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A moderator should rename this thread to "So Yall Want To Learn Melvern"

I wouldn't put on new line until the beginning of next season rather than the end of the current one. Your brand new line is going to have 4 months of memory on it before your first cast.

While I agree with you 100% about never stop learning, I disagree with the rest of your statement. Why learn cursive when (for better or for worse) it's being phased out. What will you ever do that would be a substantial life changer with cursive? If you want to learn things then go for a second language, maybe even some trade skills. Hell... Learn how to scrapbook, because sadly, that's more valuable than cursive is today.

Caught this big snook a week ago in the middle of the mullet run. It was by far the largest snook I have had the pleasure to fight. Released to fight another day. I was fishing with Captain Jeff Maggio of Lunkerdog Charters.

X2. Best answer IMO.

Snaps: yes. Swivels: yes. Snap-Swivels: never.

Out of my 16 current casting rod lineup, 10 are medium or med-light. I only have two heavy power rods. One of those hasn't been out of the house in at least three years, and the other sees very limited use. For me, heavy rods and line take away most of the challenge, and all of the fun in fishing.

Power = Baitcasting Gear Finesse = Spinning Tackle

I enjoy fishing ponds, but I also enjoy the challenge of figuring out big lakes. The biggest bass in our state almost always are caught at farm ponds though.

preferences are: 1. tank at bass pro shop 2. lake 3. river 4. pond

No thank you, I like catching over fishing. Now, I don't fish a ton of different lures- a couple classes of bottom baits, and two or three covering-water type of baits, and swimbaits- which would be another whole can of worms (lol). I have confidence in those. But fishing one single style of bait is not for me. "You always should follow what the fish want. If you use a certain technique when conditions are not right for that technique, you're wasting your time." - Bill Murphy.

Should have known, this is one of those northern dudes thread.

Saturday I fished the Lake Quivira fishing club tournament with my buddy Tony. It's a good group of fishermen who all live on the lake which gives them a pretty big advantage. Being an Elite Series pro who lives on the lake probably gives you an even bigger advantage though! When I saw on FB that Brent Chapman was planning on fishing it with his son I knew it was going to be a serious uphill battle. I formulated a game plan the night before that we were going to go up the canals and risk getting way fewer bites in hopes that they would be the right ones. I missed 3 fish and was not having a good start when Tony set the hook on his jig and immediately one of the biggest bass I've seen out there in a long time was on the surface. Grab the net and scooped her up. 19" and 3.52 pounds was the start of our 11lb 1oz limit. I thought we probably finished in the money but couldn't believe when I heard we'd actually won the thing! Not only first place, but Tony's fish was good for big bass as well. He fished one of my home made finesse jigs in black/ gold flake with a Okeechobee craw colored YUM craw papi while I alternated between a home made sapphire blue 1/2oz brush jig with a black and blue Zman Batwingz trailer and a home made black on black bladed jig with a sapphire blue pit boss as a trailer. Getting the win was awesome, catching them all on my baits made it that much better I got to talk to Brent quite a bit afterwords and he was super nice as he is every time I've gotten to chat with him, congratulated us on our win and fielded everyone's questions afterwords. I'm sure if we tried 99 more times he'd get the best of us, but just once we got to say that we got the best of the former AOY and Elite Series angler on his home lake

If you worry about what might be...and wonder about what might have been...you will ignore what is!

The bait monkey has it's own bedroom at my place..

Next to a traditional jig, a blade bait is probably the most successful tool in my arsenal once the temperature drops below 60 degrees. If you don't have any blades in your collection, I would strongly consider picking some up. Most will work, some work better than others in my opinion. Its hard to top the success of the silver buddy, but others to consider are Heddon Sonar, Johnson Thinfish, Reef Runner Cicada and many more. A few things to consider when fishing these baits are: Switching out the stock hooks, and adding a swivel or snap to limit the amount of line twists that you will encounter. I fish my blades on 8lb fluorocarbon with a 7ft MH spinning rod. With this setup I can fish vertically and drop the blade down to fish I have found on my sonar. Casting setups work as well, but I find that they lead me to "over fish" the blade. If I can offer one piece of advice to anyone who is considering or just starting out fishing blades..... fish it like its made of glass. Let it fall all the way to the bottom. When lifting it off the bottom, only lift until you feel the vibration. DO NOT rip it off the bottom as fast as you can. When the blade goes to sink its best to let it sink on a semi slack line only. If it sinks on fully slack line, there is a good chance you will not detect the bite that comes on the fall. This is one of the most popular ways you will get bites is on the fall. By no means am I an expert on fishing blades, but I only offer this as an opinion. Im sure someone reading this could probably teach me a thing or two about fishing blades.

Cabin Fever is setting in

Caught one of my largest east coast bass on a 1/32oz. jig tipped with a 1" zoom grub while crappie fishing. The smallest I'll use while actually targeting bass is usually 1/8, but I'll use 1/16 when conditions are right for it. I'll also float and fly a 1/32 hair jig for smallies if fishing relatively shallow.

my mistake man. Didn't even think about that!

