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I remember when i used to fish

I see we have a few , well shall I say , "refined" and well aged drinkers in here , nothing like time to cure some good friends !!

A doctor was addressing a large audience in Oxford ... "The material we put into our stomachs should have killed most of us sitting here years ago. Red meat is full of steroids and dye. Soft drinks corrode your stomach lining. Chinese food is loaded with MSG. High trans-fat diets can be disastrous and none of us realizes the long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water. But, there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and most of us have, or will eat it. Can anyone here tell me what food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it ?" After several seconds of quiet, a 70-year-old man in the front row raised his hand, and softly said, "Wedding Cake."

Problems include tight quarters, lots of brush hampering a backcast. Finding situations where you need to flip or pitch but a rod longer than 6ft cant fit in the space around you. I kayak too and rod butts are all to long for comfort unless you have a size 28 waist and flat stomach. So many long rods made now aren't really longer in the portion between tip and seat, they only add to the rear grip. Todays rods are made to satisfy a guy at the bow of a bass boat who fishes wide open waters. I myself mostly fish overgrown and overhanging banks, barely 20 yards wide. I need a combo that can pull out bigger fish from tiny man made waters most fishermen neglect to consider.

Grabbed some clips of a nice bass jumping boat side from my GoPro footage. Got her in the boat If you have any jumping bass pictures feel free to add them.

Jesus fed the masses with a few fish and loaves of bread. I could've fed...10?

Think about it , how much do we as anglers buy to make us better fisherman , how often does that work out and how much money do we spend ? hhhhmmmmm ?? My name is Mud , Mud spelled backwards is .......

I think we still have a couple years before Chicago goes the way of Detroit

Strange...we're all from IL. Are we all drinking because of this catastrophe of a state we live in?

Happened this morning at 5:30, casting in a rocky area thought I was snagged, tightened the drag and began to snap the bow to get my lure and a huge fin appeared. As more fin started to show the fin seemed to have short fingers, a sea turtle? Nope it was an adult manatee and they are pretty darn big. Stopping it would have been near impossible with a md spin rod and 15#, but the braid, 20# leader and loopknot held like a vise until the brute strength of this mammal pulled free of my xrap. The manatee was none the worse for wear, probably didn't even realize it was snagged, got my lure back and got a great 45 second rush.

i use the 8lb diameter power pro super slick on a cranking specific rod and i like it a lot, more than when i used flouro. I don't really think the whole flouro sinks, braid floats argument is to relevant in a moving bait. More important is line diameter as a the smaller the diameter the further it will dive. I just tie a snap on to the braid and i am good with different cranks all day long.

I think a bank specific sub forum would be useful to many. So often on the rod/reel forum folks who are bank fishing get suggestions on rods that hold very little practical purpose on shore from boat anglers. I imagine more than a few regretted purchase's they made after a short time of use. Just like in politics, boat anglers have more say a.k.a. Lobbyist like power. If it be on a forum, or in swaying manufacturers into making products better suited for only them.

Stitch, Thanksgiving was special this year. I wish I could capture the smells of all the cooking going on. It's days of preparation and smelling up the house for days. Then we sit down for a wonderful meal that takes a few hours. We put up with the awesome smells of fresh pies cooking, then it's the pasta sauce being prepped then the turkey goes in at 5am. I wake up to all these smells and find a blueberry braid for breakfast. Thanksgiving has to be the best holiday of the year. Stitch I'm happy we're here to enjoy it. God bless, bigbill Btw. We through a big bash on Christmas eve we have everything you could think of. From stuffed mushrooms, scallops wrapped with bacon, king crab legs, mussels, stuffed clams, stuffed cod, stuffed shrimp etc. It's a five hour celebration. Then in the morning two big prime rib roasts go in the oven to feed the family. Remember Jesus is the reason for the season. Too bad it has become so commercial.

I have tried for the longest to catch a fish on a dropshot. I was casting around on a riff raff covered bank and I noticed the water was very dirty. I thought the fish might be close to the cover so I pitched to a dock. As it was falling I felt a tick, not paying attention I thought I had landed on the bottom. I started to work the bait and I felt a pull. I went to pull into him and he had set himself the drag started screaming, im so glad to catch this fish. It helped me gain alot of confidence in the dropshot.

