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BASS members 17y

Mail Call

Aspiring pro

I have been a member for a couple of years now and I love Bassmaster Magazine. The tournament coverage is my favorite. I am 15 years old and I hope to become a BASS pro. Keep up the good work with everything that you are doing for the sport. Everywhere I go I always give major props to BASS. You guys are and always will be number one in the world of bass fishing.
Adam McInturff, Norton, Ohio

Free fishing days

I have been a BASS member for many years and really enjoy the magazine. A "Mail Call" letter in the November issue got me thinking about California's Free Fishing Days. Californians can fish on certain days each year without a license, and I have been taking my two daughters fishing with me the last few years. I really look forward to being on the water with them, and they do, too. I taught them early in life how to use a rod and reel, and they haven't forgotten. These days, they are both mothers and have busy schedules, but on these free fishing days, they make time to go fishing with their dad.
Daniel R. Trapp, Clovis, Calif.

Editor's Note: California's free fishing days for 2007 are June 9 and September 22. Many other states also offer free fishing days; check with your state's Department of Fish and Game for details.

Missing classes

I was sorry to learn there will be no Bassmaster University seminars this year. This was the best learning experience for fishermen, as well as a chance to meet the outstanding pros. It was the high point for us each year; many of us were privileged to have lunch and talk one-on-one with the Denny Brauers and Kevin VanDams of the sport.

Since retiring I've attended five of the seminars from Louisville and Frankfort, Ky., to Orlando, Fla. They have helped me to catch a bunch of bass and to appear on your Lunker Club page four times. I now teach a fishing class at the Great Outdoors RV and Golf Resort, where we have 30 stocked fishing retention ponds.

You are really missing a great opportunity to cultivate young people in our great sport. A fishing class for young men and women at a reduced rate, along with the university class for us older folks, would be an ideal chance to bring some new blood into bass fishing. I'm sure many of us retired people who really understand bass fishing would jump at the chance to teach them. Please bring back the best of Bassmaster!
John Roberts, Titusville, Fla.

Let a child teach you

I thought you would like to know how to catch a bass. (So many anglers are always asking. Ha-ha.)

Have a 4-year-old child.

Have one Scooby-Doo fishing pole.

Have one Mickey Mouse bobber.

Find a really old rubber worm in a tacklebox in your great-grandfather's basement – so old you can't even decide what color it is supposed to be.

Now this is the most important part:

Let the child do it all by herself. Yes. All by herself. Let the child cast and reel the line until her little heart is content. Whatever you do, do not assist her by casting for her or helping her reel in.

This is how we let our 4-year-old granddaughter Hayleigh Poole, visiting us from Vancleave, Miss., catch her first fish in the lake at our condo in Port Charlotte, Fla.

After she caught her fish that day, she proudly handed her fishing pole to her grandfather and announced, "Now, PawPaw, it is your turn to catch one." Well, things being how they are, and the way it always happens, of course, he never even got a bite that day. So now, when anyone asks about the fish she caught, she tells them the story and then is sure to say, "and PawPaw didn't get anything!" This is probably the only time Ed went fishing that he was actually glad he did not get even a bite.

Now that I have told you how to land a bass, I bid good fishing to you.
Lori Peltz, Port Charlotte, Fla.

Catch & Release

My granddaughter Sydney spent some time with me last summer, and we fished together regularly. She recently sent this drawing to me here in Florida from her home in Portland, Oregon.

Little did I know that my comments about releasing the fish we caught so that someone else might catch them again one day would leave such an impression on her 10-year-old mind. But I was reminded that they (kids) do hear and watch us!

I
In my opinion, this is the ultimate Catch & Release poster.
Allen Wisner, Glen Rock, PA

No equipment needed

My husband and I caught this 10-pound bass with our bare hands. It had a 1 ½ pound crappie stuck in its mouth and was floating upside down when I first saw it. We were able to dislodge the crappie and return both fish to the water. That was the only fish I caught all day, and my first big bass. Now I know why people are dedicated to catching them-it was gorgeous!
Christine Tompkins, E-mail

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