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I have chased and caught just about every fish available in my area but a new fish has peaked my interest. In Broward County S. Florida the ClownKnife fish is getting very big, both in size and popularity. It has taken me awhile to learn their habits but I think I am on to their habits. In this recent photo my buddy Capt Thadeus Ragan, photographer Pat Ford and I were fishing for the ClownKnife. Pat had never photographed a ClownKnife and so we targeted them. I was pretty nervous since I had targeted them the week prior only to come up with one and it was small. On this day we hit pay three times over and two of them (pictured) we the largest two I have ever seen. This fish is from Thailand and Indonesia and many folks keep the in an aquarium. I believe people have been releasing them into the lake system for many years. They eat a lot and they fight like crazy. They even have the ability to fight in reverse. Many times when I put the landing net in the water they will see it and swim away pealing drag in reverse. A wicked cool fight! Photo Credit: Pat Ford Photography

if yo want waders that will last a lifetime get some high end simms and you will not be disappointed. i have a pair of frogg toggs i got basically for free and they are holding up well but i haven't been fishing in the creeks like i used to. When i was guiding small mountain streams i had a pair of simms that i beat the crap out of for 3+ years and never had an issue.

Yup, their are some fish that do this. I call them "resident" fish. In my experience these resident fish are quality fish on a great piece of structure/cover. For example, there has been a 3+lber sitting under my girlfriends pontoon boat all summer. It is a big fish for up here in NE, and the 20foot party boat and dock is a good piece of cover. That fish, even when spooked, comes right back. I have had the joy of catching her on my first cast many times.

21" on my trusty DT4.....Not sure how all that red stuff got in the photo, my camera must be acting up

Easy fix for the remote. The battery is too thin. Put a dime between the battery and the back cover and the remote problems will disappear. I've had Ipilot since its ***. First on a Powerdrive, then an 80 Terrova and now I run Link on a 112 Terrova. I run a HDSI transducer without issue because I took great care and detail installing it to prevent the cable from getting pinched. Personally, I don't believe the noise affects fishing but it is a common complaint from guys who switched from cable steer. Have you contacted Minn Kota about the other issues. The motor is warrantied for, I believe, 3 years.

Definitely Simms. Awesome waders, great customer service, and most of the line is made in the USA.

I've been selected to initiate an improvement effort on two of the "stunted" lakes at our club. The biggest opposition I've encountered is from older members who still adhere to the total catch and release theory. You can literally catch dozens of 8-9 inch bass in an hour. I have finally gotten enough support from other members to sway the directors board to allow and finance minimal changes. This revolves around building and installing artificial cover, elimination of hundreds of small bass and possibly some supplemental feeding. Convincing the membership has been a year long uphill battle. I hope myself and other volunteers can secure some success over the next few years. Watching Bob Lusk and reading the Pond Boss website has provided a wealth of information. At the very least we've gotten the ball rolling.

As HoosierHog writes, the bass will hold tight to "cover" in heavily stained to muddy water. So pitching and flipping a black and blue jig will get their attention as will a black based plastic thrown to and against any "structure" you can find. Bright yellow and orange can also attract their attention, so consider tipping your plastics with JJ's Magic to add a dash of color. For moving baits, the vibrations will alert the bass the lure is close by and the bass will then try to find it via sight. If the moving bait is close enough and the bass feels secure in leaving their place of comfort they will attack the bait our of hunger or aggravation. Fishing in heavily stained or muddy water is done slowly so don't think you are going to get a bite on each cast. You have to cast to any structure you can see or know is below the water many times.

Bladed jigs in dark or bright colors. My personal favorites are black and blue, chartreuse and black or a firetiger type color I call spicy shad.

Got an Orochi XX EMTF at a local tackle shop today. These Megabass rods are really starting to grow on me.

Fishing is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.

I've been struggling but here are a few from a recent outing.

When you get stung by a wasp, do you go to the nest and try and find the one that stung you or do you wipe out the entire nest? Eliminating leadership will do nothing more than open doors to another leader.

Okay, let me rephrase. A rod that will handle any bait type or size effectively and efficiently. Your lightning didn't do everything. How many 2 ounce swimbaits did you chuck on it? Did you throw 1/16 ounce jigs with it? Drop shot? What one line were you using? Find me a rod I can pull a 25 foot diving crank, retie, and throw a weightless finesse worm on. Should I use 16 lb mono or, 8 lb fluoro, or 60 lb braid on it cause I want to flip and pitch with it too.

