Bubba 460

Well I can't be as generous as most.... What I see is a big hollow head and a tad over three pounds of meat. Still a nice bass though ~ congratulations David.

Yes, listen to these guys advice, they are like Mr. Miyagi... "Sand the deck, a'wax on, a'wax off. Paint the fence, up, down, up down" You keep it up and it will all come together. Soon you will be a Shaolin Bass Master. It is then you will be worthy to have theses burned into each forearm, Grasshopper.

By the end of summer I'm usually ready for some cooler weather as those 90+ degree days can beat you down. I don't stop fishing all year and have caught most of my bigger bass in January when the water temps are in the low forties, sometimes even colder. When you make a cast, ice would fly off the reel spool and your guides will ice-up when you reel back in. Then on the other end, by late winter I'm ready for some warmer weather where you don't have to dress like an Eskimo to go fishing.

Good find and nice of you to leave the message, that's how I got my wife but no one called *ahem* Some years ago I was fishing at a popular spot at a local reservoir with a large parking lot. I had been walking the banks carrying three pretty nice spinning rods. When I was ready to go I walked up to the back of my truck and laid the rods down in the grass to open the cap of the bed cover. Just then I got a call on my phone so I answered and started talking to a friend. The conversation went on for awhile and I walked around to the front of the truck then finally went and sat in the truck after getting tired of standing. When we were done talking (about 20 minutes) I started the truck and drove off. I had gotten several miles down the road when a small puff of smoke went off in my brain and I heard the creaking of one small rusted gear turn slightly within my gray matter ~ "THE RODS, STUPID!" I turned around and sped back to the parking lot but the rods were gone. There was a informational bulletin board there and I left a note about my lost rods with contact information and of course I never heard a thing... where were you that day? PS Actually I have a wonderful wife and I'm glad no one called.

Sweet

The Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrel infestation. After much prayer and consideration, they concluded that the squirrels were predestined to be there, and they should not interfere with God’s divine will. At the Baptist church, the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistry. The deacons met and decided to put a water-slide on the baptistry and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels liked the slide and, unfortunately, knew instinctively how to swim, so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week. The Lutheran church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God’s creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free near the Baptist church. Two weeks later, the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down the water-slide. The Episcopalians tried a much more unique path by setting out pans of whiskey around their church in an effort to kill the squirrels with alcohol poisoning. They sadly learned how much damage a band of drunk squirrels can do. But the Catholic church came up with a more creative strategy! They baptized all the squirrels and made them members of the church. Now they only see them at Christmas and Easter. Not much was heard from the Jewish synagogue. They took the first squirrel and circumcised him. They haven’t seen a squirrel since.

I throw a 168 Waver and several other swim/glide baits on a MH spinning rods and have the 4000 Daiwa BG as well (and other heavy spinning reels). The 4000 Daiwa BG is a beast of a reel and you're not handy-capped in any way with it, imho. Main thing is the stout rod and line with that set-up. In open water I use 30 pound braid to a 17 to 20 pound mono leader (blood knot, 9 wraps each way). Stump infested water I used straight braid. Anything bigger than a Waver I tie on onto a stout bait caster and longer heavy rod.... then the work begins.

Well congratulations you have successfully neutered your bait.

Well I've never done any surf casting or heaved a half a herring with a two ounce sinker 70 yards but the words "far casting" would dictate that you would want a deep spool reel for that endeavor. With a 6000 size reel you could run whatever size braid you wanted within reason (the heaver the line the less distance casting). If you hook something really ugly you may need a good bit of back-up line in case the beast swims into the next county.

Bass just are not good table fair compared to other delicious tasting fish. If it were not for "herbs and spices" you would not be able to eat most Japanese dishes.

Seems on certain days smallmouth will just hammer a spinner bait, particularly in stained and or rising water. Other days not so much.... Fish are kinda like women, you don't know whether you said something or did something but your eventually gonna hear about it.

I see a lot of 4 foot long bass on fishing forums.

I'm talking about all the cheap to half decent copy cats of the original patented, River2 Sea Whopper Plopper that was first designed as a musky lure then later down-sized for bass. It's overwhelming success as a top water bass and musky lure spawned a host of "copy cats" all clamoring for a piece of the money action. I have seen none of the knock-offs that come near to the quality of the River2Sea... That's why they cost $16.00. I have three Choppos, yes, they looked and sounded good but all three took on water in the body and barley float. That's what you usually get with a "knock-off" of someone else's design.

You win some and you lose some. Doesn't necessarily mean you did anything wrong. It's a bummer when it happens but also enhances ones determination to fish harder. One day things will go right on that big PB fish.

