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Less than 10 min. after I told Jeff that my reel would arrive tomorrow, the doorbell rang, and there it was. Oh Happy Day. Here she is. Hootie

November 9th Toledo Bend angler George Herr with a 3/8 oz jig on deep structure with grass/timber. 7:00 Am 0.00 lbs in the live well 7:50 am the live well contained 10.97 lbs 9.15 lbs 8.13 lbs 6.39 lbs 5.81 lbs Total: 40.45 lbs

Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth 6'9" M-XF.

An astute observation. LOL A few years ago I had reels from Daiwa, Shimano, Pfleuger, Abu, Okuma, Quantum, Pinnacle and Mitchell. A total of 40+ reels to service and maintain. I decided that was a bit excessive, and vowed to simplify. After decades of working on reels, seeing all the internals and what materials were used, I decided that Daiwa was going to be my choice, and set about selling off all the rest. I got bit by the tuning bug at about the same time, and there were a lot more options available for Daiwa reels than any other at that time, which influenced my decision. I've been semi-successful in this simplification. I sold all of the non Daiwa reels, and all of the low end Daiwas, but still have more reels, and rods, than I really need. I know, a truly blasphemous statement, but I have rods and reels that see little to no use during a typical season. I have several combos that haven't been out of the rod rack for three or four years. Now that I've been bitten by the rod building bug, I'll be replacing several of my factory rods with my own builds, and will be selling off rods to help fund this addiction. I don't think I'll be selling off any reels, except maybe the Pfleuger spinning reels. All of my baitcast reels have been tuned, upgraded and modified. Once I do all of that work, It's very difficult to contemplate selling them. They are "mine" now.

My dear friend, take a good look at this bait: Doesn´t look like much, has "no action" -------> absolutely deadly, not kidding, absolutely deadly, really, you cast it and let it sit there without moving your rod tip and doing nothing catches fish like mad.

My neighbor was 74yo and he passed away last week. We talked all the time about politics, crime and the weather. A little Tim Allen over the fence chat. I mentioned I was going bass fishing and he perked up but said nothing. In the news paper his obituary said he was an avid fisherman and they had a picture of him holding a bass in his boat. I feel really bad I been living here going on eight years and all this time with the both of us being retired I could of taken him fishing. We could of fished together. He was a quiet nice old man who kind of kept to himself. I would offer to help him at times but he refused my help. My point is if you have a neighbor talk to him and see if he fishes. You could learn from these elderly gents. Don't miss out on the good fishing trips you could of hand like I did. I moved into a neighborhood were there all old timers who lived here for ever. I'm the youngster at 64yo. I enjoy talking with some of them about how things have changed through the many years. My street was a stagecoach trail and a nearby house was a layover. There is so much untold facts and history. I fear once we lose these people the stories will be gone forever. God bless, happy holidays. Remember to enjoy thanksgiving. Bigbill

5+ feet of snow in Buffalo, NY If you want something to make you cry ... http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/147179-the-things-southerns-put-up-with/

Lake Effect Snow is a way of life. 2-4" today, 3-5" tonight and 5-8" tomorrow. Breaking out & rigging up the dog sleds for a mid-night run tonight. That first one in the dark is always a Rush . . . . . A-Jay

250s Plural.

I just fished the BCB National Championship up in north Arkansas. Bought about $500 worth of baits to use up there...tubes, wiggle warts, drop shot, finesse jigs, Lucky Craft cranks in ghost wtml craw, bone colored sammys, and piles of jerkbaits! Finished up in 2nd place and caught most fish on a shad rap and a spook

Whatever you do... DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO. It contains ninja bait monkey propaganda that you will not be able to unsee.

Been on a more expensive kick the past few weeks: cymbal monkey got me.

