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Now on my bucket list.

Second guessing the DNR seems to be something of a national pastime. Over the years I have met, done projects with and spoke with many DNR people including a former director of the DNR for my state (Illinois). To a man, all of them were true professionals with a passion for the outdoors. They have a huge responsibility, work for little money, with limited budgets, and limited resources. A lot of people have their own interests at heart and the DNR has to try to make a lot of different people happy. All in all, there is nobody else I'd trust to do the job than the people we are paying now. Politics always seem to get in the way of them doing their job, but my complaining about them doesn't help at all. I stay out of the way and trust them to do the best they can with what they have.

I fished Indiana in a regional tournament once. It took me 3 days to catch 4 fish, you have my condolences.

I personally think DNR's also do a pretty good job as they also have to manage for different results and not just big bass, bass catch rates, etc. a quick search of geist brought up this however which leads me to believe that the lake has other issues but still produces apparently. http://wishtv.com/2015/03/20/hundreds-of-dead-fish-becoming-a-daily-event-near-geist-reservoir/ Looking at Summit lake stocking it appears that the walleye stocking was a result of an overpopulation of yellow perch which I assume was a detriment to the overall fishery. Its too bad they did not stock tiger musky instead... They did that here at a local lake about the same size and it has turned into both a great bass and musky factory (along with a great saugeye/walleye population).

I agree Kevinator. I typically do much better on a non-DNR managed lake here than one the DNR handles. Geist and Morse are some of the better two I fish. Geist being my favorite, just out there Monday. I can't think of any recent talk of anyone smoking them on Monroe, Patoka, and definitely not on Eagle Creek. I think our DNR does a decent job though. In years past they've had to deal with the White River mess, and that seems to be bouncing back nicely. I know several guys who make annual trips here to fish some of the upper portions of the river, saying it's some of the best smallmouth river fishing anywhere. That said, I'd obviously like them to see what more they can do to create truly hot bass fisheries out of their maintained properties. Then the problem you'd have is every bass angler for 100 miles around would hit those lakes. Geist isn't all that big and had a 40+ boat tournament on Sunday. They just get slammed around here.

If I do half as good at Gardner Thursday night as I did today I'll be a happy guy! 8 keepers over 15" that I measured, maybe another 1 or 2 that would have gone that I didn't bother measuring. Just over 13 pounds for the biggest 5. Normally it would take every fish I could catch in a day out there to get 13 pounds. Bigger fish were on frogs, bladed jig, beavers, and a swimbait. I only fished about 1/2 the lake and I got a late start and left early so who knows what could have happened if I'd gotten out early or had all day to fish. Working on getting a video for everyone before Thursday, but there were a lot of fish caught so uploading is taking awhile

Academy Composite Cranker

A bass will take a bait head first the majority of the time, so there really isn't a need to wait after you feel, or see the bite. I stull use a cross their eyes hook set with worms, but that's more a conditioned response than a necessity.

BPS Crankin' Sticks go on sale for $50, or at least they did when I bought mine.

Not that this hasn't been tried before but...why don't you guys try fishing with each other? Believe it or not there are some pretty savvy fishermen out here in Eastern Ma. that you just might have something in common with...It worked for me...

Green pumpkin dipped in JJ's Meth comes out orange, yes.

Look at Academy's H2O Xpress Rods. They have a 7" Cranking rod that works great. They had them on sale last week for $40, are frequently on sale at $50 but are regularly priced at $60. Great rod at any price in my opinion. I have 3 of them and couldn't be happier.

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

When there's a cute girl across the table from you and you notice her earrings look like dropshot weights!

I was fortunate enough to head out to the Alley yesterday after being sidelined for a bit. It was great being out. We fished from 3pm to 815pm. Boat traffic was light, outside temps was 90 degrees, water temps varied between 90-92.5 degrees. Winds were ESE at 14. Skies were partly cloudy to overcast through out the afternoon and early evening. Perfect considering the heat we have been having lately. Baits used were HB frog and jig. The fishing was on the slower side. We had to work for every catch we boated. At the end of the day we boated 17, which for this time of year are low numbers. None the less we had a good time and had fun. Here are some pics of my bigger catches. Enjoy!!

Recently I've been floating for carp off the piers by my house. I live on lake Michigan, been floating corn with my steelhead setup on a centerpin and having a blast. The powerful runs on a 5.6 pound leader are amazing. Something you've gotta try. Also been trying to get one on a fly, which is proving rather difficult.

