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Bit like saying " I've got an F-150 and stick with it. I've tried a Ferrari and a Rolls Royce and don't like them." Sometimes an F-150 is the perfect vehicle, and it will get the job done in most situations perfectly well, but in the right place a Ferrari or a Rolls Royce are much better choices.

I went to Lake Okeechobee a few weeks back and booked 3 days with a former FLW pro, Mark Shepard. He knew the lake very well and put us on some really good fish. Most of the fish were caught on swim jigs in pretty shallow water. I had the best time fishing down there. Over 3 days, I broke my PB 3 times!! I have already booked a trip to go back in January. They are suppose to be even bigger in the winter. Here are the 3 big ones that I got, first one is 6.25, second is 6.75, and third is 7.5:

Use light braid on spin reels now and will probably never look back. Do use a fluro leader. But love the fact I can go months and months without having to put line on the reel and the line twist is a minimum at most. Just sayin

I honestly don't see money, value, net worth, income, or any hierarchy (implied, inferred, or otherwise understood) as being even remotely the issue. It's about respect. And it goes both ways. Regardless of how poor or rich you are, respect is free; and there are jerks on each end of the spectrum as well as in between. Character and manners are learned; not dictated by what is owned or earned.

Ended up getting the President combo from Bass Pro, some Senkos, a popper, and a white spinnerbait. Threw a Senko off a dock towards a weedline and shifted it every ten seconds, felt my rod twitch, and landed my first bass! Was a small one, not bigger than two pounds, but was such a rush. Thanks for the help guys!

You can fish any lure on braid. Most guys only fish single hook lures with braid. If you choose to fish treble hook baits on braid you need to have some give in the system. Either looser drag or moderate action rods and or an attached leader will help put a little stretch or give in the system so you don't rip hooks out.

My number 1 bait for a shakey head is the trick worm. When they open their gills, they suck the whole thing in, don't worry about the length of hook! Jeff

I would mostly agree with that. The only $200 rod that I felt was absolutely an inferior product was the Loomis GL2. Felt the same way about the new IMX for $300. I paid $200 for the IMX, was still disappointed. For the most part, they're all good rods; some certainly perform better than others though.

Rod type and action is largely a personal preference - I fish square bills around cover so I prefer 15 - 20 lb line (mono) and a slightly stouter rod. My other "crank bait" fishing is actually done with a glass rod that has a very moderate action. I could throw the square bill with it in open water and it would work fine. However, it's not the rod I'd pick to move fish from cover. The brand you chose is up to you. A-Jay

If this is truly a square bill specific rod and depending on how & where you fish your square bills, the standard moderate action cranking stick may be too soft. If you're throwing these baits into and around cover, looking for things to bounce off of (which is where the bait excels), I'd recommend a medium heavy action rod with a bit faster action than the standard cranker; pick a length that you can cast very accurately - that really matter here. Additionally, you may want to beef up your line class a little so that when the One bass you're secretly hoping to catch actually strikes, you'll be capable of leaning on her enough to get her out of whatever hole, weed patch or log jam she's been hiding in all summer. Other wise you might get your Lunch handed to you. Good Luck A-Jay

I caught a 5.3 lbs largemouth tonite in norwood at this little pond you wouldn't even think there would be fish in.

Wow all this time I thought I paid for my lake house by going to college at night, working 12 hour shifts at a plastic wrap plant to pay for school, working 60-80 hour weeks for 20 years after college, saving every penny I could, and not going into debt for anything I could live without. I never knew it was just dumb luck. Thanks for setting me straight.

id go with 50-65 braided line and with that setup youd be able to horse out a toad

Got this in the mail today. Tatula Type R 100XS Special Edition

Jhoffman I don't disagree with most of what you say. You continue to make it about money though. It does not matter one bit whether the owner of the house and recliner made his money or was given it, whether he likes to fish or not, or even if he behaves like an idiot. The only thing that matters in all this is how I conduct myself. I cannot control anyone else, and neither can you. Life is too short to worry about stuff you can't control or to fight with fools. Peace.

Don't have crawfish? I live in the northeast and there are crawfish everywhere.

Mike, make a Mystery Siebert Lucky Box!! $15/Month 4 random jigs!

