Red

Good post, I like it. When I wa a kid me and my buddies would each get one of the old schwans man ice cream buckets, empty of course and head to the creek. We would start by my house and go all the way down to the river. We would put our buckets all around a rock or some kind of moveable cover, then slowly lift it up. Then check our buckets! We would collect all our catches together in a five gallon bucket. Bring it all home to show mom and dad, then let them all go. Minnows, small trout, crawdads, frogs, you name it. Those are some of the best memories of my childhood! Cliff

That fish in the pic is the biggest i have caught out of there, 6lbs. I haven't had any trouble losing fish yet, I got all caught up once but thanks to 50lb braid I was able to land the fish. I think the Dobyns might be out of my price range, I was considering the skeet flippin stick, in my price range, any reports on this stick specifically?

It sounds like there is an actual advantage in this situation for the longer rod. I guess I should look into something a bit longer, 90% of my fishing throughout the year is in this heavy timber you see behind me in this photo. Thanks for the info guys, I knew I could count on y'all!!! Cliff

I had this same question recently, here is a nice article I read on the subject. http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/jerkbaits_muddy_water.html

I caught my PB this year in January deadsticking a Fluke. Went 7lbs or so.

Why are flippin sticks so long? 8', seriously? What is the advantage here? I do alot of this in the lake where I fish and have recently been wondering if I need qa proper flippin stick. I use a 6'6" Hvy Fast rod with a Revo S. I think I am fairly accurate with my pitches and flips. Is this a preference thing or is there a real advantage to having another foot and a half of rod to work with. Thoughts? Thanks Cliff

i bring five whenever I go out. Here is a list. 6'6" H, Casting-Jigs, T-rigs in heavy cover. 6'8" MH, Casting-T-rigs, Shakey Heads in heavy cover, Topwater 6'6" MH, Casting-Spinnerbaits, Buzzbaits, Topwater 7' MH, Casting-Crankbaits, Lipless Crankbaits 6'6" M, Spinning-Weightless Soft Plastics, Jerkbaits, Shakey Heads Some things I always have tied on are a medium depth crank or lipless crank, white/chart spinnerbaits, weightless fluke, t-rigged power worm, and a jig. Next up for me will probably be a proper flippin stick. Cliff

Well that makes me feel better, to know I am at least in the right spot. Two weeks ago the water was 61 in one spot I was fishing, and the guy told me that was the warmest water they found. Last weekend it was 55 in the same area, however that was earlier in the day. I am fishing from a buster type boat so I can't go really far. Usually I will drive straight to where a creek comes in, about half way across that bay, fish it, then fish all the way back to the ramp. I was going to post up a pic of the area but I can't figure out how to get the google earth pic saved and such. It is lake Waco in Waco Texas. If you look at the north end of the lake you see where the river comes in on the west side, I am fishing from the northern center of that bay all the way back to the ramp on the east side. Thanks again! Cliff

Thanks for all the great info y'all!! I will surely put it to use and let you know how I end up. Cliff

Where is that? What's your thinking? I could be way off, guess I should have mentioned that.. I am mostly fishing a very large shallow bay are on the north end of the lake. The main river systems enters here along with a smaller creek. The shoreline is tons and tons of flooded timber. I have also been fishing any drops offs I locate as well as pitching into the timber. In short, coves and backs of creeks. Most of the areas I have been in range from 5-12 feet deep. Am I even close? ;D Cliff

I have an 8' Bass Raider with the same motor as yours. I went to Walmart and got the biggest marine battery they had, I think it was $90. I also got the charger at Walmart, it a Ship-n-Shore made by Schumacher (sp?), I think it was $50. I haven't been able to run it down yet. I went the other day for over 6 hours, with depth finder running on the same battery, when I got home and put it on the charger it was only down 25%, still had 75% remaining. And that trip included about a mile running on highest speed, plus all the trolling along shorline while fishing. Works great! Cliff

Anyone else on a terrible skunk lately? I have been out three or fours times a week for four weeks now with nothing but one single dink to show for it. I have completely lost confidence in everything I throw. I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. I am fishing where the fish "should" be for this time of year, I have literally thrown everything in my box. I have fished slower than I thought possible, all depths, everything I can think of. My confidence baits for this lake haven't produced anything. Even have tried some stuff I don't normally throw. Seems on the local bass forum people are catching fish, good ones too. I am at the point now where I just want to get bit, dinks are welcome now! I guess my real question is how do I fix it? Any suggestions? Do I just keep grindin away. Its like starting fresh with confidence in nothing. Ok, I am done whining now. Thanks for any help. Cliff

This movie scared the freakin crap out of me, I lost sleep for a few days over this. I normally don't scare too badly from movies and such, but this one got me.

