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Yesterday participated in a team open with a buddy from my club. 3rd cast broke PB smallie of 4lbs 3oz with a 4lb 5oz! Awesome right? Nope it gets better. So were fishing a hump about 50 feet from shore. It's 8ft deep with a nice weed bed about 100ft stretch. He's up front throwing a spinner bait and I'm in the back flipping the pockets. Out of the corner of my eye see a huge splash about 10 ft off shore. Did you see that? No but I heard it probably a carp he says. I didn't see orange so I drop flipping stick pick up my senko rig(see avatar) I launch a cast to the area I saw the splash. I let out an additional 20 ft of line and get tap tap tap. He says if it's tapping light might be bluegill or perch. All of a sudden drag is screaming and my pole is bent in half. I start reeling and it's game on. The fish ran to deep water in between us and shoreline. My buddy gets the net and the fish comes up and starts entering the weed area. I'm like nooooo dude move boat deeper. He's all nonchalant like just get him up to surface I'm like dude get the f'n trolling motor!!!! He spins the boat the fish is now in weeds. I'm like noooooooo! He's like horse him up I'm like I can't it's 6# test. He's like What the blank are you doing with 6# test in a tourney! I'm like it's my drop shot rod! So we're yelling back and forth lol I get the fish to the surface and swing and miss with the net. Fish dives under the boat! At this point I'm sweating praying the line doesn't snap and knot doesn't fail. I muscle him up and out the water he jumps! Nooooo I he spit the hook? Went light, d**n me, I start reeling nope he's still on! Woohoo! Swoop of the net number 2 right next to the motor and we got him! 4lbs 8oz! Not only did I break my PB but I did so TWICE and In a tourney! We ended up with 4 SM and 4 LMB 8/8. My 2 smallies weighing 8lbs 13oz. We went to weigh in thinking we had 18lbs or so as we didn't weigh the largies. Ended up 22.38 which put us in 3rd and I lost lunker to a 5lb LMB. We won $740. Best tourney experiences to date! - thanks for reading!

The Pats looked bad & Brady Looked OLD. A-Jay

Just got it today at the new Field and Stream

Looks like Denver is hitting its stride, and Carrie Underwood would look hot in a NASA spacesuit.

I'm not scared...that's complete BS imo. I'd like to ask the guide one question, "Would you want your reservation, that you paid for and took vacation time from work for, bumped?" I've run a very reputable auto center for 24 years. When I take an appointment, no matter how big or small the job, I do my absolute best to get that customer in and out on time. I can't tell you how many people come in, throwing their weight around and want to get in NOW because their situation is more important than everyone else's....sorry, you will get the same great treatment as I gave the guy before you...when it is your turn.

Junebug works in water that is wet

Last year Seattle upset the best team in the NFL. CONGRATULATIONS Seahawks! This year may be different... The Road To The Super Bowl begins in 16 minutes... GO BRONCOS! p.s. How hot is Carrie Underwood in that little bitty skirt?

This past weekend was good for me size wise but a bit slow on numbers. Landed some quality fish on a jig. I was fishing deep off shore trees. I had already fished one particular tree earlier in the day with no luck. I had actually broke off a crank bait in the tree which is always a bummer. A couple hours had passed and I decided I wanted to fish the tree again. I pull up to the tree and took a cast with my jig. After it hit bottom I go to inch it forward. I feel a tree branch and hop it over it. Before the jig hit bottom I felt a bite. I set the hook into what felt like a tree. The fight was on. Even with 50 lb braid the fish was kicking my butt and got wrapped into the tree. I had to go in and try to get it out. After a minute or two of trying to get it unwrapped I some how managed to get it free. Once I had it in the boat I noticed my crankbait that I had lost in the tree earlier in the day sticking out from its side. The fish measured 23 inches and weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz. My biggest so far this year. 7 lbs 4 oz I got a couple more good fish this weekend. 6 lbs 3 oz 5 lbs 4 oz

Well fall isn't too far away and the lipless cranks are about to be back in their prime, doesn't mean they aren't working yet though! Caught a good bit of bass on the H2O lipless cranks today! Had a buddy following our boat too!

