bassman1308

In my opinon,' focused fishing dude' hit the bail on the head. If you've been involved in competive fishing very long, I'm sure you've all met the "pro want-a-be' who has caught a few good strings of bass, usually while prefishing, and tries to make a reputation on these strings. These guys are 'self promoters' and seldom last very long in the tourney fishing game b/c they do not love to fish or enjoy the outdoors, they only love to win to boast their ego. When they figure out they can't compete with the big boys, they quit. Fishing is a unique sport in that anyone, on a given day, is capable of winning a tourney. I think that's what attracks so many of these guys. They know they aren't willing to put in the time to be good at baseball, golf or whatever, but they will do anything to learn where a successful competer is catching fish. They justify that with words like, ' no one owns the fish, it's a public lake, I can fish where ever I want, etc. Ha, as you can guess, I've had a little experience with guys like this and for me, it has certainly taken away from the enjoyment of tourney fishing. But I still do it. I'm done now.......

Blackie fished his first bass club tourney with me many years ago as a new member of the Aurora Bass Houns. We fished together several more times over the years. Because our club had a long waiting list, he left our club and started the Aurora Backlashers. Blackie also helped me start the wedn night tourney out of the Shell Knob bridge and later, ran it on his own until he became ill. Blackie Barton was highly respected by everyone who knew him, and he knew a lot of people. This man loved to fish. As sick as he was, he fished the last two wedn night tourneys and last satr nights tourney. In my life of 65 yrs, I don't think that I've met anyone more dedicated to being a good person with integerty and honesty high on his list. I feel lucky to have called Blackie my friend. As Gary said, a great man, loved by all.

On a lighter side to this, A few yrs ago, I was night fishing offshore, I'm sure over 50 ft, with a blacklight on. A boat came around the bend at least a mile away. I didn't flip on my lights as he was running the middle and in no danger of running over me. All of a sudden he headed straight toward me. As I said in a previous post, I keep a high powered spotlight on the front deck. I turned that on him as he approached and kept it on him, until he turned his flashing lights on. Woops, water patrol. He got fairly annoyed when I told him he should not have ran at me at the speed he was going. He read the 'lights on at night 50 ft from the bank' law to me and gave me a warning ticket. I wanted to ask him to measure to see if I was indeed 50 ft off the bank but sometimes its better to keep quiet. IMO, There are many times ( moonlite nights ) 60 mph at night is safer than 60 mph in the daylight ( heavy winds, lots of boats, seados, etc ). The 30 mph limit had to be set b/c of people who do not know the pitfalls of being on the lake at night. I will, however, fish with my lights off untilI see a boat coming, keep the spotlight handy and pay any fines I might get. Hopefully, someone will learn something from these posts that will keep them safer.

ozarkgunner: I'm certainly not a boat expert, just trying to be helpful, but have you tied raiseing or lowering your motor to help it plane at lower speeds? My Ranger is set up that way. I hardly have to trim it to get it planing at 30 MPH. I'm sure I lose a little wide open speed but you can't catch fish going 70 MPH anyway.

Wayne: This is why I don't care for the 'lights on 50 ft from the bank law'. I've had boats almost hit me at least three different times while fishing off the bank with my lights on so I don't think that law is a cure all. All it does is increase the number of bugs around your boat. The last time was a small runabout that came so close I could see the expressions on their faces, and I don't think they ever saw me, even though I was flashing my lights. I believe all 3 times this happened to me, it was because there were lit docks behind me and my boat lights blended in with them. Kind of a depth perception problem I think. I now keep a very high powered light on my front deck and I don't hesitate to use it when I see boats getting to close.

I've been given a warning a couple times for running slightly over the 30 mph night limit but been cautioned 3 times about fishing to far off shore without lights. I understand the reason for a night speed limit but having to leave your lights on while fishing over 50 ft from the bank is a pain and completely useless law, IMO. My 19.8 ranger has no problem planeing at 30 mph, usually with an empty livewell though. : - ).

I don't fish the friday nighters out of campbell pt anymore ( can't take the late hours ) but have hit the wedn nighters at the shell knob bridge as the're over at 11:00 pm. I can't tell you about this current week but It's taken over 20 lbs on friday nights and almost that much on wedn night to win. This is since they started early in April. I know the guys who run these tourney very well so if there's interest on this site and they will agree to get the info to me, maybe I could post the results. However, I don't know that I'd get any factual info on where, what and how they catch their fish. : - )

On Table Rock how about: crawdad rock, elephant rock, air condition point, foundation point. Anytime a rookie in our club caught a good fish or stringer on a certain spot, we would name it after them. Whiteys' pt., Schmidkey bluff. I put out about 100 brush piles in the early 90s' and each one of them had a name. I had so many I had to write them down with line up directions. Actually, I can remember where 90% of them are but I can't remember what I did last week. : - )

We put in at SK saturday about 8 am and stayed within 3 miles of the bridge. Had 5 fish with 4 being keepers before 9:30. Maybe 10 lbs total. After the fog lifted, not a single fish. Right place at the right time as they all came in one area and all on 3/4 oz jigs, 35+ feet.

