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She slapped at my glide bait and didn't hook up, gave her some time and followed up with a finesse bait. 1/16oz shakey head with a 6" roboworm....6lb test sure made it interesting! My second VA citation this year @22".

Been catching some good fish on top water lately

Raider fishing. Close the thread.

All braids will start losing their color pretty fast. Just take a sharpie to it if it bothers you. I just leave it as is. You can leave braid on your reel for a very long time.

The Caenan is pretty smooth after you break it in with about three or four full days on the water. I've caught some nice 6-7 lb bass on mine and it keeps chuggin along.

I started this rod a couple of months ago. I built the cork set and installed the handle and reel seat, then it sat. I could not decide what to do with it. Then I went of Cafe Press last week and found some really cool art. So here it is. Castaway IFS 764 Heavy Moderate Fast Telescopic blank FDX Custom cork ATC Graphite reel seat ATC Gold NanoPlasma/ Black guides and tip The blank and handle is the second from the top. I did a white underwrap because the art is done on clear vinyl. Added tan and dark chocolate trim bands.

Biggest of the year so far. Measurements put her at 8.08 lbs (my scale said 7lbs2oz, but I was using my secondary bag and backup scale, so not sure it was completely accurate. She was 21.5" long and 21" girth!!) . Caught on a Rage Shad this morning. Biggest 5 went 26lbs. They were killing the topwater. Nice rainy Father's Day! Hope all the dads out there had a good one!

All good info. Thanks everyone! New to the world of braid. I never thought I would need something like that. If I have to above 4x on my leader on the fly rod I would start to feel guilty because I was making it too easy. That was a thing with us fly fishers. We loved bragging about landing big fish on tiny leader. My best was a 20" bow on the San Juan on 6x tippet nymphing with a size 20 midge. Look up the size of that rig LOL! it's a helluva fight where you cannot make any mistakes...

ADEIII, go on line to various retail outlets and look for a pitching/flipping rod. Everyone on this site can give you their input which will muddy the water and confuse you. From cheap Wal-Mart rods to the G. Loomis flipping sticks and all in between you have so many choices that no matter what you purchase you will always have buyers remorse. So do your homework; know your height and if a longer rod will be better than a shorter one; know your price point; and read, read and read about what each tackle outlet or manufacturing company says about their rods so you can make a computation of all of the data for a review. Check out what Denny Brauer, the father of pitching and flipping, says about flipping rods and follow Denny's advice as to the mechanics and what profile you will need in a flipping stick. For my two cents, you want a specific rod for flipping and pitching. Period! You may go with a pro's rod line (KVD, Ike, Skeet, Duckett, etc.) or with a leading manufacturer like G. Loomis, Steetz, Shimano, BPS and Cabala's flipping sticks or any rod you like. And may I add that I like to flip and pitch with a spinning rig. Line twist can be a problem but your casts can be right on target when you use spinning gear to flip and pitch. Just one more thing to bring up, and yes, I know you guys who are regulars on the Forum will gag again: IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU ALWAYS READ THE SPECIFIC ROD'S PARAMATERS STAMPED ON THE ROD. Keep within these line test and bait size parameters for the best results. Good luck and now get ready for all of the input on rods. Don't be surprised if the Mods, when they finally wake up this Sunday morning, move your post to another section that deals with tackle. Happy Father's Day!

Everyone is talking guide diameters, but on the first couple guides of a spinning rod it has been found that if you go higher you can go smaller without a penalty. How much smaller depends on the line characteristics, but you can go smaller. As for the running guides the only things limiting how small one can go are iceing the passage of knots through the guides. It's hard to logically argue that a line of .015 inches has a hard time getting through a guide with an I.D. of .125 inches. Think of it this way, the longer those loops keep their shape, the more the line is slowed by air resistance. Getting the loops efficiently minimized as soon as possible reduces air resistance making for longer casts. This is not as important as the elimination of weight on the blank, in my opinion, because we can usually cast far enough to catch fish with almost anything. The sizing and spacing of the guides on a spinning rod, including the heights, is optimized by even considering the reel measurements in the Fuji system. The American Tackle Microwave system utilizes a patented double ring first guide and has been out there for a few years now and has been proven to be much more than just a marketing gimmick. The smaller the guides you can use, the lighter the rod, and the more sensitive the rod. With some of the systems today the whole guide train weighs less than the first two guides of a conventional systems. I won't even get into the argument that properly sizing and spacing and minimizing size of casting rod guides can result in better casting performance, but that too is true.

