Hello from Alabama!

[Stumpy-USA]

Hi,

Just wanted to stop in and say hello to everyone, and get to know a few people. Here is a little info. about me......

I'm from Birmingham, Alabama. I'm an avid fisherman, for anything from Largemouth Bass to trout to snapper and amberjack. I have been semi-pro bass fishing for the past 15 years and can't get enough of it. Stumpy is my nickname, and I got it (long story short) by being able to find the only submerged timber in a lake with the lower unit of an outboard motor. I'm always intersted in learning new techniques and sharing whatever info. I can. I'm a member of BASS, FLW, and The BASS Federation. If there is anything you might want to know about fishing over here or how it might relate to your style of fishing just ask.
Looking forward to this experience. Stop by and say Hi!

Stumpy
If anyone can help me figure out how to attach an image I want to add one of my boat.

[aussiefool]

G'day Stumpy, Welcome to the site and looking forward to hearing all about your fishing adventures. If you go to the help section at the bottem of the main page you will find info there, but in short you need to resize your photoes
Aussiefool
Andrew

[Noelm]

hey stumpy, I often look and post on Iboats, you will find a lot of good stuff here and even if sometime you come on over/down, you will be able to get a fishing trip in from someone in the area you are staying.

[rando]

Gday
howyagoinmate :)

[StevenM]

sweet home

gday stumpy and welcome

cheers

steven

[theoldlegend]

Well now hiy'all Stumpy!

Welcome to the site.

TOL

[wayneoro]

hi mate been near you we have family in hot springs ark; few yrs back fished stripped bass and blue fish up north then when right down south in the gulf speckled trout red fish we lived on a canal played poker at night fished all day had a hell of a holiday cheers

[Smailesy]

welcome stumpy

[wayne_cook]

hi stumps nice intro hope u enjoy your stay ausfish !!! ;)

[Hornblower]

G'Day Stumpy, welcome aboard and enjoy the ride. I'm only new to this myself, but it is great fun and you learn heaps.

Cheers,

Hornblower

[tiges]

Hey Stumpo. Good to have another member from the U.S. A few on here already, and they've always got good stuff to contribute.

Regarding the pic uploading. You first have to have the pictures saved in a file, and the size less than 100 KB for it to load. I resize mine thru photoshop, but even the software that comes with most digi cameras should be able to do this. You can then access your pics/files by hitting the browse button straight under this quick reply window. Find the one your after and then hit post and it should appear with your text.

Cheers
Tiges

[spinna]

G'day Stumpy 8-)


Cheers spinna :) ;)

[Stumpy-USA2]

Got it to work so here's my boat!

It's a 2004 ProCraft 200 SuperPro. It is 19'-6" in length, has a Mercury 200 hp EFI, a pair of Lowrance sonars and a gps at the console. Three people can fish out of it easily. The best part, for me anyway, is that it will run about 70 mph.

Stumpy

[charleville]

The best part, for me anyway, is that it will run about 70 mph.


Wow!


Welcome aboard Stumpy. :)

...or should I say, "Welcome aboard, y'all."?

regards....

[fishlady]

Wow is right!
That looks like a fast one!
Wanna see my Ausfish sticker ;)
Welcome Stumpy......this is a great site. Hope you enjoy it as much as me

Cheers Jane

[griz066]

That is one sweet boat welcome aboard stumpy 8-)

[Stumpy-USA2]

It'll run well enough, but there are a few around here that will push the 90 mph mark, (Bullets, Gamblers, Allisons) but they're just racing boats with casting decks on them.

Thanks to everyone, or as we say here in BAMA "Thank ya'll".

I have a question that anyone who wants can answer. What are the impoundments you fish like? You know depth, cover, forage base, and types of fish. Here it's mostly impounded river systems consisting of shallow, grassy lakes with a few deeper, clear, rocky lakes thrown in for good measure. Largemouth Bass, Spotted Bass, and Smallmouth Bass are the main game species with Hybrid Stripe, Crappie, and Bream following up. The forage is mostly shad and crayfish. The techniques used here vary as much as you could possibly imagine, way too many to list. The size of our lakes in Alabama varies greatly from just a few hundred acres to over 40,000 acres and water color can be anything from crystal clear with visibility up to 25 to 30 feet or heavy green stain with only a foot or two of visibility.

Thanks again!
Stumpy

[tiny_tinny]

Gidday Stumpy,

I mainly fish saltwater, but have done a bit of freshwater fishing, mostly in the Noosa River. There are a few freshwater impoundments around south-east Queensland (where I live), many of which have been stocked with native freshwater fish - mainly Australian bass, golden perch (a.k.a. yellow belly) and silver perch. Someone more experienced than I might be able to fill in more info on fishing in our dams.

