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now I get to go visit my first grandchild! Call me a proud grampa!

Tight to cover, shallow usually, Look for seams that separate fast water from slow or slack water. Imagine you are standing in the wind blowing down a city street. You can barley stand it but the wind is blowing $100 bills so you position yourself where the wind is broken by an object so you can grab the money as it comes by. That is how bass feed in rivers.

Makes my hair hurt reading this. I use nothing but spinning gear, have caught fish over 150# and have posted the pictures. I routinely catch some of the most powerful fish imaginable on spinning gear, fish like permit, jacks, tarpon, amberjack, tuna and billfish, don't have a reel with anything heavier than 20# braid............cased closed on the size thing ! I can't think of any thing more fun than throwing a 1/4 or 1/2 oz bait into the surf on a medium spinning rod, hooking into a 30# jack or 40# tarpon and having to run that fish down on foot several hundred yards to avoid being spooled. I guarantee that fish won't be landed in 60 seconds, any one up for that? I live for this kind of action, not bad for a guy that's approaching being septuagenarian. You'd be hard pressed to see any one using b/c gear down here, yeh spinning is more fun.

I'm not going to doubt the weight, but what I find funny is such a well known guide and a guy who has been on TV many times doesnt keep a decent scale around? That thing is janky.

You mean like this guy?

A Roadtrip bass on a Rage Bug and A hook I've been testing. Then two Lake St Clair fish.

The past two days, I have absolutely killed numerous bass with spooks. It has greatly upp'ed my confifence with the technique and has gotten me bigger into the topwater bite than Iv ever been. Figured Id share a few pics with you guys. Sunday afternoon it seemed like the only thing I could get them to hit was my spook.. A buddy of mine caught a few on a jig, and I threw one a few times to no avail. The best of Sunday: Then last night I went out and hooked into my second 5# fish of the year, and as my luck would have it, had no one around for a good picture. My girlfriend showed up not too long after that, so I caught a decent little chunk for her, that put up a hell of a fight.. I had to show off a bit! Im going out again this afternoon with a buddy, and I plan on having some more smack the plug around.. Id be an idiot not to!

Finally, I went back to the flooded Susquehanna River near a bridge in a small pull off from the rolling currents. After getting a bite and seeing the fish come off as I was lifting him outta' the water, I got a bite. Cranked it in; tossed it back to see that he swam into the grass a foot off the rock I was on. I looked back down two minutes later to see it still in the weeds struggling. I took a small stick and realized that someone else's line was caught somewhere on it's head so I snapped the line and let the fish run free. Needless to say, I think my good deed allowed me to hook this one. Speaking of which, it came on a yellow twister tail - the ONLY THING i've caught anything on this year.

The "Home of Profound Absurdities".

The points are already stated. I have both and when I use the R I get more attention from the women. It looks stunning. Get the R, unless you're married.

raider should have his own forum on here. right under the general fishing forums, then "Radier nation"

I'm not going to read through the replies, but simply say this.....if you want more fun from a baitcast combo/ don't use a Heavy rod with the drag locked down! Try a Medium or Medium Light power rod spooled with 8# or even 6# mono or Fluorocarbon.

More like its because trying to throw a weightless live shrimp into a 20+mph head wind with a casting reel is stupid, besides working out the birds nest would take away from beer drinking time for them. Most, a grand majority, of fishermen down here are not serious about angling enough to use casting. But still its not the best tool for the job when your on a wind swept coast throwing near weightless baits/lures.

When I use a buoy, I always try to place it on the downwind side of the target a little less than one cast from the target. If that target is fairly large, I will set multiples on the downwind side with one on both the left and right sides and perhaps a few in the middle. Because I usually fish deep structure with T-Rigs and Jigs, I would rather target it from downwind as it makes it easier to control the amount of slack in the line. BTW, It's never a bad idea to have one last buoy to throw out in the middle of nowhere if you find that other fishermen decide to "Seagull" your real buoys. It happens. To help keep others away, use smaller buoys in muted colors for your own use and carry around a bigger one in some bright color to lure others away from you.

How's it going guys. I check this thread regularly but haven't posted often cause you guys all have boats and I didn't. That just changed, though, cause I bought a boat this past weekend. 2007 Triton Tr-186, 150 hp merc, second console added, Lowrance HDS 8 gen 2 added. Runs great. If you guys are ever fishing on the Missouri side let me know and we can meet up! And, I know how you guys like pics, so here she is.

Well he is from Bama, so getting written records might be out out.

Post Spawn is time to get Wacky

Well, with those qualifications, I think you should run for public office. The higher, the better.

