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Had to work for a few hours early this morning, so I didn't get on the water till 10am or so. I was greeted by high skies and slick calm water. Soooooo, I decided to fish for staging deeper smallmouth first, and what do you know? For at least the first hour my plan worked with a 2.5, 3.5, and 4 lb. smallmouth in the boat, as well as a 4.25 lb. largemouth. Then that bite just died. Went to lunch at the local waterside joint, and hit some shallow largemouth spawning grounds afterwards. Stop #1, no bass, but the amount of nice sized bluegills in there was insane, and I couldn't resist. Picked up the UL spinning rod , and for the next hour laid a beatdown on the gills. Often on every cast for 10+ minute periods at a time. I kinda got sick of it and went back to looking for LM. And I found them. between 3pm-5pm this afternoon it was on fire. 22 found there way to my loving arms, most between 2.5-3.5 lbs, with a 3-12, and 5-0 as the biggest for that little whack fest.

Got this bad boy this morning!!! Hardest fighting trout I've ever caught!

got out for a few hours and managed to catch a nice spawning female. ended up being my new pb at 6.1 lbs.

I recently picked up a 3rd Rapala electronic scale. I will have one in my bank fishing gear, one in the boat, and the 3rd as a spare. As I always do with a new scale, I perform a pull test on a known weight to check the scale for accuracy and repeatability prior to use. My first two scales have always been very accurate and close to each other during pull tests so I was very interested in how close the 3rd unit would be to the earlier units. So, I tested all three scales at the same time and, for the amusement of BR members, photographed the process. Test Results: Measured weight: The test weight was 9.804 pounds (more about how this weight was calculated later). Unit 1 read: 9.81 pounds - .006 pounds heavy (~0.1 ounce) Unit 2 read: 9.78 pounds - .024 pounds light (~0.4 ounce) Unit 3 read: 9.87 pounds - .066 pounds heavy (~ 1.0 ounce) Exteme spread between the three scales is .09 pounds (~1.5 ounce). Repeatability: The load was applied to each scale three times. Units 1 and 2 read identical weights each time. Unit 3 read 9.87 twice and 9.85 once. Photos: Unit 1 - 9.81 pounds Unit 2 - 9.78 pounds Unit 3 - 9.87 pounds Unit 2 under load - showing the test load - 9.804 pounds The test load: 420 lead bullets - .40cal/155gr nominal weight (157.63gr actual average weight). Plastic box weighs 2409.0gr. The white string weighs 17.2gr (.039 ounce). I didn't weigh the white label... Total weight = 68626.3 grains = 9.8037 pounds. The stated weight of the test load is accurate to within a tiny fraction of an ounce. This is a bit more precise than some folks who have tested their scales using a gallon of water, a 10-pound weight from a bar bell set, or whatever. NOTE: The measurements are in "grains." This is a somewhat archaic unit of measure used in the U.S. for ammunition components (primarily bullet weights) and for cartridge propellant charges. There are 7,000 grains in a pound, 437.5 grains in an ounce. Propellant charges are typically measured down to 0.1 grain (0.1 grain = ~0.0002 ounce). The scale used to measure the objects in the test weight is accurate and repeatable to within 0.1 grain. Summary: I am always amazed at how accurate these scales are; all three scales measure within one ounce of the test weight at the 10 pound range. Load cell technology has certainly improved and the price is now very reasonable for the capability that you get. I am also amazed at how many people report poor results with this model of Rapala scale. My Unit 1 is now three years old, Unit 3 is brand new; there certainly seems to be consistency in the accuracy of units produced over the past 3 years. I think knowing the weight of a 10-pound class fish within an ounce is close enough for me. It is extemely unlikely that I will ever come close to a record fish in my water so having a scale that is eligible for certification is unimportant. Compactness, and the ability to read to 50lbs IS important and these little scales work just perfect for me. Replace the battery once a year, don't drop the scale or dunk it in the lake, and you're good to go. Note for Users: This load test was conducted with the scales supported by a rigid bench, with the scales oriented vertical to assure that the chain is not rubbing on the scale housing, and with a static test load. When hand-weighing a fish on the water, it's difficult to keep the scale vertical, and to keep the fish immobile. I believe that these two factors are what contribute to variances in weight reading in the field.

