Bubba 460

Yep ~ gotta come out, just do it, only takes a second.

Naw, that ain't happening ~ I just grab the pliers and jerk the thing out, the sooner the better. I've been hooked four times none where in longer than 45 seconds.

I used super glue jell on mine and it's holding up fine. There may be something better, like whatever rod builders uses to glue the cork rings together.

"The land of tiny bass"... or better known as "Munchkin Land". The VA state record is a tad over 16# so that's not bad for mid eastern state. Tom's 19 plus is just a couple of dinks short of a world record, the thing is beastly. I fish in some gnarly places and have lost one in particular that was 13+ last year. She jumped all the way out of the water 4 feet from the boat then found a log to wrap around. Always excited to hook a hog then I remember all the stumps and logs she's in ~ *GULP*

Yeah, I watched A-Jay's video, looks like he's in smallmouth heaven. He has a telescope like this....

I'm kind of new here, only been posting for about 2 months and don't really know anyone here personally. There is a poster here that goes by the moniker of "WRB" and he has caught some really big bass out there in CA. Now I know that I am envious of such bass and I'm sure many others here are as well. So every time WRB post, I see his photo and this huge bass that looks big enough to be a grouper. And every time I see it, this picture pops into my mind of a movie we have all seen ~ WRB would be the guy in the foreground and the rest of us are unfortunately the other guy. Hey, I'm just sayin'....

I've seen the situation you are talking about many times. It's my belief (and I can certainly be wrong) that if you see the bass then they also see you and they are just not going to hit anything. Yes, if you cast a lure out they may come look at it, chase it, nip it but seldom do they commit to taking it. I have seen bass as big as ten pounds up under docks and they see me but good luck getting them to bite anything. They just sit there moving their big eyeballs around. I usually see this situation on lakes that are just hammered to death~ wise bass.

Absolutely. I can have my boat in or out of the water in well under two minutes so why, oh why does it take, "dip stick", 20 minutes!?

I found out that a lot of those people that sit on buckets don't even put bait on their hook just so they won't have to get up.

Thanks. Yes, the heath of the fish takes precedence over "the sport"... at least in what's left of my mind in my older age. Ski'em in works for me!

With that said I would like to add that having come from a poor, single parent home. I could never as a young teen afford a decent rod and reel and fished with a cane pole a lot. Everything cheap in a fishing rod in those days (late 50's early 60's) was comparable to a Barbie rod and reel of today and the Barbie rod is probably better. My much older brother had already left the house and being a avid hunter and fisherman had landed a job in the big "Atlas Sporting Good Store in Wash DC... This would be the equivalent to Bass Pro stores of today. Anyway, one day he brings me a spinning rod and reel that had been damaged and could not be sold but still worked fine. The reel he said was the smallest (quality) spinning reel on the market at that time. It was made in France and it was indeed so little it would fit in just the palm of your hand, I wish I could remember the name of it. The rod was a decent five and a half footer. So I've said all of that to say that I fished with that little ultralight outfit for many years and caught a ton of fish on it and learned how to be "gingerly" with a bigger fish, using my finger on the spool for drag. Plus supporting the rod at times with my left hand when the fish would run. Sure there were some fish I just had no control over and lost them but 95% of the time that little rod and reel brought them in. In hind sight it was a great learning experience and it was all I had. I took all the fish home for my mother to cook. However I would not use such a light rod today for bass, not because you can't catch a bass on it but because if the bass was of any size the fight would be to long and the fish would probably experience exhaustion and roll belly-up before you got him in. Bank-side recovery back to health and release would be poor at best. Best to go to a gun fight with a gun.

I was about 16 when I eased down the bank using a willow tree to hide my presence. I was working my way toward a small cove in a farm pond. Once I got to the tree I reached around with the rod and flipped a black Texas rigged worm out about 30 feet into the middle. Immediately the water seem to lift in the whole cove and my line started heading towards the main pond. I set the hook and an eight pounder exploded out of the water. That was the first 8# bass I ever caught. Had I just stomped down the bank and walked up to the edge I would have never caught her. I have walked around so many ponds and lakes fishing in my younger days that I must have racked up some air miles. What I have leaned to help catch more fish is "stealth" to include noise. Don't just walk down to the bank and start fishing, cast while you are away from the bank a couple of times. If nothing happens, ease down to the bank and fish both directions. Learn to spot cover or better looking spots more likely to hold bass. Wear fishing glasses on sunny days to see better in the water. Fish the shaded side on hot sunny days or known cover that provides shade. Use smaller lures to catch more fish, they might not be bruisers you catch but you will catch more.

You have no idea how many times I just shake my head in baffled bewilderment at the sheer stupidity of people. Some of these brainless, inconsiderate morons are beyond hope. OK , look, I might be the brightest light bulb in the house but at least I am aware of my surrounding and what's generally going on. I am considerate to a fault and most of the time have my act together once 9:00 am rolls around.