I have both. I like both. Whenever I get a new gas grill I season it for about 3 times with hickory chunks. Then and only then will I cook in it. This really helps the flavor, in my humble opinion. Then once a season I reseason it. I have a smoker and sometimes I"ll use chunk charcoal. Get em good and white hot, take a hair dryer to blow off the ash, then lay the steaks right on top of the charcoal. Turn once, but before you place the steaks back on the chunks use hair dryer again. Delicious. My favorite is porterhouse steaks, rare on the inside and crispy on the out side. Actually, it's all good.

Heavenly. Caught the walleye this morning. Cut it into medallions, wrapped in 1/2 strips of bacon and grilled it around 20 minutes in indirect heat. Nothing short of fantastic.

I just dont see 9lbs, if thats a 9lb fish I have boated 10s that I have never weighed and I know thats not true. Id like to believe it but my gut tells me no. If so, thats a 4lb fish packed with 5lbs of roe.

Visibility is but one aspect of FC line, what you have to ask yourself is why do the Pro's use FC line, I mean this is how they make a living, and lost fish can mean the difference between a paycheck and a long weekend. If there were no benefits to FC line it seem unlikely the Elite fishermen would trust their livelihood to it.

you will hate the 704 for those techniques. get the 705.

Yep, up until noon time we only had 8 fish on texas rigged senkos and jigs right into the stumps, then the sky got dark and the wind started to blow and the guy I was with said we're making a big move, when we got to where we were going he tied on a spinnerbait and hooked up on the 3rd cast and 2 more quickly followed, he said "tie on a spinner bait we're in for a 40 fish afternoon" and he was right, the harder the wind blew the better the fishing got. I've had days like that on Winni with spinnerbaits for smallies, fishing the wind blown flats. What's funny is I couldn't find the place again by myself if you paid me, when we we're leaving he said which way is out I pointed to the way I thought, he laughed and headed the opposite way.

For me it's 'funner'because it isn't restricted by lure weight requirements, wind conditions and is significantly more comfortable to use. With a more solid grip on the rod I only see spinning as being more capable of controlling fish and find less satisfaction with or need for casting tackle.

I just like to catch fish. Never noticed the rod.

I make my own but before I did I tried at least 9 different brands and I would suggest you try a few different styles to see what works better for you.

I'll go out on a limb and say its "more fun!"

Yep...try thefishranger.com Call them and they will get it to you and if you buy multiple rods you will get them for under $150 with a lifetime over the counter warranty. Cant beat that!! I broke a 714C earlier this year and sent it to them and had a brand new one sent back in less than a week!

There must be a sympathy card for that condition.

Before this past weekend, I had only caught one smallmouth in my life. I have a 2 hour drive north to find the Tennessee River for the nearest smallmouth. Well I fished a tournament in TN this past weekend and landed big bass in the tournament with this 21.25 inch smallmouth. It was between 5 & 6 lbs. Caught it in a few feet of water on a Rage Craw.

Well I been draggin my feet this spring gett'n a new setup. I been really busy with the Walleye since the last week of March and Crappie having a fantastic spring so far for the last 2 weeks. I finally decided on the outfit to bring into the cabinet this year. I do a lot of Smallmouth and Walleye fishing, so after last year when I put a couple new casting rods in the cabinet with some custom work, I thought this year I'd build another spinning setup. I got everything ordered a week or so ago, and yesterday the first package came, now I just need the Guides from REC, I feel like a little kid at Christmas, guess when it comes to some things we never grow up. This is a 6'6" MLF (5S66MLF-G) Blank, going for light weigh and sensitivity, with a new Sustain 1000FG hoping to get it around 9 oz. or less, not much bling and really kind of homely with Recoil Black Pearl Guides for weight not looks, and since the two Extremes I bought and customized last year use them, I am a believer in the recoil guides. I will have a minimum of flat colored windings on the guides and am skimping weight everywhere,,,,,but the grip, gotta be cork for me. I want this for finesse fishing for multi species. I hope I don't regret going with the 6'6" blank, but really wanted to keep accuracy along with good distance and keep weight down, and hopefully this will be a trade off for everything, balance casting distance and accuracy, weight, and still have enough rod to handle an 8-10 pound Walleye or a 6-7 lbs. Smally (if I get back to Erie this year these are all probable, not rare). At the same time should be a great rod for Perch'n on the big pond and smaller lakes with some Crappie fishing thrown in. The older I get the fewer outfits I need are the goal I'm trying for. But just like it was when I was a kid,,,,I gotta have a reason to keep adding more outfits to give the grandkids someday!!!! + I did get rid of 4 outfits over the winter, so my counts gett'n low???? When the guides get here the handle seat and assembly can begin. I almost taped some spare guides to the blank and and taped the reel on just to try it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,patience is not one of my strong points.

