Any tips on how to pick them?

I usually look for a dark green color and yellow "bottom". I was on a roll picking good ones for awhile but the last few were so so...

Whatayagot?

Bend your knees

I pick the round ones with the most yellow, ymmv...

Saw on the computer a guy uses a two finger width measure on the green stripe....claims their the sweetest!

I tap on them and listen for that reverberating sound

The deeper butter yellow on bottom the riper they are and make sure the pigtail is dried up

I struggled with this for years until I found a tip online and it works.

The vine has tendrils all over. These are those little curly green things that hang off the vine. It's the thing that wraps around stuff so a vine can hold on while it climbs a fence. Green, 1/8" wide, curly, and 2-4" long.

Find the one closest to the watermelon. There's usually one only a few inches away. When this tendril turns completely brown, the watermelon is ripe.

^ what I call the pigtail

Pig tails. After the first pig tail at the melons stem die wait a week and you can pick any melon in the field with a dead pig tail and it will be ripe. But if you do not wait a week some will not be totally ripe.

at the store or from the vine?

great advice already for from the vine

I just wonder what direction the question actually was

Just read that for the melons with stripes, wider stripes are best. Yellow base and stem is an indicator as well. Not sure what thumping indicates but my dad always thumped them in the field before picking them. We grew a lot just to give away. I had a stand one year and sold them for 50 cents.

Thumping doesn't work for seedless melons. The right sound from a seeded melon comes when the seeds are loose (space around them) I also like a bumpy rind.

The best ones are the old standard seeded varieties. I prefer Charleston Grey.

I remember the big seeded melons, haven't seen one in ages, used to have great fun seeing how far you could spit the seeds, lol , guess the market has gone to the round seedless variety.
I should grow some next year, lord willing, but I've been getting them from the store when the price is right. I can usually find a good one but sometimes they fool me.... I'll remember the tips for field picking, Thanks to all that played along!

Hahahahaha

Take a piece of straw, I’ve used oat, with the melon laying on the ground put it on top cross ways and if it’s ripe it’ll rotate length ways with the melon if it’s over ripe it’ll just keep rotating, people me think I’m full of it but it does work.