farmpond1

smallmouth are beautiful fish. Nice catch! Looks like the type of river I generally fish.

I'm sorry to hear of your experience. What a way to take a great moment and ruin it for you! He is a jerk. I hope this never happens again. Take care and keep fishin'

Ditto

Hmm... I guess I don't understand. Why would anyone move just because someone else is in a tournament? I do it all the time- the guy launched before safe light and knew what was up- It's nice of you to give up your spot. But I don't think it's wrong if some else doesn't. I mean, tournament fishermen do not have god given rights to special privileges. There may be money on the line and having someone else on your spot is disruptive but isn't it that the same way for everyone? No one particularly cares to be inconvenienced. That's why I try to fish during the week days and leave the weekends to the crowds. On the other hand, if the guy you mentioned, crept into the spot before legal light, he was also in the wrong. I believe the playing field should be kept even and fair for everyone. All fishermen should abide by courtesy and, short of that, regulations.

With some lakes having horsepower restrictions, a 9.9 horse motor is more versatile. My 2 cents.

Why don't they make them put their bullet (singular) in their pocket while they're at it.

I worry about some of y'all.

Here's a thought: Are you filling the line on the spool too loose. Most Braids will dig into themselves if you wind them on anything short of really tight.

Huh!!! I'll have to try this. If it works, that's awesome!

My secret spots are so secret, they're still unknown even to me. :'(

Everything else being equal, a smallmouth will generally outfight a largemouth. That's (one reason) why I love 'em.

Rots o' ruck. Some people would glance at it and throw it out their car window.

By "shadowing a guide" do you mean you want to be mentored by one? That's a completely different story than attempting to stealthily follow a guide to his/her favorite haunts. If the former is the case, you might find a guide who is willing to show you the tricks of the trade if, in exchange, you were willing to do the "dirty work" at the beginning or end of the day. By that I mean cleaning/vacuming the boat, trading out batteries, changing sparkplugs, etc. If it's the latter, well, I wouldn't recommend it.

"Got tackle?"

I'll take your side, bud. Although it's been quite a while since I was your age, I remember how frustrating it can be to be dependent upon others to take you places, etc. etc. With 7 brothers and sisters, I spent the lions share of my time waiting for others. So I can relate. I'm not encouraging you to rebel or anything but yeah, it can stink. Oh, and girls can be a pain. Get use to that. Hang in there!

Hard plastic? As in, tap it with screwdriver and it clicks? As in a Mudbug or Rebel crawdad? Must have clarification.

It's doubtful you'll have much luck if you drift a rapala downstream. I'd recommend you cast at about a 45 degree angle upstream(depending upon the current speed, etc) and retrieve in an erratic stop and go fashion (the fish will dictate the retrieve type). Reading the water in a river is important. Focus on seams (places where the water changes such as eddies), weedlines, deeper pools, and in front of and behind larger boulders. If you don't get a bite from a likey looking spot, shift positions and cast to it from a different angle. Don't be afraid to experiement. Good luck and let me know how you do!

Ok, I'm exaggerating a bit. But not much! But it certainly seems that way especially when I'm trying to drive my boat back onto its trailor. Especially if I'm by myself and the ramp is steep and my boat doesn't want to rest on the pads.

Look closer. The outer, lower strand is insulted. It is laying across the fat part. Ah, so only part of the fence is electrified!

Let's heat things up a bit: for those who like carp, do you object to those who use bow and arrow to catch them?

I'm going on a slight tangent here (cool picture by the way) but how can an electrified wire be secured to a metal post without insulators? Won't it ground it? Or are the posts not metal? I worry about the weirdest stuff.

The rule of thumb here in central Illinois is for every degree it warms up, the wind speed increases 1 mph-until it reaches 90 degree's. Then it stops altogether.

That is what it is. I concur

I have seen those simple little 6 inch high string fences that keep geese out of yards. I'm not sure why they work but they seem to do a good job. Don't know if one would keep a goose out of the water but that may be irrelevent.

In my humble opinion, just let him have his opinion and move on. You won't change him any more than he's likely to change you.