Went out this past weekend with a friend to fish O.H. Ivie and had a pretty good weekend. I ended up catching a new personal best and my first double digit bass weighing in at 10.75 lbs. Caught her on a Siebert Outdoors storm series jig, 1/2oz brush in the series with a big bite yodaddy in easy money as a trailer. She was sitting at the base of a small tree in 3-4 FOW. I figured I would share it with yall.

Well, here we go again. Texasfisherman is experimenting with a Nightcrawler worm paste vs. no scent on plastics and I am going to be doing the same as soon as this weather breaks and we get into the 70s around Richmond, Virginia and I can go out with my boat and hit the small lakes and to experiment. The Nightcrawler formula is the brainchild of Dr. Keith Jones (Ph.D) of the Berkley research department now known as Pure Fishing. There are a number of posts on scents and I am sure if you search this site you will bring up a number of them for your reading pleasure. So what are scents supposed to do? Three things: First, you can do as Rock Chalk wrote and and hide any foreign and human scents on your hands that can be transferred to the plastics. Second, to have the bass hold onto the bait for a few seconds longer. And third, to give you confidence. I will not go into all of the details Dr. Jones writes in his book, Knowing Bass - The Scientific Apporach to Catching More Fish, but I will give you his list as to the best scents his research found. A word of caution: Dr. Jones performed his experiments in a controlled lab. He had to do this to have the variables the same for each experiment. We may have other outcomes in the wild so use what Dr. Jones writes as your guide and not your bible. Dr. Jones performed a scent experiment with crankbaits. We usually forget to add scents to crankbaits so I was a little surprised when I first read the chapter on chemoreception. Dr. Jones' findings show that scent on a crankbait produces an average of 43 strikes with scent and only 23 strikes without scent. Crankbaits with scent had longer retentions averaging .9 second longer than cranks without scent, .4 seconds. The scents will surprise you. Here they are from best to worse: Worm Extract Prey Salt Mix Salt Garlic Sugar Anise When you select a scent you will note there are many garlic scents out there that we all use. And Senkos are loaded with salt which plays a part in the bass striking and holding on to them. Taking the oil molecules out of the equation since we don't pay attention to that factor there are a number of scents that we purchase for our plastics. Your goal is to expand them to all baits, including spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and jigs & pigs. My list includes the following. You have to experiment with different brands to find out which ones you like best. 1. MegaStrike - Original Formula 2. JJs Magic - Love that garlic 3. Carolina Lunker Sauce - Place bait on a sponge and slop it up with this formula and then put sponge in a air tight plastic quart freezer bag 4. Bang! - Seems to do a good job but be ready for a stream and not a spray when you push the button To learn more about the bass and scents please consider going to Amazon.com and purcahse Dr. Jones' book. Although it is packed with a lot of scientific information and b-i-g words I think you and the other guys and gals on this site will enjoy what Dr. Jones writes and his charts. Now it the time to change your battle cry to: NOTHING LEAVES THE BOAT WITHOUT SCENT! Now go out and buy some Nightcrawlers!!!!

The spillways have been open since last week, I have a friend that has been killing them there. Be careful at Forest Hill, it can be very dangerous at night or early in the morning, I don't go there any more. I've been fishing more open water with lower sea walls. Snook tip of the day, feather on the incoming and lure on the outgoing. I suggest having a pier net.

Little Zip Pow strikes again!!!! Jeff

Why stop there? Why not have them fish naked out of a dug out canoe with a handline made of hemp?