SWEEEEEET!!!

That is an understatement Mark lol! Going to be a looong winter. Heck I've been trying to kill myself on a small sheet of ice I'm so deprived

Sweet!

Thanks my friend...That is EXACTLY what I was trying to describe.

Got my reel today! This thing feels so comfortable in my hand. I definitely see what you mean about the handle, it could use some smoother bearings. I went outside and castes a couple of times, but my yard isn't big enough to really see it perform. I pitched it with some 12lb Tatsu, D Bomb and a 3/16 tungsten weight. I was impressed how easy it is to pitch with it. I'm stoked to go try this reel on the water next week. I've never owned a fast retrieve reel, so I'm excited to see that come into play.

Lmao I thought the same thing

interesting topic title

Cabin fever already huh? Lol. Dont worry its already here too.

The Hula grub is a spider jig trailer. The original grub and spider collar was made Bobby Garrland before he came out with his Gizzit tubes. Back in those days we had the collars made from soft plastic for the skirt and added the single or double tail 4" grubs to stand up or football heads and they worked good in western reserviors. Gary Yamamoto tooled the hula Skirt and grub as one piece making it easier to use. The 4" and 5" Hula grubs are very easy to fish on 1/4, 3/8 or 1/2 oz plain football heads and GYC makes a good jig head with Owner ot Gamakatsu hooks at reasonable prices. Fish a spider jig like you would a T-rigged worm; cast and hop along the rocky hard area bottom or sloping banks etc. you can also swim the jig. Tom

Really? I caught a 5lber there during the summer... As for shad I've never seen them, I just always assumed the water was too dirty for shad. Although I remember one year they did stock shad in the ponds but they all died off in a day or so.

I think everyone here has to some degree... LOL... you my friend just had an episode..

Nice fish!

Pete, all of the cabin lay-outs are identical, so it doesn't matter which cabin you will be staying in. We would love to have your opinions about the cabins and their environs prior to our deadline date for reservations. I would be most interested in your opinion of how fisherman-friendly the resort is, vis-a-vis boat/trailer parking and electrical hook-ups. Secondly, we will happily accept your offer of the smoker. When any of the guys offer to do the cooking, we happily pass the hat among the attendees to help offset costs of the chef.

That is/was nice deal. That monkey has you hooked!! I didn't know you rolled like that LMG!! New reel here, new reel there, every where reel, reel...... lol.

At least you were on the water…

Ice goes in your tea not on the ground! Y'all be safe out their

also thanks to the megastrike scent the fish held on for around 10 seconds before he took off with it

Oh God, please don't leave me with a Carolina rig....

He probably did. Almost all LFT if not all LFT is patented. I would not mess with copying their baits. Its a possibility to get sued over it.

I'll be honest, the only BAD fluoro I've used is Vanish. I won't fish it anymore. All the Seaguar offering's are good. Red Label is cheap. I've been using Red Label 15LB as leader material for a while now. Works well!

CD1542 you make a very solid case for your line.....and I agree with you. it is very comparable # per #. thanks for posting that! though not in your case, most people do not look at the .000 per #. and some brands tout to be cheaper but its a 160 yard spool. Of course it would be cheaper. seems your sniper is very on par size to pound with tatsu..... I have actually looked for a 17# line. I really cant find one smaller enough to justify not using 20# though. Based on your findings I will for sure look at the sniper if I have a need.

One of the worst things you can do in my opinion is to saddle a child with poor quality fishing equipment. That being said, there are decent quality spin casting reels available. There are outstanding quality spinning reels available. If the child demonstrates any degree of coordination, I'd set up with good spinning gear, something close to a quality level you'd use yourself if the child wasn't along. I'd choose spin casting gear if coordination was less obvious. Back in the day, I got stuck with one Zebco 202 after another. After a while, the local hardware store wouldn't replace them for me because I was "too hard" on my gear. I don't care who you are, a 5 to 15 lb carp will tear up a Zebco 202. Later on, I got a Johnson spin cast reel ( a centurion I think) just like what most of the geezers had at the local pay lake. I landed numerous medium sized carp with that reel. The moral of this story is that decent gear helps a child get better at fishing and cheap gear doesn't. If I was buying gear now for the 8 year old fisherman I was then, I'd get a 6' Med action Berkley Lightning Rod and a 1000 or 2000 sized Shimano reel, probably a Spirex. Those come with 2 spools. Fill one with 6 lb for Bluegills & Crappie and the other with 8 or 10 for everything else.