It sounds to me like you are interested in more than just catching fish. You seem to have interest in the ecosystem surrounding fish and hope to utilize a greater knowledge of the ecosystem to improve catch rates. With that in mind, I would absolutely suggest continuing your research and learning more about the differnt types of vegatation. You will find different plants will hold different fish and different populations of fish -- but a more generalized approach of understanding how the fish will relate to any general vegatation is more important IMO for simply catching fish. The specifics is just a pattern within a pattern - focus on the broad strokes for finding fish (weedlines, holes, etc.), then narrow it down to pinpoint your targets (a weedline of Hydrilla vs pondweed for example). Even if you don't "know" the name of it, you can still recognize the difference and utilize that to continue improving your pattern. Francho gave a good starting list and you can find a quick intro here: http://www.mainevolunteerlakemonitors.org/mciap/MaineKeyToCommonNativeAPS.pdf And based on your pictures I believe you are already utilizing the Maine DNR site which has some pictures as well as diagrams. What's the worst that can happen by learning to ID the plants? It may or may not make a bit of difference in your fishing - but you will be more educated and that's always a good thing! EDIT: Here is a map that shows current infestations of invasive Aquatic Plants in Maine. This may help you identify what you see: http://maine.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=126b9dbc59f44f969f74739bc9bc4ade

Use the force Luke

Smallmouth in a river, use 3"-4" craws on a 3/16-1/4 oz ball head jig, 3/0 hook. Largemouth in a river use 4 1/2"-6" straight tail worms, 1/8"-1/4 oz bullet weight, 1/0-2/0 hook. Tom PS, I would use both, start with craws for smallies, worms for LMzb,

Hootie's got a hottie! The JDM bait monkey is even more deadly than the domestic one... Karate and ninja tactics! That all burgundy combo is sick. Nice work! Love a matching combo!

For about 6 weeks after Halloween, it is roasted pumpkin seeds and leftover candy.

Blah ha ha Welcome! Stripers!, I'm jealous... Stripers are as close to blue marlin as this redneck will ever experience..

Nice bass & pretty little pond.

CXX is a tuff copolymer ..... that´s an uderstatement. That line is almost undestructable, In the 8th day The Allmighty said: "LET THERE BE BASS FISHING !" and the South was created, in the 9th day The Allmighty said: "Oh well, let there be a tough line to ketch them southern big mommas" and CXX was created.

Glad I could sneak in my first fish on a Live Target before the bass completely disappeared from the shallows for the year. I'm a Booyah man but I am loving the Live Targets too now.

The Glenn Lau video Bigmouth Forever identified bass, Largemouth bass, as being 2 separate groups; individual bass and school bass. There isn't a clear consensus if bass are school fish, lots of evidence they are individuals that may group together as adults. We can agree that bass school together when they are fingerlings or fry, the question is how long do they stay as a school? There isn't a lot of scientific data available to read or reference. Bill Murphy* references Mike Lembeck a DFG California biologist who, in 1974 tracked 200 bass during a 3 year period with implanted transmitters, making over 800 observations. The Lembeck study concluded the bass he studied were individualistic. The bass in Lembeck's study ranged from 1 1/4 lb to 14 lbs, several 8 to 10 lb bass were in the study. It was clear in Lembeck's study that bass, at times, hang out in groups. Murphy's analogy is the saloon theory; you have a local saloon you always go to, there's a bunch of people there and ounce in a while the same people are there at the same time. Lembeck was never able to identify groups of bass moving together for extended periods of time. Lembeck did locate his bass off shore on a deep hump grouped with other bass, never more than 2 of his bass in the transmitter study at one time. Big bass grouped together, but would come and go as individuals. When the bass grouped together in one spot they would be found in large numbers of bass. Buck Perry, a early pioneer on deep structure fishing formulated a theory that big bass were school fish that moved as a group from deep water to shallow water during periods of activity he called migrations. Perry didn't have tracking studies or sonar to prove his observations. Perry found large schools of big bass populations that had never been tampered with. Murphy believed fishing, in most lakes, the bass tend to disperse in groups and create individuals. Like Murphy, I have found large groups of bass over 4 lbs located at one spot and caught several 5 bass limits exceeding 40 lbs. These big bass schooled or grouped together for a reason, feeding together. The question is did they come together as individuals or do they stay together as a school? Mike Lembeck and Bill Murphy say they are individuals coming together at the local saloon. I have watched a large group or school of big bass swimming together and feeding together several times in the clear deep structured lakes. Glenn Lau believes they stay together ??? Something that needs more research. Today's Elite bass anglers are winning tournaments targeting groups of big bass off shore. The A-rig is proof that bass are out there in lakes across the country. Tom * Book: In Pursuit of Giant Bass (pages 30-34).