The upper part of the Noosa River is one of the most pristine rivers on the east coast of Australia (excluding the very top of Queensland). Wild bass live there in reasonable numbers but the fishing pressure on them is reduced because the stocked dams attract a lot of fishers and access is requires a bit of effort. Bass are fantastic fish which fight well. I always practise catch-and-release in this area.

The river itself is beautiful, with natural forest along the edges, deep and slow flowing for many kilometres. The water is stained to the colour of tea by tannins leached out of surrounding vegetation. When there is no wind, the flat, dark water gives perfect reflections of the surrounding trees.

Good fishing,

Mike

[way_out_bush]

G'Day Stump and welcome to ausfish. I spent 2 years working not far from you lived at Thomasville Georgia. Didn't get much of a chance for fishing but. Anyway enjoy the site. Regards, Mick

[Louis]

G'day Stumpy and welcome aboard. It is always nice to be able to welcome new members to the wonderful world of Ausfish.

Like was stated in one of the previous posts, there are a couple of other Americans who have joined our club also, and it is always good to hear and see their reports and the photos that they post. It always makes for an interesting and informative read.

I live in the suburb of Wynnum in the City of Brisbane which is located on the coastline towards the bottom of the state of Queensland. I would attach a photo or diagram but I'm not the best with computers either. I really am going to have to teach myself more about them one day.

Anyway, Brisbane has got a population of about 1 million, so by our standards this is a big city and unfortunately our fishing is no where near as good as those lucky enough to live in the more sparsely populated areas.

With regards to our fishing, you will find that the predominate style of fishing enjoyed by most Australians is saltwater in the bays and estuaries with the main catches being Whiting, Bream, Flathead, small sharks, snapper, and tailor.

Our dams range in size and at the moment many are empty and some are close to it. The vast bulk of our dams are man made by damming existing rivers and creeks and are used as water storage facilities for towns nearby. Currently there are plans for 2 new dams to be built to try and provide more water to the every growing city of Brisbane. You may have read on previous posts how this is causing some controversy at the moment.

The most common species caught in our dams are Bass, Yellow Belly, Silver perch, fork tailed catfish, eel tailed catfish, and in the warmer areas Barramundi.

Anyway like I said. Welcome aboard, and I hope we get to read some more of your posts soon.




Louis

[madmix]

Howdy stumpy

great looking rig, flickin flies at 70 mph what a strike.

cheers Mick

[Dirtysanchez]

Hello Stumpy, welcome aboard dude !

Man that rig of yours is a piece of work, how do you go trolling lures behind that ? ;D ;D ;D

[shaman]

Hey Stumpy, welcome aboard. Awesome looking rig you got there.This morning I was driving past a local boatyard (Nitro Marine) here on the Gold Coast and I spotted a bass boat along the lines of what you've got, big arse motor and all,and I instantly thought of you and your boat. Is it true that there is a huge following for this type of craft? I hadn't really seen anything like it but have read about them on the net. Does the obviously fast speed they generate have any affect on the waterways or do they throw off minimal wake? The waterways here cop a lot of pressure from recreational boating/fishing and the limitations that the authorities have imposed on us have become ingrained in a lot of us now. I'd love to have a run in one of your "fishing" boats.....Do you guys wear helmets ??? ;D ;D We will probably see a lot more of this style of boat as our trends are closely related to you guy's. I can just imagine Noosa Lake or the Hinze Dam with a couple of dozen of these jockeying for the best spots ;D ;D.......................................BILLY

[Bundy_Burp]

Welcome Aboard Stumpy 8-)

[Stumpy-USA2]

Billy,

You wouldn't believe how many bass boats there are around here. I saw a survey once, done by one of the national fishing publications, and it said that about 6 out of every 10 boats purchased in the U.S. were bass boats. On a typical Saturday around here there may bee as many as 4 to 5 hundred bass boats on the water of any lake you go to. Every March one of the local tackle shops (Marks Outdoors) puts on a big tournament at Lay Lake, just Southeast of Birmingham, and the field is "limited" to 550 boats. Just in Alabama alone there are probably over 1,000 tournaments per year scattered over our lakes and rivers. If you want to fish in a tournament just get to any launch early and there will be one going on. If you want to check out some stuff on the net on fishing over here go to Bassfan.com, Bassmaster.com, or look up "FLW Outdoors" lots of good info on those sites.
As far as the boats go, they really only put off a big wake when they are going slow. When you hit the hot foot to take off or let off to stop the transom will put off a moderate sized wave but it is short lived. It can get kind of hectic when you are running from spot to spot with as many boats as there are, almost like driving on a freeway with no lanes. Most of the problems come from inexperienced operators. We have to take a test to get our vessel permit but it does little good in weeding out the dangerous ones. Helmets are a personal choice, I don't wear them but many others do. However, almost everyone wears protective glasses, a bug in the eye at 70+ mph. can really hurt.
Fishing perssure over here is out of site. Many times you can fish and area and feel alone if there are only a dozen boats within sight. The professional tournaments have really exposed more people to the sport, wether that turns out to be good or bad only time will tell. Some days it almost seems like you have to wait in line to fish an area. But I will say this, because of the tax money collected on the sell of fishing permits and equipment, and that the state puts that money back into the sport, fishing has been getting better in general. Five fish tournament stringers of 20+ lbs. are common now with a few 30 lb. sacks thrown in. A few years back one of the tournament pros, Dean Rojas, caught 5 fish that weighed 45 lbs 2 ozs. combined.
If you ever get the chance to take a ride in or drive a really fast boat "Do It", its the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Its almost like flying when you get a 20 foot boat going so fast only a foot or so of it is actually in the water.

