Champ188

Darn fine fish, Jeb. Congrats. Would that be a mid-village lake or west side?

Whack'em, if you'd seen me lately you wouldn't suggest eating. Maybe jog in place on the front deck. LOL And we don't need any comments from the peanut gallery, Denny and Bill.

Whack Em, you n me are pretty much in the same boat. I'll throw the dadgum thing if I have to and somehow I've managed to collect four of those Falcon flat boxes full of them. But since I quit smoking a year-and-a-half ago, I can't figure what I'm supposed to be doing between twitches.

Good report, Bill. Thanks. And agreed on Mr. Richey. Darn good fisherman and a straight shooter. Donna and I put in at SK bridge about 8 a.m. last Saturday and fished all day in the rain. Lot tougher day than I expected. Nothing on the blade. Ended up catching about a dozen on a shaky head and little jig and don't think there was a keeper in the bunch. Threw the blade too long. I do that sometimes.

Count me and Donna in.

Great stuff, Bill. Learned a lot myself just reading that. I own quite a few of both baits and catch fish on both, too. Not sure if I was truly aware that the Megabass runs considerably shallower than the McStick but now I know.

I'm with bassman1308 on this ... the true benefit may be more intangible (giving the fish places to live) than tangible (giving us places to catch them). Of course, I'm primarily a river rat so I don't have much of a dog in this hunt.

Bimmer, the half-ounce models will work fine. I generally switch to a half when the water temp drops into the 50s because I'm running the bait a little deeper and slower. You can even fish the half-ounce baits up shallow in the spring or fall, you'll just have to work a little harder to keep them up off the bottom.

These reports are sounding better all the time. Glad you had some good fun with the blade, Dave.

Indeed, thanks much for the honest and detailed reports. Best wishes in the future with your business.

Great report, Bill. Seemed a few weeks ago during the heat that this was shaping up to be an unremarkable fall in terms of color. Then we got that big September rain just in time to perk everything up. Haven't been up that way in a few weeks but it's sure pretty in our neck of the woods. Glad you had a great trip and actually got to catch some fish. Maybe the bite is starting to turn on finally. Gotta say in closing, it's beyond me how folks can think for even a minute that God's wonderful creations "just happened."

Should be a promising day with the big cold front moving in.

Edwin, this time of year with the water level down, you mainly throw it on rocky stuff. You aren't apt to lose near as many as you might in spring when the lake is flooded. Of course, some of Babler's guide clients like to throw brand new ones on top of docks and into weathervanes and such. If you run out, you might just follow him around and retrieve the ones they leave behind, depending of course on how good a climber you are.

Will preface this by saying it's all my own experience and opinion and I do not claim it to be gospel. For me, this ongoing funk is one situation where the blade may not shine, but it will outproduce a lot of other offerings. While what we're experiencing right now is unusual in duration, it's not uncommon for fall fishing to turn tough on TR. Through magazines and other media outlets, we're coached to slow down when fishing gets tough. Many times that's exactly what we need to do. Other times, it's not. IN MY OPINION, when a fish isn't feeding, you can't hardly pry open his mouth and make him eat. You can drag a jig, shaky head or other morsel in front of his nose as many times as you want and he'll likely just sit there and ignore it or turn and swim away. However, you may be able to provoke him to lash out at a fast-moving bait that invades his space and disturbs his peace, particularly if it keeps coming back into his space. That's the reaction strike we've all heard about, and sometimes it's your best bet to catch a few fish when they just won't eat your slow-moving lures. Like T did Sunday, you get in the wind, pick up the blade and don't put it down. Chunk and wind and make multiple casts to any likely looking piece of cover. The results can be surprising.

LOL Old Novice, good tactic.

We are men. Reading the manual can be construed as asking for instructions/directions. Wouldn't want to lose our "man cards" now would we?

Combo deal sounds like fun but you're right, probably best to look toward spring for that.

Just my opinion, but I don't think it'll be a big hit in our super-clear water.

Hey Phil, you gotta bring Babler. We can't have an OA golf derby without our TR forum moderator!

Either of those courses work for us. Like Edwin, we're open to wherever works best for everyone. I'd suggest that we pick a date first and make sure whatever course we want to play can accommodate us on that date. We can hash out any other details from there. I'll nominate Nov. 12 or 13 for starters.

Seriously, count me and Donna in. I can come up with at least a couple more players.

I'd be fine with the combined weight format. It's been done before and not sure how it worked out or why it was dropped. And for clarity, I'm not complaining about the cost of anything. It is what it is and I can quit fishing altogether if I don't want to pay the price. This entire ruckus started over a CO-ANGLER complaining that Roland Martin asked for a certain amount of gas money. I don't know how many ways I can say it but my ONLY gripe is with the VERY FEW co-anglers who get in the boat in the mornings with an entitled attitude about how much room they're going to get to cast and by gosh Mr. Pro you aren't gonna screw ME over and yada yada. And then at the end of the day, when they haven't caught anything because they spent the entire day trying to compete with the pro rather than watch where/what he threw and do something different, or because they just can't fish a lick, it somehow turns out to be the pro's fault. It's not the gas money. It's the principle.

All adds up to one thing: Certain co-anglers feel entitled to ride for free. I do have to say on #5 ... I also pay for gas to and from the tournament site (pulling a boat), hotel, meals, entry fee and lots of gas and oil during practice (yes, there's also a little matter of $25 a gallon outboard oil). PLUS boat payment, insurance and maintenance on it. And if it really comes down to helping with gas or not making it home, maybe you should just stay home to start with. I've had my say. Some front-deckers are jerks. So are some back-deckers. We're not gonna change any of that here.

You know, I've never been one to ask for gas money. If it's offered, fine. If not, I blow it off. NOT TO ALL, but to those who don't want to offer or don't feel obligated to at least help with some gas money, my question is: What the heck entitles you to ride around in a total stranger's brand new bass rig all day for free? That entry fee you paid is so you can fish for $1,000 or more yourself against other co-anglers. None of it goes to the boater for furnishing you a plush $50,000 ride, taking you to his fishing area, netting your fish, sharing his other equipment (measuring board, etc.). I'm beginning to understand why some boat owners settle the gas money issue up front. It might play a role in just how many productive casts a co-angler makes over the course of the day.

Welcome Dudley.