And as I sent that infante smashed a 2 run shot!

Every time I update this thread the royals get the bat going. Keep going!!!! Blue October!!!!

Yeah - but the iPhone 18 will have an APP that'll scan, translate, and speak their Grandparents' letters out loud. And quite possibly, our Government may just have completely rewritten those Founding Documents (hopefully not).

Why would they? Learning is great if there's a purpose, where is the todays purpose in cursive? Writing checks isn't that important, besides that I can't see any reason the need why it has to be a requirement to know. Rubbing two sticks together can create fire but how many learn that to use it over a lighter? Somethings just need to evolve

Hook keeper attached with vinyl bands. Stripper guide. All ready for thread! I think I need to clean off my bench again. Having trouble finding tools when I need them.

Let me throw this out there, since I'm a parent. How about you 'younger kids' take it upon yourselves to learn to read & write in cursive? I know we all use keyboards 90 percent of the time, but learning isn't something that should ever stop. My daughter can read mine and my wife's handwriting just fine, but she had to practice it when she was young. Perhaps, in return, some of us 'older folks' can practice talking with our thumbs and improve our texting speeds...

1. Put bass rods away 2. Get the pin out and go for chrome!

The guides.

Catch and Grease, this winter when the weather is bad and you're trapped indoors, read the book Walden, by Henry David Thoreau...I think you'll enjoy it.

1/32

To me they are 2 different rods, but for 1 rod go with a 7' medium heavy power with a fast action.

They are making them in the black platinum finish and they are good, no bad ones in the first 100 unlike Matzuo where I get at least 8 in every 100. I have yet to fish one but they are every bit as sharp as the sickle, if not sharper so I'm expecting the same performance. As for the performance of the Matzuo sickle hook, well the stick and hold, very seldom is a fish lost that is hooked with it. Worm nose and ball heads are perfect for them but they are Aberdeen type hooks and made to bend just like the sickle hooks.

I bought a new Tournament Pro this summer and LOVE it. I'm anxious to try a Lite with the SpeedCast braking. Tight lines, Bob

My Aventa is around 5 or 6 years old. It works as good as any $1000 Kingpin I've tried, just not as pretty.

Not sure about the Curado I, but the CI4 is one heck of a reel.

I put my buddy in yesterday and he found rocks and never let go. RIP

Goto your local academy & look at Castaway, All Star, & H2O

I've got so much on my plate lately it wasn't funny!

This is not uncommon, when this has happened to me, I follow up with a spinner bait rolling it just under the surface almost like a wake bait. If they're gonna eat, they'll typcially eat that!

A man received the following text from his neighbour: I am so sorry mate. I've been riddled with guilt and I have to confess. I have been helping myself to your wife, day and night when you're not around, in fact more than you. I do not get it at home, but that's no excuse. I can no longer live with the guilt and I hope you will accept my sincerest apology with my promise that it won't, ever happen again. The man, anguished and betrayed, went into his bedroom, grabbed his gun, and without a word, shot his wife and killed her. A few moments later, a second text came in: Bloody autospell! I meant "wifi, not "wife

I had a fish spit a big swimbait back at me, resulting with two big Owner ST-41 trebles buried in my shin. Got them both out, and kept fishing the rest of the day. I might have passed once or twice getting them out.

I've never used those but I have used Matzu Sickle hooks for Walleye. They worked pretty darn good with a Berkly leach on the back.

Spool capacity and line size is your focus.

Falcon, G.Loomis, Higher end St. Croix, Higher end Lamiglas and Kistler with the exception of the pro series and carbon steel rods, are the majority of production made rods in America. There are companies like North Fork Composites that make blanks here in the states for Kistler along with custom rod builders but most others are made overseas including Dobyns.

You might consider omitting all the terminal tackle except for the hook. Simply cast out & free line the bait. Keeping in contact with the line with a finger will assist you in the initial bite detection department. If those fish are a little spooky, lightening up your leader a little might help too. A-Jay

The absolute best color for hooks is .................. razor sharp, quality made..

You can hook the baitfish up through the bottom lip then up through the roof of the mouth. #2 horizontally through the nostrils. You will detect a bite either by a traditional "strike" or the bait will just get heavy. Sometimes your line will move out, but that's pretty obvious. The key is NOT to ever set the hook and that can be really hard for bass fishermen to get use to! FIRMLY lift your rod tip and reel, the fish will set the hook. Constantly keep pressure on the fish with a tight line. 95% of the time the hook-up is in the jaw joint.

Best way to get better is to fish with someone better than you. Your learning curve will rise sharply!

My single piece of advice for a man would be, if at all possible, choose the hottest girl possible to go fishing with. No matter how slow the bite is, you will have something nice to look at and if you are a typical male you will go to any length to try and impress her with a big catch. Place creative bets for who catches the biggest or most fish. If it is a warm summer day, recommend fishing topless. The possibilities are endless...

we need more information so we can give you bad advice...