Been getting a lot of request from local guys for this bait. Took a lot of looking around to find a way to do the blade that I liked but this one turned out great I think. The new Code Black That bait was cast against the the rocks and concrete slabs for 10-15 minutes just to test how well the finish would last, you can tell it held up great. I even managed to catch 6 bass and this guy in the process

Might consider trying to do that with Zman finesse worms next time I need to replace the legs of a frog. Super durable, super soft=lots of movement, plus they float.

It looks to me like you just put a little extra Hoot in Hootie......Take a picture of it mounted on your SBR as it should look reel sweet and again congratulations.

Down here in Florida certain species have been over fished. Not this is would have chance of happening but I would be in favor of artificial only for some species. Some of the fish I target daily I don't catch everyday, but live and cut bait users have far less difficulty, see it happening all the time. It does go further than that, the wasting of bait rotting on shore, people do not always pick up after themselves and use only what they need. Then there are the fish with no limits, the more of them taken out the less gamefish come around, all the fish are important to the food chain. Over the last few months this issue has been bothering me quite a bit, I have pretty much have disassociated myself from that element, even my good friends.

That is one beautiful set up!

Excesence DC.

I use to fish only H2O baits because i only went to Academy. I love them and still use them i like their shallow diving cranks.

I say go with a Lews Tournament Pro. Incredible reel.....like already mentioned the smoothest I have used. And it's tough.....handled big reds and jack crevalle in the salt. With that said, if you do go with a Lews TP......don't pay the retail of 199.99. Go to EBAY and get it brand new for 150. There are at least two ebay stores that sell a bunch of them at that price point.

How many tournaments have Senko won?

I switched to 30 lb power pro ( no leader) this year, had my best year on the spinnerbait in over a decade, absolutely love it. Did use mono prior, you can forget that now.

Nice

Awesome! Thats where I'm planning to put the mounting plate for them!

There used to be a time when the differences between both versions ( JDM & domestic ) were quite noticeable, nowdays the differences are insignificant, the looks may be different but perfoprmance is practically the same.

My first jig fish was a half pound dink. The second was my PB in my avatar. Now I almost always keep a jig tied up and on deck.

Run because if it was a pass ... wait for it ... it would be intercepted.

Nice combo hootie

Congrats. I approve this message.

What a charming couple they make.

It's too bad the GL2 is a sub par rod otherwise a Scorpion and GL2 setup would look killer!

I also use the ST36 like Dwight. I just finished changing a bunch out the other day.

Chiefs should make playoffs. Super Bowl however is unlikely.

I don't know about that. A lit up smallmouth with good tiger stripes is about as pretty as they get IMO. Spots are certainly good looking fish too though.

Owner stinger treble hook ST-36. TW has them. That is what I use.

Guys and gals come and go on the Forum. It would be nice to have them post an update now and then as they become our "Forum Friends" and even though we have never met them they become people we care about. So if you are leaving the Forum for a while just let us know. And let your relatives know to contact us in case you croak so they can let us know.

I carry generally only three colors of jigs. 1. Green Pumpkin 2. Black Blue 3. Brown/Orange If it's clear water, green pumpkin is what I throw almost all the time, though brown orange can be good if the crayfish are in that shade. In stained and murky, you just cannot go wrong with black/blue.

If you catch fish and have fun doing it, who cares. Different strokes for different folks.

The deep diving jitter bug- kept floating

To the OP, I would skip cotton altogether, wool is the way to go, just ensure to obtain a high quality wool sock, woolrich is my fave. Wool offers heat retaining insulation even if damp/wet... Cotton does not. I used pantyhose in the 70's to run walker, bluetick, & redbone coon dogs, they work well.. ( geez, did I really admit that ) stay safe!