MichaelCopeland

Not sure if it's legal here or not. Not even sure where to find flathead catfish around here. In the Red River maybe?

May have to try them some day. I don't really cat fish much.

I threw it back. Wasn't prepared for any catch and keep today...lol. Didn't actually think I was prepared to catch a catfish. Guess I learned something new. ? I've always known them as mud cats. Never eating any of them because I heard they weren't very good. Now channel cats are a different story...lol. ?

There's a device that's sold for the bank fisherman called Deeper. It's a depth and fish finder that interacts with an app on your smartphone. I've heard good things about it and plan on getting myself one as soon as I start working again(should be soon). It turns your phone into basically the same thing boaters use. It shows depth, fish and even water temp. Also shows the structure and underwater cover that's around. You can find videos about it on YouTube. Until you get one of those, look for weedlines, grasslines, brush piles, stick ups, laydowns, overhanging branches, points and riprap(rocky areas) and eventually you'll find the fish. Unfortunately you're never gonna avoid snags all the time. It's part of fishing and we all deal with it at times. What kind of line do you use? Mono, flouro, braid or copolymer? I recommend braided line, if you're not already using it. When it comes to snags, you may bend a hook out every now and then, but most of the time you won't lose your bait setup with braided line. When you do get a snag try the best you can to finesse it out by lifting your rod tip and giving a few shakes til you feel it come free of the snag. Don't yank hard to where you bury the hook, weight, jig head etc. into whatever you're snagged on. This time of year try fishing deeper water as most of the bass and other fish are in that area of the water. Won't be too much longer and they'll be moving up shallow again. Also try rigging soft plastic worms, craws etc. Texas rigged weedless. That'll help with less snags as well. Whatever you do, don't give up. You'll start catching some good ones before you know it. Hope this helps. Good luck and tight lines! ?

I use Google Maps to see where any water may be near me and honestly there's not much within walking distance that's not private property. Once I find a spot I wanna go check out I never leave without 2 rods and my tackle bag that way I can try it out too. Anytime I'm riding around town and we pass by some water I'm checking it out for possible future fishing trips.

Finally caught my first fish of 2018. Too bad it wasn't a bass. It was a decent catfish though. Weighed about a pound and a half or better. Didn't put it on the scale but it was kinda fat. First catfish I've ever caught with an artificial bait. Caught it with a crappie jig head with a small piece of Ol' Monster on it. Not what I was hoping to catch, but it was nice to catch something for a change. Caught it in a little bayou up the road a little ways from the house. I feel like there's got to be some bass in it somewhere just haven't found them yet. May have better luck the closer it gets to the spawn if there's any in there.

I only use Sufix 832 braid on all my rods. 40lb on my baitcaster and 30lb on my spinning rods. I don't pitch into any real heavy cover so I can get away with both the lines I use. I've only ever used braid on my baitcaster so I don't have an opinion on mono or flouro or copolymer on those. I have used mono on my spinning rods and I just don't like it. Braid is easier to cast on either of my rods, no stretch or memory and knots are alot easier to tie as well. It also gives me less problems with backlash and/or birdsnests.

Howdy and welcome aboard! ?

My confidence colors are junebug, junebug red, red bug, black and blue, green pumpkin, breaking bream, white, sprayed or candy grass and watermelon red. I have some of those colors in many different shapes that I have confidence in. Some of them more confidence than others. Sometimes it takes a while to find the particular combination of color and shape they want. Sometimes they don't want what I have at all. I do plan on expanding that confidence to more colors and/or shapes this year. It would be nice to have something in my arsenal that will aid in catching them every outing.

You can download the Image Shrink Lite app from the Google Play Store and do it. That's the app I use.

Awesomeness! Congratulations on a new PB bag o bass! Definitely some big uns! My dad and stepmom live in Gilbert, AZ. Are you anywhere near there? I'm hoping to get to go visit them out there some day and do some bass fishing. Been a long time since I've fished with my dad.

Thank you @12poundbass! I was even thanked for my patience by the guy that interviewed me as well. Wish I could apply that patience in my bass fishing sometimes...lol. The few times I've been able to go fishing in this colder weather we've had I didn't even get a bite. Really looking forward to working at Academy selling fishing stuff to folks and also to the weather warming up a bit so it will be easier to get someone to take me fishing.

Yeah, I visited New Orleans about 4 or 5 years ago and some men dressing as women and parading down the street seemed to be kind of a normal thing...lol...and it wasn't even Mardi Gras. Seriously though, I am a die hard Cowboys fan, and might even get flack for it, but I did root for the Saints when they made their Super Bowl run a few years back and won and I'm rooting for them again now. It would be nice to get another Super Bowl trophy in Louisiana. Geaux Saints! ?

I know what you mean. My Cowboys for roughly 20 years were very disappointing. Finally started coming out of their funk in the past 3 years only to start screwing up again this season. It's ok though. Win, lose or tie, I'm a die hard Cowboys fan til I die! Good luck with your Broncos. ?

Well I didn't end 2017 with the job, but I will be beginning 2018 at Academy Sports. Found out this past Friday that between the holidays and their entire company revamping their hiring system some things got really confusing. So they had to put up a new position available on their website and he called me today. I had to reapply for the job. So I did. He called me back for me to accept their offer in the email they sent me and also to ignore the background check email I would be sent because I've already done that part and passed it. He's gonna email their HR dept to transfer my background results to the new app I put in to speed things up to get me on in there to start work. All that being said I will probably start work by the end of this week or the beginning of next week for sure. Thank You Jesus and thank all of you for your prayers and well wishes. God Bless you all!

My team didn't make it so I'll be pulling for the Saints. Next season, though, Go Cowboys! ?

Howdy JT and welcome aboard! ?

Howdy and welcome aboard! ?

What happens January 18th?

Congratulations Fred!!! Don't spend it all in one place...oh wait you kinda have to...lol! ?

Howdy Michael and welcome aboard! ?

The Hitman's Bodyguard and Despicable Me 3. Both are good movies at opposite ends of the category spectrum. ?

Sufix 832 Advanced Superline with Gore performance fibers hands down for me. I was given a spool of it a while back and it's all I use now. In my opinion it's a very good braided line and I don't have any problems with it. ?

A solid 4lber caught, in a small pond near the house I used to live in Pineville, La, on a red bug Ol' Monster.

To answer your question, fishermen definitely catch the fish. The fish can hammer anything you throw at them, but if you can't set the hook properly you won't catch the fish. However, glitter or flake does help. How well it helps depends on what the fish want.