Hey Bobby Megastrike sent me these photos from today's weigh-in at the Elite series tournament on the Delaware. Enjoy! Kevin Short with Bobby's son Boyd Duckett Iaconelli and Bobby Don Barone and Kelly Jordon Shaw Grigsby with a 14lb bag Charlie Hartley

If some one tells me the know the difference I look at em kinda goofy!

I heard a lot of good things about the Tatula, so I highly doubt you will be disappointed with the additional 50 dollars you put in. Best of luck!

LTB Big Cranker, that is all. Edit; Lol my mistake I didn't read your budget.

I couldn't resist! Alconites, full burl cork, 6'10"....sounds beautiful! I'll let ya'll know how sweet it is after I fish with it!

why don't you get a crankin stick. I have 2 of them and really like them. Looked at the carbonlights and they didn't impress me although I do like the reels. And the 2 I have both are 7'6" one M and the other MH. The M is a bit whippy and honestly would have rather had a heavier action...maybe I should take that one back and exchange it since it is their rod. The MH though is a great rod and I love it.

The Shimano Crucial 7' MH Moderate-Fast Crankbait rod is pretty sweet.....

Beats not weighing anything week after week at Wyco though right? Not going to have any monster bags of fish weighed in these things, but everyone having a few 12" fish is a whole lot better than nobody weighing anything.

Beautiful combos man!

Actually they don't look bad at all, that's the 6'8/chronarch You can't go wrong with the 51e platform, I use them for everything, including what you're looking to do

I am finding the stuff that I grew up with is working well again because others have abandoned it. I guess my technique is to fish natural-style presentations, but do something to the bait or presentation to make it stand out. A lot of my spinners are Dad's from the '70s and '80s. I caught my first bass of the year on a small vintage inline spinner with a trailer. Josh

Three PB's in a row. Great trip. Congrats

As long as it performs well I don't mind.

22 inch 6.5 Lbs.

Great post, Raul! There's precious little that's come along in the years that I've been bass fishing (about 50) that is really new. Most of what's marketed as "new" is a slight modification of something that's been around for years. It just sells better if the manufacturer can convince us gullible fishermen that it's new and revolutionary. Tom

Yea Tim struggled all day. He threw a tiny crankbait, popper and a Senko rigged with a small colorado blade in the bottom. He lost a few 2-2.5lb fish as well. In this tourney that would have been huge. He was great. Talked to me. I tried not to bother him too much. He seemed really focused so I just asked him questions here and there about what he was doing. He caught a 6lb in practice he said. The spot was only accessable at low tide. We got there and couldn't fit yet so he fished the area for about an hour until the water fell some more. He had me laying on the front deck to keep the nose down it was so tight. Probably a 50 yard tunnel. Came out covered in spiders. Lol. We were smacking each other all over trying to get them off. Lol. We got in there and another pro was already in there. Tim was ticked to say the least. But he sucked it up and fished on. He caught his first fish in there though. Then we ran back to some spots that had isolated structure in like 4-5 feet of water where he got his second. I know it's a cliche term but "consumate professional" comes to mind. He put his head down and fished, didn't let loosing fish or someone else in his spot get to him. And let me just say, this was my first experience in a bass boat. HOLY CRAP! Flying down the river at like 70mph was insane. I held on to those two handles for my life. Lol. We hit a little chop a few times and the boat would bob to the side, thought I was going to fly out of that thing. But I didnt. Lol.

"Life's to short to fight with fools" exactly... Why bother arguing with a guy about fishing his dock, just move along, plenty more fish in the lake...

Hard for me to define "new" Some "new" stuff would be the addition of fiber weedguards to jigs, shakeyhead jigs ? hmmm, not new, I´ve been pouring my own for more than 2 decades, swimbaits ? back in the 80´s we ( I and my friends ) used to hunt for big bass in Tamaulipas with saltwater and musky size baits, dropshotting ? we, ( I and my fishing partners ) used the "hook above sinker" rig to present the bait above the bottom weeds. Soft plastic stickbaits ? ain´t those super similar to the venerable French Fry worm ? Alabama rigs ? I remember them being called umbrela rigs for saltwater fishing. Something really new to me was the invention of the EWG hook. Perhaps the "new" stuff has more to do with the availability of foreign tackle ( mostly Japanese ).

