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Finally got the met out with its new partner. No big fish but the dinks were chewing the jig: Decided to put it on a megabass orochi xx emtf. Perfect 3/8 ounce jig combo. It's like they were made for each other:

Last year with the baby being due in early August, I decided not to do any tournaments as it would be really hard to commit. I missed doing them, but certainly dont regret it. My wife actually went into labour at a time when I would have been fishing a tournament, so it was probably best that I wasnt. This year, I re-joined our local B.A.S.S. chapter where I got my start. I missed the first tourney due to a work commitment but was able to get out a couple weekends ago for a club tourney on Lake Couchiching. I work overnights, so I skipped a couple hours early to get to the ramp on time. Apparently, they had changed the launch location, so I had to hook the boat back up and drive another 20 mins. Anyways, we go to my best early summer spot and wasted 2 hours catching nothing but rats. Time to keep moving... It was really tough fishing for us, we couldnt put together any pattern. At noon, the boat felt heavy, so I flipped the bilge on and nothing. Reach back to pull the pump out and it was all water. Uh oh. I have an aluminum hull, so I pulled the plug and ran for 10 minutes to drain it, before putting the plug back in. It kept us fishing and we managed to put some decent fish together for a 3rd place finish, including this nice smallie below. Couchiching is one of my favourite lakes, but I really couldnt put it together. Our club has a different system, where each person in the boat keeps their biggest 4. Our individual bags go towards AOY points and our combined weight is for the tournament placing. I had 11.75lbs and my non had 11.10lbs. Not bad, not great. So I get the boat out and I'm looking for leaks. Cant see anything. Once I got home, I put the plug back in the boat and filled it up with a hose to see where it was leaking from. There was a small 1 inch crack underneath the trailer bunk which is why I couldnt see anything. A good friend of mine riveted a plate over it and got me back on the water just in time for my next tournament. Wednesday we fished Simcoe. When I got to work at 9pm that night, it was 27C (80.6F) and when I left work at 4am, it was 8C (46.4F). Crazy front had rolled in, with 45 km/h (28 mph) wind gusts on big water. I figured we would tuck into some bays and look for largies. By noon, we had 3 small largies in the livewell and decided to brave the wind and make a long run. We would have about an hour and a half to fish. It was the right move as we started crushing good sized smallies, throwing dropshots at isolated boulders and rock piles. My big 4 were over 17 lbs and I took first place and big fish with a 5.30lbs smallie. Simcoe is capable of way more than that, but under those conditions, and having spent just 3 hours bass fishing out there all year, I was happy to get what we did.

Maybe not. Had an extra tackle box hanging around the garage. Me being the good guy that I am, actually gave it away to a buddy of mine... A few minutes pass by and my girlfriend gets quiet, and seems upset... It seems I gave away one of my anniversary gifts... The couch sure is comfortable..

Crack a brew

Got my PB at 6.76lbs. Might take me a few years to beat this one.

I'll hopefully get this thing wet this weekend.

Speaking of big fish.... this thing put up one heckuva fight. I have never caught a fish this big before. Didn't even know a cat like this existed in the small lake I fished. The NRX handled it very nicely. Hooked in the lip with one treble, on 14 lb line. Didn't even bend the hooks out!

Finally found a semi decent jet ski trailer for a good price, $220, and with a title to begin my conversion into a kayak trailer. It will be set up for just the one boat for now but if i need to take out another one I can always stack them together. The plan is to strip it down, get rid of the rust mostly surface rust, prime & paint, repack the hubs and put some sort of visibility poles on the back because i can't see the dang thing behind the jeep at all. I will need to replace the rear cross member and figure out the lights cause they aren't working but that is pretty easy stuff and get a spare. If i can keep the total monetary investment under $500, which i think i can, it will be a good deal for sure. Anyways here is the start of the fun...

Just want to say thanks to Mike for the fourth of July sale. Ordered some old favorites and new additions to try. Great quality jigs and the color selection plus the wire tied option make them perfect. Hopefully some of you were able to take advantage of the sale. Mike did a great job with these as usual and had them to me quick despite getting slammed with orders. If you haven't tried the living rubber jigs I would encourage to try them. Great for cold water and big fish bait. Thanks again for the order Mike!