I guess I am still in the "learning to catch fish" stage. I just want to catch fish. More importantly I want to catch fish because I did the right thing. I want to feel like I figured out, or patterned the fish, and it worked. Does that make sense? Cliff

Trust me its not cuz your on the bank. I am off the bank now and still have trouble. Actually so far this year I have only caught one dink from my boat, everything else has come from bank fishing, including my new PB

Thanks guys. The lake I fish is not really really muddy but it is not clear, maybe murky would have been a better choice of words.

So I am a little embarrassed to say that I do not own one single hard jerkbait. I would like to add these to my arsenal this year. I am wondering how these baits perform in rather muddy water? I think I read somewhere that they weren't a good choice in muddy water. Any other tips/advice/bait/gear recommendations will be much appreciated. Thanks Cliff

I was not slow rolling the bait. Just a normal retrieve. All the bass hit the thing as soon as I started to crank it, except that big girl, she took a few more seconds before she committed to it. It was alot of fun, now if I could just catch a fish on the local lake I would be happy!

Hit up my buddies stock tanks today for an hour or so. I got 7 and he got 3. Here is the biggest one, a solid 5lbs I would say, what do you think? All fish were caught on Spinnerbaits and released safely! Thanks for looking! Cliff

My two nephews have it. The medication works very well. But like someone mentioned, it may take a few tries to get the right one. Ritalin did nothing but turn him into a zombie, he didn't want to talk, play, be talked to or be touched, he just zoned out in to space. Now he is on Aderol, and the very lowest dosage possible. He has all high A's in school and was recently accepted into the gifted and talented program in school. Plus his behavior mark is good everyday as compared to last year where it was almost always a bad behavior mark. Now his brother is in that boat, grades suffering, behavior is awful, can't complete work. Last week he was diagnosed with it too, he will be starting his medication this week.

Grizzly Fine Cut Natural for me. I have one in always while fishing, pretty much always when not fishing as well. I haven't noticed any effect on the fishing or anything like that. Cliff

I have been using one recently, I don't notice any difference compared to my straight handle reels. I guess the only thing I see is that it looks cool. I am using a Daiwa Excelor and Abu Garcia Revo-S. The Revo is a better reel in my opinion but that Daiwa looks way better. ;D Cliff

Only one time past the barb for me. I was fishing a small pond with a buddy. I had a big pop R tied on. The pond had about 6-8 feet of thick scum/weeds around the shoreline, so when my bait got close to it I would flip up and over. Well one time it went over my head and stuck in the tall grass behind me. Instead of taking three or four steps back and freeing it, I didn't even turn around I just started yanking on it. Finally it came free and lodged into the back of my shoulder (sleeveless shirt). Got the line cut and couldn't see it, buddy said it was bad then kept fishing. I left and went to see my mom at work, walking through the elementary school with a bait hanging from my shoulder. She sent me to the doctors office. He tried to back it out, too deep, tried to push it through, to deep, so he ended up having to cut it out. The worst part of it all for me was the navicane shot. Cliff

Thanks for the info guys, I will let you know how I make out. Cliff

I have an 8' Bass Buster type boat with a 30lb TM. I take it out on lake Waco (8465 acres) all the time. Now i know this isn't as big as your talkin about but my boat is smaller too. ;D The key for me is to stay close to shore, I have traveled over a mile from the ramp with no problems. But I rarely get too far away from shore, this way if something were to go wrong it isn't a long swim to safety. Last year I went a LONG way from the ramp to fish a small golf course tank that I can only access from the main lake. After fishing it for a few hours and I came back to the main lake, I felt like I was on Deadliest Catch!!! It was windy!!! I was a bit nervous but my little buster held its own, I had about 4 inches of water on the floor when I got back, but it was a pretty stable ride, that water was splashed in from waves hitting the flat front of the boat. After that I have a bit more confidence in my boat. Like others have said, if you pay attention and know your limits, you should be ok. Cliff