I have been on this forum for quite some time now. This site is a great place to learn valuable information of our beloved sport. With that being said. The message I would like to convey to all the "new members" is to truly update your profiles. Just taking the time to properly fill out your profile will help all of us provide you with the best information specific to your area. More likely than not, there may be active BR member(s) living within 20 miles of you. The suggestions given by local members I find are the best "tips" than those probably living from the other side of the country (in some cases). I am at fault for having a very "blah" profile when I first became a member. My reason being, because I am a private person and to release some pieces of my info out there to the world paranoid's me. However, I have found that if you provide some pieces of information like: age, favorite fishing places, and general location of where you live, these nuggets of info will be enough to receive key advice that can help your fishing situation tremendously. Leaving out age for example I find is critical, because we assume we are interacting with an adult, and after reading some posts you realize OMG, we have been communicating with a minor the whole time. The advice given may have been completely different if that vital piece of info was provided. Lastly, I feel that a profile is a key piece for finding connections with other anglers. Just knowing a member is from your state, city, or town, can increase your chances of making a new friend, enter a new bass club, or just knowing someone that you can network with. Anyways, I just wanted to get this off my chest, so that it will help new members the same way this has helped me.

Had about an hour to burn while the wife and her friend went shopping Friday night. I ran over to the apartment ponds about 5 minutes away from the house to scratch the itch. I start chatting with this young kid who moved here from VA and he's basically saying he didn't think there were any fish in the pond. About this time I bump my spinnerbait into some sticks all jammed up near the drain pipe and when the bait came over the last stick, BAM. Off to the left goes the line, one hero hookset later he's on! Got him over to the bank and the kid was far more excited than I was! He snapped me a quick pic and then looked perplexed as ever as I gently slid the fish back in the water. I explained to him that it was better for me to come back and catch him again than to cook him up. Hopefully that sank in with him, but either way nice fish just before dark, made my night.

Fished Mousam today with my dad. It was a good biting day the bigger fish were scarce with my biggest at just under 4lbs but my dad had a blast no matter what catching 3 nice quality fish to smile about. As people always say its not quantity but the company you fish with. He is always happy to show off the fact he can catch a bass no matter what time of year with a blazing yellow chartreuse gitzit. Next Lake will be Northwood Weds

Love to catch bowfin!

If you know the answer why ask the question?

Over the weekend I went to the local Field and Stream store (Dick's newest outdoor sporting goods line of stores) to get some line put on 3 of my baitcasting reels since it's easier to have them do it for me, than trying to beg my girlfriend to help me do it at home. The gentlemen who works the fishing section is a local tournament fishermen who is very friendly and I've spoke to on many occasions. Once my reels were done, I was leaving the store whenever I glanced over at a rack of clearance rods. That's when I noticed a few G Loomis rods on the clearance rack. Upon checking them out, I found a TWR 773C for $145. I knew that I had a rewards certificate for $30, and a $10 off a $50+ purchase coupon. So in the end, this brought the total for my new rod down to $105. Overall, it's a very nice rod and I can see why guys are so loyal to G Loomis. I didn't need this rod at all, but for the price, I couldn't turn it down.

All I'll add is that I like to use the Water Gremlin Bull Shot weights.

Reminds me of Seinfeld at the car rental " So you can TAKE a reservation, you just can't KEEP a reservation......How is that a reservation?"