I don't know what this bass was doing but she was hiding in a clump of grass that was about 3' x 5' that had an opening about 6" x 14". She was about 10' off the bank & was acting like she was on a nest but the spawn has been over for 3 months. The first day Aiden flipped a Zoom finesse worm (gooseberry) to her repeatedly for about 30-45 minutes but she refused to acknowledge it. The second day he flipped a Zoom baby brush hog (watermelon neon) to her, this time she reacted by nosing it but never tried to bite it. We spent about an hour that morning & again that evening. The third day we switched to a Zoom baby brush hog (green flash), the first flip she flared her gills & started to suck it in but Aiden over reacted & pulled it away. She circled grass bed & hide under the grass. I told Aiden to calm down & don't set hook until yoy feel her. She charged at it but again Aiden pulls it away. She swam off about 15-20' but returned to the opening. This time I told Aiden as soon as you flip close your eyes & feel for her, BAM! Hook up. Aiden was visible trembling, saying that was awesome!

Bass season FINALLY arrived so I headed up to Balsam Lake to nail some smallies. Caught a good number of fish theses being the best. By far my best season opener I've ever had and first season opener I've fished on Balsam. Also have never caught a SMB on opener day so I feel I'm off to a great start!

So I was out on the lake Fathers Day,and I was getting frustrated with the lack of bite. My brother in law and I moved to a shallow flat flanked by a nice weed bed. I thought bingo, perfect spot to start fishing for bass. But the bite I got wasn't from a bass. I pulled in a small 17 inch walleye. I was shocked because I found a walleye hole at about 22 ft on another part of the lake, and didn't know walleye went that shallow.

That's ok, at least were both getting good advice!

I do all of my cranking/treble hook work with Lightning Rods, and Lightning Rod Shock's 6'6" M : target casting 1.5 sized squarebills, 1/4 oz lipless baits, jerkbaits, and topwaters. 6'6" MH: target casting 2.5 sized squarebills, 1/2 oz. lipless baits, larger topwaters 7' M: ripping 1.5's and 1/4 oz lipless baits out of grass, wiggle warts, 3xd's 7'MH: ripping 2.5's and 1/2 oz lipless baits out of grass, 5xd's 7'6" H: 3/4 oz lipless baits, 6xd's These rods are a little softer than most fast action rods, yet not noodles either, which makes them great "All purpose" rods when fished with braid ( which I do, even for cranking). For example, I have 4 of the 7' MH shocks, one with a 7.3:1 reel spooled with 50lb braid as my frog rod, one with a 6.3:1 reel spooled with 20lb braid that I fish 2.5's, 1/2 oz lipless baits, and 5xd's with, another with a 7.3:1 reel spooled with 30lb braid as a pitching/plastics/jig rod, and the last one with another 6.3:1 reel spooled with 30 lb braid as my swimjig/spinnerbait/buzzbait/chatterbait rod.

These are the first lure covers I've had. They seem very well made too. I store the rods in the hull of my kayak when transporting so it's going to make it easier pulling them out and keeping them untangled. Not to mention may save me a treble hook in the hand one day....

If you aren't missing fish, why change? I like to let them take it on semi slack line then set immediately. Reeling in the slack first though. So pretty much I just set the hook as quick as possible. Sometimes I'll make sure they have it first if I get tired of plastics getting ripped in half etc. But if I'm taking the day seriously, I'll set immediately.

Further to the above, just got an EVERGREEN INSPIRARE TKIC-610MR Super Cougar with a Shimano Aldebaran 51. Hedgehog AIR 3x10x4 SET for Shimano Bearings too.

I like senkos for pitching and worms for long cast dragging and hopping

It must look uncommon to me b/c of the lack of bass I've seen over my lifetime. That and I'm color blind (really). I'm now seeing other post where folks are saying that coloration of a bass can change based on habitat, like a chameleon. Now that I'm looking up the chain I see that @Hawg pulled a bass with similar coloring out of a limestone fishery. Very interesting. So, every other fish I've caught as this pond, before last night, had the same coloring as the token bass on the BPS logo. I'm even more interested in knowing how long it takes for bass to change color and if their coloring could provide more indication of current conditions...

Got an online order in yesterday..... And a smaller one came in today with a couple more coming! These megabass s cranks look sweeeeeet! Can't wait to get one snagged and go swimming for it if I have to....

Lighting rod shock for sure.

Using any image editor such as Photoshop Elements or GIMP, go to the "Scale" field and reduce the pixel-count to your liking. Roger

X3. Jig n craw all year long!