Sure, I'll carry the torch. I really like an aesthetically pleasing fishing combo and there are some beautiful rods and reels out there that are way out of my monetary reach. If I was well off (rich) I sure would not waste my money on drugs, outrageously priced cars and gambling. I would however have some of the finest fishing equipment available and a boat that could go just about anywhere and be taken in any water environment, jet powered, not just a 70 mph bass boat. Favorite makes rods up to the $400 price range. The Defender is $100 but from what I have seen and used I'd say it's a well spent $100 as far as rod in that that price range. Time will tell if there are any issues with it.

I've been doing some replacing of older or near worn out rods and reels lately. Two weeks ago I bought a new St Croix MH rod and the "new" Shimano Ultegra spinning reel in the 4000 size to go with it. A few days ago I bought the Favorite@ Defender med action spinning rod with the matching 3000 reel in the patriotic colors and "IN GOD WE TRUST" logo on both rod and reel. This may not appeal to everyone but I like it a lot and think it's beautiful (all I need now is an Uncle Sam suit to fish in). I was impressed with the reel, it's pretty smooth with minimal noise for the price range. It cast a Shadow Rap Shad at least 25 feet further then the Diawa reels I have on rods similar to the Defender rod with 10# mono. The rig is a solid set-up and and I have zero complaints. I will be getting another in med heavy with the matching 4000 reel soon. Last time I checked the reels were sold out. Hope to catch my first bass on it tomorrow. Ork happy now...

Talk about rode hard and put away wet... I've never had a reel look that bad and I'm not easy on my fishing gear. Does she drag it to and from the fishing spot?

Exactly ~ crazy I've done it kind of hard if it seemed like aggression was needed but not just RIPPIN' it like a golf swing.

I don't know his name. Interesting~ Thanks

So as I sit home this weekend waiting for all the holiday nit-wits (had to change the wording, *ahem*) to clear out of the lakes and vacate the boat ramps, I thought I'd entertain myself (and hopefully you) with a couple of short stories. I saw the weirdest thing one day... I was at a reservoir known for schooling bass busting shad on the surface. I had caught many bass there while they were rippin' into shad over the years. The schooling fish ran between two to six pounds (caught three 6 pounders schooling one day) and seemed to school in their own weight class. Anyway, it was a calm day and there had been some surface action here and there but pretty slow. Then all of a sudden, like someone had thrown a light switch, bass started busting on shad by the hundreds all across the lake. At any time there were literally a hundred bass breaking everywhere you could see, big splashes! Had to have been thousands more under water. Never seen anything like it. It went on for about 15 to 20 seconds then it was over. I was like, "Whoa... what just happened, that was really weird." Anyone ever see something like that? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I was fishing on a small lake when I see a guy putting a boat in at the gravel ramp. It's a 14 foot jon boat with the bow sticking 3 feet in the air, higher than the guys head (I think he must of had a complete set of Charles Atlas weights in the back,everything else was!). His trolling motor mounted next to his 9.9 outboard was raised so high he looked like a biker hanging from "ape hanger" handlebars as he maneuvered the contraption around the lake. he had to leaned out over the side to see where he was going. He had about two inches of free-board left in the stern . He went directly to a stump infested place in the middle of the lake and commenced to whip the area into a bubbling white forth using what I thought was a big Pop-R. He was really yanking on the thing, making a splash each pull equivalent to jerking a 5 gallon bucket through the water. Sounded like depth charges going off! l was headed in anyway so as I made my way by him he said he had caught two, 5 pounders there yesterday on a poppin' frog (that's what he was making all the racket with) But Hey, who am I to argue with success.

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I had to look that up;... "Livermush" is a Southern United States pork food product prepared using pig liver, parts of pig heads, cornmeal and spices. It is a regional cuisine that is common in Western North Carolina, and is typically consumed as a breakfast and lunch food. It has been suggested that livermush derives from scrapple and likely originated from German settlers who traveled south through the Appalachian mountains in the 1700s. In the 1930s and 1940s, a five-pound portion of livermush cost around 10 cents. Today, by law in North Carolina, genuine livermush must consist of at least 30% pig liver." Now I'm sure it taste great like most scrape meat products do ( just don't read the ingredients label on the can). What! ~ you've never had dyed onions? C'mon, man.

4 perfectly scrambled eggs with light sprinkle of dyed onions. Half a cup of brown rice added in and a squirt of honey. That leaves a little for each of the 4 dogs that line up at the table.

Well that's what happens when you get old.