The bait monkey's hold over me is getting stronger........ A broken rod, tempting bargain bins, and a great deal on Flea Bay led to a tackle binge this last week. Everything is new to me except the reel. Minus the combo, everything was purchased for $40.00, which isn't a half bad deal! Gonna have fun testing them all out this week.

Yep.... That won't happen again. Just like my son when he was little, he spun a penny and when it stopped spinning it stayed upright. Never will we see that again.

Caught on a Tube- Caught on a Drop shot-

Texas Rig! Aint been skunked in 12 yrs

Caught a bunch of 4+lbers this year. I lost a 7+ next to the boat two weeks ago. Best of year was in a club tourney, weighed in at 4.64lbs......

Zonda on endurance. It'll probably stay on here because the balance feels exceptional and it matches.

FedEx delivered a new G Loomis rod Tuesday. I went to apply U40 cork seal on the cork grips. Low and behold, the last time I used it I didn't tighten the cap all the way and it solidified. What to do. You can't just walk into a store and buy this stuff. You have to order it online. I did a little research to see if I could find a substitute. Found out about this stuff called "tru-oil." Available at DSG or just about anywhere that deal in guns. I bought some, put it on my rod handle. Seems pretty much the same as the U40. Handle has the same look and feel. It is a preservative and sealer. I think I'm gonna like this stuff. Hootie

Put work in. lol. Works the reason I've only been able to fish twice this year.

You aren't fishing enough. You can get lucky, or you can put the work in.

I've always been the guy to go deeper using lighter line and smaller baits, and that is still my go-to when it gets tough. Turtle135's approach has become a close second though. A small jig and craw or a t-rigged smallie beaver pitched into the nastiest cover available will often produce when nothing else will.

Tie on a 3/8th ounce jig with a small craw trailer and practice pitching to shallow cover items. I fish the jig in cover like I am trying to lose it. It's good practice if nothing else and is remarkable in managing to pull out a bite or two on a difficult day.

Here are a couple tips for learning to cast a baitcaster: Practice with relatively heavy weights (3/4 oz is a good start) Set the cast control and brakes and make nice easy sidearm and roll casts. Keep a thumb on the spool at all times. Don't go for distance. Don't cast overhead. Pull off a long cast worth of line plus some (100 ft) and put a strip of electrical tape around the spool. This will keep baclashes from getting too deep. Learn the "Thumb trick" for removing backlashes. Don't pull hard the line tightening the knots. Think of casting throwing : Accuracy is about the release point. Watch the target not the spool and clamp your thumb down before the bait hits the water or ground. Be patient but persistent and it will all come together. Enjoy the learning process, it's all part of the fun.

it's crazy the things you snag sometimes. Just in the past year I caught a huge frog (on a frog), a big pearl mussel, a diamond back water snake, 3 snapping turtles, a soft-shell turtle, a catfish on a wacky Senko, and a gar on a spook.

Did you really go there? Not even "what size"? first....?

Learning to cast a baitcaster while fishing at night is a line cutting blowup waiting to happen. Getting comfortable with a baitcaster takes time and practice. Make sure it is adjusted properly, use a little heavier weight until you get used to casting, and practice. With a little time and effort you will be night fishing with confidence. Good luck.

I don't fish tourneys or belong to a "club", but I do really like the MLF format much more than the other televised tourneys. Feels more competitive with live updates, etc. And I like them releasing the fish on the spot and getting penalized for mishandling the catch.

How Long Did It Take You To Master The Baitcaster? 4 spools of line

Yeah, it's the ol' trap'em in the gap pattern! 0.00000000000001% of the time it works EVERY time haha.

That's a little wacky ~ It's like he went for a little ride on the jelly worm express . . . . A-Jay

I don't consider them a nuisance fish unless they get on that tungsten bite or any other expensive bait bite haha. But seriously they're a blast to catch and delicious. The only time they seem like a bummer is when you're in the middle of a bass tourney.

I'd definitely enjoy that Some day I'd like to travel around the country, meeting up with you guys and catching fish I've never caught before. It's definitely on my bucket list.