Winter, spring, summer, or fall I have a jig-n-craw tied on!

No surprise at all. I just got back from a 10 day trip to Ontario. I caught 57 walleyes, of which, 51 of them were caught in 3-6 feet of water in the weeds. They were up in the weedy, shallow flats chasing fry. We caught the majority of our walleye on rattletraps, chatterbaits, and baby minus 1's. The other 6 fish were caught in 6-11 feet on wiggle warts, shad raps, and DT10's, just off the rocky breaks of a weedy flat. Lunker of the trip (6lb. 7oz.) caught on a Rattlin Rap in weeds. You'll notice the weeds still on his back.

All you have to do is warm up the finish on the wrap around the keeper ,rub off the finish and unwind the keeper and place one where you want it. I hate keepers behind the reel on the handle. Just waiting to grab a rod and get hooks..

Amp and Lightning Rod Shock are great treble rods for the $

Don't know how to post the link, but the Wilson Sisters performing Highway to Heaven

^ This^ The Pescador is a pre 2009 Tarpon, in 09 WS updated the Tarpon. I believe it not only got a new seat but the hatches were changed, it got the slide track system and they made it a bit wider to accommodate the changes. Both a great kayaks, I spent about three years in a Pescador 12. I really liked it it was a great kayak. I even caught my personal best rod and reel fish in that kayak.

I can dig it! Can't wait to see them in August!

Most bass anglers using baitcasting reels rarely set the drag or back it off. When they break off a big bass it's the fault of ............ fill in the blank. A few bass anglers using spinning reels with light line learn quickly to check the drag and some will set it properly using a scale, most just pull on the line to feel tension. When you fish for big strong pulling fish like salt water species you learn to take care of your reel drags, back them off after each outing, set them before using each outing to prevent breaking off fish. Your drag tension washers take a set if tightened down for long periods of time and should always be backed off, takes about 1 second to back off, maybe 10 seconds to adjust tension properly; 1/3rd the line strength. Tom

Your Revo MGX is a casting reel and you would be well served to back off the drag system when ever you store any casting reel. This is because most casting reels also have, as a part of the drag system, Two Drag Spring Washers on the main drive shaft. They look like this ( ). When you tighten the drag they compress and exert pressure on the drag discs just below. Keeping them compressed all the time weakens their ability to do this . This can be restored by putting them in a vise and tapping the bend back in. This is not necessary on most spinning reels that have a different drag system.

All you need to get into local club tourneys is a boat and the money for the entry fees. You don't even have to know how to fish. A culling beam is more accurate than depending on a scale. Around here, weigh in bags are supplied at the ramp. This is to prevent the spread of invasive species and disease. When you are searching out clubs, pay attention to the amount of payback at the ramp. It's not always cut and dry. The club I fish claims something like 85% BUT that is not at the ramp. Some of the entry fee is allotted for the purchase of 3 prize boats at the tournament of champions. The ramp payback ends up being around 70% +/- If you are competing for a weekly check, this is not the way to go. If you want to possibly move up into the "big leagues" Then consider this option. Mostly, just try to have fun. There are guys who get so consumed in the competitiveness, they are miserable on the water when things don't go as planned

Little Megabass bfs action...

I gave a President a try a couple years ago. I have 4 or 5 of them now. Most bulletproof bang for your buck spinning reel out there IMO.

The President is the best bang for the buck of any spinning reel out there.

Thanks for the tips. I wouldn't say it's unsafe winds just bottom contact and keeping the boat in position is a pain. I'll have to start throwing reaction baits more I usually never do just because I haven't had any luck, but I'll give it a shot.

Years ago I was the same. I hated the wind until I discovered how much better the bite is in it. Keep trying it and you'll just get used to it. As far as baits, I stick with spinnerbaits, squarebills, crankbaits, jigs and I still throw a t-rig; I just up the weight a hair. And keep your nose into the wind. You will have better boat control that way. And don't lock your motor up; keep it down; this can help act as a stabilizer. Obviously, if the wind makes the situation unsafe, leave. Safety first my friend.

A little gory Mr.Head Breaker, but the proper method, no doubt.

Did i really just read that a consideration of a reel is how it matches, color wise, to a rod? that is a new one for me. I have never used a stella other than in a store checking one out but i am happy with my stradics.

Lucky craft or spro..pic is small on my phone but I think its probably a lc.

How do you know you had EXACTLY, one gallon of water?

Surprised... Braid has improved my jig fishing significantly.