I'm probably in the minority here, but my thoughts are actually contrarian to most on this subject. I actually leave all of my tackle variety at home. The first key is dialing into the solunar prime windows and adjusting for pre-fontal or post-frontal conditions. Once you've done that, then you have a window of opportunity to dial into a specific pattern. For me, fishing out of a kayak helps me simplify this lure selection process. I take one tackle tray and 3-4 individual bags of soft plastics plus one small tackle tray for terminal tackle. That's it. In my opinion, the majority of your fishing lures (minus big swimbaits obviously or unique lures) will fit into a 3600 -3700 tackle tray. My current tackle tray of choice for a one day outing is a Plano waterproof series with removal long dividers to create a single large area on the right hand side, and the section of the left hand side into smaller compartments using the provided dividers. The tray contains the following: 1. 3 lipless cranks (1 each in shad, gold shiner and red/orange craw) - no need to carry billed cranks that waste space in the tray. 2. 4 skirted jigs - (2 each of black/blue, brown/orange) 3. 3 spinnerbaits (1 each in white/chartreuse, bull bream/bluegill and a sexy shad variant) 4. 3 jerkbaits (1 each in silver, gold and a shad pattern) 5. 2 buzzbaits (1 in black and 1 in white) 6. Inline spinnerbaits - (Rooster Tails in white/silver blade, black/silver blade, chartreuse/chartreuse blade and perch/trout color. 7. Soft plastics (1 bag each: black/blue or okechobee craw, a white tube, a lizard, shad/pearl fluke, senko and a curly tail grub) 8. Topwater - a couple hollow bodied frogs and a few Ribbits (watermelon pearl, black and brown/orange) and a spook. My small terminal tackle box has 6 slots that I segregate to accommodate: shakey heads, EWGs in 2-3 sizes, wacky hooks, keel weighted swimbait hooks. The EWG hooks perform double duty as fluke hooks as well as frog hooks. The keel weighted swimbait hooks do the same only for flukes and lizards or stick baits. The wacky hooks perform triple duty for flukes, stick baits and tubes. That's it! Simple and to the point. If I can't catch fish on one of those items, then it just isn't my day. If you take more than that, you might find yourself spending more time second guessing you approach and switching constantly. When I head out, I have three rods pre-rigged: one topwater, one bottom bouncer and one mid-column. That usually equates to: a Ribbit, a shakey head and lipless crank or spinnerbait. 8 out of 10 times I head out, I never need to deviate from one of those presentations. Your area may vary, and your tackle selection may vary as well depending upon which area of the country you are in, but the general concept still applies and should be considered the next time you head out. For the record, if anyone doubts the impact of the solunar tables, just make a mental note next time during deer season of when the prime feeding hours are for deer and then go home and check the solunar tables. You'll find that their feeding windows adjust daily and coincide with those time frames. Fish behave in the same manner.

Decided to try a new park pond to change thing up a bit. I had 1 hit on a timber doodle ( awesome on lily pads) and lost my split double tail grub. Switched to a spinnerbait and then a jig with a swimbait on it. used that for about an hour. then pulled out a booyah top secret buzz bait in white rigged with white curly tail grub. First cast on a steady retreive with a quick one inbetween and saw a big pickerel jump out and smash it. Pulled out drag and swam into the pads an got stuck. A nice tug and another fight and brought him in. Fantastic and very unexpected as I bought it recently. To be honest I did'nt like how it swam but now am hooked. It was 22 1/2 inches more or less. He darted off as Soon as he touched water.

Caught this beast this morning with a KVD in 3 feet of water. I was certain it had to be a LMB but it surfaced with headshakes 3 times and looked really dark. It was too heavy to actually go airborne. I have caught a few smallmouth in this area before, but nothing like this. This is not a great lakes SMB. Revived and released after photos, but I have to admit, I really wanted it for the wall. Couldn't find my digital but it was straight pegged on my analog scale at 6 lbs.