You're welcome

I imagine something like...."the job market is tough and they didn't like my cockiness, so I had to downgraded to journeyman electricity then ended up liking this better. I'm the jack of all trades b#$%#$" It semi-believable. Edit: Make it sound like you're a real life version of Sheldon Cooper. Employers hated your attitude. That'll work.

Hai! was heard echoing in the hills surrounding Quabbin quite often on this day in the middle of May. At the time I thought it was a battle cry sounded by a Japanese warrior when engaging the enemy but, when Googling a Japanese/English dictionary later, I found that it actually translates as, "I am paying attention and I understand what you are saying." This corrected understanding works as well: Having "listened" to the big lake, I assessed the conditions and presented appropriately. Before I get into the day's adventure, let me introduce Brad B., a mild mannered bassmaster with whom I had been swapping true tales of smallmouth trips for the past couple of years. You know how it is when you talk the talk with another fisherman. Sometimes you think you're being sold a bridge but on rare occasions you know you're talking to someone who really knows his stuff. Not only does Brad know more than a few ways to catch a bass, he's overly modest about it. We started from Gate 31 about 8:00. We saw a number of smallmouth - some big - on beds but neither Brad nor I care to park over a bed and harass a bass until it goes nose down on the bait. What we did was cast a variety of lures onto the flat, over the edge into the deep - wherever we thought a smallie might be hanging out. I checked the water temp. It was 59º. Brad tied on a venerable Heddon Torpedo which he had modified and with that put the first bass in the boat. This caused me to have an acute attack of SCS (seasonal confusion syndrome). Hell, only four days prior to this calm morning they were rooting around on the bottom picking up my blade baits! We worked our way out into the big water and at 9:00 we found ourselves on the edge of a favorite rock hump. The sky was gray; the water was flat. Gray is okay but a flat Quabbin makes for skittish fish. This requires the approach of a ninja in the night . . . It was time for the "technique of silent capture" - Spybaiting. I took out a Duo Realis Spin Bait 80 and secured this $13.99 Japanese creation with great care to the end of a full, fresh spool of 6 lb. Sunline FC Sniper which I had strung through my St. Croix Avid ML power rod. The reel used was a Shimano Stradic 2500. Opening the bail and loading the rod, I cried, "Hai!" and let this weird looking little bait sail over the vastness of Quabbin. After letting it sink for a few seconds I began a slow, steady retrieve, rod tip low . . . Three more spybaited bass came over the gunnel during the course of the day. They were all fine, plump fish but not nearly as hefty as Big Mama. I'm not going to trouble you with the sad tale of my limit fish that departed a rod's length away from the boat. And what was Brad doing while I was practicing stealth maneuvers? Quite the opposite and it was a lesson I won't forget: He was reeling Pointers, mostly the 78 size but also the 100, working them briskly with a twitch or Two then a short pause. I have never caught a smallie on a suspending jerkbait when the water was warmer than 53º. Could be because I've always been a sweep and pause kinda guy when working a jerkbait, and more slowly than Brad's banzai presentation. Here's a pic of an average Brad class bass: And here's his best: To close, let me say that Brad is a gracious captain and a fine fisherman. And when he shares a piece of bass fishing insight with me I say, "Hai!."

Tie another leader.

That´s an easy one: SIEBERT OUTDOORS If he don´t have what you want he´ll make it for you !

The flu, and that was this past winter. I haven't caught anything big shoo far this year... it blows.

I fished from about 5 until my late 20s before I got mine. I didn't use live-bait or fish a stocked pond. Live baiting is fine, but IMO its not as fun or rewarding as artificial, don't want to offend anyone.

How 'bout Miranda and Carrie Underwood teaming up? OOH-RAH! http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/05/19/miranda-lambert-debuts-something-bad-with-carrie-underwood-at-2014-billboard/?intcmp=features

Great post!

I started dropshotting rage craws this spawn on bed fish. DEADLY. Get them nice and agitated with a jig, watch them move the jig off a few times, then toss in the DS Rage and they suck it RIGHT in! Love it. Interested to see how it works this summer in the deep water.

Welcome aboard Gregg, glad to have you here and hopefully that fire keeps burning.

Welcome Home!

Hello Gregg and welcome to BR ~ A-Jay

Welcome aboard, Gregg!

Welcome!

Greetings Gregg and Welcome to the forums

Your post caused me to do a brief search on the dangers of charcoal and wood smoke used to cook/prepare meat. I now am going to have to go entirely vegan, eating only raw vegetables and tree bark.

I thought that was common knowledge I had my 22.5" kettle going with appetizers and sides and my 22.5" smokey mountain cooker going with a pork butt, ribs and baked beans this past sunday....can't beat having dueling webers