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Doesn't look uncommon to me, standard variation of a largemouth's color.

It's blue and white...

Its just a pale largemouth, nothing special.

Check this guy out! Long nose gar and he was jet black, crazy looking fish.

I can't cast a diamond jig with a tail wind 100 yds using an 8' rod, I could do it with a surf rod but I wouldn't be using one for bass fishing. Finesse vs power is pure propaganda, there is virtually nothing that can't be done with spinning gear, relative to one's personal skill level. There is a spinning rod designed for any kind of fish, technique and lure. I can make a case jigging or punching mats with an inshore rod with my hand on the foregrip, I probably have more leverage it may even be easier. Pitching or flipping with spinning is a proverbial piece of cake, simple backhand toss does it quite well and effortlessly. Maybe this applies or maybe not, yesterday I was watching Saltwater Experience on tv. They were fishing mangroves in the Everglades, skipping lures 15-20' under the mangroves and pulling out snook. They were using 7'6 mh rods with 14 oz spinning reels standing on a flat bottom canoe. True they are professionals, but they are not inshore fishermen for the most part their expertise is offshore. A good fisherman can use anything with high level of expertise. There are just too many spinning only fishermen that do a bang up job catching all kinds of fish in any kind of environment.

Because I would like to make the Toledo Bend event an annual one, would any of you folks who attended the first Baked Potato Classic have any objection if we changed the name of the event to the Jack Yates Classic? Many of you who fish the Bend knew him or have at least heard of him. Jack was a regular contributor to these forums. He was also a mentor to me and to many others. He passed away suddenly several years ago and Catt suggested via PM that we rename the event in honor of his contributions to these forums and to the countless people whose lives he has effected. I fully agree with Catt, but would like to have your input.

I like braid over fluoro because it floats and is much easier to see the line twitch when you get a hit. Pinch down the barb on the hook to make hook removal MUCH easier even on fish that have swallowed the hook. Yeah, you might lose a fish or two, but it cuts down on the time it takes to release and, no barb penetrates easier so you get better hook sets.

this has been talked about ad nauseam I'm sure, but to sum it up in a few points for me... Bait casters are typically used for heavier techniques, and hold heavier line. For me, the casting rods and reels feel much more equipped to readily throw and retrieve heavier baits, and winch fish out of heavier cover. Notice i said "winch".. the design of bait casting reels seems to give you a good deal more power over the fish, the line is being directly laid flat on a spool instead of coiling around it, leads to a more powerful "feel" even if the drag may not necessarily be stronger. The second major advantage for bait casters in bass fishing is accuracy... with some practice using different techniques you can practically place a lure in the smallest places with little or no disruption to the water surface.. this is important in making fish holding heavy to cover strike out of pure reaction instead of feeding instinct. With my casting rods I can flip or pitch a bait anywhere from 8-25' away from the boat and land it nice and easy in spots the size of a coffee cup. Good luck doing that with spinning tackle. Everyone is different, and there certainly is a bit of a learning curve, but I think getting into baitcasting reels is well worth the time and money you'll invest. I got into them 3 years ago and haven't looked back, I rarely reach for a spinning rod now.

As long as the fish is released without harm, the pic is for you and I don't care how you take it. oe

I've never done it. I don't understand why anybody would do this, your only lying to yourself, but that's just my opinion.

A six pack of Boulevard and high fives!

Yeah that's normal. There have been bass caught that look like straight up coy fish though.

Cat wakes me up at 5:44 every morning I bet I get a dog. Fix the cat problem, and the breakfast problem for the dog. I'm not a cat fan!