I use the 1 oz. Strike King Bottom Dweller Spinnerbait in the winter for deep bass with good success. Slow roll it along the bottom or fish in and around large schools of shad. A spinnerbait is just a mini Alabama rig.

That's a great photo. I hope she is never shot and lives out her life as special as it is. We have a herd of deer that stay around my place. One of my dogs has a special relationship with a young doe and they will play together for about a half hour before she wanders back into the woods to rejoin the group. They chase each other around, jump and play. There are two deer in the herd of eight that will play with him but this one the most. These are not tame deer, totally wild. If I'm with the dog I can get within 6 feet of the doe and she will not run off. Sometimes when it's getting dark and they have been playing, I have to go out and get him with a leash and can walk "almost" right up to her then she backs up a little. Last year a doe brought her new born fawn into a fenced back yard next to us and left it there(no one lives there). Later she came back to get the fawn but seemed to forget how to get back in through the little gate. The fawn was running all over the place trying to get out and even jumping on the fence. We thought the fawn was going to injure itself so wife went over and carried the fawn out and it rejoined the mom. This a photo of them (last photo) a couple months later in our yard.

Holiday weekend fishing has not changed much in the last 200 years. lots of people come out for their yearly fishing trip...Misfits galore. I stay away.

Bone hook and the gristle of a mastodon ~ Hey, it was a long time ago, what can I say... Ork

First off use a quality line, there are many good lines out there and some not so good ones. I have been using Trilene XL for for as long as can remember and I'm so old I can't remember back that far. I have no complaints with it but I stay away from Trilene XT, I have too much trouble with that line for the fishing I do. To help with loops and tangles don't over fill your spool with to much line. When fishing wacky or any "finesse" style presentation where you are jiggling or pulling the rod tip and releasing while reeling you must learn to mind your P's and Q's. Don't use too heavy a line, 10# test is the max for that light a presentation. Always check your spool after the cast to make sure your line is properly spooling on the reel done by applying a little tension before you start reeling. Do it enough and it will become a natural habit. If you do see a loop down in your spool, loosen your drag way back and hand strip the line off the spool with the bail closed until you get the loop out. Then tighten the drag back up and re-reel the line back on. This will work like a charm 90% of the time. If you open the bail and try to get a deep loop out by pulling the line off I can just about guarantee you a mess and the loss of about 20 to 30 feet of line.

Congratulations Fishmaster... Welcome to the double digit club and at such a young age too.

"Wherever the jetskis aren't." ~ I like it.

I avoid crowds like the plague. Fortunately I can fish when I want. Some of you guys are talking about wake boats, jets boats, party boats, irate lake front home owners, long lines and mayhem at the boat ramp etc. I would not touch a lake like that with a ten foot rod. I don't want to hear anyone's music or a bunch of hoopin' and hollering. Then you have boats speeding all over the place, too many people with to much booze and a lack of brains. I've said it before, (generally speaking) show me 20 people and I'll show you 10 idiots in those kind of sittings ~ No thanks. I like to fish the gnarliest lakes and rivers I can where you'll seldom even see a bass boat much less a wake boat. Stumps are my friends. Fish all winter too when most people are sitting home or hunting.

I like fishing thick pads with frogs or weightless Texas rigged creature baits. I seem to get more hits (and misses) in the thinker pads. About all you can do is drag a frog or bait across the pads. I like to drag it about 2 feet incorporating a few "twitches" along the way then stop it for a couple of seconds. If you can find the smallest patch of exposed water, stop it there for a better strike presentation. Using a bigger frog will induce a little more commotion than a small frog but whatever you use bass are very tuned to what's going on the their world... It's about equal to you sitting in your living room and a marching band comes through ~ you can't miss it! Sometimes you will see a bass coming because of the movement of the pads but usually you'll just see the hit when it happens. It can be a little smack or a big white water explosion. The one I like is when the pads and water lift up all around the frog and you know a BIG bass just rolled up under your frog to check it out and you hold your breath....

Stout ~I'd say bigger than 10 #... Looks like an 11+ to me.

I usually fish swallow so I use mono but braid will work if your leader is not too long. After you cast watch the line for a twitch, You'll get "some" hits on the sink. Most of the time you'll see it, especially on calm days. if you don't see a hit watching the line give a slight pull as it falls, say every 5 seconds just enough to feel the bait. Once you get to whatever depth you want to fish at do a pull or two then pause for 2or 3 seconds then repeat. if you do not feel the bite you WILL feel the fish on the next pull, before he has had the chance to throat it. Sometimes you feel the very slightest of a "tick".OR... if you pull and feel nothing~ set the hook. I catch lots of bass on wacky and almost never throat one.

If it's in decent shape it's a steal. I bought a 9 footer for $150 and named it "Soap Dish". I sold it to a duck hunter for $300 to haul his decoys behind him while he wades out in the water and sets them. He said "Soap Dish" was perfect. I did clean it up a bit and added a new electric motor mount.