merc1997 Bo

our prayers never reach a deaf ear. here is for you and yours. bo

lock n haul. it is simple, but also does what you want it to do and that is to protect the transom. it also locks the motor where it has absolutely no movement. go to their website and watch the videos while on the trailer in tow. i have tried them all, and this is the one that will do the job. protects the transom and also locks the steering down for no motor movement period. bo

have not read or heard of any particulars on this event. i need to call my friend that lives in zapata and get the official scoop on what when on. he fishes on the mexican side more than on our side, and has never had any incident. in fact, of all the times that i have fished down there, we have spend all of our time on the other side. certainly always use caution and leave when you see a situation that does not feel right. but, it is a good chance that it might have involved drugs. remember the incident with the couple on the jet ski??? one of the things that does need to be enforced on that lake is water usage by mexico. they take more than their share every year, but we never do anything about it. bo

not taking offense, but when the one that finished 3rd is a pro staff member and did not even put in a plug for the lure company, i don't believe he is helping the company in anyway. that puts a different light on things. bo

i hear you on that one. all i heard was how i found the bass and i did that. neither ever mentioned or thanked me for basically putting a total of 20,000 grand in their pockets. did not set too well, when i did it free gratis to help them out. they are coming back in oct. to fish grand. since they are so smart and good, i will let them figure grand out on their own. bo

EXACTLY!!!! bo

great job! bo

yep champ, it sure does have a lot with the age of the lake and not as much timber. also, the lower lake level is a big factor also. this is what spring fishing used to be like every year because they always got the lake down during the winter. we just have not had what i would call a normal lake level for this time of the year for quite a while. believe it or not, i love to catch bass shallow when possible, but it is becoming much harder to do on a regular basis. but, the conditions give one the opportunity to really work over the shallow fish, it really pays off to do so. bo

for sure this same pattern is working a fairly large section of the lake. bo

he sure missed out on a great fishing trip for sure. i used to fish grand lake quite often with keith testerman and clyde moss. quit going over when gas was higher than the price of gold. i may get over there in oct. when the bassmaster open is there. bo

quill, you need to be processing what you should be learning here. any area needs to be explored with a uphill retrieve. there are just times that is the only way to make them bite. bo

bill, thanks for the prayers for mike. i sure would love to see him healthy again, and somehow get back into what the loves and that is fishing. the tourney was certainly a barn burner down to the wire. drew was disappointed that he did not make the adjustment needed on friday, and that small drop off cost him. he did mention losing a 3 lber. today that would have added about 4 oz. to his weight. well that pattern is just about done for the next time we have lower water levels. i am ready for night fishing and have the lake to myself for a while. the pattern that mike m. will remain for a spell yet, but it takes lots of looking to find those areas that are holding bait, and be able to figure out where they are moving to on a daily basis. most anglers forget that 20 ft. deep a 1/4 mile out in the lake is the same as 20 ft. deep up by the bank. bo

was looking at the picks of mccelland and noticed the sea gulls. they help a lot in finding those shad balls that are up in the water column. finding the food source is the first objective. then you can start putting in topography into the equation to help figure out where the bass are positioned. bo

correct. the situation is not everywhere and you do have to search for those areas.

correct about another part of the equation. bo

correct about the crawdads for one part of the equation. bo

get them in the boat today. bo

one other thing that i will add about fishing right now, and it applies to both deep fish and shallow fish, and that is to find where the shad are concentrated. i feel that right now most of the bass are still relating to shad. however, when the water warms enough the bass seem to change diet for about a month and gorge up on crawdads to get ready for spawning. i will leave this one other clue, with a question. why is it that nothing mud flats and banks never appeal to most anglers. think about that one for a bit, and comment your answers, and see if anyone knows why mud should be part of the equation not only early in the spring, but also early in the fall. bo

the bigger bass are in there, but it is one of those things that the bigger ones will be positioned differently on different days, and you have to spend some time to figure that part out. these fish are moving every day to some extent, and they have at least made those adjustments. this has been a situation of all sizes of bass are using one gigantic food source. at this point, i would also agree that is would be improbable to catch up. got to give mikie some credit here also. he took ted and i a took drew and we fished around together. actually on sat. we got them both on good sacks fishing for suspended fish in the cambell point area, but they were both pretty lost at doing this. so, on sunday, we changed lanes and went to this huge bunch of fish that could be caught shallow, with them both being texans, it fit their fishing style better. on another note, i would like to ask everyone to keep mike sowders in their prayers. most will not know mike, but bill sure does. he is dealing with some health issues that should have been fixed 3 years ago. he is finally going to see a surgeon monday. he needs lots of prayers to get fixed up and back to better health. bo

my two guys are sitting 5th and 12th. i saw drew posted that the was catching 15 to 20 keepers each day. he just needs to find a couple of those big ones that are in there. it will be a barn burner tomorrow for sure. bo

yep champ, catching bass anywhere in the lake is much more mental than anything. there is much more to it than chunking and winding. bo

nice bo

bill that is the difference is being a fisherman or a fish catcher. fish catchers are the ones that can go anywhere and put them in the boat. there are places on table rock that you can catch them in nothing at the right time of the year and in the right area of the lake, but those opportunities are far apart. right now there are a few places on the lake to catch them up in nothing, and here champ is working and missing out. it will be interesting to see how things go today. bo

this tournament is going to be one of the best because of the closeness of weights. and, i am guessing that there were quite a few different techniques used to catch them. another thing is that i believe everyone will have to make adjustments because of the mild weather. everyone's fish will be making daily changes. bo

they ended up 5th and 9th for 1st day. very close weights and tomorrow is another day everyone has to produce. playing out to be a very close one. bo