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New deep crank set up.

the weather here has been brutal over the last couple of weeks (by mid-south standards anyway). so when i finally thought i might have a chance to go today, i went. when i arrived at the lake, i didn't know whether to try to launch the boat or try to drill a hole. there was still ice all over much of the lake. the part that wasn't frozen looked like coffee with cream from the deluge of rain we got last week. oh well, i've been skunked plenty of times before i thought. i actually managed a couple of very hard-earned 3 pounders though. these bit on back to back casts and i didn't get a sniff the rest of the trip. the first pic will show you what i was fishing about 50 yards from. funny thing is there might be spawning fish in this cove in about a month or so. oh well, sometimes any fish in tough conditions is better than a nice one in good conditions.

Always fun catching some good ones on a new technique or bait! Had never really thrown a rattle trap much in the past, but picked up a couple of the 6th Sense Snatch70 lipless cranks and took em out fishing last Saturday and again today. Got quite a few 3-4lbers each trip, but managed a couple better ones too. Definitely regretting having not tried lipless crankbaits sooner!

Do those other baits sit upright when you let them sit on the bottom or do fall over? That makes a huge difference when fishing a soft swimbait, especialy if your going slow on the bottom or even more important if your bed fishing. There is a lot more that goes into a swimbiat then just the outside cosmetics. Of course the realism is extremely important to. I don't know what those other bait look like though.

nice ones? dude those are much better than nice ones. gotta love that rattlebait bite. brrrrrrrrr brrrrrrr brrrrrrrrrr. SMACK!!! awesome.

lol. nah, that's the one that came within 10 oz. of my pb (personal biggest). personal best is another story. lots of folks equate personal best with the biggest fish they've ever caught. that's not necessarily true for me. for me the best bass i ever caught was the first one, which i would most certainly dub a dink by the standards i use today. still, it was the one that started this awesome addiction, so it was by far the best. another memorable one for me was a big fish i discovered in a pond way back in 2005 because of all the memorable moments over the next few years trying to catch her. she was by far the "smartest" fish i have ever encountered and she outsmarted me many more times than i outsmarted her. so holding her on the rare occasions that i "won" was always special. another very special one wasn't a bass at all but a big catfish that my youngest daughter caught when she was very small. i still remember her thinking the fish was talking to her. so every time she went to that particular body of water she started making catfish noises trying to get it's attention. many other very special fish come to mind over the past 40 years as well. for some folks their "best" might be a fish that won a tournament for them. for others it might be a fish they caught while fishing with a good friend. for others, it might not be a fish they caught at all, but a fish that was caught by someone special that they were sharing the boat with. though i cherish all the great fishing memories i've been blessed with over the years, i try very hard to measure myself by what i am doing on the current trip, not what i did years ago. sometimes i am a good fisherman. more times, i'm terrible. reminding myself that i am only as good as my current outing helps with humility and a desire to continue learning - both of which i think are very important to enjoy this great sport to the fullest.

My dad and I got to fish Okeechobee on Monday, it was my second time on the lake and we had a blast! Won't be doing any fishing up in New Hampshire for awhile and this really got my bass juices flowing again... Can't wait til spring!

Just picked up my new rod/reel setup thanks to all of the helpful info from everyone here. I got a 6'6" St. Croix Avid spinning rod and a Pflueger Supreme spin reel (for an awesome price, I might add). Again, I just wanted to thank everyone who commented and helped me narrow down my choices. Now can't wait for all this ice to get off my lakes to go try it out!

From the HOME PAGE: Guess The Weight! http://www.bassresource.com/giveaway/g-loomis-e6x-weight.html

2015? That's optimistic!

Never post a picture of a reel without it having line on it, and mounted to a rod. If you do, the Goose will get ya! Hootie

August 15th

Hmm, never worry about excess grease, never, ever had a shimano reel of ANY, model Not, bomb baits. Never received a faulty Shimano reel either, my Curado I's can pitch 4" and 5" senkos 120 to 140 feet, measured. #15 CX line.. I can throw 1/2 oz Xcalibur square bills. darn near spooling my reel... These reels are solid, sound and up graded from past curados. I too have much more expensive reels. This reel can & does compete with those as well. The Reel ( Curado I ) just may not be to your liking, I can respect that. There are many reels on the market at the price point that you may like better, none will out perform The Curado I though...