The mennace grub has sort of kicking action in a compact profile. The baits has action while using a lift and fall retrieve or a steady swim. Most beaver style baits like the RI beaver or SK rodent have minimal action. Their strengths lie in their bulk and profile of a large meal. They have minimal action which at times can be excellent especially in colder water. Another advantage is they offer very little wind resistance. The SK Eeliminator has very limited availabilty. I believe you can buy them from the manufacturer but that is about it. I loaded up with them last winter. The bait is very eel like and is comparable in action to sort of a magnum single tail grub.

I usually fish a War Eagle Night Time Spinnerbait with a big, single Colorado blade. I'll throw it right into the thickest cover I can find. Usually it seems like fish seem to hold tighter to cover when the water is really turbid like that.

Generally, for swimjigs I like Keitech Swing Impacts and Fat Impacts, GY Swim Senko with about 1/2 inch to an inch taken off the front portion of the bait, SK Rage Mennace Grub, SK Rage Grub, RI Little Dipper, and even the SK Rage Eliminator.

Hope you have a speedy recovery. Mike

I like Sniper on my jig and plastic's combo because of the minimal stretch compared to what I was useing, it's sensitivity and manageability. I don't see an advantage to useing it for moving baits. For those I use Yo Zuri. Mike

Very interesting. Thanks for putting this together and posting. I too have a hydrodynamics testing tank in my home and use it for observing the action of the hair jigs I tie as well as bathing.

You won't be the last. Powell rods here.

Very cool, thanks for posting,

Nice video! Not the same trailers I would consider for a "swim jig" outside of the Kalins 5 inch grub but it does help folks see the action.

I'd go with lews. The bb2 has a wider spool, I'd go with the BB1 pro, tournament pro, or them team pro on sale at tw unless you need the wider spool. I always laugh when I hear people say get a shimano because you can get parts easily in the future. Shimano is the only reel comany I have a hard time getting parts from. Either discontinued or always out of stock. Lews customer service blows shimano out of the water.

Been having some luck lately on Chesdin. As long as I can find semi-clear water I've been able to get some decent bites.

Good luck. During recovery you can hang out here? I hurt both shoulders on a quad accident. The rest of my body hurts so much decades later I don't feel the shoulders.

Yes the warm up is really important. My tech is a good friend who told me a long time ago that my Opti would keep on keeping on if I warmed it up to 120° even in the summer before I left the launch area and also after any extended fishing without using it. Mine is 13 years old and going like a charm.

If you are doing both at the same time, how do you know where the cancer came from?

I bet a crispy new 2 dollar bill that you´ll get cancer a lot faster by fishing under the sun without proper UV light protection than from handling lead sinkers while you are at it.

Thanks for the in put Jeff ~ the Break-in & every use warm ups especially - gotta do it. A-Jay

Prayers are good but people need to wake up. The threat from afar grows every day and is now the threat from within.

Same as Evan, I use a small worm binder, I use a magic marker and label the pages such as willow leaf, single, double, Colorado, single, double, etc. Works really well and you can find what you want quickly.

Shimano Poison Ultima 162L-S / Aldebaran Mg7 / 1/16oz Jackall Flick Shake Jig Head and Jackall Flick Shake Worm Shimano Poison Glorious 168L BFS68 Long Distance #1 / Aldebaran Mg7 / 5/32oz Keitech Finesse Jig w / Keitech Little Spider Trailer Shimano Poison Glorious 168L BFS68 Long Distance #2 / Aldebaran Mg7 / Light T Rigs

Fished the Dotte for several hours yesterday, it did not treat us very well. We'd been on the water probably close to 2 hours when I finally caught my first fish in the back of Wilson, but it was a largemouth that might have kept. My next fish about an hour later was a drum Jon was doing pretty decent and the Shhh talking was getting pretty heavy from the front of the boat. I was tossing a Ned out to the first drop on the open water side of the boat when my line jumped on the fall and my hook set was met with a considerable amount of resistance. Shortly after, a stout smallmouth was airborne and there was much scrambling going on in the boat. Having drug my bait through the razor clams for nearly 3 hours at this point and knowing my hook was rusted and bent (I'd forgotten my Ned Heads and dug this one out of the bottom of my bag). I was sure the line would part or the hook would give, turns out my biggest concern should have been my net man . I believe there was 3 or 4 missed net attempts before it was finally safely in the boat. 19" long makes it my 3rd keeper smallie ever from Wyco but still not very heavy at only 3lb 3oz. It still really made up for my otherwise bad performance. It picked up a little from there, Ned was the only thing working for me but Jon started catching a few on a French Pearl STX, including a healthy 17" largemouth and a super fat white bass. We also recovered a rod and reel from about 15' up in a tree

Tom there are now many great rods in the $100-150 range. Unfortunately there is no one rod that is perfect for everything. A 6-6 to 7' MH-F is maybe the most versatile bass fishing rod, but that will limit techniques at both ends of the weights commonly used and is not well suited to most treble hook baits. Good luck.