All winter I have been reading posts on this website and waiting for an opportunity to get out on the water and put it all to good use. I've always had a solid base of knowledge when it came to fishing as I've been doing it a long time. However, reading posts throughout these forums has really solidified my ability to catch bigger, better fish! Last weekend was my third time out (first two times got skunked, but weather was horrible so I kept my hopes high). Spent about 2 hours on the lake cumulatively and caught a 2.5 and 5.5 lb LMB as well as a 3-3.5 lb SMB (didn't have scale for this fish). Very exciting stuff! Like I said, I've always had the book smarts for fishing and a genuine appreciation for it, however never quite the confidence to get out there and try the variety of techniques that I was able to do last weekend. Very appreciative for all of you who post here - THANKS AGAIN! you guys make people like me better fishermen. Here's a pic of the smallest fish I caught this weekend, it was (regretfully) the only fish I had my phone available to take a picture of. Fish probably looks slightly bigger than it was simply because I had to take the picture myself and my arms are only so long. http://s1084.photobucket.com/user/jalm8487/media/IMG_0472_zps1667422e.png.html

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/excursions/post/mystery-fish-turns-out-to-be-125-pound-opah-a-rare-catch-aboard-southern-california-half-day-boat/

Made it home today and already missing being there with everyone. Ready for next year already, too. Ghoti already provided a good narrative.........but he only touched the tip of the iceberg. Everyone that can attend next year should.......it is great! Thanks to Mike and Julie Siebert for being great cabin mates. Thank you to FishinDaddy and Nicole for your generosity of allowing Beckie and I to stay an extra day in your cabin. Thank you to Alpster, Road Warrior and Ghoti for the wonderful grub guys......it was great! Thanks for Procrafter for fishing with me on Saturday.........he put me on the fish. Thank you Long Mike, Roadwarrior, Alpster and Big O for putting up with us every night ..........pretty late on some nights. The 'impromptu' get together every night was very entertaining to say the least..........especially learning about TACO.............the 2 faced cat ;-) Thanks to Glenn and Keri for everything you guys do. It was great meeting everyone in person........you all are great people.

+1 Captain! +++++1!

I haven't been out with this set up yet but if I did it again I wouldn't mind having a U Shaped bracket for the bottom that would hold the transducer but without a metal bender I wasn't able to bend the aluminum enough to make it work. I could have heated it up I guess but I was to lazy to dig out the propane torch. Hopefully I can get out this weekend to test it out and I will report back on its effectiveness.

Three years ago I bought into the snake head hype, hook line and sinker. I was one of the loudest opponents of the snake heads in Broward County. I was killing them like crazy and encouraging everyone to do the same. I started to realize that I was catching the snake head in areas that are full of bass, peacock bass, bluegill, oscar, talapia, shiners, turtles and everyhing else. I even noticed all these fish in the C-14, which is supposed to be ground zero for snake heads. I started to ask myself how can the snake head be a monster and there still be so many bass of all sizes in the same areas? If I was not on the water all the time to see it for myself then I might be taken in by the hype. I recently read an article in which Kelley Gestring, who is the head of the FWC Invasive Species unit, which confirmed that I am correct in realiseing that the snake head is just another invasive species that has found its place in our local waters. I have linked to the article at the bottom. One more thing: I am not a proponent of killing a fish just for the sake of killing. I no longer hunt because I really did not like killing the deer. Does that make it wrong to kill a fish or deer? Absolutely not. This is just my personal conviction and sits right with me. http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/03/16/man-snags-supersnake-in-margate-canal/

I guess really people shouldn't be upset because it isn't ike we just came over and kicked all the native americans out of their land so why not just leave a name that they may find offensive on the jerseys and even better profit from it too!!! that is the american way..... I have no dog in this fight but human rights issues are important and if people think this is making america soft then so be it, there are a lot of things that were said and done 50 years ago that we don't say or do now and that is a very good thing. While it pains me to say that the Redskins have had a pretty successfull run in the NFL you cannot deny that the term Redskin was not created as a tearm of endearment.