Sweet - but this one's going to be tough. Always tricky trying to guess a weight. So the question is do you guess the same weight every day or do you pick a different weight for each daily entry ?? Or I could just go buy a rod . . . A-Jay

That's like comparing a wildeye shad to a Hudd.

Thanks John. I'm constantly changing my combos up so will see. I put the ktf alde on the ultima for the fast gearing and light weight. Have the conquest on the glorious because its regular fast, so the slower gear ratio works better for moving baits. I can't wait any longer for the new Aldebaran !!

From the HOME PAGE: Guess The Weight! http://www.bassresou...e6x-weight.html

Unless you're wanting to fish a very finesse A-rig or a very light single jighead, I'd go with the 5".

This is something I can definitely utilize. Fly fishing in lowlight conditions early & late in the day and even after dark, changing flies is a challenge for me, even with magnified readers (glasses). I'm going to try it. Thank you for posting it. A-Jay

Mine are some of the furthest casting and smoothest stock reels I own.

The nice thing about st.croix is they give you the option to build one yourself or have someone build it how you want it.

I will agree with you that a lot of people go off of what they read rather than personal experience when commenting on posts like these, but I do not. We have got into this before so I'm not going to again. I just want to say that I think the White Ice and Micro Magics are good rods, but where I have a problem is quality control. I had a Micro Magic come straight from Duckett with the first guide on the side of the blank (I have a picture I will upload if anyone wants, I posted it on a thread a while back), and I had a White Ice snap right above the reel seat on a cast. I have also had the tips snap off of a couple other Micro Magics on hooksets. Like I said I think they are good rods and fish well, but there is no way some of their rods should make it out of the factory. If you do have one break or have a problem with one, Duckett's customer service is top notch tho.

The Cool Pre-dawn Mist. How good the Lake looks at sunrise when it's Flat Calm. Watching a frog bait get hammered in the pads. The Tremendous but subtle thump of a night time jig bite. And best of all, the smile on my wife's face, when the Big Ones finally in the net. A-Jay

That looks pretty good. I would check out the Ascends at BPS before you decide they're a good deal, and decent quality. I have the Ascend D10, it is good cheap kayak it doesn't track well at all, but I can comfortably stand on it like a paddle board, which is a huge plus with fishing. If you don't have good balance, or feel comfortable standing I wouldn't suggest it because that's the the best part of it.

1. thump. 2. "there she is." 3. crank. 4. swing for the fence. 5. "this might be a good one."

Anticipation Frustration Aggrivation Addiction Exhilaration Mike

The bait monkey just left. NRX 853C on the way.

Tell me about it! Have fished a handful of the others with great success, so figured why not try a lipless bait and picked up a few of his for that very reason. Definitely glad I did!

Nice! Don't forget to put line on the reel and take the wrapping off the rod grip...

Just offering more choices. Isn't that what we do best on here? Typically a poster will ask which one of two (insert rod or reel choices here) he should buy. We immediately suggest 10 other possible brands/models he should be looking at. Usually $100 or more over his budget too. EDIT: Roger, I think I figured out what bothered you about my post after giving it some thought................................I didn't mention a Shimano.

Nice box collection............................................were there any reels inside ?

