So, last year I lost a lot of fishing time due to business travel to Europe. I would generally leave on a Saturday, so I lost two weekend days each time I went, which I rarely got back as comp time. For those of you who think that business travel is fun, I have news for you; it isn't. Just ask anyone who has to do it. This year wasn't as bad, but the weather also wasn't that great here in New Jersey.
This year, I'm using a new tool (or toy, depending upon your perspective). My wife bought me a Biosonix BSX unit! (I have the most supportive wife in the world; you should be so lucky!) This box creates the sounds of bait fish when unstressed, when under attack by bass, etc. It can be programmed to make the sounds in particular sequences at particular volume levels, or to play one sound (for example, "Normal Shad", which is an average sound that represents bass feeding, but not too much). A speaker mounts on the trolling motor foot and plays the sounds underwater. You're about to ask me if it works, right? It's really hard to tell. My feeling, which I can't prove, is that it works better when the bass are chasing or hitting topwater and shallow baits. I also think that it helps when they're generally inactive, but not all the time. If you're thinking of making the investment, and you expect the bass to jump out of the water into your boat, you're going to be disappointed. The best independent analysis I've seen is from two guys who use it all the time. They are pretty equal fishermen without the BSX. When one uses the BSX and one doesn't, the BSX user will outfish the other by about 20%, regardless of which one uses the BSX. So I'm still learning and playing with it.
Unlike the last two years, I've stopped fishing any of the NJ BASS Federation events. I was learning a lot by fishing them, but my back can't take the pounding of long runs in a bass boat at 50-60 mph. I've had several anglers I've fished with be extra careful because I've told them about my back, but they couldn't avoid the heavy chop (waves, really) in spite of their best efforts. So I'm still fishing a few local tournaments. Actually, I fished a night tournament with fishing buddy Bruce about a month ago and won $270! I bought a new Stradic reel with it, and can still buy at least one more.
This year I've been to most of the NJ lakes that I usually visit. I've done OK, but not great. Hopefully that will change as fall fishing heats up.
I'll try to update more often, so both of you guys who read my posts know what's going on!
Tight lines!
Charlie
Labels: Bass fishing
