got out today

[Champ188]

23 hours ago, merc1997 said:

got to love that muddy water for daytime fishing.k  makes things pretty darn simple.  the only electronics you need is about three line guides deep on any rod.

bo

I think I just got sucker punched. 

[Guest]

54 minutes ago, Champ188 said:

I think I just got sucker punched. 

hey,  you still have to figure out where to throw though.  they are not just everywhere, right?

bo

[vernon]

1 hour ago, Champ188 said:

I think it's mostly the latter, although I'm not sure Bill Self is as effective as he used to be. 

Well, that makes one of us!

Actually, I think this year was his best coaching job since he got to KU.  This team just really wasn't that good, or big, or deep and not having our 6'9", one and done, presumptive lottery pick play even a single second was a lot to overcome.

Getting blown out in Allen Fieldhouse by Texas Tech,  Arizona State and Oklahoma State not to mention Washington in the Sprint Center (none of the last three even made the tournament) pretty much exposed these guys as not very good.

Then to win the Big 12 by two games as well as the conference tournament and get a number one seed?

Honest KU fans were surprised if not shocked at the level of success this team achieved this year.

It seemed like a lot of smoke and mirrors stuff to me and I didn't think we could beat Seton Hall much less Duke. I'm beyond happy to have made another Final Four even if we were made to look like a JV team by Villanova as I think it all just finally caught up to us.

They were just flat out a way better team and we would have had to play even better than the Duke game to have had a chance.

And for whatever it's worth I hope he coaches here till he dies!

Or at least until I do......

 

[Champ188]

1 hour ago, merc1997 said:

hey,  you still have to figure out where to throw though.  they are not just everywhere, right?

bo

Yes, there's that and then some. Ask any guide why he takes only a few clients up shallow and he'll tell you that the clients aren't' skilled enough anglers ... can't cast accurately, sure as heck can't flip or pitch, and probably can't handle a fish in heavy cover.

There are a lot of nuances to shallow fishing that many never give a passing thought to ... and those are often the difference between getting bit and striking out. Where to throw is a biggie, i.e. recognizing the type of cover (rocks, wood, docks, etc.) the fish are using that day and how they are positioned on it. Sun angles and wind are always important on Ozarks lakes. Boat control is huge. Lure choice is another key area to consider.

There's a reason George Cochran won three world championships fishing shallow. He committed to learning how to do it better than anyone else and because so many others were out there hunting for deep fish, he had a good portion of the shallow water all to himself. See ya the weigh-in, boys. LOL

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Champ188 said:

Yes, there's that and then some. Ask any guide why he takes only a few clients up shallow and he'll tell you that the clients aren't' skilled enough anglers ... can't cast accurately, sure as heck can't flip or pitch, and probably can't handle a fish in heavy cover.

There are a lot of nuances to shallow fishing that many never give a passing thought to ... and those are often the difference between getting bit and striking out. Where to throw is a biggie, i.e. recognizing the type of cover (rocks, wood, docks, etc.) the fish are using that day and how they are positioned on it. Sun angles and wind are always important on Ozarks lakes. Boat control is huge. Lure choice is another key area to consider.

There's a reason George Cochran won three world championships fishing shallow. He committed to learning how to do it better than anyone else and because so many others were out there hunting for deep fish, he had a good portion of the shallow water all to himself. See ya the weigh-in, boys. LOL

glad you mentioned one of the things that i harp on and that is boat control.  it is darn hard to catch the first bass, even if you are fishing where they are, if the boat is never in the right position.  thanks for mentioning that important fact champ.

bo

[mixermarkb]

Boat control is HUGE. Heck, probably worth a teaching day with Champ right there.

Learning what to do with the boat, and why, and then having enough time on the water doing it so it becomes totally automatic and doesn’t take any brain power away from casting mechanics and feeling bites is one of the things I’m convinced really separates the serious fishermen from hacks like me. 

[Champ188]

2 hours ago, mixermarkb said:

Boat control is HUGE. Heck, probably worth a teaching day with Champ right there.

Learning what to do with the boat, and why, and then having enough time on the water doing it so it becomes totally automatic and doesn’t take any brain power away from casting mechanics and feeling bites is one of the things I’m convinced really separates the serious fishermen from hacks like me. 

The biggest enemy to boat control, and I speak for myself especially, is laziness. You're going down the lake on a bluebird sunny day and see a 45-degree chunk rock bank fully shaded with a 15-mph wind blowing on it. You decide to fish it, so you pick a starting spot and as you get closer you notice the wind is blowing more down the bank rather than into it. Now, the correct thing to do would be turn around, get bank on plane and run down to what would have been your original stopping point and fish back up the bank into the wind.

That's where your mind starts saying, "Aw heck, it'd be a lot easier just to let the wind blow me along. Wouldn't have to stand on the troller near as much and sure wouldn't have to cast into the wind. Yeah, let's just do that."

So now you've created several problems for yourself. You are at the mercy of the wind with boat speed, unless you want to throw your troller around backward and prop-wash what you're trying to fish. Whenever you get to a key spot along that bank, you're gonna go blowing by it way too fast to fish it properly. You're gonna have to adjust your reeling speed to compensate for the boat speed since the wind is blowing you down the bank. And on and on. 

Guys, I do it, too. But the more we pay attention to details and put forth the effort to do things the way we KNOW we should, the more bites we get. 

[Guest]

i do not mind going with the breeze when chunking and winding, but fishing a slower bait dictates getting into the breeze, and this also can dictate line size or weight of the lure you are using to get it to depth and have the correct sink rate.

but, even when drifting with the breeze, one still has to keep the boat positioned correctly so casts can be made at proper angles.  this gets trickier when you have a partner on the back deck, and you have a need to keep them at the optimum angle of attack.

glen andrews taught me long ago that the wind is your friend and use it.  his philosophy was to always fish with the wind unless, it gets you going faster than you can effectively fish what you are attempting to catch them on, or have a need to sit on one area.

one area that the wind will aid in keeping the boat position is a bank with a bend and the wind is blowing into the middle of the bend.  this is the easiest place to fish on a windy day.  the wave bounce back from the bank holds the boat darn near as good as anchoring.

as champ alluded to, time spent really working at running the trolling motor is just as valuable as the proverbial time on the water helps to learn where the bass are.

bo