I was going to but now I'm not sure if I want to contribute to Snakehead extermination :-/

Didn't even make it 3 hours after I got my yellow paper and severance pay. I start with my new company on Wednesday. I went to apply, filled out half the application. My new boss came in the room, shook my hand, and said he just got off the phone with my previous boss. He said my old boss was nothing but complimentary about me, and sang my praises. He told me what the company does work wise and asked if they were to hire me when I could start. I told him Monday. We shook hands and he said he would call me this afternoon with his decision. Ten minutes later he called me and asked if I could start sooner. My first day is Wednesday. So much for fishing all week long.

Thats what I ended up buying, the same one you just mentioned. It is a sweet looking rod. Just have to get out on the water and test it out!

Even if you could prove that scent would get me more fish, I wouldn't use it.The overspray gets on your clothes, boat and tackle. The bottles always leak and stink up your tackle box. It smells so bad, I don't want it in my boat.

Just heard on the radio that the Washington Redskins will be changing their name after the third game of this season, and all future seasons, to the Deadskins!!!!!

those of you who know me know i had a severe infection that d**n near killed me a month ago.this made todays first outing of the year all the more special.i fished titicus with papa john today from 6 am to 4 pm. we boated 14 largies and 1 yellow perch.most fish were around 3 lbs.we saw no fish on beds yet but by next week they probably will be.we were catching ours shallow around 4 to 6 feet deep.papa john was hammering them on a crankbait at first then i got 1 on a spinnerbait.after that i caught most of mine on a wacky rigged senko.i nailed one on a t rig berkely havoc craw later in the day.we took 4 pictures but only 2 came out on my camera.the two of papa john said the file was corrupted.so here's my 2 best for the day.

Ok, ok, as a die hard Redskins fan I will give you all a little history on the the skins. First of all, we started in Boston, as the Boston Braves in 1932, we did not become the Redskins until 1933 when the team was moved to Fenway park, yes the same Fenway park that the Boston Red sox are famous for, we were owned at that time by Mr. Marshall, it was at this time we picked up the name, The Boston Redskins, we were named "IN HONOR" of a Native American who coached our team at that time for Lone Star Dietz. What I dont get is where the racist card comes into play and why we need the name "Redtails" these were a group of African Americans that flew as fighter pilots in the war and did a country proud with their service, this is why I am confused, who is this racist against? We moved to Washington D.C. in 1937 and won our first championship as The Washington Redskins, since then we have gone on to play over 1000 games with 5 professional championships, 2 NFL championships, 3 super bowl wins, 10 NFL division titles, 6 NFL conference championships, 22 post season apperances, only 4 teams have appeared in more super bowls that the Redskins. That is some pretty proud history and me personally, I think we have represented a nation very well and have HONORED Mr.Dietz and his kind the best one team could. I can only imagine what would happen should something like this actually come too light, think about the money it would take to get something like this accomplished, money that our American families are in desperate need of, money that could be used for a lot more important things than the changing of a football teams name, not that it will ever happen, but it seems people have their money tied up in all the wrong places. It's time we get our act together and act like Americans, stop this hatred and be united as we are supposed to be !!! Dammit people this is not what our military and innocent have fought and died for, WAKE UP !!!!

My grandpas house in CT... The Shepaug River I believe... ~Sadly only got 4 smallies on the trip all small...

I have the Hedgehog Studios spool pin tool. Best money I've ever spent on a specialized tool. Spool pin pliers, such as the Boca version, are fine. The Hedgehog tool is better.

I like the swept handle!

@Sam I am dying to find out the results of the worm pastes aka worms in a blender results. I need a reason to buy a blender just for liquefying worms! haha

Nice fish!!!!