Its happened to allot of people, I was bored one day took my grunt tube out, I swear I was making a racket. Look up and a little six was making his way toward me, put the scope on him and he freezes, but he isn't looking at me. What had his attention was about thirty yards to my left. I turn my head, man what a buck, came in from behind. He had no idea I was there, swing the rifle just as he puts his head down and charges the other buck! Was cool to see, but I would rather have those antlers, he was huge.

I'm pretty good at seeing all those white flags...but it's even been slower for me on those this year!! Good Luck

It happens to me alot lol. That big 8 I got this year with the bow was after getting bored and frustrated with squirrels I had a field tip nicked and at full draw about to smoke another squirrel when he came charging in. He saw me and stoped for a minute but I slowly changed arrows and he put his head back down ad came charging in like he was. Better luck next time though its tough on them slow days

I lost my last bird dog last summer, Maddie a field bred springer awesome dog. Nothing heals a broken heart like a new puppy though. Sorry.....

Losing a canine buddy is tough. Best thing to do is get a new buddy as soon as you are ready.

Paint, clearcoat, and weighting done. Foiled gill plate. best I can do without an airbrush for now.

Thanks for crushing my dreams of being 150...

As a Shimano guy like you, I find at this price point the Fenwick Elite Tech is very sensitive and close to some of the 200 dollar rods that I own. Due to your experience with Shimano Power/Action, I think the Fenwick ET will feel just right too. (I find both brands are about the same in Power/Action, but still different.) Also, take a look at the Aetos which has more offering and is as price suggest better. Not that I'm knocking a Crucial, but the Fenwick's at the price points win in my opinion.

I really like Sunline Sniper. Just bought a spool of Berkley 100% and it seems to be doing a good job so far.

Bill Murphy's book "In Pursuit of Fiant Bass" has some insight into bass behavior, on a practical level, that should benefit nearly all bass anglers. Keeping an open mind, not necessarily adopting Bill's fishing techniques, anchoring and live bait fishing, instead excepting his strategy that adult size bass behavior differs from juvenile bass and knowing the prey bass prefer will improve your basing fishing success. Tom

I'm pretty proud of this one as my goal to get a pike over 30lbs took a lot of years searching. 32lbs

Wachati was nice enough to invite me out to his secret pond Thursday afternoon. Wind was howling too hard to try to put a boat in so we walked the edge of the pond, which made things a little difficult because the water level was way down and pretty shallow along the edges. I watched Peter catch the first 3 while all I managed to do was snag a bluegill on a rattletrap. I was dragging a homemade blackberry colored brush jig along the dam when I felt a very light bite and my line started moved off very slowly. The cold water didn't deter the fish from pulling really well and the jig popped out as soon as I got my hand on her. Didn't measure her but looked like she'd just eaten a big bluegill or another bass with the fat belly. My first fish was 4.67 pounds. We fished around the pond and only caught a couple more before we got to the far end with a bunch of dead lily pads. I had a couple bites on a pit boss and caught a dink or two before I switched to my homemade black and blue chatterbait. Got a couple more dinks and missed a good bite when I stuck another good fish. Another fat, strong pulling fish that was probably in the 4-4.5 pound range. We made it back to our starting spot and I was fancasting the chatterbait off a point when I got another light bite that turned into a heavy, hard pulling fish. I was barely able to keep her out of some cover before she gave up and let me get my hands on her. My biggest of the day went 5.57 pounds. Fished for another hour or so but we both only caught a couple more small ones. It certainly wasn't fast fishing but the quality made it more than worth it

Alabama rig if I'm somewhere it's allowed. For the places it's not a suspending jerkbait, boot tail or curl tail grub are my go to baits.

I don't know. All of my reels but one have braid on them, which has lasted for years. Of those reels, all but one have BPS flouro leaders, which are initially about six feet long. I re-tie as necessary, until the leader is about 18" long, then the line gets a new leader.