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I just got married so...yes.

In a Legion game to keep us high in the standings. Good thing I had my sunglasses...it got a little misty out there for some reason

Finally caught my first smallmouth and wow was this a fight!!! 4lbs 2oz 21" Length x 13.25" Girth Drop Shot 18' deep Humps in middle of the lake today 7/17/14

I just want to say that I am very happy with my Hawgtech Handle on my Cte200Gt , my reel is much improved, as well as just looking very cool! Customer service from this Company is second to none, I am grateful to these guys for their awesome product as well as the personal effort they put into customer satisfaction. Thank you Hawgtech!

I forgot a rod and reel at my house on the porch one morning. Fished all day then when I came back to the boat ramp a old man was fishing off the dock. I made small talk with him while my buddy fetched the truck. In about five minutes he managed to talk me into giving him all the big bream we caught when the bass bite was slow and out of a few beers. I did not mind because he looked like he did not have much. However; I noticed he had a rod and reel just like the one I left at my house. It was not until we got home an hour later that I learned my buddy saw the rod and reel on my porch and put it in the back of my truck. Needless to say, the old fart got my fish, beer, rod and reel!

Fanny packs make me question the judgment of any person...

Just remember,"There is no crying in baseball." Congrats papa.

Don't care. I have both full and split. As long as the rod is built well it doesn't bother me

I keep all of my receipts. If my wife ever finds them, I'm gonna die.

So, the report from Perry was pretty so-so. We tried docks, both marinas, and some other places in between. Saw RJ986 out there, and he had a good one when we pulled up. He couldn't get his scale out of kilograms, so The best spot turned out to be a main lake point with a shallow, somewhat offshore ridge. Blue got a 3.57 lb smallmouth there on a shakeyhead, while I was just happy to catch a mess of whites and a decent largemouth from the same spot. We had to leave once Blue started getting giddy after he caught two drum on back to back casts with the ned. Later on, Blue lost what appeared to be a 5-6lb class largemouth on a shakeyhead in a marina, which would have really capped off the trip. Final score...SuperFluke zero drum, Bluebasser86 two drum, so I win.

You gotta love upgrades by Avail! I know I do!

That's because there are no pike, pickerel, or muskies in Mexico....................in fact, I think that's the title to an old Jimmy Buffet song.

Bite their head off, thats what real men do.

wider better... tinboats.net

Im guessing if you think youre on fish, you probably are, its very possible you are missing the strike. Its lightening fast at times, whack, set the hook.... missed. The speed at which a fish can inhale and reject something is unreal. In my days when I loved fly fishing there were times it got to where I would just set the hook at even a flicker of a change and my hooking percentage sky rocketed.

That's thinking to rational,,,,

That does seem lame. one year to make sure you rods are good from defect? Say you bought a new lineup of your favorite rods but now have the one year warranty, fish maybe 4 times a month, for the whole warranty year, not every technique produces and you put them back down for the rest of the year. You finally break one of those lesser used rods next year but it's not covered now. There's a lot of people out there that don't use their gear religiously, can't find the time, or have too many rods in there rotation to use them all. A 2-3 year warranty would help at least. I received a new soft plastics rod in january, been six months now and I used it less than 10 times and haven't caught a fish with it, because I'm producing more on other techniques, that's half a year already with out seeing if the rod can handle a fish. If I had that warranty I guess I should better tell the fish to jump on my line before time runs out.

x2....your fish just moved.

You will catch more bass with sharp hooks. Tom

I was speaking strictly blank failure. In cases like you mention, a reputable company will stand behind the product in the absence of an expensive replacement plan. If they don't, the free market will eliminate them.

Got to melvern at 0600 yesterday. We could not have asked for a better day to be on the water!! First fish came very quickly on the Ned and it never really slowed down until around 1100. From there on it was a fish every once in a while but the bite had definitely slowed. Biggest was 2lb 14oz smallie, also caught a decent spot in the marina cove. All my fish were caught on the ned except for one on the drop shot and a couple on a spook. The fish I caught on the spook came out of very shallow water where the weeds on the shoreline had been flooded. The only down side to the day was the zebra mussels. I had about a 4lb fish break me off at the boat (my fault for not checking the line), and I must have lost about 10 rigs and had to go through two 8 foot leaders by the end of the day.

I highly doubt prices will go down. The objective is more profit for Shimano, not a savings for the consumer.

The original theory behind a split grip was consistent placement of the rear hand for two handed casting. On production rods nowadays it's all about style and materials. 6" of quality cork can easily run up the cost of a rod by $20+

Here's my take on a double rig. The drop shot requires that you do NOT set the hook per say. Rather a "lift & reel". This way, you have less chance of the hook pulling free from the bass and you will have a high percentage of upper lip hooked fish. A jig requires a substantial hook set. No ifs, ands, or buts there. I do not believe you would be able to determine which presentation you are getting the bite on with a combination of the two. I suspect that it could be a viable presentation under some circumstances; however, I also suspect that a lot of missed strikes might be the end result. Just a thought. BTW, I've also experimented with a double drop shot rig. My results have always been less effective than with the single, for whatever reason.