Tight lines, Bob

Almost everything you buy fishing related will have this warning on it. Sinkers, Hooks, Hardbaits with hooks, Fish stringers even.Also probably anything made in a factory that deals with lead, even if the certain product isn't made with it. I'm surprised you haven't noticed it before.

I can guarantee that every pack of lead weights you have bought have that label. Don't eat them and you should be good.

have you ever heard of california? evidently everything there causes cancer and as such, companies have to put ridiculous labels on them. i would feel that having gone through customs to get here they wouldn't blatantly put toxic materials in there (other than lead as mentioned). wouldn't concern me in the least bit.

Whatever it is , I would see if it would hit a jelly worm .

I'm pretty sure the middle picture is a kid.

Got my first Megabass pop max in megabass sxe shad and it looks well worth the money! Very impressed with the craftsmanship.

Spent it all at Siebert's the same night, on some Derockers, Arky , and swim jigs

I was at a local ramp that I have fished out of for years. At the time I had a standard shift Ford Ranger Pick-up and a 16' aluminum boat on trailer. It was an early spring day where the air temp was warm but the water temp was around 50 degrees. I back my rig down on the short ramp. Put on the parking brake leave the truck in first gear and turned it off. Went back to launch the boat. While pushing the boat off the trailer, all of a sudden I feel the truck and trailer start to go down the ramp slowly with me standing on the trailer. I immediately jump in the bed of the truck, then out of it and get inside the truck to get everything stopped. I never moved so fast bet it only took me 15 seconds. Of course not in time to keep the trailer tires from going off the end of the ramp. So, I give it a couple of tries to get it out with the truck to no avail with the springs catching on the ramp. I know that I will have to get in the water to get it undone. While I was doing this, another boater was there to launch. It is an older gentlemen and his son in his mid twenties. I explained to them what happened and asked if they would give me a hand. So in the cold water I go about up to my waist. While I was passing a rope under the trailer to keep it lifted. The son boldly and proudly commences to tell me several times in different ways that if I had the Dodge truck that he has he would be able to just ****** it out of there. So once I got the trailer lifted the gentlemen held the rope tight. I easily got the trailer pulled back up the ramp and went to park the truck. On my way back to the boat, the son proceeds to start backing his trailer down the ramp, as I am watching he then to my amazement backs his trailer right off the end of the ramp, even with the signs stating "ramp ends here" and seeing what I just went through. I look at the father who was standing on the dock drop his head down and just start shaking it back and forth. Then the son starts trying to pull the trailer back up and all you can hear is his Dodge truck motor rev up, then the bang of the springs hitting the ramp. After several attempts he get out of the truck and just looks at the trailer knowing what he must do after seeing what I had just done. Being that I was already wet from mine I offered to assist them with their trailer. Of course they accepted my offer. After just a few minutes the son pulls the trailer up the ramp and goes to park the truck. The father thanked me and then said " You're a better man than I am. If he been talking all that crap to me, he would have had to of gotten wet!"

I'm going for that lunker tomorrow afternoon if the weather is at least decent... Last time out for her the weather sucked.. I got 4 bass though. One was near 5 pounds. This video was a piece of the ride back to the ramp.

Sam I didn't make it up in the old river today my motor is acting up didn't want to take a chance on getting stranded up there, how ever may mother in law and her sister fished the swamp yesterday and they said the water was fairly clear.

My first boat was a fisher aluminum bass boat with a 50 hp mercury.I pulled it with a 1984 Honda civic hatchback. one day I backed down the dock ,but could not get the boat off the trailor.I put my back against the Honda and pushed with my legs, the boat stayed but I went through the back window and crawled out the front door with no cuts.

Caught my first SM of the year today! Probably a pound and a half. It was my first ever sight fish and it was the first fish I caught on a jig I tied myself. 3/8 oz. arkie in a brown craw w/ a SK Baby rage crawl in Alabama Craw on the back. Pretty special fish even if it wasn't very big.

Custom painted 110 (by Doc Drew), not sure what it weighed.