Actually, for fish catching performance with jigs/plastics buy the best rod you can afford and pair it with a decent (as in not a throw away) reel. Plan on $50> for spinning and $100> casting except for a PQ etc on sale.

Saturday marked ten years with the company and when I got to work today there was a nice breakfast spread and lots of kudos from everyone, and then I look outside and one of the guys is towing a boat right up in front of the windows. Speechless! It's used but solid, 16 more feet of boat than I was ever going to own anytime soon, outboard, trolling motor, GPS, depth finder, rod locker, live well, plus everything I need to legally have on there; she's totally water-ready! I even got the rest of the day off to go with one of our guys who knows boats so I could start learning my way around it. Not a bad day at work. If you have to have a boss, you'd be darn lucky to have mine.

Hard baits - soft baits - terminal tackle appropriate to season. If I'm using spinning gear, probably a spare spool or two of line. Tools - when I was a bank fisherman needle nosed vice grips was about all I needed. Pack your stuff in plano boxes adds a little weight but protects your stuff better. Pack your stuff in zip lock plastic bags - less weight but doesn't protect your stuff as well and doesn't last as long. When I was a bank fisherman I used a combination of both. I was a smoker then, so a couple of extra lighters were necessary, as was a waterproof cigarette case. I was an occasional hard liquor drinker then, so I carried a steel half pint flask. Sometimes when the fishing vexed me, herbal remedies were in order, I had a waterproof kit to keep my herbal remedies available. If you are going cat fishing or other kind of still fishing, some kind of rod holders are a must or bring a machete and create a rod holder out of materials on hand. I was a meat fisherman then, and an optimist so I generally carried a couple of stringers. If you're a meat fisherman, have some extra garbage bags in your car or an extra ratty old cooler to transport fish home. At the time, there was a hippie vegetarian restaurant a few blocks from my house, so I threw all my fish guts and cleaning remains into their compost pile.

Ever spent 2+ hours trying and failing to catch a big bedding fish that stuck out like a sore thumb in the sping time? That fish was easy to find... How many times have you fished a spot right after another boat/person and caught fish while they didn't? Happens all the time...The first guy 'found' the fish, if it's so easy after that why didn't he catch them? The successful bass fishermen know how to roll all of the variables presented to them into a plan of action. It's not about a spot or a bait or even a pattern. It's about putting all those and more into a plan to catch a heavier limit than the other guys. Heck, don't forgot about the actual process of landing a big bass after it's hooked either! "Finding" fish is definitely important, but it doesn't mean you automatically win. It's just a part of the overall game. As for the professionals...I think you can say they are combination of the highest skill level with highest dedication level.

#1) 4.8" Keitech S.I. Fat: I've caught fish from surface to 30 feet with it. Weightless on top like a toad or just under the sparce pads, Swimbait hook in the weeds, Biffle in the rocks, Carolina Rig, and flipped it. #2) Senko or Fat Ika would be the other, basically whatever bag I grab first. Both similar baits as far as technique/situation.

It's got to be an awfully hard life to feel so bitter about what other people have, but I'll wish you all the luck in the world that you make it to that point. And if you ever get that new wife, remember that without a picture, it never happened!

For my money, raccoon small intestine makes the best all around natural line. Squeeze everything out of it, making sure to save the tapeworms for bait, then soak it for a while and stretch it out to dry. (Fly fisherman will find that they suddenly have all the flies they could ever ask for at this point.) Although mono-gut is fine for panfish, for bass you should strongly consider braiding several lengths together, because braid is awesome. You'll find that its refractive index is nothing to brag about, but it's certainly better than that of twisted plant fiber. Coon-gut braid's superior diameter to pound-test ratio and above average abrasion resistance make it a no-brainer in my book, but lots of guys still use twisted plant fiber and do just fine. It all comes down to confidence. Tight guts!