Taking dad out for trout and smallies tomorrow. UL rods and small lures, just like when he taught me to fish. Forecast of rain, but we'll still have fun.

Little Megabass bfs action...

New Megabass wake bait, the iJack.

So far this spring I have been spending a lot more time in Vermont and have been trying to catch a trophy smallmouth. The fishing for smallmouth has been pretty good and consistent. A lot of 3s and a few 4s but I just haven't boated that once in a life time smallmouth. In my search for a true trophy I have been fishing all over the state. Lake Champlain has been good from Ti all the way up to the 78 bridge near Canada. The smaller lakes and ponds of central Vermont have been good as well. The area of Vermont known as the northeast kingdom has been most intriguing especially the closer to Canada you get. It is very scenic and peaceful there. I have been having great luck for bigger fish with a jig. Senkos, crankbaits and tube have been my next best producers. Still looking to catch a once in a lifetime fish. A couple good smallies. Biggest so far Any suggestions for boating finding and catching that once in a lifetime smallmouth ?

Only about 2 hrs ago I hooked in to my biggest bass ever by nearly 2 pounds. It started as a very slow day with periods of showers. 1st bass came after about 2 hours of fishing and was thinking at that time to just call it a day. Well it cleared up just a bit and stayed at it. Got another small bass and then the thunder came and harder showers. The rain stopped again but sky was darkening even worse. I was making my way around the lake, walking the bank btw, I kept telling my self just one more cast just one more cast. I must have had 8-9 just one more casts. Well on the last just one more cast this one hit finally. Was caught with a Curado 50E 12# SniperFC on a Quantum Smoke 7' M/F rod. A 22" #6.21

Hey y'all worse day ever today I get homw from work and was gonna go fishing and I go out to my garage and find that my side door on my garage was broke and open so I walk in and turn the lights on and look and someone broke into my garage and stole all my tools and over $10,000 in salt& freshwater fishing gear. So I called the cops and they came out took pictures and made a report and said they are gonna do there best to find the people that did this. Im so mad about this s***t I'd give anyone anything if they needed it and help people out like I just dont get it. So now I gotta replace all my stuff this isn't gonna be fun to do. Plus a few of my rods and feels were really old and they were past on to me after my paw paw past away last year. To top it off I was going to the Outer Banks in South Carolina this weekend for a fishing trip!!! It makes me sick sorry y'all I just had to vent about this

Happy Father's Day, fellas. We decided to beat the weekend rush and got out this morning. My dad is still skunked, but I picked up a few including this 18 incher. Looking forward to getting back out tomorrow.

I am so sorry to hear this, I hope it works out for you.

as soon as their sponsors start making mushroom head jigs and TRD knockoffs

to bad you weren't local i'd give you the brand new bottle that i did the remaining 3 rods that went already sealed and it didn't even put a dent in it , you could literally seal 100+ rods with one bottle. the stuffs going to go bad before i ever use it again

Thanks, mainly wanted to try to cover multiple scenarios. If I bust anything 8lbs or bigger I will be extremely happy. Will do, look pretty good, about the same size as scum frogs with short "legs", went ahead and sealed the hook up.

Ive wanted to try the jawbone line of products, let us know how they do

All good frog choices. Now you just have to get Kermit to sashay across a ten pounder.

Great job!!

Brand new NRX 803C on the way..... got it for $375.

Tim is close, lol Mb x7 super criffhanger, Mb IS71, hedgehog air bearings, MB carbon knobs with zpi bearings, and IS finesse spool.

