Champ188

I started out walking a couple of miles down the railroad tracks to the tressle over the creek. Later I rode my bicycle to creeks and ponds, then my motorcycle and finally my car or truck. While other wholesome activities went by the wayside, I kept my passion for fishing throughout my school years.

I strive to not be a ref basher and usually try to weigh my complaints with other objective eyes where Arkansas is concerned, but we just flat-out got hosed yesterday. And that resonates with others like yourself, i.e. not Arkansas fans. Sadly, tradition --- in this case, North Carolina --- seems to live a charmed life in NCAA sports. One forum member who is beyond knowledgable when it comes to college sports said yesterday that this entire tournament has suffered from poor officiating. I do know from being a sportswriter that tournament games are often called looser simply because they are playing multiple games at each site and need to stay on schedule. No problem there, but call it consistent from start to finish and most of all, call it consistent on both ends of the floor. North Carolina is definitely the physically superior team to Arkansas, but our kids left every ounce of blood, sweat and tears they had on the floor yesterday. It's just a shame that they perhaps played well enough to upset the better team but came up short because of some questionable officiating. Oh yeah, for the rest of tournament, Rock Chalk! And no, I didn't fill out a bracket. Just admire Bill Self and would like nothing more for him and Coach Crook (Calipari) to meet up. My SEC loyalty goes on the shelf where that guy is concerned.

that someone made a comment recently about how the SEC's lack of basketball prowess shows every March. #ThereGoesDuke

Done

Don't forget that OA member Hughesy is a nationally known lure painter.

There's always someone faster. But again, until they start handing out boat-racing trophies, what counts is what's in the bag at weigh-in.

Before Chuck goes to bed, he checks his closet for Jason Christie.

Aside from familiarizing your eyes with everything, making a daytime run also allows you to draw yourself a GPS trail.

I'm one of those guys that catching bass matters. So I want myself, my lifetime fishing partner and others who may come aboard to be as safe and pampered as possible. Thus my decision to ride a Ranger Z119. I fish in pure comfort, as do my guests. With a 225 Opti and a tournament load, it runs 68-70 on GPS and I've yet to see a tin boat that can keep up on the rare occasions that I blow the carbon out of it. Not saying it's impossible, but it hasn't happened yet. Might run 1-2 mph slower coming back to the weigh-in with both livewells full of water and fish.

Sounds like you've done your homework and you're undoubtedly a skilled outdoorsman. Just don't want to read/hear any bad news about anyone, but especially our great members here. Get out there and enjoy.

Maybe quit buying those silly pre-Rap models and you won't be out a fortune when one breaks or gets lost. The best Wart fisherman on Beaver Lake --- he's won more boats and money there and beyond than most of us put together --- says the old ones aren't a bit better than the new original series. The only ones that suck are the ones made for a couple years right after Rapala took over Storm. The pre-Rap craze has unnecessarily cost a lot of people a lot of money, according to him. Incidentally, this guy isn't a tightwad. He will drop hundreds in a single visit to the tackle store.

You guys are way madder at those spoonbills than I've ever been at any fish to get out there and run that skinny, stumpy water at night. Hope you are exercising extreme care.

As Babler pointed out in anothe thread, you can't catch bass where they aren't.

Dang, Jerry. You're as outdated as me with my 3-year-old TaylorMade SLDR.

That bait can't possibly hunt. It has no eyes.

Makes a lot of sense.

Guess that sounded pretty harsh but just takes so much away from the challenge of figuring out what to do to put yourself in position to win. I will say that after the first year or so, the A-rig has NOT been a magic bullet. But in the hands of the right people, it will beat you time and time again unless you pick it up and sling it all day with the rest of them.

Some of these guys, McClelland included, are fishing to pay their mortgage, light bill and put groceries on the table. As long as hiring a guide is allowed by tournament rules, they are going to do just that if it will help them get a leg up on the competition. This is not playtime. Can't expect those who are "in to win" to stop short of giving themselves every advantage enjoyed by the guy in the boat next to them at takeoff. If anyone is at fault here for unsportsmanlike conduct, it's BASS for allowing it. McClelland is a standup Christian guy and a class act ... far from a LOSER.

Guess I'll add to the poor OP's confusion ... I throw Warts where I need a bait to get down to 4-8 feet. Like others, I own way too many. If I had to keep three non-custom colors, they would be: watermelon seed for off-colored water or dark days in clear water; brown craw for a versatile, all-around color; and the V-209 for late winter/very early spring when red hues produce best. A very, very close fourth would be phantom green. If I want/need to get a little deeper, I go to the Rock Crawler. Basic color needs for me there are phantom brown, phantom green and red craw. As for a rod/reel setup, I recently bought a Denali Kovert Lite series finesse jig rod (7-3 length, med power, fast action) that just rocks my world for either the WW or RK. I have it paired with a Cabela's Arachnid 6.3:1 reel (same as a Daiwa Tatula) and 10-pound P-Line CXX mono. Good luck with your search.

This is the kind of post and real-life activity that keeps me closely connected to OA. Thanks for your generosity Ketchup, and thanks to TFR for telling us about it. Love this place and the great people here.

Thank you for that, sir. We appreciate it and are happy you got to enjoy catching them.

A-rig has changed winter/early spring tournament fishing for the worse, in my opinion. There's really not much reason to throw anything else because that's how it's gonna be won until the water temps climb up around 60.

I'm staying out of this catch and release thing (no applause, please and thanks) but I AM curious as to which golf ball the fly fisherman dude prefers.

Ketchup, I've never been a member over there but maybe we should sign up at the same time and have a race to see who gets banned first. I imagine a lot of OA members would stack their money on me. LOL

"Get your butts back above the hard deck and return to base."