As a Cajun I grew up hunting/fishing the marshes & swamps of southwest Louisiana & southest Texas. My Dad taught me how to find my way around the marshes/swamps without getting lost, how to respect the land & the the wildlife. If you fired a shot you better have killed something, if you wounded it you better track it till you found it. When you fired a shot you walked over & picked up the brass. I kept only what I was willing to carry out, clean, & eat. During the 60s I worked on my uncle Joe Addison's charter/shrimp boats in the Gulf of Mexico as a deck hand/first mate. He taught me how to navigate the gulf with a map & compass, read structure, & position the boat on structure.

That is me smiling.

My brother won a yetti in a raffel. He was so proud of it. When I met him at the mountains he was like this thing will hold a case of beer for a week. I looked at him and asked when was the last time we were together that a case of beer lasted more then a day. Kind of put a damper on his cooler.

I love catching pike when they are mid teen and bigger. Smaller pike not so much.

Line on the reel and fish slime - outstanding !

Very nice Joe H. That is one my favorite jig rods up to a 1/2 oz jig plus trailer. With that Met it is a perfect visual and performance compliment to the EMTF! Great photos!

Missed the sale (the bait monkey was on holiday), but placed an order on Sat. Only a handful, but more than I really need. Sometimes, it just feels good to buy stuff, especially things you know you're going to use.

yup 15 people up to 5 bass each, Pickerel 10 fish each and baitfish 25 per person of each species up to 50 fish. who catches what is not know by me. everything seems legal , just not ethical, would be tough to prove any wrong doing. They are really having a bad effect on numbers of fish on several small ponds in my area.

My mentor to Bass fishing, this is a touchy topic for me. Since I was about 7, I have been fishing for Bass, when I was 11 I got my first job at the same tackle store he used to work out so I could start buying better gear. This guy was a fish pimp plain and simple. He taught me most everything I know, from rigging a soft plastic to understanding the difference in a willow and colorado blade seasonal patterns and understanding conditions. I can remember going fishing with him would always start with a weather recap. From there he would predict water clarity, and devise a seasonal pattern before we even left the house. He would produce when others couldn't, and that was him limiting the tackle he had in his bag. He would grab a couple bags of plastics, and a few baits which all normally fit in a small pouch and out fish guys with everything under the sun. We would watch the fishing shows, and he would be quick to point out things others over look like how Bill Dance normally fishes private lakes that see little pressure. The man did not miss a beat. He passed away about 15 years ago at 28, and so did my passion for fishing. It has been a long hard road for me with out him around, he was far more then just a mentor. He was like the big brother that anyone of us have always wanted. Until the last few years, I hardly fished. I just pushed that part of my life out, so I did not have to deal with the pain. Lately I am feeling like that young man who can't wait to hit the water, funny because I just had a son and clearly have less time to fish then ever. I must admit that joining the forums has helped me rekindle that passion! Thanks for creating this thread, and sharing a passion!

I think waters smallmouth are caught in are populated with smaller forage rather than they can't eat large forage. They are also are generally thought to be spookier, lot of the reason most guys target them with spinning gear a lot.

Back off your drag when not in use. Keeping your drag locked down can flatten out the washers. I don't think that's happened already, but it's good advice for the future. The non-carbon fiber drag washer in Shimano low-profile reels is pretty lousy but again, I doubt anything has happened to it already. Did you just spool up straight braid? Braid can slip on the spool, giving the illusion of a weak drag.

Aren't C-Rigs and Shaky Heads kinda slow and methodical? Just trying to understand what you mean by Anything else slow'

I use the Silver Buddy, Vault, and Krazy Blade. I only use them in cold water when the fish are on the bottom like this: This is a Krazy Blade catch at a different lake-- 8# 6 oz dink

Don't Under Estimate There Small Mouths , I've Caught Many A Smallies Off Of DT 6's. The Color I Use Is Chart Sides with Root Beer Back. Mike

Biggest Smallmouth 4 lbs 13 oz from Vermont Biggest Largemouth 7 lbs 13 oz from Maine Not to bad for Northern New England

My mentor was Jerry "red" Cowen, manager of the boat dock my older brother worked for when I was 10. Red taught me how to cast a baitcaster and catch bass. Jason Lucas was my pen pal, editor of Sports Afield who took the time to write notes and send to me as a 12 year old, taking interest in my bass fishing. Priceless. Tom

21", dragging a jig in 20FOW. Fun stuff.

Couple of solid fish from yesterday: Nothing better than seeing a bass explode on a top-water in a thick sea of lily pads!