Sam Smasher


I'm 14 and I'm gunna start float tubin so I just want to know if anyone has any advice.

Thanx.

Get the best gear you can afford; make safety one of your highest priorities (and keep some good sunscreen & lip balm out there with you, along with some snacks & drinks to keep you well-nourished & hydrated). Buy some decent-quality, well-fitting waders & fins, plus some good polarized lenses (I use SolarBats in Moss Green, but there are cheaper alternatives). Get yourself a flippin' stick, a wormin' rod, a crankin' rod, a split-shot/drop-shot rod, a blade (spinnerbait) rod...man, I could go on & on!

Get started with the above, & just GET OUT THERE & DO IT! The rest will come over time. Stay in touch with this board, as well as the westernbass.com forum, to ask all the questions you can come up with; there'll be plenty of guys ready to provide you tips & other assistance, as well as rides to the lake, fishing reports, all that jazz.

Welcome to the board! Let's hope we can get you up to speed quickly & have you catching bigger bass than you ever imagined you would! I remember back to my first *flipped* fish -- a nice, fat 5.8 lb'er out at Stevens Creek Reservoir in Cupertino, right down the street from where I lived at the time. To see that first big flash of a fat, white belly coming up out of that bush just 10 feet away, weighing like I'd hooked an old '57 Chevy -- boy, was I stoked! Total exhileration! And I never would have gotten there so quickly without the generous advice & guidance from a couple of the guys right here on the site.

Time on the water is one of your best bets for steady improvement -- get out there & get it while you can!


Hope to see you out there soon!

Sam Smasher

THANKS:7

John gave some great advice. I was getting pumped up visualizing a 6lber out of Stevens Creek!!!! :-)

I'm not sure how experienced you are with bass fishing, but here is my $0.02 for a rookie on a budget...

Tube: V-Boat style tubes are great. They break down easily and are don't take up too much space in your garage. This is a new model from Creek Company for 2005. It looks like a good value for the price...
http://www.creekcompany.com/indivdisplay.php?primaryAutoID=103&Department=Float+Tubes
Kickboats are awesome. They're bigger and allow a fisherman to cover more water... but I'm guessing that you can't drive and a kickboat might be too difficult to store and transport.
Other brands of tubes / kickboats...
Outcast
Caddis
Water Skeeter
Outdoor Engineering

Rod: 6'6" medium heavy rod (spinning or casting) with a Shimano reel
Fins: I would buy swim fins, not "over the boot" fins
Waders: Neoprene's are cheap, and you really don't need waders in the summer
Tackle: Stick to the proven basics on the water you plan to fish most often, one light color, one dark color of each

Good luck!

Mike F

(jeff/john, what's the difference -- other than a few *thousands of pounds of bass* every year!) :+

Jeff,

It was getting late...:+

Sam Smasher

THANKS
:7

Hi Sam,

According to your profile you're out of Livermore....the delta is nearby, lots of great water but some might be a bit challenging for someone new to tubing. Check out Shadow Cliffs in Pleasaton. With a tube it is a short walk to good water in the back ponds and some pretty decent fishing. Keep an eye on the forum and I will post the next time me and my bro go out to fish there.

If you go there by yourself I would try the lower pond first. Park to the back right after entering the park, go over the levy, and either launch on the downstream side of the pedestrian bridge and go under it or try launching on the upstream side (personally I think going under the bridge is easier). Once on the upstream side of the bridge hit the trees to the left as you face the bridge with a pig n'jig, creature bait, or whatever you like to throw. Have a good stout rod with 15-20# test line though; you will want to toss it back in the wood as far as you can get it and you will need some backbone to ge a fish out of that sh-t.

Anyway, the lake is a good one with wood, tules, weeds, and deep water to work. I'd be suprised if you didn't hook up something there. The upstream pond (the one with the island) is good too but is a further walk.

Good luck and fish on,

Buzzfish

P.S. Buzzbaits work there too!