The fishing this weekend was good size wise but the number were lower then usual. Friday was much windier then they forecast. I was out on the water at 8 am until 8 pm. It was hot almost 90 degrees and the fish really weren't biting well. I caught a few fish early on the jig. Biggest fish of the morning was a 3 lb 9 oz on a jig. The jig was producing well. I did try a texas and wacky rigged worm, a hollow body frog and crankbait with not much luck. The mid day hours were really tough. I didn't get a bite for several hours. I was fishing my best spots and wasn't catching anything. I did get one of my favorite crank baits stuck on a log and busted it off. That's always a bummer. I switched tactics from deep wood to 3-8 ft and weeds. That wasn't producing well either. I did manage one fish on a frog, a 2 lber. A couple hours had past and it was about 3 pm now. I went back out to the deep trees. First tree I stop at a 2 3/4 smallie, cool. It was nice to catch a fish again. The second tree I caught a 2 lber on a crankbait. Pull up to the 3rd tree. First cast a big fish slams my jig. The fight was on. Using 50 lb braid this fish was still kicking my butt. It got wrapped in the tree really bad. I had to go in and get it. Even then it wasn't coming out easily. I tried for a couple minutes before finally getting it free. It was a big fish, biggest of the year so far. Once I had it in the boat I noticed my crankbait sticking in the side of the fish. It must have caught it on the log when it was wrapped around it. I was glad to get my crankbait back. Crankbait stuck in the fishes side. I caught the fish on a jig. 7 lbs 4 oz 23 inches long I continues fishing the deep logs with not much luck. It was getting a bit later now and with the sun setting so early now I decided to head back. Of course I had some places I wanted to fish before leaving. The same places that I was getting jig bites in the morning weren't producing. I switched to a texas rigged rubber worm and started getting bites again. I was fishing thick shallow wood. Most of the fish I was catching were 2-2 1/2 lbs. I did mange one better fish. It slammed my worm. 5 lbs 4 oz I ended the day at about 8 pm and it was dark by then. I packed up all my stuff with a head lamp. Even though it was a much windier day then they had forecast I was able to deal with it. Big open lakes in a small square boat usually isn't ideal. I had to anchor at spots so I would be able to fish. I couldn't hold with the trolling motor. It was a good day fishing. 12 hours on the water 17 largemouth and 3 smallmouth. Biggest bass of the year so far a 7 lb 4 oz. Saturday I did not have much time to fish. I launched the boat at 3pm. I figured 4 hours our so would be better then nothing. It was another super windy day. The fishing started out slow again. Then the wind picked up even more pushing 25 mph and that just plain sucked. Then the rain started. It was a torrential down pour fro about an hour. I had to bail out my boat, a couple inches of water had accumulated. After the storms had passed through the air temp went from hot humid 87 degrees to 65 cool and crisp. The fish bit much better after the front passed through. I got one big fish bite off of a deep tree. Before leaving I boated a 3 lb 3 oz and a 3 lb 2 oz on jigs. I ended the day with 10 largemouth, not bad given the time restriction and the weather. Lunker for the day was a 6 lb 3 oz on a jig. I am really looking forward to a couple weeks vacation starting at the end of the month.

I like a 7' M/F when I'm popping them through grass and have very little problems with fish tossing them or pulling off.

Stained water is much easier to fish, something with like 4-5 feet of visibility.

Get a rapalla floating minnow in either original gray or that orange green stripe pattern. That should catch all kinds of bass. If you want a lure that will catch fish in general, a inline spinner should do it. Any color should work, expirament.

If it's a good piece of cover, I keep it. You never know when it will come in handy.

Teacher ask kids in her 3rd grade class..."What do you want to be when you grow up? LITTLE KEVIN SAYS: "I WANNA START OUT AS A MARINE PILOT, THEN BE A BILLIONAIRE, GO TO THE MOST EXPENSIVE CLUBS, FIND ME THE FINEST *****, GIVE HER A FERRARI WORTH OVER A MILLION BUCKS, AN APARTMENT IN COPACABANA, A MANSION IN PARIS, A JET TO TRAVEL THROUGHOUT EUROPE, AN INFINITE VISA CARD, AND ALL THE WHILE BANGING HER LIKE A LOOSE SCREEN DOOR IN A HURRICANE." THE TEACHER, SHOCKED, AND NOT KNOWING WHAT TO DO WITH THIS HORRIBLE RESPONSE FROM LITTLE KEVIN,DECIDES NOT TO ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT HE SAID AND SIMPLY TRIES TO CONTINUE WITH THE LESSON . . . . "And how about you, Sarah?" "I wanna be Kevin's *****."

Well Coty and I were out at melvern yesterday to find some smallies due to the fact Coty hasnt ever been to fish for smallies. I would say we were successful with a few bonus walleye for each of us. We started at the dam and took us a while to get the first couple in the boat but by the time we got to the piling it turned on. ned rig was the best bait but we tried to only throw that when it slowed down on the other baits. but got my walleye on a big head wobbler and got a smallie next cast. Coty made a color change to a strike king sexy chart shad color 1.0 and it was like a light switch turned on. we went to the marina and nothing so we went to Eisenhower cove and it picked up like we left off at the dam! I tied on a rattle trap r50 ghost color and that proved to best bait of the day catching several in a row when they stopped eating other consistent baits! but we loaded up and ran into kstates fishing team. i guess they have a regional qualified out there today. but we caught around 100 fish. it was one of the better days out on Melvern i had this year. i didn't catch a big smallie like Coty. but that's why the call him Coty the kicker catcher!