Depending on the size of the flies you will be using, I would recommend a 4 or 5 weight fly rod. If you will be throwing big streamers and dries, you could go to a 6 weight, but it makes the small ones a whole lot less fun. If there is a lot of brush around your creek, and it is difficult to make a long backcast, i would use an 8' rod, if it is more open, a 9' would be perfect. unless you are targeting huge browns or rainbows, or plan on doing some fishing for species that tend to run a lot, a click pawl type fly reel (no drag, only a clicking brake system) would be perfect. If you plan on fishing for bigger trout or harder running fish, a disc drag reel (similar drag system to a spinning reel) would be better suited for that. A weight forward or double taper floating fly line will be perfect for most fly fishing, unless you want to get a big streamer down deep on big rivers or lakes. The line is the most important part of the setup, so buy the best you can afford. The rod is the second most important, and the reel is mainly just for storing line unless of course you get into a big strong fish. Everyone has thier own preferences on rods, so go to your local fly shop and hold a bunch of different rods until you find one that feels 'right'. As far as brands go, St Croix has some good fly rods, and an awesome beginner fly rod is an Orvis Clearwater. Orvis reels are also great, as are Hardys and Sages. In my opinion, RIO makes the best fly line, but as I said before, everyone has their own preferences. Buy a few tapered knotless leaders, some tippets from 3X to 6X, and a good assortment of wet and dry flies, and go hammer some trout. Hope this helps!

How important is to find crawfish ? I don' t give a rat's rear end if there are crawfish, all I care is that bass will strike "crawfishish lookinish baits" that's all I need to know.

OK, search as I might I could not find a "law" stating anglers "must" kill snakeheads, just repeated statements that tell you how to kill them and Maryland doesn't want them in their waters. Dissatisfied with my searches I sent a email to Maryland DNR asking for information with the understanding that their answer would be posted here. Please note: the term "possess" (on the water) is defined as having the fish within the gunnels (sides) of the boat. Here is the DNR response. START QUOTE "Hello - - - -, There is a web of state and federal regulations on snakeheads. I hope that my explanation will be more clarifying than it will be confusing. The federal regulations are found at 50 CFR 16.13 - you may not import, transport, or acquire live snakeheads. I won't speculate on how the feds use those words, as they may well be different from how we use those words. In Maryland, the restrictions are found at COMAR 08.02.19.06. Specifically, see sections C and D: C. Except as provided in §D of this regulation, a person may not possess the viable eggs or live snakehead fish of the species: (1) Blotched snakehead (Channa maculata); and (2) Northern snakehead (Channa argus). D. The Department may issue a permit for the possession of a live snakehead fish for scientific purposes to a properly accredited person of known scientific attainment. So an individual MAY NOT possess a live snakehead if they do not have a permit issued to them by the Department. There is NOT a requirement that a snakehead be killed upon capture, but the only two options someone has are to 1) return the fish immediately to the water or 2) kill it. There are no other options. In addition to any federal laws which someone may be in violation of (as we do not work for USFWS I would decline to interpret the federal regulations or speculate on what the possible penalty would be), someone in possession of a live snakehead would be subject to a minimum fine in Maryland of: $750 for 1-3 fish, $1,000 for 4-10 fish, and would be required to appear in court for 11 or more fish. The maximum fine in Maryland for any snakehead violation, regardless of the number of fish is $25,000." END QUOTE Hope this helps.

I'm finally getting my 10E out Saturday for the first time since getting it. I am totally stoked. Just hope it floats and doesn't have any leaks.

And when your done be sure to record your success by carving a very life like line drawing on the inside wall of the nearest cave.; and then ride your brontosaurus off into the sunset . . . . . On your way by, say hello to Barney Rubble for us. A-Jay

The key is in the words. "what CAN you do?" I saw this "statement" and it is just that, a statement. It is not a regulation or law. The only regulation is not to possess live snakehead. I am just pointing out the difference. Most fisherman are mislead by the the "statements" and assume "regulation." The government can't regulate that you kill anything. They can ask you to kill but, not make you do it.

^19-20lb with the average bag running 13-15lb. Of course I could be wrong living here my whole life and fishing the river almost daily I'd be shocked at anything over 20lb. & I mean daily. 3 days I'd say 50lb top closer to 45.

I would contact Megaware KeelGuard, Inc. at (800) 292-9835 with your questions, they are very supportive folks.