You can get by with one or the other. In general, casting tackle handles heavier tackle (12#> line) with less hassle. They're just different tools for different circumstances. It's not either/or for me. IMO mastering different types of tackle (casting, spinning, fly and center pin all catch bass for me) is part or the fun and enhances the overall fishing experience.

powell diesel 705cb glass rod

Jack (fishfordollars) Yates passed away suddenly on January 18, 2011. I found out later from his wife that when Jack had joined this site he was in a difficult place in his life, his physical ailments had taken a toll on his mental outlook on life. The friendships he made here both in person and online help him change his entire outlook on life. We will from time to time step on each others toes, bump each others elbows, & bruise each others egos. I thank Glenn, all the moderators, and sponsors who keep Bassresource not only about sharing information but about friendships, and helping each other by paying it forward. Thank You & May God Bless! Tommy (Catt) Thibodeaux

Being a spinning user it's 15# braid for frogs. I don't treat a frog much different than any other lure except maybe a click tighter drag for a better hookset. I don't lock down the drag but if I did I'm not catching any that pulls out 15# of drag so no fear of my line breaking. Heavier braids are strictly line a management issue. Hard to imagine a fish snapping 65# braid with a breaking strength higher than that. Your line breaks, it isn't the fish it's a weak spot.

Have you tried frogging with 20 lb. Braid? I bet you go back to bigger diameter line real quick. Digging, abrasion, shock resistance, and overall handling is better with 40+ lb. Braid.

pretty poor. I talked with a guide and a tackle shop for some tips and tthey said the bass fishing had been slow. So we got some cutbait and I had one of the best catfishing days of my life!!!!

Id jave to disagree on baitcasters neing more accurate and being able to put baits in the water more quietly,myself i can pitch with either reel and put both in a very small target,its all in fingering the spool just like thumbing a baitcaster. As for actual casting accuracy im a bit better with spinning gear and as for distance spinning gear goes further . This may not be true for everyone but is for me so it comes down to the anglers ability. For me the main advantage in baitcasters over spinning gear is being able to present more different and heavier baits that a spinning reel wich is kinda limited on the baits you can present the right way...

Same here BP, and price had no bearing whatsoever. I find it odd that all "stickworms" tend to be pigeonholed as senkos. For instance, all "crankbaits" aren't called Sonics (they were first) , and all "tubes" aren't called gitzits (they were first). Conducting your own stickworm comparison is very simple, so why take anyone's word for it? >> Select a gin-clear pond or lake >> Rig the contestant stickworms with hooks of identical weight (sink-rate affects the end-waggle) >> Compare the stickworms based on the intensity of "end-waggle" during a vertical freefall. This is what I've found when comparing 'unweighted' stickworms: >> Gambler Ace & Yamamoto Senko are a dead-heat (on some drops the ace looks better, on other drops the senko looks better) >> Wave Worm Tiki Stick is a middle-of-the-road stickworm, but bass often prefer muted action >> Yum Dinger provided the least end-waggle, but they're nonetheless popular (sometimes less is more, bass are fickle) Roger

Keep the Sahara. Buy the Prezzie. Shoot the hostages. Get back to the lip rippage.

If you hold a 2-pounder close to a GoPro, then it looks like an 8-pounder. Look no further than on some of the more popular YouTube bass channels to see what I mean. It's ridiculous. LOL! Guys, nobody can really tell how big a fish is just by a picture, no matter how close or far it is from the camera, no matter the camera angle, no matter what kind of camera. Don't believe me? I have proof. The "Guess the weight" contests receive thousands of guesses, over 10,000 each. But every time...EVERY time, less than 100 people get it right. Yup, less than 1%!! I'll be posting a thorough article with facts and figures in the future on this, but wanted to lend a little insight here.

I like to think there is a happy middle ground with fish pics. If your arm is 100% extended and /or you try and push the fish off as larger than it is, then shame on you. However, if you caught a nice fish and just want it to look like a nice fish in the pic, I have no problem with doing what you can to make the shot look good. Certainly things like lighting, angles, holding the fish a little bit in front of you, etc., can all make the difference between a good pic and just another fish pic. For me, the worst fish pics are on the extreme ends of the spectrum - either holding it out as far as possible and close to the camera, or trying those selfies where the fish ends up behind you or tucked tight to your belly so it makes a 5 lber. look like a 2.5 compared to your body size. After all, we take fish pics to show off the fish, not the scenery, background or necessarily the angler holding the fish -T9

Hold up, you said, "no soft baits, only hard," and then pick live bait (shiner) as one of your choices? Just when I thought these pick one threads couldn't get any dumber....