Thanks Everyone!
Stumpy

[dfox]

G-day stumpy, we get the same thrill over here crossing coastal bars, the only exception is theres no boat in the water...foxy

[dfox]

or this :) ;)

[shaman]

Hey Stumpy, I'm having trouble imagining 500 bass boats on one lake :o
I can't get my head around that, maybe they're big mutha lakes???
Still that's a "whole buncha goddamned boats boy"..................BILLY

[shaman]

Hey foxy that first photo kicks ar$e.

Is that you with ya buttcheeks squeezed together???? ;D ;D ;D ;D

[ibbo]

You have my dream boat :'(

Welcome to Ausfish stumpy :)

Still cant get over that rig [smiley=tekst-toppie.gif]

Cheers

IBBO

[Stumpy-USA2]

Billy,

Our larger lakes here in BAMA (Pickwick,Wilson,Wheeler, and Guntersville) make up the Tennessee River chain all average over 1 mile wide, 2 in some places. Also, on top of the width they stretch more than the entire width of the state. So 500 boats sounds really crowded, but they can actually handle many more. Guntersville alone is over 1 mile wide and 40 miles long. Lay Lake, where the Marks Outdoors tournament is, is nowhere near as wide but is over 30 miles long from dam to dam. I guess I just can't get over the way it used to be. Getting to the lake 2 hours before daylight just to get a parking spot does get irritating.

Stumpy

[schnapper72]

ELLO STUMPY GREAT LOOKING RIDE
SCHNAPPER72

[major-defect]

Hey bloke how they hanging.Welcome to the site,she's a wild looking rig ya got there.Bugger competing with the crowds mate we don't get that much where I am.As for impoundments in North queensland they usually have plenty of water and ginormous barramundi and even mangrove jacks in one.You should come over for a look sometime should be something here to stretch your arms.

[Stumpy-USA2]

Everyone,

Thanks for the kind words!

If you ever get the chance to come over to this part of the world let me know I'll be more than happy to show you around and do a little fishing!

Casey B.

[seafarer3]

Hi Stumpy,

gIDAY mATE...

Welcome 7 HAPPY fast Fishing...by the look;s of that Speeding boat


Cheers sCOTT

[jim_bream]

Stumpy, gidday mate!
I grew up and learned to fish in South Africa, similar impoundments, dams and river systems- might be lucky if you saw 4 boats on a lake over the weekend...
Sigh... those were the days
I spent some time over in the states a few years ago (Noo Yawk and Noo Joisee- for all my sins) and man I did n't realise you guys take your bassin so seriously! Had the good fortune of heading down to Nawlins for beer and fun- with some amazing LM Bass fishing thrown in too.
We use a lot of Berkley soft plastics over here, and the rest of the stuff is locally made. I'd say Sp's are making big inroads but not quite outfishing natural bait.
As far as hardware, I'd say our proximity to Asia has some amazing gear landing pretty cheaply here in Oz - Daiwa, Shimano, Okuma, a few American made Penns (sadly I believe American Penn reel production has ceased as of end of August) and Mitchells show up too...
I reckon you should throw a cover over the boat, pack some shorts and hop on a plane mate. We'll show you what a good day on the water means... ;)


Check this out everyone, a prankster taking the piss out off these serious bass fisho's over there *FUNNY AS PISS*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-dlAZ9L4d0

[Stumpy-USA2]

Jim,

Please don't hold "Chigger" against all of us! He's a good guy and as funny as a person can be. He was on a Saturday morning TV show on ESPN called BassTech. He was the comic relief. Not a real fisherman, but a real good guy.

Casey

[Got_the_Fever]

He is a total looney, but I do like the boat. Could probably make Moreton in about 5 min provided the wind was 0. It would also make chasing cobia around the bay a breeze.


Kel

[Bundy_Burp]

Sometimes it helps to be a few cans short of a slab .
Especially at the speeds some of those boats can do :D

Bundy 8-)

[treksmurf]

G,day Stumpy HAVAGOODWEEKEND and remember the airoguard ,

"DAD SAYS YOU SEE MORE WHEN YOU GO FAST" from the movie THE CASTLE you should get it out on video real aussie humou ;D 8-) :o :Dr

TREKSMURF