BillsTheBassMan

Hmmmm, might rethink that "proposal" thing I Was planning in the next couple years

I've found that Power Pro and Spiderwire are both good braids and have served me well. Power Pro says that their phantom red is the most invisible (even over their other colours), but as someone else said, if I'm worried about line visibility I tie on a leader. You can practice the knots at home while relaxing or watching TV with old line from old reels of whatever you have laying around. Don't turn your back completely on other lines. Mono and Fluoro all have their purposes. Sometimes a little stretch is a good thing, sometimes a more buoyant line is a good thing. When I first started using braid, I was BRAID BRAID BRAID all the time, now I've learned to be a little more versatile. Hope that helps, Ryan

Congrats, That right there is an amazing experience for you and your son to share - it's a memory that will last forever and a great one at that. I experienced something similar today as my nephew (who I take fishing) caught his first Brown and went wading for the first time. Cheers.

Beautiful Man, Amazing Job! Keep those awesome underwater shots coming!

A BIG THANK YOU is owed to ZAMBONI as he has supplied me with a hydrographic chart of the area. It should come in very handy in showing us what kind of water we're in, and it could be a HUGE lifesaver if our electronics go down. Much Obliged!

Gorgeous Fish Doc.

Sounds like he was a hungry bugger. Was the battle a good one?

I'd imagine it's around the same time the local middle school is offering basic English courses.

Great Fish Man, a Beauty Indeed.

If you hadn't ever beat a dead horse before today you just did now.

Yep, an old pair of shoes and a warm coat for the bum might go a long way to helping somebody out. Great pictures Dave Bailey! Wildlife is one of fishing's greatest compliments. Always a treat to see something "different." Plus, the beaver jokes (when you're talking about an actual beaver) can throw your women into fits: "She was just down by the river, au naturale." "She was mostly just trolling for wood." It gets worse, so I'll stop before I go into the unshaven quotes

Hey! I bought one earlier this spring at a Wal-Mart and thought about it for awhile while I was waiting for seasons to open and I decided to return it. I researched it pretty thoroughly and thought it over a lot. The bright side: 1) Their cheap. 2) It's a great way to get off shore. The Not-So-Bright Side: 1) Wind pushes those things around aggressively with no motor and you can end up on the other side of the lake in a flash. 2) I really started questioning the safety . . . especially seeing how some people drive their boats around lakes 3) The river life of a boat like this couldn't possibly be THAT long. 4) After Anchor, Trolling Motor, a Plywood Board for the floor (to steady it and make it standable), safety kit, life jackets, container for storage, battery for motor etc, that this boat was going to run me enough to just suck it up and buy a better, safer, water craft. 5) If the boat pops, safety issues aside, you lose all your goods. You could swim to shore in a life jacket, but not with a trolling motor that is at the bottom of a lake, your rods, your other goods etc. There was just too much of a downside and too much of a risk keeping that boat, so it went back. I'm a trout fisherman anyways (despite what my name says - I'm bass for July and August almost exclusively). Hope that helps, Ryan

It's just good to see these people actually getting caught. I cringe to think about the amount of people out there not getting caught, but the authorities are working with what they are given. Good to see this and thanks for reporting it Timmeh.

Point Taken. I was a little harsh with the initial response. There's definitely a difference between a customer and a tackle shop owner announcing these things, I just thought there was already a forum for such announcements.

Nice to see this and thanks for publishing it. It's good to report stories like this because it may make a few people second think things the next time they want to do something like that.

Yeah, I tied my first 2-3 leaders the other day and it was fine, cheaper, and it worked good. The knot practice for anyone who doesn't know them is needed anyways - you want all knots to be second nature and strong. I practice knots when watching sports sometimes. Ryan

Another very sad story. I've been following it all week and hoped a better end would come of it. Condolences.

Hmmmm, I wonder what's worse. 1 guy saying don't advertise in the area where we're not supposed to advertise or 9 guys taking their "moral" high road and trying to flame him for it. I guess we should just tell all the tackle shops to advertise in general discussion, so we'll have to wade through 100 ads whenever we're looking to talk about actual fishing. I love how you respond to threads like this more than threads about actual fishing. It kind of shows where your heads are at I guess.

You must have decided to wait for all the Admins to go to Lakair before posting this. This would make me LESS likely to come to your event, as it is kind of ignorant advertising in a non-advertising forum.

Bass Magnet Minnows (soft plastics) are just about the hottest thing going for drop-shotting right now.

Yep, a leaky bucket of gulp can make any surrounding tackle a mess in a hurry. It can be pretty disgusting.

Yep, fish see more than they smell and action is more important than attractant most certainly. You can do fine with power bait, gulp, other brands of tubes, yum, bass magnet - any form of soft plastic like that. Where I like added attractant is in Senkos - the Yamasenkos are the best because of their obscenely high density of salt impregnation which gives them that "drop" action that causes so many strikes. The scent does come into play in one regard - I feel it helps the fish hold onto the bait for a little bit longer than an unscented bait. Gulp definitely has a good organic scent about it. I've had decent success with it on the occasions that I have fished it, but I don't really find it outfishes other soft plastics, and definitely not live bait (but live bait is more of an inconvenience). Id pick up a few, but I wouldn't go overboard. Spread it out over a few brands and see what you like.

It was close, but I've been 'close' so many times with that one . . . Yep, good times indeed Mark. I'm sure we'll meet again in bass season.

I'll run a huge streamer at him next time (unless he's on the rise again). Ryan

Does anyone have any idea of where I can get some charts for this specific area? These will go a long way to helping us stay safe! Ryan