Nice fish! Whenever I catch a trout I'm always surprised by the fight the have in them. Especially those big browns.

Jay Ell, Nice looking YAK, buddy! Congrats on the sweet set up!! I'll be throwing frogs soon....Ribbits in Watermelon Red Pearl!

Another view.

Nice brown! They're a blast to catch and about as pretty as a fish can get.

Right now my go to bait is a jerkbait. They've been eating them so well I can't hardly put it down to even try anything else.

Sometimes if it is producing right off the bat. I prefer to call it my favorite bait rather than go-to bait because of what the latter implies. But whatever you call them, favorite or go-to, they're worthless if you're not on fish.

Happy birthday old feller! PS LSwho is gonna get destroyed by the real tigers this year. War d**n Eagle!

Ide remove that number and just send a PM. This stuff is public so it can show up everywhere. Just a heads up.

Weights went up today! Plenty of 3- to-4 pounders caught today. Most people caught 20-30 bass - a mixed bag of largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass. I had a double-digit bass break off on me!! Should've retied a few casts before that. Doh! All-in-all, a great day on the water....again!

I agree. It probably has to do with the fact that by the very nature and style of the presentation itself, the bass are forced to look at it for a while before they commit to eat it. For this reason, I think you are 100% correct and color really matters a lot. I typically only carry three or four broad colors for any bait. As long as I have a green, a brown/red, and a black/blue/purple for any given color, I'm usually good to go. For dropshot worms, I almost always carry at least 6 or 7 colors. As you can imagine, I have never really been one of these guys that asks about what "color" they are hitting. Most of the time, I just try to match it to water clarity or forage and I have done pretty well over the last couple of years. With drop shots though, I have gotten into situations where I have thrown a brown and glitter color, only to throw a plain brown with no glitter and have not gotten any bites. I have then thrown a black or blue with no success. I will follow that up with that same original brown and glitter and instantly get a hook up. Pretty crazy

Switch to braid with a fluoro leader and you shouldn't have a problem burying a hook. I'm assuming you're trolling for them with more line out than you would have on a long cast so the braid will help with long distance hook sets. If you're casting you might just go back to the rod you were using. Walleye have pretty hard heads that can be tough to drive a hook into but once you do they're usually hooked.

If you find the same problem happening again, you may want to give braid a shot. Are you casting or trolling?

Ok, I want to catch the dumb breed then.

I would go into my bathroom, look at myself in the mirror and say "what was I thinking to buy a fishing rod that cost nearly 500.00!"... oe

I would never make a statement saying there is no substitute for Rage Tail, because that is not true. These are all tools of the trade we need to assist us in catching fish. How you use them is up to you. There are many guys on this site that hand pour or use plastic injection systems that make craws. I've used them and they work just as well if not better than Rage Tail. So what makes Rage Tail so special, just because they are a sponsor and we have to promote them to our last dying breath. C'mon guys there is no one perfect plastic and many other brands catch a lot of fish as well. I would like to see what the response here would be if Netbait became a sponsor as well. What would would everyone say then? Would we have Rage Tail, Paca Chunk wars?????Just my persoanl opinion, if you want to delete this post go ahead. PS: With that kind of thinking since I own a Ranger than it's OK to make a general statement and say that there is no substitute for a Ranger boat? Senkosam, I like that you think outside the box and are trying new things and exposing everyone to new ideas. Job well done and I commend you on your ingenuity on posting other plastic baits as well in other threads on this site.

I'd get a 7'1" medium *** *** black

None of the above! *** Black!! Best 100 dollar rod you will ever purchase!!!

Took my 9 year old out today to chase some walleyes. I have 5 more days until bass season opens. So I had to do something.... from this.... to this..... I got my first sunburn for the year. The weather was great. Mid 70's. But, once you hit the bay you could see your breath. And had to watch for icebergs.

PM me. I have a spreadsheet I can share which helped me organize my tacklebox.