Bill B: The Wakelands ran the Viola dock many years ago. Jim, his brother and their dad. I beleive the Johnson brothers ran the dock after that. They all could catch bass and did a little guiding. Whack um: I've used the Stan Sloan black light for 10 yrs but I'm sure there are other good lights that have come out since I bought these. My lights have jacks on them and they plug into my Rangers cap, one on each side. Nice set up IMO. They also have a white light if needed but I seldom use it as i'm usually off the bank quite a ways. IMO, the best use for them is helping net fish as the line shows up very well and your netter can tell where the bass it at. BPS exel 20 lb floresent works well and as someone mentioned, it is cheap compared to others. If I'm feeIing confident, I'll go to 25 lb. : -) I do love night fishing.

Hey Bill, did you have a bad day? I just pulled up a map of TR and the ramp at the mouth of sweetwater IS named the 'Kings River access.'

It's at the mouth of sweetwater creek. I've heard it called 'Golden access' & Kings River access. Don't know which one is correct, if either.

Thanks to all: I used Maxima when it first came out many years ago and remember it being very strong but a little stiff but i may give it another try. I've heard suffix was a low memory line and may try it also. I'll probably try them all. It's fun to experiment. Thanks again

Is there a special line ( mono or florocarbon ) you use that has less memory than the lines I've been using. BPS EX-CEL, P-LINE, AND SEAGAR in 10 to 15 lb. Haven't tried any new lines the last couple years so maybe a new & improved product has come out. Is there an easy way to get the curls out without respooling every week ? I've tried Vandams spray but it doesn't seem to help. I've tried streaching my line ( works fairly good ). However, with 10 reels, that's rather time consuming and besides, I usually don't plan that far ahead. : - )

SD bass hunter:: I've had a 797 Si on my console for well over a year and recently purchased a 787 c2 for the TM. I've owned nothing but lowrence most of my life but the SI technology really got me interested in the Hummingbird. I also wanted something on the TM for drop shoting / vertical fishing. Don House recommended the 787 c2 to me. I bought the unit from george & his son at Marine Repair in Springfield, MO. It does everything Don said it would plus it's easy to use and has the same buttons/settings as the 797 SI. Been catching my fish on jigs recently so I haven't vertical fished much to learn the fine points but that will come. Don't remember if I ever thanked Don House for his time answering my questions but his help was appreciated very much.

It doesn't even have to have money involved. I fished in a club with only trophies involved and a lot of small money tournys over a 30 yr period and I've seen simular instances of this behavior many times. IMO it's egos that cause a lot of this. Money just makes it worse. I think that is one of the main reasons why some of the more succesfull fishermen get ' burn out'. JMHO

Fisherman: All the fish were caught on salty craws, neon black. steep banks. Sounds like I should have been using the wm jig. Champ figured them out pretty good. Are you still running the burg / white R 93 ?

We Fished Kings saturday evening till midnight. Threw SB for 20 min. around dark just below jackes, nothing. Spent the rest of the time from viola dock to the island and ended up with 2 keepers about 3 1/2 lbs each. We had several non keeps but generally a pretty slow night. Not as much boat traffic though so that made it more enjoyable.

I've never been a guide but in the past, fished a lot of bass tourneys. This is about the only thing that I disliked about bass fishing. Some guys made a point to 'check out ' spots they saw you on. Most the time they catch little but that didn't stop them from telling everyone who'd listen where they saw you fishing. Nothing like running 10 miles, anticitating fishing a spot you feel holds fish, and having one of these guys sitting on it.

Several yrs ago, I experimented with a few tourneys that went this way. Fish with whoever you want. Each person is responsible for measureing and recording the others fish. Fish are released immediately. At the end of the tourney, each boater draws a non boaters name out of a hat. The draw partners totals are added together and places paid accordingly. I might have left something out but I don't feel like looking for a copy of the rules. It works well for a small group of buddies who fish for fun. Probably not so good if more $$ involved.

The bottom line is, you will lose some fish this time of year, no matter how hard you work to keep them healthy and, IMO, just because they swim off doesn't mean they will survive. Like ozarksfishin says, continiously recirculating cooled down water works best. Most of the guys I know DO make the effort to do this. Unfortunatly some don't. At the very least they should pick up any fish that oviously will not make it. FYI, the Shell Knob wednesday nighter does penalize for dead fish and is doing a better job in this regard.

I used to fish a lot of all nighters, 7 PM tp 7 AM. On nights when bites were few & far between, bats hitting my line helped keep me alert. That and loud rock music. Sounds exciting doesn't it.

Shimano Curados for me mounted on BPS 6"6' bionic blade rods. I have 3 old Garcias I use with heavy line for deep water night fishing. I like having all my rod / reel combos alike. Makes it easier to switch back & forth. I've used every line in the world and don't really have a preference. What I do is buy color to match line size. Example-- all 14 lb is green --10 lbs is clear florocarbon, 6 lb is p-lines pukey green, 20 lb is blue florescent. I don't have to mess with marking each reel. First time I every posted on another fishing site I got reamed out when I asked how a $350 rod will help you catch more fish then a cheaper BPS BB rod. Never paid more than $39 for a rod. I'm not asking as I've learned my lesson. : - )

I can remember when there was NOT a nighttime speed limit on TR. As more idiots ran 60 mph + in sheer darkness, SOMEONE got things rolling to set a speed limit. Although it is randomly enforced, it has slowed down most nighttime boaters. Just saying, it is possible to get things done, but bigredbirds comment is probably pretty accurate.