thing that can cost someone an AOY title.

Occasionally, I will take my wife. Not that I don't want her to go, but she doesn't have much interest in fishing, or getting up early. However, a couple of times during the summer, she will hop in the back to enjoy a summer evening while I fish. She is typically on her phone, texting & chatting with friends.

You are correct, that view shows the tail, which is definitely a bullhead tail & not a channel one.

I was going to guess 9 lbs...

From that angle I would say a dark colored Channel Catfish.