Well a few hours later and I have 1 black/silver buzz bait, a 20pkg of Trick worms (watermelon see), a 20pkg of U-tale (pumpkin), 15pkg Ultravibe speed worm (watermelon red), a 10pkg of Pit boss Jr's (watermelon red), and a Baitcaster that was marked down quite a bit so I thought it wouldnt be to bad to learn on. My first team actually running plastic baits because in the future they kinda scared me and I didnt really have any confidence in them because they were just little "rubber" things. But all in all I feel like I did pretty good and got all of it under 75$ at my local cabela's. I would put a picture of the items but im not exactly sure how to if you can.

Cutting bass gills doesn't improve the meat flavor with bass like it does with some fish, just put the live bass on ice and it suffocates quickly and humanely with no bloody mess. Cleaning live fish isn't humane on any level and disrespectful treatment of the animal. Tom

I'm hooked on my new fishing buddy. She's still pretty young, only a year old, but we had a blast! She wasn't all too interested in the larger fish I caught, but she loved watching the little bluegills up near the shoreline. We threw some sticks in the water, to which she loved seeing the little fish dart around. She's already eying the little Snow White fishing kits at Wal-Mart, however, she seemed to like my Crucial/Curado combo in the picture. Her momma and I have had many fishing adventures together, but this was the first outing to a little nearby pond that my lil' gal came along. It was a great time. This is what it's about, enjoying nature with my bride and wonderful little girl. God's blessed me. The next trip will be out in my little fishing boat, for a family picnic and fishing trip down a little creek near here.

Also, look at Dick's Sporting Goods if you have one in your area. They are having a clearance event at a lot of their stores, especially on their fishing gear. The one by me had a bin full of Senkos, Roboworms, Zoom worms, and others all for half off as well as a good selection of Strike King and Rapala crankbaits.

First, welcome to the forums! Second, I always like to get "new" to "new-ish" bass fisherfolk set up with soft plastic worms like Senkos (or off brand). My number one suggestion is to fish wacky style. For one, it is about the easiest way to rig a plastic worm there is. Bend the worm in half, hook it perpendicularly through the middle, fish slowly. I recommend Gamakatsu Wide Gap Finesse in size 1 or 1/0; Gamakatsu Drop/Split Shot hooks in sizes 1 - 1/0. Owner Mosquito hooks are also good, as are Owner wacky hooks, but I personally prefer Gamakatsu's offerings. Then I'll suggest getting some 2/0 and 3/0 worm hooks, O'shaughnessy bend worm hooks for Texas rigging. Some ⅛ oz bullet weights, too. Look up how to rig the worm if you don't already know how. Both TX and Wacky rigging can be done in and around cover, weedy areas, around fallen trees, docks, etc. If you have a lot of that, grab some weedless varieties of wacky hooks mentioned. But for TX rigging, just rig the hook weedless (inside the bait). Colors: I suggest "standard" colors like Watermelon, Green Pumpkin, Black, and variants of those colors. Perhaps some with a bright chartreuse tail, etc. The other thing is to ask some old timers around the lake, at bait shops, etc., what works, what doesn't. Sometimes they're willing to share some good info.

I landed a few 3lbers all on spinner ansbroke off two 5+ right next to the boat Once with a spinnerbait and once on a square bill. THANKS QUAN!! ad a bite on a 6 inch swimbait. Set the hook and my pole snapped in half. Lost the fish too. I think I saw you Nitro but I was too angry to say hi from breaking a $150 rod haha

Dobber - don't sweat it man! Just by reading your post I know without a shadow of a doubt that you will unlock a key and start picking up fish before long. You are paying a ton of attention to details and that will absolutely translate into success in the long term! I felt your same frustration when I first transitioned from wading creeks and rivers to floating on a lake. It took me a solid year to even begin to gain confidence. The next year, I joined a club and learned a ton. It was the best thing for me as I couldn't let myself back off. We had 8 hours to catch what we could, and I wasn't about to waste it sulking. My partner and I were both new to lake fishing and had the same exact problems. But as the season progressed we each began to pick up on little things we were and were not doing right. We didn't win any tournaments, but we had a ball. My partner caught more bluegill in one bass tournament probably then most of us catch over a whole year. We didn't win, but we had fun! But more importantly we learned... both about the boat (due to breakdowns, etc.) and bass. No.... more importantly we had fun. Probably the most fun year I've ever spent on the water to be honest. Anywhoo... The following year, I fished again, but often had to fish solo. It wasn't as much fun, but being able to apply what we had learned I was able to win multiple tourney's solo vs teams. (We did use a 5 fish team limit.) Trust me, you are putting in the effort on the water. I have no doubt you are spending time off the water too reading about patterns, techniques, location, structure and doing map study. All of this will come together for you before long. Just keep plugging away! *I noticed you said there were a lot of other boats. Did you note what they were using and if they were having any success? Mid summer fishing can be really hard on some lakes. I know that I take a little solice if I'm having a rough day and notice that everyone else is too.