That's an IS63L with a MB IS Finesse spool. I will take a shot in the dark. The rod is a Destroyer Phase 3 Criffhanger....?

Lines are rated by actual break strength on a line pulling machine - but most lines test at a higher break strength than what's on the box. Sometimes considerably higher. If your line broke while lifting a fish into the boat, I suspect the line was damaged before you lifted it.

Maybe he was mean and insensitive about others sensitivities

congrats! great looking fish

Well, ran to Dicks Sporting Goods on the way to get my wife since I saw they had some sales on frogs and picked up a *** Combat Frog in the Cane pattern, a Booyah Poppin Pad Crasher in Bull Frog for more open water and weeds, and Jawbone tackle company smaller sized frog in lighter colors that my daughter picked out.

I like your style. You are good at this.

This subject has been But I'll take another whack. If you're judging a 'micro' guided rod based off of one purchased off the shelf, you're doing am injustice to all properly built 'micro' rods. The manufacturers saw what the custom builders were doing and said "Hey, we can market this and sell a bunch of rods". They started slapping micro guides on everything, with no regard to what they will be used for. They are not a 'one size fits all' concept. They suck in freezing conditions, when the cottonwood and dogwood starts blowing, when there's feathers on the water and when they are not properly laid out. EVERYTHING sucks in cottonwood, as well as feathers. There are benefits to using them, you just have to weigh that against the cons and use the best tool to accomplish the job. I'm building myself a new 7'6" ML to drift eggs on the lower Niagara in winter. I'm sure as hell not gonna use 3.5mm or 4mm guides. I'll be using 5.5mm or 6mm guides because that rod will be fished the majority of its life in freezing conditions. The only way to truly test the difference in performance between micro and standard is build a rod with the standard guides and test it. Then strip the guides and rebuild it with the micros and test it again. Those 6mm guides hanging out there on the end of a 7' rod make a big difference compared to the 4mm. It takes four 4mm guides to equal the weight of a single 6mm (Alconite). Most 7' spinning rods have 5 or 6 running guides. Think how much weight you remove from the most important area on the rod by using the 4mm. The result is a crisper feel and a more responsive rod. You're not talking about ounces, but just fractions of an ounce, but every bit you remove from the tip helps the rod. Now back to the OP's question. Yes, a rod using braid can benefit from the use of smaller stripper guides. Now that I'm using braid, I've gone from using 20mm and 25mm strippers down to 16mm.

No experience with either of your reels. Better bearings doesn't necessarily mean the reel would be more apt to backlash. I find it to be the opposite. I've got several supertuned and upgraded reels. I always have the bearings upgraded at the same time. I have found that I use less brakes than with factory reels of the same make. I ran both of my Curado 51Es with 2 brakes on. Got one supertuned with a bearing upgrade. I can use only one brake on, but it can get a little touchy, so I went back to 2 brakes for better handling in all fishing conditions. I can run all my supertuned Daiwas with fewer brakes on than its factory counterpart. I have examples of both in Fuego, Sol, Tatula and T3 1016 models. The 1016 reels are the only reels where I can run factory brakes as low as supertuned reels. Actually the Magforce 3D braking system is the only one where I can run factory or supertuned reels with zero brakes on. Possibly your reel is over-packed with grease. A good cleaning never hurts a new reel, and is often very beneficial. DVT does an excellent job, and gives bassresource members a 10% discount. If there is a mechanical problem with your reel, Mike should find it. Occasionally his cleaning results in a reel you don't recognize when you get it back...it casts so much better. EDIT: The reason for such minimal difference in braking with the factory and supertuned 51E reels may be because I had Mike clean the factory reel before ever using it.

I wanna see this and the roumba fight to the death. In other news, thank you children (mom obviously) for the Gander Mountain and Backcountry.com gift cards! Just grabbed a spool of smackdown for the frog rod and a Cardinal STX reel for the kid's cover combo.

It's the current trend in rod building.