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!

Limited use so far, I've had luck with the Bluegill colored Banshee Spinnerbait. The paint on the blades seems to easily wear off which sucks (wish they were more durable) but as they spin fast idk how much it really matters... I care more about the blades giving off flash anyways. I like the skirt colors (one of the reasons I bought them) and they come with a trailer hook which is nice. If I remember correctly, the last time I used them I felt they were more of a "Slow-Roll" type of Spinnerbait. I don't own nor have I used any of the Buzzbaits... they didn't look very appealing to me in design. I prefer Cavitron Buzzbaits, and as an all purpose Spinnerbait so far I prefer BOOYAH. WolfyBrandon

Here ya go:

I can't find anything to disagree with in the article with the exception of a snap swivel, bb or not I don't care for that much hardware near my lure. I'm nothing but a spinning user, I can cast very accurate, I can pitch with a simple backhand flip. Using 15 or 20# braid to pull bass out of heavy cover has never been an issue. There is a rod made to handle all lure types and sizes, never could understanding why I need to label power and finesse fishing. Open water IMO is where I see spinning really shine. Right tool for the right job, for me it's the right spinning outfit to deal with certain elements and species.

Probably be tough reeling in dragging tackle through it, even tougher dragging a fish.

In other news, the walleye bite is HOT HOT HOT. Anyone wanting to fill your freezer hit me up and I'll give you the BassResource KC discount see ya Thursday.

Well, heck, no one was in those days. Related for everyone, there's a super interesting Ted Talk by Dr. Steven Pinker called The Surprising Decline of Violence. It'll make you feel a lot better about modern society.

Sounds like they've got you trained pretty well

That's a beautiful jig you tied. Great job.

It should be shimano OR pflueger. Both are great companies.

At the end of it that guy can't believe he pulled it off without the lady seeing it.

It was good yesterday morning too, including 2 very solid keepers.

I actually use both. There are just way too many advantages to each type of casting to limit myself. I can never catch too many bass (catch and release), and limiting myself to one casting type would limit my catch even more than just the conditions, state of feeding of the fish, etc, though I prefer to use baitcast. I even use #8WFF and a 6 lb leader / tippet for Bass Buggin' on a 9' fly rod. It is really difficult to get any distance casting a 1/32 or 1/16 oz lure on baitcast. My son only uses spinning now, but in the past used both also. I believe that he thinks it's some sort of 'chore' to cast a baitcaster. I can chunk-n-wind all day and feel good about it.

Ive caught as many, but probably more on other brands myself. A small part of that is because of price i tend to throw the cheaper brands more often but somedays if its not a senko they wont bite..

One thing you can do in a pinch is clip a piece of line the same length as the bass (you can do the same thing for girth) then you can get a weight estimate with various formulas.

I'm still getting used to seeing good and gardner in the same sentence.... All the reports lately have me optimistic.

since I am a bank angler primarily, everytime I catch a decent bass I never have my scale on me! Lol thankfully I do have the Rapala digital scale. Small enough to fit in my pocket... which is where it will be everytime I hit the water gettin now on!

I like to fish the hair jigs as part of "float n fly" rigs...with a small, sensitive, pear-shaped float, just big enough to suspend the jig. I let the current take it downstream with occasional twitches. Then I swim it back. Also works extremely well with some wind when the water's nice and choppy.

I've been on an Armored Saint kick lately - the latest single is pretty awesome!

He has a yammie 4 stroke, not a carbed merc. There is no reason to put it in neutral to start it up. I'm glad you are able to completely rebuild a motor while out on the water. Most people cannot. And when a break down occurs with 3 foot rollers on the lake slamming into a rocky shoreline is more like it. I'd much rather have an anchor. My Lund is a fishing machine. Doesn't mean the wife and kids never want to go out for a swim.

This has been in my head all week. Sorry fisherrw I know you hate this song...

I've go this one stuck in my head again....

This for my 2 year old... Along with the theme song to Jessie from my 5 year old. Let's not forget about bubble guppies...