I'll try a bowstring pop or two, moving to the other side if the cover if possible, then I try the hound dawg. its a weight that will slid down the line and hammer out the lure (usually). If none of that works, I back the boat off the snag, point the rod at the snag, and hold the spool. Either the lure pops free or the line breaks. Sometimes the snag comes in with the lure. I never, ever cut the line! Cutting the line is a totally F#*# up thing to do on too many levels. I curse the inconsiderate @$$#*!!$ who do that and leave their line in the water to kill wildlife, snag other lines, get caught in props, etc. I just spent $300 to reapir a trolling motor that was damaged by cut line. People who leave line in the water give fishermen a bad name among non anglers and property owners too. Not to mention, if you cut your line every time you get snagged, how long will it be until you have to respool with $20 worth of braid? Do whatever you have to do to recover your lure and line. If you cant catch a fish there after that, move on! There are going to be more fish on more spots. If you cant afford to lose that lure, you cant afford to use it!

Unless it's something that the guide could have been able to control, like his boat doesn't start so you have to use the trolling motor and just fish around the launch, then they should be paid. Last guide trip I went on was on the White River in Arkansas for brown trout. It poured the entire time and out of the 3 of us we only caught 1 brown trout. On the way back up river, our guide's motor hit a rock and jumped off the back of the boat and sank. I retrieved it for him (he was well into his 70's, no way he was hauling that waterlogged 25hp motor back into the boat). They were generating so there was a pretty strong current and about a mile to go to the launch. My buddy and I had our waders on so we both jumped in and walked his boat against the current for a hour and a half before we were in deep enough water that I could get my boat to where we were and towed it the rest of the way. I'm sure a lot of guys wouldn't have paid him, but it's fishing, stuff happens. He was trying to put us on fish, they just wouldn't bite for us. We still had fun and had we seen him stranded after his motor popped off we would have helped him just the same. Our time was up at that point anyways. When we tried to pay him he just asked us to cover his expenses for the day and thanked up profusely for hauling his boat back. He still did his job, he took us to where the fish were and tried. We caught a ton of fish later that day at one of his spots on jerkbaits, so it was well worth the money and effort to me.

Fished the Keene Highschool Bass Open this morning. We placed 1st with 12.96 lbs and biggest largemouth bass. Biggest fish weighed was 3.75 but we accidentally chose the wrong lunker to weigh after looking in the bag lol. Next is the State Qualifier.

my only advice for him...don't quit ur 'part time evening job'

Keep today's fee and offer a free trip when they can go again.

Honest guys, I thought the Crucial was it. When I have a birthday, my SWEET wife sees to it that I have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Hootie

I have mostly competed in high school tournaments so we do not compete for money, but today I cashed my first check!!!!! We were tied for 5th and top 5 cash so tiebreaker went to us and we cashed $60! It feels really good.....no it feels GREAT!!!!!

It's no wonder that the Lund took on so much water. The guy forgot to put the plug in!

In my opinion part of a quality guide's job is to teach the client how to be successful on a body of water. Great fisherman don't often hire guides, except on unfamiliar lakes. The novice with a desire is most often the one shelling out the cash for a great fishing experience. Not all are guides are great teachers, the ones that are, are kept busy, and some just suck as guides!

Licked my wounds from Melvern yesterday and went to Lone Star this morning. Caught a bunch of the usuals, and this 3.5#.

They have those elaztech plastics. You could try those. I don't think they will pull that apart. I tried to use craws once but it didn't work out. I spent what seemed like forever trying to get a weighted screw lock in it. I eventually gave up and have never tried them again.

Very good lure. My go to walker is a super spook jr. though.

Congrats

MH moderate fast... best of both worlds.

Man, that´s a tuff one, taking in consideration that braided line practically lasts forever and since I only purcahsed Power Pro then my favorite is Power Pro, don´t have to change it that often ya know.

Must be fake. She didn't say she caught it on a swimbait

I had just the opposite happen - I have a couple of the "silent" models where the internal weight has become a bit loose inside. So rather than running silent, these baits have a slight clicking sound instead of a full on rattle. I have to tell you - they have been The Best Rattle Baits I have. So the "Defect" has turned out to be a Good Thing. I just wish I could figure out how to reproduce that sound. A-Jay

Was a great trip! Hooked on smallies for sure! I'll take being the kicker catcher any day!!