You two maybe practicing serial killers.........just sayin'. lol

Gotta give him points for creativity . . . . A-Jay https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=452393244798972&fref=nf

Capsized my boat while underway last year and lost 8 complete setups (St. Croix rods and Shimano/Abu reels.) Also lost a large tackle bag full of hard baits (no clue what the value was, and some of the lures were priceless to me.) It was a really hard blow, but I'm alive to tell the tale thanks to my life jacket and another boater who rescued my friend and I.

heckuva shiner fish you got there rob. lol

If you see the little guys from fraggle rock tell them I said hello.

I had to kill my first bass last night. I was using a soft plastic worm with 2 hooks in it. It was a bass about 8-9 inches and he swallowed this little worm whole. There was no way I could get the hooks out with him being so small, and the hooks being in his stomach meat... I took my very sharp buck knife about half an inch behind his eye and severed the brain stem and cut the head off. He died immediately and I was able to save my bait. The hooks were definatly lodged in his gut pretty good, so I didn't feel so bad about ending his fish life. To be honest, I would rather have saved the fish than the bait, I just didn't want the poor guy to live the rest of his life with hooks in his meat and a stupid worm stuck in his throat, impeding him from eating. But, his body made a good meal for a lazy catfish or one of the many huge over 2 ft bass in this guys pond. My uncle got mad at me during a tournament last year when I was trying to delicately remove a hook from a fish. "Don't feel sorry for it!, rip that hook out and throw it in the livewell!" he said, but I couldn't help but feel bad for the fish. I fish for the sport, not to cause great harm to the animals.

No chance i'd pay that much for an Abu revo!! Tatula.

Hang in there, the lake I get to fish the most can be a bear. Ive been at this bass fishing thing for a long time. I got a boat filled with the best baits you could want and theres still times I struggle. Its been a little better as of late but dont ever compare what youre fishing to what you see on TV. You dont have the eletronics, the time, nor the location to go out there and catch big bags like that all the time. Heck theres guys in the elites show up at a weigh in with ZERO fish, imagine throwing down $1k+ and not even getting a single fish in the boat. Dont even tack on the travel, the wear on you and your family to fish a practice plus the event. Make no mistake about it, if you can even grind out fishing from say daylight till 3pm, thats a feat in itself as it takes ultra patience if youre not smashn fish.

I fished the white ones almost exclusively for 5 years or so and people always laughed at me for my $1 spinnerbaits until I out fished them. I throw them in places spinnerbaits aren't supposed to go and when I lose one it's only a $1.

Performance is great. It's very smooth and casts unbelievably well. A few cons, the drag star is very cheap looking (hoping the KP star will be available); the reel foot is not recessed, so it sits fairly high on the rod. Despite how small it is, this makes it palm a little funky. The side plate has a very sharp edge to it, which actually makes it somewhat uncomfortable during certain applications. The knobs have a nice texture and the cork looks cool, but they're very awkward shaped because they flare out too much on the ends. It makes holding those uncomfortable when doing finesse techniques, like weightless plastics, because I don't really grip the whole grip, I usually lightly hold the ends. Overall I am please with the reel, but it's far from my favorite reel. Fortunately, I got it pretty cheap (relative to the MSRP), but I wouldn't even consider paying more than $300 for it.

Theyre small but legit jigs. Their skirts are cheap but they look great in the water - hell the jig is only $1.99 in most places. When I am using football head jigs, I use Strike King Tourney Grades and Siebert for everything else. When I want a smaller jig the bitsys are my go to.

In this case? Prevents chafing.

.45acp

If I have nothing nice to say............ There's a ton of good info in this forum. If this is serious, it is best to read it and use all the resources.

This is a joke right.....

Maybe you should apply for an EBT card as well

Interesting 2nd post....

Just the other day, a guy reported a close-call he had with Sasquatch. He was deer hunting, when he heard a loud bellowing sound like a one-ton gorilla! When he turned around, there stood Sasquatch about 50 yards away. Without any provocation at all, Bigfoot began to charge the man and though the man was running full tilt the great ape was closing the gap. Glancing over his shoulder, he seen Bigfoot reaching out to grab him by the shoulders. Then suddenly the skunk ape slipped and piled up in a heap. With little time lost, Bigfoot regained his feet and was soon hot on the heels on his victim. Once again, the great ape was reaching out to grab the man, when suddenly he slipped again and rolled-up in a heap. This gave the man just enough time to reach his cabin and bolt the door behind him. The reporter who was recording the story said: "HOLY SMOKES!, if that were me I would've lost control! The man replied, "Waddaya think he was slipping on?". Roger

In my opinion, you should buy fireworks and rig trip alarms. Should something trip a flare, run out the door yelling Merica while firing an AR into the air. That'll keep the bad pranksters away. Could also scare what other poltergeist that may be lurking.