This was a few years ago: David Hayes caught the World Record smallmouth bass in 1955 on Dale Hollow Lake. Some believe the next World Record will be found on the Tennessee River: http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/smallmouth_record.html Almost exactly four years ago, November 2004, my fishing partner and best friend, Speedy Madewell, boated a 10 lb beauty. I netted the fish and weighed it, he released the monster! Since that time we have had some luck with other big bass, including the bronzebacks in my avatar (January, 2005). Last Saturday Speedy and I fished the river with limited success: an assortment of species including largemouth, smallmouth, Kentucky bass, striper, cats and drum. We may have caught forty fish or so, but no size and most importantly, no browns of note. Around 11:00 things changed. With poor results off either bank and limited water release by the TVA, we moved to the "middle of the river". Actually, we decided to fish along the river channel, defined by navigational buoys. The drop is well defined, but relatively small, only 3-5' in 15-25' water. Still,this represents significant structure for fish in open water. After landing a few nondescript fish, I got a nice strike drifting along the ridge. I set the hook hard and didn't budge the fish. However, there was very little fight and I saw another drum in my future. After 10-15 yards of retrieve, the drum dove and turned into a big catfish, just digging to the bottom, but no run. As I brought the fish closer to the boat, Speedy asked, "Gonna need the net?" Without any emotion I replied, "Yeah, it's big and ugly." Speedy runs the trolling motor on the forward platform of a BayRanger 2180, center console. So, with the net on the floor opposite me, it takes a minute to get set up. With little current, we let the boat drift. This time of year the water clarity on the Tennessee is about 3, maybe 4 feet. As my partner came over to my side he asked, "What's ya got?" I replied, in a steady voice and without inflection, "The biggest f***ing smallmouth I have ever seen." The fish appeared to be a Trident submarine as it rose toward the surface so both of us could get a good look at her, but then she bolted. She initially ran about 15 yards forward, then after a 90 degree turn, another 20 yards toward the middle of the river. My situation was precarious. I'm in the middle of the boat and have to hustle to get to the front, around and over the trolling motor while at the same time maintaining rod position with a sizzling drag. I was starting to have some fun! The pig came up, but did not jump. I got her turned around, but she had already decided she didn't like the Ranger. When she was halfway back, she bolted again, but this time dove deep. It took a few minutes to get her a little closer. Most smallmouth, especially biggun's, tend to fight the best on the first run after a close encounter with the boat, but even later, they never give up. This fine lady staged at rod length, tugged mightily and would not come up. I asked my buddy what he thought I should do? He responded, "Doesn't matter. That fish ain't ready and she's going to do anything she wants!" Well, I've caught a few big fish and I was in no hurry. My rod appeared parabolic with the line straight down into the river. I said to my friend, "This is when you have to believe in your equipment." And then.......the line snapped. stupid, Stupid, STUPID! We weren't catching anything interesting, so although I noticed a burr on my line before the last cast, I didn't do what I always preach: "If it ain't perfect, it ain't good enough." When there is any doubt, retie your line, leader or hook. So, could that smallmouth have been the New World Record? I don't know, but it wasn't boated, so it doesn't count. You might ask, "Really now, how much do you think she weighed?" I don't know the answer to that either, but what I can tell you is, she was... HUGE!

Long rods are just chic as everyone thinks you only fish from a millionaires glittery bass boat. They suck sitting in a yak or even a small jon boat and your trying to walk the dog or twitch a prop bait. These days folks think they have to look like the "pro's" and high stick when they work the bait and literally fight the fish with the rod pointed behind their head. Great for looking gangsta and your sponsor has given you a garage full of free rods. Stupid for anyone else.

Bass are like dogs in one respect; they can't determine thier own size verses the size of other fish. Prey size selection becomes a trail and error experience. The bass shown mistook the size of the other bass when tring to eat it. You spend enough time on the water and you will see similar mistakes of bass misjudging prey size. Tom

The boys lined up for the season

That looks like Southern ice, but we usually put them in a glass and marinate them in distilled brown water.

I'm painting up some jerkbaits - going with custom colors just for the Lake Erie pre-spawn. Here's what I'm using to help me match the hatch . . . . . . A-Jay

I saw Tool in '06, great show. I thought that Kyuss weren't touring as Kyuss for a long, long time. I saw them at Orion as Vista Chino since it was sans Josh Homme. Really want to see Puscifer. A lot.

My first Shimano baitcasters

I have a Humminbird Onix and chart my own contour lines using AutoChart Live. It's a very time-consuming task and is only fun when you're boating alone. I always feel guilty using AutoChart, because my wife has to fish from a boat moving 5 mph Roger

My grandpa backlashed a curado and threw it in the lake lol... We never did get it back....

The Ultima is here My 2015 lineup, cant wait for the ice to melt !!

Yup, that's enough. G'night Gracie.

The lake I fish has a average depth of almost 300'. Power Poles would be pretty handy, despite that stat.

This is what I've picked up over the winter. I have a 2nd Shimano box full of jerkbaits, and two more Planos full of flat sides, square bills, and more traps.

I havent a clue, Iv been sucking so bad lately I refuse to give advice.