I think most any frog will work to an extent but I tell you, this KVD sexy frog seems to really entice the big ones. I went out with my dad last night, I missed to bruisers and he got no strikes. He was using the Padcrasher. I fished the Scum Frog on the banks all one morning a week or so ago with out a strike. Next day, landed two decent fish with KVD Sexy Frog fishing the same ground. I don't know what it is, but for me, they seem to like that better. I use the mottled brown pattern with the pearl/yellow belly. The other tip I got from Youtube was to cut almost half of the leg material off. Seems to have help my hit/miss ratio. This is probably all anecdotal evidence but it inspires my confidence so I am sticking with it. LOL!

Good advice. I just used electrical tape. Not urgent, but should be done fairly soon.......Al

Been hitting Blair's valley after work in the mornings here lately testing out jig patterns. It's been pretty productive from the bank but going to have to get the boat out check some deeper areas. Lost about a 5-6lbr this morning. Here is a good one from last week.

Get that rubber band off your reel and you will have far better percentage. I have used braid for 20 years and then thought I was missing the boat when all you read about is fluoro. So, I stripped all my braid off, tried 5 or 6 different fluoros of top quality and literally couldn't stick a fish. I put my braid back on my jig rod and all is well.

If you have a newer RAM, take my advice and wrap the first couple of inches of the wire behind the trailer plug with tape (I used Gorilla Tape). That spring loaded cover on the socket on your bumper will probably chew through your wiring if you don't.

BPS will have anything you need. Does the trailer have brakes or accessories on it? If not, you will only need the 4 pin style connector. And the only reason you would need an extension is if the trailer wiring is a little short. You want some slack in it for turning, backing etc... Don't fret; BPS will take care of you.

The pigtail on the boat trailer should reach the flat four pin on your trailer hitch. Two inch is pretty much the standard size ball, unless it's a fairly small trailer, they sometimes use 1 7/8" If you are picking it up a BPS, I'm sure they will have everything you need to get you hooked up and going. Typically, most trailers require approx. a 13" tongue height, check with them and see what the one you are getting recommends (hopefully you will get someone that's knows and doesn't give you the typical BS answer it doesn't matter that much). If your truck is 4WD or has a high rear bumper/hitch you will probably need more than a two inch drop. I have to use a 6" drop on mine. Tongue height is important because it affects the wheel alignment on the trailer and if off, can cause excessive/abnormal tire wear.

I have no intention of harming any fish, but it happens and I don't give a second thought. As I've always said if was that intent on not harming a fish, I wouldn't fish at all. What may be ironic is placing one species preservation over another, which is totally self serving. This is a bass site and people want to catch bass, fishermen of other species may not care. Case in point using a bait fish to catch a game fish, is not that baitfish entitled to it's life? In the wild predatory fish do eat bait fish, by the same token some of those predatory fish we target are eaten by other predatory fish. Unless I'm catching a species on the brink of extinction, I don't take it too much to heart.

"Those who would trade their personal liberties for a sense of safety deserve neither." Benjamin Franklin If the reports are true the gun used wasn't obtained legally, you cannot buy a firearm to give to or for someone else. More gun control laws will solve nothing, very few guns that are obtained legally are used in gun related crimes. On another note this was truly a tragedy, my prayers are with the victims and their families.

Jeez, could you imagine the score tracker updates???

The title is supposed to say 5 Days At The Cabin II not Ii... These are some extra pics from the same trip but from another picture taking device ... This just another pic of the same fish that I caught twice on two different days... Some of my sons other catches... That's one pig of a pumpkin seed. Check out the the double hand trophy pose... and his other bucket yap... After a good day of fishing... PARTY TIME!

6.9 the one from the other day...I went out tonight for 2 hours and got 3 bass 3 to 3 3/4 and at the end got 1 6.2 big one came on a strike King crawl...also got a couple on a KVD 2.5

1/8, 3/16, or 1/4 oz ball head jigs with 3 or 4 inch twisters tails. Very inexpensive and they catch fish. You don't even have to have them painted. The smallies don't care. I used to buy bags of 100, Pumpkin color Mister Twister 4 inch grubs. Toss them out, let them sink, and hop them back.