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I have stalked these forums for a while. I have learned a lot. The following seem to be consistent themes 1. Rage tail yamamoto, keitech and zoom soft baits 2. Gamakatsu, owner, trokar hooks 3. People have very strong opinions about hook shape. 4. Natural or tranlucent colors in clear water (up north, out west), dark or bright colors down south in stained or muddy. 5. Jig fishing approaches a cult like status 6. Most people prefer to either fish fast or slow. Not both. Fast with spinners, hard baits, toads, and slow with worms or jigs. It is the rare and great fisherman who is good with both. 7. Braid requires heavy hoooks, 8. Seibert or Northstar jigs 9. Senkos might be all I need to buy, but that seems boring 10. Snell, palomar, improved clinch, San Diego, Albright, Alberto knots 11. Braid in dirty water, fluro in clear. Mono? Do I need mono? 12. GP, watermellom red flake, june bug, black plastics 13. Sexy shad, chrome black back, gold black/blue back, fire tiger, citrus shad, crawfish in hard baits 14 . Pay attention when Catt, Tom, Mike S, Big O talk. I also enjoy Sir Snook alot and Big Bill for different perspectives. Many others also, but these stand out. 15. Nearly everyone has too much stuff and has trouble organizing 16. Jerkbaits and cranks seemed straight forward, but now I realize they are technical to understand and use to their full potential! 17. Whopper plopper 18. Structure, cover 19. Big baits equal big bass except when they don't 20. Don't let Elastec touch any other baits. What am I missing?

Hi all... As I mentioned in my introduction post, I fished a little as a kid with my father and the stopped until just last summer. Last year, a neighbor was cleaning old tackle out of the garage, offered some to my son, and he started to get interested in fishing. Like any dad who wants to be with his son, that meant I started to get interested (again). And, because of my personality, that has blossomed into full-bodied addiction. One of the challenges I think I have as an angler is that - when you get right down to it - I'm mostly as green as my son is as a fisherman. My father worked swing shifts, so fishing outings were relatively rare and, when we did go, dad wasn't really known for patience. So, I feel like I'm learning everything new while trying to help my son learn and enjoy the hobby. There are also a couple other kids in the neighborhood who are my son's age without fathers in their homes. They've started to occasionally tag along with us to either or the town's two ponds (though I do keep some time 'special' for just my son and I). Anyway, all that is to say that I want to learn well so I can care for these young men. I'd like them to be able to learn with/from me in a way i didn't get to enjoy as a kid. Since my dad doesn't fish anymore and is hours away from my home, I get to turn to the internets for help. So, this thread is my attempt to get 'fatherly' advice from you guys. I hope you don't mind, and I thank you in advance. I will probably post a question to this thread periodically (so as not to overload the board with new threads), and I've placed it here in the "Other Species" subforum because, while bass is a lot of what we're after, there are lots of panfish, perch, trout, and other thing that need catchin'. So, here's the first question for you guys... We're a nerdy, homeschooling kinda family, which may explain in part why I am so concerned with wanting to learn, learn, learn about fishing. What are your top books for general fishing knowledge? I'm specifically interested in species behavior/specifics that will help me 'think like a fish'. Starting with a couple solid books will help me keep the questions down for a while and fuel my second lust (books!!). Thanks in advance for your help... I look forward to, perhaps, being able to be a resource to you all down the road. - Dluxe