I haven't been out fishing in over a week due to a short vacation, school year starting and other factors. The weather has cooled down some the last couple of days, and had about an hour of daylight left tonight to get down to my usual quarry from shore. I threw my normal buzzbait to no success, then picked up my other rig that I alternate between a T rig setup and a drop shot setup, though its usually drop shot. After trying on and off with this rig (and previously my ultralight setup) with texas rigging, I finally caught some bass tonight, 3 in total. None were very big, the last 2 were 10-11" and had some fight in them, the first was pretty small, but glad to finally get the monkey off my back with this setup. Many of you swear by it and I'm not entirely sure what the difference was tonight, though I did put some Yum crawfish spray on my senko, something I don't always do, and I tried to drag it much slower than normal. I believe the water was a bit more stained from recent rains, it is normally fairly clear, but the time of day made it hard to read the conditions. I was surprised to actually feel the bite, pleasantly. I thought it might be more of a line watching exercise, though I clearly felt all 3 takes and even one or two prior that didn't result in a hookup. All 3 seemed to take a bit less hookset than I would have thought too, both of which will lead to more confidence and usage down the road.

Man, Melvern has really had it out for me lately. Granted today's trip was definitely better than the last few, it was still making me work for it. Hit that snooze button for an hour this morning and was on the water by 8:15. How about those temps eh? Beautiful morning. Caught a few small ones off the shoreline east of the marina on a shakyhead in the first half hour and then decided to make a break for the dam. Caught 2 on the south side on a squarebill (1 of which ended up the "biggest" of the day). My buddy and his wife launched around 9:30 and I met them over in the Turkey Creek cove. Caught 1 or 2 major dinks on a shakyhead, when all of the sudden I got a big bite. Thought I had a 4 pound brownie on but, I should have known better. Drum. Shortly after I idled across the cove to my buddy. When I got over to him and started up my trolling motor, I heard a real high pitched whirring and I wasn't moving. Pulled it up and no prop. Shear pin must have broken and the prop finally gave way while I was idling across the cove, as the trolling motor was still down. Awesome. To make a long story short I made a break for the marina to see if they had ANYTHING. Turns out they have a repair shop a short walk from the marina. Went up there and told the guys what I needed, boom. Done deal. Had the exact MotorGuide shear pin and nut I needed. My buddy let me borrow his spare and I was back in business. Over the next few hours I caught a few more dinks. A few Largemouth too. And...2 more big drum that really had my heart pumping. One of which still has my shakyhead in it's lips. Bailed a little earlier than intended on account of free tickets to the KU football opener. Almost in the right mind to make a run out again tomorrow morning but will probably stick with Lone Star. All I need is one 3-4# bronzeback to make my day. Been a year to the month since my last Melvern trip that was one for the books.

I've had a tatula longer than an I but have used both extensively. After cleaning out the grease pit curado and flushing the bearings, the reel performs flawlessly. I used the 200 for years (still have 50s) befoe i unloaded a ton of them for daiwas and 50s. The curado I palms better than the E for me. Neither would be my choice for "light baits" but both can cast down to 1/4oz fine and neither is necessarily better than the other. They are two different braking systems and require different uses of thumb but the difference in the bottom spectrum the reels can cast is splitting hairs. Both cast further than you need to. Anyone needing to cast 40 yards isnt doing it out of necessity more so rather doing it because it looks cool bombing a lure. I will say the tatula casts further with less effort. The braking system is simple on both. Tatulas is "less finiky" both both are pretty much set it and forget it if you have any sort of a thumb. Personally, i like very low brakes.

Ya Buddy! When that water gets down into the low 60's and high 50's, the red craw trap will be one of my starters every time.

Bow and arrow trick. Still stuck? Send in the hound dog. Problem (almost always) solved.

Okay My first spotted bass, off the bank before Andy got there on a Code Black bladed jig with a sapphire blue Pit Boss trailer. My second spotted bass, also from the bank while waiting for Andy, same bait. Andy's largemouth that was just shy of 4 pounds, same bladed jig. Andy's first spotted bass was a really nice fish. It ate a Zoom Ol' Monster. My biggest largemouth of the day ate my bladed jig really deep and was bleeding as soon as I landed her. No weight or measurements, just a quick picture and back in the water. Probably in the 4 pound range though. Caught lots of fish on topwater, even a couple on the Slammer. One of my biggest spotted bass of the day ate a wacky rigged stick O. We caught fish on jigs, 10" worms, shakyheads, poppers, walkers, gunfish, buzzbaits, frogs, toads, flukes, wacky rigs, Pit Boss, sick fish, Slammer, grass pig, square bills, deep crank, craws, bladed jigs, about the only thing we fished much and didn't catch a fish on was a drop shot.

Yep $144.00 and if you are patient they can be had for less NEW not SECONDS,,,, I have 5 Team Gold and $170.00 is the most I have paid for one, patience, patience, patience,,,,,,